Frank Klus - Azaleas Don't Bloom Here

Armstrong spotted him and knew something was wrong, and then he spotted two shadows about twenty yards ahead moving quickly through the trees. The realization that the woods were full of enemies couldn’t be denied. Furthermore, they were probably spotted. He motioned for Wrenn to come to him, and to tighten up the ranks.

Suddenly, a shot rang out, and Wrenn instantly hit the ground. His heart was beating fast now. The bullet was so close he felt it graze the side of his cap, and he didn’t know who drew a bead on him; only that it came from a different direction than from the first guy he spotted.

Armstrong saw that Wrenn was all right, and drew everyone else close to him. “Eugene and Senator Moore, you still have your guns?”

“Yeah,” they both said. “Shoot only if you are close to the enemy. Each time you fire, move quickly. Don’t stay in the same position. Understand?”

They nodded affirmatively.

“We won’t be able to drive through now,” Armstrong said . “It’s run for the border through the woods.”

“Ray, Cassandra, lead our troops. Foote, guard their south flank. I’m going to help Wrenn out.”

“Shouldn’t we stay here?” Eugene said.

“No,” Armstrong said. “The enemy may thin out the farther west you go. We’ve got to get to the border. We’ll catch up with you. Stay low to the ground and hug the trees.”

Armstrong made his way toward Wrenn, crouching, but moving as fast as he could. Suddenly, a shot rang out from somewhere west of him and struck the leaves just behind his trailing foot. He quickly got up and scampered behind a tree as two more shots rang out. Wrenn fired back, but appeared to miss. After a minute or two, Armstrong made his way over to his buddy, and hid behind him and the tree.

“I think there are two of them where they fired on you, and a third to the north of west—over there,” Wrenn said, pointing toward a clump of trees. “It’s a good thing they don’t have floodlights attached to their scopes or we’d be dead.”

“I’ll run back over to where I was and draw their fire. Try to get a target and take them out. I’ll look for the third guy.”

Armstrong dashed for the other tree, but didn’t draw any fire. Then he yelled out. “Hey you, two. Drop your guns and come out. If you don’t you’ll be dead in the next minute. We know where you’re—”

Before Armstrong could get another word out shots from both guys rang out and Wrenn returned fire. He heard a groan and then the other guy shot at Wrenn. Armstrong returned fire, missed, and then drew fire again. Wrenn returned fire and didn’t miss. Both snipers were presumed dead. Armstrong then fired toward the third guy, but heard him run away. Wrenn then walked over to Armstrong.

“I sent the others west,” Armstrong said. “Ray and Cassandra are leading the way. Let’s catch up to them.”

“Christ.” Dennis just hung up the phone. His secretary just looked at him. She was getting used to this.

Dennis got up and made the long walk to the boss’ office. “Come,” Casimir said. Dennis walked in, saluted, and reported that he had some bad news.

“Jesus Christ, O’Reilly. You had every advantage. How in the hell did they get away this time? Were there any survivors?” He thought he was just mocking the past failures, and was genuinely surprised at Dennis’s answer.

“They were all killed, sir.”

“How many?”

“Three, sir.”

“Three? Goddamnit, O’Reilly. Jesus Christ! Three? Tell me you at least brought in the A-Team; the best of the best.”

“The squad leader was McElroy, a local brigade commander. The second was an experienced man, while the third was new, but he was eager.”

Jaydan just stared incredulously at his assistant. “Why, O’Reilly? Why settle on three morons?”

Dennis always could gauge how much trouble he was in by whether the boss called him by his first or last name. “They were the best I could get, sir.”

“Did you tell them about the million dollar bounty they get to share in?”

“They weren’t very interested, sir. They said they’d need ten times as much money, and that might not be enough. One guy—an ex-Blue—told me no amount would be enough. ‘You can’t spend the money when you’re dead’. That’s the prevailing attitude.”

Casimir was pacing the office now. “Did they get anyone?”

“Pamela Piper went down and so did Horace Hayfield.”

“I’m glad they at least got that bitch, Piper. No more illegal escorts out of the country. Now, give me the details of everything that happened.”

“I don’t really have any details, since there were no survivors who were going to report in.”

“Where are they now?”

“We don’t know. Their plan was to take the Highland checkpoint, but they could have gone to half a dozen other checkpoints. We have several hundred volunteers all along the border with Oregon. There’s no way they won’t be seen.”

Casimir looked like he was at his wit’s end. “No fuckups this time. Understand?”

“Yes, sir, no fuckups.”

“Shoot them, except for Sandy. I don’t want her dead. I want her brought back to me.”

Dennis started to leave, but Casimir told him to wait. He was pacing behind his desk. Then he stopped and turned toward O’Reilly. “After they’re located, I want you to fly out there. I’ll make the arrangements. We’ll helicopter you out to the naval base, get you in a Fighter, and then helicoptered to their location. You can be there in two hours.”

“Yes, sir.” Dennis saluted and left.

It was now midnight as the Pilgrims traipsed through the woods. There was a full moon, which helped them see better, but it also made them more visible to the enemy. It was finally decided that Foote and Wrenn would take the forward positions and use rifles. Ray and Cassandra would lie back, also armed with AR’s. Everyone else used pistols.

They weaved their way through the woods for over an hour and figured they cleared about three miles. Suddenly there was gunfire ahead, and to their right. Then, more gunfire. They figured that Foote and the enemy were trading rounds. Foote heard a shell ricochet off a tree trunk just to his left. He knew he was spotted, but where was the shooter? He yelled to his would be assailant. “Get out of here, or you will be killed.”

Then came a distant voice. “Surrender now or I will kill you.” Foote smiled. A real pro wouldn’t give his position away.

Foote inched closer to where the enemy was, but then shots rang out from his right, just as Armstrong arrived to help his friend out. Armstrong returned fire, but more shots rang out from several different directions.

Meanwhile, Ray and Cassandra were pushing the civilians forward. A minute later Armstrong came back. “Keep moving forward, quickly. Ray, Cassandra,” whispered Armstrong, “close the ranks. Move fast. The woods are full of Squads and civil patrol volunteers. Mostly patrols. They’re heavily armed. They came at us from the north. I think they’re trying to force us back to the road. We’re going to have to move forward and southward.”

They heard a noise overhead. Armstrong looked up and saw a chopper with a spotlight. The Lightning Squad clearly knew they were out here and meant to find them. Eugene and Sandy were scared.

“They’re going to find us,” Eugene said.

Armstrong looked at the Blues, who were signing. Wrenn said, “What an opportunity.”

Armstrong spotted a small open area with a single tree. He looked at Wrenn with his sly smile. Wrenn made his way for the tree and then reaching into his backpack.