Уильям Дитц - Seek and Destroy

“You’re entitled to your opinion,” Crowley said stiffly. “But I’m in command, and the plan will remain as is.”

Stratton stood. Beady eyes scanned the room. “Maybe some of you will survive,” Stratton said. “I hope so. Personally, I plan to go home and do some chores.” And with that, he left.

“Civilians,” Crowley said, as the door closed. “I suggest that you ignore Stratton. Maybe he saw enemy activity, and maybe he was two sheets to the wind. The drone flew over the Hole-in-the-Wall a few hours ago. And, by the time we attack, our force will have reunited. Now, does anyone else have a question? No? Let’s get ready. Dismissed.”

If Mac had been in command, she wouldn’t have been so quick to dismiss Stratton’s concerns, especially where the element of surprise was concerned. Crowley was correct about the drone video, though… She’d seen it. And so long as the companies came back together prior to the attack, they should be able to carry the day.

So Mac put her misgivings aside and made last-minute preparations for the mission. To his credit, Crowley insisted on leading from the front. So Mac assigned the call sign one-one to his Humvee. As second-in-command, she was going to ride in the last vehicle, which was Stryker three-four, better known to its two-person crew as BIGFOOT. Crowley’s call sign was Viper-Eight—and Mac was Bravo-Six.

Both companies left the fort on schedule and went their separate ways shortly thereafter. The previously blue sky had clouded over by then, and the sun was a yellow smear beyond the blanket of gray.

Mac couldn’t see the BULLET MAGNETat the front end of the column but could listen in as Crowley offered all sorts of observations to people who didn’t need them. That in spite of the fact that the unit was supposed to maintain radio silence. Yes, the transmissions were scrambled… But by monitoring the volume of radio traffic, the bad guys could tell that something was going on. And that wasn’t good. Mac sighed. Stratton thought Crowley had been lucky. Maybe that luck would hold.

The column turned north shortly after that and rolled through Arminto twenty minutes later. Alpha Company had leveled the place. The saloon was little more than a pile of charred wood, shot-up rat rods littered the area, and the brand-new graveyard was thick with crudely made crosses. As BIGFOOTrolled through town, Mac saw only one resident, and that was a painfully thin dog. It skittered away, tail between its legs, looking back over a shoulder.

With the exception of some low-lying hills and the gullies that separated them, most of the surrounding terrain was flat. That was good since there were very few places for the horde to hide. But, even though Mac was standing in the Stryker’s forward air-guard hatch, she couldn’t see what lay ahead of the column. What did the road look like? Were there lots of tire tracks? Tracks made before the column rolled through? If so, that might indicate that the horde was on the move.

About fifteen minutes north of Arminto, the column was forced to pass through a narrow passageway between two hills. Mac caught glimpses of it from her position at the tail end of the convoy. Then, as the ground began to rise on both sides of her, Mac heard Crowley say, “Put the hammer down. Let’s get through this as quickly as we can.”

That was when an explosion tossed the BULLET MAGNETup into the air. Mac didn’t wait to witness the Humvee’s fate. She was shouting into her mike. “This is Bravo-Six actual! Back up! Back up! Back up!”

BIGFOOT’s truck commander was a corporal named Niki Chin. She brought the vic to a momentary stop, shifted into reverse, and stomped on the accelerator. Mac was thrown forward as huge wheels spun, and the Stryker backed out of the trap.

But, as BIGFOOTcleared the passageway, more charges went off. These explosives were located high on the hillsides, where they weren’t likely to be detected. Avalanches of dirt and rock struck the rearmost Stryker from both sides and nearly buried it. That blocked the road. Bravo Company couldn’t move forward—and it couldn’t back out. It was trapped.

Mac knew what would happen next. Howard’s warriors would appear on the skyline and fire down on the vehicles below. “This is Six actual,” she shouted. “Remain in your vehicles! Gunners will fire upslope! Let the bastards have it. Over.”

The words were hardly out of Mac’s mouth when hundreds of bandits appeared on top of both hills and opened fire. Stratton’s words came back to haunt her: “Maybe some of you will survive.”

Compared to earlier generations of wheeled vehicles, the Strykers had a lot of advantages, not the least of which was thicker armor, and their remotely controlled weapons stations enabled gunners to fire without exposing themselves. Their .50 caliber slugs raked the skyline, 40mm grenades exploded along both slopes, and the horde was forced to take cover. They continued to fire, however… And Mac suspected that fighting positions had been dug along the top of both ridges. Was that Howard’s doing? Probably.

Three of Mac’s Strykers were armed with 105mm guns that, if they could be brought to bear, could do serious damage to the bandits. But Mac knew the cannons couldn’t elevate high enough to hit the ridges. Still another indication that someone knew what they were doing.

All of that and more raced through Mac’s mind as she spoke over the intercom. “Take us to the right, Chin… And drive up onto that ridge. Hooper… Commence firing the moment that you have targets. Sergeant Ivey… Get ready to deploy your squad. We’re going to attack their left flank.”

The CAT engine roared as the Stryker lurched off road, and the vic’s eight-wheel drive propelled it upslope. A light machine gun was mounted in front of Mac. She ran a check on it as Lieutenant Perkins directed fire. “Higher, two-two… There you go. Nice job!

“Swing right one-three… Get those bastards!

“Eyes west, three-one! They have a rocket launcher!”

Mac knew Perkins must be up top, just as she was, in order to see so much of his surroundings. And she was about to order him to get down when a bandit spotted BIGFOOTand opened fire. Bullets pinged the vic’s armor and Mac heard them snap around her. She fired the machine gun, saw geysers of snow shoot up just short of the man, and made the necessary adjustment. A long burst cut him off at the waist. Blood stained the snow.

The truck’s grenade launcher began to chug as Hooper spotted targets and opened fire. Bright yellow-orange explosions marched upslope, consumed a machine-gun crew, and kept going. Chin fought for control as BIGFOOTlost traction, found it, and sent the vic lurching forward. “Find a place to stop and drop the ramp,” Mac told her. “Use the vic for cover, Sergeant Ivey… And grease some of those bastards for me.”

“Yes, ma’am,” came the reply, as BIGFOOTcame to a halt. Rather than turn, and watch the squad deploy, Mac kept her eyes to the front. “Bravo-Six to Bravo Company… Switch your fire to the west. I repeat, switch all of your fire to the west . Three-four is on top of the east ridge. Over.”

Mac heard a chorus of clicks as BIGFOOTtopped the ridge, and the slaughter began. Howard, or the person responsible for laying the ambush, had failed to anticipate the possibility that a Stryker would make its way up onto the ridge. And that was a serious mistake.

Suddenly, one of the metal beasts was in among the bandits. And the crew was out for revenge. Chin rolled over a fighting position, crushing those within. Some of the ambushers fled. Grenades followed them, caught up, and cut most of them down. A few turned to fight. Mac fired the machine gun. They fell like tenpins.