Уильям Дитц - Seek and Destroy

Then Mac put in a call to Overman. “This is Six… We’re coming in. Warn the troops. Over.” If Overman said something in reply, it was lost as a flash of light strobed the countryside, and a thunderous boom was heard. A C-130? Yes! At least one of the planes had been destroyed.

Mac was still in the process of absorbing that as the CALIFORNIA GIRLrolled up on an army Humvee. A Confederate Humvee. It was parked just outside Pyote Field and bristling with aerials. A command vehicle, then, which had arrived under a parachute, just like the rebel soldiers had. “Kill it,” Mac ordered, and the vic’s gunner opened fire.

The CALIFORNIA GIRLwas armed with a 40mm grenade launcher, and the rebs didn’t know that Union forces had armor on the ground. So instead of firing on the lead Stryker, the soldiers grouped next to the Humvee were staring at it, when the first round exploded. Bodies were torn asunder as successive grenades hit the vehicle itself and triggered a secondary explosion.

A pillar of orange-red flame shot up through the roof and sent sparks into the sky as the Strykers rolled past. Had the Confederate CO been killed? Mac hoped so. A disruption in the chain of command could slow the rebs down.

A vicious firefight was under way as the Strykers entered the field. Both sides of the engagement were firing machine guns, and since all of them had been members of the same army months earlier, they were using similar tactics. Every fifth round was a so-called “dim” tracer… Meaning tracer rounds that could be seen using night-vision gear but were less likely to reveal where they were coming from.

Streams of such tracers were crisscrossing the airfield as the rebels sought to overrun the C-130s, and the Union soldiers battled to keep them at bay. Mac heard the persistent ping, ping, ping sound of bullets striking CALIFORNIA GIRL’s armor and realized that the vic’s lights were on! She ordered Kona to turn them off and keyed her mike. “Boomer Six to Boomer Four… It looks like the enemy is dug in along the west side of the field. Please confirm. Over.”

“That’s correct,” Overman answered. “Over.”

“How many Hercs do we have at this point?”

“Two,” Overman replied.

“Roger that… Start loading now, and get both planes positioned for takeoff. We will suppress enemy fire until you call for us to come in. Over.”

“Got it,” Overman said. “Over.”

“Boomer Six to Boomer Two-One and Two-Two… We’re going to take a run down the west side of the field. Fire at will. Lieutenant Lyle… we need gunners in the rear hatches of both vics. Please order some volunteers to man those LMGs.”

That got a chuckle, and Mac saw a Green Beret surface behind her as Kona began the run. The Stryker was armed with a 40mm grenade launcher, and it began to chug. Explosions marched down the edge of the airfield. The LUCKY LOUwas equipped with a .50 caliber machine gun, and that was firing, too. Meanwhile, Mac and a couple of Green Berets used the pintle-mounted M-249s to keep the enemy pinned down.

But as Kona turned, and the CALIFORNIA GIRLbegan a run back to the south, a rocket fired from an AT4 hit the lead plane just forward of the starboard wing. There was a flash, followed by a dull thud, and a ball of flame. It floated up to pop like a balloon. Lives had been lost, the wreckage was blocking the runway, and only one plane remained.

FORT KNOX, KENTUCKY

The situation room was so quiet that Sloan could hear the blood pounding in his head. Slowly, but surely, the mission was coming apart. And for all he knew, Mac was dead. Meanwhile, he had to pretend he wasn’t thinking about her and keep his cool for the benefit of those around him. “God damn it,” Sloan said after Yankee One was hit. “Can they use Yankee Three?”

“Yes,” Jones confirmed. “ After it taxis out and around the wreckage.”

“What about the package? Where is he?”

“He was inside one of the Strykers,” Jones answered. “And both Strykers are intact so far as we know.”

Sloan thought about that. Mac was with Secretary Sanders. So if he was okay, she might be okay. It was something to hope for. Then he realized how selfish that was and felt guilty. People were dead, and all of them were his responsibility, even those fighting for the South. The torture continued.

PYOTE FIELD, TEXAS

“We’re ready,” Overman told her, “and circling the wreckage. Come to Papa. Over.”

Mac was proud of Overman and the way he’d been able to keep his company together in the face of unexpected resistance. “We’re on the way,” Mac assured him, as the Strykers sped across the airfield. Kona braked as the plane loomed ahead and the CALIFORNIA GIRLcame to a stop. Mac ducked down into the cargo bay. “Everyone out! We’re next to Yankee Three. Take the prisoner and get aboard.”

Once the ramp was down, two Green Berets took hold of Sanders’s arms and carried the official away. He was shorter than they were, which meant his feet never touched the ground. Mac waited for Kona and her gunner to get clear before throwing a thermite grenade into the bay. It was stupid to feel sentimental about a machine, but she did, and would feel better knowing the enemy wouldn’t be able to use it.

Together with Lyle, Mac ran to the LUCKY LOU. Everyone was out of the vehicle by then, and Mac saw a flash as a second thermite grenade went off. She knew the resulting fire would find some of the Stryker’s backup ammo. And when that happened, a secondary explosion would destroy the Stryker. “Follow me!” Mac shouted. “Let’s get out of here!”

The C-130’s rear ramp was bouncing just inches off the ground as the plane continued to pick up speed. Mac jogged next to it as she urged people forward. “Get the lead out, damn it… Is everyone here?”

“We are five people short of a full load,” a green hat shouted from inside the plane.

Mac swore. Five soldiers. Dead? Maybe. That would be bad enough. “We leave no man behind.” That was the motto. But did it make sense to sacrifice more lives, perhaps all of their lives, to retrieve dead bodies? No, not to Robin’s way of thinking.

But what if one or more of the MIAs were alive? Lying in a ditch, watching the last plane take off? How would that feel? Mac knew how it would feel. But she also knew that fifty-plus lives were at stake. She looked at Lyle and knew that he knew. Here was the cost of command. “We’re out of here,” Mac said, as both she and Lyle made the jump. Hands reached out to pull them up as a soldier yelled, “Look out! Here comes a vehicle!”

The Humvee was behind them, and catching up quickly. It was armed with a .50, which began to fire three-round bursts. “Throw your grenades!” Lyle shouted. “ All of them!”

Half a dozen soldiers threw whatever they had left. That included a dozen fragmentation grenades, a canister of red smoke, and an illumination device. They bounced into the air and went off right in front of the Humvee. It swerved, hit a pothole, and flipped.

The Herc was airborne by then… And as the nose came up, Mac had to grab onto a metal support or be thrown back into the still-rising ramp. As the hatch closed, Mac took the opportunity to look around. That was when she realized that the plane was only half full! And that made sense. The rest of her troops had been on Yankee One.

Overman came back to greet her. A bloody bandage was wrapped around his head. “You made it. Thank God for that.”

Mac’s throat felt tight. It was difficult to speak. “How many? How many did we lose?”