Mark came on the radio again. “Roger, they are finalizing their plans and gear.” Haliday looked at his watch. It had been about 40 minutes from the time he heard the deuce until now. They were toward the end of the runway and had about ¾ of a mile to reach them.
The vehicles started moving slowly forward. The deuce was leading with the others about 35 feet behind and off to the sides. The pickup had a driver and two gunners in it. The deuce had a driver, gunner and four men in the back. The van just had a driver and one man who had slid the side door open. The other five men moved on foot. Mark called and told everyone they were moving
The pace was slow and the suspense was getting on everyone’s nerves. The guys in the tree line started to take some shots at the vehicles but they were still a little too far away. The militia accompanying the vehicles was keeping a sharp lookout to the sides and behind them. The anticipation was growing.
They were much closer now and the tree line on both sides erupted with fire. The first vehicle to take a hit was on one of the back tires of the deuce, but that was like a scratch and didn’t phase it. The deuce paused and one of the guys on foot dropped the tailgate and the rest climbed in the back. They continued to move toward Haliday.
The gunners in the deuce lit up the tree line where they spotted a sniper. The man was hit and started to fall out of the tree, but just dangled from his tree stand harness. He was wounded and trying to free himself as he continued to take fire from the militia. After just a few more moments he went limp after sustaining more hits.
The man who had been using the front loader as cover was in a bind, he was exposed no matter where he went. He looked around for a way to get to safety rather than stay in place and stay safe. He made a run for another position, but the pickup truck gunner took aim and hit the man twice. The man tumbled forward and fell. The gunner put another round into him.
The men in the tree line fired again and hit the van’s front tire. The tire deflated and the rim dug into the grass and dirt slowing it down. The rear tires started to spin as they lost traction trying to propel the vehicle forward. The van only made it another 25 feet before it wouldn’t move anymore. It was now stuck where it was. The militia men inside readied themselves to make a run for it.
The deuce paused so the men from the van could get in. The driver leapt out and ran for the deuce and the man at the side door of the van jumped down. His feet had barely hit the ground when Mark fired half of a magazine into the guy. The militia returned fire on Mark, who was lying prone behind one of the metal portals the shop had built. He could hear the rounds strike the plate and the woods around him.
Mark called out some instructions so they would keep him covered. He would have to wait it out for a little bit before he would be able to get to a safer position. The assault from the front and now the rear caught them off guard and they were reforming their plans to adjust for the increase in militia members fighting them.
The deuce and pickup started to move forward again. The pickup now moved in a bit closer to the deuce so they could cover each other’s vehicle. This was an amateur move and could put the militia in greater danger. Concentrating troops in a small area like this could make it easier to take out more at once.
They could gun it and rush Haliday’s positions and then all jump out near the emplacements, but that was suicide. Mark was waiting, but he was still pinned down and we stayed still because it was his only option. He still had to wait for a better opportunity before he could move out. He called Haliday and told him.
Haliday was only able to grab a quick peek once in a while. The gunners were a threat and were keeping Haliday and his men down low and unable to fire back. The pickup and deuce made it to about 200 yards away from Haliday and slowed again. Haliday literally didn’t know what to do. He had to think quickly.
They could try and bail over to the buildings and fight inside but that wasn’t any better. They would simply be pinned inside with no way out. Haliday was ticked off that they didn’t have a better grip on their own rear position, especially since this was how they got in themselves. He heard a voice on the radio.
“We’re coming up from the rear, ‘you copy?’ we have two bikes and the Jeep. Do not fire on us.” Haliday told everyone on the radio to pass the word. Do not fire on the vehicles behind the trucks, they are good guys. Concentrate your fire on the sides. The tree line lit up again on the militia and the militia fired back.
Straight up behind them roared two motorcycles and the Jeep. Blake was on his bike and Alan on the KLR. They both went for the cover of the van and took up their positions and fired toward the advancing militia from the rear. The first two people to go down were the two guys in the back of the pickup truck.
The driver didn’t know where the rounds had come from. He gunned it and took off for one of the emplacements. His goal now was to get out of the open and into the emplacements occupied by Haliday’s group. They didn’t want to remain targeted any longer. The truck bounced violently across the open field as it increased speed.
He plowed into the emplacement crushing one of the men underneath the pickup and the sand bags. The other man had jumped out of the way. The driver got out and fired on the man. Rob was one position over and saw what happened. Rob fired and dropped the man and then got back down. They were taking heavy fire from the deuce now.
One of the militia in the deuce looked back and his eyes widened with horror. There was this Jeep right behind them with two guys at the roll bar firing into the back of the deuce. The Jeep was only 50 yards behind them. Mike was driving and Kevin and Randy had AR’s blazing away. They went through three magazines each in a matter of about a minute.
Mike hit the brakes and swung left, then stopped. They now had Alan and Blake by the van and Mike, Randy and Kevin by the Jeep, and both groups were behind the militia deuce. The fire was concentrated on the deuce. The deuce slowed and the driver gunned the engine trying to get it to move faster. The two front tires and a couple of the rear tires were flat.
One of the men jumped down and raised the tailgate up. They wanted to protect the men in the back from more fire and they were basically like fish in a barrel. Blake took aim as the man was climbing up and hit the man three times in the back. One of the guys in the back of the deuce had tried to help lift the guy in and one of the snipers took him out with a head shot. The man just hung over the tailgate of the deuce with the other man lying on the ground.
Mark got up and headed along the east side and stopped. He popped some tear gas into the 37mm launcher and put three rounds close to the deuce. The men inside were scrambling to put on gas masks. Mark fired into the tank of the deuce multiple times and watched the fuel drain out. He was about to launch a flare when he saw a couple of white flags waving.
He called Haliday on the radio. “I punctured the tank after I fired some tear gas over there, I was about to launch some flares when I saw two white flags. They want to surrender. What do you think?”
Haliday said, “Let them.” Haliday called out a ceasefire. It took about 15 minutes but eventually all of the firing stopped.
Haliday called over to Mike. “How far away from them are you?” he asked.
Mike said, “About 50 or 60 yards. What do you want me to do?”
Haliday asked him, “Can you hear them. Can you talk to them?”
“Hold on,” Mike said, “I’ll check.” Mike yelled over to the deuce. “Can you hear me?”
Someone answered back, “Ya, we can hear you. We want to surrender.”
Mike told Haliday and asked him what to do next. Haliday told him to repeat what he was saying. Mike did just that. “You are fully surrounded with snipers and gunmen. Do as you are told and no harm will come to you. If you fire we will fire back on everyone. Do you understand?” The reply was yes.