The general tried to keep his voice a mere whisper. “No, you don’t understand me. Without air cover to keep the rebels from concentrating, they’ll destroy us piecemeal. There won’t be an army to save in 24 hours. I’m sorry, but you’re just going to have to suck up the losses.”
“That call was made way over my head. I don’t have that type of authority, sir.”
“Then get your boss’s boss on the line. If I don’t outrank him, I’m at least close friends with someone who does. Sacrificing a hundred pilots to save 10,000 troops is a price I’m more than willing to pay. So move, now!”
Bremer marched over to the communications corner of his bunker. He never took his eyes off the depressing battle tracker screen. In that short walk, 10 % of his scattered blue squares winked out of existence.
“Send a message to CENTCOM. This is no diversionary attack. Make sure they understand…” he lowered his voice and leaned in close to the radio operator, “that we’re being overrun. We’ll bleed the enemy as long as possible, but our reinforcements need to establish a new defensive line along the Mississippi River. Don’t bother coming to our rescue. Everything between here and there is lost, or will be shortly.”
The commo sergeant squared his jaw and clutched the satellite radio. “Hooah, sir.”
General Bremer just clapped him on the shoulder and turned back to his operations staff. “Pucker up everyone. We aren’t beat yet. The enemy clearly expects the bulk of our units to hole up here in town where they can crush us at their leisure later. They might expect us to try a breakout to the east, which would explain why their forces are thin on the ground out that way. Want to lure us into the open. I bet you the last thing they’d expect is a counterattack to the west.”
His planning team shook their heads, but that turned into vigorous nodding after a moment. “Damn. You’re right, sir. There’s maybe only a brigade or so of rebel shooters between us and their supply train. We have more than enough combat power to brush them aside. Wrecking their support tail won’t send them running back to Texas, but would sure slow them down.”
General Bremer clapped his hands behind his back. He hated Hail Mary plays, but sometimes that was your only option. “Let’s get the ball rolling. I want to kick off in thirty minutes, before the enemy has a chance to figure things out. Sergeant Major!”
His senior NCO appeared at his side. “Get the local police liaison in on this plan. We’ll need all his officers and any civilian volunteers they’ve got trained up to help cover our flanks.”
“Actually sir, they’re already here. A dozen deputies have been waiting outside for five minutes.”
“Well, good to see that the civilians are on the ball. Bring them in. We could learn a thing or two from their examp—” Without warning, his sergeant major shoved the general down and ripped out his sidearm.
“Frag out!”
It had been a long time since the general was personally in a firefight, but he knew something wasn’t right. He vaguely recalled that a grenade going off inside of an enclosed space should have liquefied his guts. One of his soldiers dived over the map table and fired off a burst from his rifle. “Fucking flash bangs, sir! Stay- pwhack”
Most of his brains splattered across the projector screen, but his body crumbled on the general’s legs. Bremer shoved the corpse off. His head spun and his ears bled, but the general’s mouth still worked.
“The COMSEC! Don’t let them get the encryption keys. Cover me!”
Bremer couldn’t hear his own words through his ruptured eardrums, but the sergeant major rose to a knee and emptied his 9mm anyway. The general snagged the fallen soldier’s rifle and tried running to the commo corner, but a ricocheting bullet clipped his shoulder. As he fell, the weapon skidded across the cold concrete, smashing into the lifeless eyes of his executive officer.
General Bremer let out a growl and low crawled as fast as his fifty-year-old frame would allow. By some miracle, he made it all the way across the room without being hit. Perhaps it wasn’t such a miracle. As he reached up and yanked the ultra-classified COMSEC key maker off the desk, he noticed a little hearing coming back.
Especially now that the shooting had stopped.
“Clear left.” Some distant voice shouted.
“Clear center.” Much stronger… and closer.
“Clear right.” A scorching hot metal tube slid under the desk and pressed against Bremer’s belly. He clutched the code box to his chest like a newborn.
“Pardon me, sir. Do you mind if we borrow that?” One of the policemen dragged him out by his feet. Two more yanked him upright, pinned his arms back and zip-tied them.
“Well, look at all those stars. I doubt this Fedefuck was worth three of our guys, but if he doesn’t win us a few days of R&R, nothing will.”
Chapter 2
“Blackjack Company, fall in on the double!”
Lieutenant Walker wasted her best command voice on the crowded tarmac. With a jumbo jet thundering in or out every 15 seconds, none of the troops could hear her. Her first sergeant ran to the cluster of troops grab-assing around and slapped some shoulders. Once he achieved a critical mass of soldiers paying attention, the rest coalesced into formation and snapped to attention.
“At ease! This is our ride. We’re moving out…”
The first of four AN-225’s, the largest cargo planes in the world, roared off behind them and drowned her out. The mammoth transports, expensively chartered from Ukraine, each hauled 280 tons of her unit’s armored vehicles and equipment. She couldn’t let their gear beat them to the fight.
Walker snapped her fingers and waved her head at the United Airlines 747 next to her. She hefted her duffel bag and ruck, but didn’t board herself until every last soldier was inside. A stewardess greeted her when she finally climbed up the ladder. “This way ma’am. Please make yourself comfortable.”
Walker peeked her head inside the first class cabin and whistled. It was a far cry from being wedged into a C-130’s cargo bay like Lego blocks. The pilot came out of his cabin, arm stretched out. Walker shook his hand suspiciously.
“Why are we getting the royal treatment?”
The pilot grinned. “It’s not just your unit. Washington wants to teleport your whole division into New Orleans, no matter what it costs. The Pentagon activated the entire Civil Reserve Air Fleet yesterday. Since the start of the war, membership is mandatory. Every plane that operates even part of the time in US airspace has been requisitioned. No matter where they are flying now. Heck, we were in London just this morning when we got the call to disembark the tourists and haul ass to Kansas.”
Walker looked the old man over with a new measure of respect. “You sure seem to know more about what’s going on than me. Last I heard from my command, we were headed to Arkansas.”
The pilot skimmed all the eyes on him and stepped in close to whisper. “I’m not supposed to say anything, but I’ve heard the chatter over the net. There’s not a single safe airfield west of the Mississippi. My airline alone lost two birds, and over 200 troops, trying to land in Monroe, Louisiana. It was a safe zone when they took off, but saturated in artillery fire by the time they landed. The front’s just moving too fast.”
Walker cussed under her breath. “Well, we can’t do much to turn the tide if we get shot out of the sky on the way down there.”
The pilot winked. “Don’t worry, ma’am. We’re taking the scenic route. I’ll fly us east to Kentucky and then swing south. The Air Force has every fighter in the world covering the approach. We’ll get you there safe and sound, but then… well, good luck. I have to go. We’re twentieth in line to take off, which means it’s our turn in five minutes.”