“Town Hall, we wish to aid Checkpoint Two. All you have is my word, but we mean you no harm.”
“Describe yourself Civilian.”
“We’re a tan Bronco southbound on Highway 15, approximately five miles north of Decatur.”
“Continue south, C ivilian; you’ll find them. Will contact Checkpoint Two.”
Immediately afterwards the scanner barked to life.
“Checkpoint Two , this is Town Hall; you have alleged friendly support two miles to the north. They’re in a tan, Ford Bronco and are willing to provide you aid. Do you copy?”
“Copy Town Hall, send them on; we’ll take what we can get. It can’t get any worse.”
***
After a short while, they approached the scene. Checkpoint Two was several police cruisers parked across the highway. The assailants were a dozen men hidden behind a deuce and a half with an M2 Browning mounted in the back of the truck. Checkpoint Two was utterly and helplessly pinned to the ground by the machine gun’s fire.
Geram pulled off the highway a little less than a thousand hundred yards from the attackers. He eased the Bronco behind a thick stand of trees that acted as a wind break for one of the fields along the road. Sasha whined in protest as they left her in the back seat.
They moved along the woods line on the right-of-way of the road. The gunfire ahead of them was brutal.
Geram explained his plan to Jake and Kate, “We stay low and out of the checkpoint’s line of fire as we approach. When we get a couple hundred yards away, we find a safe position in the woods and start picking these guys off. As long as they don’t see us coming, we should be fine.”
As they neared the predetermined distance, they searched and found a fallen oak tree not far in the woods. The thick trunk provided excellent cover. There was a narrow gap between the ground and the tree that was suitable for firing through.
Geram removed the night-vision scope from the FAL and peered through the rear aperture sight. He searched for the gunner on the M2 atop the deuce and a half. Jake and Kate had matching, scoped AR-15s, and had already settled on their targets. The assailants’ backs were fully exposed. They were so confident in their superior firepower, and focused on overrunning the checkpoint, they failed to consider a counter-assault from the direction they had come from.
On the count of three they fired simultaneously, downing their marks. As the sound of the Browning faded, the raiders looked about in dismay. One man left his position to climb up to the gun, but Geram caught him mid-stride. Kate and Jake had also found and dropped their second targets. The attackers were now in a full panic. Half of their group and been killed in a matter of seconds and they had no idea where the gunfire was coming from. One man tried to run to the woods on the opposite side of the road, but was downed by a member of Checkpoint Two.
The raiders’ resolve had been shattered. They formed a circular pattern and began to frantically fire in all directions. Two more of the assailants were gunned down by Checkpoint Two, before the remaining three flung their rifles sidelong and lay prone on the pavement. As the gunfire subsided, a man from the checkpoint shouted, “Hold your fire, Bronco! I think that’s all of them.”
Geram shouted back in response, “You’ve got three down behind the deuce. Go ahead and retrieve them; we’ll provide cover.”
“Roger, coming forward.”
The men of the checkpoint advanced and secured the remaining assailants in the back of one of the bullet-riddled cruisers. Geram, Kate and Jake appeared from out of the woods with their rifles slung over their backs and their hands skyward. Geram called out again, “Bronco, coming forward!”
“Hands down Bronco, that ain’t how we treat our friends.” The man was tall, uniformed and in his late fifties. Geram reasoned he was likely Decatur’s chief of police.
“Bronco, I need to take several of my officers and check on the other side of town. Do you mind staying here with a couple of my men ‘til we return?”
“Go; hurry,” Geram replied, “We’ve got you covered.”
***
Jake and Kate had already fueled up the Bronco from the town’s reserves and were enjoying the tiny café’s lavish, all-day breakfast menu. Geram and the police chief were riding around town, discussing more appropriate defensive tactics.
“I think you’ve got to cut off some of these roads leading into town. You can’t defend them all. You’ve got how many, at least ten roads leading in?”
The man nodded. “We’ve considered it, but a lot of folks have been reluctant to barricade ourselves in like that.”
“I think after today, they’ll have a change of heart. If we hadn’t showed up when we-“
“You’re right son, don’t even say it. I’d rather forget the whole experience. So, let’s say we block some of these roads; what’s the best way to do it?”
“You want to go far enough out so that if someone abandons their vehicle and tries to hoof it in to town, they’ll be in no shape to fight by the time they reach you. I’d say at least five miles, but ten is better. Find a creek, a bridge, a bottom – a natural choke point. Where we’re from, we cut trenches across the road at points like that. You could also build an abatis, which might be even better.”
The chief interrupted, “A what?”
“An abatis – take for instance a wicker chair, you know how the material is woven?”
The chief nodded.
“Imagine that with ten or twelve trees across a road; you cut them so that they fall over each other and interlock, making a huge mess.” Geram entwined his hands as an example. “Nothing around here is going to drive over that, and it’d take some serious effort to clear it.”
“I like it.”
“Remember, anybody can get through anything, given enough time. So don’t completely forget about these barricades, just focus your people elsewhere and check on them occasionally.”
“Makes perfect sense; thanks.”
As they pulled up to the café, the mayor approached. The chief lowered the window and the mayor leaned, in smiling widely. “Is this one of the folks that saved my town?”
Geram smiled, “We helped, but your men did a lot to.”
“Don’t be modest, you saved us. Come on in, I want to buy you lunch, ahh, breakfast.”
Ch apter 18
SPARC Team 2
San Francisco, California
The men approached the bridge wearing hiking boots and backpacks. They split up and walked on opposite sides as they neared their destination. They waited until there was no traffic, which didn’t take long at all. They removed the ropes from their packs and fastened them to the side rails.
After several deep breaths, they hopped over the edge and rappelled down to the bridge’s pile caps. The men realized just how dizzyingly high they were. They placed the matching packages on their respective pile caps, right next to the bearings that the bridge deck rested on.
Once the packages were in place, they continued their rapid descent. As they reached the water’s surface, a small skiff motored over and picked each man up in turn. Once both men were in the boat, the operator throttled the motor and disappeared into the thick, foggy night. The entire operation took less than an hour.
***
SPARC Team 5
Chicago, Illinois
The driver pulled the ball cap down tightly over her face. She followed the pre-described route that offered the least chance of passing through a checkpoint. Even if she was pulled over and searched, they would have to empty the entire contents of the fully-packed, box truck to find anything of suspicion. She rounded the final turn and took several deep breaths as she approached the end of her journey. She passed under the large sign that read: