Apache Dawn: Book I of the Wildfire Saga (76 page)

“Roger that, Golf.”
 
The Captain grinned as Deuce and Zuka high-fived.
 
Denny smiled and took a sip of the hot coffee. It was black and strong, but it was hot, and he could feel the warmth spread through his body almost as soon as it went down his throat.

“
Can confirm there are two remaining sites
—
repeat, there are two remaining SAM sites.”

The Captain nodded.
 
“Actual copies all.
 
You still got friendly company?”

“
Roger that.
 
One went back to town to rally support a couple hours ago.
 
One stayed behind to help me with the shelter.
 
We’re out of the rain, but it’s a near thing.
 
Evac can’t get here fast enough
.”

“Roger that.
 
Stay dry and stay alert.
 
Actual, out.”

“Cap, got a light over here!” warned Deuce from the living room window.
 
He was kneeling next to the wall next to the drawn curtains, peering out through a slit at the street in front of the house.
 
“Headin’ this way.”

“Zuka,” said the Captain, reaching for his helmet.

“On it.”
 
The short Ranger handed his mug to Denny.
 
“Hold that for me, will ya?”

The back door opened, letting in the cold air and dull roar of the rain.
   
The door shut and Zuka was gone, a ghost in the shadows.
 
Captain Alston picked up his rifle, pulled back the charging handle and nodded at Denny.

“Just stay put, sir.”

“Okay,” said Denny, a mug of coffee in each hand.

“
Comin’ back, Hammer 2
,” said Zuka’s voice after a few tense minutes of silence.
 
“
Target acquired.
”

Captain Alston opened the door and Deuce covered the opening with his rifle.
 
A very wet civilian in a woodland-camo hunting jacket stumbled through the door with his hands up, dripping water on the floor.
 
Zuka was right behind the taller man, his M4 leveled at his back.
 
Over the Ranger’s shoulder was a bolt action rifle with a large scope.

Once inside with the door shut, the Rangers made sure there was no one else outside before dealing with their prisoner.
 
The man was obviously scared, or cold, or
both
, because his hands were shaking as he held them over his head.
 
Denny squinted in the darkness but couldn’t really see the man’s face. Something about the way he carried himself seemed familiar, though.

“Mind telling me what the hell you were doing out there with this?” asked Captain Alston, holding the hunting rifle.

“You guys are Americans, right?” said the deep voice of the stranger.
 
Only, he wasn’t a stranger.
 
Denny knew that voice.

“Ansel?” he asked.

“How’d you know my name?” growled the big man.
 
He craned his neck to peer in Denny’s direction.
 
“Wait, Denny?
 
Is that you?”

The two men shook hands.
 
Denny turned, all smiles, to Captain Alston.
 
“Captain, this is Anse Johnson.
 
He’s the phys-ed teacher at the high school where we—where we used to teach.”
 

“Yeah, it burned down…” Anse said with a shake of his head.

“You can vouch for him?” asked the Captain.

“Absolutely,” said Denny.
 
“He’s on our side.”

“Did a stint in the Coast Guard when I was younger and lived back east,” said Anse, pride evident in his voice.

Captain Alston shook hands with the newcomer and the Rangers relaxed.
 
“So, what were you doing out there?”

“Buddy of mine, Steve Petach—you know Steve, right Denny?”

“Sure, he’s gone hunting with us before,” said Denny.
 
He handed a mug of coffee to Hersh.
 
Captain Alston nodded.

“Thanks, man.”
 
The big man took a sip.
 
“Aaah, that’s good.
 
Well, Steve comes running up to my house an hour or so ago, soaking wet, with this wild look in his eyes.
 
Wilder than normal, I mean,” he chuckled.
 
“He says he was out with his brother, coming back from a hunt and found these two Army guys, west of town.
 
One was shot up pretty bad.”

Captain Alston shot a glance at Denny.
 
It was clear he wanted no interruptions.
 
Denny nodded slightly.

“Anyway, turns out they were Army Rangers.
 
Here to help us fight the Russians, man!
 
So his brother stays to help get a makeshift shelter set up, and Steve ran all the way back to town—in this storm!—to spread the word.
 
He got to three people.
 
Each one of us agreed to go tell three more.
 
I was on my way to George—oh, heya George,” the big man waved to their host.

“Anse,” the old man said with a grunt.
 
“I got no idea who the hell you think I’d be running around to tell.
 
Take me all week to track anyone down, slow as I go.”

“Well,” said Hersh with a shrug.
 
“We don’t have any organization or anything, we’re just spreading the word.
 
You seen combat before, so I figured we should tell you.”
 
In his hunting gear, it looked like a small tree shrugged.
 
“Bunch of us still got our guns squirreled away—and we ain’t too scared to fight, neither,” Hersh said, looking at Captain Alston.

“We’re meeting at dawn, at the school.
 
Or, what’s left of it, I guess.
 
The Russians burned it to the ground and no one’s gone there since.
 
I don’t think they’ll bother to look for us in the rubble.”

Captain Alston nodded.
 
“Not bad, but you need a plan of attack.
 
Simply meeting will accomplish nothing except maybe get you all killed.
 
At least some of these Russians are
Spetznas
.
 
They mean business.
 
You guys start taking pot shots at them, they’ll slaughter you—”

Anse’s face darkened in the dim light.
 
“We know that.
 
But we got to do something.
 
I saw what they did.”
 
He thumped his broad chest.
 
“Now it’s
our
turn.”

“Fair enough,” said Captain Alston, hands up.
 
“But, I’m trying to tell you, if you and your friends have a plan, you’ll do a lot more damage.
 
And if we work together, we might just teach Ivan a lesson he won’t soon forget.”

“We surprised ‘em good enough tonight.
 
Couple of the boys set fire to one of their big piles of gear.”

“The ammo dump by City Hall?” asked Zuka.

“Yeah, I guess.
 
Bunch of stuff piled up next to the building, guards all over the place.
 
But they didn’t bother to guard the rooftops of the buildings across the street.
 
Well, the ones still standing, I mean.
 
We lobbed some Molotov cocktails in there, just thinking to stir some shit up.”

“That’s funny, right there,” said Zuka, raising his coffee mug in salute.

The big man laughed out loud.
 
“You should have seen ‘em run when the first bottle hit home.
 
WHOOSH!
”
 
He laughed again.
 
“Scared the
shit
out of ‘em, man.”

“Well, we got a few surprises for ‘em, too.
 
We’ll destroy those SAM sites—” said Captain Alston.

“Sam who?”

“Surface-to-air-missile.
 
SAM
.
 
They got a couple of mobile launchers on the west side of town.
 
There’s more good guys coming, but we need to take those missiles out, so our reinforcements can land.”
 
Captain Alston shrugged.
 
“But there’s only a handful of us.
 
If you and your buddies could cause a diversion…just get the Russians to focus their attention elsewhere for a few minutes, we’ll blow the missiles straight to hell.”

The camo-clad civilian scratched his beard.
 
“Okay, say me and the boys pull that off…” said Anse.
 
“
Then what?”

“Then I call down the thunder and we teach Ivan that payback’s a bitch.”

C
HAPTER
30

Washington, D.C.

The White House.

Presidential Emergency Operations Center.

I
AM
TRULY
DISAPPOINTED
by your performance to date, Mr. President
,” said Reginald’s clipped voice.

The President rolled his eyes and tried to calm his trembling hands.
 
Wait, why are my hands shaking?

“
I gave you a set of instructions to be carried out
−”

“I’m the President of the United States, not some damned kid.”

“
Then act like it!
”

The President was shocked into silence by the venom in Reginald’s outburst.
 
It was completely outside the range of emotion normally displayed by the mysterious voice that controlled his destiny.
 
The President frowned.
 
He’s keeping me from seeing Jayne, I know it.

“Where
is
she?” the President asked in a voice that was close to a whisper.
 
He winced.
 
God, I sound pathetic.
 
But I need her…

It took a moment for Reginald to respond.
 
“
You miss her, don’t you?
”

“Of
course
I miss her,” the leader of the Free World whimpered.
 
“I…” He had to put out an arm and steady himself.
 
What’s wrong with me?

“
Mr. President, did you honestly expect
−”

“What did you…unh…”
 
His knees felt weak.
 
It was getting harder to stand.
 
“What did you
do
to me?”
 
He leaned heavily on the conference table in the War Room.
 
This is not good!

Reginald chuckled softly.
 
“
My good man, I have done nothing at all to you.
 
You have done this to yourself
.”

“Did what you asked…” the President gasped.
 
He looked down in shock at his right hand. It was past trembling.
 
I’m shaking like a leaf…what the hell is happening?

“
Oh, you did some of what I asked.
 
But you have started to go…how is it that you Americans put it?
 
Ah yes…you’ve gone off the reservation.
 
You are losing control of your government.
 
There is an usurper out there, this Orren Harris.
 
Your military is flocking to him.
 
And you have done nothing.
 
The Germans have been screaming for help, the Russians too, and you have done nothing.
 
Where are the National Guard troops you promised to help quell the riots?
”

“I
suspended
the Constitution and gave your military governors absolute, regional control—just like you asked.
 
I declared
martial law
in the major cities—just like you asked…the troops are
there
…they’re just…refusing…orders…”

“That is true, you certainly—”

“I forced North Korea to the table with the air-strikes on Pyongyang.
 
Don’t forget that—because
you
did nothing.”

“
Indeed, but that has only given their military leaders more incentive to use tactical nuclear weapons on American soil
,” replied Reginald in a thoughtful tone.
 
“
Which, I assure you, is coming.
 
More importantly, you have lost the Source
.”