Eden's War (A Distant Eden) (12 page)

Chapter 18

A
drian and Race held the detonators and waited. Because the IEDs were more of a shotgun approach, they had all been wired to go off together with one button push. But they had to be timed perfectly. Adrian and Race were hidden in the brush on a rise of land a quarter of a mile east of the bridges. They could see the highway for miles. Behind them a mile back, a strike team was ready to ambush the Chinese scout team.

Through dancing heat waves they saw the scout team approaching rapidly. “Here they come.” Race said. Adrian was tense.

“Cross your fingers. If the advance team spots the IEDs, this whole plan goes up in smoke and you and I are in for a world of hell.” He watched with intense focus as the team approached the IED field, relaxing only slightly as they passed without pausing. “They’ve had clear sailing all the way to here, they’ve gotten sloppy. Good.”

As the advance team roared by in their open-top vehicles Adrian spotted the convoy in the far distance. “Here comes the main show. Be ready. I’ll blow the bridges just before the first truck clears. As soon as I do, you ignite the other IED’s.”

Within moments, the convoy entered the mine field. Adrian waited until the lead truck was three-quarters of the way across the bridge, then pushed the detonator. With a huge
crrrump
sound but no visible pyrotechnics the three bridges simultaneously collapsed, taking four trucks into the creek, the last two not yet on the bridge but unable to stop in time. Dust whirled up into the air blocking their view. Then Race hit her detonator and there was a huge explosion of sound, yellow flashes of light showed briefly through the dust, then several columns of black smoke rose above the cloud.

“Let’s get moving,” Adrian said in a relieved voice.

Throwing the pile of brush from the Jeep they jumped in. Adrian fired it up and raced east on the highway. Ahead they saw more black smoke where the strike team had hit the Chinese forward patrol. As they approached the inferno, they saw Chinese vehicles scattered and burning, hit by IEDs and intense small arms fire. Adrian slowed to wheel between the burning vehicles. Bodies of enemy soldiers were scattered among the vehicles, some on the road and some off to the side. Clearing the debris field Adrian sped up again. The C-130 waited a mile up the road, engines running and loaded with the Texas Ranger and ordnance teams. One militia soldier waited beside the aircraft to take the Jeep on to catch up with the militia at the next ambush point. Adrian and Race jumped into the plane and before they could get settled it was in the air.

Adrian had the pilot circle back and over the Plaza Larga Creek site. Far down below he could see that the convoy was regrouping. A dozen badly damaged vehicles were left where they sat. “If only we had air-power we could wax them easily.” Adrian said to Race. “But we’re lucky to get anything flying these days.”

Adrian had the pilot circle the Pantex plant. “This is just about the flattest place I ever saw,” he said to the pilot while standing in the cockpit observing the terrain around the plant. “I don’t think there’s a rock bigger than a quarter-inch down there, nothing to hide behind for miles, a few shallow draws is all there is for cover.”

The pilot asked, “Is that good or bad?”

“Bad… for us,” Adrian replied with a grim voice. “It’s a level playing field, no pun intended. It means we have to counter their tactics and armor with no cover.” The C-130 landed on the paved road next to the Pantex plant.

Adrian was met by a Jeep, and asked the driver to take him to the militia headquarters immediately.

“Lieutenant Frank Matcher, sir!” said the militia’s commanding officer, snapping off a smart salute.

“Pleased to meet you, Lieutenant.”

Race stepped off the plane at that moment and Frank smiled on seeing her. “Hey Race! Didn’t know you’d be here.”

Race smiled back. “Didn’t know you would either. Think we can talk the Chinese into committing suicide again?”

Adrian looked from Race to Frank, and shook his head. “Give me a disposition report, Lieutenant. We may only have a day, hopefully two, before the fight starts.”

Frank was immediately all business. “We arrived yesterday, four hundred militia and my Seal team. We found the permanent security contingent here, and right snappy they are sir, but there are only seventy-five of them. We brought men and small arms and some heavy machine guns. Sir, this place is a disaster to defend. It’s wide-open, flat country in all directions. Security is, as you’ve seen, two tall wire mesh fences – basically nothing. A lot of the complex inside the fence is underground, but a lot is on top and totally exposed. The Chinese can come at us from any and all directions. If they come from all four sides we barely have enough men to mount a defense at all.”

“It looks grim Frank, but there are possibilities here. One thing in our favor is that the Chinese are here to capture the facility intact, not destroy it. They will not use artillery on the facility itself, but will use it pinpoint style on the defensive perimeter. What about the scientists and technicians? Are there any left?”

“Yes sir, nearly all of them. Most of them moved their families nearby when they came here to work, and many of the stayed after the CME. There was no good way for them to get home, that’s damn rough country out there. There is also quite a stockpile of food, apparently the powers that were saw something of an eventuality and prepared for it. They’re growing their own food now – they have deep wells for water and the scientists rigged up a small nuclear power plant that they use to power the entire facility. They have excellent security against normal raiders. No place better for the scientists to be, in all reality. There’s some damn smart people in there. They also seem to have an endless supply of jackrabbits to eat. Not too bad if you’re hungry enough, sir.”

“Jackrabbits?” Adrian asked.

“Sir, there were jackrabbits inside the fence when it was completed. The fences are electrified. The rabbits did what rabbits do. Sometimes it seems as if you can’t walk through there without pushing them out of the way. Real survivors, and imprisoned, so to speak.”

“I’ll be damned.” Adrian said. “Who would’ve thought of that? Well Frank, as to the scientists – and I’ve always wanted to say this – take me to their leader.” Adrian smiled like a young boy for a brief second.

Frank led Adrian and Race through the main gate, past the tall, electrified fences with their guard towers and machine guns. Not a blade of grass grew in the area between the fences. As they moved through the grounds they passed several unguarded internal security points – areas that in the old days had required specialized credentials to enter. Those rules no longer seemed to apply. Jackrabbits wandered everywhere with their hunched backs and long, black-tipped ears, nimbly hopping out of the way at the last moment. When sitting, their long skinny forelegs supported their upper bodies as though on stilts, reminding Adrian somewhat of small kangaroos.

“Rafe Abram at your disposal, Mr. President,” a tall gangly man said. He was in his late sixties, tall, stooped, and thin. “It is indeed a pleasure to meet you sir, but under somewhat strained circumstances, eh?”

“The pleasure is all mine, Mr. Abram, and please just call me ‘Adrian.’ We have a lot to discuss, and damn little time to discuss it. No sense wasting it on formalities. Can we get right to business?”

“Certainly, certainly. Let’s get to it.”

Frank interrupted. “Sir, do you need me here for this or should I get back to the men?”

“By all means Frank, get back to your men. Give Race a tour of the perimeter defenses. I’ll brief you in a couple of hours on how we’re going to set this up.” Turning to the scientist he said, “Give me a quick rundown on the munitions and engineering facilities.”

Rafe briefed him.

Thirty minutes later Adrian said, “So let me recap. There are thirty-nine buildings in the complex and they all have flat roofs. Stored underground you have over twelve-thousand nuclear pits from small tactical weapons on up to the great big bangers. These pits require extremely high explosives to trigger them and you have literally tons of that. You have a dream-team of engineers and the fabrication facilities are excellent. That about sum it up?”

“Pretty close, yes.”

“Okay, here’s what I want you to do…” Adrian outlined his plan. Half an hour later, Adrian asked. “Now, is this doable?”

“It is, but I have my doubts as to whether or not we can do it in the time we have. Engineers aren’t exactly production people Adrian. They can design what you want quickly; building it is something else.”

“You have the shop facilities to build them, and more than enough materials. I’ll supply practical, experienced folks to help with the fabrication. There are people with a wide variety of skills in the militia we brought. Between your people and mine, I think we might pull it off.”

“Okay, Adrian. Since time is the major constraint let’s not waste any more of it. I’ll assemble the engineers and scientists, you bring your people, we’ll get them briefed en-masse, and turn them loose.”

“I like the way you think, Rafe. Everyone outside this building in one hour?”

“Done.”

An hour later and Adrian and Rafe were addressing the assembly. “Ladies and Gentlemen.” Adrian began. “We are soon to be attacked by two very large, very determined, well-armed Chinese military groups. We estimate twelve-hundred soldiers, possibly more, with artillery. Their mission is to take Pantex. They’ll be bringing their own scientists and engineers. When they take Pantex, they will assemble nuclear war heads and bombs, and bring in missiles and aircraft to deliver those war heads wherever they want to in our country. In short, taking Pantex means taking our country. This isn’t just the most decisive battle in the Chinese invasion. This is the
entire point
of the invasion. This, right here, is the war.

“Terrain is on their side. Firepower is on their side. Numbers are on their side. Time, in fact, is on their side. But we have two things on our side: Motivation, and the fact that they need this facility intact when they take it. They have strong motivation, they’ve come thousands of miles through countless hardships to get here. They have no plans of leaving here alive unless they win. They will fight to the death because they cannot go home – there is no retreat for them.

“Our motivation is much stronger, though. This is our land, our country, our homes, our families on the line. In short, this is ours and they are not going to take it from us.” Adrian paused for a moment as the crowd suddenly erupted into loud cheers. Adrian let them cheer themselves out, it was a release of tension that they badly needed.

“We have a plan. A plan that can certainly work, but only if we can implement it before they get here… and they are not far away. We have men and women fighting them, holding them back as long as they can. They are fighting, and dying at this very moment; dying in order to buy us minutes, hours, possibly a day.

“There may be other Chinese contingents on the way that we haven’t spotted, approaching unhindered. We have to make the absolute utmost use of what time we have. There’s no time for sleeping or eating or standing still. When you get your orders you must jump to it immediately, pursue it with the knowledge that your country, your life and the lives of those that you love depend on how fast you work. The plan is simple, its components are simple. I hate to say it in this crowd, but most of what happens next is
not
rocket science.” Adrian paused as some in the crowd laughed, several scientists getting mildly poked in the ribs.

“So, do I have your full support? Will you work like you’ve never worked before?” Adrian’s voice slowly rose as he spoke, ending on a crescendo. The crowd reacted, almost violently with a huge roar.

Adrian waited the couple of minutes it took them to settle down. “Okay then, I’ll give you the overall plan, then each of you will be assigned your part in the mission. After that it will be up to you as individuals and as teams to make it happen.”