“Yeah, you’re right. The more I gauge it, the more I see that the rendezvous we picked out was probably not the best choice. Could be too close to live-fire action if things go wrong.”
“How so?”
“Think about it, Mike. That spot’s not that far from Mt. Washington where we rained down that Hellfire. If this Connor MacMillen was even near that Brownsville Road designation on his handmade map, it’s not that far from Phoenix and his army.”
“Far enough.”
“Maybe not. And, if those two meet before the rendezvous point, I bet there’ll be a serious shitstorm.”
“You think Phoenix caught them?”
“Oh, no, I don’t think this Colonel MacMillen would let that happen, but I can see that there may be a surprise for the colonel when he discovers he’s got an entire army at his back.”
“You think Phoenix’s men located him?”
“Possible. Not likely, but there is the possibility. If the colonel was even there to begin with.”
“Amanda’s map seemed for real.”
“Yeah, true.”
“So, you’re seeing—ah, I got it! The timing of Phoenix in Pittsburgh suggests he’s tracking the colonel!”
“Not a coincidence, I can assure you.”
“You think he’s got a bead on the colonel?”
“Certainly explains his aggressive yet accurate route since the mill.”
“Hmmm…”
“I guess we’ll see when we get there, major.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
Cruising west past Johnstown, Pennsylvania, seventy miles east from Pittsburgh, there was little in established civilization, though one spot near the river showed some evidence of cultivation and structured planting. They continued flying past.
“Make sure Shamus takes a quick scan of the rendezvous before settling in. If we see any evidence of battle, we’ll know we were too late and will need to make amends.”
“And then?”
“Well, then we make our way to the secondary rendezvous keeping an eye out for our lost travelers.”
“We’ll get them back, ma’am. With Connor MacMillen and our team.”
“Let’s hope so, major. Though an amateur, Phoenix is nothing to play around with.”
“I’ll personally off that sneaky bastard.” Chest heaving, the major refused to be embarrassed by his violent outburst.
The colonel smiled grimly. “See to it, you get a chance.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
CHAPTER 9.11-Assessing the Enemy
“Larry, do you copy?”
Larry Reed dropped his deer jerky onto the truck seat, snatching up the radio.
“Copy. Go Luke.”
“They’re buggin’ out for somewhere. They’ve already left the KFC.”
“Shit.”
“New orders, over?”
“How close behind them are you? Over.”
“Um, not sure. We’re ’bout a quarter mile past the KFC, I figure maybe a mile or so behind them.”
“Go after ’em. Take your men and go—lose all stealth. Just try to catch up, you got it?”
“Yeah. They got a tactical team covering their exit, over.”
“How big a team?”
“Small. Probably a squad.”
“How are they doing, over?”
“Competent—haven’t seen ’em, but they’re there. Over.”
“Luke, you’re the best hunter tracker we got, take that cover team out of the way. We’ll be bumping up hard to catch up.”
“Will do. Out.” Luke radioed his men to converge for a full on assault. He planned to catch the handful of men that were invisibly fading in front of him. For the past quarter mile, he and his trackers caught whiff of their spoor, though he had to admit the team traveled well. He was certain that they were running obvious rear cover, though he felt he and his men gained on them. Giving them credit, he thought them well trained, having yet to catch a full visual. With his new orders and a shift in tactics to move full force, he knew this visual deficiency would change. “Narco, get that RPG ready.”
“Yes, sir!” Narco moved toward two men behind them and took the container. Quickly, he sat it on the ground and opened it. Within seconds, he had loaded the RPG. He was ready.
Luke turned to Jacob Johnson, his second in command for this excursion. “JJ, I want you to take your men out front fast; try to keep some cover on your assault, but let’s not be shy anymore.”
“Okay, sir.”
“Phoenix wants action more than stealth.”
“Finally finding his balls, is that it, sir?” JJ swallowed deeply at his own outburst, but did not hide from the risk involved in saying it.
Luke glanced around, realizing they were out of earshot of most of the men. He turned to face JJ. “You keep those comments to yourself, JJ. Especially in front of anyone else.”
“Yes, sir. Sorry, sir.”
“I don’t want to have to kill you in front of that bastard you keep saying that kinda shit.”
“I hear that. I’ll do better,” said JJ. He awaited further orders.
Luke refrained from any further reprimand, especially since he agreed with JJ’s assessment. He also found JJ to be one of the most competent men in the entire unit and was not likely to risk losing him simply because he was known to speak his mind. “Where’s Tippy Cup?”
“Sittin’ pretty, sir. He’s ’bout fifty yards from where we think they’ve positioned at least some men from their last location.”
“How they movin’ on us now?”
“They’re pros, sir. No doubt. You know that.”
“Yeah, we barely caught their trail ’cept that they’re keeping this Brownsville Road as their main focus.”
“Yes, sir. They’re definitely running cover for their team.”
“Of course. But why haven’t they engaged us yet? Huh? Tried to slow us down?”
“I dunno.” JJ decided to wait for the green light to leave and address the earlier orders. He knew he was risking being called out for not moving fast enough, but sensed Luke had more to say.
Luke thought of their progress to the KFC. It had been too easy. He reviewed their efforts in traveling Brownsville Road passed the KFC and the fact that the men ahead of them were clearly using the street for an escape route. It was his sense that at least ten men were lagging behind as a backcover team, hiding around the houses and weeds near the street. He had a revelation. “Ahh. I see. Makes sense. Of course.”
JJ took a moment to study the lupine features of Luke Wellington in the moonlight. The intelligence behind those eyes, shining in the near darkness, gave him pause.
“Sir?”
“What?”
“What do you see, sir?”
“The enemy gains more from us by simply fading away as long as they can from any engagement.”
“I don’t follow, sir.”
“JJ, they gain nothing by engaging us right now. They gain everything by just trying to slip away. Smart man, guy running that team.”
“So what do you wanna do?”
“Well, we do like Phoenix wants, we force them to engage.”
“Good. I’m getting tired of playin’ hide-n-seek.”
“Be careful what you wish for, JJ. These guys are good.”
“We’re better.”
“True.”
“I’m going out front now to show them how good.”
“Let’s take it to them, JJ.”
CHAPTER 9.12-Playing with C-4
“Team Black, do you copy?” asked Mickey into his radio. His team, Team Green, was tucked behind the public library on Brownsville Road, nearly a half mile behind the main unit.