I was still shaking, and I felt weak inside. Outside, an early summer thunderstorm sent flashes of lighting across the night sky.
The plan, so far, was on schedule. Ziv had picked up the gold two days ago, and had been in further communication with Doctor Morano. We knew when she was coming, and how, courtesy of Major McHale at Flight Ops in Albany. She would be bringing in some heavy hitters, a squad of mercenaries (sorry, “military contractors”) and her two Delta guys to act as snipers. Their LZ was a half mile upriver, on the Stillwater side.
We were going to hit them before they even got into position to hit us. Ahmed, with Red as a spotter, had built a hide site 300 meters away on the second floor of an old building, covering the entire LZ. His orders were to take out the two Delta operators as fast as possible. Ziv, good with a rifle himself, was paired with Brit, in a basement window that had a good line of sight covering most of the open space. Myself, Hart with a SAW, and Red were one assault team. Jim and Donny the Butcher from the Mechanicville salvage crew, along with my farmhand Joe, made up the other, forming a classic L shaped ambush. Doc was on standby as our medic. Our ace in the hole was Major McHale, who knew to vacate the area as soon as the drop off occurred, denying them any kind of top cover.
I ran over the plan in my mind, unable to fall back asleep. The nightmare of Ziv betraying us kept running through my head, but I had to trust him, he owed me his life. I couldn’t think of any other contingencies. It was going to fall to surprise and intelligence about their movements, like Sun Tzu said in the book. Just in case Morano had outthought me and had recon on the building, we had captured several Zombies and were going to let them loose in the first floor, locked up. That way their heat signatures would look like there was someone still in the house, moving around. We could take care of that when we got back, and we would swim the river the night before to get into position.
One aspect of the plan was Morano herself. I wanted her alive, if I could, but I wasn’t going to take any chances on any of the team getting hurt just to capture her. If she died in the first round of gunfire, so be it, but I counted on her being last off the chopper, after he goons had secured the area. If that we the case, McHale and his crew chief were going to lift as fast as possible before she got off, hopefully trapping her onboard.
Brit had, of course, fallen back asleep. I looked at my watch, and saw that it was 03:27. I was due to relieve Doc, who was on watch with Ahmed, at 03:52. Might as well get it over with now, let Doc get some extra sleep. I sat on the edge of the bed and strapped on my leg, then pulled on my multicam then checked my weapons, loaded and on safe.
On the roof, Doc was grateful for a chance to get some extra shut eye. He still wasn’t completely healed from the torture he had gotten on Grand Isle, and he gingerly let himself down through the trapdoor in the roof.
Ahmed sat watching the woods and fields through his scope mounted on his rifle, and I picked up the NVG’ Doc had left.
“What’s going on, Ahmed?”
He didn’t take his eyes off the scope. “Having trouble sleeping again?”
How did he know this stuff? Before I could answer, he said “I heard you scream. Well, I heard Brit scream, too, but that was much earlier, and probably for a different reason.”
I laughed. OK, so maybe we were a bit noisy. “Yeah, well, I had a hell of a nightmare. Dreamed Ziv betrayed us and most everyone was dead.”
“Really? How did I die?”
“Ziv stabbed you in the chest with that big Rambo knife of his.”
“Ha, I like the thought of that. Traditional, almost like dying in a sword fight like my ancestors. I would like to fight Ziv one day, with swords. Christian against Muslim, like in the old days.” He chuckled quietly, never taking his eyes off the scope.
“Lunatics. My entire frigging squad. All of you.”
His laughter stopped short, and I felt him tense up.
“Nick, we have company.”
“Zombies?”
“Yes. Maybe two dozen. Behind them, there are hotter figures, looks like six, following. They have just appeared out from behind the rise, maybe 300 hundred meters. Due East.”
“Take out the hot spots. Those are Morano’s mercenaries. Shit shit shit. I’m on my way downstairs. Stay in radio contact, report anything else. I’ll send Joe up here to watch the other side, make sure they aren’t trying to sneak up from the river. Remember, claymores at the field wall, one hundred meters.”
Ahmed didn’t say anything, just started firing. I slapped the alarm button, sending a siren shrieking through the farm.
Chapter 28
On the way down the stairs, I threw the breaker on the outside floodlights. They were angled to cover the grounds outward, blinding any attackers. Also attracting any Zombies within 10 miles, but that was a chance we had to take. Return fire started thumping into the house, then died off when the lights powered up.
I met Joe coming up the hallway. “Backup Ahmed, watch for an assault from. 2 dozen zombies approaching from the east, backed up by mercenaries. Go!” He took off down the hall and started up the stair to the roof.
Brit and the rest of the guys were busy slamming the steel shutters shut over the windows. I had installed them a few months ago, cut from used sheet metal. They would stop everything up to a 7.62 round. Just as I thought that, a loud BANG sounded from one of the window on the West Side, and a hole appeared in the steel. The round buried itself in one of the kitchen cabinets as we hit the floor.
“Barrett .50 cal!” yelled Doc. That was not good. Another round banged through the wall and gouged its way across the kitchen table, shattering it.
I got on the radio to Ahmed. “TAKE OUT THAT .50!” I yelled probably way too loud. Joe came back on the radio. “Nick, Ahmed is down. I have movement on the west shore of the river, looks like a Zodiac boat, maybe another 6 guys.”
Damn. We had to act.
“Ziv, take Brit and Red. Go south and then cross the canal. Wait. Wait a minute.”
I wasn’t thinking straight. Of course. We were on a frigging island. The attack from the east, the harrassing fire from the Barret, were all just diversions. There was no way the zombies could get across the canal; the doors were open, and we had used cutting torches to take out the foot bridges. The only way onto the island was by boat or by foot or vehicle from the North, or by…
“Ziv, head south. Take Hart and Red with you. Cover the south field, expect an airborne or helo insertion. Take the 240, GO!” They rushed out the back door, Red grabbing extra ammo cans.
“Jim, you and Donny deal with the boat, I’m sure a couple of 40mm grenades will discourage them. The big former Marine nodded. Donny laughed his retarded laugh, and started fitting an HE round into the M203 under his rifle. Frigging weirdo. “Then head north, cover the road. I don’t think they can get through the wall we built with anything short of a couple pounds of C-4, but just make sure.”
“Brit, go see how Ahmed is, see if he needs any more help.”
“Where are you going?”
“I’m going zombie hunting, baby. Give me a kiss, and give me some cover from up top.”
“Nick, if you don’t come back, I’m going to kill you.”
I grinned at her and then had a thought and turned toward the radio.
“Orange Main, this is Lost Boys, over.”
“Orange Main, this is Lost Boys, Over!”
Figures. Stupid RTO was probably asleep or playing X-Box. Not to worry, I had a backup plan. I flipped frequencies.