A dozen or more cameras had been linked into a network designed by TOM and coordinated by ADAM to enable Boris to come as close as possible to the action while still strategically overseeing the battle. It was a compact and comprehensive setup, with an added benefit that everything could be moved into the shipping container/command transport once the fight was over.
Paul responded, “After you, boss.”
Boris shook his head, “You know I never sleep before an op. I’ll go for a walk among the troops, making sure they know that I trust them to do their jobs. Boost their confidence, boost their morale. Show that I care for them.”
Janna glanced questioningly at Paul who answered the unasked question, “He does this every time. No matter the size or scope of the mission. Anything from a squad op to company-sized. The night before the battle he won’t sleep. Not that it seems to affect his ability to do the job well. Just makes me, a mere mortal, kinda jealous. Gets me every time he does that, too.” He shook his head and headed tiredly to his sleeping bag.
Watching Paul leave, Boris raised an eyebrow at Janna, who shrugged and also headed out. He was finding her less distracting to work with now, the passage of time allowing him to re-associate her smell. He couldn’t help but admire the grace with which she walked and the sway of her assets as she left. He sighed internally. She was not an option for romance. Definitely not now, one did not look to operational subordinates for such.
He headed out to circulate among the troops. It was a cold camp tonight, with no fires, but hopefully, he could hearten them. Boris still wished he could fight with them and swore to himself that next time he would not be kept out of the action.
CHAPTER TWO
Ambush site west of Romanovka, Siberia
When morning broke, there was a mist of rain. Perfect weather for ducks and an ambush. Boris was talking to his field officers. They were expecting the NVG force from the West to arrive in three or so hours so he had time to conference with them and send them back to their men. The other ambush force had moved to within a mile last night from their positions to the northeast of the route that the NVG had chosen. They would be moving in slowly on bellies over the next three hours.
These reinforcements would be in position and had orders to advance fast on the initiation of combat. It would be a quick, ugly fight. They couldn’t risk whoever was sent to investigate realizing how many men were involved. Danislav was grumpy, though. He wouldn’t be going wolf with the rest of the pack.
Boris needed him and his experience to command the other flank and as the backup commander.
Morale was high. Now they just had to wait, and Boris was praying that everyone stuck to the plan. He had enough men and Weres to run down anyone fleeing from a botched ambush, but it would increase his casualties. That was the last thing he needed at this time. It would make future actions… harder.
Boris spoke, “We must stick to the opening moves of the plan. Impress the importance of that on your men. It will reduce our potential casualties immensely. After that confusion should spread through their ranks. Any deviation from the plan to take advantage from that point is fine. But stick to taking out their APCs and a vehicle at both the front and rear of the column first. No rifle fire before we hear the Carl Gustavs hit.”
The officers nodded, and he dismissed them.
They heard the column approaching about five minutes before they were in the center of the trap. When the surveillance system showed the column in position, he clicked the radio four times, giving the Carl Gustav teams weapons free status. The smells of propellant, explosives, burning metal and flesh soon filled the air. Screams of agony came from the men in the APCs as they burst into flames, their fuel tanks ruptured. The destruction could be heard for miles. The explosions signaled the ambushing riflemen to open fire on the column from both sides.
With the road effectively blocked at both ends by burning vehicles, the NVG troops quickly disembarked. It was that or risk certain death inside their vehicles once the Carl Gustavs were re-loaded. The NVG troops threw themselves into the ditches at the edges of the roadway. They scrambled to return fire. Boris could hear an increase in weapon reports from the other side of the ambush as his reserves flooded into the fight on that flank.
This battle was going far smoother than he could have imagined.
Boris started giving orders over the radio, directing troops to concentrate their fire on the larger concentrations of enemies he could see through the video feeds.
Suddenly an explosion rocked his half buried command post. He felt a chunk of the wood from the wall slam into his chest as he was thrown from his seat. Then all he knew was darkness.
Danislav swore when he saw the explosion near the command post and heard a burst of static over the radio. Orders from Boris stopped transmitting. “Fuck your mothers you black asses” could be heard for some distance as he got himself under control.
“Bear one, do you copy? Bear One, Two or Three, if any of you copy, please respond.”
There was silence over the radio.
“This is Wolf One. Communications with Bears has been terminated. Wolf One is now taking command and control until communications are re-established.”
“Cossack Alpha and Cossack Zeta move to cut the ends of the roads NOW. Nova troops are moving to escape the Bear trap.”
Confirmations filtered back from all six in command of the companies and platoons so designated and Danislav saw soldiers swarming to cut off the ends of the ambush site.
“Valkyrie Alpha One, break half a squad from your group off and send it to bunker Bear and see what happened. Re-establish communications if possible.”
Confirmation came across. They were too far away for Danislav to see any movement but the Valkyrie groups were made up of a mix of mercenaries with medic training and those doctors and nurses who chose to stay. If anything could be done, they would do it.
As new knots of resistance formed Danislav redirected fire at them. The occasional shot from the Carl Gustavs could be heard being fired into the NVG holdouts now as covering fire kept the heads of those in the ditches down.
Danislav prayed that whatever had hit had just knocked out the radios in the command bunker. He certainly did not want to inherit control of the entire operation. He would do it, but it was definitely not something he wanted. Boris had raised him from a pup when he found Danislav in one of the orphanages in the north. He did not want to be mourning the only real father he had known. But, if it came to that, he would carry on his goals and mission, though.
A familiar voice cracked over the radio. Dan’s. “Wolf One, this is Skyhawk. Do you request air support? Four armed pods are available and less than a minute out.” Boris had discussed this with him in detail. Under no circumstances was he to call in air support unless the ambush failed. It hadn’t.
“Negative Skyhawk. Negative. Ambush is stable. Air support is not required. Keep Ace out at this time.”
“It would reduce casualties Wolf One.”
“Using it as this juncture may increase all future casualties Skyhawk. Do not engage Skyhawk. Please clear the line.”
Danislav sweated profusely after he said that. He hoped he hadn’t pissed Bethany Anne’s team off. There was no way that he wanted to do that. However, he also needed to stick to that part of the plan. He hoped they understood ‘man on-site’ situations. Dan had obviously wanted to get the air support down there. What a proklyatyy klastera yebat he thought.