Commando City: A World at War Novel (World at War Online Book 7) (26 page)

“Keep advancing with the rest of the platoon,” Anna ordered. “We're here to give them fire support. Make sure that you can keep some infantry backup around us.”

“Understood.”

Nora felt the temptation to open up her hatch and look out, but the potential of being picked off by an enemy sniper was too great. They might not want to waste their time with the infantry, but killing one of the Gazelle's crew would be a major blow.

Instead, she focused on her periscope, training the turret to search for more targets.

“You know,” she said, “If we're quick about this we might be able to get up close and personal with them.”

“Right?” Anna said uncertainly. “Not quite sure what you're getting at.”

“I mean, if we're too closely engaged with the Valkyries their dive bombers aren't going to be able to drop their weapons without risking hitting their own troops.”

“Doesn't that defeat the whole purpose of what we're doing?” Liz asked.

“Well, they're not going to know about it until they're overhead. That means they still have to return back to base to get replenish their power supplies.”

“Mm, true. But that's going to be a lot slower than if they have to get bombs as well. Unless they have to drop them before they land.”

Nora thought that was likely, because one hard bounce or an untimely mishap with the landing gear and a belly landing would turn into a fiery explosion. Since bombs were a lot easier to replace than planes, she imagined they would drop their payloads in an open field if they didn't use them.

Her thoughts on the matter could wait, though. Nora caught a glimpse of the enemy moving reinforcements toward the front line out of the corner of her eye, and she traversed the turret to meet them.

“Engaging,” she said to alert the others, then pulled the trigger.

The first shots went wide, her aim spoiled by the forward motion of the Gazelle, but Nora quickly compensated and sent a half-dozen shells lacing into the enemy ranks. She didn't see if she actually hit anything, but her shots had the desired effect. The Valkyries moving in on their position scattered, trying to get out of the line of fire.

Nora continued to rake the enemy, sending shots into anywhere the enemy might be hiding. Even concrete and metal might not be enough to stop the shells, and the more she could take out right now the better.

Danny contacted her over the radio. “We're moving up in a second. Can you cease fire?”

“Will do,” Nora replied. She took her hand off the trigger.

She saw light spread through the turret for a second before something blocked it out again. Anna must have opened the commander's hatch to look out for a moment. Sure enough, the sound of a machine gun filtered down from above.

“See any likely sniper spots?” Nora asked Danny over the link.

“Little busy right now,” he replied.

“Looks like that five story building to the southeast might be something,” Anna suggested.

Nora adjusted her aim and sent a burst of shells streaking toward her suggested target. Puffs of dust shot out from the top floor, along with chunks of concrete. Anything sheltering up there was going to be very, very uncomfortable, if they weren't already dead.

But then the news they had all been dreading finally broke.

“All units, we have incoming enemy dive bombers,” Anna warned. “Time for us to take off.”

“Roger that,” Danny said. “Try not to get the radio blown up.”

“Huh, as if,” Liz said. She put the Gazelle into reverse and then sped back they way their came from. Their best bet would be to get to the Lake Park, where they'd at least have some cover plus a few emplaced machine guns to protect them.

“Looks like we have a few breakers,” Anna commented.

“Do I even want to know how many?” Nora said.

“Quite a few.” There was a pause. “Actually, make that most of them. Looks like they've figured out they can't hit our frontline troops, so they're going for other targets.”

“Yeah, I really didn't want to know that.”

They had accomplished the main part of their mission. Now came the secondary objective of staying alive. And judging from their current position, that was going to be much, much harder.

D
anny didn't
like the idea of charging a tough enemy force over open ground, but their situation left little choice. It was either fight the enemy up close and personal, or hang back and take their chances with the dive bombers and their fragmentation bombs. Given the choice, he would rather take the option where they could fight back.

Bravo Wolf surged forward, closing within a few yards of the enemy lines. Most of his troops had close-combat experience, but he didn't want to mess around with the enemy if they didn't have to. The Valkyries were notoriously good at hand-to-hand combat, and engaging them on their terms was a recipe for disaster.

Instead, Danny instructed his platoon to close within a few yards, sometimes as little as ten, and open fire on the enemy. Hundreds of bullets streaked through the air, most ricocheting off the concrete and brickwork of the city's buildings, some finding their mark. Danny himself lifted his gun to blind-fire and raked the enemy with a full magazine.

Wooosh!

The sound of a flamethrower filled the air, and a second later he could feel the heat. Danny heard panicked shouts over the racket of battle, panicked by the flames. No matter how tough a unit might be, facing the prospect of getting burned to dead would shake them. He yanked a grenade off his harness and tossed it into the enemy positions, hoping he could get at least a few of them in the process.

“All commanders report,” he ordered over the radio link. At this stage of the fight he had no idea what was going on along their other points of attack, so he'd need to rely on directions from his squad leaders.

“We're driving them back,” Allen said. “The western end isn't very organized.”

“Holding on my end,” Xavier reported.

“We're stuck,” Javy said. “Of course, you already know that.”

Danny debated whether to put his head up or not. One false move and he could have a bullet in his skull, but cowering behind a pile of rubble wasn't going to get them anywhere.

“Javy, can we make it over into the enemy positions?”

“That's going to be pretty tough. Why?”

“We're not getting anywhere if we're sitting here taking potshots at them,” Danny said. “We need to keep the pressure on them.”

“I get that, but do you really want to go up against them with just a squad?”

“They've never had problems charging us before. I think it's time to return the favor.”

“Whatever, it's your call,” Javy said in a tone that indicated he though Danny was completely insane.

Danny activated the platoon's channel. “All units, we're going over the top. Prepare for hand-to-hand combat. On my signal toss grenades at them, then charge.”

He punched a few buttons in his wrist menu, sending a countdown clock to every member of the platoon, which would display on their HUD. Once it reached zero they'd spring into action.

Five. Four. Three.

Danny set down his machine gun and pulled out a pistol, then grasped another grenade on his harness. Once he went over the top he'd draw his knife for the coming fight.

Two. One.

As the clock reached zero Danny pulled the pin and tossed the grenade into the enemy position. A second later a series of explosions rippled through the air. Had they hit their target?

He was about to find out. Danny pushed himself to his feet and charged over the rubble with the rest of his platoon.

T
he first bomb
screamed down toward them, and for one awful second Nora thought it was going to land on top of them. But just before it impacted the projectile seemed to slow, and then it fell behind them.

She ducked down into the hatch to avoid the storm of shrapnel, hoping that the blast wouldn't catch them. Even if the bomb didn't score a direct hit, the shockwave could still be enough to send them careening off course or even flip them completely.

BAM!

Nora felt the explosion rattle the Gazelle, sending it swerving for a moment as Liz tried to keep control. She could hear the sound of shrapnel pinging off the hull, but for now they were safe, at least.

That wasn't going to last much longer, though. Nora peered out of the hatch and looked up at the sky to see more bombers diving in on them.

“They're wasting a lot of bombs on us,” she commented. That might be to their overall benefit, even though Nora didn't fancy getting killed at the moment.

“The bombers can't hit any of the frontline troops since they're so close to friendly lines,” Anna said. “And going into Jones Harbor is just asking for trouble. They have a top cover combat air patrol and a lot of antiaircraft guns on the ground.”

“Still, this is a lot of bombs for one vehicle.”

“If you're going to have to drop them, why not hit something with them?”

Nora didn't have time to respond as more bombs came plummeting out of the sky.

BAM! BAM!

She ducked down into the shelter of the hull as a blizzard of shrapnel clanked off the hull like hail. She felt the Gazelle swerve again as the shockwaves rattled them around, much harder than the last time. Nora didn't have to be a genius to know that the enemy's aim was getting better.

“Can we fire back?” she asked.

“There's no way I'm going to be able to hit a moving plane from a moving vehicle,” Anna said.

“Well, we need to do something before they blow us sky high,” she protested. The machine gun might not do much, but it was better than nothing.

“I might have an idea,” Liz cut in. “Hang on. This is going to be a rough ride.”

Nora didn't have time to ask what she meant, but Liz's intentions became clear very quickly. The Gazelle suddenly lurched to the left, throwing her off balance so hard that she slammed her head into the interior wall. Nora lay stunned for a moment, then struggled to regain her bearings. She pulled herself up into the hatch and took a look around.

A few more dive bombers came screaming down at them, ready to release their bombs, but Liz put the Gazelle into another tight turn and sped down another street. This time Nora managed to brace herself in the hatch and avoid any serious damage.

“How long are you going to keep this up?” she asked.

“As long as I have to. Just hope we don't make a wrong turn,” Liz replied.

That was the least of their concerns right now, Nora mused. They still had several dive bombers on their tail, and the enemy didn't look like they wanted to give up. She hadn't thought they would be this persistent, but apparently they deemed the Gazelle to be highly dangerous.

And even though they had done their job, Nora had no illusions about their chances. She had a fairly good idea how this would end, and it wasn't pretty. But until then, they would continue to try to stay alive.

B
ravo Wolf's
bold charge caught the Valkyries by surprise. Most of them barely had time to look up before Black Wolf troops came surging over their positions, firing quick bursts and bayoneting anyone who got in their way.

Danny unloaded a trio of shots into an enemy at point-blank range, sending them sprawling backward into the rubble. He blasted away at anyone who crossed his path, killing a few and wounding more.

A bayonet came slicing by, missing his face by a mere inch. Danny sidestepped the blow and lashed out with his now-empty pistol, catching his assailant with a stunning blow. The Valkyrie stumbled backward, then fell dead as someone else caught him in the chest with a bayonet thrust.

Wild thoughts raced through his mind.
Keep moving
. They had to keep pushing forward to keep the enemy off balance. If they were given enough time the Valkyries would rally, and then they'd be in for a nasty, brutish fight.

Danny was in the process of turning when something smacked him in the head. The blow glanced off his helmet, but it was enough to stun him momentarily and send him stumbling to the side. As Danny turned he saw the shape of a tomahawk or hatchet descending toward him.

Thinking quickly, Danny quickly lashed out with a kick, catching the Ragnarok trooper in the shin with a strike. It wasn't much, just enough to throw him off balance a bit, but it did the trick. The tomahawk slammed into the pavement beside him, inches from his shoulder. The Valkyrie started to lift his weapon back up for another attack, but Danny wasn't going to give him the chance to use it again. He pushed himself up with his right and lunged forward with his knife firmly in his left. The Valkyrie barely had time to register what was happening before Danny buried the blade in his chest.

As he climbed to his feet Xavier contacted him over the radio.

“The enemy's falling back. What do you want us to do?”

Danny looked around at his own surroundings. Sure enough, the survivors of the initial attack were in full retreat, probably electing to fall back to better positions instead of staying in a hopeless situation and fighting to the last.

“What's your casualties? That goes for all of you?”

“No losses on my end, somehow.”

“We've got two wounded,” Allen said.

“We've lost another three. Two dead and one severely wounded,” Javy reported. “I don't know how much longer we can sustain this without the Gazelle.”

Danny nodded. “We're in their positions and we've turned their flank. Redd Foxx is hitting them from the north and pushing them back too. Let's take a moment to regroup and then prepare for the next advance.”

He retrieved his machine gun and reloaded, then began to contact the other platoons. They had progress. Could they parley it into something more? Only time would tell.

N
ora didn't know how
, but somehow, some way Liz had managed to keep them alive through the storm of falling bombs. By now she had no idea where they might be, but the quick turns down various streets had completely thrown off the enemy's aim, making every single one of their runs go wild.