Enforcing Home (17 page)

It wasn’t long before a convoy of Hummers and trucks arrived from the direction of Eustis. I didn’t expect the reception they received. Some people ran, and others threw things at them. Mike tackled one guy that took a shot at one of the trucks. It was obvious the people here thought the Guard was responsible for the shooting. The Guardsmen quickly jumped in to assist the wounded as well as controlling the angry crowd.

Sheffield and Livingston walked up to where Sarge and I were standing. Sheffield was taking the scene in.

“What the hell happened here?”

“From what I’ve been told, a Hummer pulled up and opened fire on the people here. They said they guys were in uniform. Without saying a word, they opened up on them, then drove away,” I replied.

“That’s insane, we wouldn’t do that. We didn’t have anyone out this morning,” Livingston said.

“We know it wasn’t you guys,” Sarge said.

“Then who the hell was it?” Sheffield nearly shouted.

“DHS,” Sarge said flatly.

“Why in the hell would they do this?” Livingston asked, looking around.

Sarge snorted, “Isn’t it obvious? This is a basic unconventional warfare tactic. They’re trying to get the population turned against you, against us. We know you guys didn’t do this, but we’re going to play hell convincing these people it wasn’t you.”

“You really think they would stoop that low? Killing people just so they can blame it on us?” Sheffield asked.

“You’re damn right I do. I know it for a fact; who else could it be?” Sarge shot back.

Sheffield was looking at the bodies, “What can we do to counter this?”

“We need to do everything we can to help. We need to tend to these wounded and help bury the dead.”

As this conversation was happening, Doc ran up. “Guys we don’t have the shit we need to deal with this. We’re doing what we can, but it just isn’t enough.”

Livingston sighed, “We brought everything we had.”

Sarge looked around. Everyone there was doing the best they could with what they had. After a moment he said, “I’ll get us some more supplies. They won’t be here today; but by God, next time we’ll be ready to deal with this.”

“Next time?” Livingston asked.

Sarge looked him in the eye, “Next time; this is the opening salvo. You bet your ass there’s more of this to come. I’d also start to expect bombings where people gather as well.”

“We need to find these sons of bitches,” Sheffield said with more than a little hate in his voice.

“I’ll see what I can do about that too,” Sarge said matter-of-factly.

We spent the rest of the afternoon moving some of the more severely wounded into town where they could receive additional care. Some of the dead were buried on site while others were taken to the homes of family members to be interred there. By the end of the day, the level of distrust between the civilians and the Guard had subsided a little, but it was still palpable.

I told Sarge I had to go get Little Bit. He told me he would see to things there; so I rounded up Danny and we headed back to Gena’s.

“Man, that was frickin insane,” Danny said.

“I know, hard to believe people can be so horrible. Shooting innocent civilians just to make them hate the Guard. That’s fucked up.”

At Gena’s, we found them around back. They were still hard at work on the canning. Dylan carried a load of jars into the house. As he passed by, he asked what happened. When we told him, he couldn’t believe it.

“That’s just horrible,” he replied.

“Tell me about it. You should have seen it,” Danny said.

Dylan wiped the sweat from his face, “We’ll keep an eye out for ‘em. If we see anything, I’ll let you know.”

“Thanks man,” I said. Then I called Little Bit; it was time to get home.

Perez, Ian and Jamie were at the barricade when we got back. I stopped long enough to tell them what happened. They had some choice words for the perpetrators of such a cowardly act. Ian was really bothered by it.

“Just like Iraq. They did the same kind of shit over there,” he said, shaking his head.

“Hopefully we can get a handle on this before it gets out of hand,” I said.

“Oh we will, one way or another,” Ian replied.

I waved as we pulled off. I wanted to get home. What was supposed to be a short trip for some bartering turned into an all-day nightmare. We pulled into Danny’s and carried the produce into the house. Little Bit, oblivious to what had gone on today, told Mel about canning with Gena. She grinned from ear to ear when she told her about the honeycomb.

“Sounds like you had a good day,” Mel replied with a smile.

Kay took the produce into the kitchen and started going through it with Bobbie. There was considerable comment on the variety, quality and quantity of what we brought back.

“This looks wonderful, Morgan. Too late for tonight’s dinner; but we’ll have it tomorrow for sure,” Kay said.

Thad and Mary came into the house. They’d been out at the garden, as was starting to become their evening custom. When Thad saw me, he asked what happened up the road. Danny and I relayed the afternoon’s events for everyone. They were shocked, like the rest of us that had witnessed it.

“That’s awful,” Mary said.

“How many people died?” Kay asked.

“Seven,” Danny replied.

“And the number will only get higher as some of those taken to town will die as well,” I added.

Sarge and those with him came through the door. He had a look of determination on his face. Actually, he looked pissed. Fred and Jess looked spent. Both of them had blood on their hands and went immediately to wash up. Doc dropped his pack on the floor and fell onto the sofa, rubbing his face as he did.

“You guys look beat,” Mel said.

Doc grunted, “It was a bad day.”

“Dinner will be ready in a minute,” Kay announced.

“We’ll be back later,” Sarge said as he headed for the door with Ted and Mike in tow.

“Where are you guys going?” I asked.

Sarge stopped at the door and looked back, “To get some help.”

“From where?” Mel asked as he went out the door. She looked at me and I shrugged.

Dinner was a somber affair; there was no jovial conversation, no witty banter or joking. Once everyone had eaten, Thad announced he and Jeff were heading to the barricade to relieve the crew there. Jeff picked up an AK and followed him out the door.

I stood up from the table, “Well gang, I’m beat. I’m going home.”

Taylor came up, “Dad, can we play a game or something tonight?”

“Baby, I’m just too tired tonight,” I replied.

“Give Dad a break tonight, he’s had a rough day,” Mel said.

She frowned and Little Bit said, “I’ll play with you.”

“Me too,” Lee Ann said.

Dalton was sitting quietly in the corner. He stood up and walked over. “Morgan, I’m going to go up to the barricade. Thanks for dinner.”

“We could find you a place to rack out if you want,” I replied.

“Nah, I’m good. I prefer it in the field.”

I stuck my hand out, “Thanks for your help.”

He looked at it for a minute, then shook it. “Thank you for what you’ve done for me.”

We said our goodbyes and headed home. I needed some sleep. The dogs greeted us at the break in the fence and jumped around the girls as we walked. They threw sticks and ran from the dogs, who gladly chased them. Mel and I went up on the porch and sat down. She held her hands out.

“I’ve got blisters from the shovel.” I looked down and slapped her hand lightly. She quickly jerked it back, “Ow, that hurt.”

I smiled, “Times are tough, times are hard; about time them pretty hands were scarred.” I smiled like a Cheshire Cat.

Mel glared at me, “Not funny. And lame.”

I raised my eyebrows, “Oh, you think you could do better?”

She looked over, “You’re rude. You’re crude. Guess who’s not gettin’ screwed.” Now she smiled.

I jumped back, “Hey now, let’s keep this friendly!”

She just glared at me, “That hurt.”

I reached out for her hand, “Here, let me make it better.”

She hesitated, obviously suspicious. “What are you going to do?”

Taking her hand, I replied, “You kind of massage it.” I took her hand and opened her fingers. Trying not to laugh, I leaned over and spit in her palm. Before I could react, she slapped me in the side of the head with her wet palm.

“What the hell’s wrong with you? Have you lost your mind?” She was shouting and I was only making it worse by laughing.

“Hey, you gotta admit it was funny.” I tried to scoot closer to her on the bench. “Besides, I remember a time when”………. She cut me off, jumping to her feet.

Pointing a finger right my face, almost touching my nose, she shouted, “Shut up mister! If you know what’s good for you; you shut up! I don’t know what kind of crazy has got into your head, but you better fix it!” I raised my hands and tried to speak, but she cut me off. “Fix it!”

Mel stomped off the porch. As she rounded the corner of the house, I could hear her mumbling something about choking me. I still thought it was funny and laughed;
she’ll get over it.
I went in and dropped my gear on the floor and fell into bed, fully clothed, for my safety.

Sarge went back to his place and fired up the Green Monster. Mike sat down at the table and asked what the plan was.

“We need some help; I’m going to call Fawcett and see what he can do for us.”

“You think they’ll help?” Ted asked.

“They’re going to have to,” Sarge replied as he tuned the radio. He picked up the mic and made the call.

“Clementine, Clementine, Swamp Rat.” He repeated the call two times and waited. After what seemed like an eternal pause, there was a reply.

“
Go for Clementine Swamp Rat.”

“Clementine, we have a situation and need some assistance ASAP.”

“What’s the SITREP Swamp Rat?”

“We had a large civilian group attacked today. We need medical supplies and equipment. Additionally, we need some heavy weapons.”

“Who was the OPFOR?”

“DHS posing as US Army, operating Army vehicles. It was an instability operation.” There was another long pause.

“
Swamp Rat, get us the coordinates for an LZ. Clementine wants to bring you in as well as your civilian counterpart.”

“Wait one,” Sarge replied. Looking at Ted, he asked, “What do we have?”

“We can use the field across the road; it’s close.” Ted pulled a map out of his pack and unfolded it on the table.

Sarge quickly identified the location on the map and relayed the coordinates over the radio.

“
Copy all Swamp Rat. Be at the LZ at 0330. Flight leader will be Dark Horse on this net.”

“Roger that, Swamp Rat out.”

Sarge dropped the mic, “Mikey, you go get Morgan at 0300.”

Mike nodded, “No prob, why do you think they want you to come in?”

Sarge shook his head, “I don’t know; they must have some sort of Intel.”

“I’m going to get some sleep then,” Mike said.

“We all need to,” Sarge said as he rose from his seat.

Chapter 9

J
eff and Thad hung out at the barricade, leaning over the top log. It was a quiet night and the sky was clear. The mosquitoes were bad when they first got there, but they’d finally let up. Jeff looked over to where Dalton was sleeping near the buggy. It’d been parked back there after the day’s events.

“That dude sleeps like the dead.”

“Yeah he does. I wish I could sleep like that.”

Jeff walked around the barricade to the water jug. As he was filling a cup, he stopped and cocked his head. “Do you hear that?”

Thad stood up and walked out towards the road. Jeff followed him, sipping on the water.

“Someone’s coming,” Thad said.

“Looks like a truck.”

“Sounds like a Hummer. I think it stopped.”

They stood in the road watching the truck. It sat in the road a few hundred yards away. The diesel engine idled noisily.

“You think it’s the guys from the armory? Maybe they’re out doing patrols,” Jeff said.

The truck suddenly started to move. It quickly picked up speed. Thad reached for Jeff’s arm, “Let’s get out of the road.”

As Thad started to step away a burst of gunfire erupted from the truck. Thad ducked reflexively and ran towards the side of the road. Rounds whizzed past him and slapped into the asphalt around him. He dove into the shallow ditch at the edge of the road and looked for Jeff, but he wasn’t there. The truck continued to fire on them as it closed at a high rate of speed. Thad crawled towards the barricade, looking desperately for some substantial cover.

As he crawled, he called out to Jeff.

“Jeff! Jeff, where are you?”

A spotlight came on; someone on the truck was searching for the side of the road as the gunner continued to rake the area around Thad. Suddenly another machinegun opened up. This one was right in front of Thad. He looked up to see Dalton standing in the road with a SAW to his shoulder firing long controlled bursts from the weapon. Thad glanced over his shoulder and saw a few sparks fly off the truck and the spotlight suddenly go black.

Dalton and the gunner in the truck traded rounds for a few moments. Dalton looked down at Thad and shouted, “Move!”

Thad jumped to his feet and ran. The truck shut off its lights and started to back up. Dalton was walking backwards towards the barricade as he continued to fire. He was forced to the ground when a second machinegun opened up from across the street.

“Fire! Shoot at the bastards!” Dalton shouted at Thad.

Thad took a position behind the barricade and started to fire at the new muzzle flash across the street. Dalton made his way to the buggy and shouted, “Reloading!” Thad kept firing across the street. The first truck came back into the fight. Rolling up closer, the gunner there opened up again.

“This crossfire is going to kill us; we’ve got to move!” Dalton shouted.

“What do we do?” Thad rolled on his back, trying to reload the AK in the dark.

“We can’t sit here; we’ve got to go somewhere!”

Bullets tore through the brush around them. They slapped into the log barricade and chewed up the asphalt. They were crawling away from the barricade when there was a loud bang behind them. They stopped, straining to see the source of the sound, when the area was suddenly illuminated from above. Dalton took a quick look over his shoulder and saw an armored truck sitting in the field across the road firing at them.

From inside the neighborhood, another machinegun opened up, firing at the truck. Thad realized it was Sarge’s other buggy.

“It’s Sarge and the guys!” He shouted.

Dalton turned and began firing into the field, adding his weapon to the fight. Ted ran up and slid in beside them.

“What the fuck is going on?” He shouted.

“There’s two of them. Another one is sitting down the road,” Thad said.

Ted rolled over and looked at the truck as he fished a round out of his vest. He loaded the round into the M203 mounted under his M4. Propping himself up, he sighted in on the truck and fired. The round impacted just short of the truck, throwing dirt up over the truck. Sarge came crawling up beside them and rolled into Thad.

“What the hell is this bullshit?”

Mel shook me really hard, “Morgan, wake up!”

I was groggy. My head felt sloppy as I tried to wake up, “What?”

“Do you hear that?”

Sitting up, I asked, “Hear what?” Then I heard it.

“The shooting; do you hear it?”

I was suddenly completely awake, “Yeah, I hear it.” I grabbed my gear and put it on. I was trying to remember where I had left my carbine when there was banging on the front door.

Mel let out a little yelp, “Who is that?”

Drawing my pistol, I said, “I don’t know; get your gun.”

Heading out to the living room, the banging grew in intensity. Taylor came out of her room holding her H&K, “What’s going on?”

I pointed at her, “I don’t know; go stay with your sisters.” She disappeared into her sisters’ bedroom.

Taking the flashlight from my vest, I lit up the door. I could see Mike on the porch, “Come on!” He shouted.

I quickly opened the door, “What the hell is going on?”

“Firefight at the barricade and there’s a helicopter on its way to pick you and Sarge up.”

“Helicopter? For what?”

“The Colonel wants to see you and the old man; but come on, we got to get to the barricade,” Mike said in rapid fire. He could hardly stand still.

Mel came out wrapping a robe around herself. “What’s going on; where are you going?”

“I don’t know, just stay here and keep your guns handy.”

“But—” Mel started to protest; but I grabbed my rifle from beside the door and ran out behind Mike.

We ran to Danny’s and jumped on one of the ATVs. The sounds of the battle just up the road were echoing through the night. Danny came out of his house. “Come on!” I shouted as Mike took off.

We passed Fred, Aric and Jess as we raced down the road. They were running towards the barricade as well. Mike weaved all over the road as rounds snapped past us; the air seemed to be alive with incoming. He went off the road; cutting through yards in an attempt to get away from the incoming fire.

Mike slammed on the brakes without warning, nearly throwing me off. Jumping from the machine, he shouted, “Follow me!”

I ran behind him and we slid in beside Sarge as he was shouting to Ted, “Pop another flare!”

Ted was fumbling with his vest, trying to get a 20MM out of it. I looked around and could see Dalton and Ted both firing up the road. Thad was in the bushes off to our left shooting as well. I looked at Ted, “Where’s Jeff?” He shook his head as he dropped a round into the tube, “I don’t know!” He shouldered the weapon and fired it with a
thunk.
I felt the concussion of the weapon in my chest as much as I heard it. The round arched up into the night sky and popped, casting a brilliant white light. It was then I could see the armored truck sitting across the road spitting fire from a weapon mounted on top of it.

Sarge’s radio crackled to life, “
Swamp Rat, Swamp Rat, Dark Horse is ten mics out.”

Sarge fumbled for his mic, “Dark Horse the LZ is compromised, the LZ is hot! I repeat the LZ is hot!”

“Copy that Swamp Rat, hot LZ.”

Another voice came over the radio, “
Swamp Rat Bronco three.”

“Go Bronco Three!” Sarge shouted back over the din of the fight.

Mike slapped me in the back. I looked back and he pointed, “Shoot!” I raised my rifle and started firing at the armored truck where I thought a gunner would be in the turret. The noise was hellish. Ted was still dropping 203 rounds on the truck, hitting it with one on the rear with no effect.

“
Swamp Rat, can you mark the friendlies? We’ll engage the bad guys if you can mark your position.”

Sarge looked at Mike, “You got an IR strobe?”

Mike shook his head, “No. But I’ve got some IR chem lights.”

“Get ‘em out on the road in front of us,” Sarge shouted. Then he keyed the radio; “Bronco Three, we’re marking our position with two IR chem lights. Bad guys are west and southwest of there.” Mike cracked the lights and threw them into the road, about ten feet apart.

“Ah, roger that Swamp Rat, I’ve got your chem lights and see your bad guys. Put your heads down; we’re coming in from the north.”

“Get down! Gunship inbound!” Sarge shouted.

We all tried to get flat; but I couldn’t help myself, and looked in the direction of the truck. For an instant, I saw a flash. It was moving so fast; and suddenly the truck erupted in a huge explosion that lifted it from the ground. It landed in a flaming heap. Then I heard the gun on the helicopter open up. I couldn’t see the other truck clearly; but I could see the sparks and fire flying from it and the ground around it as the rounds impacted. There was a thunderous explosion and the Hummer was destroyed.

We could hear the helos circling overhead. After a few moments, Sarge’s radio crackled again.

“Swamp Rat; it looks like the target is destroyed. Can you verify for Dark Horse?”

“Roger that, Bronco Three; standby,” Sarge replied. He stood up, “Mike, Ted; let’s go check it out. Dalton, can you move up and cover us?” Dalton nodded and moved up to the barricade. “The rest of you keep your eyes open,” Sarge said as they moved out.

I moved up beside Thad as Danny slid beside me. “What the hell happened?” I asked.

“They just rolled up and started shooting. We thought it was the guys from Eustis. I’d just told Jeff we needed to get out of the road when they started shooting.”

“Where is he?”

Thad shrugged, “I don’t know. I grabbed his arm just before they started shooting. We were in the middle of the road.” He looked at me and shook his head. “I had to run.”

“We’ll find him,” I said.

Sarge and the guys moved out across the field and looked around the burning truck. I could see them in the flames; the truck was a pyre. They moved towards the other truck, and after a few minutes I heard Sarge shout, “It’s clear!”

As we were getting to our feet, Jess ran up. “What’s happening?”

“I don’t know; let’s go see,” I replied.

As a group, we walked out to the road. In the flickering light of the two fires, I could Sarge and the guys standing in the road in a half circle. My stomach sank, they were looking down at a form on the ground. Doc, who’d appeared from nowhere it seemed, knelt down and pulled something from his pack. He opened it and flapped out a Mylar blanket, covering the body. Jess ran ahead and Mike stopped her before she got to the body.

He wrapped his arms around her, “You don’t want to see it.”

“Who is it?” She asked, looking over his shoulder.

As I passed, I said, “It’s Jeff.”

Doc stood up, “There’s nothing I could have done.”

I nodded at him and looked down. We formed a circle around our fallen friend. We stood in silence as the light from the fires flickered around us. Thick black smoke billowing from the destruction hung low to the ground because of the dew beginning to descend. As we stood quietly, Sarge’s radio once again crackled to life.

“Swamp Rat, Dark Horse is inbound.”

Wearily, Sarge keyed the mic, “Roger.” He looked at me. “Morgan; you need to come with me.”

As he spoke, the Blackhawk thundered in low over the field where the truck was burning. We all looked up as the rotor wash caused the smoke to swirl.

“What’s going on; where are you going?” Jess asked.

“We’re going to meet some folks.” Sarge replied. He looked back at Mike, “You guys stay here. You need to keep a lid on things today. Keep everyone close. Pull this position back to the bunker. If anything happens, call us on the Monster.”

“We’ll take care of this. Go get us some support,” Ted replied.

“We got this, boss,” Mike said.

Sarge jerked his head, “Come on Morgan; we got a bird to catch.”

I looked at Danny, “Keep an eye on Mel and the girls for me.”

He nodded, “Don’t worry; we’ll take care of them.”

I followed Sarge as he ran out to the now-waiting bird. I copied his movement, ducking as we approached the open door where the crew chief waited. As we got to him, I heard the crew chief ask Sarge in a shout, “Sir, is that weapon secure?” He had on a flight helmet and his face was shrouded in a mask; he was an intimidating figure.

Sarge turned to me, “Drop your mag and clear the chamber; then put the mag back in.”

I nodded and did as he said. I picked up the ejected round and put it back in the mag before slapping the mag back into the weapon. The crew chief gave me a thumbs up, and we climbed in.

The big helicopter suddenly surged with power and we were drifting up from the ground. In no time we were up above the trees, moving quickly away and still climbing. Looking out the open door, I could now see the coming dawn peaking over the horizon, somewhere over the Atlantic. We were only about fifty miles from the coast; and had it been full daylight, I would probably have been able to see the beach.