The Fall of America: Enemy Within (Book 3) (31 page)

His head quickly turned to Colonel Tate, who said, “We can't make a rescue attempt, John, the place is too secure since our last attack.  Hell, they've even placed tanks in the compound and we'd be torn to bits trying to get to her.”

“She's my wife, Colonel, so I have to try!” John said, as his head spun in different directions.

“You will
not
try and that's an order. We can't rescue her, but we might be able to end her suffering and trust me, she is suffering.”

“Kill her?  Is that what you mean?”

“Exactly, because right now, that's the best we can do for her and the other two, or did you forget about them?”

“I . . . I'm overwhelmed, sir, and not thinking clearly.”

“Give it some thought, John, serious thought. However, for each hour you're considering her fate, she's in pain. As a prior guest of the Russians, I can assure you, she'll be raped and then tortured, because I've seen it happen before.  If there was a way to get them out, by God I'd do it, but there is absolutely no hope.”

With tears in his eyes, John sat on a blood-stained log, pulled Dolly close, and cried.  He'd never considered that one of them would die and he'd felt he and Sandra had years left.  His body shook and quivered as he realized he would soon be alone in the world, with no one talk with or convey his dreams, fears, and hopes. Then his mind switched to Sandra and he gave thought to her situation.  She was a strong woman and she could recover from rapes, but it was unlikely, as a member of the resistance, she'd be allowed to live. Usually partisans were executed on the spot, but their intelligence section must be interrogating them for new information.

It was then a cell entered the camp and the leader, a man named Smith said, “We found the bodies of our dead dumped in a clearing about five miles from Edwards, Colonel.  The dead from the attack on Edwards.”

“Were you able to identify them?”

“Most, but some were torn to hell and back. Oh, and both snipers you left behind are dead.  We found the woman and the black guy among the dead.” Smith said and then handed a sheet of paper to Colonel Tate as he added, “Here is a list of those we could identify, the rest will have to be listed as missing in action.”

“Thank you, Smith, and have your cell relax for a bit. As soon as we get our thoughts lined up, we're leaving here.”

Smith shrugged and sat on the end of the same log John was on.

A light rain blew in and everyone constructed a temporary shelter, except John remained sitting on the log. Even when it turned to a short, but hard, downpour, he didn't move.  His mind was on Sandra, his love for her, and the hopelessness of her situation.

Two hours later, the sun broke through the clouds and John said, “Colonel, I request permission, sir, to take what remains of my cell and terminate the prisoners.”

“Disapproved, however, you can take what remains of your cell and join Captain Smith as he makes sure the prisoners no longer suffer at the hands of the Russians.”

“We'll never get close enough to kill anyone, so how are we to do this, sir?” Smith asked as he crawled out from his poncho shelter.  John never noticed the raindrops falling from the trees or the chill in the wind.

“We have some LAW's here and two of your men are carrying Russian 40 mm semi-automatic grenade launchers, and I'm sure between the two weapons, you are capable of ending the suffering of our people. Just with the launchers alone you have twelve shots.  Do you know your way around the camp, Captain?”

“I know where they keep prisoners that are newly caught and where they do the interrogations, if that's what you're really asking me, sir.”

“It is. Your orders are to completely destroy that facility. Then, do not return to us, until you've entered Alabama. We want this to look like someone else was behind it.”

Looking at John, Smith said, “If you move with me, I call the shots, okay?”

John nodded.

Smith looked around camp and met the eyes of his men before he said, “Let's get our shelters down and prepare to move. I want to be in place by dark. We'll launch our attack right at 2200 on the dot, so let's move, people.”

The walk to the gulag was uneventful, except John had to fight back tears. In all his years, never had he been forced to accept such deep pain. He loved Sandra with his very soul and now he was going to assist in killing her.

A half a mile from the camp, Smith stopped, looked at his watch and said, “When we're near the target, I want the LAW's and grenade launchers ready for action.  I expect the Russians to come after us and they'll be fast, as well as pissed.  So, I want three LAW's fired and both grenade launchers empty before we leave. The building should be completely destroyed or on fire before we leave.  Any questions?”

Since there were none, they continued to move.  All wore NVG's and a light mist was falling as they neared an electrical fence that surrounded the whole camp.  Smith placed his men on a slight incline, hardly a hill, but elevated enough they were slightly higher than other terrain in the area.

John, glad it was dark and raining, with tears in his eyes, extended the first LAW and then placed it by his feet. He then prepared the other two for firing.

He'd just raised the first LAW to his shoulder, when Smith touched his shoulder and pointed at a guard nearing outside the fence and he had a dog. One of Smith's men, a tall thin man called “Slim” removed a crossbow from his back.  Loading one arrow, he placed the other on the ground beside him, and took careful aim.

The
twang
of the bowstring was light and hardly heard in the night air.  Slim pulled the string back, loaded another arrow and sighted in on the guard, now bent over his dog.  Again he fired and his target fell quietly to the mud.

Whispering, Smith said, “Fire the LAW's now and both of you with the launchers, wait for the first explosion, then join the dance. The rest of you, get ready to move and quickly. ”

John had been praying, asking for forgiveness for killing his wife, but now turned all professional as he sighted in the center of the concrete structure and fired. The Law struck the building with a loud explosion and almost immediately the sound of a siren was heard. Search lights, mounted on the tall search towers began crossing the darkness outside of the fence.  The second LAW struck right at the rear of Sandra's cell and blew a huge hole in the cinder blocks and concrete. The force of the blast blew her up against the door and she heard the guards screaming and yelling. Dust, smoke and debris filled the air.

Moving slowly, Sandra made her way through the hole and outside. The interrogation center was now under heavy fire as the Russian 40 mm semi-automatic, 6-shot grenade launchers did their damage. Seeing the light from the weapons as they fired, Sandra made her way toward the fence. One of the men using a grenade launcher, punched a hole in the fence and then started firing at towers, and other targets of opportunity.

A squad of Russian soldiers rounded the destroyed building, moving right for Sandra. The partisans fired and men began to fall. Sandra was close to the fence and John, not knowing the figure was his wife, moved to the hole in the protective wire.  

“This way!” John screamed as he neared. Suddenly there was a huge explosion and something in the building they'd fired on exploded.  Sandra was knocked off her feet, but John was quickly at her side.  By the green light of the NVG's, he recognized Sandra and yelled to be heard, “Move and do it now. If you don't, this will have been all for nothing.”

She stood, took four or five steps and then collapsed. John scooped her up in his arms and moved for the treeline.  

As soon as he neared the partisans, Smith yelled, “Move dead east and do it now!”

They broke contact just as a bright search light from one of the towers found them. Guns were fired and the light quickly went out. John, dropped his back pack and with Sandra on his back began to move with the others. They'd covered less than a mile, when the sound of an approaching chopper was heard.

“Under your poncho's now!  If this bird is infrared equipped, we're dead meat.” Smith yelled as he pulled his poncho from his pack. Then, falling to the ground, the partisan's covered their bodies with the waterproof material.

John, realizing he'd left his pack, with his poncho, threw his body on Sandra's.
Please Lord,
he prayed,
don't let this chopper have sensor gear.

The chopper flew in lazy circles a few times and then moved back toward camp. As soon as the bird moved away from them, the partisans were up and running east.

After about five miles, Smith said, “Give your wife to another man, John, you're slowing us down.”

“I need to look at her injuries.”

“Not yet, you won't. I'll not risk the lives of all of us for the sake of one person. Now, hand her to Thomas and let's move. I plan to stop in a couple of hours.”

Time crawled by as John moved beside Thomas and when Smith finally called for a short rest, John looked Sandra over. Night was turning to day and the NVG's were removed and placed in packs.

“Oh, baby, what have they done to you?” John asked in tears as he saw her face. She'd been beaten hard, her nose was broken, teeth were chipped, and both ears were missing. Someone had stuck something hot to her beautiful face to the point she was no longer attractive. Shivering at the damage done to her face, John quickly discovered a broken right arm, a bullet hole to her upper right shoulder, and numerous small burns and cuts to her body. Reaching into a small pouch he carried, he pulled out a syringe of morphine and slid the needle into her right thigh. He then patched her bullet wound and smiled when he saw Captain Smith making a stretcher from some tree limbs.

“We're semi out of danger, so we'll let her travel in style now.” Smith said, gazing into John's eyes. Then he asked, “You understand I couldn't endanger all of us for her, don't you?”

“Yes. I was pissed at the time, but I would have made the same decision as you, if our roles were reversed.”

“Good. My wife was killed right after the fall, so I know what it's like to lose a loved one.  It hurts, but the pain grows less over time.”

“I lost my first wife and it turned me into a drunk for a few days, but then the booze ran out and I had to sober up.” John said.

“Good; now Pete and Jim, I want you two to carry this woman until you get tired. Once you're beat, I'll have you replaced.”

All day they moved toward Alabama, but they varied their course so often the Russians couldn't know where they were actually heading. It was late after noon when they heard a chopper and since they were crossing a clearing, the aircraft had them cornered.

“Scatter!” Smith yelled and the men moved off in all headings of a compass. Sandra was dropped and John moved to her side.  A loud hammering sound was heard and men began to fall, with one of the first being Smith in an explosion of red mist. When the chopper started turning, after completing a pass, most of the men were in the trees. The bird lined up once more and started an approach.

Smith was screaming from pain and one other man was down, but silent. The chopper fired the mini-gun once more and the Captain's screams grew quiet. The chopper returned a third time hovered in the air near Smith, as it looked for other targets. Five minutes later it gained altitude and the aircraft turned west, likely returning to Edwards with a grossly exaggerated body count.

Finally, after many long minutes, John check Sandra, found her breathing, so he moved toward the two downed men.

Smith was dead, with most of his head missing and his left leg gone at the knee. The second man was hit hard, but he'd live. John discovered the man's right foot gone and a chunk of flesh was missing from his left ass cheek. Standing, John called the other men to him and quickly realized he'd only lost the two men, when it could have been much worst.

“I want a man on point, one on drag, and two others carrying the litter.”

“Let's move, because the whole Russian army will know our location now.”

“Which direction?” One of the men asked.

“Back toward Edwards. I doubt they'll expect us to head that direction, and move quickly.”

They continued to move for three hours after darkness and it was a tired group that stopped for the night in some thick pines. They'd just stretched out when the guard said, “Company coming.”

C
olonel Duboff was livid as he walked around the completely destroyed cell block, chain smoking cigarettes in the early morning light of a new day. He'd suffered ten dead, all guards, and both Colonel Eline and a big Private named Artyom were dead on top of that. A brand new facility had been blown away, with only a black spot and some bricks to show it ever existed.

“Colonel, dog teams have the partisans moving east, toward Alabama.” A radio man yelled from the communications building.

“Send everything that will fly into the air after them.”

“Yes, sir.”

“Catch the bastards and bring them back to me to question, by God, and I will get some answers.”

“Sir?” Colonel Ivanov asked.