Without law 20, p.16
Without Law 20, page 16
“Where are they coming from?” I hollered as I sliced one soldier across the neck and turned to kick another that tried to come for me.
“They’re coming in from the back!” Hammer yelled over the frenzy.
“Of fucking course they are,” I breathed, and I grabbed hold of an arm that tried to wrap around my neck so I could flip the guy over me.
The soldier landed on his back with a hard thud that knocked the wind out of him. Unfortunately, I didn’t have time to lean down and stab him since another one of his buddies came at me right then. So instead, I lifted my boot up and slammed it down onto his face a few times until I felt his skull crunch beneath my feet.
Soldier after soldier came after me, until finally, I took one down and another didn’t replace them.
My breath was heavy as I looked around the train car and saw that it was absolutely brimming with the corpses of NK soldiers.
Hammer twisted the last soldier’s neck nearly three-sixty degrees, then he dropped him with the others and turned to look at me.
“Are we clear?” I asked.
“There’s no more in this car,” Anna said, and she gestured to the back door of the train car that hung wide open. “But there might be more in the last car.”
“Let’s go,” I said, and I flipped my tanto in my hand and rushed to the back of the car.
I didn’t hesitate as I rushed off of one platform and onto the next.
The last train car door was open, too, and I quickly made my way inside and looked around.
Hammer and the girls were right behind me, but I didn’t see any soldiers. The place was empty except for a few bodies littered on the ground.
The window on the train had a bullet hole in it, though, so I knew Bailey had taken out those assholes, probably as soon as she realized they knew we were there.
“They must have all come after us in the third car,” Paige said.
“Wait,” Anna said, and she held up her finger and narrowed her eyes. “What’s that?”
“What’s what?” Tara asked.
“It’s like… whispering.” Anna’s eyes widened as they locked onto mine.
There was a single conductor room at the end of this train car just like there had been on the first one, and as soon as I stopped for a second and listened, I knew Anna was right. Someone was whispering.
“Let’s go,” I said as I rushed down the car until I got to the heavy metal door.
I yanked it open, though I felt some resistance from inside.
There was a small soldier with one hand on the handle and the other on a walkie talkie. He looked at me with shocked brown eyes, then started to say something else into the radio.
Before he could get another word out, though, I lunged forward and stabbed my tanto blade right into his chest.
The radio slipped out of his hand as the life drained from his eyes, and I stood up and pushed a hand through my hair.
A voice came over the radio in response to whatever the soldier had just said, and even though I couldn’t speak Korean, from the way they repeated the phrases, I could tell they were asking for a response, and when they didn’t get one, they’d know it was officially over.
“Fuck,” I cursed as I walked out of the small room.
“Oh, my god,” Tara whispered quietly.
“Do you think he…” Paige’s voice trailed off.
“Yup.” Anna said, and she let out a deep breath.
“He got a message out,” I said through gritted teeth. “Now the whole NK army knows we’ve taken over their trains.”
So much for this being a stealth operation.
Chapter 11
“What do you think they’re going to do?” Paige asked.
“They’re coming for us,” I said confidently. “They’re not going to just let this nuke go.”
“Damnit,” Hammer sighed, and he hit his fist against the train car wall.
“Hey, whoever’s in the engine, come in,” I said into my walkie talkie. I didn’t know the young guys’ names, but at the moment, I wasn’t too focused on being polite.
“We’re here,” a voice said back.
“Stop the train,” I said.
“Are you su--” they started to ask.
“Stop it,” I repeated.
“Yes, sir,” the young man said, and a second later I lurched forward slightly as the kid hit the brakes.
“If they’re going to attack, won’t it be better if we’re moving?” Tara asked.
“They’re probably going to blow the tracks,” Anna said.
“Well, shit,” Tara said. “Didn’t I say that before?”
“Yes, but that wouldn’t have worked for us, remember?” Paige asked. “We had their lookout train to think about, and the fact that they have supplies to fix tracks.”
“And the nuke,” Anna added. “But now that’s in our possession, so do you really think they’re going to try and attack with it still on the train?”
“I do.” I nodded. “I think they’re going to be smart about it and try to trap us so they can get to it, but I definitely think they’re not going to let us get to Atlanta with their weapons.”
“What do we do?” Paige asked.
“We need a plan,” I sighed and ran a hand through my hair again.
The girls got quiet as I paced around the train car and thought about our options. I wanted to be mad that things hadn’t worked out the way I’d planned, but at the moment I didn’t have time for that. And there was always that possibility in war anyways, so I was prepared for an event like this.
Now I just had to figure out how I was going to fix it.
Those motherfuckers were definitely going to come after us with everything they had, which meant we needed to get to them before they could get to us.
“Minji,” I said into the radio. “Come in, Minji.”
“I’m here,” the Korean woman replied quickly. “Is the train secure?”
“Yes,” I said. “But we have another problem.”
“What is it?” she asked.
“Someone on board got a message out,” I said. “The NK troops know we have their train.”
“Fuck,” she cursed. “What do you want us to do?”
“Does whoever’s with you know how to put the train in reverse?” I asked.
“He’s nodding, so yes,” she told me.
“Alright,” I agreed. “You’re only an hour or two ahead of us, but I need you to get back here. It’s too dangerous for you guys to be out on your own.”
“Roger that,” she said. “We’re on our way.”
“Hurry,” I told her.
After another minute or two the train came to a complete stop, and I walked out to the platform and hopped off so I could get some fresh air.
The night was cool and smelled like the forest, so I breathed in deep to clear my head.
“Hey!” a familiar voice called, and I turned to see Bailey coming right toward me.
“Hey,” I greeted her with a smile, and I pulled her into my arms as soon as she was close enough.
“Are you okay?” she asked, and she leaned back and looked at me with pulled together eyebrows. “What’s wrong?”
“One of the soldiers got a message out,” I explained.
“Shit.” She bit her lip.
“Yeah.” I nodded. “They know we have their trains.”
“We also have their helicopters and all their supplies,” she said with a small smile. “Plus their nuke.”
“Right,” I chuckled. “We’re just going to figure out how to take them down.”
“Tav!” Anna yelled, and I turned around to see her waving from the train platform. “A message just came in over the radio.”
“Could anybody tell what it was?” I asked.
“Tara said she thought it was numbers,” the redhead answered.
“I only remember a couple numbers,” the platinum-blonde said as she appeared on the platform. “But I swear I heard the word for three in there.”
“That doesn’t mean the entire message was numbers,” Paige pointed out.
“I wonder if Sergeant Wilson caught it,” I mumbled and reached for my walkie talkie, but before I could speak into it, the Sergeant’s voice came through.
“Tav,” he said. “We just got a message for a new radio frequency.”
“Tav,” Minji’s voice came through. “They’re changing frequencies.”
“Good job, guys.” I grinned.
“They still think I’m one of them,” Minji said. “I think the switching is just a precautionary measure.”
“Keep playing along,” I told her. “And Sergeant, you listen, too. Let me know what they say.”
“Roger that,” he said.
“I’m on… they’re coming in,” Minji said. “I’ll let you know.”
After that, the radio went silent.
“Fuck, it’s a good thing we have people to translate for us,” Anna said as she hopped down and walked over to Bailey and me. “Hey, Bails. Good to see you.”
The redhead pulled her friend in for a hug.
“Awesome shots earlier,” Paige added as she hugged the blonde sniper.
“Thanks.” Bailey smiled and turned to hug Tara next.
“Yeah, yeah, way to steal the show like usual,” the platinum-blonde chuckled.
“I had to do something,” Bailey said. “It looked like a standoff over there.”
“It definitely was.” I nodded. “You did good, thank you.”
“My pleasure.” The deadeye grinned.
“How’d you get over here, anyway?” Anna asked. “I figured we’d be out of your range by now.”
“I ran to the jeep and used it to follow the train,” Bailey said.
“Damn, you ran all that way?” Anna asked, and her eyebrows lifted high on her forehead. “Carrying your Barrett, too?”
“It was nothing.” Bailey shrugged.
“Well, I appreciate you taking the initiative,” I told her. “We couldn’t have done it without you.”
“I told you she steals the spotlight every time,” Tara fake-whispered to Paige.
“She’s not stealing the spotlight,” Paige scoffed. “She’s doing her job.”
“No, Tara’s right,” Bailey joked. “That’s the only reason I became a sniper in the first place.”
“I knew it,” Tara laughed, and she pulled Bailey in for a hug. “Thank God we’re back together again, I was starting to miss you.”
“Awww, thanks.” Bailey smiled. “I like pregnant Tara, she’s so nice.”
“Cherish the next eight months,” Anna chuckled.
While the girls chatted, I looked around at the night sky full of stars and let out a deep breath. This had been one of the toughest missions the girls and I had ever gone on, and now it was in jeopardy, which meant our boys in Atlanta were, too.
We needed to deliver this nuke to them, along with the rest of the supplies in this train if we were going to win.
Granted, I didn’t want to drop a nuke on American soil, but at the very least we could use it as a threat.
At this point, though, I’d settle for keeping it out of the NK army’s hands. I knew they were coming to try and take it back, and I wasn’t about to let that happen.
I let out another deep breath as I thought about our plan.
“Tav, you know we can hear you breathing over there, right?” Anna asked, and she raised a red eyebrow at me.
“Right,” I chuckled. “Sorry.”
“So, what’s our plan, Captain Ranger?” Hammer asked. “I know you’ve been cooking up something.”
“I don’t know yet.” I shook my head. “Once Minji and Wilson get back to us, we’ll be able to formulate a better plan, but right now I’m just thinking we need to keep the nuke out of their hands. Our boys will have to handle themselves in Atlanta. I’m not sure if we’ll make it to them before morning.”
“I’m sure they can handle it,” Hammer said.
“We have the Apaches, too,” Paige pointed out. “Couldn’t we send Ben and a couple other pilots over to the fight ahead of us so they can assist?”
“We could,” I said, and I bit my lip. “But the NK troops are already going to be on the lookout for aircraft.”
“Right,” Paige said. “You said they’ve probably already rigged some of their plasma weapons to fire at aircraft.”
“We haven’t seen any, but I’d guess that they have.” I nodded.
“But we have their actual anti-aircraft weapons on board, right?” Anna asked.
“That’s right.” I nodded.
“I bet they’re after those, too,” the redhead said.
“No doubt about it,” I agreed.
“What if we sent Ben over there now while they’re still getting shit set up, then he could take out their larger weapons at least?” Paige suggested.
“If he could do that, we’d be able to use the MiGs and the Apaches tomorrow,” Anna agreed.
“Hm.” I thought for a moment. “The troops are probably still spread out, so he’d have to figure out where they’re at so he could try and find the ones with larger weapons. It’s dangerous, though. If he gets shot out of the sky, we have no way of getting to him.”
“True.” Paige bit her lip.
“I think--” I started, but Minji’s voice came through the radio and interrupted me.
“Tav, are you there?” she asked.
“I’m here,” I answered quickly.
“We know where they’re going to be waiting,” she said.
“That’s great.” I nodded. “Where is it?”
“It’s between two small towns,” Minji said, and her voice was slightly unsure since she clearly didn’t know where they were. “Dalton and Chadsworth?”
“Chadsworth?” Paige repeated, and her brow furrowed for a second, then her eyes grew large with realization. “Chatsworth. They’re not far out of Atlanta.”
“Paige knows where they’re at,” I said. “What’s their ETA?”
“They said there were some troops near there already,” she told me. “They’re being sent over, so it’s not long. I’d say an hour or so.”
“Can we get there in that amount of time?” I asked Paige.
“Maybe a little over that.” She bit her lip.
“So, we might not be able to get there before they do,” Anna said. “But we can be there shortly after.”
“We could use the Apaches then, right?” Tara asked.
“If they know we have the trains, they know we have the helicopters,” I said. “They’re going to be ready for them.”
“Sooooo, another stealth mission?” Tara asked with a grin.
“It looks like it might be.” I nodded.
“So, we’ll sneak over there, find them, take them down before they can blow the railway, and get this train back on track,” Paige said, then she chuckled at her bad joke. “Pun intended.”
“Riiiiight,” Tara said, and she nodded sarcastically at the brunette.
“Get it, ‘cause trains go on tracks, ya know,” Paige explained nervously.
“Oh, I think we all got it,” Tara said, and she patted Paige on the shoulder.
“You’re such a dick,” the brunette scoffed.
“I thought it was funny,” Bailey said.
“Then why didn’t you laugh?” Tara asked.
“I…” Bailey looked around and shrugged. “Um… yeah, I got nothin’.”
“Wait, wait, hold on,” Anna said with a shake of her head, and she started to pace around as she thought. “They know we have the helicopters that were on the last four train cars.”
“Right,” I agreed.
“But they think Minji’s car is still with them,” the redhead added.
“Which means they think we only have three Apaches, not four,” I said.
“We can use Minji here again,” Paige said quickly. “Have her tell them she’ll send one of the helicopters over for assistance. That way they won’t shoot.”
“We can have our Apache blast them, and we can be somewhere nearby to snipe off whoever he doesn’t get,” Anna said.
“I like it.” I grinned.
“We’ll need to do this quickly,” Hammer said. “Like… now quickly.”
“You’re right,” I agreed. “I’m sure they’re already on the move.”
“We need to tell Minji and Ben,” Anna said.
“Right.” I pulled my walkie talkie up to my mouth. “Minji, come in, and Ben, too, if you’re somewhere near a walkie talkie.”
“I’m here,” Minji said.
“Me, too,” Ben answered.
“Great,” I said. “We’ve got a plan, and we’re going to need both of you.”
“I’m ready, boss,” Ben agreed, and I could hear the grin in his voice.
“What do you need us to do?” Minji asked.
“I need you to tell the NKs that you’ll send one of the Apaches over to help them out,” I said. “And Ben, you’re going to be that Apache.”
“Oh, fuck, yeah,” he said, and I heard his pilot next to him say ‘hell yeah’.
“The girls and the SEALs and I are going to be in the area, so we can take out whoever manages to get away from your attack,” I explained. “And we’ll bring Wilson too, that way he can get one of their radios and make them think they’ve got this in the bag.”
“Roger that,” Wilson added out of nowhere.
“Everyone meet me out here in two.” I smiled. “And Minji, let them know in about twenty minutes, alright?”
“What if they say not to send him?” she asked.
“Say he insisted he go and that he already left,” I told her.
“Alright,” she said.
“Don’t worry, they clearly believe anything you say,” Tara chuckled.
“True,” the Korean woman laughed.
“Alright, everyone,” I said into the walkie talkie. “Let’s do this.”
“We’ll be there soon,” Minji assured me.
“Remember, wait twenty minutes,” I said.
“We’re on our way out now,” Ben informed me.
“See you soon,” I said, and I hung the walkie talkie back on my hip.
“Well, looks like you’ll get to steal the show again,” Tara told Bailey.
