AL:ICE-9 (8 page)

“Hey, you were the one who was showing off on the first model,” Joe said defensively, and then said to Sara, “Jake is the only one so far who can do a complete 360 loop and come out going the right direction,” he finished.

Apparently choosing to ignore the relevance of Jake doing stunts on a prototype, she asked, “What are the levers for by the grips?”

“The one on the left is for reverse, pull in the lever and the motor moves backwards instead of forward, the one on the right is a panic brake. Rather than a smooth deceleration via the throttle, grab that lever and hold on,” he finished. On the running boards just behind the shield, she could make out a foot pedal on each side of the driver’s seat.

“What are those for,” Sara asked.

Jake replied, “Back in the day, a Cavalry Trooper could control his horse by pressure from their legs and knees on the horse’s sides. This freed up their hands for fighting. The pedal on the right controls forward and reverse, the one on the left turns right and left. Once you let go of the handlebars these allow you to control the hover cycle. You can’t change altitude, but everything else works.”

“Ok Jake, so besides a new toy, this is all in aid of?” Sara asked somewhat skeptically.

“Like I said, Cavalry,” Jake replied, “we will never have enough troops to go anywhere and overrun a position with straight infantry. We need a small unit that hits like a big one. Each of these has two 7.62 machineguns and an energy cannon. They will do over 200 miles per hour, though we try to keep them under 150. Like our fighter squadrons, they are four to a unit, called a troop. Collectively this is the 10
th
Cavalry.”

“10
th
?” Sara asked, “what about the other 9?”

Abby chimed in, “Jake explained that the 10
th
Cavalry was a unit with a reputation of fierce fighters who overcame overwhelming odds on many occasions,” pausing with a confused look, she continued, “I didn’t understand the relevance of them all being black, but Joe’s black so it works for us either way!”

----*----

Sara shrugged at the relevance of that statement as well, why would anyone care what color your skin was? Who had time for such nonsense? The world today was a melding of individuals all just trying to survive. Your value was what you brought to the table for survival, not how you looked. Looking around at the assembled team, she could see a mixture of family histories and ethnic backgrounds. Most, like her, had no idea where her family came from pre-attack.

“OK, Jake, so what are we going to do with cavalry?” Sara asked.

She watched as Jake stepped to the rear of his hover cycle and activated a screen on the inside of one of the open doors. A map appeared and on it, and she could make out Catalina Island, where they were all currently, and the LA mainland. There was a blinking red dot, far inland, which she assumed was their destination.

Jake began, pointing at the island, “we are here, the abandoned transport is here,” he said pointing at the dot.

“We are about 60 miles away, which means we can be there in about 35 minutes easily. On the way here, I identified several tall building in the surrounding area where I want each of the two person teams to position themselves. We will split into separate groups here,” Jake indicated a spot about 10 miles out from the target location, “come in low behind your vantage spot and pop up at the last moment to minimize the possibility of being spotted. Once everyone is in position you will wait for my instructions,” Jake finished.

Chapter 8

Jake completed his briefing and started closing up the side panels on the box on the back of his hover cycle, while leaving the lid up. While he was getting things in order, he asked Sara to retrieve the two rifles from their helicopter and place them in the open spots in the box. As she was doing as asked, Jake watched her pull the light cavalry saber out of its scabbard from within the box and hold it up, facing Jake.

“What the hell is this?” she asked him, waving it around in front of her.

Before he could reply, Abby jumped in, “That’s our saber, and Jake has had us practicing with those things for weeks. He says all cavalry troopers need one.”

“Are you kidding me?” Sara asked Jake.

“Excellence is built on tradition,” he replied, “the Gurkha’s of Nepal had their Kurkuri, and the Soviet Spetsnaz
had their throwing shovels. Cavalry troopers need sabers.”

“You expect them to fight with these?” She asked, holding it out in front of her in an on guard position.

“No, I expect them to scare the crap outta the bad guys,” he replied with a smile, “I would rather have them scare people into submission than kill dozens to gain their cooperation.”

“Jake explained that most of the blade is actually blunted, it’s only close to the tip that’s sharpened,” one of the troopers next to Abby contributed “it’s intended to injure, not kill.”

Sara examined the end of the blade, noting the very tip held a sharpened edge, while farther down the length it blunted significantly. She then turned and returned the saber to its scabbard and with a sigh commented, “You all have fun with that!”

With everything tucked away, Jake closed the lid on the box and indicated for everyone to “saddle up.” Before heading out, Jake checked with ALICE, insuring the V-27 would head back to Alaska and the helicopter to Becky and Sandy. With Sara on behind him, he powered up his ride and then slowly started forward, the others falling in single file behind him. As they moved to the edge of the runway, Jake started to nose up a bit gaining altitude before heading out over the open water.

Both Jake and Sara could see the particulars in their heads up display their helmets provided. Direction, airspeed, and altitude all clearly identified, although Jake’s instrument panel included a display with map overlay and the position of all 11 hover cycles. Settling in at a little over 100 feet over the water and 120 MPH, he led the column toward the mainland.

As they neared the coast, they hit the designated separation point and Abby’s A Troop split off heading inland while Jake lead B Troop on a more Northerly route. After a short time, Jake swung right, leading his group east and verifying on his display that Abby was right where she was supposed to be. Jake was a bit concerned that A Troop was traveling longer over dry land and was on the more populated route. They were more likely to draw unwanted attention than his group over water, but he needed to approach from this direction if he was to try to arrive undetected.

As they went feet dry, Jake had to bring the remaining group up in altitude to avoid the taller obstacles and any local interference. Considering how quiet these things were he was less worried about drawing attention as he was in surprising someone. His destination was the tallest of the local structures, providing the best oversight of the location. The map identified it as the Parsons Corporate building.

Lining up on final approach, while keeping the building between them and their target, he noted on the display that each 2-person team from both Troops were splitting off and swinging around to their own specified locations. Jake had spread them out to cover all four points of the compass surrounding their target with good visibility in all directions.

With his building in sight, he pulled back on the bars to gain altitude and get him level with the top of the building. Throttling back, he then slowed his approach, looking for any unwanted occupants of his intended position. After a quick check with ALICE, to verify no one had compromised the pre-selected locations, he slowed his approach. Jake then settled the hover cycle softly on the rooftop, cautiously testing to see if the structure would support the resting weight.

Satisfied they were on a firm footing, he climbed off, inviting Sara to do the same. Jake then slid sideways, moving directly to the box at the rear. Opening the lid, he retrieved the two rifles Sara had placed there earlier and handed one to her as she stepped off the sideboard.

Ever cautious, Jake did a quick sweep of the rooftop with Sara in tow, both verifying they were alone and familiarizing himself with the surroundings. He noted that the rooftop access doors were all gone off their hinges likely removed, no doubt, for materials sometime in the distant past. Once that was completed, he led Sara to the East parapet, which provided the overview Jake desired. From this position, he could see the buildings where he positioned each 2-person team as well as the target location, the focus of this operation.

Jake had each location check in and reminded them that they were all in hostile territory, and this wasn’t a drill. He also reiterated for the thousandth time, the purpose of the 2-person teams was, one focused in and one out. Be sure to keep their perimeters safe.

Once the house keeping was completed, Jake turned his attention to the target location. He had reviewed the overheads ALICE provided on the way in, but from this position, he could discern more details of the layout. Whoever this was, they had spent quite a bit of time preparing this location for long-term residency. If Jake had to bet, he suspected they had been here for years, if not decades. The “why here” was answered by the tank and windmill setup in the compound yard, apparently indicating a well for a constant water supply. At some time in the past, someone had sunk a well at this location.

The compound was across the way from what had to have been a large park at one time, now converted to farm fields. The stolen transport sat parked between the two. The buildings inside the walls identified on the maps as a theater of some sort and the old Pasadena Armory, the surrounding buildings having been demolished and the materials scavenged to create a substantial perimeter wall. The wall completely surrounded the location, enclosing both buildings and a significant amount of open ground.

They had undoubtedly put some thought into its construction as it established defense in layers. Jake could make out kill zone after kill zone of open areas between the exterior of the compound and the two buildings that comprised the center of their fortress. The exterior walls had firing positions that allowed for interlocking fields of fire from any direction and the buildings themselves held heavy weapon positions on all corners covering both inside and outside the walls.

The walls were currently unmanned but there was movement on the rooftop. Jake was sure he could make out the guns on the rooftops as the stolen heavy machineguns, with the addition of rocket launchers interlaced along the roofline. Of all that he had seen so far, it was only those rocket positions that concerned him. The positioning of everything else was to repel a ground attack, but the rockets were set up to address an aerial assault. As far as he knew, only he could stage such an attack.

Pausing to consider the implications, new activity in the yard caught his attention.

“Jake those are kids in the yard,” Sara stated with surprise in her voice.

Jake could make out six or seven children running around on the open area, one chasing a dog while the others watched and laughed. As Jake and Sara watched, several adults, both men and women, came out after the kids, and started various activities while the kids continued to play.

“Jake I wasn’t expecting families here. What are we going to do?” Sara asked.

Before Jake could reply, Abby reported, “Jake we have movement in the southeast. It looks to be, maybe 20 to 25 armed men on horseback, and they are heading this way.”

Jake turned to his left, just in time to see the armed party Abby had described. As they watched, the group continued to approach the compound until they were at the far side of the fields in the old park. At that point, there were shouts from the rooftop and suddenly all the people in the yard scrambled back inside.

Jake commented, more to himself, “Guess we know they aren’t part of this group.”

Warning everyone not to engage, Jake continued to watch the events unfold. Using the fields as cover, the group on horseback dismounted and several began raiding the crops, packing cloth bags full of whatever they could grab, while a select few engaged with the rooftop positions.

With shots fired between the two parties, Jake watched as two of the raiders fell. The two groups continued to exchange fire as the riders continued to strip the fields of produce. The heavy machineguns opened up from the rooftop, inspiring the entire raiding party to retreat in haste. Withdrawing under fire from the compound, the entire group retraced their approach path and then disappeared.

After a few moments, the only obvious opening in the wall cleared of blockage and an armed group of 10 cautiously ventured out into the fields. Jake could see them moving through the crops and all carrying new weapons supplied from ALICE stores. The group was moving slowly, looking for both dangers, and evaluating the damage done. As they reached to two fallen bandits, Jake could recognize that the first man was dead. After they reached the second, there was a pause and then more shouting.

Within seconds, two women appeared through the opening and hurried across the field. While the men continued to scour the remainder of the area, the women tended to the fallen bandit, with two men standing guard. After several minutes, the entire group gathered and several of the men lifted the injured man and they all returned into the compound.

“Well I’ll be damned!” Jake declared.

“What?” Sara asked, confused at the declaration.

Jake turned and as he was about to say something, he stopped. Instead, he headed back to the box at the rear of their ride and pulled out a sniper rifle, placing his rifle back in the box. Returning to Sara at the wall, he handed her the rifle and said, “Here, you take this, stay here and cover me.”

Then, without explanation he turned and returned to the hover cycle, climbing on and with one swift motion, he lifted off the rooftop. Over the open communication line, Jake instructed all positions to take no actions until instructed to do so.

As everyone watched, Jake swung around in a large loop to the left of the rooftop until he headed south and then looped wide again so he was heading north, his route centered on the compound. Approaching slowly and at about 50 feet above the ground, Jake could make out the rooftop lookouts pointing in his direction. As he closed on their location, he slowed even more and then gently settled to the ground. He had stopped in the open area in front of the gate, near the parked transport on his right.

Climbing off and standing beside the hover cycle, Jake stood patiently, waiting for some response from inside the walls. After a few minutes to allow the removal of the internal barriers, they opened the gate again. This time, a solitary man emerged and his only weapon, a holstered ALICE provided sidearm.

As Jake stepped forward to meet the man, he heard him speak out.

“About time you got here!”

“Yeah, I’m beginning to understand that. I’m Major Jake Thomas,” Jake replied.

“I know who you are,” the man replied in turn, “names Wade, Chris Wade.”

“Do you care to explain all this?” Jake asked.

“This was the only way I could get your attention,” the man replied, in a matter of fact way.

“One hell of a risk,” Jake retorted.

“You’re a smart guy, I knew you would figure it out,” Chris answered.

Looking the man over Jake estimated he was about 45, just under six feet tall and while he was not overweight, the group had surely been doing better than just hanging on.

Chris began, “With your grand plan to reform the countryside, you left us city dwellers here to deal with the fallout. Prior to your arrival, the gangs mostly left us to ourselves, the farming communities being easier pickings. We would grow a little and scavenge a little, hunting and trading for what additional food we needed. Then you shut down the countryside, driving the gangs back into the city and they started to look at us as a source of supplies.”

Jake was beginning to understand the position he had placed this and many other groups in. He had blankly assumed all the residence of LA was crooks or just plain lazy, living off what they could gather or steal. All the communities they had liberated supported that impression, as it seemed to be the general opinion. That assumption was proving to be in grave error and these people were the evidence of that.

The residence they had established demonstrated a strong work ethic and the lifestyle they embraced was far from criminal. In many ways, Jake could see the beauty of this location, close to a continuous source of manufactured goods to the south, a constant water supply, and the option of hunting and trading to the north. Even though the area available for farming wasn’t nearly enough to support a large community, it would, however, supplement their ongoing needs year around in the mild Southern California weather.

“How many of you are there?” Jake asked.

“A little over 60, including the kids,” Chris replied, “there is enough of us to man the walls at night and keep the poachers at bay.”