Apocalypse Dawn (66 page)

“Stop the vehicle,” Goose ordered.

Brady slammed on the brakes.

“Back up,” Goose said.

Brady rammed the transmission into reverse and backed down the steep grade. The Syrian cav units could still be seen in the distance, making good time now.

“One, this is Leader.”

“Go, Leader,” Goose responded. “You have One.”

“My intel team tells me you’ve halted.”

“They should have also told you that we lost one of our vehicles over the side.”

“Leave it, Goose. You’ve got no margin there to effect a rescue. Those hostiles are going to be on you in minutes.”

Goose peered through the darkness. He fully expected that Remington was right, figuring that the men had been thrown clear of the RSOV. Then he saw one of the men moving, still belted into his seat.

“At least one of them is alive, Leader,” Goose said.

“Get clear, Goose.”

Brady braked the RSOV adjacent to the vehicle.

“I can’t, Leader. I’ve left enough men behind on this mission. I can’t leave any more.”

“You’re going to die there with them.”

Goose didn’t reply, giving orders to get the other Rangers moving. They took ropes from the RSOV’s equipment compartments and tied onto the rear. Wrapping the rope around his waist, Goose rappelled face-forward the way the Australian special forces did, moving the fifty feet down to the wedged vehicle in three long steps.

He landed on the steep rock face just above the vehicle. Rocks skittered beneath his feet, almost causing him to fall.

“Hold up, Sarge,” one of the Rangers said. “Don’t touch the RSOV or we’ll fall.”

Taking out his mini-Maglite, Goose surveyed the vehicle and saw that it actually swayed a few inches on the rocky outcrop. Even more incredible, Corporal Joseph Baker had clambered out and was using his own strength to keep the balance. He was dug into the mountainside like Atlas from Greek mythology, taking enough of the weight of the RSOV to keep it balanced.

From the pain-filled look on the big man’s face, Goose knew the balance was a fleeting thing. No one aboard the RSOV dared move.

“1 need more rope,” Goose called up. He tied himself in place and caught the rope that was thrown down to him. “Secure the other end to the RSOV up there.” He stepped to the rear of the RSOV where most of the weight displacement was. “Hold on, Baker.”

“I’m holding, Sarge. God’s with me. I’m not going to let them fall.” The big man’s face was a map of agony, but there was a quiet kind of strength there, too. No fear, but a confidence that Goose couldn’t believe.

As he worked to tie the other lines to the wedged RSOV, Goose heard the growling thunder of the approaching Syrian cav. In less than a minute, he had the support ropes in place.

“Okay, Baker,” Goose said, giving himself more slack as he made his way down to the big man. “Turn loose.”

Gingerly, not trusting the ropes, Baker turned loose and nearly fell.

At his side, Goose grabbed the man’s combat harness and steadied him. Trusting his own weight to the line around his waist, Goose tied a final line to the corporal’s harness. Together, they started climbing up the ropes.

Goose’s muscles strained and ached. His knee protested with waves of throbbing pain. God, help me. Just a little farther. I want to make it back home. I want to see my family again. His arms and legs trembled from exertion. Darkness clouded his vision.

Just as they were about to reach the top, the wedged RSOV shifted, throwing down wheelbarrows full of rock. Maybe it was the vibration of the tanks rolling across the mountain, or maybe the RSOV it was tied onto had been subtly shifting the whole time. The lines couldn’t be cut because the other Rangers were still climbing them.

Deep, cold conviction filled Goose that they weren’t going to make it. The RSOV slid a few inches. The closest man was still more than ten feet from the road’s edge above. The RSOV slid again, a whole foot this time, coming to within ten feet of the edge. The Rangers up top grabbed the vehicle and tried to brace it, but the effort was no use.

Then headlights flared around the bend in the mountain road. A RSOV sped down the grade. Without hesitation, the driver put his vehicle behind the sliding RSOV.

The two vehicles came together with a grinding crash. Goose skidded three feet down the mountainside. For a moment it looked like the new arrival’s attempt to block the sliding RSOV was doomed to failure.

Then, unbelievably, the RSOVs all came to a stop. The late arrival held steady with one front wheel hanging out over open space.

“Climb,” a familiar voice ordered. “Climb those ropes, Rangers, because if I have to climb down there and hump you up here myself, you’ll be peeling potatoes for a year.”

At the top of the climb, Goose looked into Remington’s face. He reached up and took his friend’s hand, remembering all the times they’d had each other’s backs in a dozen different countries on a hundred different missions.

No matter what other mysteries the world offered, no matter what other changes occurred, Goose knew that the friendship between them was enduring. Different than the one he’d had with Bill Townsend, but no less vital.

“Thanks,” Goose said, leaning into Remington’s strength and letting the man help him up the mountainside as his knee threatened to completely go out from under him.

“I didn’t want to finish this one up by myself, Goose. And it would be hard to break in a new first sergeant.”

Dean Hardin sat in the passenger seat beside Remington, though. Hardin’s face still bore the bruises that Goose had inflicted. The man’s presence reminded Goose that even though the friendship was unique, it also came with problems.

“Move, soldier,” Remington growled. “You’re letting the entire Syrian army catch up to us.”

Goose hobbled painfully to his RSOV as Brady and Madden cut the fallen RSOV free. The vehicle tumbled end over end down the mountain and burst into flames.

Remington took the lead, causing Brady to comment in wonderment at the Ranger captain’s skill. Both vehicles battled the grade, lunging like quarter horses, then shimmying like cats on a hot roof as they fought for traction on hairpin curves.

Baker sat behind Goose.

“Are you okay?” Goose asked.

“I am.” The man smiled. “I’m more okay than I’ve ever been, Sarge. God is with me. He made sure I was in a position to stop that RSOV’s fall, and He gave me the strength to hold it there.” He shook his head. “God didn’t put us here to fail, Sarge. He has something planned for us.”

Goose felt certain the man was delusional, perhaps hurt in ways he didn’t know yet. But yet, at the same time, Goose felt an unexplained absence of fear. He glanced back over his shoulder and saw that the tanks and APCs were only a short distance behind. They’d lost a little of the advance they’d gained because the vehicles couldn’t negotiate the turns like the RSOVs.

“Marathon One, we’re blocked! We’re blocked!”

The announcement filled Goose with dread. And in the next moment, the run through the mountains came to a grinding halt.

“What happened?” Remington demanded.

“One of the transport trucks lost an axle. Locked up and flipped. It’s crossways in the road.”

“Get it out of the way,” Remington ordered.

Goose forced himself to stand in the RSOV’s seat. Looking ahead, he saw the switchback where the transport truck had overturned.

And the mountain vibrated with the weight of the approaching Syrian armored cav.

“We’re trapped,” Madden said. “Man, we almost made it.” Anger fired the corporal’s words.

“No,” Baker said. Even in the darkness, black bruises could be seen forming on his neck and face and across his shoulders through the tears in his shirt.

How had he taken that kind of punishment? Even in the face of the approaching maelstrom of Syrian cav, Goose was blown away by the memory of Baker standing under the RSOV, holding the vehicle up to save his friends. Then Goose remembered all the long hours that Baker had stood in the stream doing baptisms.

Baker looked at Goose, his moon face as calm as a child’s. “It’s God, Sarge. Can’t you feel Him around us? We don’t have to worry about the Syrians. All we have to do is trust in Him.”

The big man pushed himself out of the RSOV, leaving his M-4A1 behind.

In disbelief, Goose watched as Baker walked fifty feet away, then knelt down on the hard rocky road. Baker held his hands out, his palms turned heavenward.

“I’m giving myself to You, Lord,” Baker said in a strong, clear voice. “Take me and use me as You will. But I ask You to protect me from my enemies, and to protect the men with me.”

Other Rangers went forward, all of them men Baker had baptized in the last two days.

The Syrian armor came on.

A dozen men knelt on the rock with Baker, all of them holding hands, forming a line of human beings across the road. Baker led the men in prayer, his voice strong and resonant. He spoke the verse, and they followed him.

“The Lord is my shepherd,” Baker said, “I shall not want.”

More men came forward, knelt and took hands. The prayer grew louder.

The vibrations from the Syrian cav units grew stronger.

“He maketh me to lie down in green pastures,” Baker went on.

Goose glanced forward and saw that several Rangers were frantically working on the overturned transport truck.

“He leadeth me beside the still waters,” Baker said, and the men joined him immediately. More Rangers stepped forward, filling in the human wall that separated them from the advancing Syrian vehicles. “He restoreth my soul.”

Some of the pain went away in Goose’s knee. A calmness came over him even though he knew the Syrian guns were already sweeping the fragile flesh-and-blood wall.

“He leadeth mein the paths of righteousness for his name’s sake.”

“Sergeant Gander!” Remington’s voice cut through the descending tranquility. “Get those men on their feet!”

Goose couldn’t move.

The Syrian tanks spread out along a wide place in the mountain road. The road was wider at this bend, overshadowed by a huge stone ledge. The tanks stood four across, and APCs ranked behind them.

“Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me.”

Drawn by the feeling that touched his heart, Goose went forward. Taking up arms against the tanks wasn’t going to stop the heavy rounds that would rip them to shreds. Even bringing the RSOV’s TOW missile launchers to bear wouldn’t stop the carnage that was about to be unleashed.

Remington swore and came after him. “Sergeant! I gave you an order! “

“Thy rod and thy staff, they comfort me.”

And Goose repeated the words with the men. He heard the words of the psalm rising into the night sky. His burden of worries was lifted from him. This was right. He just wished that Remington could see it. Something in the world had changed; it had grown darker and more bright. He missed Bill Townsend, but at the same moment he felt like Bill was with him, kneeling with the dozens of men praying with Corporal Baker.

“Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies.”

Goose heard Remington ordering the other Rangers into a defensive posture.

“Thou anointest my head with oil. My cup runneth over.”

Then a peal of thunder took away all sound.

“Ready!” Remington shouted into the silence that followed.

The gunners adjusted, taking advantage of the higher incline where the Rangers were.

“Aim!” Remington roared.

For a moment Goose felt fear worm into his heart as he considered that he might not ever see Megan, Joey, or Chris again. Before the fear could grow, though he heard a voice, calm and powerful.

“Be still and know that I am God!”

The voice took Goose’s breath away. In the next instant, the huge stone ledge jutting out from the mountain tore free and skidded down the mountainside, triggering an avalanche of rock and boulders that gained mass and speed. To Goose, it looked like the whole mountaintop toppled and fell.

And when the mountain fell, it swept the Syrian cav away, rolling tanks and APCs and Jeeps over the edge like they were a child’s toys. When the mass of rock stopped moving, a thirty-foot wall of stone. and dirt stood where the enemy had been only a moment ago.

For a moment, the silence was almost complete except for the rolling thunder of the echoes of the avalanche passing through the mountains.

Baker began again. “Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.”

Drained but uplifted, First Sergeant Samuel Adams “Goose” Gander bowed his head and gave thanks to his Lord.

United States 75th Army Rangers Temporary Post

Sanliurfa, Turkey

Local Time 1453 Hours

Church was held under a canvas tent near one of the walls of the city. Benches had been fashioned out of ammo lockers and boards salvaged from the wreckage of buildings that had been hit by SCUDS.

Corporal Joseph Baker, heavily bruised from the action that had taken place only twelve hours ago, stood at the front of the congregation and talked about the miracle that had leveled a mountain and turned back the Syrian army.