Ash: Rise of the Republic (21 page)

The Captain's accusation of shortened
patrols, muttered in jest in the Governor's office the week before,
was not far from the truth. As their Captain had crawled further
into the bottle, the 2nd Rangers had begun spending more time in
towns and less time on the road. The discovery of Werner's band had
sobered him quickly. He had covered his embarrassment by attacking
his job with a new gusto. He had been riding his rangers hard,
himself harder.

"I’m surprised to see you back so soon.”
McLelland hopped down from the lead vehicle. The two Captains shook
hands and exchanged news. There had been no sign of Werner or his
men at the camp near the burned warehouse. McLelland told him of
Price’s secret informant and how there Refinery reinforcements had
been called off. Collier chuckled at that.

"I guess the Colonel wants all the glory for
himself."

“I’m sure he does, just like I’m sure he’ll
dodge the blame when Werner tears him a new asshole and this
campaign turns to shit.” McLelland felt bitter at the thought. The
Governor’s son would crash and burn and good men would die because
of it, but the bastard would no doubt have a few more medals on his
chest when it was all done.

Serious now, the Captain lowered his voice
so his young rangers couldn't hear. "Any sign of Reid?"

Collier shook his head. "Nothing good.
Plenty of tracks, plenty of blood. No bodies, theirs or ours."

"We have to assume the worst then. Damn, I
wouldn't have thought Werner would be able to get the drop on Buddy
Reid."

The two Captains paused for a moment,
reflecting on the devastating loss. Reid's 3rd Rangers were just as
capable as their own companies. They had kept the Republic's
southern border pacified for years, holding the line at the steep
banked Colorado. They had finally met their match in Werner's
savages, and the fact made the two surviving ranger Captains ponder
their own mortality for a moment.

Collier broke the silence first, "So where
does my lot fit in, now that we’ve been rendered obsolete by this
mysterious spy?"

"The good Colonel requests that you form a
rearguard.” McLellan rolled his eyes.

Collier chuckled again. "I can do that.
We'll wait here and fall in at the rear when they pass."

The two veterans made their farewells as the
first Bradley crawled into view down the road. McLelland waited for
the column to catch up and then took point again. He gave the APC
driver a friendly wave.

They made Hempstead by dusk. The settlement
was smaller than the gambling town they had left that morning. It
was a market village, a cluster of huts where farmers gathered to
sell their surpluses each week. Every Saturday, dusty men and women
would spread their wares in a patchwork warren of tents and kiosks.
The tightly packed stalls huddled in the shade of a small
interchange which had once served to transfer vehicles at high
speed between US 290 and SH 6. Mostly they sold stunted fruits and
vegetables, teased from the earth in small plots which they had
scraped from the ash by hand. There were insufficient billets in
the small hamlet, Colonel Garza led the column up onto the
interchange and they made their exhausted bivouac on the raised
curve of the old overpass. Captain McLelland had to remind the
company commanders to set their pickets.

The next morning, they made another early
start. Before departing, Major Price announced that the enemy had
made camp just ten miles east, in the ruins of a huge retail center
on the north side of the road. Both Captains knew the place well.
The cluster of buildings had once been a bustling outlet mall, but
now served as welcome shelter to weary travelers.

Once the Major had walked away, Collier
whistled to himself. “We’re in for a real treat if they decide to
dig in there.” Most of the buildings in the complex had cinder
block facades lining their rooftops. The old shopping center could
easily be made into a formidable chain of fortresses. He and
McLelland shared a look and then headed to their respective ends of
the column to begin the day’s march.

The rangers found the enemy before noon. The
three HORSVs were traveling abreast in a line, a few hundred yards
apart, half a mile ahead of the main column. They breasted a low
rise and saw two four wheelers speeding toward them, throwing
rooster tails of loose ash.

The outlaw scouts saw the rangers at the
same time and immediately turned around. Captain McLelland signaled
his troop to give chase. Their sleek vehicles quickly overcame the
wheezing old ATVs. The bandits were looking over their shoulders,
frantic to escape. The closest one pulled a pistol and opened fire
on the Captain’s vehicle. Deb jerked the wheel and dodged the
poorly aimed shots. Blue gunned his vehicle and pulled ahead of the
fleeing man. The outlaw turned to avoid him just as his front
wheels dropped into a small gully. His ATV flipped end over end. He
lay still, thrown a dozen yards from the wreck.

“Prisoners! I want prisoners!” the Captain
cried over the growl of the motors and the rush of the wind.

Legs caught up to the second vehicle
quickly. Before he had a chance to turn and fire, Grumps had thrown
a loop of rope around the man. He pulled it tight as they sped
past. The outlaw was jerked from his saddle and dragged a fair
distance before Legs skidded his vehicle to a halt. The two big
grunts leapt from their seats before they had fully stopped,
pounding through the ash toward the dusty man who struggled in the
tangle of thin rope. Before they were able to restrain him, a shot
rang out. A smoking pistol fell from the bandit’s hand. Blood
poured from a ragged hole under his chin. Mason kicked the corpse
for good measure.

“No intel today Cap’n, sorry!” Grumps smiled
as McLellan approached. The thrill of the chase had left him
uncharacteristically ebullient. “What about the other one?”

“Broken neck. I guess we’re still blind for
now. You kids keep a sharp eye out, I’ll be back shortly.”

The lead Bradley was just coming into view.
McLelland hopped back in his seat and Deb sped back to the column.
They made their way to the lumbering Stryker. Major Price was
standing head and shoulders out of one of the top hatches. He
stared ahead at the horizon as the Captain made his report.

“Any word yet from your spy, Major? We’re
only a few miles from the mall.”

“Yes, I’ve just heard: The enemy is making a
stand in the ruins. Apparently they are frightened of meeting us in
the open. We have them right where we want them! You did well to
eliminate their scouts Captain, now we have surprise on our
side.”

“With respect, sir, if they don’t know we’re
coming, why are they making a stand?”

The Major broke from his stoic stare at the
horizon to glare at him for a moment. “Please return to your post,
Captain. I’m sure your rangers could use your help.”

****

When they reached the old outlet center, the rangers
waited by the road for the column to catch up. His quarry finally
within sight, the Colonel squeezed his bulk through one of the
Stryker’s hatches and waved for the Bradleys to take up position on
the ashbanks on either side of the road, flanking his vehicle. He
ordered the infantry up the north bank to form a line facing the
cluster of half buried buildings.

The sprawling old strip mall stood on a
slight rise to the north of the road. There were half a dozen
buildings, each subdivided into multiple small storefronts. Several
of the buildings had collapsed over the years; their roofs were
flat and their construction was cheap. The remaining stores had
chest high facades which rose above the roofline and formed
crenellations which could easily hide a man from incoming fire. The
buildings were tall enough that, though the ash had piled up for
years, they still towered more than twenty feet above their
surroundings.

From the road, no enemy was visible but one.
He stood in the open, fifty yards from the nearest cover, dwarfed
by the big structures behind him. The Captain had trained his
binoculars on the figure. He saw the bald head and the scars. He
snapped his fingers at the sniper team behind him.

“Target, girls! You can win the war right
here! Get set up.”

“Cancel that order, Captain!” The Major had
joined him. “The man is holding a white flag. He wants to
talk.”

“Then it’s the perfect time to kill him: he
won’t be running when the girls shoot.”

The Major was already walking briskly back
to the Stryker. “Join us, if you would, Captain. I hear you’ve met
the man before, perhaps you can be of some assistance.”

McLelland turned to Deb. “Make sure they get
set up. I’d hate to turn my back on that bastard without some
overwatch.”

****

The big man stood silent as they trudged up the hill
toward him. The Captain and the Major struggled to dampen their
long strides enough to keep pace with the Colonel’s slow waddle.
His stubby legs made it difficult to navigate the loose layer of
ash.

When they finally made it to the top, the
Colonel, breathless from the exertion, nodded at the Major to speak
first.

“This is Colonel Garza, Commanding Officer
of the Republic of New Texas Expeditionary Army. I am Major Price,
Executive Officer of the Republic of New Texas Expeditionary Army.
This is Captain McLelland, Commanding Officer of the Republic of
New Texas Rangers.”

The Major waited for a reply, but the stocky
savage stood implacable, his face a mask of stone. His eyes were
locked on the Captain, there was a deep hatred burning in them. The
Captain returned the stare, unblinking, with a steady smile.

The Colonel had finally found his wind, “I
am willing to offer clemency for your men if you surrender now. You
will be taken into custody and returned to…”

The big man finally broke his stare and
turned his gaze to the Colonel. He began speaking suddenly, cutting
Garza off midsentence. His voice was like gravel poured over thin
boards; a thunderous, grating rumble.

“Give me the old man and I will let you walk
back to your fortress with your lives. I want to cut him up and
feed him to my pigs. Or, stay here and I will slaughter you and
your men, and then I will cut the old man up and feed him to my
pigs. Your choice, it doesn’t matter to me either way. You have ten
minutes to decide.”

Garza was flustered by the interruption,
but, to his credit, he started over without acknowledging the
bigger man’s blunt threat.

“As I was saying, if you surrender now, your
men will be pardoned and given jobs in whichever industry they
desire. You will be taken into custody and given a fair trial. If
you insist on resisting us, I cannot guarantee safety to any of
your men.” The Colonel’s hands were shaking slightly. He was still
locked in the cold, unblinking stare.

“I have changed my mind: If you want to live
the price is now the old man and his old wife. I will still cut him
up and feed him to my pigs. I might keep her around for a while, at
least long enough to see her husband die screaming, and then I will
most likely cut her up and feed her to my pigs. You have eight more
minutes to decide.”

“Very well, I’ll take that as a rejection of
our terms.” Colonel Garza turned to Price. “You can’t say we didn’t
try.”

The two turned and began walking back down
the hill. The Captain stayed behind for a moment.

“Werner.”

The rocky stare drifted back to him.

“I should have cut your little throat when
you were crying like a bitch on my living room floor.”

The big savage laughed. The two retreating
officers turned at the booming sound.

“Yes…Yes you should have. You could have
saved a lot of lives that day. Do you feel guilt, old man, from all
the misery you caused because you were too chickenshit to kill a
sniveling child?” He turned to go.

****

Back with the army, the Colonel gathered his officers
around. “We’ll go in with the armor first and soften them up a bit,
then we’ll advance the infantry. I don’t foresee the bastards
having much fight left after we send a few rounds of 25mm their
way. Captain, McLelland, if you please, take your men around behind
to mop up those who escape. I’ve got 0955, we’ll begin the advance
at 1000.”

“Sir, with respect, we don’t even know how
many are in there, or how they are deployed. I suggest caution.”
McLelland was appalled at the Colonel’s seeming underestimation of
the enemy. “These are dangerous men. I guarantee they have
something up their sleeves.”

“These men are undisciplined, outgunned, and
outnumbered. My sources indicate they have no anti-tank capability.
They will be powerless against our armor. Nevertheless, your
objections are noted, Captain.” Major Price delivered a
characteristic sneer. “You have your orders.”

The Captain almost told the man what he
thought of the orders, but managed to hold his tongue. “Yes sir, we
will deploy behind the buildings immediately.” Shaking his head, he
returned to his waiting company and led them in a wide circle
around the jumble of buildings. They spread out in a thin skirmish
line. He told Deb to park the HORSV on a low ash drift with a good
view of the coming battle.

The armor was already rolling up the rise,
the two Bradleys out front and the Stryker in the rear. One of the
Colonel’s staff was standing in the forward hatch, binoculars held
to his eyes, scanning the buildings ahead on which the enemy had
yet to appear. As McLelland watched he struggled to remember the
man’s name.

The Captain’s position behind the buildings
prevented him from seeing the outlaws when they appeared. The first
indication of the ambush was a sharp hiss, and then four thin white
lines were streaking toward the lumbering vehicles. He saw the
staff officer look down to shout a warning, but before he could
form the words the first rocket took his head off in a shower of
gore. Even from his distant perch the Captain could see the
rhythmic red fountain spurting from the raw hole at the top of the
officer’s torso. The body slowly slid into the hatch. The three
other missiles were poorly aimed and exploded in the ash around the
vehicles. In response, the two Bradleys opened up briefly with
their big autocannons. Masonry was blasted from the tops of the
buildings by the explosive shells. At some unheard signal, they
both ceased fire and began rapidly backing up, the Stryker leading
the way.