Battle Earth IX (11 page)

General White looked astonished by his statement but did not argue it. Heath took in a deep breath. He looked like a broken man who had finally been given a way out of his misery. He looked across his briefing table and the map displayed on it.

“So where will we go?”

“Washington,” a voice replied from a hopeful officer nearby.

Heath shook his head.

“DC? Are you kidding me? New York is a wasteland. We’re getting run out of Baltimore, and you think Washington will be safe? No, no, anyone with any sense bugged out of the capitol as soon as this happened.”

He slid his hand across the projection until he reached Pittsburgh.

“Yes, this is it. Clearest route out, enough distance from our current location to make a difference, and we should be able to rendezvous with Army forces there. Pittsburgh was a key point in our lines last time we fought on this soil. I know for a fact that emergency measures will already have several regiments in situ. Let’s fight this battle on our terms.”

Most around the room nodded in agreement, except for White. The General looked to Taylor. It was not hate in his eyes. He didn’t like what Taylor was doing, but he smiled in response, for he certainly appreciated it.

“We’ve got maybe nine thousand troops in this city. Getting them out is going to be no easy task,” said Heath, “We’re gonna need an hour to get a plan together, Colonel. You’ve shown us the way. Now I would ask you to go back to your people, and keep doing what you do best. You’re a fighter, Colonel. It is where you belong. We’ll find a way out of this.”

Taylor wanted to turn and leave, but he could not help but think he wanted a hand in the decisions that could mean life or death for so many thousands of his countrymen.

“Sir, I think I can be vital to the planning of this operation…”

“Colonel Taylor!” White interrupted, “You have your orders. Get to them.”

Heath turned and glared at him as well, and he knew he had said all he could say without creating new enemies; and he had enough as it was. Taylor nodded in acceptance.

“Thank you, Sir, and good luck,” he said to Heath.

He turned and left with Jones by his side.

“You went easy on them,” said Jones as they were leaving the building, “Going soft in your old age?”

Taylor stopped and looked at Jones.

“Honestly?
 
My head hurts. My whole body hurts. Standing in there, all I wanted was to get out here and take a breath of fresh air, or as fresh as we can get. Just because I had one idea, doesn’t mean I’m full of them. We have always been fighters in this war. We’re field officers, nothing more. Let’s stick to what we’re good at.”

They carried on back to their unit. They were getting what rest they could while scattered around the centre of the city. Parker was the first one to approach and had tears in her eyes.

“We’re not getting out of this one, are we?” she asked, standing in front of them.

Taylor righted himself and stood proud with a stern expression on his face.

“When have we ever not got out? We are getting out, and we are winning this war, and don’t you forget it!”

Taylor looked out to the south at the Mech forces encircling the city. He was on top of the tallest tower still remaining and could see kilometres into the distance, but it was also a rather disconcerting feeling, like being in a fishbowl. He couldn't help but feel the enemy could take a pop at him at any moment. He climbed onto the ladder, slid down to the next level, and walked out onto the wall where Jones was waiting.

"Not nice up there, is it?"

Taylor shook his head. Engines fired up behind them, and he looked down at the vehicles being prepared to leave. Every road and airworthy vehicle still in the city had been gathered ready for the retreat, but he wondered if it would be enough. He could still hear gunfire in the distance. The troops there were continuing to hold back the enemy.

"Think this plan can work?"

"It has to, Charlie. It's that or die."

“You know what gets me, why haven’t they just nuked us yet? Or whatever super weapon they have like it. They could finish us easily while we’re all held up here. One day, and we’d be done for.”

“Not like they’re doing a bad job as it is,” replied Taylor.

Although he shook his head even as he said the words, it didn’t make sense to him either. Jones took a deep breath and then finally came out with some history, as he so often did.

“You know what Hitler once said, that he would do what Napoleon could not?”

Taylor turned and waited for the punch line.

“He wanted to cross the English Channel, invade Britain, and defeat Russia. He wanted the whole world to know he was a better man and a better leader than those who had come before him. It’s no different here. Erdogan wants us all to know he can achieve all that his peers failed, and in record time.”

“You think that’s really it? All this because of what, pride?”

“Is it that surprising? Jafar says that Earth for them is some paradise, so maybe they don’t want to use apocalyptic weapons, but I’d bet good money that’s not the case. Erdogan is revelling in the fact he is running circles around us. We know he’s targeting you personally. You are a symbol of the human resistance and the defeat of the Krys armies. I’d bet any money he’ll be looking to fight and kill you in person.”

Taylor couldn’t help but laugh.

“Well, you are full of good news. So this ultimate alien badass has come all this way to personally humiliate me until he can finally kill me with his own hands?”

Jones nodded.

It had the ring of truth about it, but Taylor did his utmost to brush it off as a far-fetched theory. A light flashed on one of the comms boxes along the wall, and Parker quickly answered. She was on the line for just a few seconds when she put the receiver down and rushed over to Taylor and Jones.

“Enemy forces are encircling the city fast. We are ordered to get moving now!”

Taylor looked out across the courtyard and quickly yelled at the top of his voice, “Load up. We’re outta here!”

He immediately jumped from the edge and landed down beside the vehicle that had been prepared for him. It was an open top jeep, and with nothing but a roll cage for protection. A door gun from one of their ships had been hastily fitted on the cage. Parker climbed onto the back, and Taylor jumped into the driver’s seat. Jafar hauled himself into the passenger side. He was so tall his head stuck up above the cage. He had the same weapon across his lap as was bolted to the frame above. Taylor fired up the engine.

“We’re not waiting?”

“For what?” Taylor asked.

She was surprised to see him be so eager to leave without checking on those under his command.

“We wait for nobody. We have a duty to get out of here, and to survive to fight another day. We’re hitting the road.”

He put his foot to the floor, and the vehicle raced out through an archway and past a line of vehicles with troops hastily boarding. Small aircraft were taking off through the base, and he wished they could be aboard one, but they had no such luck. He leaned a little towards Jafar.

“Jones has a crazy theory that this Erdogan bastard wants to bring me down. That he wants me to have my whole life torn apart, and then kill me him very self. That sound like something he would do?”

“I have never met the Lord Erdogan. But yes.”

Taylor was shocked and turned to look at Jafar’s face. He looked back to see a vehicle pull across their path and swerved just in time to miss it.

“Whoa, what the hell?” Parker squealed as she held onto the roll cage.

Taylor ignored her and asked Jafar again.

“In all this war, a war of whole worlds, you think he wants to make me personally suffer?”

“Yes.”

Taylor shook his head because Jafar was being far from descriptive, and yet he quickly realised he was saying all he needed to. Taylor suddenly felt very vulnerable and more than a little uncomfortable. It was a grim feeling to know the most powerful being known to them in the universe was coming for him.

“He’s gonna find me, isn’t he? Somehow, somewhere, not so far from now, he’s gonna find me?”

“Yes,” replied Jafar.

Taylor had run into most situations with the utmost confidence, even if it was foolish to do so, but now he doubted himself.

“Make me a promise, Jafar?”

The alien looked surprised and awaited a response.

“Promise me that when the time finally comes, when Erdogan is standing before me and attempting to end my life, you will be beside me trying to finish this.”

“I will,” he quickly replied.

He seemed to show no concern and fear for the request, but it was still difficult to read his expression.

“You think you could beat him in a fight?”

“No.”

Taylor smiled. “Well that’s good news.”

Deep down it was a horrifying concept. Everyone he knew treated him as some unbeatable champion, but he knew he had beaten Karadag and Demiran with help and a lot of luck. He’d never admit it to anyone, only perhaps Eli in his weakest moments, but it weighed more heavily on him now than ever. Erdogan was a new kind of enemy on an entirely different level, and it was quickly becoming clear to them all.

A line of vehicles raced out in front of them, and they were losing a little speed as the choke points started filling up.

“There are gates every hundred metres on every wall, and yet still we’re getting backed up. This isn’t going fast enough!” Parker complained.

It was clear to Taylor she hadn’t heard any of the discussion with Jafar, and he was glad of it. Out of nowhere a pulse smashed into the vehicle ahead of them. It was vaporised and most of the body flattened into the ground. Taylor swerved quickly, and the front wheel hit part of the wreckage, launching one side of the vehicle into the air before smashing back down with a violent impact.

Taylor barely kept a grip on the wheel and was amazed they were still going forward, but before they could appreciate their luck, another few pulses struck the ground around them. Engines roared overhead; it was Mech ships sweeping by.

"This isn't good," muttered Taylor.

They were almost bumper-to-bumper with the vehicles ahead of them and had to simply hope the line kept moving. They passed through another archway without incident, but pulses were smashing into positions a little more than ten metres away.

"Erdogan will be watching and revelling in this," stated Jafar.

Taylor looked at him in surprise. Not by what he said, but the fact he had openly shared information without being pressed for it.

"Go on," Taylor said.

"We're running. Fleeing from his armies. Fleeing from his superior power."

"Yeah, well he can stuff his superiority up his ass because I'll be coming for him before long."

Jafar nodded but did not reply. They could all see it was every man and woman for himself now as vehicles scrambled to get out of the city.

"He could have finished us here. He could have ended it all, but Erdogan's arrogance will be his undoing."

"Unless his arrogance is founded in fact!" Parker joined in the conversation.

Taylor looked around. She was hunkered down in the vehicle and just behind them.

"We aren't going down without a fight," he told her firmly.

Neither of them replied. Taylor looked back. Jones' vehicle was close behind them and nearly identical to his. He looked up at more ships flying past overhead, and Mechs were leaping from them and descending into the city. One of the Mech warriors was heading right for Jones' vehicle. He put the power down to get clear and nudged the back of Taylor's jeep. The creature clipped the back of the cage on Jones' vehicle and bounced off onto the front of a truck behind. Taylor breathed a sigh of relief, but as he looked back to the road ahead, he could see further Mechs dropping down ahead of them.

"Get on that gun, Parker!"

She wearily got up on the back of the vehicle and took aim, but it was Jafar who fired first. He had the gun in his lap and could do little to aim, but started firing and adjusting his angles. The first burst zipped past a Mech, and he simply held down the trigger and tracked with the tracer fire until the shots tore into the creature’s armour.

"Not bad!" Taylor smiled.

Jafar went on to the next target without responding. As they passed through another layer of the city’s defences, they could see they were now heading for the final barrier, and the open area between them was awash with burning vehicles and debris.

"Almost there!" he added.

Parker turned and began to fire rapidly towards a group of Mechs landing nearby while Jafar fired in the opposing direction. Taylor could see that several Mechs were coming down on the convoy ahead of them. He raised his rifle to fire single-handed, but before he could, one of the creatures fired. The pulse struck a soldier in the vehicle ahead of him. The impact went down his helmet and into the neck, killing him instantly.

The body fell off the vehicle and to the ground ahead of them. Taylor wanted to swerve, but there was no room to manoeuvre. They hit the body square on and could hear the gut wrenching sounds of the body striking the axles and wheels as they ramped over part of the body. Another Mech suddenly dropped onto the vehicle in front and bounced off the cage so that it was thrown into their path.

Taylor fired a burst as it hurtled towards them, but there was no way to avoid it, whether it was dead or alive. The creature’s arms stretched into the crew compartment, but the middle bar of the cage stopped it dead. It quickly tried to reach for Taylor, but Jafar kicked its faceplate. It shattered and was driven back. Jafar put the barrel of his weapon to its head and fired a burst at point blank range.

Blue blood spurted out over the cockpit in the moment of overkill, forcing Taylor to lean out over the side to see where they were going. Jafar stood up, grabbed hold of the dead body with both hands, and shoved it off the vehicle.

"What I wouldn't give for a roof!"
 
Taylor hollered and sat back in his seat properly. As he said it, they burst out of the final wall and into the open plain to the west.

"On the home run now!"

He could see dozens of vehicles in front of them, and a dust cloud beyond where others were ahead. Just as he spoke, a friendly copter plunged into the ground twenty metres from them and slid to a halt before catching fire. He didn't want to think of how many souls were aboard. The gun above him opened fire again, and he saw Parker firing at an incoming ship. Several of the shots ripped holes in its underbelly, forcing it to bank sharply.

"How long have we got?" she shouted out.

"Soon as the last vehicle hits the three klick marker!" he replied.

"Three klicks? Cutting it a bit fine, don't you think?"

He simply nodded in response. He looked down at the speedo, and they were doing sixty kilometres an hour, the most they could manage and stay in a straight line over rough ground. Taylor looked back at the few dozen or so vehicles behind him and many more on their flanks. They appeared to be close to the rear.

"Masks on, suit up, and buckle up!" he ordered.

He knew they didn't have long now. He slid the visor shut on his helmet and pulled the harnesses across from his seat. The vehicle was fortunately designed for high-speed off-road work and was equipped as such. He sure was glad not to be in the back of one of the trucks.