Carnage City: A World at War Novel (World at War Online Book 6) (24 page)

As soon as they were past Alpha 1 broke from cover and continued moving. Selene looked down at her wrist menu clock to check their progress. Four minutes had elapsed. While they didn't have a strict time limit, the longer they remained the great the chance of detection.

“Miko, could you scout on ahead a little?”

No response.

Selene frowned and tried again. “Miko, could you scout ahead a little.”

Her second attempt was met with silence, and then she suddenly realized that her radio was dead. Everyone else in the squad began to realize it too.

“Crap, we might be caught,” Gavin muttered.

“You'd think they would have tried to ambush us, then,” Selene said.

Something wasn't adding up. If Ragnarok knew they were here then she would have expected them to bring the hammer, smashing the raiding force to protect their vulnerable areas behind the front lines. But so far there was no sign of trouble. No ambushes, no increased patrols, no sign of gunfire coming from the other routes. What was going on.

And then she heard a howling sound, one that was completely unmistakable. For a moment, Selene thought it was all over.

But then she realized the rockets weren't headed for them. Instead, the sound headed south. Southwest, in fact. Right toward the direction of…

“Oh, that's not good,” she said as a series of explosions went off around the tower, still visible in the far distance.

“That's a bad way to start the morning,” Gavin commented as he watched as well.

Selene took a breath. “Nothing we can do about that. Come on, let's get moving.”

T
he tower's
defenders had almost no warning before the rockets started falling on them. Even inside the sturdy tower Zach could feel the sheer force of the impacts.

“When did they decide to launch something like this?” he demanded, looking down at the map table.

Even without a completely accurate view of the situation he could tell. Ragnarok was bringing the pain, and this time it was very unlikely they were going to make it out alive barring a miracle. Their enemy simply had too many troops.

“At least we're all here,” Nora said.

“Provided my guys survive the bombardment,” Anna said unhappily.

Zach nodded. The entire tower garrison was online now to guard against a sneak attack, but they hadn't been expecting anything like this. He had thought maybe the enemy would bring a few platoons or a company to keep them on their toes. But this kind of attack was meant to crush them.

It wasn't something they could have just thrown together on the fly either. Ragnarok was bringing everything at their disposal: artillery, tanks, infantry, the works.

“They know the tower's impervious to rockets and shells,” Nora said. “That means they're probably trying to hit the defenses outside.”

“Agreed.” Even thought they were sturdy, the breastworks and pillboxes couldn't stand up to a direct hit from an artillery shell or a rocket.

Doubtless, Ragnarok had a good measure of their defenses from the previous attacks and from their scouts. They'd know that a good portion of the defenders were in the outer ring, waiting to repel an assault by armor and infantry. That would allow them to respond quickly, but it also left them vulnerable to a sudden artillery strike like this one.

“Twenty four minutes until the jammer goes offline and we can start using the radio again,” Anna said, looking down at her clock.

“We're going to have to do without for a while,” Nora said. “I guarantee the attack's coming within the next five minutes.”

Zach had already made that deduction as well and was on the phone line to the lower floors at once.

“Danny, you there?”

“Here,” came the response.

“Are your guys ready to repel an assault?”

“Ready and able,” Danny replied. “I'm not sure if we can use the tactics we tried last time. Sounds like Redd Foxx might be losing a lot of troops out there. What do you want us to focus on, armor or infantry?”

“Use your discretion, but remember that armor's just support for the infantry assault. They can't force us out by themselves.”

“Hah, easy for you to say. I'm low enough to get cooked if they show up with a flame tank.”

“Well, obviously you can shoot that.”

“Good to hear. We'll be ready when the times comes.”

Zach quickly flipped a pair of switches on the control board. “Liz, you down there?”

“This is Gwen. Liz is outside in all of this.”

“Copy that. Stand by to repel infantry assault. Get that out to them as soon as you can, and stick to the chain of command if there's casualties.”

“Got it.”

“Liz and Gray are both still outside?” Anna asked.

Zach nodded.

“Then tell her I'm headed down. I'll do more good down there then just standing here looking at the map. Only need one or two of us for that.”

“Gwen, Anna's headed down to join you.”

“Roger. We'll hold.”

Zach hung up the phone and watched Anna sprint out of the door, then turned to Nora.

“Perfect timing,” he said wearily. “Absolutely perfect.”

“Maybe it is,” she shrugged. “This could take away troops that would normally be guarding the jammer.”

“Maybe,” he said. But they couldn't deal with theoreticals right now. They had a battle to fight.

T
he tower was taking a pounding
, but Selene and the others couldn't take the time to stand around and gawk. Instead they pushed onward, dodging sporadic NPC patrols as they closed in on their target.

The building loomed ahead of them, an unassuming two story structure made out of tan brick. Selene took out her binoculars and quickly surveyed the area. As she suspected, there were a few guards but nothing too serious. Most of Ragnarok's forces were probably either on the front lines guarding against a Hydra attack or involved in the assault on the tower.

“Great,” Gavin said as he looked through his own pair. “Now let's just hope the rest of them got here on time.”

“Only one way to find out,” she said.

Selene glanced around at the two locations where the other two squads were supposed to arrive, looking for the signal. She didn't see anything on her first sweep, but on her second go-around a flash of red caught her eye. Sure enough, she saw a piece of red cloth flying in a window where Logan's squad was supposed to show up. Another quick check, and she located Ethan's squad as well.

“Run up the yellow,” Selene ordered quietly.

That was the nonverbal signal to begin the attack. It might not be tightly coordinated and ran the risk of being spotted by the enemy, but with the radio down they had little chance of doing anything else. The only other things they could do required noise as well as attracting the attention of everyone in the immediate area.

Selene had a flare gun and would use it as an absolute last resort, but she hoped their flag signals would work instead.

Yellow meant going in quietly, trying to get as close as possible to the enemy position before launching the assault. She hoped to catch the enemy off guard and give them only a small window of opportunity to respond. In the best case scenario they could kill the guards with knives and sneak their way into the building without anyone being the wiser.

But first they had to make it across the streets.

T
he bombardment lifted
, but that only meant more trouble. Nora looked at the holographic map display, wondering where the hammer blow would fall the hardest. Would Ragnarok try break through a specific point, or would they simply try to smash everything at once?

She didn't have long to wait. Red blips representing the enemy suddenly started appearing from all directions, swarming toward the tower.

Nora didn't even try to get an accurate count. She didn't need to, and it was academic at this point. All she knew was that they'd never be able to hold them off, not with just a badly battered company and a platoon. She didn't know how bad the casualties were in Redd Foxx, but she didn't imagined they had come through the bombardment unscathed either.

“So, what do we do now?” Nora asked as she looked over at Zach.

“Fight?”

“Obviously. What do we do to make better than just panicked flailing?”

She saw a frown spread across his face. “We try to hold them outside like we've planned.”

“We're never going to be able to hold off that many enemy troops at once.”

“I know. But we can't afford to give up the outer ring without a fight. Otherwise they can use their flame tanks at will on us.”

“This is never going to work. We're going to have to fall back eventually, and we should probably do it while we still have enough troops to hold the tower.”

Zach grimaced. “I know. And I have an idea, but it's an absolute last resort.”

“Do I want to know?”

“I'm calling artillery down on our positions. If we're going, then they're coming with us.”

Nora nodded. “Probably our best option right now. Call it down. I'll alert the others and have them hold out until it starts falling. Then we're giving up and coming inside.”

“OK then. Let's do it.”

Nora grabbed her carbine and headed straight for the stairs. Her initial role might only be as a messenger, but she had no illusions about what would come after that.

They'd need every available gun to even think about holding off the incoming enemy tide, and that meant she had to fight as well.

“
K
eep
up the rate of fire!” Danny barked out, trying to be heard over the calamity filling the fourth floor.

Once again the lack of radio was making things difficult. Forget communicating with other floors, Danny could scarcely hear what anyone else was even shouting at him. All sorts of noise rang though the floor: the bang of firing artillery, clanking ammunition, the ring of spent shells being tossed in the bigs, troops moving about and shouting instructions to each other, it all jumbled into one big mess.

He tried his best to direct traffic, mostly organizing the logistics chain bringing up extra ammunition from the lower floors. They had a good supply up here already, but Danny didn't have any illusions about how long it would last. They'd need every bit of that, and more of it as well.

Xavier tried to shout something at him, but Danny couldn't quite make out what he was saying.

“What?”

Xavier pointed toward the view slit in front of him. “New tank!” he shouted out, barely audible above the rest of the racket.

Danny hurried to the slot and took out his binoculars, then peered through. What did he mean, new tank?

And then he saw it.

It was an assault gun, somewhat similar to the type that Hydra used, though this one looked like it was based on a tank chassis. It had no turret, just a fixed casemate, giving it a lower profile than a tank. But its armament caught his eye. The gun protruding from the front wasn't a type he was familiar with. It was longer than any he had seen save for the 155s, but the calibre was much smaller.

Two more tanks pulled up behind the vehicle. Flame tanks, he noted as he surveyed the turret. What was Ragnarok playing at right now?

Danny suddenly saw a flash come from the assault gun. He didn't think anything of it: even the biggest shells hadn't done anything to the tower. But as he was turning around to give out more orders, it happened.

He didn't hear the blast, barely even registered it was happening, but something suddenly threw him off his feet. Danny barely had time to think when the world suddenly went black.

T
heir assault went
off without a hitch.

Alpha Wolf stormed across the street, killing the few enemy guards outside the building with suppressed pistols and knives. None of them even had the chance to shout, let alone raise the alarm.

They couldn't take the time to revel in their small triumph, though. Speed was of the essence, and even a small delay could cost them. Selene headed toward the entrance with a few others as Ethan's squad formed a perimeter.

“Locked up tight,” Gavin said as he tried the door. “Looks like they only want authorized personnel in there.”

“Well yeah, would you want just anyone handling sensitive equipment like that?”

“Yeah, probably not. So what do we do?”

Selene looked over at Leigh, one of the engineers in the squad. “Can we break it quietly?”

“Not quickly,” she said after looking at the lock. “I might be able to pick it, but that leaves us out in the open and that could take us five to ten minutes as well.”

Selene frowned. “OK, we're going to have to dispense with the subtlety now. Will a shotgun blast work?”

“The lock is too sturdy. Even with breacher rounds it's not going to be enough.”

“Well, we have one option left then. Wire it up.”

If they couldn't get through by ordinary means they would just blast their way through. That would alert anyone in the immediate area to their presence, but Alpha Wolf didn't have time to fool around.”

“Just give me a second and I'll get a shaped charge on it,” Leigh said.

Selene nodded and looked around at the others. A couple of hand signals later and they were in position, ready to begin the assault on the complex.

“Everyone, fix bayonets if you have them,” she ordered. None of them had a lot of experience fighting in close-combat with the bullpup weapons, but it was better than having to draw their blades in the heat of combat. Selene had a feeling they'd get a lot of use in the tight confines of a building.

“Charges are set,” Leigh said.

Selene nodded. “Set them off. Gavin, you're up first.”

“Roger that.”

Leigh held a hand up, signaling she was about to set off the charge. Despite her experience, Selene felt herself tense in anticipation. As soon as the blast happened there would be no going back. Either Alpha Wolf destroyed their target, or they'd never get another shot at it. There was no middle ground for them.

Bam!

The explosion blew the lock straight into the interior of the building. Anyone standing near the door would be shredded by the combination of concussive force and shrapnel from the destroyed lock.

And then they were on their feet. Gavin's team kicked in the remains of the door and stormed into the complex. Selene was right behind them.

D
anny coughed
and slowly sat up, trying to figure out what had just happened. One moment he'd been directing the gun crews, and the next the entire world had caught fire in front of him.

Then he remembered. The assault gun had fired one shot at them, and that had made all the difference.

He looked around to see a trio of dead bodies lying next to the twisted wreck of an anti-tank gun. Xavier was struggling to his feet as well.

“They got us good,” he said.

Danny nodded. Somehow, some way the enemy gun crew had managed to send a shell straight through the firing port, taking out the gun and the crew in one go.

“Keep the gun on this side going,” Danny ordered. “I'll try to get one of the reserves up here.”

He staggered toward the phone console in the middle of the tower, still stunned from the force of the blast. They had two more anti-tank guns stored in the basement of the tower, but it would take time to get one up here and in position. And with the sheer number of assaulting troops, the loss of firepower would hurt them severely.

Thoughts raced through his mind as he reached for the receiver. Would anyone even be downstairs to respond? Danny imagined they'd all be outside trying to fight off the incoming horde of Ragnarok troops. Even if they did pick up, could they spare enough troops to bring the equipment up here, and could they replace the crew?