Hell in the Homeland (15 page)

Charlie had Joe call the council and tell them to go to the town hall ASAP.

A couple of hours passed before all of the council members could get to the town hall. Several had been south of town, fighting a small house fire and were still in their firefighting equipment. Charlie was pleased to see that every one of them had their M4 and pistol with them as they arrived.

“Our initial surveillance has found three small recon teams watching our city. These soldiers are armed to the teeth and have the latest military equipment. This is not some bunch of thugs setting up a raid to steal drugs. It probably is the DHS or a rogue army group trying to find a base of operations. We would be a prized plum for any group to conquer. I’m sending several small scouting teams out to find their camp.”

“What should we do to protect our town? We can’t ignore them and need to find out if they are friend or foe.”

Chief Charlie spoke up, “First, they can’t be allowed into our city. Second, we meet with them to find out their intentions. Third, we wipe them off the face of the earth if they try to attack.”

The mayor banged his gavel and said, “Charlie, put the plan into effect.”

***

They kept watching the men watching the town for three more days without any movement on either side. Then at ten o’clock of the fourth morning, a Humvee drove towards town from the south with a white flag waving on its antennae. The men guarding the checkpoint were heavily armed and had bulletproof vests. One noticed that a soldier in the Humvee had a camera and was recording every move they made.

A soldier wearing captain’s bars got out of the vehicle and said, “We are peaceful and want to meet with your city leaders. Can you take us to them?”

“No, we won’t take you to them. Who are you? Why are you here and what do you want?”

“We are the US Army. We are here to help protect you and establish law and order in this area. We want your help in accomplishing our goals.”

“Be prepared to prove you are with the Army. I will inform our leader of the conversation and get back to you. What channels do you monitor?”

The captain told them the channel to use, then got back in the Humvee and drove away.

Charlie had been listening in on the conversations through a microphone placed on one of the men at each checkpoint. Everything he heard pointed to these men being regular Army soldiers, but his gut told him that the Army would not have sent recon teams out for several days to watch his town. Charlie had his radio operator change to the frequency supplied by the soldier.

“US Army, this is Port Arthur. Do you read me?”

“This is Sergeant Brown; we read you loud and clear. Here is Major Johnson.”

“This is Major Johnson, who am I speaking to?”

“This is Charlie; we don’t need your help or protection. Our town is self-sufficient and does not need the government interfering in our affairs. Move on and find some other town that needs your assistance. You are not welcome here.”

“Charlie, our orders are to set up a base of operations and re-establish law and order on the Gulf Coast of Texas. We would like to use your town as our base of operation. We can protect your town and begin turning the lights back on.”

“Major Johnson, you only have about five-hundred men, five armored cars and about six Humvees armed with Ma Deuces. You cannot protect yourselves. We have over twenty thousand heavily armed citizens, mortars, LAWS, and several 90mm cannons.”

Charlie heard Johnson gasp when he found that the town’s people knew more about his army than he knew about them.

“Look Charlie, your fucking with the US Army not a bunch of ragtag wannabe civilians playing soldier. You have until noon tomorrow to lay down your weapons and join us or be destroyed.”

“Major, you’re just another thug trying to set up his own kingdom. The real Army would have tried to win us over not try to run us over. You are the pretenders and your ego will get you and your men killed.”

Johnson cut of the call.

“Well Charlie, what do you make of that conversation? The major didn’t scare off as you thought, did he?”

“Joe, tell everyone to go to highest alert and be ready for an attack before daybreak. Mayor, the major just about shit his britches when he found out that we knew more about him then he knew about us. His ego kicked in and he is going to pull a sneaky surprise attack to overrun us before we can react. He thinks he is dealing with a bunch of rednecks.”

“Charlie, are you sure about this, what if they are the US Army?”

"Jack, trust me. I was in the army for over twenty years and these guys have served, but are the dregs of the army.”

“You know I trust you; tell us what to do.”

“Joe, tell the team to arm all of the IEDs and tell the company commanders to position all forces in their defense positions after the sun sets. We do not want them to see us strengthening our positions. Jack, if they were legitimate, they would be trying to assist us and win our hearts and minds, not threatening to wipe us out. I pushed the bastard to find out how he would react. I hoped for the best, but got the worst.”

              Charlie was in the command center watching the video feed from the numerous cameras around Port Arthur and saw the enemy slowly moving into position. He watched them set up their mortars and gave their coordinates to his mortar teams, which greatly outnumbered the enemies. He had seen men like the major before, all cocky and full of themselves. The major was over confident and committed all of his men to an overwhelming attack, which would be his downfall. Charlie continued to watch the troops move in towards the city and kept making counter moves. The Port Arthur fighters were perfectly positioned to counter the attacking soldiers.

Charlie decided it was time to resolve his issues with Joe before the fight started.

“Joe, come outside with me so we can work out some personal issues.”

They walked outside and Charlie led him out to the parking lot and stopped beside Joe’s VW bus.

“Joe, you know my daughter, don’t you? Do you know how much I love my daughter and how protective I am of her?”

“Yes sir. What are you trying to say?"

“How long have you been screwing my daughter and what are your intentions?”

Joe was stammering and trying to collect his emotions to give a coherent answer, when he said, “I love Jenny and plan to marry her, if she’ll have me. I’m sorry if I’ve upset you sir, but I love her and will fight for her if I need to. You can’t keep us apart.”

“Damn, son, we have enough fighting about to happen tonight without fighting each other. I know you love my daughter; everyone knows that. What I want to tell you is to stop screwing her in my parking lot, which everyone also knows. Son, you need a lesson in discretion. Ask her to marry you and get a home and give us some grandkids.”

He slapped Joe on the back and said, “Now get your ass back to work.”

Charlie looked up and saw Jenny was standing in the doorway watching them.

“Darling, marry the boy and get the hell out of that damn bus.”

She gave her dad a kiss and went back to work.

Johnson’s men started moving in at four o’clock sharp with two major groups. The captain was attacking from the north just above Bridge City and Major Johnson led the group attacking from the south

“Captain, you are free to move down from your position. You are free to eliminate any resistance, but keep civilian losses to a minimum.”

“Yes sir. We will sweep through and meet you for lunch at the town hall.”

“Don’t get too cocky and watch out for traps. These people are not soldiers, but many of them are experienced hunters. Do not advance past Groves without orders from me. I plan to be a mile south of Port Arthur about the time you get to Groves. Pacify that city and be prepared to advance on Port Arthur tomorrow morning as we planned.”

Both forces only met token resistance and sniper fire, which slowed them down and made them keep taking cover, however when the captain's men got north of Bridge City, the resistance increased. The captain found his men under heavy attack from the front and rear of his column. Just as he noticed that his vehicles were bunching up due to the withering fire from the south, all hell broke loose. There were explosions from both sides of the road and the men and vehicles were peppered with shrapnel. A fourth of his men were cut down in a couple of minutes.

“Sergeant, move into the woods towards that barn and regroup! They’re killing us.”

“Leave the wounded and get your asses over to the barn. We’ll get them later.”

Before the soldiers could move the Humvees and armored vehicles, there were thunderous explosions that flipped two of the Humvees and destroyed two armored vehicles.

“Retreat, head back to Highway 10. Fuck this place and fuck the major.”

They fled as fast as they could while still taking heavy fire and explosions left and right. There were only six vehicles and about seventy-five men left by the time they got back up to Highway 10.

              Charlie gave orders to the mortar teams to begin firing on the enemies’ mortar emplacements first and then the advancing men. He also told the leaders to blow the IEDs when the enemy got close enough for maximum killing power. Many of the IEDs were bombs wrapped in nuts, bolts and washers and secured to trees at chest height. The Port Arthur forces outnumbered the enemy forty to one.

“Don’t use the cannons unless I give the order. We only have about a hundred rounds and I want to save them for a real threat."

              Major Johnson’s team was taking small arms fire when he heard his captain yelling at his men to take cover. He heard several thumping sounds in the distance.

“Take cover, incoming!”

The men scrambled for cover under or behind trees, logs or their vehicles. The mortar shells rained down on them for several minutes killing twenty-four and wounding as many.

Johnson yelled, “Start returning mortar fire at will! Blast them off the face of the earth.”

Before the mortars could be fired, numerous IEDs exploded around them and they were attacked from all sides. His men were dying all around him and there was nothing he could do. He grabbed a white T-shirt and waved it out the window of the Humvee.

“Men, stop firing. We are surrendering. Please stop shooting, we surrender!”

“Throw your guns down, come out with your hands up and walk to the crossroads. We will shoot anyone who runs or makes a sudden move.”

“Men, do what you’re told. We surrender.”

Only fifty men were able to move on their own, another twenty-three were wounded and the rest were dead. Charlie’s team rounded up all of the enemy and forced them to walk to a holding area outside of town. The wounded were placed in the backs of dump trucks and driven to the holding area. They waited in the dump trucks until their comrades finished walking to the holding area.

Major Johnson saw his men were still in the back of the dump trucks and started yelling, “Why aren’t my men receiving medical treatment? This is against the Geneva Convention.”

“Shut the fuck up or I’ll knock your damned teeth out, you worthless piece of shit. Joe, take the Major, and his officers and have Fred interrogate them. Your me
n
were going to killrape and take ove
r
our town; screw the Geneva Convention.”

              “You must treat my men and me as prisoners and….” Charlie hit Johnson on the side of his head with the butt of his rifle just enough to shut him up without knocking him out.

***

“Captain Jones, we just established radio contact with the Police Chief of Port Arthur. He says that a group of five-hundred men claiming to be US Army attacked their town a few days ago.”

“I’ll have to check with Stokes before I can send help to them. See how long they can hold out.”

“Sir, they don’t need help. They want to know if we know a Major Johnson and what we want them to do with a couple hundred prisoners.”

“That Johnson is the traitor that was guarding the Compound in Mobile. Put the Chief on the radio.”

The radio operator called for Port Arthur and had the Chief on in just a few minutes.

“This is Charlie Adams; I am the Police Chief and head of our local defense force. We have one hundred fifty-six prisoners and about eighty of them are wounded. Do you want them? We believe them to be traitors to our country. They intended to take over our city and use it as a base of operations for their own gain.”

“Charlie, this is Captain Jones. We know of Major Johnson and you are right, he and his men are the bad guys in this disaster. Yes, we would like to take charge of them. Can we approach your town and take them to Mobile? I’d like to send a helicopter over to quickly pick up Johnson and his officers.”