Howl: A World at War Novel (24 page)

“Copy, Bravo Wolf. I'll let her know,” Nora responded.

Beside him, Xavier gripped his assault rifle. “Looks like fun times out there.”

Danny looked down at his machine gun and grinned. “Only the best for us.”

Zach felt the kick of his launcher as he lobbed a grenade through the window in front of him. The enemy had a machine gun mounted here, positioned so it could threatened most of the beach. Cover fire from their transports had forced the gunners to duck, but they still had managed to wound one of Gavin's troops. He and Zach had grabbed the wounded soldier and dragged her into cover. Joon was patching her up.

I don't even remember her name
, Zach thought to himself, but now wasn't the time to think about that. They had to get off the beach quickly.

Boom.

The grenade went off. As soon as they heard the noise Alpha 1 was on their feet, charging hard. They stormed into the building, throwing grenades in the doorway to cover their entry.

Zach stood up and ejected the spent grenade cartridge. He looked over at Joon and the soldier who was now back on her feet. Mira, that's what her name was.

He motioned forward. “Let's go.”

It had been a colossally stupid idea, and yet it had been so much fun.

Alpha 2 had run into resistance. An enemy squad had holed up in a single story house along the shoreline. Their transport had fired its recoilless rifle at it, but the weapon had done little to suppress them.

Alpha 2 was in cover, but it would only protect them for so long, and they need to get off the beach fast. Selene and Miko had made a completely impulsive decision. Covered by the rest of Alpha 2, Selene had fixed her bayonet and had charged into the building with Miko in tow.

The charge had apparently caught the enemy off guard. Selene was able to kill three of the enemy before they could even think about responding. Another had managed to get his pistol halfway out before he took a blade between the ribs. Miko shot two coming from another room, and then Selene had gone straight for the enemy sergeant.

He had been alert and far more skilled at close combat than his subordinates. Selene had been surprised when he drew a machete and started swinging. She came close to dying a couple of times, had to use every ounce of skill that she possessed, but she had been hardened by her training in the battledomes. Dodging, blocking, twisting, striking, she had stayed alive and had finally found an opening. The sergeant had taken a bayonet to the chest, followed by three bullets.

The last soldier had attacked he as she was finishing off the enemy sergeant, but Miko was covering her back well. A stab of the knife and a few shots later they had cleared the house out.

“We're safe. Move up,” Selene ordered.

“
Roger,” Ethan confirmed.

“
Well, that's my excitement quota for today,” Miko said. She took her sniper rifle off of her back and pulled her hood over her head. “I'm going to go see if I can give Logan's squad some help.”

“
Keep in touch,” Selene said. That was a useful suggestion for herself as well. “Wolf Lead, we've pushed off of the beach. What are your orders?”

“Alpha Wolf, head to the main line and hold there. We'll back you up soon,” Zach ordered. Black Wolf was going to dig in on the beach side of a wide boulevard, and he wanted to make sure they got into place as soon as possible.

Danny's platoon was pushing up the beach. Karen was starting to make a flank attack, relieving the pressure on Logan's squad. Once they were all clear they would organize themselves properly and push on to their objective points.

Zach turned around to see Bravo 2 moving up the beach with Nora in tow. He waved them forward.

“Push forward!” Danny ordered his troops, though they needed little encouragement. Xavier's squad moved up the beachhead with no opposition. Selene's platoon had done a good job clearing out the resistance that had managed to survive the bombardment. Javy's squad had already moved off the beach and was pushing toward their planned defensive line. To his left Karen was launching a fierce flanking attack on the enemy pinning down Logan's squad.

Danny watched Bravo 3 go to work. He saw Karen put a hand up to her ear as she activated her radio. A few seconds later a half dozen machine guns opened fire on the building that was giving resistance, courtesy of their naval support. Her squad took advantage of the confusion to close the distance. They stormed inside, and suddenly Alpha 3 wasn't pinned down anymore.

Danny turned forward and followed the tail end of Xavier's squad. He had done enough observing for now. They still had a long battle to fight.

“You say you're secure?” Zach asked.

“
Karen's squad just got Logan's squad out of their predicament. I'm going to assemble my platoon on the left flank of the defensive area,” Selene said.

“
Make sure that Danny knows,” Zach said.

“
He already does. He's the one that suggested we do it this way, actually.”

Zach nodded with satisfaction. “OK, we'll join you soon.” He looked over at Nora. “We secured the beach faster than I thought. Signal over to the transports that they can come in as soon as possible.”

“Got it,” Nora said. “Redd Foxx is making their landing right now. Any instructions for them?”

“
Other than the normal orders? No, we're fine,” Zach said. “We're well ahead of schedule.”

This was good. Very good, in fact. Zach didn't know whether the defenses were thinner than they had originally thought, or if the bombardment had wiped them out, but they had been expecting much tougher resistance and had planned accordingly. Now, with their troops in place ahead of schedule they could do even more to gain the initiative and swing the battle further in their favor.

He had been worried they would get caught on the beaches and forced to fight off the inevitable reinforcements from weak positions. Since they had managed to get into their desired line, which was very strong, they would probably be able to hold off the enemy indefinitely. That would give Marauder plenty of time to take the gate, and the line would be further reinforced by Crimson Eagle, Band of Brothers and Sacred Sword. Once they had the gate under control and the armored company was in the city they could push forward in one massive fist, crushing any resistance that got it their way.

They were clearly winning right now, but Zach cautioned himself against being too satisfied. They had been winning during the battle to take Lerna Bastion as well. They had been crushing the enemy, in fact, but that had all changed once the boss showed up. They had gone from a triumphant victory to the verge of a devastating defeat within the span of a few minutes, and they had barely made it through. Was that going to happen here?

No, Zach thought, it wouldn't. The boss had caught them by surprise. This time they were expecting it. And once it showed up, they would do everything in their power to kill it.

He looked up as Anna made her way into the building they were sheltering inside. Liz was with her.

“Good eye. This looks like a pretty good spot for a command post,” Anna said.

“
Yeah, it does,” Zach said. “We're going to move forward to the main line.”

Anna nodded. “Alright. Gray and Jana are headed up their with their platoons. Liz is going to stick with me and help to direct traffic. I'll keep track of things, but consider yourself the field commander of the ranger company. My troops already know that they're to report straight to you.”

“Got that,” Zach said. “Good luck with the traffic control.”

“
Thanks. I'm probably going to need it,” Anna said with a rueful smile.

“Alpha Wolf, Alpha Wolf, we have an enemy platoon coming in from the east. It's right in front of us,” Gavin said from his position at the right end of the line. He was tasked with holding down one of the flanks.

“
Composition?” Selene asked.

“
Mostly soldiers and heavies. It looks like there's an engineer with a flamethrower. I'll-”

“
Alpha 1?” Selene asked. Gavin had suddenly stopped talking as the same instance that she heard the crack of a sniper rifle.

“
Sorry,” he said again. “They
did
have a flamethrower, but he just got sniped.”

“
Compliments of Miko,” Selene said.

“
Well, I'm very appreciative,” Gavin responded. “Oh, that looks like it riled them up a bit. They're coming.”

“
Tell me if you need help. Redd Foxx is starting to arrive,” Selene told him.

“
We should be fine as we are, but if you can spare a squad we'll be golden.”

“
Will do.” She switched channels. “Gray 1, can you shift a squad over to the right flank?”

“
Roger that. I'll send Nick's squad over,” Gray replied.

Her radio beeped again. “Alpha Wolf.”

“Alpha Wolf, this is Alpha 3. There's an enemy platoon... No, make that two platoons moving down the center. They'll be on us in  about a minute.”

“
Sit tight Logan. Redd Foxx is moving up, and Sacred Sword should be here shortly. Who's your neighboring squad?”

“
It's Javy.”

“
OK, make sure to coordinate with them. Hold tight and help is coming.”

“
Copy,” Logan replied.

Selene went back to directing traffic.

Danny already had his troops in place when the first wave hit. That was good, because the enemy was coming at them hard. He could see several squads in front of him, and clearly there were more. Two, maybe three platoons of infantry. And that wasn't the only problem.

“Bravo Wolf, we have a tank moving in on us,” Karen said in a firm but worried tone.

Danny had chosen to place himself on the third floor of a three story building. It gave him a high vantage point to observe enemy movements, and he was also afforded a degree of good cover. He brought up his binoculars and looked toward the area that she was indicating.

There was a tank. No, it wasn't, Danny realized as he took a closer look. It was smaller, and it wasn't tracked. Instead it was mounted on eight large wheels. An armored car would be a more accurate description, Danny thought to himself. It didn't look like it was heavily armored, but it's armament caught his attention. The vehicle had a turret, and mounted on the turret was a long autocannon. It roared to life and fired several shots at Karen's position.

Danny activated his radio. “Marco, you see that?” he asked the heavy that he had posted on the roof.

“Yeah, I see it.”

“
Waste him.”

“
Copy that,” Marco replied, and a few seconds later a well-aimed shot rocketed down toward the enemy vehicle. It blew apart in a shower of shrapnel and flame.

“
That should take care of it,” Danny said to Karen.

“
Copy, Bravo Wolf,” she responded. “I think that put them on the back foot. We'll...” she trailed off for a moment. “Bravo Wolf, I think they're preparing for an assault. We-”

Karen's words were cut off by a sudden barrage of fire. Danny was forced to duck down as hundreds of bullets slammed into the face of his building. He grabbed his machine gun.

“All Bravos, prepare to resist a general assault,” Danny said. They were going to have a lot of enemies coming at them in a moment. Not a few squads, not even a few platoons: a whole company was coming after them, judging by the volume of fire. This was going to get very hairy.

He switched channels. “Wolf Lead, how long until Sacred Sword gets here?” he asked. “We're coming under attack by a company size force, and we think they have armor support.”

“Sacred Sword is coming,” Zach said.

“
ETA?”

“
Soon,” Zach replied. “We're being hit all across the line. Dig in and do the best you can.”

“
Copy that, Wolf Lead,” Danny said tersely. That was something he could do.

The fire stared to slacken. Xavier, Javy and Karen all signaled him, warning him of the impending infantry assault, but he ignored them. He knew very well what was coming.

Danny opened up a channel to his entire platoon. “Alright people, this is where we win or lose. Armor is top priority if it appears. So are RPG teams and flamethrowers. Crush 'em.”

He stood up and leaned out of the window, bringing his machine gun up to bear. An enemy platoon was starting to move across the boulevard.