The Fall of America: Winter Ops (25 page)

The helicopter started to lower and finally when the wheels touched ground, a man left the aircraft, and neared him. He was shoved to the ground, searched and then handcuffed.  He offered no resistance and was then led to the helicopter.  

Once on board, his injuries were checked, cleaned and wrapped.  The medic looked at his eyes with a light, shook his head, and then reaching into his bag pulled out a white pill.  He then handed a canteen to the Colonel.

The ride to the base was short, less than twenty minutes and when they landed, an ambulance was there to take him to a hospital.  The pill made him sleepy, but he remained awake as he was taken to the medical facility, which confused him, because it was a tent and not a building.

Looking up at a Private carrying his stretcher, he asked, “Where am I?  Why is the hospital not in a building?”

“Sir, two days ago partisans attacked us and most of the solid structures were destroyed.  The hospital burned down, killing most of the patients, so this tent will have to do for now.”

We lost the hospital?  What else did we lose?  Most of the permanent buildings are gone?  I wonder if that includes the aircraft hangers?  I will wait, because a Private will know little
, he thought.

He was removed from the ambulance by stretcher and placed on a table.

After a few minutes, a doctor neared and said, “Hello, Lieutenant Colonel Vasiliev, we were told you were killed in the command post and your body was not recovered.  Where have you been, sir?”

“I was a prisoner of war, but escaped.”

“Are you in much pain?”

“A little and my head has most of it right now.”

“I will fix your pain, but Colonel, you may wish you had stayed with the partisans.  Headquarters sent a new acting commander, uh, a Colonel Igor Staslov, and after he arrived he spoke poorly of your defenses and action during the attack, sir.”

“Oh, and how could he have done better?”

As a medic started an IV, the doctor said, “Sir, I am not a soldier, but a doctor. I have no idea about things of war, because my goal is to stop the suffering of our wounded.  I am a healer, not a killer, so you will need to ask the Colonel yourself.”

“Can you remove these handcuffs from me?”

“No, sir, I cannot. We have orders if you were found injured, that we were to secure you and take you prisoner.”

“Prisoner!  I am the damned commander here! I demand you release me this moment, doctor, and that is an order.”

The doctor nodded and the medic inserted a needle into his left arm.  As his world faded, he heard the doctor say, “Colonel, with all due respect, sir, you are no longer a commander.  As a matter of fact, Moscow has ordered your immediate arrest.  Now, rest and sleep, because you are safe with us for right now.”

C
olonel Lee was ashen as he leaned forward and asked, “What do you mean it looks as if a Russian Colonel has escaped, Sergeant?  The man is either here or gone, so which is the case?”  The Colonel was so angry, I thought he might climb on top of his desk if given any more bad news.  I noticed his office was bare, with the exception of a large Mississippi map on one wall.

Sergeant O'Brien stood at attention and said, “He escaped, sir, after killing two guards.”

Lee's eyes narrowed, but he didn't speak, not for many long minutes. Finally, he asked, “Are we at least out looking for him?”

“Oh, yes, sir.  We have ten squads after him, but so far they've found little.”

“Sergeant O'Brien, you will investigate this issue and prepare a personal briefing for me to be conducted at 0700 in the morning.  I want to know the who, what, when, and where of this entire escape.  I can tell you right now, Sergeant, I am not a pleased man.  Lieutenant Colonel Vasiliev was the overall acting commander of not only Edwards Air Base, but also the gulag, and chief of anti-terrorism operations for this area.  And now you tell me the bastard is free to kill more Americans.”

“I'm just the senior enlisted guard of the Russians, sir.  Lieutenant William Johnson is the officer in charge.”

“In the morning, have Lieutenant Johnson
and
you here.  As the two senior men, I want answers and, by God, both of you better provide them, or heads will roll.  Dismissed, Sergeant.”

As soon as the Sergeant walked away, I neared Colonel Lee and said, “So, our last fish got away, huh?”

“Yes, but it will do him little good.  The word our spies have is he's facing legal charges for his poor defense of the base and, I think, being made a scapegoat.  The odds are he'll either commit suicide, be shot, or return home to a gulag.”

 “How can our spies know this when the man hadn't escaped yet?  Colonel, I don't care what they do to the man, because he killed two of our troops.  While I respect the Russian as a soldier, his welfare is not my concern.  I came to you to see if you have other missions or plans I need to be aware of, sir.”

The Colonel gave a dry chuckle and said, “The Russians marked him dead, body not recovered, but there were thoughts of him being taken prisoner.  I don't care personally what they do to him either. I was letting you know his status.  Now, we are still licking our wounds from the attack on Edwards, which overall was a victory for us, so there are no other big operations planned at this time.  However,  if you're itching to get at the Russians, you can always hit a train for us.  I'll allow you a company of men and women to complete the task.  Give me a few hours and I'll have the time and place for the train I want you to hit.”

“Time?”

“Yes, I don't want you to hit just any train.  We need you to take out a supply train, because we always need supplies, guns and ammunition. We have spies in most places and if I can discover the usual time for a supply train, I'll let you know. How'd your squad do during the attack?”

“No problems with them, not that I could see.  Mary had four confirmed kills as my sniper and I'd like to recommend Private Gunn for promotion to Corporal.  He's a damned one man army.”

“Promotion granted and instantly, because we need good people.  Now, if you'll excuse me, I'll get someone to finding a train for you and I've some paperwork to do.  But, John?”

“Sir?”

“Just between us, my health is declining quickly and you may have to step into my position faster then either of us thought.”

“I'm truly sorry to hear this, sir.  Are you in a lot of pain?”

“No, I have medication, just stating facts.  Will you be ready to assume command?”

“Oh, yes sir, but I dislike the circumstances.”

“As do I, son.  Now get out so I can get some work done.”

“Yes, sir.”  I saluted and left his office.

Tonight it's cold, well below zero and a light snow. I hate cold weather, which was the reason after I got out of the army, I'd moved to Mississippi. Occasionally the weather would get cold, but it never lasted over a couple of weeks until this year.  I glanced at my watch, saw it was 2000 and knew the train would be along soon.  Mary neared and then lay down beside me.

“What's on your mind?”  I asked, knowing she came to me for a reason.

“Do you think the explosives on the track will cause the train engine to go off the track?”

“Uh-huh, I do. I've been blowing up Russian trains for years.  Oh, the explosives might not do the job, but it'll sure as hell blow the tracks up and that means the engine will continue to move forward off the track.  Eventually, beyond any doubt, it'll stop moving, and most roll on their side.  Why?”

“Do you want me to take the engineer out?”

“No, not really, and it's not because I'm soft. Most of the engineers work for us, providing departure and arrival times.  They're civilians, forced to work for the Russians.”

“Oh, I didn't know that.”

“They know we'll attack their trains, so at the first sign of trouble, they usually jump from the engines and lay on the ground.  I try not to hurt them, but some have been killed.  It's a deadly thing we do.”

Silverwolf said, “The train's coming, see?”  He pointed by I saw nothing.

“I don't see it.” I replied.

“Do you hear it?” he asked.

I gave a dry chuckle and then said, “No, I don't hear it either.”

“Trust me, boss,” he smiled, “it'll soon be here.”

We were about fifty meters from the tracks and I had Gunn with the Claymore, just about where the second car would be on the train, but he was up closer.  The second car was a flatcar, with a number of soldiers, maybe ten to fifteen.  Usually, a senior NCO was in charge of the men on trains, unless they were carrying a valuable load; then an officer would be present.

Finally, I saw the single glaring eye of the train as it moved through the darkness toward me.  I glanced at Silverwolf and he smiled. I could never figure out how I couldn't see or hear what he did, while my eyesight and hearing were excellent.

“Down, and wait for the blast.” I said as I prepared to blow the rails.  I had about half my folks down about a hundred meters, to hit the rear of the train at the same time we hit the front.

When the train was close I blew the charge, smiled, and saw the train continue on.  Close to ten feet later, the engine teetered and then fell to it's side, just as the Claymore went off.

Shouts and screams of pain filled the air as soon as the sound of the blast cleared.  My people opened up with a line of lead death the length of the train. Bodies fell from the train with screams and then I yelled, “Charge!”

We came out of the brush and trees screaming as we each picked a target.  I moved to the train engine, saw the engineer out walking around, dazed. I struck him hard to the head, which knocked him to the ground. This way, he'd have a goose egg on his head to show the Russians when they came.  

One car of Russians was putting out a lot of fire, mostly automatic.  I moved slowly along the sides of the cars, pulled the pin from a grenade and tossed it inside.  I heard screams in Russian, followed by a loud explosion.  Two men either jumped or were blown out the door and landed in bloody heaps on the gravel, dead.  Corporal Hale ran forward and tossed another grenade.  After it went off the cries of the wounded ceased.

“Gunn!”  I yelled.

“Yo!”

“Get me a count of all dead, both sides, and injured.  Any Russians caught alive or with minor wounds will return with us.  Kill their seriously injured.  I'll not have them get patched up so they can fight me another day.  Let me know the overall status of our wounded as well.”

I started hearing pistol shots and knew Gunn was on the job.  

Silverwolf neared and said, “Looks like a train full of rations, bullets and winter uniforms.”

“Take it all and have the men with bicycles put a full load on, and what we can't take, destroy.  Also, check every car for any cash or anything we might have overlooked.”

Minutes later, Private Perry walked to me and said, “I found two boxes, but they're locked.”

“Lead me to them.”

Dead Russians littered the ground outside and the floor inside the car.  I noticed one man was a full Colonel, so whatever it was, it had value.  I moved to the boxes, found them locked, and shot the locks off.  I then pulled the containers open and saw the international sign for radiation.  I then flipped the internal tops off; they were like a huge briefcase, and inside I saw what looked like a war head.

No, this can't be
, I thought as I met the eyes of Perry.

 “What is it, sir?”

“I think you just found, I pray I'm wrong, two tactical nuclear warheads.”

“What's that?”  he asked.

“Nuke bombs.”

“Oh, shit, not good.”  he said and then slowly backed away from me.

I'd just shot the locks off too, but I had no idea what it took to make one of these things go off.  I suspected a code or key had to be used before launch.  

“Get five men, Private Perry, and they're to take turns packing these back to the camp.  At no time are these to be left alone.  Do you understand?”

“Y . . . yes, sir.  I don't have to stay with 'em, do I?”

“Keep them in your sight at all times.”

“Yes, sir.”

I pulled Silverwolf aside, told him what I found and then he replied, “We need to return now.  Once they know we have these, they'll come and they'll not be happy.  I'm sure they'll do whatever it takes to regain control of them, too.”

I nodded, turned toward the train and yelled, “Let's move, folks!  We're leaving in five minutes.”

The attack had gone well. I wondered if what I'd found would be of use to us, or if I'd just reduced the ability of the Russians to use two small tactical nukes against us for a few days.  So far, they'd used poison gas, mass killings and other abuses against us, so nukes were just another tactic to them. I thought nukes would be used by them if they felt they could gain something by using them.  Worried, I pushed my people hard to return.

When I returned, Colonel Lee was in his sleeping bag and not looking good.  A Russian IV was in his arm, he looked weak and frail, but he was able to talk.

“So, how do we activate the nukes?”  I asked.

“I have no idea, but the special group I have made up of scientist and engineers should be able to come up with a way.  But, for God's sake, don't use it against them first.”