The Navigator 2: We the People (11 page)

Carlos nodded once and started issuing the orders. Joe pulled his communicator out of his pocket and put it in her ear.

"Darkwater, this is Anderson, I need to speak to the Admiral, ASAP!"

"Hawklings here, what's up, Colonel?"

"We ran into a problem down here, that Agency that's hunting the people set them up. We're evacuating right now, but the assholes are going to be here any minute. I would like permission to assist by protecting the evacuation," Joe asked.

"Granted. What do you need?" Hawklings asked.

"Just my toybox; and maybe some special ammo for the Gun. We're facing enhanced agents," Joe replied.

"What do you need and where?"  Hawklings asked.

"Just have Gunny Grimes set a box each of unbelted AF and DPU on his counter and I'll lift them from there. We're going to need something for smaller arms to penetrate that armor eventually. I had no idea these fuckers had finished the cyborgs." Joe replied.

"I’ll see what we can come up with. Anything else?" Hawklings asked as Joe opened a portal and reached in to drag his weapon box through.

"Yeah, a Snickers bar would be good too. Look, this isn't gonna be pretty; I just need to buy them time," Joe replied, as he took the big sniper rifle out of the box and quickly assembled it. He grabbed a canvas satchel, tossed in a pair of enhanced binocs, all the extra magazines he had for the rifle, a couple of other gadgets that might be handy, then closed the box and pushed it back through the portal before it closed. Carlos was standing there with his mouth open watching him.

"Your ammo is ready, the Snickers is sitting on top," Hawklings replied.

"Great, thank you Sir. I'll keep the comm active if you need me," Joe replied and opened a new portal, reached in, and grabbed the two ammo cans. He put the candy bar in his pocket, slipped the carry strap of the rifle over a shoulder, and picked up the ammo can of napalm, or 'air-fuel', ammo. He looked at Carlos. "I need one person to load for me and I need the highest point in town I can get to in the shortest amount of time."

Carlos was too stunned to argue. He waved to a woman that was running past and pointed to the roof of the community center. When the woman stopped, Joe smiled at her. "Please grab that ammo can and follow me. Carlos," he said to the former gang member. "Head over to Cassie's and make sure everyone gets to safety. We'll follow along after."

Carlos nodded and trotted off toward Cassie’s house. Joe looked at the girl now carrying the other ammo can. "Can you get us up to the roof?" he indicated the Community Center.

She grinned and Joe felt himself being lifted off the ground.

"My name's Joe. When we get our asses out of this mess, you are going to have to teach me that trick!" he grinned at the girl. "Now, here's what's going to happen; we have no idea where they are going to come from, but I'm guessing their going to come straight up the road," he said as he set the rifle down and opened the bag. He took out small sand colored package and opened it while he spoke. "I'm going to need you to keep a look out in the other directions I can't see. I'll also need you to load magazines for me."

He touched the top of one of the ammo cans. "This is air-fuel and the other is depleted uranium. Don't get them mixed up, and be very careful not to drop the air-fuel bullets; they tend to explode easily. I'll ask you for the type I'll need at the time, and you'll hand me the one I ask for. Try to keep the mags loaded all the time." He pulled a small folded tarp out of the package he'd opened and pressed the adhesive on the corner of the tarp to the raised edge of the building facade and the other corner to an air-conditioning unit. He set the other two corners creating a blind over the position he intended to shoot from.

"When you're not loading the mags, or handing one of them to me, I need you to be looking around to make sure no one is sneaking up on us, or the people over at Cassie's. Can you do that?"

"Sure can, Colonel. My name's Abby, my Daddy was in the Rangers and talked about being a sniper. I used to go hunting with him all the time. I think I know what you'll need," the girl replied grinning.

"Well, let's just hope we can jump out of here before we get too dehydrated; I had no idea it would be so fuckin' hot up here," Joe replied.

She smiled and winked as two ice-cold sodas popped into her hands. She handed him one and cracked the top on the other. Joe took a long drink and sighed.

"Perfect, thanks. Uh, with those air-fuel rounds, try not to touch the bullet itself with wet fingers… it might be bad," Joe replied he turned and looked down the heat distorted road. "Damn, we're running out of time." He handed her a headset to protect her ears from the gun. And started loading magazines. She put the headset on and began helping him. When they had five magazines loaded with depleted uranium, Joe grabbed the rifle and got into position. Abby opened the air-fuel box and loaded two magazines before going back to the depleted uranium. She jumped a little when he fired, but quickly settled down

"Darkwater control, I count one sedan, six SUVs and four busses," Joe said.

"Understood, be advised, there is at least one drone in your area, we've been unable to locate it." Hawklings replied. "They are trying to get a satellite on you, but haven't had any luck so far; it seems something up here keeps jamming their signals."

Joe glanced at Abby, who had overheard the conversation. She grabbed the binocs and immediately started scanning the sky.

"Thanks Darkwater, we're on the drone issue. Admiral, please say hello to my assistant Abby," Joe replied as he lined up another shot on the vehicles.

"I would say 'good morning' but I doubt this morning is anywhere close to being good. Thank you for your assistance in this, Abby," Hawklings replied.

"Well, it is morning, Sir," Abby replied. "Got it! One FD-47, position relative one niner-two degrees at fifteen thousand feet, distance four miles."

"It's out of my range. I can't do anything to it that far away," Joe said.

"It seems to be flying past us, it's heading west-southwest," Abby replied.

"Ex-military, Abby?" Hawklings asked.

"Army brat Sir." Abby replied. "Dad was a Ranger."

"Road's blocked, agents are coming in on foot. I hope heat build-up is still an issue with them," Joe replied. "Get the air-fuel rounds ready, Abby."

She set four mags next to him. Then cocked her head to one side. "Helo's. I can't tell direction yet, but I can hear them."

"This just keeps getting better and better," Joe mumbled and dropped the current magazine to load one of the air-fuel ones. Abby pulled her AK-47 closer to her as she looked around. "You worry about the agents you can see; I'll make sure the helo's have a warm welcome."

Joe nodded and reloaded the armor rounds. He aimed and fired, dropping four agents to the ground. Quickly loading another magazine of depleted uranium he dropped six more before the original four began to get up. Through his scope he could see the massive abdominal trauma his weapon had caused. Noting the range, he reloaded the air-fuel rounds and chose his first target.

"Helo's coming in from the north and on the deck! Firing!" Abby said and opened fire.

Joe hit his first target and it exploded into a fireball that blasted several nearby agents off their feet. The target was blown in half. "Yeah, just as I thought, hydrogen power cells. This should be interesting."

"If your done having fun over there, these Helo's are getting ballsy," Abby replied. She turned and lifted the Binocs. "Fuck, that fighter is inbound."

Grabbing another mag of air-fuel rounds, Joe moved out the rear of the blind and took quick aim at the first helo and fired. He didn't wait to see the results but targeted the second and fired again.

"Jesus, don't you ever miss?" Abby said as the first helo crashed into a house on the far side of town. The second Helo was trying to control the bird while backing off.

"I miss, we die," Joe said as he got back into his original position. "Keep an eye on the fighter, tell me when it's three clicks out."

Joe began firing again causing four more agents to explode. The rest had dropped to the ground or moved into cover. Joe guessed they were waiting for the drone to take him out.

"They’re waiting for the fighter to kill us, Abby. Where is it?" Joe asked.

"It should be popping up over the ridge behind the vehicles any minute,"

Joe snorted. "Fucking amateurs! They should have had it come in high, I'd be less likely to hit the damn thing then."

"The 47's are autonomous, remember? No pilot," Abby said.

The stealthy craft indeed popped over the ridge and Joe was just about to fire when the small fighter craft began dropping its ordinance on the agents in hiding. "What the…" Joe said.

Hawklings chuckled in his ear. "If it’s got a computer, we can hack it!"

The drone raised up slightly and fired two missiles into the remaining helo, destroying it.

Joe began firing again as the agents again tried running for the small community. "I need more mags, Abby, all of them air-fuel please."

"You got it Colonel," the girl replied and began loading the empty magazines.

"Cassie? How's the evacuation going?" Joe sent.

"Almost there, Joe; five more minutes!" Cassie replied, she sounded desperate.

"What's wrong?" Joe asked.

"We have three of those cyborgs over here, Carlos and his teams have stopped two of them, but we've lost five more people," Cassie said. "Four fighters and one civilian."

"Hold it together, Cassie. We'll try to buy you the time; five might be a little long, so do what you can, okay?" Joe said as he shot another Agent.

Abby ducked as a bullet hit the facade behind her. Joe turned slightly and saw the Agent with the rifle up on the hillside. He pulled the trigger.

The rifle was destroyed and the Agent was rolling down the hill trying, in vain, to put out the flames. Joe slewed back to the main group and made sure to at least slow down the enemy advance.

"This is getting harder; they're not exposing themselves as much," Joe said.

"Yeah, but the bastards aren't running full tilt towards us either," Abby said. "Not that I'm worried, but how do you plan on getting us outta here?"

"Magic," Joe replied grinning.

"How many are left, Colonel?" Abby asked.

"I can't really tell; they're moving around too much and are too spread out. Do me a favor, keep an eye on the area between where the agents are coming in and Cassie's place if you can. I think some might have moved in that direction while I was busy elsewhere," Joe replied.

"Gotcha, I'll look, but if they did, they have a lot of cover," Abby said.

"Joe, we have the last family; our fighters are escorting them here. Two minutes," Cassie sent telepathically.

"Does Abby know where you're going?" Joe asked. "We'll follow once you're clear."

"Yeah, she does. Just tell her it's safe house three and she'll give you an image," Cassie replied.

"Got it, see ya soon." Joe replied and shot another agent making a run from cover to a house at that edge of the community.

Joe heard Abby shoot her AK twice. "What's going on Abby?"

"You were right about them trying to sneak past. Did you know they have a weak point in the neck?" Abby replied.

Joe chuckled. "Good work, keep looking; let me know if you need me to switch over. Cassie says only a couple more minutes then we're out of here."

"Great, these assholes are getting way too close for comfort," Abby replied.

Joe adjusted aim and started shooting buildings on the edge of the community, setting them on fire. "That should mess with their optics somewhat."

"Colonel, we are tracking two F-22 fighter craft heading in your direction. E.T.A. is ten minutes," Hawklings said over the comm.

"That's okay Admiral, we should be gone before they get here. I'll let you know once we're clear," Joe replied.

"Understood, Good Luck to both of you," Hawklings replied.

"One thing Admiral, we have some wounded; can I offer our help?" Joe asked.

There was a short pause. "Affirmative, Colonel. Medical assistance is approved. I'll have Medical get a team ready and prepare to receive wounded," Hawklings replied.

"Thank you, Sir," Joe replied.

"Joe, everyone's safe. Get out of there!" Cassie replied.

"On our way in a moment," Joe replied. He cleared the air fuel rounds from his rifle and loaded a magazine of depleted uranium. He ripped the tarp away and stood shouldering the big weapon. As he reached into the bag for one last item he looked up at Abby. "Ready to get out of here, kid?"

"Yeah," Abby gasped. "This place is a dump." When she turned, Joe saw that she had been shot in the left shoulder. She slowly slid down the back of the facade.

"Oh fuck! Why didn't you say something?" Joe said.

"Just happened really," the girl replied. "Let's get out of here, and you can bitch me out later."

Joe nodded, took her hand and pulled her to her feet. "I need you to send me an image of safe house three,"