Apache Dawn: Book I of the Wildfire Saga (81 page)

Cooper pulled on his guide ropes and started a slow, gentle turn to the north and west, making a loop over the Charles River and getting the team lined-up for landing on a large, flat, sports field complex across the river from JFK Park.
 
He pulled the team down through a thousand feet and followed the river, keeping an eye to the left, where Cumnock Fields Park was a nice, inviting patch of green.
 
He couldn’t see anything on the ground below—no sign of Germans anywhere close.
 
Cooper swooped around to the north, then curved back to the east over the river at a steep incline, and dropped just over the tree line.
 
Their boots skimmed the treetops and coasted just above the grass to the far side of the field.

He flared expertly at the very last second, just outside the tree line that sheltered the southern riverbank of the Charles River.
 
As his momentum was fully arrested, his feet dropped on the ground silently and he sank to a crouch, already pulling the parachute to the ground and starting to roll it up.

In a whisper, Charlie landed next to him, almost as perfectly as Cooper.
 
Jax landed on his left and skidded a few feet before he stopped.
 
The others, he noticed with a grin, landed safely and quietly along the length of the tree line.
 
They were as silent as ghosts.
 
In their black helmets and HAHO suits—to anyone who had bothered to look—they were mere wraith-like shadows passing silently through the night.

Once free of their parachutes, oxygen tanks and HAHO gear, the SEALs strapped on weapons and cut loose the empty leg-bags.
 
They were now ready to continue the mission.
 
Cooper checked the elapsed mission time on his HUD and nodded to himself.
 
It had taken less than a minute to go from flight to land operations.
 
By the book.

He saw the others take a knee and when each helmeted-head had turned in his direction, he waved his hand in the execute signal and pointed at Charlie to head for the river.
 
Charlie nodded and moved off silently, Jax and Swede following him into the tree line.
 
When they vanished into the trees and undergrowth that lined the river, Cooper motioned to his squad to follow and he moved along the tree line toward the JFK Street Bridge.

“
Two in position,
” said Charlie’s voice a few breathless moments later.

The kid’s fast,
Cooper admitted to himself.
 
Charlie was already in position by the river, at the foot of the bridge.
 
Cooper reached his position, just inside the tree line, at the street level of the bridge.
 
Craning his neck, he could make out the IR beacon on the back of Charlie’s helmet down below near the river.

“Sparky, you got eyes on?” he asked.

“Roger that.”
 

Cooper watched the team sniper move to the right and set up his long, black sniper rifle behind a tree.
 
Sparky plugged a cord from the rifle’s scope into the side of his helmet and started scanning the bridge and the far bank.

“Bridge is clear.
 
No enemy foot mobiles in sight.
 
No vehicles in sight.”

“Two?” asked Cooper.

“Negative activity here.
 
Skies are clear,”
Charlie reported.

“Let’s go,” said Cooper.
 
His team headed out of the tree line and crossed the street.
 
They hopped a temporary concrete barrier set up by the Germans and made their way across the long bridge.
 
He watched as Charlie’s squad took position on the opposite side of the road from his men and they all moved across the bridge together as a single unit.

“Still
clear
,” called out Sparky, still in his position back in the tree line.

“Copy,” grunted Cooper.
 
They were almost at the other side.
 
This is turning out to be —

“
Movement, far side, your eleven o’clock!”

The front two SEALs, Cooper and Charlie, on either side of the road, dropped to the deck and had rifles ready.
 
The other SEALs took a knee and aimed over their leaders.

“Wait one…I don’t think they’re Germans…”
 

“
Say again, Sparky, what the hell are we looking for?
” hissed Charlie.

“Seven, repeat, seven foot mobiles, approaching the Germans in JFK Park.
 
Moving up from the riverbank.
 
They got their backs to you.”

“Go, go, go,” said Cooper, getting to his feet again.
 
They would use the cover of the side-rails of the bridge to shield their movement as they reached the far side and crouched again.
 
“Where they at, Sparky?”

“Foot-mobiles entering the tree line, your ten o’clock.”

Before Cooper could say anything else, gunfire erupted in the trees across the street.
 
The bright muzzle flashes lit up their night-vision enhanced HUDs.
 
The computers in their helmets did a good job of dimming the display to prevent momentary blindness.
 
Cooper grinned.
 
He had taken the Marine Commandant at his word when told the SEALs to take what they wanted.
 

“I have
got
to get me some more of this gear,” he muttered.

“Hooyah
,” replied Charlie.

“Whoever they are, they took Jerry by surprise.
 
They’re pretty good, but the Germans got reinforcements approaching from the north—your one o’clock. Across the road, looks like a six-man squad.
 
On foot.”

“Whoever the hell they are, they’re fighting the Germans, and that’s who’s standing between us and our objective.
 
I say we lend a hand
,” suggested Charlie.

“Agreed, let’s do it.
 
You take out the reinforcements, we’ll engage from the tree line.”

“Copy
.”
 
Charlie moved off silently with Jax and Swede in tow, racing up the street directly at the unsuspecting German squad rushing to help their comrades.

“Sparky, you suppressed?” asked Cooper as he and Mike moved forward toward the fighting.

“Affirmative
.”

“Clear to engage.”

“Roger that, engaging now.”

Cooper reached the treeline ahead and saw shadowy shapes in front of him, moving into the German encampment.
 
There were a few tents on fire and one of their vehicles was all shot-up.
 
He counted three bodies on the ground and could see the silhouettes of the mystery attackers moving forward in a disciplined approach, raking fire into the surprised German troops.
 
To his right, he heard muffled gunfire erupt—Charlie was engaging his targets.

A German staggered from the tent in front of him and was suddenly jerked backwards into the tent’s opening.
 
Cooper ducked involuntarily.

“
That’s one
,” said Sparky.

“That was a little
close
, brother,” muttered Cooper, searching for a new target.

Another German crumpled on the edge of Cooper’s vision.
 
“Two
.”

Muffled gunfire reached Cooper’s ears inside his HAHO helmet.
 
He turned again to the road and saw his SEALs moving forward, laying down controlled bursts through the trees.
 
Germans were falling left and right.

He turned back to the main camp just in time to see a German emerge from the trees and take aim at the back of one of the unknown foot-mobiles Sparky had spotted earlier.
 
The man turned to face the German and Cooper could see by the firelight the look of abject fear and surprise on his face.
 

Cooper fired without further hesitation and the German fell to the side with a scream.
 
Cooper was then left standing with his rifle aimed and ready, pointed at the stranger’s chest.

The stranger quickly gathered his wits and started to raise his own rifle toward Cooper.
 

“Hold your fire!
Friendly!
” Cooper said, raising his left hand.
 
His voice, broadcast by external speakers in his helmet, came back to him muffled.
 
He winced, thinking he sounded like a Stormtrooper right out of
Star Wars
.
 

“
Comin’ up on your three o’clock
, Coop,” warned Charlie.

The man in front of Cooper was now joined by his surviving comrades, three more shadows that moved through the camp to the tree line.
 
Cooper could see they were all dressed in civilian clothes, though one had some hunting camo.
 
They all carried what looked like M4s, or AR-15s.
 
One had an SKS slung over his shoulder.

Mike stepped up next to Cooper and took aim at the men opposite them.
 
Cooper laid a hand on Mike’s rifle and pointed the barrel down.
 

“No need to get twitchy, boys.
 
Let’s all stay frosty.
 
I think we’re all on the same team here.”
 
As a show of good faith, Cooper lowered his own weapon.
 
The men across from them kept their weapons aimed.

“I say we take ‘em out right now,” said one of the men in a thick Boston accent.

“I’d advise against that, friend,” said Cooper.
 
He motioned at the leader’s chest.
 
Sparky’s laser had lit-up the man.
 
The red dot was square in the middle of the man’s chest and was not moving at all.
 
“My sniper is back across the river.
 
You’ll never get the chance to pull the trigger.”
 
He turned his head.
 
“Come on out, boys.”

Like wraiths, Charlie, Jax, and Swede emerged from the flickering shadows of the burning German camp.
 
The locals nearly jumped out of their skins and Cooper couldn’t help but grin.
 
When the men calmed down a bit, Cooper let his rifle hang by its combat sling and raised both empty hands.
 
He slowly broke the seal and removed his helmet.
 
Sighing, he relished the first breathe of fresh air that kissed his damp skin.
 

God, that feels good.

“Who the hell
are
you guys?” asked the man Cooper assumed to be their leader.
 

Cooper smiled.
 
“We’re the good guys.”
 
He peeled back the flap of cloth on his right shoulder and exposed the American flag sewn onto his jumpsuit.
 

“Where’d you come from?” asked one of the others.
 
Cooper noticed their rifles weren’t pointed so straight any more.

“Way up there,” he said, pointing up.
 

“No planes or helicopters flying around here but the Krauts and their damn drones,” muttered the leader.
 
“Those are some wicked-fancy helmets you got there…you guys special forces or something?”

“Or something,” Cooper grinned.
 
He stuck a gloved hand out, and almost said
Master
Chief
.
 
After a quick pause, he said instead, “Lieutenant Cooper Braaten.”

“Air Force?” asked the leader.

Charlie snorted in derision, an odd sound coming through his helmet.
 
Mike shook his head.

“Navy,” replied Cooper, the grin spreading into a smile.

After a moment of silence, the leader said,
“Nice
.”
 
He lowered his weapon and shook hands with Cooper.
 
“I gotcha.
 
Hey, it’s cool, you guys really helped us out.
 
Thanks.”

“So what, we’re just gonna trust ‘em ‘cause he says he’s from the Navy?
 
These guys dropped outta the sky like ghosts…”

His partner slapped him on the shoulder.
 
“Dude, they’re
SEALs
.”

“No shit?” asked the Doubting Thomas.

Cooper laughed.
 
“No shit.”
 
He stopped mid-laugh and grew serious.
 
“But don’t tell anyone, or we’ll have to kill you.”
 
When he heard the locals grow silent, he laughed again.
 
“Just kidding, man.
 
We’re not here to kill any Germans.
 
They’re still technically just medical security staff for the W.H.O.”
 
He turned to his team and touched the mic at his throat.
 
“Okay, stand down, Striker.
 
Sparky, come on over.”
 
His bone phone clicked twice.

“So why are you here, if you’re not here to kill some Krauts?
 
We been all alone in this too long, man.
 
Sure be nice to get some backup.”