Reason For Vengeance (Dark Vengeance Book 1) (8 page)

Alpha team’s Pulse rifles whined, targeting and killing hostiles.  All the soldiers of Shadow Company were crack shots and Alpha team were no exception.  They made excellent use of the opportunity Valerie gave them.  Half of the hostiles on the roof were now dead.

“Go.  Go.  Go.”  She barked into her com, giving the order for the other three fire teams to assault the building’s ground floor. 

No longer facing a single threat they had instinctively taken lightly.  How much danger could one lone soldier be against dozens of armed men and woman?  The hostiles were now ducking and diving for cover.  With no targets in sight, Valerie ran to the left of the building and rounded the corner.

Men and women crouched all along the rampart, facing the courtyard.  There was no cover from Valerie’s new position.  Walking forward with her pistols firing, she moved up the line, killing as she went.  It was not until she was half way along, did they realise what was happening.  Her speed and skill had completely taken them by surprise from the moment she landed on the roof.  Even now that she was right there by them, they could not comprehend just how dangerous she was.  Logic and experience were telling them she should be under cover and firing at them sporadically.  Not walking right there and killing so efficiently.

Only those at the very end of the roof had the time to make sense of the reality of the situation.  The man on the end simply ducked round the corner.  The woman next to him dived behind a pillar and the man third in line tried to follow her but was too slow.  Valerie’s shot caught him in the back of the head and splattered his brains all over the woman.

Instinctively, she leaned away from the falling body, exposing herself momentarily on the other side of the pillar.  It was all Valerie needed, her shot took the unarmoured woman in the side.  The mag round tore into her left lung and kept going, until it stopped in the tough muscle of the heart.  The spinning, jagged piece of metal ripped that side of the woman’s heart apart, destroying the left atrium and ventricle. She died in seconds.

Valerie started her assault on the South side of the building, the west was clear and she stepped round to the north.  The men and women there were concentrating on the three soldiers coming across the east roof.  Now they realised these were not the biggest threat.  That was the single woman who had killed so many of them, in such a short space of time.

A fusillade of shots headed towards Valerie and she ducked back round the corner, crouching in the cover it afforded her.  Glancing back, she saw Button was at the stairway and she heard multiple explosions from the frag grenades he tossed down.  Considering that to be a good option, she holstered her left pistol and palmed three disks, five centimetres in diameter and one centimetre deep, from a dispenser on her belt.  The dispenser automatically armed them for the five second default detonation she set before leaving the FOB.

Not really worried where they landed, she threw them over her head into the north wing roof space.  They exploded almost straight away, in the air above the hostiles.  Screams echoed out, as the hundreds of pins surrounding the explosive in each grenade, found human flesh.  The small charge at the centre of each one, was powerful enough to drive the single centimetre long pins deep into the human body.

A single pin would be painful for anyone caught by one but it would not be fatal unless they were very unlucky.  However each grenade contained thousands of pins  and the three, Valerie threw so casually over the ramparts, detonated far enough apart to cause havoc amongst the hostiles. 

With them firmly distracted, Valerie drew her pistol and rolled round the corner, lying flat on her belly.  Six hostiles were either dead or incapacitated on the floor immediately in front of her, including the guy who managed to avoid her moments ago.  Further back a woman and a man were crouched by the ramparts and a woman by a pillar.  They were still in shock from the grenades.  Valerie did not give them time to recover.  Her pistols hummed and killed each one quickly.  A movement from this sections stairs caught her eye.  She rolled to her left as two men came out with their rifles at the ready.

Firing while rolling, her shots were not as accurate as before.  This time, the jagged shards struck the legs, ripping the flesh and stopping in the bone.  They screamed in pain and dropped to the ground, where Valerie’s following shots found more vital parts of their anatomy.

Using a pillar as cover, she came back to her feet and saw Button was finished with setting the booby trap at the west stairs.  He was now at her previous position at the corner rampart.

“How are we doing, Major?” he called over to her.

“Almost done I think.  On three?”  Button nodded in response.  “One, two, Three!” Valerie went to her right, around the pillar, away from Button, so that she was on the outside of the roof.  At the same time, Button came up from his crouch, around the corner and advanced along the courtyard side of the roof.

They walked forward, guns up and firing at any threat.  There were only three hostiles left.  Button killed two of them and the last, Valerie shot in the back as the woman tried to run for the outer wall.  What she was going to do Valerie had no clue.  There was no way down.  It did not matter, the mission called for sanitisation and that meant no survivors, certainly not any of Boyle’s Enforcers.

Reaching the stairs, Valerie threw three more grenades down and stepped back as Button moved in with the booby trap.  A simple set of linked frag grenades with a laser detonator aimed down the stairs.  If anyone crossed the lasers, the grenades would explode and in that tight, confined space, they would not survive.

“All clear, Major.”  Richings reported as she joined Valerie and Button.  “All hostiles are down, Wester and Guggenheim are keeping an eye on the two entrances.

“Good work, Corporal.  You look after this one.  Button, you’ve got the east wing.  I’ll check on the rest.”

Richings took up position and Button jogged back to the first entrance he booby trapped.  Valerie stepped over to the ramparts over the courtyard.  Looking down, she was pleased to see Fourth Platoon had sortied out from the east building.  The entrance to the hidden bunker was secured with a fire team and the other three were entering the north, west and south wings.  They would link up with the teams from First and Second Platoon, supporting them as they cleared the building.

Taking the moment of calm, Valerie consulted her wristcomp to get an update on the situation.  The map showed Third Platoon, with the elements of First and Second Platoons, were still some way from her position, on the south-east side of the camp.  She frowned for a moment and then shook her head with a wiry grin.  It seemed like an hour since she last checked on the Company.  In reality it had not even been ten minutes.

Turning from the courtyard, she walked over to the North West corner of the building.  From there she had a clear view over the low, single or double storey buildings of the camp.  Her helmets night vision could not penetrate all the way to the other side, even with full magnification.  Valerie could still see almost halfway.  Further out, the multiple fires gave her a clear indication of Shadow Company’s progress.

A wind was now coming from the south over the jungle canopy.  Valerie stepped back from the edge so she was under cover again.  In as safe a place as could be reasonably expected in the middle of what was effectively a war zone, she took off her helmet.  Running her fingers through her dark hair, she revelled in the cool breeze.  Her helmet was climate controlled and designed to allow her to operate effectively in all but the harshest environments.  Though, even the most modern combat equipment that Shadow Company used, could not regulate away the sweat from the adrenaline of combat.

She stood there for a few minutes, letting her body cool from the rush of combat and trusting her troops.  They would call if they needed her.  Right now she was on yet another foreign world and she did wonder when it would ever end?  When would the Families running the Pantheon have enough to be satisfied?  She shook her head, not knowing the answer to that question, just as no one really did, including the heads of those same Families.  Valerie’s priority was keeping her own family safe, including the men and woman of Shadow Company.

“Lead this is Two.”  Valerie’s com came to life with Captain Forlani’s voice and a glance at her wristcomp showed it was on the command net.

“Go ahead, Shannon.”

“All wings of the building are secure.  Do you want me to sortie out to meet with Vobruba?”

“Gibson.  What’s your recommendation?  How is the situation?”  Valerie asked the Operations Officer.

“I think those with you should sit tight, Major,” he answered.  “Third Platoon and the rest have almost finished their sweep.  They’ve met very little opposition in the South East.”  That confirmed Valerie’s early estimation of the situation.

The Operations Officer continued his report.  “All teams have been clearing as they go and have Burn Bags of any sensitive material.”

“Understood, Ops.  Let me know if anything changes.  Two.  Set fire bombs to this building.”

“Yes, Major.”  Captain Forlani replied.  Without bringing in Fifth Platoon and their heavy armament or using the ordinance on board the Helos, they did not have the tools necessary to destroy a permacrete building.  The fire bombs would do just as well by consuming everything inside in an inferno burning at over a thousand degree centigrade.

“Lead, this is Four.  We’re in the bunker.  I think you should come down to have a look at this.”

“OK, Four.  I’m on my way.”  Valerie frowned.  The Lieutenant hadn’t used the command net.  Instead she’d called Valerie on number one, the net set aside for just Captain Forlani, the Lieutenant and Valerie.  It could be an error on Nicki Palicki’s part, but Valerie didn’t really believe that and her curiosity was aroused.

“Richings.”  She called to her team.  “The building is secure and they’re setting the firebombs.  Remove the booby traps and get off the roof.  I’m meeting up with Lieutenant Palicki.  I’ll see you outside to the west shortly.”

“Yes, Major.  You heard her.  Clear your wings.”  The Corporal rattled off her orders and Valerie left them to get on with it.  Walking to the courtyard side rampart, she jumped off and used her grav-belt to ease her to the ground.

A fire team from Fourth Platoon stood guard outside the bunkers entrance.  One of them with a bandage over his forearm.

“Good work, soldiers.”  Valerie told them as she approached.  “Crisp and clean, well done.  How’s the arm, Ahmed?”

“I got clipped by a Mag round.  Nothing too serious.  Stings a bit though.”

“Glad to hear it.  I don’t like my people getting complacent.”  Valerie said with a smile as she went through the now open door to the bunker.

“Absolutely, Ma’am,” Private Ahmed called after her with a laugh.

Inside the door was a small entrance way and a grav lift.  Lance Corporal Mariya Rajan stood in the lift, waiting for Valerie.

“Lieutenant Palicki asked me to bring you to her, Major.”

“Thank you, Mariya.”  Valerie said as she stepped up beside the Lance Corporal.  “As I told Fourth Charlie.  Good work today.”

“Thanks, Major.  How are the others doing?”  The Lance Corporal activated the lift and it descended smoothly.

“We’re pretty much done.  Lieutenant Vobruba is leading the other half of the Company and has almost finished the sweep of the camp.”

“First door on the left, Guv.”  Rajan said when the lift came to a stop and she pointed down the single long corridor. 

“Thanks, Mariya.”  Valerie estimated they descended about fifty metres, much further than her initial estimate.  How could Legion Intelligence have missed such a major construction project?  Even with all the corrupt officials the Drug Lord no doubt had in his pocket, it would have been nigh on impossible for him to hide something like this from Gomez’s security agencies.

Making a mental note to have a long chat with General Vrolijk, Colonel Lieberman’s boss, when they got home, Valerie went through the door indicated by the Lance Corporal.

“Hey, Guv!  Look at this.”  Valerie caught with one hand the Pulse rifle Private O’Grady tossed to her.

She studied it for a second.  “GT66, with auto sighting rig.”

“One of ours, Guv.  Almost took my head off when I came through the door.”

“Hardly a surprise, O’Grady, you know why we’re here.”  Valerie told the trooper mildly.  “I’m just glad it was down here and not up top facing us.”  The room contained racks of the Pulse rifles, each with multiple power packs charging underneath.  Another trooper was setting explosives along with Lieutenant Palicki.

“What are we looking at, Nicki?”  Valerie asked her.

“There are three other rooms like this one, Major.  The rest of the bunker is empty.  I’d guess they only managed to ‘buy’ one shipment and get it down here before we arrived.  There were a number of crates in the east wing upstairs, with all sorts of equipment in.  None of it was military, just the bits and pieces you would need to make this place more homely.”

“Great.”  Valerie said, shaking her head.  “There is no way the locals would have been able to deal with this once he was up and running.”  The weaponry was definitely from the Pantheon, that wasn’t a surprise.  What was of concern was that it was more advanced than normal.  The GT66 was standard issue for the Legion Army, only one removed from the ST39 Pulse rifles Shadow Company used.