Retribution (Soldier Up - Book Five 5) (24 page)

Brigadier John Clayton headed by Humvee to Colonel Lambert’s Command Post, located a mile northwest of the capital.  There was no way John was heading into Indian Country without some help; he felt he could count on Colonel Lambert of the 3
rd
Infantry Regiment for help.  It was a thirty-minute drive from the White House to the CP, but Colonel Lambert had no idea that the General was coming, so when he pulled up and entered the CP, he was surprised to see him.  The two men over the past several weeks had become friends out of mutual respect for their military accomplishments and how they perceived the country. 

              General Clayton entered the CP; a loud “ATTEN-hut!” was heard.  Everyone in the CP jumped to attention, and John quickly called out, “As you were.”  General Clayton approached Colonel Lambert, the two men shook hands, and General Clayton asked, “Can we speak in private?”              This seemed to be a formal visit Colonel Lambert sensed, “Of course sir, please come with me.”

              Colonel Lambert left the CP with General Clayton following, heading to Colonel Lambert’s private quarters, which was a GP Small tent.  Inside of the tent was sparse—a cot with sleeping bag, a field table, three chairs, a field telephone and a few other odds and ends.  Colonel Lambert signaled for the General to take a seat.  “What’s on your mind John?” Colonel Lambert asked.  John handed over a copy of the orders from the President.  Colonel Lambert took them, read it, and handed it back.  “Seems pretty serious, I’m sure there’s more to it?”  Colonel Lambert stated.

              “It seems that the Joint Chiefs are keeping secrets from the President,” General Clayton replied.

              “To what end?”

              “We don’t know. I think the President is going to try and smoke out the reason while I’m out of town.”

              Colonel Lambert looked at the General, “Alright, what can I do for you? I’m sure you’re not visiting to check on my health,” the Colonel said while smiling.

              “I’m heading over to General Lane and from there toward Fredericks.  I need help.”

              “I’m sorry John, but we don’t have a therapist here.” 

              “Funny Johnny, you know what I mean.  I need an escort. I don’t foresee any issues getting to General Lane, but I’m expecting trouble heading toward Fredericks from there.”

              “Why not leave the 82
nd
to take up the security and take the Marines with you?”

              “I hadn’t considered that, but I don’t know that I have the authority to order the Marines to escort me to Fredericks.”

              “Talk to Lane about it, that’s the great thing about Marines, they’re always looking for a fight.  I’ll bet my eagle that they don’t want to sit around pulling security.  I can give you a Platoon to get you to them if that’s what you need.”

              General Clayton sat there for a moment. He knew his orders were fairly broad from the President, and Johnny was making a good argument.  “Yes the Platoon is good and I’ll talk to Lane about it, since the Marine escort would solve a lot of problems. When can I have the Platoon?”

              “Are you in a hurry?”

              “Actually, yes….I want to get up there ASAP.”

              “Ok, well…..” Colonel Lambert thought for a few seconds. “Let’s take a ride over to Second Battalion.  There’s a very sharp Company commander, Captain Franks, leading one of the best Companies I’ve seen in my entire career.  I’m sure he’ll be more than happy to help.”

              The two men headed out to Colonel Lambert’s Humvee, loaded up and drove over to Second Battalion.  They entered the Second Battalion CP where Lieutenant Colonel Straten, the Battalion Commander was present.  Colonel Lambert introduced General Clayton and discussed at a high level what the plan was.  Lt. Colonel Straten sent his XO to gather up Captain Rohan, Alpha Company Commander. 

              Captain Rohan arrived ten minutes later with the XO; he had no idea why he’d been summoned to the Commanders CP.  He’d already been there once today for the morning briefing so it was unusual, unless an emergency to be ordered to the CP.  When Captain Rohan entered the CP he recognized Colonel Lambert, but not the one star that was with him.  Captain Rohan noticed that the one star had an impressive array of qualification badges, CIB with two stars, Jump wings with gold star signifying at least one combat jump, and a Delta Combat patch on his shoulder.  It was immediately apparent to him that this wasn’t any ordinary one star.

              Lt Colonel Straten spotted the Captain entering the CP and waved him over, “Captain Rohan you know the Regimental Commander, Colonel Lambert, and this is Brigadier General Clayton, Special Advisor to the President of the United States.” The Colonel let that sink in a bit.

              Captain Rohan nodded, “Sirs.” he said.

              “Captain,” Lt Straten said.  “The General here has a mission for you, or at least one of your Platoons. I’ll leave it up to you though if you want to commit your entire Company.”

              “Yes sir.”

              The three men looked at General Clayton, “It’s like this Captain. I need an escort up north to hook up with the Marines west of Baltimore.  I need to try and redirect their efforts west, and have them hand off security of the Baltimore to the 82
nd
.  Colonel Lambert here suggested I’ll need at least a Platoon to escort me through Indian Country. IF you’re willing to come along with your entire company I’m OK with that.  However, Colonel Straten I don’t know when they would be back and in what condition.”

              ‘In what condition’ caught Captain Rohan’s ear. “Sir, whatever you need Alpha Company can help. We’re ready to move out anytime you are.”

              “You understand I’m talking combat Captain?” General Clayton wanted to clarify his position.

              “Yes sir I get that.  We’re ready to get the hell out of D.C. and see what we can do.”

              “Alright Captain, let’s meet back at Alpha Company in an hour and plan out the route we’re going to take.”  General Clayton ordered.

              “Yes sir!” Captain Rohan stated with enthusiasm. He saluted, did an about face and headed out, because he needed to get the Company ready to move out.

              Lt Colonel Straten turned to General Clayton. “I’d appreciate if you could bring my men back in one piece if you don’t mind General.”

              General Clayton stood tall and looked at the Colonel, “I’ll do what I Colonel, but I can make no promises in combat.”

              “Yeah.” Was the only response Lt Colonel Straten made.

              “You ready?” Colonel Lambert asked General Clayton.

              “Yeah, let me gather up my things and you can drop me off over at Alpha.”

              General Clayton didn’t travel with much. He’d learned in his career to only bring what was necessary.  Colonel Lambert drove him over to Alpha and the General was unloaded and deposited within minutes.  The last thing Colonel Lambert said was expressing interest that the General return the Company hopefully, in the fashion he found it.  General Clayton acknowledged the Colonel’s concerns and told him he would do his best. 

The three soldiers were able to make it to the coast. They had taken a route that took them around the Marines and 82
nd
Airborne, while making note of their numbers, vehicles and weapons.  They were surprised to find them there, with Second Brigade no place in sight.  They entered Baltimore from the north and headed southeast where they found much of the city sparse with life, though some civilians told them of the Supreme General and her Army and how they were defeated.  The soldiers again were surprised, since they were told stories of fighter aircraft coming out of nowhere, and destroying the main base.  They were also told of the mighty shells that came in and destroyed the Supreme General’s compound. 

              Following the aircraft and shells came the Marines, fighting anyone that stood in their way, taking back the city.  The people they spoke with told them not to get them wrong. They were happy with the actions of the Marines because they cleared out most of the gangs or ran them off.  Life had been easier and safer since they came.  They also told the three soldiers that several hundred Marines remained in the city and were securing the port and refineries.  The Marines were being supplemented by the Army, possibly the 82
nd
Airborne out of Fort Bragg, North Carolina. 

              It was all so incredible, and then they were told of the ships off the coast, one of which was an aircraft carrier, which the soldiers found hard to believe.  The civilians told them where to look, where to go along the coast so they could see for themselves.  The soldiers asked if they knew the names of the ships. One responded that he had asked a Marine and he told them the aircraft carrier was the
USS Hornet
and the Battleship
USS Iowa
.  The soldiers found it all hard to believe, and asked where they came from. The people said the Marines told them California and there were a lot more of them there, as well as the Army.

              The three soldiers continued their on their way to the coast. They had seen the Marines for themselves in and around the city, as well as the 82
nd
.  They made it to the coast and where the civilians had directed them, and saw five, no six ships, one being an aircraft carrier with aircraft circling it.  They thought they saw the battleship, but the other ships they didn’t recognize, and they wondered in disbelief how they were going to beat that.  The Staff Sergeant that was in charge told them they needed to find a place to hold up for the night out of sight.  Fortunately, there were a lot of empty buildings where they could hide.  They were also fortunate that the Humvee they were driving looked like all of the other Humvees around the city.  Unless the numbers and bumper identification were closely scrutinized no one would stop or question them.

              They found a building near their current location and pulled into the underground garage and parked in the back.  They got out and set up a small makeshift camp, while staying alert for anything that might be coming their way.  They were relatively sure that the Marines or soldiers wouldn’t be coming down here because there was no reason. They were reasonably sure that they had already been through here when they came ashore.  They didn’t know that the Marines had come ashore in Norfolk, and taken a train much of the way up.  The 82
nd
had also come in at Andrews Air Force Base in Washington, and had taken the train up as well, but not along with the Marines.

              The pulled out their rucksacks and from there retrieved their MREs and sat down to enjoy their first meal of the day.  Once they were done, they got some shut-eye; rotating shifts throughout the night, one man on guard the others asleep.  Although they felt they were safe where they were, they also felt they would be stupid if they didn’t take precautions.  The night rolled on, but it was a difficult sleep for them after what they had seen.  The two junior soldiers had actually talked about turning themselves into the 82
nd
Airborne. However their Staff Sergeant told them he’d shoot them if they tried. 

              At 0300 the Staff Sergeant woke everyone up. It was going to be an early departure, so they ate chow, stowed their gear back into the Humvee, but not before checking out the front of the building, where they were going to exit.  They didn’t want to stumble onto a patrol, and then have to answer a bunch of questions about why they were there.  Not to mention that the NCO didn’t really trust the two soldiers with him to keep their mouths shut if they were stopped.  The two soldiers did try to explain that they had no plans to surrender, that it was only a dinner time topic. The Corporal even challenged the Staff Sergeant stating, “C’mon Sarge you haven’t even thought about it once?”

              Truth be told he had thought about it several times, but it wasn’t in his nature to surrender and he had made a commitment to General Magnus’s cause. Once they saw it was clear they returned to the vehicle and headed out.  The plan was to follow the same route out that they did in, dodging the checkpoints and patrols, hoping that the checkpoints were somewhat stationary and they didn’t move them often.  Not to mention it was still very early in the morning and again they hoped that the patrols might not notice them.

              Pulling out onto the street it was dark and quiet because no lights any place, and they were moving at a fairly brisk pace, heading north along the coast first.  The Corporal and PFC were pushing the SSG to keep on heading north, past their original route, “This isn’t a sightseeing tour!” The SSG told them.  “We need to get back and brief the General ASAP.  I swear if you keep bitching about it I’ll shoot you.”

              They were following the same route they had come in; however, there was now a glitch in the plan, because there was a Marine checkpoint on the road ahead that hadn’t been there before.  The SSG was driving, and upon seeing the new checkpoint, he slowed. “Shit,” The SSG simply said.

              This caused the two other soldiers to look at what he was seeing. “What do we do?” the Corporal asked.

              “I want both of you to sit there and shut the fuck up. I swear if you say anything, I’ll kill you,” the SSG said sharply.

              The two soldiers looked at him, and the PFC responded, “Right,” while staring at the SSG knowing he was full of shit.

              They didn’t stop, but rolled up to the checkpoint slowly. The Marines stepped out, standing about ten feet from the vehicle while looking into it.  The Marine closest to them walked over and opened the door to the driver’s side Humvee, “What are you guys up to?” He asked.

              “We’re lost,” the SSG said. “Trying to find our way back to the 82
nd
.”

              The Marine laughed. “You doggy boys are always getting lost.”

              The SSG just stared at the Marine. “Do you know where they are?”

              The Marine saw the soldier he was speaking to was a Staff Sergeant. He knew that he could still get his ass chewed out for insubordination.  “Yes Staff Sergeant.” The Marine responded with respect. “If you follow this road for five miles, make a left on Rosecrans, follow that down two more miles, and their HQ CP should be on your left.  Assuming they haven’t jumped to a new site.”

              “Thank you Corporal.” The Staff Sergeant responded, then grabbed the door and pulled it shut and maneuvered the Humvee around the barricade.  The two other Marines sat there in silence, stunned that the ruse had actually worked.  Once a few miles down the road they all broke out in laughter.