The Fate Of Nations: F.I.R.E. Team Alpha: Book One (28 page)

              “Boss,” he said. “We’ve got a problem. The damn kids are playing hide and seek. They’ll be in here looking under every desk and opening every door.”

              Seconds later, the boy burst through the main doors of the school and was instantly seized by Nagura and DeFontain who covered his mouth and took him to the ground. McNamara and Williams did the same to the girl when she came to seek the boy. The two terrified children tried desperately to scream and break free from their captors.

              Carter hauled the boy to his feet. “If you scream, or call for help, we’ll hurt you badly. Do you understand?” he asked the boy. The boy nodded. “Take your hand off of his mouth,” he told Nagura. Nagura complied and the boy began spewing threats and obscenities.

              Carter took the boy by the throat but did not squeeze. “Be quiet!” he said. “We won’t hurt you if keep quiet,” he told the boy, applying slight pressure to his throat. The boy quieted.

              “What is your name?” he asked, releasing his grip.

              “Kjell,” the boy spat. “That is my sister, Marga.”

              “Kjell,” Carter said. “We are going to keep you and your sister with us for a while. If you do what you’re told, we won’t hurt you. Do you understand?”

              Kjell nodded. “Say it,” Carter ordered.

              “I understand,” the boy said. “Do as they say, Marga” he told the girl.

              Cater turned to Renner. “Tie them up,” he ordered; ”including gags and blindfolds.”

              Lisa Mertens stepped in beside Renner. “They are just children,” she protested. “They are already frightened. They do not need to bound!”

              “That’s right; they are children!” Carter hissed. “And, I’m trying to keep them alive. If they try to escape, if they hear or see anything that could jeopardize my team or our mission, I will have to kill them. And, make no mistake; I will kill them if I have to.” There was another prolonged contest of wills as the two leaders glared at each other.

              “Lisa,” Renner said. “Prowler is right. We won’t hurt them, but we have to take precautions; for their sake as much as ours.”

              “Very well,” Mertens said. “But my people will watch them.”

              Carter thought for a moment. “Alright,” he said. “But they’re your responsibility, and I still want them bound, blindfolded, gagged and isolated from the rest of the group. The more they hear, the more dangerous they are to us.”

              Mertens nodded. “Let my men take them.”

              “Let Ms, Mertens’ people have them,” Carter said. Two underground fighters led the children away.

              “Brains, is there anything going on in the town?” Carter asked.

              “Not at the moment,” Sains replied.

              “Could you just have your man, the telepath, blank their memories?” Renner asked.

              “Doesn’t work that way, Sir,” Sains said, without turning away from the window. “I don’t transmit. I only receive.”

              “When the school in town lets out, those kids are going to be missed.” Renner said.

              “You said there was another hide-sight ten clicks from here.” Carter said, lowering his voice.

              Renner nodded. “Yes,” he whispered, following Carter’s example. “There’s and abandoned coal mine to the south. We have a stash of weapons and gear there that only my A-team knows about. I wanted some options out in case the underground cell was compromised.”

              “We’ll use the mine. You can establish another cache’ later. I don’t like moving in daylight but we have no choice,” Carter said.

              “Right,” Renner said.

              Carter turned to Williams and McNamara. “We’re moving. Get the team formed up.”

              “Sains…” Carter began.

              “I know, Boss,” Sains interrupted. “I’m on point,” he said.

              “That’s the way it is, trooper,” Carter said, shrugging his shoulders. “Go south for about a click, make sure the way is clear, and wait for us.”

              Sains had just left when there was shouting in the next room. One of the underground fighters who had been guarding the captured children stumbled out of an adjacent room holding a profusely bleeding hand. “The girl bit me and ran run away!” the bleeding man said.

              More commotion could be heard from down one of the school’s corridors. “Get her! … there she is! …Stop her!!!” several voices echoed through the building as the group’s sentries tried to recapture the girl.

              Carter ran down the corridor, toward the shouts. “Watch the boy!” he shouted as he ran.

              He reached the end of the hallway just in time to see the girl shove her way through a set of doors on the side of the school. An underground fighter was in pursuit. The girl had a substantial head start on the fighter and was running toward the town screaming for help for her brother and herself. Fear seemed to give the girl cat-like speed; only the foot-tall grass slowed her progress.

              In a few seconds, Carter had overtaken the perusing resistance fighter and knocked him to the ground. Carter went to a knee; simultaneously drawing his suppressed .45 caliber pistol. With practiced grace he aimed and fired a single shot. The bullet struck the girl at the base of her skull. She fell; her form disappearing in the tall grass. A cloud of pink, atomized blood hovered where she had fallen.

              The resistance fighter that he had knocked down had recovered and was staring at Carter in disbelief. “Go get the body and bring it back to the school,” Carter said. The man still stared blankly at Carter. “Go get the fucking body!” Carter repeated.

              The man obeyed. Carter walked quickly back to the school; suppressing a tremor is hand as he placed the .45 into its holster.

                            [][][]

              All eyes were on Carter when he rejoined the team. He briefly looked everyone present in their eyes; returning their questioning eyes with a deathly cold gaze. “We move out in five,” he said. “Gadget, a man will be bringing the girl’s body in soon. Douse it with vanishing cream, then go and see what you can do about hiding the blood stain where she fell. Gambler, Dancer, keep an eye on the path to the town.”

              Carter approached the man who’s hand been bitten by the girl. “What happened?” he asked as the medic from Renner’s A-team bandaged the man’s hand.

              “The girl said that I had tied her too tightly, so I loosened the ropes,” the man said. “She wiggled free and bolted for the door. I tried to grab her but she bit me and ran.”

              “Is your head that far up your ass for the warmth?” McNamara asked the man.

              “She was just a girl,” the man said in his own defense. “My daughter is the same age.”

              Carter touched McNamara’s shoulder. “Go make sure the boy is ready to travel and properly restrained. He’s coming with us. The rest of you sanitize this place. Leave no trace that we were here.”

              At that moment a resistance fighter arrived; carrying the girl’s body. A large part of her face was missing, torn away by Carter’s bullet as exited her head. Mertens knelt by the body and then turned rage filled eyes toward Carter. “You did not have to kill her!” she almost shouted. “You could have caught up to her and brought her back!”

              Carter moved to within inches of Mertens; his voice was a whisper that held a freighting calmness as he replied. “That would have taken twenty or thirty seconds. She would have been screaming at the top of her lungs that whole time and your man and I were out in the open in broad daylight. We almost wound up in a firefight we can’t afford. There’s too much at stake with this mission for me to allow that.” Mertens stepped back; her fist tightly balled and words failing her.

              “Ms. Mertens, I strongly suggest you let the matter drop,” Carter said, turning his back on her and hefting his rucksack onto his back.

              Mertens took a step closer to Carter and began to speak. Williams stepped in front of her and silenced here with a look. “Ma’am I have seen the colonel like this before,” he said glancing over his shoulder at Carter. “Believe me; you do not wish to provoke him at the moment.”

              Mertens stared at William’s face for long seconds. His face was calm, but she sensed that he would not allow her to press matters with Carter. She also sense that would end badly for her should she provoked Williams.

              McNamara returned leading the securely bound, gagged and blindfolded boy by the arm. Carter was grateful the boy was blindfolded. He could not see his sister’s body as the nanites from the vanishing cream dissolved it. “Good to go here, Boss,” McNamara said.

              “Captain Renner,” Carter said, pulling Renner’s attention away from a heated discussion with Mertens. “I want a member of your A-team with the boy at all times,” he ordered. “He is never to be left alone with any of the resistance fighters. Send a detail to leave a false trail away from the new hide-site. If we cover our tracks well enough, the search parties might follow the decoys.”

              Renner nodded, “understood,” he said.

              “Bandaid, get Gambler and Dancer, and Gadget; we’re moving out,” Carter said. He moved close to McNamara. “Keep an eye on Mertens’ people. They may decide to turn on us because of the girl.”

              McNamara nodded his agreement. “You did the right thing, Boss,” he told Carter.

              Carter shook his head. “I did the
necessary
thing,” he said. “That doesn’t make it right.”

                             
Chapter Nine

              The mineshaft itself had been sealed long ago, but the various building that housed the processing facilities still stood. They were in a state of decay, but no one had yet seen fit to demolish them. Even after so many years the smell of coal and disturbed earth still filled the disused structures. Hedges had grown thick and high between the buildings and weeds and ivy were growing through the floors and starting to cover the walls.

              “We should have used this place in the first place,” Carter said as looked down at the cluster of buildings from a low ridge that of looked down on it. “I wouldn’t have minded the humping the extra ten clicks.”

              “I should have brought you here first,” Renner agreed. “I fucked up.”

              “You made judgment call based of the information you has available,” Carter assured him. “I might have made the same call in the same circumstances.”

              Carter turned toward Sains. “Brains, is there anything going on down there?”

              “Nice and quiet, Boss,” Sains said.

              “OK, well set up in that old garage,” Carter ordered, pointing toward what appeared the best preserved of the buildings. “Brains, Gambler set up an OP and be alert. They’ll be looking for the kids, and they’ll work this far out eventually. I want plenty of warning if they come close to us,” he added. “Captain Renner, I want two man patrols from you’re A-team to walk a perimeter, two hundred yards out at staggered intervals, every hour.”

              The team quickly established themselves in the garage. Carter wanted to seek solitude. He could feel the eyes of the underground fighters on him even if, in actuality, they were not. He needed time to more effectively fight back the wave of self-loathing that threatened to overwhelm him. His intellect struggled fiercely with is conscience. He had to force himself not think about the girl’s parents: were they, even now, searching for their daughter? Would her brother blame himself for being unable to protect her? Would he spend a life time trying to exact vengeance on her killer?
That’s what I would do
, Carter thought to himself.

              Unable to protect himself with solitude, he set about altering the mission plan once again; taking into the account the increased distance from the target, and what was sure to be an ardent search effort for two missing children. He forced his eidetic memory to recall only the facts he needed for his planning. He knew, however, that that would recall every detail of the incident with girl in clear, brutal clarity. Sooner or later his inner strength would fail and he would relive killing the girl rather he wanted to or not. For now he took refuge in the mission; in the soldier’s ever present task master: duty.

              Father LaFerth cautiously approached him again. “Would like to talk,” he asked.

              “Do you still think I’m full of love for my fellow man, Father?” Carter asked.

              “There is no reason for me to have changed that opinion,” LaFerth said.

              “No?” Carter asked.

              “No, there is not,” the priest said. “I do not think you wanted to kill that poor child. Whatever your mission is, it must be vitally important for you have taken such a spiritual burden on yourself. You must have believed that you would save many lives by killing the child.”

              “You’re pretty sure of a man you just met,” Carter said.

              “I’ve been a priest for forty-two years. I know grief and guilt when I see it,” LaFerth said. “I also know when I encounter evil people. You, my friend, are not evil. It must have taken great strength of conviction to do what you did.”

              “Or maybe I’m just a ruthless prick,” Carter retorted.

              “That is not for me, or anyone else, to judge,” Laferth said. “It is not for you to judge either. Judgment is God’s right.”

                  [][][]

              Satisfied, for the moment, that the new camp was as secure as possible, Carter sought out Renner. The stares of the underground fighters burned into his back as he passed among them. The killing of the girl had demonized him in their eyes; they now saw him in the same light as they did the WCA. Carter ignored them. They would have a direction to channel their hate soon enough.

              “Captain,” Carter said, approaching Renner. Renner stood up; handing a rifle he had just repaired to a young resistance fighter “I want a briefing on your plan for covering the team’s egress after we complete our assault.”

              “Let’s find some privacy,” Renner said, gesturing to a small room adjacent to the main garage floor.

              At one time the room had been an office. A wooden desk and the broken remnants of an office chair shredder shared the space with an overturned file cabinet. The floor was littered with scraps of paper. Renner cleared some debris from the desk and laid out a map of Central Command complex and the area around it. Carter shut the door and locked it.

              “Resistance operatives have already place explosive charges at all of the street intersections around the Central Command complex.” Renner began, “They’ll either crater the roads or bring buildings down into the streets to delay enemy reinforcements. They’ll also be snipers at each intersection; to delay the crews that try to clear the streets.”

              Carter nodded. “Good,” he said. “The explosions will cause a lot of chaos. That will work for us.”

              Renner pointed to a spot on the map. “Once you and your team, get control of the central command’s security room and open the west gates for us, my unit will jam the gates open, and establish perimeters on both sides of the opening. There is a concrete wall on both sides of the road going through those gates. It's supposed to keep vehicles from leaving the road, but it will make a good defensive position for us.  They’ve manage to get a couple of supply drops in, so all one hundred-fifty of my people will have one thousand rounds of armor piercing ammo each. We also have two eighty-one millimeter mortars with thirty fragmentation rounds and twenty high explosive rounds each. We also are going to use them to lay smoke all over the compound. That will make it tough for the enemy to know exactly how many people are in our attack force.”