Retribution (Soldier Up - Book Five 5) (23 page)

General Magnus was anxious. Communications had been lost with the Brigades he had sent out to the east and west.  Third Brigade was under attack by the 28
th
ID as close as he could tell, from intelligence that came from unit patches they found on the dead soldiers.  However, there was at least one report of an additional unit with them, the 184
th
Infantry Regiment.  The General had never heard of the 184
th
. However, one of his staff told him they were a National Guard unit out of California.  General Magnus thought,
How in the hell did a California unit get all the way out here
?

              General Magnus was starved for real time intelligence. There were too many things happening that they had no answers to.  Where did the bombers come from?  Where did the armor come from? How did the 184
th
get from California to the East Coast?  Logic dictated that there were outside influences he was unaware of, clues that he was starting to piece together.

              Colonel Layton ran into the General’s CP out of breath, “Whoa there Colonel, what’s going on?”

              Colonel Layton trying to grab a breath said, “Sir you need to come with me now!”

              General Magnus wasn’t accustomed to anyone telling him what to do. He was caught off guard for the moment, “Lead the way.” General Magnus was concerned.

              Colonel Layton led him to two bullet ridden Humvees. There were two men in each, and all of the men were wounded.  The men and vehicles were from First Brigade, the one that was east of them.  “Tell the General what you told me Corporal,” Colonel Layton told the Corporal in the first Humvee.

              The soldier looked between the two officers; he collected himself, “Sir, we ran head smack into Marines.”

              General Magnus thought it was a joke, so looking squarely at the Corporal he said, “Are you sure?”

              “Sir, they had U.S. Marine spelled out on their uniforms. They also had LAVs and AAVs.”

             
What the hell was going on?
General Magnus thought.  That many Marines had to come from Camp Lejeune, but that was in North Carolina
.  How did they get them up here?
  The General had a lot more questions than he did answers.  “What happened to the rest of the Brigade Corporal?” General Magnus asked.

              “Gone sir, they’re all gone.”

              “Gone where Corporal.”

              “Dead, sir, as far as we know we’re the only ones that got out.”

              The mystery deepened for the General, but he received two new pieces of information from this though—the Brigade was lost and he had an unknown number of Marines to the east, none of it good.  “Get to sick call boys, and get some rest.”  General Magnus told the soldiers.  “C’mon Colonel Layton we need to find out what the hell is going on.”

              The two officers returned to the CP. General Magnus was at a loss, angry that his plan wasn’t going as designed.  “Colonel we need to get some good Intel. Is there anything we’re overlooking?”

              “Sir, I think we need to continue to press the attack forward. We have seen signs of weakness in their lines and in my opinion, we should be exploiting them.”

              “Understood Colonel, but what I’m asking is there any way that we can fill our intelligence gaps right now?”

              “Sir, we’ve sent out scouts and most of them haven’t returned; we haven’t heard from First Brigade and we know that Third Brigade is under attack now by the 28
th
.”

              “How do you know?”

              “Know what sir?”

              “Who’s attacking Third Brigade?”

              Colonel Layton sat down and thought about it, “Good question sir, we’ve assumed it’s always been the 28
th
. We now have the 184
th
Infantry Regiment and Marines involved in the fight.”

              “Wait a second Colonel, the 184
th
is a California unit, correct?”

              “Yes sir, as far we know.”

              “For the sake of argument, what if the Marines were out of California too?”

              “Could be sir, but still doesn’t explain how they got here.”

              “We need to find out what’s going on with Second Brigade to the east. We need to get someone to the coast. This is what I want, send a team using an alternate route than what Second Brigade is using, but send them a bit south of Baltimore to the coast. I’m curious as to what might be floating out there.  Next, have them return, passing as close to Second Brigade as possible, but without making contact. I don’t want any delays.  I want this information within the next twelve-to-twenty-four hours.”

              “Yes sir, I’ll get moving on it right away,” Colonel Layton turned and left the CP.

              General Magnus sat down to review reports from the field—multiple engagements toward their front, with the 28
th
Infantry Division and possibly the 184
th
Infantry Regiment, and then there was the armor.  The armor tore up the rear echelon and escaped back through the hole in the line they came through and disappeared.  They were encountering too many unknown elements; he felt the Military Intelligence folks were letting him down.  There were some bright spots in the reports in that there were some elements that of the 28
th
ID they had over-run, two artillery batteries, but unfortunately they were able to permanently disable the cannons, the sent two infantry platoons retreating, and his forces pursued them, capturing their entire mess hall, so he wasn’t really sure that was a win.

              Colonel Elliot Clinton the commander of Fourth Brigade, entered the General’s Command Post, looked at General Magnus for a moment, then walked over to the coffee pot and poured himself a cup.  He stood there for a moment stirring the cup of coffee after pouring a bit of sugar in it. He stared at it, then moved to sit down on the chair across from General Magnus.

              “What’s going on with the Fourth?” General Magnus asked.

              Colonel Clinton didn’t immediately respond. He was still stirring his coffee, than a deep breath and heaved a heavy sigh.  “Where in the hell did the armor come from General? They’re ripping us a new one.”

              “They’re back? I wasn’t made aware of it.”

              “Yes, every night they hit us, then retreat back to I don’t know where.  We try and follow them, but the Soldiers I send never come back. We’ve got to do something,” Colonel Clinton said, clearly exasperated. 

              “Have you set up any quick reaction force? Or are you pursuing with the unit they hit?” 

              “The unit they hit pursues.”

              “Are they qualified?”

              “What do you mean, sir? They’re soldiers; they’re all soldiers.”

              “You stated you’re losing the soldiers that are pursuing them. There’s an art to staying a safe distance, not being seen and following your enemy, hence the one of the reasons for Special Operations Forces.  Not all soldiers are equal. Some have special training, which allows them to pursue and not be seen.  We’re only trying to find out where they’re coming from, and where they go to after they leave.  The soldiers pursuing them need that special training, and fortunately we have such teams available to us.”

              “We do?” Colonel Clinton was surprised.

              “Yes, we have two teams of former Special Forces Soldiers. After the engagement in the box canyon where we lost a damned company, because of the 19
th
, I personally asked around.  I’ve kept it a secret, which I’m holding you to.  We can strategically place them here.”  General Magnus pointed to a spot on the map. “Near where they seem to be hitting your units, once they hit you again, notify the teams ASAP, and they’ll take it from there.”

              “Roger that sir.” Colonel Clinton was happy to have that off his plate. He hoped the soldiers would be able to find where the armor was located.  However, if it all went sideways he was damn sure wasn’t going to be blamed for it.

It was 1930 at the railhead on Fort Bragg; they had completed loading the equipment on the big black iron monster of a train, and covering them with heavy black tarps, which they secured to the flatbeds.  Colonel Lambert was no longer running the combat train; he remained back in Washington D.C. with his command, the 3
rd
Infantry Regiment.  With the Army of the Potomac less than thirty miles out of the capital it was time for him to return to his duties.  He placed Major Reese Sales in charge of this particular mission; it was of the highest importance and no doubt would make a huge difference in the fight against General Magnus and his Army.  There were only a few people aware of the cargo that was being transported north,  the Major of course, Colonel Lambert, Brigadier General Clayton (whose idea it was), and the post commander of Fort Bragg.

              Major Sales boarded the train with the additional soldiers he was bringing from Bragg; they were there to operate the equipment they were transporting.  It would take a little over twelve hours to make it to the Capital, another couple of hours to unload everything, test it, and then get it into action.  Both General Clayton and Colonel Lambert were foaming at the mouth to get them there and into the fight.  The train moved out at 1945 under the cover of darkness. It was time to get some shut-eye Major Sales said to himself, because come morning they were going to be very busy.

              Brigadier General Clayton was back in Washington D.C. in the Oval Office meeting with the President and his Chief of Staff, Jake Watkins.  General Clayton was tired, since he had been at war straight for over a year, and ached to return home to Camp Parks. He missed his children dearly because he was missing them growing up.  With their mother gone, he was the only parent they had left, but he had left them with their mother’s sister, Leeann.  The children loved her and that’s all that mattered to the General.  His knew what he was doing was right; he wanted to be able to leave a world where his children could grow, be safe and have a life to look forward to.  If he had to spend the rest of his life at war to get that he thought it was worth it.

              General Clayton sat on the couch, thinking, lost in thought. Jake Watkins raised his arm, his left hand in a fist and put it to his lips, Jake cleared his throat loudly enough to shake the General from his thoughts.  General Clayton shook it off, “Yes sir,” General Clayton said, looking a bit lost.

              Both President Washington and Jake chuckled, “Nothing General.” President Washington said. “It seems you were someplace else.”

              “Yes sir, I was thinking about home.”

              Both the President and Jake simply nodded their heads.

              “You’re aware of the briefing we got from the Joint Chiefs?” President Washington asked.

              “Yes sir, I am.”

              “Can you level with us and eliminate the bullshit they might have fed us?” Jake said straight faced.

              “I think what they told you is fairly accurate actually. They know you’re going to speak with me and I’m going to give you the unfiltered version.  I do caution you not to underestimate General Magnus because it’s not a lock, as they pointed out.”

              “I’d have to agree with that sir.” Jake added. “I’ve read through General Magnus’s record at the Pentagon.  I think we can count on him doing the unexpected, so I think that General Clayton is right.  The Joint Chiefs are a little bit too cocky.”

              “I have it from reliable sources that the Marines, along with the 82
nd
have neutralized the Brigade that was heading east, capturing its commander.  They have questioned him and feel they have a good idea what General Magnus is planning,” General Clayton reported.

              President Washington was furious; the Joint Chiefs failed to mention any of this. 

              “When did you get this report General?” Jake asked, wondering if it was only the timing and that’s why the Joint Chiefs failed to mention it.

              “This morning. The Marines and 82
nd
slugged it out with them yesterday, well….I’m not sure slugging it out is the proper term, route is more like it,” General Clayton responded.

              “Alright for some reason the Joint Chiefs either aren’t aware, which isn’t good, or they decided to keep the information from us, which isn’t good, either,” Jake said, as he started pacing the office.  “The next question is, if they knew, and I can’t see how they couldn’t, why would they keep the news from the President”

              “Don’t know, sir,” General Clayton answered matter-of-factly.

              “What’s Brigadier General’s Lane assessment?” President Washington asked General Clayton.

              “I don’t know sir; outside of what I just told you that’s all I got.”

              “General Clayton, by any means necessary I want you to get your ass out to General Lane.  Find out what he knows.  Get that information to the 28
th
Infantry Division Command and the 184
th
Infantry Regiment.”  President Washington ordered the General. “I’ll take care of the Joint Chiefs.  For now, any orders issued by them are to be ignored.”

              “Sir, can I get that in writing?” General Clayton asked. “I’m afraid that the commanders in the field aren’t going to listen to my one star over four.”

              “Yes of course, Jake will get the orders typed up and copies made.  Jake I want the General on the road within the next thirty minutes with those orders.  Then I want a wide distribution of those orders to the Pentagon.”             

              Jake grinned when the President stated he wanted the wide distribution of the orders at the Pentagon, “It’s going to shake things up over there.”

              “Good, I’m still in charge of the Armed Forces; this will remind them of it.  If they can’t follow the orders I issue I want to be notified right away.”

              The President stood. He wasn’t a happy man, and both Jake and General Clayton stood.  President Washington reached out and shook General Clayton’s hand, “God speed General. Let’s see if we can get this cleared up as soon as possible.”

              “Roger that sir.” 

              President Washington left the Oval Office heading to another meeting.  “What here John. I should have those orders for you in the next fifteen minutes then you can be on your way,” Jake told General Clayton.

              “Thanks Jake.”  General John Clayton sat back down on the couch as Jake exited the office.  John Clayton had come a long way in a year.