Retribution (Soldier Up - Book Five 5) (22 page)

Selma lay awake in her bed in her headquarters building. It was the safest place she knew and guarded by personal friends she trusted.  However, she felt there wasn’t something quite right, but she couldn’t put her finger on it, yet her intuition was in full gear because she had a bad feeling something was about to happen.  She got up, put on her robe, walked to the window and looked out; she had a view of the compound, where she could see everything.  She knew using the word
compound
or
headquarters
was stretching it.  She occupied a large house on a large estate in the area; the estate was bounded next to a large golf course, which of course was relatively flat. 

              There were some buildings in the area near their location, some five and six-story buildings.  They were all new and hadn’t been occupied yet, because most of them were in a business part about a quarter mile away.  They used to routinely run patrols through them, but the only thing they found were the homeless, which they kicked out and told to get out of the area, because it was too close to the Supreme Commander.  After a while, the homeless seemed to have gotten the word and stayed away from the area, and because of that the patrols for the most part had stopped.  She stared at those buildings now; she was feeling uneasy about them.  She shook her head thinking things were getting to her, shrugged off her robe and got back into bed, able to fall asleep within minutes.

              The first round fired from the mighty guns of the
Iowa
landed directly on top of Selma’s headquarters.  The building exploded in fire and collapsed onto itself, burning. Selma never felt a thing.  The following rounds exploded throughout the area, guided in by the Force Recon team for maximum effect.  It was absolute chaos, people running in every direction, having no idea where the shells were coming from.  Many of them were firing their weapons wildly into the surrounding woods, feeling that they were being fired on from there.   There was fire being turned from the wooded area, but members of the Army of Baltimore firing at each other.  The shelling of the area lasted all of ten minutes; the buildings around the area were destroyed and on fire, the gun fights between the Army of Baltimore lasted the rest of the day, and hundreds were killed or wounded.

              As the night progressed, word had reached the base where the majority of the Army of Baltimore was located that the Headquarters of the Supreme General had been blown-up, as well as the homes and other buildings around it.  Word had also spread that there was now infighting between the gangs within the Army of Baltimore for leadership.  As the sun rose, the occupants of the base heard a buzzing noise, but didn’t know from where.

              Before they knew it there were aircraft over them and the ground around the area started exploding as the aircraft dropped their munitions.  To the onlookers on the ground there looked to be fifty or so aircraft in the air above them.  People were running for cover; other aircraft was strafing the area.  The motor pool exploded in brilliant orange and red and the aircrafts’ bombs found their marks, hitting vehicle after vehicle.  Many of the so-called soldiers of the Army of Baltimore stood their ground and fired on the aircraft only to be cut down by their guns.  There was no discipline in the ranks. Most abandoned their defensive positions feeling them unsafe as they watched bombs dropping.  Once they abandoned those positions they were prime targets for strafing.

              Many were able to escape into the surrounding neighborhoods and into protection there, escaping the fighters and bombers that were pummeling their base.  Hundreds lay dead or dying as the aircraft retreated back to the
Hornet
.  Everyone wondered where the planes had come from. As far as they knew the event had eliminated that possibility, and they began to question whether they could win such a fight.  More bad news was coming. United States Marines with fighting vehicles had moved into southern Baltimore.  Massive gang casualties were being reported by word-of-mouth. The Marines were not holding back if they were fired on.  Anyone that had a weapon was ordered to turn it over and if they didn’t the only due process the Marines cared about was the bullet that they killed with.

              Most of the rumors about the advancing Marines were not true because they weren’t shooting everyone on sight.  It was true that if they were fired on they would return fire and devastatingly.  When they encountered groups of people that were armed, they did their best to determine if they were hostile or friendly.  There were good reasons for civilians to be armed; self-protection was a must these days in such hostile environments.  As reported back to Brigadier General Lane the gangs and their members were spread-out through the city, where in most cases the gangs fought back and were literally destroyed.  In a few cases, the gangs up and disappeared altogether believing that once the Marines left they would be able to retake their neighborhoods and continue to terrorize the average citizens, although there weren’t many left in the city.

              The Marines didn’t leave like the gangs thought they would. .They would divide the city into sections and a Company or Battalion would be held responsible for the security of that area.  BG Lane was able to move through the most of the city within days, leaving behind remnants of his command to continue to secure areas of it.  With the nine-hundred men and woman he had left they continued to move north-east to cut off any drive to the west by General Magnus and his Army of the Potomac.

They were roughly fifty miles from Fredericks when BG Lane and his Marines arrived at the furthest outskirts of Baltimore.  The easiest route, and fastest between the two cities was I-70.  BG Lane suspected that given the speed of attack and willingness to get to Washington, the General was almost positive that any forces of the Army of the Potomac would make their way down the I-70. Within the last twenty-four hours BG Lane was notified that elements of the 82
nd
Airborne were making their way north-east to support him and his Marines.

              The 82
nd
would take an alternate route circumnavigating Baltimore and coming up south of the Marines’ current position.   Once the 82
nd
was five to ten miles from the Marines they would halt, dig in and wait for further orders.  If the Army of the Potomac decided to head southwest before Baltimore they would run head-on into the 82
nd
Airborne and if they continued down the I-70 into Baltimore they would run into the Marines. 

              In addition, if elements of the Army of the Potomac got relatively close to either the Marines or the 82
nd
they were within striking range of the aircraft on the Hornet.  BG Lane had no issues with calling in the Navy to help him and his Marines out.  Another surprise for the enemy, at least he had hoped, he knew that the Air Force out of the West Coast had recently bombed the Army of the Potomac, caught them all flat-footed and they had no idea what hit them.  He was sure there was some serious reassessment happening in General’s Magnus command staff meetings.

              Second Brigade, commanded by Colonel Eric Stolfer, was headed straight down the I-70 toward Baltimore.  Quite frankly, Colonel Stolfer wasn’t expecting to engage anyone between Frederick and Baltimore. There had been no information stating any advance forces from Washington were in the area.  The Colonel was more than aware that there was no way the 3
rd
Infantry Regiment had the manpower to push out any further than the capital.  He wanted to take the most expeditious route to Baltimore, turn south, then back east and hopefully come up behind the 28
th
ID.  They were twenty-five miles from their first objective, because they had been taking it slow since there were two thousand five hundred men and women in the Brigade, along with two hundred various types of vehicles.

              First Battalion, Second Brigade was responsible for the scouts that had been traveling five miles out in front of the main body.  The scouts were in APCs and Humvees and so far it had been a very boring trip.  They were nineteen miles out of Baltimore, although they were ordered to go no further than five miles from the main body. However, they tended to venture out further, mostly looking for loot.  They had no problem robbing groups of civilians they came along because they were an unscrupulous bunch and had no problem with hurting or killing.  In ten more miles they were to hold up and wait for the main body.  Once the main body arrived, they would hunker down in place for the night.

              The scouts would go out for the final leg in the morning before the entire Brigade turned south, travel another ten to fifteen miles and return east. It made no sense to them, but orders were orders.  What the scouts didn’t see was a Company from the 82
nd
Airborne had taken up overlook positions for that part of the I-70, and the Marines were another fifteen or so miles from there.  Alpha Company, 2
nd
Battalion, 501
st
PIR watched and waited for the oncoming vehicles.  They knew they weren’t theirs or the Marines; both organizations would have been far more professional than what they were seeing now.

              Within ten minutes the scouts rolled up to a barricade that had been purposely set across the I-70.  The scouts assumed robbers had set up the barricade, and once they saw the heavily armed soldiers they left the area.  The scouts left their vehicles, with no security set up, and began to remove the barricade.

              “What’s up Joe?” A voice from the scout’s rear said.

              The scouts startled, turned toward the voice and saw six heavily armed soldiers standing there, weapons lowered.  The scouts raised their weapons, “What’s up Joe?” The scouts now heard from their front toward the barricade.

              Several of the scouts turned to see a dozen heavily armed soldiers, this time pointing weapons at them.  The other scouts that had trained their weapons on the original six soldiers started to look around, and all of a sudden there were ten more Soldiers, then twenty more, then fifty, all pointing their weapons at the scouts.  “Who are you?” The Staff Sergeant, who was the NCOIC of the scouts asked.

              One of the soldiers answered, “We’re the 82
nd
Airborne.”

              “That’s impossible.” the Staff Sergeant said. “The 82
nd
is at Fort Bragg.”

              “Yet here we are,” the same 82
nd
Soldier responded.

              The scouts were all standing there, weapons at their side.  Several of the 82
nd
soldiers moved to disarm them. “Be nice boys and we’ll treat you well, but if you do something stupid we’ll shoot you, simple as that.”

              As the 82
nd
soldiers disarmed the scouts, the scouts noticed the shoulder patches, and all of them had the 82
nd
airborne unit patch and many if not most had the 82
nd
Airborne combat patch.  The scouts realized they had stumbled into something that was more than likely going to get them killed.  As they all stood there being searched, the same 82
nd
soldier, that turned out to be one Sergeant Major Valliant, told them the war was over for them. They were on their way to the stockade.  He told them not to worry; he was sure they were going to have company soon.

              Sergeant Major Valliant had left the 11
th
ACR platoon earlier in the day and hurried back to his beloved 82
nd
Airborne. He was not letting them go into combat without him.  He had his RTO contact BG Lane and update him on the current situation.  The scouts they had captured from the Army of the Potomac had spilled everything. There was an entire Brigade headed their way, no more than an hour out.  The Brigade would hold up at Leakin Park in Baltimore. The Commander of the 82
nd
’s elements that had moved to support the Marines met with General Lane to discuss their next moves.  One of the things they all agreed on was to take the Brigade in Leakin Park. They irony was that there were going to be a lot of dead bodies, and Leakin Park, before the event, was known as Baltimore’s dumping ground for dead bodies.

              The command teams planned, organized for hours, than moved the soldiers, Marines and equipment into the respective locations in preparation for the assault. 

Colonel Stolfer wasn’t concerned he hadn’t heard from his scouts in the last few hours. They routinely disappeared, probably hunting for war trophies. It was a practice he disliked, but he didn’t stop his Soldiers from doing it.   The forward elements of the Brigade had reached Leakin Park and were being dispersed to their various locations for the night.  Once everyone was set, they would refuel their vehicles and perform PMCS.  Platoon Sergeant and leaders would make a weapons check, ensure everyone was eating and get them ready to move out in the morning. 

              Colonel Stolfer thought it was eerily quiet. There were no birds chirping, no rustling of the leaves, silence, nothing but silence.  His CP was set up for the night. They had made contact with General Magnus via one of their few working radios.  He had checked with First Battalion to see if the scouts had returned yet, and word back was they were MIA, which concerned the Colonel a great deal, because they had never been this late in the past. 

              At 2100 his staff met at his CP to discuss the next step of the operation, with the Brigade bedded down for the night, and with the LPOPs set, so it was time to get down to business.  The following day they would start heading south east ten miles, then turn east, at some point finding the rear echelon of the 28
th
Infantry Division.  At First Battalion’s CP two of the TA-312s rang, the OPLPs checked in every hour on the hour, but they had checked in fifteen minutes ago.  The Staff Duty NCO picked up the first line and the Staff Duty Officer picked up the second.  Both men reacted the same way with the news that was being reported by the two LPOPs.  Each post stated that they were seeing some movement in front of their position. 

              The Staff Duty Officer and NCO were skeptical. They passed it off as nerves, while two more LPOPs checked in and reported movement.  Now both the Staff Duty Officer and NCO thought it was unusual that all four positions would make the same report.  The two soldiers discussed it among themselves and decided to notify the Battalion Commander, Lieutenant Colonel Ernest O’Donnell.  The Staff Duty NCO sent a runner to get the Colonel. They told it was urgent and asked for him to come to the CP as soon as possible. 

              Lt Colonel O’Donnell arrived ten minutes later, as he had only momentarily returned from Brigade, “What have you got?” Colonel O’Donnell asked.

              “Sir, we have four LPOPs reporting movement in front of their positions.  We thought it was unusual, we could see one, maybe two, because of nerves, but not all four.”  The Staff Duty NCO stated.

              “Have you checked the other outposts?” the Colonel asked.

              “Yes sir, well…..except LPOP two we can’t reach.  We sent out a wire team to check out the line all the way out, but we haven’t heard back from them either.”  The Staff Duty Officer relayed to the Colonel.

              Lt Colonel O’Donnell stood there thinking for a moment, “Can you get me Brigade on the horn?”

              “We can try sir,” The Staff Duty NCO said.

              The Sergeant made his calls over the radio net; fortunately the radio was working as well and the net. 

              “All stations this net, all stations this net.” The Colonel and the others heard over the radio.  “Be advised we have enemy contact throughout the Brigade area.  Take proper action to repel the enemy.”

              At the time several heavy machine guns were heard, they knew it wasn’t from them because they had no heavy machine guns.  The sound of the guns was followed by mortar rounds landing within their AO.  The infantry companies were dug in around the perimeter with the vehicles in other supporting elements in the center.  First Brigade units on the perimeter started returning fire; the mortar rounds were focusing on the vehicles and were doing quite a bit of damage.  Next several artillery rounds landed near the Colonel’s CP, and it would only be a matter of time before they hit it. 

              Runners were returning to the CP, some wounded and bloodied. They reported that the enemy was within the perimeter, they had come in through LPOP two.  Two runners told Colonel O’Donnell that there were Marines in the perimeter, which he knew to be impossible because the closest combat Marines were at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina. 
How in the hell could they have gotten up this far
, he thought. 
No, no there was no way it was Marines
, he kept repeating it to himself. Colonel O’Donnell did recognize that the gunfire in his AO had picked up and was getting closer.  Unfortunately, he didn’t hear the mortar round that ended his life. 

              The Marines and the 82
nd
Airborne had the element of surprise, as the First Battalion, Second Brigade, of the Army of the Potomac was being torn apart.  They were going up against men and women that had far superior fighting skills and most had been in combat overseas.  It was quite the opposite for First Battalion, Second Brigade Prior to the event they were a National Guard Unit that had never served overseas and most of the men and women had never seen combat.  The Marines and the 82
nd
had a hell of a lot more firepower than First Battalion, Second Brigade.  The battle took four seven hours and it was all said and done.  First Battalion, Second Brigade ceased to exist as a viable fighting unit.

The other Battalions and Brigade Headquarters were also under heavy attack, Battalion after Battalion falling to the Marines and 82
nd
.  Two of the Battalions out right surrendered without a shot being fired.   Colonel Stofler had received all sorts of reports sighting Marines and the 82
nd
Airborne, like all of his commanders he wondered where the hell they came from.  There was no viable explanation that he could think of for how units from North Carolina got up here.  Fighting throughout the entire Brigade lasted seventeen hours, and those that were left laid down their arms and surrendered.

One thousand two hundred and ninety-nine soldiers of the Second Brigade were sent to meet their maker.  Brigadier General Lane was furious at the outcome. It was a needless loss of life, and he blamed General Magnus. 

Colonel Stofler was captured alive and was being debriefed by BG Lane, “Sir, can I ask you how you managed got get the Marines and 82
nd
moved up from North Carolina?”  The Colonel asked.

              “The 82
nd
was moved by aircraft and trains. My Marines and I are from Camp Pendleton,” BG Lane replied straight faced.

              “Camp Pendleton? How’s that possible?”  Colonel Stofler was simply amazed.

              BG Lane looked at the Colonel; he was thinking should he tell him? Then he shrugged and thought why not. “Truth of the matter is Colonel there is an aircraft carrier, the
Hornet
, a battleship, the
Iowa
, and several transport ships, which we came on, sitting off the coast right now.”

              Colonel Stofler looked at the General a bit skeptically, “Are you serious?”

              “As a heart attack,” Brigadier General Lane stated with a straight face.

              It was the first time Colonel Stofler realized that he was an idiot for following General Magnus, and he also realized he was going to be lucky if he didn’t serve the rest of his life in prison for treason.  “What are the next steps? I mean with me,” Colonel Stofler asked crest-fallen.

              “You’ll be sent to the stockade back on one of the forts near D.C. and be Court Martialed.”

              Colonel Stofler simply nodded.

              “You can help your case by telling me everything you know about Magnus’s plans.”

It only took a moment for Colonel Stofler to consider that option. “Of course, I’ll help anyway I can.”  Colonel Stofler was now more than ever focused on saving his ass.  For the next two hours the Colonel spoke in detail about what he knew about the Army of the Potomac while the General and two of his aides took notes.  By the time the Colonel was done, he was exhausted. It had been a very long day, and at least for now, he was happy it was over with.