The Rangers Are Coming (25 page)

“How do we get to the Command Center?”

“Guess we will have to find our way.  I’ve got an overhead picture with the center marked.”

“Opposition?”

“Bound to be some, we can’t use the Humvee.  They’d know we were coming.”

“We’ll leave it outside of town in case we have to make a fast exit.  Are we gonna hop all the way down there in a Chinook?”

“Make it the end of the week.  Hope the pilot can find the fuel dumps.”

“OK, then, I’ll get the men ready.”

“Willis, this is not going to be the easiest thing we ever did.  Have your men take plenty of ammo and firepower.”

“Right, I’ll get in some training and brief the men thoroughly on the mission.”

    24

Veracruz, Mexico

It took two days for the Chinook to make the long journey from Montreal, Canada to Veracruz, Mexico.  They overnighted someplace in the south that the new map of the proposed United States said was Texas.

The next day they flew to within 20 miles of Veracruz and grounded in a small meadow in the middle of a tropical forest.  It was hot and humid.  They found a small pathway that went toward the city and got better the closer they got.  Willis and Robby set up the range finder and studied the city map to find the shortest route to the Army headquarters.  The Humvee went back for the rest of the men.  It was nightfall before the unit was together.  Willis called them into a huddle.  “Alright, Robby is going to go to the top of that church tower over there and provide overhead while we work toward the Spanish headquarters.  He showed them the overhead photo and the marked route.  We’ll advance in standard two by two overlaps.  Attach your silencers we don’t want to wake up the whole town.  Kill if you must, but keep moving.  This is a straight search and kill mission.  The idea is to take out their leadership and then hang around and harass the soldiers until more of the brigade gets here.  Any questions?”

There were none.  Silently the Rangers slipped into the city.  Robby flipped down his night scopes over his eyes as he entered the church and found the stairs to the steeple.  When he got to the top, he looked out and saw the squad moving quietly in the dark.  The ultraviolet stripes on their helmets made them easy to spot.

As the team got closer to the headquarters there were soldiers all around the building.  Robby screwed on his silencer and began to pick out targets.  He started at the farthest edge and tried to pick men who were alone or in two’s.  He shot half a dozen men before his shots were seen by other soldiers.  They were quickly on their feet and on guard.  Willis’s team was close enough now to engage and they swept up the stairs of the building in a fan formation.  The sound of their gunfire muffled through the streets.

A man stuck his head out of a second story window and Robby neatly picked him off.  Now the entire team was inside the building and Robby could only wait.  He shot several other soldiers who were running toward the building. He could see the team had reached the second floor, the sound of a grenade was very loud, and it was followed by two more blasts, one of them was from a shoulder rocket.

It seemed like a long time but it was only a few minutes before the team came running out.  They were helping one man along hanging between two of the Rangers.  They raced toward the city walls and into the dark toward the Humvee.

Robby quickly exited his hiding spot and caught up with the rear guard as he ran through the entrance in the wall.  A lot of soldiers were now awake and trying to spot the camouflaged soldiers as they ran toward the trees.

Just then, the 50 caliber of the Humvee opened up and swept the top of the walls.  Men came flooding through the gate and the Rangers turned to shoot them down, while the 50 caliber rained death everywhere.

Robby was the last person into the Humvee, moving back toward the Chinook, while most of the men trotted along to hold cover.  “Did we take a casualty,” he asked?

One of them looked up with great sadness in his face, “Its Sergeant Grant.  He took a headshot.  We wouldn’t leave him behind, but he’s dead.”

Robby’s heart thumped loudly.  Could it be true that his lifelong friend was gone?  He couldn’t believe it.  Casualties among the Rangers were not common, but each one was a major blow to his platoon specifically and to the Brigade in general.  Now his closest friend lay dead at the front of the Humvee.  Grief stricken, Robby cried hot, bitter tears.

Suddenly, there was the sound of more gunfire.  A mounted cavalry unit was closing on their position.  There were at least a hundred of them.  Robby knew that he was now the ranking member of the platoon.  He surveyed the situation.  It was still night and the Spanish were riding with torches. 

“We need to make a statement here,” said Robby to the sergeant who was talking on his radio to his men to keep them moving in the right direction.  Robby clicked open the platoon circuit, “Sergeant Grant is dead,” he said.  This bunch needs to know what it actually means to engage the Rangers.  Spread out to encircle this bunch, when we’ve cut off their retreat let me know. 

The Rangers wheeled and streamed along the ranks of the mounted horsemen, letting them ride forward before closing the loop at the rear.  “We need to leave enough of them alive to be able to report what they see.  I’ll do some shooting to see if I can confuse them.  The rest of you pick selected targets until we get them to surrender.”

Robby raised his M-4 and began making very messy head shots at several places in the formation.  Meanwhile, the Rangers were killing a few and forcing the Spanish into a smaller and smaller area.

Then Robby jumped to the front of the Spanish, in full view, and screamed in Spanish, “If you value your lives, stop firing and throw down your weapons.  One of the Spanish soldiers cocked his flintlock and fired at Robby.  The musket ball jarred him, but his body armor stopped it.  The man who fired the flintlock was immediately cut into pieces by at least 200 rounds.

“I said if you wish to live, throw down your weapons and get off those horses.”

“Who’s the ranking officer still alive?” shouted Robby in perfect Spanish.  “Step forward immediately.”

A man wearing epaulets, signifying him as an officer came forward slowly.  He was sweating and his eyes were darting around the scene at other Rangers.

“Do you know who we are,” asked Robby?

“There have been stories of an army of giants with weapons that are deadly, and who move with no sound, striking without warning and killing every person on a battlefield.”

“What do you call these soldiers,” asked Robby?

“Beasts of the Devil,” said the shaking officer.

“We are not demons of Satan,” said Robby, “Every man here faithfully worships God and has accepted Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior.  We are Rangers.  Our mission in Mexico and Central America is to drive out you foreign Spanish Europeans, just as we have the British in the American colonies, and Canada.  Your time of occupation is over.  From now on North America is only for those who were born here and see it as our native land.”

Robby paused, “We’ve just attacked the city of Veracruz and killed all of your senior commanders in the headquarters.  We did this with just 20 Rangers.  Can you imagine if we were to bring all our weapons and a brigade of Rangers to Mexico?”

“We are going to release you all, alive.  You are to report to the Spanish leaders in Mexico City that they must all leave this new part of the United States in 30 days, or we will be back.  Tell your commanders what happened here and say, ‘The Rangers Are Coming.’”

Robby looked over the group, the sun was just coming over the horizon, and his men flipped up their night vision scopes, not that it made them look any less menacing.  Within the Spanish, there was mostly awe and fear.  However, at least two men stood tall, undefeated and angry.

“I can see that not all of your men are convinced,” said Robby.  He pushed his way through the crowd and up to three men who looked hatred from their eyes.  Robby smiled, “I know what you are thinking.  We’re not so tough.  If we didn’t have our weapons, you could tear us to pieces.”  One of the men spat on the ground.

Robby shrugged, “Very well, let us see if you are right.  Take off your belts.  The rest of you make a circle around these men, so that you can see.”  Robby whispered into his mike, “Make sure you send your best two fighters in here.”

Two Rangers came forward through the crowd.  Robby was already stripping off his body armor and dropping his belt.  The other two Rangers did the same.

“Now we are all just men,” said Robby.  “Kill us, if your can.”

The three burly Spaniards rushed toward Ranger.  The man that spit squared off against Robby.  He lowered his head and tried to tackle Robby.  In that pass, he found himself flying through the air onto his back.  He jumped up and started to punch at Robby, who calmly fended off the blows and was suddenly sending the man crashing down on the ground again.

Robby made sure the demonstration went on for a while, until the Spaniard no longer had the energy to get to his feet.  His mouth and nose were bleeding.  It looked like he had several broken ribs and a dislocated shoulder.  The other Spaniards looked no better.

Robby walked back up to the officer, barely breathing hard.  He grabbed the officer by his tunic and pulled him close.  “We are the best trained, most deadly, army in the world.  We can defeat your best with or without weapons.  My patience grows thin.  Leave for Mexico City right now and announce to all your commanders and to the people as well, ‘The Rangers Are Coming’.  You have 30 days.”

The Spanish rushed to their horses and rode away, nursing those who had been injured in the skirmish.

As soon as they were gone, Robby called the Chinook to pick them up.  “Make sure everyone in Veracruz sees you, and put a rocket into their headquarters.  Then come get us.”

He flipped the command switch on his radio and said, “Crystal Palace, this is Hawkeye.”  Almost immediately the answer came back, “Roger, Hawkeye, this is Crystal Palace, stand by for Papa Grizzly.”  Papa Grizzly was Washington’s code name and in just a moment he was saying into Robby’s ear, “Roger, Hawkeye, this is Papa Grizzly, report mission status.”

“Papa Grizzly, this is Hawkeye, main target engaged and neutralized, estimated body count of 100, including all senior command.  Have further engaged mounted force on horseback.  Gave graphic demonstration of capabilities and sent them to Mexico City with warning that all foreigners evacuate Mexico in 30 days.  They are riding with the standard warning ‘The Rangers Are Coming’.  Must sadly report one casualty, Raking Punch is dead.  We’re bringing him home.”

“Sorry for you loss, Hawkeye,” said Washington.  “Congratulations on successful mission.  Return to Home Plate”

                                  25

Fort Independence, Virginia

           Robby hadn’t been back to Fort Independence for six months.  The Fort was not very crowded with the majority of the Brigade still scattered across the continent and engaging in skirmishes.  The majority of the operations were headed into Mexico.  Robby’s raid had had the expected results.  The main port of Veracruz was neutralized, and the whole city had seen the Chinook take out the main headquarters building.  The men Robby released had gone immediately to Mexico City and did not have to embellish the story of their encounter.  The term, “The Rangers Are Coming” brought terror to the Spanish and happy tidings to the Mexican nationals and native tribes.  

         Robby learned all this in his after action briefings were he filed his report and got caught up on the news.  There was a lot of it.  In addition to what he already knew about the publication of the Declaration of Independence, he learned of the subsequent ratification of the new Constitution by the Continental Congress.  There was the movement on the part of the colonies to ratify it as well.  Six had already done so, and approval was expected from the others, even the southern ones of Georgia and North and South Carolina

         The most interesting news was from abroad.  The English Parliament had no choice but to accept the existence of the United States and agreed to abandon all their claims in the western hemisphere.  The French and the Spanish were outraged by their being summarily kicked out of the same territory.  However, all three of the great European powers were astonished to find that America apparently bore no ill will to anyone.  They offered full trade with Europe and offered a tempting list of consumer products in addition to the cotton and tobacco they were already exporting.  They also offered open borders inviting anyone who wished to immigrate to the new and vastly expanded, United States.                                                                                                          

       The entire experience was bittersweet.  Robby would have to find some way to tell the Grant family their son and his oldest friend had died 2,000 miles away.  He moped around the room they shared following the briefing and couldn’t seem to concentrate on anything.  Then two mornings following his return there was a gentle knock on his door.  He opened it wearing nothing but his fatigue pants and a t-shirt.  Standing there was both General Washington and Arcadia.

         “Good morning, Robby,” said Arcadia.  “Can we come in for a minute?

          “Of course,” said Robby.  “Sorry about the mess.”

              “That’s quite all right,” said the General, “you’ve only returned from a six month deployment, and we know you have a heavy heart.”