The Revolution Begins (Molon Labe) (12 page)

At 1430
an armored convoy came through the front gates and drove to the formation.  Neil and I nearly jumped out of our skins when we saw what got out of the convoy.  A Chinese General followed by an entourage of Chinese officers approached the formation and took over.  After receiving and returning a salute from the UN commander, the Chinese commander began to inspect the entire formation. The inspection lasted thirty minutes and was followed by a speech by the Chinese commander... We were unable to hear the contents due to our distance, but the UN soldiers seemed to be energized by whatever he had to say.  Upon dispersing, it was clear to us that orders had been given and units were preparing for some sort of mission.  This was a new level of activity that we had not seen before. All we could do was sit back and wait.  I was wishing at this point that we could send and receive from our base, but knowing the dangers that a high powered transmission could easily be detected and triangulated, we would have to wait to tell of what we had seen in person.

Chapter 43

Executive Order 11003 Allows the government to take over all airports and aircraft, including commercial aircraft.

Chad and Kyle had decided that this evening would be the
ir run on the ASP.  They had watched as the shifts were changed and noted that no real communication took place.  The outgoing shift simply handed over a clipboard with keys and went on their way. The trick would be to get there before the new shift and set up so they could be neutralized.  It was against the rules of their mission, but they felt the acquisition of high explosives and ammo would justify the action.

“Just don’t speak.  Y
our British accent is horrible”, said Chad to Kyle as they approached the bunker and its guards. Chad nodded at the guards and held his hand out expecting the transfer.

“You’re early
”, stated one of the guards in a heavily slavish accent. “Had to get away from all the bullshit back there”, stated Chad in Romanian.” 

He had guessed close enough to
the correct dialect and received the clipboard and keys along with a huge roaring laugh and a slap on the shoulder.

“You’ll get no b
ullshit from the bullets in there. Enjoy your peace and quiet for the night”, replied the guard as he and his partner walked away happy to be off shift a half hour early.

“Well,
that went better than expected“, said Kyle who had been ready to take out the two guards with his silenced pistol.

“Keep that thing handy brother”, s
aid Chad. “We still have company to deal with and we need to do it quick and quiet...”

Kyle sat waiting with the clipboard while Chad hid in the shadows.  Within twenty minutes, the new shift arrived ready to relieve them.  They were joking amongst themselves as they approached.  One
soldier walked up to Kyle with his hand extended and still talking to his partner.  He was in the middle of a rolling laugh when the right side of his head sprayed bone and blood all over his partner.  Just as Kyle had shot, Chad grabbed the other soldier from the rear and took him out with an expertly performed sentry takedown. When he removed his Kabar from the soldier’s windpipe, they grabbed both soldiers and dragged them inside the ASP.

Once inside, Chad and Kyle smiled at the armament no
w at their disposal.  They had crates of bullets, Claymore mines, C-4, Phosphorous, Incendiary, Smoke and Fragmentation grenades, and AT-4 anti-tank rocket launchers.  They were shocked to see so much ammunition in there. Earlier in the day several trucks had pulled up and taken load after load out of the bunker.

“Well, I guess we get the leftovers
”, said Kyle.

They spent most of the night gathering supplies and caching them near the prison camp observation site. 

By morning they had returned to their “guard posts” and waited for the oncoming guards to return.  When they did, they were so tired from the night’s work, they simply shot them both at point blank range from behind after making the exchange and dragged them into the bunker where they sealed them in.

Upon returning to their hide site, Kyle sent a quick burst transmission to Chris to let him know of their deed.
He waited for the chastisement that was sure to come.

Chapter 44

Executive Order 11004 allows the Housing and Finance Auithority to relocate communities, build new housing with public funds, designate areas to be abandoned, and establish new locations for populations.

Neil and I
had taken turns watching the base during the night and due to the level of activity on base, neither could sleep.  We watched all night as vehicles, APCs, and tanks were placed into formation and readied for a mystery mission. The Chinese troops were openly preparing and it was becoming clear to us that we were looking at Chinese Special Forces regulars.  Perhaps they had been brought on as advisors much like the American Special Forces tend to do.  Whatever the case, they clearly were not preparing to “advise.”  They were preparing for a real mission.  They had ropes, rifles, assault packs, and no lack of discipline. They looked ready for whatever they were going to face.

At about
0400, the newly formed army rolled out of the base to attend to whatever mission it had received.  I sat wondering and worried, unable to do anything but watch.  That was until I got a message from Kyle.  This was the second message Kyle had sent.  The first was to inform us that the mystery lights we had seen were in fact the concentration camp we had all worried might be on base.  This message started me off angry that they had broken our rules of engagement for this mission, but steadily worked its way into a plan I had been mulling over since 0300.

Chapter 45

Executive Order 11005 Allows the government to take over railroads, inland waterways, and public storage facilities.

Neil and I walked slowly to
wards an office door. I approached it from the right side and swung it open, allowing Neil the perfect opportunity to shoot the soldier manning the desk just past the door.  The office was just as Chad had described it.  Chad quickly gathered the keys we would need as Kyle placed the body of the UN Motor pool officer in a face down relaxed position just in case anyone should drop in.  I was pulling security outside the door and was going over in my head the body count we had racked up to meet Chad and Neil at this office. Neil and I had encountered a foot patrol and taken them out with silenced head shots from a distance of 40 meters with our silenced AR’s.  I walked past an officer at the mess hall and before he could challenge me, Neil shot him in the head from behind. We hastily hid his body in the mess hall dumpster. 

It was as if the entire base was a ghost town.  There could only be a dozen or so soldiers left on base.  We were taking them out quickly. I could only imagine how many soldiers Chad and Kyle had dispatched on their way here.
They had proven to be a deadly team, and one that I would like to see permanent.

Aft
er finding the keys we needed, we climbed into our new vehicles and drove towards the concentration camp. Chad was driving a Hummer and Kyle was driving a bus followed by Neil in another bus. I was in an armored troop carrier.  We stopped 300 meters away and around a hill from the prison camp.

Chad had scouted the camp earlier in
morning and noted that of the four guard towers, two were being manned, and only two walking guards were left for the nearly one hundred and fifty people imprisoned inside the fence.

Neil stalked to a position on the far tower while I crept to a position on the near.  Chad and Kyle were aiming at the
foot patrol that was walking together and joking in a Slavic language.  I looked at my watch and noted that the time for our assault would begin in thirty seconds.

“4,3,2,1..
.” I watched as my target’s body slumped on the rail and fell forward toppling over and into the camp.  I noted that I never heard or felt the rifle as it went off.  I did hear the scream of a woman who had seen the body fall.  It was quickly muffled by another prisoner who wisely did not want her friend to attract attention to them. I looked around to see all of our targets neutralized and noticed Neil’s target leaning over the rail to his guard house in an impossible body position. More screams.  Then Chad entered the camp and calmed everyone down.

“We are Americans.
We are here to rescue you.  We need your help.  First you have to remain quiet. Screams attract attention.  If dead bodies bother you, don’t look at them.  I need by a show of hands, anyone who has ever been law enforcement or military.”  Seven women, (one with a young child) raised their hands and stepped forward.  Chad gave them the weapons we had gathered from the soldiers we had dispatched. “If you need a class on how to use these, give them back now, otherwise you have a duty to protect these people with us. We are counting on you.”  Each of them kept their new weapons.

“
I need the adults to surround the children. Pregnant women and women with babies to the middle. We are taking a short walk”, Chad said.

The crowd listened and complied.  They walked together quietly with only the sound of a few questioning children and one crying baby.  There were fifteen children and two pregnant women. Ther
e were five mothers with babies. We made one stop and Chad assigned able bodies to help gather and carry the load from the cache point. When we got to the vehicles, Chad said, “Single adults with no children take the window seats now. Parents with children take the aisle seats with your kids. Pregnant women and women with babies, ride in the troop carrier. Take all of the supplies to the rear of the Hummer and load them.”

As Kyle was helping people onto his bus, a soft hand reached out to his from behind.  He turned to help whoever it was and stopped dead in his tracks.
His eyes filled with tears before he could speak, and he reached and scooped up Linda, the mother of his two boys. Although their divorce had been ugly, he had always loved Linda and had been beating himself up over the forced decision to watch her be taken as he rescued their sons.

Between kisses she sobbed
, “The boys are gone. I’m so sorry, I tried to…”

“The boys are safe
”, Kyle said through his tears as Linda’s tears of sorrow turned into joy and she hugged him closer than she ever had while they were married. 

“You ride up front with me. I’ll explain
on the way”, he said and held her with him as he returned to ushering people onto the bus.

“Can anyone drive a bus?” Chad asked.
A lady in her sixties stepped forward and said, “I’ve been a school bus driver for twenty years. I’d love to help you if I can.”

Chad assigned her to
drive Neil’s bus and that freed up Neil to ride with me in the Hummer.

Before moving, I sent a message to the sniper teams in
Queenwood. It simply read:

--NEW MISSION--- PRIORITY-1—IMMEDIATELY-HUNT-DOWN-AND-ELIMI
NATE-ALL-FOREIGN-TROOPS-IN-CITY-ASAP—SIGNED-REAPER-ONE---

If we were going to get these people to safety, we need a safe place to go.
The early troop draw down in town meant that our snipers should be able to easily eliminate the UN troops left in the town.

Now for the tricky part.
The front gate was familiar with seeing busses coming in with prisoners but never going out.  I had a plan.  It wasn’t an overly detailed plan, but sometimes those are the best ones.

We pulled up to the front gate and the gate guard came out scratching his head.  Neil stepped out and slipped into the guard shack while I shot the bewildered guard before he could react.  Neil
reappeared from the shack with a satisfied smile and I assumed correctly that my guard’s partner had suffered a similar fate. Neil lifted the gate and we rolled slowly forward passing the unmanned APC that had been rolled out of the way earlier for the mass convoy that left at 0400.

Chapter 46

Executive Order 11051 Specifies the responsibility of the Office of Emergency Planning and gives authorization to put all Executive Orders into effect in times of increased international tensions and economic or financial crisis.

We rolled into town past cheering Americans that were waving American Flags and holding the weapons of the UN Soldiers I had just ordered to be eliminated.  In all, our snipers eliminated twenty out of
the thirty UN soldiers that had been left to patrol the town.  The locals began to see the UN soldiers falling and took up their own arms and finished the rest.  This simple action had ignited the patriotic fervor that we had been praying for. I guess they only needed a little push.

The center of town looked
like a Fourth of July celebration.  At the front of the town delegation stood the grizzled old veteran Mark Jones, proudly holding his Garand. I offered him a salute which he returned with a smile. I quickly told him what we had done and explained that the people we had freed would need shelter and food until they could find a way to make it to their own safe havens. Mark conferred with the neighbors and they agreed to take the women and children in.  His only request was that we leave the busses at the local school, parked with the other school busses. Knowing that we would not be able to carry all of the supplies we had taken from the ammo supply point, I asked that they find a safe place to store the ammo and grenades we couldn’t take with us. Mark agreed happily.