Armageddon Test Run 11
Chapter 11:
Escape
Dawn of the first day:
"Now you are good with the plan?" Specialist Trakker asked Snake Eyes for the fifth time.
Snake Eyes responded with a thumbs up sign, and threw the switch that extended the Rhino's grill into battering ram mode.
Trakker sighed and pulled on his Mask. He had long wanted to test the Rhino against a couple of HISS tanks in battle, and was disappointed that now it was actually going to happen, he wouldn't be behind the steering wheel.
He had no illusions that Snake Eyes would be able to get through the Cobra perimeter around Jasper Nevada alone, but to assure that Trakker could get across too, they needed a distraction.
Snake Eyes and the Rhino drove off towards the Cobra roadblock, he was lowering the stack lasers into position as he drove. At the same time, Trakkker headed towards the fence at a solid pace, his Mask providing him with an accurate view of the terrain and keeping him appraised of all the nearest Cobra patrols.
Trakkker found a nice spot of cover, not too far from the fence, but not so close that he would be easily spotted by Cobra patrols either. There he waited.
The signal came, loud and clear. He could see the fireball erupting from the direction of the roadblock, and the distant echo of explosions and machine gun fire.
He continued to wait, but he didn't have to wait long. Within seconds his position was passed by three different Cobra patrols on their way to reinforce the roadblock. Cobra was taking containment very seriously.
With the patrols out of the way, Trakker was free to make his own way over the fence. They had considered simply cutting it, but there was every reason to believe that continued containment of Jasper would be in everyone's best interests, so they wanted to keep the fence intact. Best to go over it.
Trakker's Mask, named Spectrum had a sonic hang glider mode, which was very useful when jumping from his flying T-bird, but not much use while on the ground. That was the reason for the green backpack he brought along, that he thought of as a mini-Condor. It was equipped with helicopter blades, that were rather impractical by themselves, but when combined with the Spectrum Glider, resulted in an effective method of flight.
The backpack was not as silent as he would have liked, but within seconds he was flying over the fence and moving towards the rendezvous coordinates he and Snake Eyes had previously agreed upon.
Once he landed, Trakker again took cover and waited.
His patience was again rewarded when Snake Eyes drove up in the ATV made up from the Rhino's trailer hitch section. He smiled with satisfaction under his Mask, then climbed on behind Snake Eyes, and the two of them made rapid progress to drive beyond Cobra's jamming range to get a signal to the rest of the GI Joe team.
Shortly before noon, Wild Weasel felt naked wearing blue jeans and a T-Shirt, instead of his red flight suit and face concealing helmet. He expected the rest of his Cobra pilots felt the same as they boarded buses, with their duffel bags.
He nodded to the bus driver, Zandar, he thought the guy's name was, then took his seat. He was respected/feared enough by his compatriots in Cobra that none of the others tried to crowd him.
"All aboard!" Zandar shouted, then closed the door to the bus and started driving down the road, leaving the Cobra perimeter and Jasper, Nevada far behind. "Next stop: Civilization!"
Wild Weasel was a little disappointed to be leaving. He had been looking forward to firebombing the town. It wasn't every day that you got to level an unblemished, modern, American town. Oh, it would have been such fun!
Zandar blew the bus horn several times, and Wild Weasel could see why. The Dreadnok was showing off, and no one would ever know it.
The bus was passing a convoy of military transport trucks, but not just any military trucks: GI Joes!
Wild Weasel even recognized some of the faces of the people sitting in the trucks with their machine guns between their legs from the Cobra mission briefings he had received.
Zandar continued to blow his horn.
Why not get in the spirit of things, Wild Weasel thought. He pulled down his window, and stuck his head out.
"U! S! A!" He shouted, "U! S! A! WHOO-HOOO!" Wild Weasel felt like a happy idiot while doing it, but it was sure fun! Besides, the next time he was likely to see any of those Joes again, he would be raining hot death from above on them.
The GI Joe convoy arrived in response to Specialist Trakker's signal. They still did not know the full story about what was going on within the Cobra quarantined city of Jasper, but they felt they knew enough to move in.
The convoy stopped before they were within sight of the Cobra roadblock, and broke up into their combat units. When they approached the roadblocks, they would be ready to blitz the Cobra positions and put a quick end to the situation.
Duke rode in the lead Vamp, as they finally approached the Cobra roadblock. He studied their position through his binoculars, even as a Cobra Officer was studying him through theirs.
Then Cobra did the unexpected.
The Cobra Officer left his position and walked slowly towards the Joe's position, and in his hand he hoisted a white flag.
Duke narrowed his eyes in suspicion, and motioned Clutch to drive him closer.
Clutch closed the distance between the Joes and the lone Cobra Officer, then stopped, allowing Duke to walk the final few feet alone.
"SIR!" The Cobra Officer saluted smartly.
Duke returned the salute in spite of himself, "I am Sergeant Duke, of the GI Joe team," he said, "Would you like to save us both time, effort, and lives and surrender now?"
"Yes, Sir," The Officer answered, "I am authorized to surrender all local forces and equipment to you, under a single condition!"
"What condition?"
"That you maintain the quarantine, Sir!" the Officer replied, "That you allow no infected people to leave the perimeter!"
"Very well," Duke finally said after thinking the situation over, "Stand down and surrender yourselves into our custody and we will maintain the quarantine."
The Officer nodded curtly, then turned and signaled the rest of the troops at the roadblock. The troopers there seemed to visibly relax.
Duke began to concider the logistics of the undertaking he had just agreed to, arresting all of the Cobra personnel, while at the same time replacing them with Joe personnel to maintain the perimeter around Jasper. That would tie up a bulk of his forces for at least a day, if not longer. If Cobra was just trying to buy time for their experiment to run its course, they certainly found a creative way of doing so.