Chapter Twleve: Night woods
Deadly hide and seek in the woods.
Jennifer, the dogs and Bobby were safely behind the wall and running towards the waiting black SUV when the house exploded. The SUVs back door was standing open so the dogs jumped in and scrambled to the cargo area behind the back seat, Jennifer dove in followed by Bobby. Lester slid into the front seat.
Rangeman, Jenkins house has exploded. Two Suburbans remain outside the walls," Chet called.
"Remain in place, occupants are clear," came the Rangeman monitor's voice. "Police are on their way."
Tank floored the accelerator before the passengers in the SUV could completely buckled in. Jennifer only saw the back of the man at the wheel and his shaved bare head. Lester asked, " The road to the right takes us back to Route 3, right?"
"Yes," Jennifer said trying to calm herself.
Bobby reached behind to where the dogs had laid down to counter the SUV's bumping and pulled out a tactical vest , "Here, put this on." Jennifer complied without saying a word. He also pulled out and extra jacket and balaclava knit hat, "You look cold."
She was shivering a bit, more from the adrenaline than the temperature but gladly took the jacket and hat that could be pulled down to cover her face. She pulled the hat low, the visor covering much of her face.
They rode in silence for several miles. As they drove around a curve, the road ahead was blocked by several very large trees recently cut to block the road. Two black pickups were in front of the trees and four men stood behind the trucks.
"Double Fudge, not again," moaned Jennifer. "Watch for rockets."
Tank swung SUV hard to the left off the road and began picking his way through the trees into the woods beyond.
"Why the hell didn't you fire? Jules screamed.
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Raimond, Bernard along with the other men moved among the debris when a call came from Jules in one of the black pickups. "She escaped. Now with Rangeman. The road block worked, they have turned south into the trees."
"Follow them damnit!" Bernard yelled.
The men scrambled back to the two Suburban which immediately took off south. Bernard and his men along with Jules with the two trucks from the road block would disperse through the woods trapping Jennifer Caufield Jenkins and her rescuers.
Chet reported, "Two Suburbans, three or four men in each heading south down Rockridge, am following." Chet reported.
Bobby called in, "Four men following us, two each pickup."
Ranger was listening, ten or eleven men.
The sun was setting, the woods were in twilight that would rapidly become dark in a few minutes; bushwhacking through the forest would be impossible without light. Tank stopped, "Lester, knock out the back lights. He didn't want to give away our position.
While Bernard had studied the map and planned this trap, Tank was at the mercy of Lester and his phone with a topo map of the area as well as what Manuel was relaying from Rangeman. "Bear right when possible, look for a road."
The two pickups were not far behind. Their 4 wheel trucks with the high clearance were better at zigging through the forest and over shrubs. Jorge said, "When they get to the meadow stop and I'll take them out with the LAWS"
"That's our last one, better make it count," Jules warned.
Jules stopped. Tank's black SUV was barely visible in the quickening darkness, but soon they'd be in the meadow and open target. Jorge found a spot to set up. Jules turned off his trucks light, but the truck behind didn't, illuminating the forward truck.
"They've stopped," Bobby reported.
GET OUT OF THE CAR" Tank yelled. Suddenly the four adults and 2 dogs were out of the car and running toward the trees on the meadow perimeter. The rocket streaked to the SUV and in an explosive flash, the vehicle was gone.
All escaped the explosion and debris. Jennifer pulled the dogs down behind a fallen log and nestled between them. Gun fire began to rake their position.
"Guess they saw us escape," Lester mumbled.
"Attention Rangemen, Tank's SUV has gone dark," came the report from Manuel.
Chet and Cal didn't see the explosion but heard it. They were following the two Suburbans. After several miles one turned into the woods while the other continued on.
"Rangeman, Suburban one has turned into the woods 4 miles south of Rockridge home. The other is continuing along Rockridge. Will follow the second for a while before returning to this location and going in."
Ranger called in, "I'm on the southern boundary. Police and Feds are 12 minutes out and will form a perimeter around these woods but will not move in. Rangeman will move in and intercept. Hal and Ram on the west off Route 3, Cal and Chet on the east off Rockridge. I'm south and Hector will be north. Cal, confirm 6 targets from Suburbans."
"Cannot confirm 6, may be 7."
Ranger continued, "Four from the two pickups on the north. Stay in contact with base. Manuel and Ryan at Rangeman will be plotting."
The first Suburban had less than two miles into the woods before stopping and letting off his two passengers. Bernard, now alone, made his way deeper into the woods' center. He wanted to be the one to kill Jennifer Caufield. The second Suburban continued down Rockridge. Cal turned around and went back to where the first one went in.
"Rangeman, Cal, second Suburban continuing down Rockridge approaching southern boundary. I'm going back to the first turn in site. " Cal knew Ranger would be looking for the southern most SUV's occupants.
The second pickup from the tree barrier on the north side, the one that illuminate Jorge and Jules' truck, backed up and swung north west. They were going to try to outflank Tank, Bobby, Lester and Mrs. Jenkins.
On the west perimeter Hal and Ram split, On foot, Hal went north then east, Ram also on foot, went south and then east. Like most Rangeman, Hal was former Special Forces and moved with speed and grace through the forest. It wasn't long before he spotted the still warm second pickup with his night goggles. He called in the position to Rangeman and the fact it was empty. Risking using his flashlight he obscured the light as much as possible with his and and bent down. Two moving south. He called it in.
Hal came upon Martin. The gang member was lost. In a dark forest and without urban landmarks, city boys don't do well in a forest. Martin had been out in the field, for at most two hours, but had no coat. It was October and nights temperatures were dropping. Hal called to him to surrender. At first Martin hesitated, then threw his gun aside and raised his hands. Hal cuffed him to a tree and then draped his own Rangeman jacket over him. "Rangeman, mark this position. One surrender, cold and miserable cuffed to a tree. He's wearing my jacket."
Ram, Hal's partner, had run far south and then turned east. He stopped and scanned the forest with his night goggles. He saw a men coming up a hill with an M16 like he was carrying. Ram waited unseen as he noted the man also wore night goggles. After the man had passed, Ram threw a rock far to the opposite of the man hoping he would turn toward the sound and Ram could bring him down without firing. The man did react to the sound but also quickly swept the area just catching sight of Ram moving quickly towards him. The rifle barked out six shots. Ram was down and rolling down a small hill apparently hit. But on one rotation Ram raised raised his M16 and fired. That's all that was necessary. "Rangeman, mark my position, one down, dead." Ram was unhurt but his jacket would show a hole.
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Tank, Lester, Bobby and Mrs. Jenkins were trapped in the woods after having their SUV blown up by a rocket. Jorge and Jules were trying to flush them from their hiding spot with gunfire. Bobby had his own Glock plus Jennifer's AK 15 and extra clips. She was using her Kimber but it was now empty. She put the gun back into her back holster and grabbed the .45 in her belt. Tank signaled for Lester to stay with Mrs. Jenkins and the dogs and move west to Route 3, out of the woods. Bobby and Tank would cover them.
Lester and Jennifer and the dogs had gone only about a mile before they ran into Rueben who had night goggles. Fortunately he wasn't a good marksman. Lester signaled for Jennifer to move south with the dogs and he would follow. Jennifer ran, the dogs right with her. When bullets began whizzing around her, she dare not fire back, Lester should be right behind her. She did not know Lester had caught a bullet to his calf. It wasn't bad but he had dropped his weapon. He was desperately searching for it. Rueben did not see Lester and continued after Jennifer.
Moving quickly through the dark woods without night sight was difficult. Several times Jennifer stumbled. She dare not stay on the ground but got up quickly ducking behind trees. Rueben was not familiar with night goggles and nearly as much trouble negotiating the terrain. All he could hope to do was keep throwing bullets at her heat signature and hope something would hit.
Eventually two bullets in a row found her. The first was to her right shoulder. She fell forward, rolled right back onto her feet but stopped momentarily, stunned. The second hit her right leg below the knee, fracturing the bones. She had dropped the .45 when hit in the shoulder but somehow fell onto it with the second shot. The dogs saw Ruben approaching and went out and circled around towards him. Jennifer was flat on her back but held the .45 with her left hand, not her main shooting hand and she remained deathly still. The leaves crunching was her only clue he was near. "You are mine, bitch" and at that moment Gabe gave a growl. Ruben hesitated and Jennifer raised her weapon and fired. The dogs didn't need to attack.
Mike went back to Lester and lead him to his mistress. "You'd better not be dead or Ranger will kill me.," he hissed.
"Shit" was all Jennifer could mutter.
Lester had two bandages and opted to put them both on Mrs. Jenkins and not one for himself. He fashioned a split from several larger sticks. Rangeman, Lester, mark my position. One dead, Mrs. Jenkins and I are injured. Do you have a safer place than this open area we can hunker down?"
Rangeman came back, "10-4, position noted. Topo indicates series of depressions, possible hiding spot, 1/2 mile southwest of your position."
"10-4, moving now." It wasn't pretty, together they crawled, leaned on one another but eventually found the depressions. They found the deepest and dug in under the leaves.
Bobby and Tank heard Lester's transmission. Bobby, the Rangeman medic looked to Tank, who nodded his consent. "That leaves you alone here."
"I'll cover you then follow," Tank whispered.
Jules and Jorge noted the reduced gunfire from Mrs. Jenkins and her Rangeman rescuers were hiding and began moving forward. Tank listened carefully and discerned two coming in. Jorge fell over a tree stump and cried out, "Crap." Tank wasted no time in firing in the direction of the sound and then quickly retreated to his right, south, and kept moving.
"Damnit, I'm hit," Jorge screamed.
"If you don't shut up I'll kill you the rest of the way," hissed Jules." Jorge was on the ground, rocking back and forth in pain, holding his thigh. "I can't go on."
"Yeah, I see that. I should do you in right here but don't want to give away our position again. Fuck you" and he began to follow Tank.
Jorge waited then slowly pulled himself as upright as he could and started moving north, back to the road where they entered the woods. He could barely walk, the bullet had passed to the side of the femur, but any movement was excruciatingly painful. "Better than being dead" he decided and continued.
Tank moved south hoping to find Lester, Bobby and Mrs. Jenkins. Directions were difficult in the forest in daylight, at night it was impossible without night goggles. The fallen leaves made silent movement difficult so Tank would stop and listen, The but the man following him was also a hunter. Jules mimicked Tank's actions, stopping when Tank stopped, guarding his own position.
The ground was firm and by lifting his knees high Tank could move quickly and disrupt the fewest leaves. The one thing he hadn't planned on was the hole, probably made by a groundhog or other large animal. His foot went in and his momentum against the immobile leg caused it to twist. He heard the bone break before he felt the pain.
Grabbing his boot top, he rolled back and pulled his foot free of the hole. The pain was nauseating, but he dare not moan. He had to find cover, any cover and began crawling.
"Well, well, look who we have here," chided Jules. "The resurrected Pierre Sherman. We thought for sure we got you in your home's explosion. Even watched your boss, Manoso, go into the morgue." Jules had his rifle at his shoulder ready to fire. Tank's Glock was under his hip, inaccessible. "We've already got your brother and family in St. Louis. We just missed Jennifer Caufield Jenkins thanks to you. But no matter, after I finish you here, I'll find her in these woods. After you two are gone, we are going after the bitch's father Arvin Caufield."
Tanks mind instantly cleared of the pain in his leg, "Jeni here?"
"Sure was nice you two live in the same town. Made planning easier." Now you are in the same killing field. Thank you." And without further words, Jules pulled the trigger. The bullet hit Tank in the chest and he fell back.
