Chapter 14- The Table Turns

The Marines pushed forward through the cloud, using any cloth they had to cover their noses and mouths. They could barely see in front of them, which worried them. But Shadow was not concerned, because he knew the Russians were just as blind. Suddenly, his attention was drawn somewhere other than what was in front of him.

"I think I found one!" yelled a Marine. Shadow followed the voice to find a Marine standing over an enemy soldier with his foot on the enemy's chest. The soldier was wounded and weak as he tried to lift the Marine's foot off his chest. "He's pretty fucked up though." he explained as Shadow approached. He looked at the soldier's uniform and overall appearance. This one's not Russian, thought Shadow. His uniform was tan and brown digital design and a Cuban flag on the right sleeve. The soldier held out his hand to Shadow as if begging him for mercy. But Shadow pulled out his sidearm and fired a round through the Cuban's skull. The Marine jumped back in surprise. He looked over at Shadow in fear and disgust.

"Sir, we could have gotten info out of him." protested the shocked Marine. Shadow holstered his pistol before looking at the grunt.

"No, he was Cuban. He wouldn't know much." responded Shadow coldly. The Marine shook his head and continued through the cloud. There was extremely little resistance through the cloud apart from the occasional Russian or Cuban who was down to his last magazine of their pistol, but no Spetznaz. When they exited the cloud, the group found the patrol sent out earlier waiting at the entrance of Bayfront Park. The other three members of Texas Team were right at the front of the group waiting for their comrades. Miller was the team leader of Texas and he wore the Commando armor variant and carried the MA37. Diablo was the marksman and wore the JFO armor variant and as a joke had put a piece of tape on the back of his helmet with his name written on it, explaining it would be easier for them to identify his body. At the moment he was holding his S99 in his right hand.

"Its 'bout time you guys showed your faces." joked Fox as she put her hands on her waist. The operators began to greet each other before discussing their situation.

"So what's going on? Any sign of Spetz?" asked Shadow.

"The only interesting thing to happen is that building collapsing." explained Miller as he motioned to the rubble. "Did you guys call that airstrike in?" he then asked Shadow.

Shadow chuckled before responding "Yeah. Got a problem with that?"

"You could've warned us first." answered Miller sarcastically. Shadow placed his DMR against a wall as he looked around.

"You guys got a plan?" asked Shadow as he took off his helmet and put it under his left arm.

"Kind of." returned Miller as he pulled out a small silver disk and placed it on a park bench. He then pressed a button and a blue holographic map appeared. "We were thinking about moving up 3rd Street, but that route is cut off by that rubble."

Shadow took a closer look at the map. "What about Flagler Avenue? If we take that route, we can take the bridge across and move toward the ballpark."

Miller crossed his arms as he contemplated the plan. "Problem is MI suggests that bridge might be rigged."

Shadow put his helmet on "When was the last time MI got something 100 percent right?" he complained as he grabbed his DMR.

Miller simply shook his head. "WILCO. But if this OP goes south, we are FUBAR." Shadow nodded and the turned to the Marines.

"Conrad, take your Marines and move up 1st Street. Regroup once we get across the bridges. Got it?" Shadow asked the Recon Marine.

Conrad nodded as he raised his BR85. "Will do. You Delta boys stay safe." The group then split up and went their ways. Gunfire could be echoing through the city as small firefights raged on. Suddenly, a shot from an AK rang out and a bullet whistled past Fox.

"Contact! Find cover!" screamed Miller as everyone jumped for cover behind abandoned cars.

"Anyone got eyes on?" asked Shadow loudly. Mutt peeked around the bumper of the car and saw several muzzle flashes coming from the preforming center. He was forced back into cover by heavy fire.

"Looks like we got shooters in the preforming center. Return fire?" asked Mutt. Shadow nodded as he peeked from cover and returned fire from his DMR. The rest of the group followed Shadow's lead and were able to suppress the enemy fire within a couple of minutes. Slowly, they began moving out of cover and their radios came to life with Sgt. Willis' voice.

"Zulu Actual, this is Bulldog 3. We ran into a patrol with an IFV. Gonna be held a little. How copy?" reported Willis.

"Solid copy. We are a few blocks from the bridge. We'll meet you on the other end." responded Shadow calmly.

"WILCO." were Willis' last words before the team continued. They reached the bridge and were surprised to find no resistance.

"Looks like their fighting the Marines to the North." said Diablo as the operators scanned the area.

"Don't like this, boss. It spells ambush." worried Ute as he moved to the side of the street. An ominous beep was then heard. Shadow didn't need to warn anyone since they were already diving for safety. The large explosion sent Mutt flying into a car. His vision blurred and his ears were ringing from the explosion. He got to his hands and knees, trying to look around and account for everyone. His hearing was the first to return and he heard Shadow coughing heavily as he got closer.

"Mutt? Mutt, you okay brother?" asked Shadow as Mutt felt his hand on his left shoulder. His vision came back into focus as he looked up at a concerned Shadow. Shadow's armor was now heavily dented and the left side of his visor had a large crack. Bear walked over to the two and looked down at Mutt.

"You're a tough fucker." Bear joked as he offered his hand to Mutt, who took it and was pulled onto his feet. Bear's armor was surprisingly unscathed apart from a couple of dents and scratches. "Ute!" Mutt then heard a scream of pain over to his right. When he looked to investigate, he found Diablo lying on the ground grasping his right arm. But, Mutt found Diablo's arm had been broken badly.

"¡Hijos de puta! You broke my arm!" screamed Diablo in anger. "Voy a matar a todos!"

"Chill out, D." advised Fox as she kneeled beside Diablo. Her armor had sustained heavy damage as well, plus the left upper hand corner of her visor was missing. Miller and Havoc joined the battered group and looked at the damage.

"Fox, take D to the med station on the beach and then get your ass back to us. Bring reinforcements if you can." ordered Miller.

"WILCO." responded Fox as she gently picked Diablo up. Diablo continued to scream in agony as Fox carried him away from the wreckage. Miller turned around to the rest of the group.

"That shit was not dope. Fuck that bridge." complained Miller. Bear continued to scan the region.

"Any of you seen Ute?" asked Bear. As he asked the question, Ute stumbled out from behind a car.

"How bad does it look guys?" weakly asked Ute as he grabbed a piece of shrapnel imbedded into his chest plate. Bear panicked and pulled out his knife to pry out the piece of metal. Ute's armor was severely burned. Bear was panicking as he fumbled with his knife, but Ute reassured him by placing his hands on Bear's shoulders. "Dude, chill out. I'm fine."

Bear let out a breath of relief before sheathing his knife. Then everyone turned to Shadow and Miller for a plan.

"That bridge is useless." said Shadow as he got on his radio. "Conrad, our bridge is gone. We are going to work our way to you and cross."

"Copy that, Shadow. We will be waiting for you." responded Conrad. Shadow nodded to the group as they made their way over to the Marines. Mutt felt that things were now in Russia's favor. But the 1st Infantry was about to change that.