Disclaimers: all the usual apply.
Chapter 19
Jessica POV
Standing on her toes she stretched her body out as far as it would go, her arms reaching for the early morning sky. A moan clawed up the back of her throat as her stiff muscles woke up.
Her men waiting nearby gave her curious glances. She ignored them, choosing instead to accept the lukewarm coffee Alex was holding out to her as she joined their semi-circle.
"Well, I hope you all got your beauty sleep, because we're in for a hard day's work."
Most of her team subconsciously rubbed at a muscle left sore and stiff after a night spent in a muddy foxhole, but she could see the apprehension casting shadows in their eyes.
She glanced at her watch as she gulped down the last dregs of coffee. "Right, you all know the plan. We remain spread out across the line. Pick your targets and stay in your pairs. Don't attach your bayonets until you have to. Those things mess up your aim."
"Where will you be, ma'am," Hunt asked.
She turned her attention to the replacement, hoping to instill the nervous looking man with a sense of confidence. "I'll be moving behind the line. Helping where needed."
The team nodded and she spotted a few stealing a glance at their watch.
Inhaling deeply, she allowed her eyes to run over what remained of her unit and said a quick prayer for each one.
She exhaled, driving the air from her lungs in one meaningful huff. "Right, let's get this done."
They turned to leave, her close friends sharing knowing looks with each other. Alex quickly reached for her right hand, gave it a firm squeeze before turning on his heel and leaving for his side of the line.
As Jessica watched him go, a deep frown crossing her forehead, she asked, "How was last night?"
The woman beside her sighed.
She moved so she was facing Arlene. "That bad?"
Her friend shook her head, her helmet wobbling a little as she did. "Just…awkward."
"I assume there's more to the story than that."
"Yip, it could have gone better."
"Hmmmm….well, when today's adventure is done you need to tell me everything."
Her friend simply nodded as she gave her a half-hearted smile.
She was about to mention her own run-in when the high-pitched screech of incoming mortar fire froze the words in her throat. From years of experience she knew the shell was heading in their direction so she grabbed Arlene's jacket and pulled her into the nearest foxhole with her.
"Incoming!" she screamed a split second before the blast rocked the ground beneath them.
Debris and dirt rained down on the two women crouched in the foxhole, the sound oddly reminding her of rain on a tin roof. The blast had just dissipated when the familiar crack of rifle fire sounded all around them.
She slapped Arlene's shoulder and shouted, "Go, I'll provide covering fire."
She turned and stood so she could see over the rim of the foxhole, dimly aware of Arlene clambering out of the hole behind her. The enemy was well hidden in their hedgerow so she aimed just behind each muzzle flash, hoping each bullet found a target at the end of its path.
The rifle slammed into her shoulder with each shot, the rhythmic hammering next to her ear blocking out the screaming and blasts that surrounded her.
Ping.
She slammed another clip into her rifle before scrambling out of the hole. Keeping as low as possible she moved behind the line, popping up every so often to let of a short burst of bullets before ducking back down and continuing on.
Her heart strained against her ribcage and her own panting reverberated inside her skull. The screams of the wounded and dying were temporarily drowned out by the thunderous clap of explosions and gunfire, but soon that ever present sound won out over all others.
A soldier went down in front of her, slumping to the ground as if his marionette strings had been cut. She fell to her knees beside him, grabbed his jacket with her one free hand and rolling him over.
Large eyes stared back up at her, shock and panic mixing in equal measure as he reached for her hand. A hail of bullets whizzed past her head. She fell forward, throwing her body over the wounded soldier's.
The firing moved on and she pushed herself upright. She scanned the man's body and quickly found the rapidly spreading blood stain making its way across his chest.
Shit.
She filled her lungs and formed the cry for a medic on her tongue when she caught site of the lifeless eyes watching her. The shout died in her throat.
Damn.
She pursed her lips and pushed herself up, knowing the key was to continue moving no matter what, but promising the dead man she'd come back to him after the fight.
Arlene POV
She ran through a waterfall of dirt kicked up by an exploding mortar round, spitting out the dirt that had invaded her mouth as she dodged men and bullets.
The earth rocked beneath her feet as round after round hit. The cacophony of sounds threatened to overwhelm and disorientate her, so she focused on her own ragged breathing.
Arlene knew she was close to her section of the line when she spotted Parker lying on his stomach next to Luz, his rifle hammering into his shoulder in time with her breathing.
She threw her body into the space between Parker and the soldier on his other side. Parker glanced over to her, relief momentarily flickering across his features before he turned back to the enemy.
The Germans bombarded their position with mortars and a constant assault of gunfire. Two artillery rounds hit a few feet ahead of them, momentarily hiding the German line behind a curtain of earth.
"Fuck," a familiar voice swore next to her.
She twisted her neck to see Joe pressed into the earth on her other side, his dark eyes intently focused on the enemy position. He looked over to her and for a second the fight raging all around faded away so that all she could hear was her breathing and all she could see was him.
Then, as the curtain of earth fell to the ground the war surged back over them. She jerked her eyes forward, pressed her rifle into her shoulder and felt the trigger give under the pressure of her finger.
She fired round after round, trying to pick out silhouettes against the skyline, but mostly firing at the space behind a muzzle flash or just in the enemy's direction.
Another empty clip was discarded, quickly replaced with a new one slammed into place. Her shoulder was already starting to ache from the rifle slamming into it and somewhere in the back of her mind she knew a nasty bruise was starting to form.
Movement on the right of the German line caught her eye. She frowned, straining to make sense of the shadow moving behind the hedgerow. The flash of a large muzzle provided her brain the context it needed and her blood froze in her veins.
"Tanks," she whispered the word.
"What the hell?" Parker's shouted, pulling her out of her shock.
She turned to look at him. All the colour had drained from his face, his mouth hanging slack as he watched one tank after the other ready to assault their line.
Arlene grabbed his shoulder and shook him. "Keep firing. Pick your target and put him down."
The young soldier gulped and nodded feebly.
"Now!" she barked.
He blinked and turned his attention back to the enemy line, his rifle again adding to the chaos around them.
She turned back in time to see a plume of smoke spill out of the muzzle of one tank a second before the deafening clap drowned out all other noise.
Drawing her eyes away from the tank she found her next target. The German soldiers were walking beside the tanks now, advancing slowly across the field that separated them.
With one pull of her finger a man's head snapped back and he fell to the ground. She turned to find her next target as the German tanks opened fire.
Jessica POV
Jessica stopped dead when she saw the first tank. When she found the second and third she threw herself forward, desperate to find a position where she could fire from.
She spotted Harry, a small space open on his one side, the other occupied by Luz who was shouting into his radio.
Falling down beside Harry his eyes shot over to her, his lips starting to form the words which were drowned out by a tank firing.
The shot had gone to their left flank, where Dog and Fox were. She knew from experience the carnage that blast would enact and she flinched involuntarily.
"It's gonna be our turn soon," she shouted to herself, but the look Harry shot her told her he'd heard.
She lifted her rifle to shoot a soldier walking beside one of the approaching tanks when her eyes spotted the discarded bazooka lying off to the side.
Quickly looking around the she found the bag containing the rounds. She looked from the discarded weapon to the tanks and felt the corner of her lips twist into a lopsided smirk.
Slinging her rifle, she grabbed the bazooka and bag.
"What are you doing?" Harry shouted, grabbing a hold of her arm as she rose.
"Blowing up a tank," she replied.
Of all the things her friend could have said, when he simply replied, "We'll provide covering fire," she knew he was as crazy as she was and that he would have done the same thing if he'd spotted the weapon first.
She scanned the faces of the soldiers closest, hoping to find one of her own. When her eyes landed on a familiar silhouette she shouted, "Green, on me."
Arlene's emerald eyes found her, fell to the weapon in her hand and shot back up to her face. Through the steely determination that darkened her friend's eyes she recognised the glint of excitement. If this was it, they were going to take a tank down with them.
They broke cover and ran out in front of their line, merging a few yards out in the open. She handed Arlene the bazooka and tapped her shoulder when they'd reached the best position.
As one they dropped to one knee, Arlene levelling the bazooka at the closest tank as she loaded a round. She held onto Arlene's empty shoulder, her eyes running down the line of the weapon, across the green grass until they hit grey metal.
"Fire!"
The first shot ricocheted off the metal shell, seeming to anger the tank as if it was a living beast.
A bullet left a warm trail against her skin as it flew past her cheek, others hitting the ground near them.
Jessica loaded the next round and tightened her grip on Arlene's shoulder. With the tank methodically closing the distance between them, they only had one more chance.
"You see that rise?" she shouted to be heard over the firefight.
Arlene's head bobbed up and down. There was a small rise in the middle of the open field directly in the tank's current path.
"Wait until it crests. Then hit its underbelly."
Arlene grunted in understanding.
The tank was only inches away from the crest when a smoke plume burst from the muzzle. She threw herself forward, pushing Arlene down with her as the boom reverberated inside her chest. Wood splinters, hot metal shrapnel and dirt cascaded down on them.
She hissed when a piece of metal found a slither of exposed skin at the nape of her neck, but the pain jolted her into action.
Dragging herself upright she grabbed a hold of Arlene's jacket and yanked her up.
"Goddamnit!" her best friend cursed as she placed the bazooka on her shoulder and settled back.
The tank was painfully close to cresting the small rise. She held her breath, drowning out everything else until her world consisted only of Arlene and a German tank.
The tank's nose lifted and the underbelly appeared. She exhaled and smiled manically as Arlene pulled the trigger. Their round pierced the beast's stomach, metal screeching against metal.
The two friends shot to their feet, turned and ran back to their line. She heard the explosion behind her, felt the shockwave push against her as the tank went up in a ball of black smoke and flames.
They dived over their men and she hit the ground hard. She quickly scrambled around so she was once again facing the enemy, catching Harry and Luz staring at her.
"Shit Cap, you're one crazy lady!" Luz shouted.
"Thanks!" she beamed back at him.
He chuckled and turned back to fire on the enemy. Harry slapped her shoulder and rewarded her with a slightly hysterical gap-toothed grin. "Dick's gonna kill you!"
She registered the words, but filed them away for later consideration, turning her attention to the advancing enemy.
They'd disabled one tank, but more were heading for their line. The enemy soldiers, sensing imminent victory, emerged from the cover of their hedgerow. They walked in-between the tanks, their bayonets glinted in the early morning sun.
She picked off one after the other, never sparing the fallen soldiers a second thought before moving on to their comrade.
A soldier she had in her sights suddenly evaporated into a red mist as the earth at his feet blew up. For a moment she wondered if the field had been mined, but then a German tank exploded and a cheer ran down their line.
"Shermans!" Luz shouted, pointing to their left.
Sherman tanks, their tanks, burst through the hedgerow. The tide turned and the advancing army stopped as if taking a deep breath, and then started systematically retreating. Like a wave the battle reached a peak before slowing ebbing away until only a few stray shots could be heard.
When she couldn't see any more enemy soldiers she dropped her rifle and hung her head. For a brief moment she closed her eyes, took a deep breath and braced herself. With a groan she pushed herself up and stood, taking her rifle with her. She swung the gun over her shoulder and brushed off the mass of dirt, leaves and twigs that had amassed on her uniform.
Harry offered her his canteen and she gladly accepted it. When the liquid unexpectedly burned her throat she scrunched up her face. Her friend grinned at her like a fool, far too pleased with himself.
"You should warn people," she finally managed to croak out.
"Figured you deserved it after blowing up a tank."
"It was a team effort."
"Oh, don't worry. I'll catch Arlene."
She smiled and shook her head. "I need to check on my men."
Harry waved her off as she turned to walk the line.
Of course the first two people she checked on were Arlene and Parker. Both soldiers were unharmed except for a few scrapes and bruises. Parker's eyes were huge, his pupils completely blown and his chest rose and fell quickly. He had a cheek splitting smile on his face which teased a smile from her own lips.
"Everybody okay?" she asked the two.
"Yes, ma'am," the replacement answered enthusiastically.
"Good. Now, drink water and check your ammo supplies. Let me know if you're short."
Both soldiers nodded.
"Good. I'm going to find the rest of the men. Wait for further orders."
"Yes, ma'am," Parker replied. Arlene simply lit a smoke, took one drag and handed it over to her.
She accepted it with a smile before leaving her two soldiers. As she walked away she spotted Joe staring at Arlene, confusion and relief making an odd mix on her face.
Approaching the soldier, she realised he wasn't alone. Guarnere and Toye were with him, the three men sharing a cigarette, the smallest tremor in their hands. A side effect of the massive adrenaline rush.
"Gentlemen," she greeted them.
"Captain," Toye replied, while Bill tipped his helmet at her. Joe's brown eyes flicked to her face but otherwise his expression remained unchanged.
"One hell of a way to start a day, huh?" she asked, trying to suss out their mood.
Guarnere smirked. "Ya know, I usually prefer a coffee and a smoke, but they don't get you going like this."
She smiled, relieved to see their humour was still in place. That was always a good sign. "Liebgott, a word?"
Even wearing his helmet, she saw him frown, but he didn't say anything, simply following her as she left the other two men with a small smile.
Jessica stopped a short distance from Bill and Toye and quickly glanced around to make sure they wouldn't be overheard.
Satisfied they were alone she cut to the chase, saying, "It's what we do Joe. Running onto that field was dangerous, but honestly it doesn't even crack the top 10. You don't have to like it, god knows I hate it when someone else does something exceptionally dangerous, but you have to accept it."
The man sighed and some of the tension left his body. "Yeah, I know. I just hated not being able to do anything."
"I know. Listen, I don't know what happened last night, but the best advice I can give you is to continue to be there for her. Out here isn't the time or place for a private conversation, but you'll get your chance once we return to England."
She thought she saw him smile and he asked, "Why do you care so much?"
With a shrug she replied, "Because I love Arlene so I want what's best for her. And my gut tells me you're it. So don't prove me wrong."
His expression changed, his nonchalant persona gone as only honest vulnerability remained. "I won't"
"Good. See you round."
With that his persona slipped back on and he gave her a casual salute before turning back to his friends.
Richard POV
After the attack had passed he checked his line, briefly stopping to touch base with the men standing or sitting in small groups. He was relieved to see Alex, John, Hunt and West from Jessica's unit had survived unharmed. She hid it well, but he'd noticed the shadow that muddied her blue eyes whenever she thought of those they'd already lost.
When he found Eugene tending to a wounded man he stopped and helped as best he could, but he was sure he was more in the medic's way than anything else. To his credit however the Cajun briefly smiled in thanks when he took his leave.
Through all of this he searched every face for Jessica's. He didn't try to; his mind had just gotten into the habit of searching her out when it wasn't actively engaged with the act of staying alive.
A plait of long blonde hair stopped him in his tracks. He watched her talking to Alex and John. The three friends laughed and John pulled her into a quick embrace before letting her go with a kiss to the top of her head. The two men left men her side, both going off in their own direction, no doubt to carry out one of her orders.
She stayed in one spot, tilting her face up to the sun and a smile slowly spread across her beautiful features. He carefully approached her, his need to talk to her waring with his want to keep admiring her.
Jessica must have sensed someone approaching because her head moved so she was looking directly at him, still smiling, her blue eyes crystal clear.
"I was wondering when I'd run into you," she said.
He stopped in front of her and mentally stopped himself from brushing a wayward strand of hair away from her cheek. "I was hoping to run into you."
Her smile changed and she reached over, lightly brushing her thumb over his cheek. "Dirt," she explained as her hand dropped away.
He ignored the hot streak her touch had left on his cheek, and the heat rising in his chest. Looking for something to do he took of his helmet and ran a hand through his hair. "I saw you running out."
"You're going to tell me it was dangerous and foolish?" she asked, her eyes narrowing as she waited for his response.
"It was dangerous and probably foolish, but you did what you had to."
Her eyebrows shot up. This clearly hadn't been the answer she'd expected.
"I'm not happy about it, but knowing you it's part of who you are."
"Are you calling me dangerous and foolish?"
He felt his lips turn up at the corners. "Something like that."
"You know me so well."
He snorted and before he could stop himself he'd pulled her into a one arm hug, his lips pressed onto the top of her head. She gasped in surprise, but didn't resist, instead her body resting against his.
He counted to ten before reluctantly letting go of her, aware that they were in the middle of an army. Putting his helmet back on, he cleared his throat. "Although, at the time, when you were running into the open with a bazooka –"
Jessica held up a finger. "Technically Arlene had the bazooka. I had the bag of ammo."
He rolled his eyes. "Not better and not the point. When it was happening I wanted to run out and drag you back to safety."
"Oh, now that would have ended in a real fight."
"Don't worry, I can hold my own."
She arched one eyebrow and smirked.
There was movement behind her and a moment later a soldier from Battalion joined them.
"Captains," the man greeted them.
"Corporal," they replied in unison.
"Mayor Strayer needs Easy's CO."
"That's you," Jessica said.
"And," the Corporal continued, "Colonel Sink would like to see you, ma'am."
"Is he with Strayer?" she asked.
The soldier shook his head. "No, he's near Dog's line. Or where it had been before they'd retreated."
A frown flashed across Jessica's face and he saw her shoulder tense at the news. When the German tanks had arrived on the field they'd focused their initial attack on Easy's left flank, where their two sister companies Dog and Fox had been.
"I see. I'll head straight there. Thank you Corporal," she replied, all sense of their earlier playfulness gone.
"Ma'am" the man replied, but didn't make a move to leave, clearly waiting for him to follow.
Turning his attention to Jessica he said, "We'll catch-up later."
"Mhm, we'll talk again soon."
Taking his que, the Corporal nodded to Jessica and left, knowing he would be close behind. With a final stolen look at the woman standing beside him he followed after the man, questions rolling around inside his head as he tried to understand the look that had crossed her face when she'd heard about Dog Company. It only took him a few strides to come up with one possible answer.
Speirs.
Ron POV
"Speirs," he heard Jessica call him. He stopped and turned to find her marching towards him, the anger in her eyes perfectly mirroring how he felt.
"King," he greeted her, doing his best to keep the avalanche of emotions out of his voice.
Jessica stopped in front of him, hands coming to rest on her hips. He could see her nostrils flare as she struggled to bring her own breathing under control. He waited for her to make the first move, not trusting himself to remain calm and not daring to push his luck with her after their conversation last night.
He saw her eyes run over his body. They paused at a patch of dark blood on his stomach, narrowing ever so slightly.
"Not mine," he said.
Her eyes snapped up to meet his and the anger they held was mixed with another emotion, relief maybe.
"I heard the Dog line retreated when it came under heavy fire. I know falling back isn't really your style," she said by way of explanation.
A smile threatened to break his neutral façade. She was upset because she'd been worried about him. He badly wanted to reach for her, but he could see from the way she'd crossed her arms over her chest it wouldn't be welcome. So instead he lit a cigarette, providing the anxious energy pulsing through his body one outlet.
He took a long drag before holding it out to her. Jessica hesitated and for a second he worried she wouldn't accept the peace offering. Just as he was about to pull his hand back she slowly untangled her arms and reached for him. As she took the cigarette their fingers brushed and an electric shock ran from his hand into his core.
Clearing his throat to hide a groan he said, "I heard about your stunt?"
"Stunt?" she said, the single word holding a thinly veiled threat.
As she handed the cigarette back to him, smoke hanging between them, he said, "Running into the open to shoot a tank."
"Oh, that. Where did you hear about it? It's been less than an hour."
He passed the cigarette back to her, blowing out the smoke that filled his lungs. "Two soldiers running into an open field with a bazooka to blow up a tank tends to get people talking. More so if said soldiers are the only two women around."
Jessica rolled her eyes, but he thought he glimpsed a proud smirk tugging at the corner of the lips curled around the cigarette. She held it out to him and said, "Well, I suppose they've fully discussed you jumping out of a trench on D-Day to take a German gun practically by yourself so they needed a new story."
"Fair enough."
He offered the cigarette to her, but she waved him off, her blue eyes scanning the men behind him. "I suppose we're similar in that respect. Both willing to do what has to be done. All hope of making it out alive forgotten."
Her words were like a slap across his face. He dropped his head to focus on the boot stomping out the cigarette to hide the flinch that crossed his face. Regaining his composure, he looked back up to find her staring at him, her blue eyes softer than they'd been in a long time.
"I….," he struggled with the words and she quirked her head to one side, expectantly watching him. Taking a deep breath, he pushed on. "I never wanted that for you. I want you to have hope, because I need to have hope that you'll survive."
As the final word rolled off of his tongue his heart stopped beating. He studied the woman standing in front of him for any sign of the impact his words had on her. He felt more vulnerable and exposed in that moment than he ever did jumping out of that trench under enemy fire.
Jessica's eyes glistened in the sun and he saw her swallow. "Ron," as almost whispered his name, "I just want the same for you."
Her eyes were pleading, for what he didn't know, but the instinct to draw her close to him overwhelmed all logic. He closed the space between them and enveloped her in an embrace. Jessica buried her face into his chest and he rested his chin on top of her helmet. She felt small and fragile against him, even though he knew better.
He felt her chest rise and fall against his body as she took a deep breath and then she slowly pulled away from him. He let her go even though it pained him to do so.
A feint smile crossed her lips as she said, "I need to find Colonel Sink."
He straightened out and dropped his usual mask back onto his face even though he knew she wasn't fooled by it. He pointed to the field that had separated them from the Germans. "He's with the CO, over there."
"Thanks. And we'll talk soon. I owe you a smoke."
He gave her a lopsided smile. "You owe me a few. You've taken mine since the first night we met."
Jessica smiled devilishly. "Seems only fair. Since you keep stealing other people's. Someone has to even the score."
"And you've taken it upon yourself?
"Are you complaining?"
He chuckled. "No ma'am."
"Good. See you around Lieutenant," she replied, and with a wink she turned and left him, once again, standing by himself wondering what the hell he was going to do.
XXXXXXX
Hello! Hope everyone has a great weekend behind them and that the week ahead treats you well.
I adore the bazooka vs tank scene. It's just sooo much fun to write the action and everyone's reaction.
Anywho, special thanks to the amazing Guest reviewer for the feedback. Love hearing from you and so glad you're enjoying the story!