Chapter 5-The Best Laid Plans…
Three freedom fighters watched as the sun set behind their objective, a large radio tower. The serenity of the forest, increased by the darkening horizon, was soon to be broken. A glare hit Victoria's eye, she glanced over to see Arthur, decked out with his rifle strapped to his chest and three rockets sticking out from behind his back, nervously checking his watch. Gregory's hand gripped Arthur's shoulder, "watch what you are doing my young friend, if the sentries had seen that the mission would have been finished. Its five minutes until the attack starts."
Arthur nodded and quickly hid the watch. Victoria had to suppress a grin. So she had been right, he had taken to the kid. Her gaze shifted to the ghost of a man as he walked to her. Getting on his haunches he pointed to entrance of the base, "Once I take out the sentries Arthur will advance fifty meters, stop, and wave you forward. Once you're fifty meters in front of him wave me forward. We'll do this until we are either inside or we come under fire. If this works correctly we should be in and out in three minutes, six tops…if that works for you ma'am"
A giggle was suppressed, he still made sure to keep her in command when this plan of hers was almost one hundred percent his, "Of course Gregory, it sounds like the best plan. Now get back to your post, we have four more minutes," she watched as he nodded and returned to his post, disappearing amongst the snow drift he found.
Arthur watched the exchange, still amazed at his teacher's calmness and genius. No wonder he was a college professor, he thought, he was probably a great one. Arthur was nineteen years old and all he had to look forward to was the profession logging, it was what his father's, grandfather's, great grandfather's, and so on and so forth, until Dr. Richardson came through the door on that cold night.
He knew at first how irritated the great warrior must have been to have a little snot nosed teenager following him, but Arthur learned to follow the sniper's lead. After a while, Gregory became less caustic and even became very helpful. Their first lessons together were the proper care of weapons, preventative maintenance is what Gregory called it, which was a skill Arthur greatly lacked preferring to fix as it broke. Soon the training migrated to weapons shooting. The first lessons were geared to training the young fighter on how not to, as Gregory put it, 'spray and pray'. Accuracy and ammo control on the basic rifle, he even got trigger time with Isabella, the famed Remington 700. Next was pistol training, something a lot harder than it looked. Their last training session involved only one shot, a rocket into the side of an abandoned truck.
Now they sat out in the cold, his first real mission. He was excited, nervous, and afraid. If Gregory wasn't there he would be freaked out of his mind. He noticed how the legend of the vampire, and having one in their midst, seemed to have a calming effect over the group. Settling on a rock, he shouldered his RPG and aimed it at a Soviet Armored Jeep.
Explosions reverberated through the forest, the attack beginning. A slight grin appeared over the Upir's face as he watched a BMP and the armored jeep pass. This is going better than planned, he signaled to the younger man to drop the RPG. Two rifle shots later, they were moving in.
Arthur was first, steps were a little loud, but the ongoing battle covered them for the most part. After ten seconds he waved forward Victoria, who ran with lighter steps than the blonde but still uncomfortably heavy for Gregory. Another ten seconds after her stop came the silent form of the Upir crossing the ground, rifle raised and the area was scanned. A full two minutes later they were all in the base.
The deadly gauntlet of gunfire had not yet opened up. This encouraged the natives of Washington, this deeply troubled the veteran. The Upir's eyes swooped the camp and saw not a soul. Victoria tapped his shoulder, "I think maybe they were less than you thought."
Gregory shook his head as he withdrew his MAC 10. This isn't right, we should be swarmed right now, or at least a few potshots. He extended the shoulder stock on the sub and continued to slowly walk down the path leading to the tower, scanning every window and opening. His spine suddenly stiffened, "EVERYONE FIND COVER!!"
It was the first time anyone had heard Gregory yell. Victoria was confused until she heard the rumble of the engine in behind them causing her to ducked into an alley. No wonder he was nervous. There was chatter of a heavy machine gun as it chewed the dirt path they were just in. Fear was consuming her.
Arthur tried to calm himself down, gripping his rifle tighter. One of Gregory's lessons rolling through his mind, the scariest sound on an active battle field is silence. Taking deep breaths he peered around the corner and saw a small armored reconnaissance jeep peppering the road. As he turned back he saw his teacher loading a single round in his rifle.
A single armor piercing round was driven home in the Remington, the single round that he still had from years back. He listened for the sound, the empty click of the machine gun and then silence. He shouldered his rifle, "Alright Isabelle, its show time," his ears picked up the final click. It took the standard soldier five to ten seconds to reload the PK machine gun, in that time he had to take out the driver and the exposed gunner. The rifle was swung fast around the corner, barking almost immediately. Not even checking to see the result he cocked the rifle again and put a bullet in the gunners head.
Slowly Gregory came out while scanning the streets with his rifle, "It's clear," the other two came out and gathered on his position. Isabelle was now strapped to his back, the MAC 10 out again, "Victoria, you cover the right side of the path. Arthur, you take left. We'll drive right up there and take out the tower. Keep your ears and eyes open, we don't need more surprises," Victoria nodded while Arthur just took his position.
With a small forward motion of his hand they began to slowly move down the street. No spot was left unswept, guards heightened, fingers tightened. The tower loomed closer and closer, a nervous chill running through all their spines.
It had been years since Gregory had used C4, years since he took down a structure. He knew he could take the tower down no problem; he questioned his ability to turn it into an unmovable heap of scrap that would frustrate the Soviets for weeks. No anxiety showed of course, that was never his style, but inside he was full of anxiety. It exploded in him when he touched the steel supports. Slipping the side pouch with the C4 in it off his shoulder, he turned to the other fighters, "Thirty seconds…" The ping of a bullet hitting metal punctuated his sentence. Everyone scrambled as their position was swarmed by Soviets.
Arthur squeezed the trigger sending four bullets blindly down range. He quickly took control of his mad rifle and began to aim, Gregory's words and lessons flooding through him. A slow breath, a calm finger, an unwavering grip, a keen eye were all required to be a good fighter. Squeezing the trigger he took down one soviet, then another. A grim smile spread on his face.
Shoonk…The shotgun spoke, feeding itself with another shell. The barrel pointed to another hapless soul and spit out a pray of deadly buckshot. She was frantically trying to keep the swarm away. A trap, we fell into a trap! Memories of her last mission began to consume her, blinding her with fear. Her breathing was shallow, rapid and she was sweating in the deep cold of a Washington winter. Her head snapped up in time to see a demonic looking soldier driving a bayonet tipped rifle at her. Closing her eyes she heard a quick burst of fire and a body crumple and felt warm flecks on her face. Opening her eyes she caught the Upir swinging his sub machinegun from her attacker to more advancing foes. Looking at his calm form she regained confidence and began to kill once again.
The MAC-10 spit more deadly fire at two soldiers who were caught climbing through the steel supports of the tower. The MAC spit its last round and was quickly tossed aside, a dropped PP-19 Bizon sub machinegun replacing it. Back in his element Gregory felt he had control of the battlefield, nothing could stop him. Another spray of lead cleared the path to the last strut, the pinging of the bullets against the steel around him doing nothing to slow him. A final detonator was placed snuggly into the last brick of C4.
He turned with a grin of satisfaction that turned quickly to a look of horror, "ARTHUR!!" The young man collapsed his chest full of holes. Rage filled the Upir and upon seeing his mark, a rather large Russian with a RPK machine aiming at Victoria, he rushed at him with knife drawn. The knife plunged into the soldier's neck, snapping his vertebrae and cutting his windpipe. Gregory smiled demonically.
Victoria now resorted to an M9 Berretta, desperately trying to fight off the numerically superior forces. The fear had returned ten fold. She fumbled with a magazine trying to reload her spent pistol when a bullet caught her leg, knocking her down. A pounding of boots rushed in her direction, she knew she was dead. Well James, it looks like I'll see you soon. The sound of automatic fire washed over her, she even heard the brass hit the cement around her but she didn't feel the hot lead penetrate her body.
Breath coming in gasps, her eyes opened and revealed a pair of combat boots in a see of brass shells. She looked up and saw the expression of raw hatred and anger in Gregory's face, a smoking machinegun in his hand. With a clatter the Machinegun was dropped when he stooped down to pick up an assault rifle, firing it as he stood up. Victoria shook as she watched him, scared but feeling very safe at the same time.
Gregory ran towards three soldiers disembarking from a jeep. The butt of his rifle made contact with the officer's jaw then it was driven into the side of his skull. With a rapid turn, he squeezed the trigger on his rifle putting three holes into a sergeant's chest. His gaze shifted to a young private; scared out of his mind realizing who it was that he was facing, "RRRRRAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH!!" Gregory shouted, plunging the bayonet deep into the man, a fiery rage in Gregory's eyes. He pulled the trigger, wasting the private completely.
Victoria watched the spectacle, never seeing so much emotion in the man and didn't know what caused it. She couldn't think of anything that would drive him crazy like that and it scared her a little. She watched as he took big heaving breaths, toss the rifle away, and walk towards her, "What's wrong Gregory?"
Gregory kneeled beside her, lifting her up and carrying her to the abandoned jeep, "The best laid plans of mice and men often go awry," He put her in the passenger seat and he walked back to the tower. She sat there trying not to worry. What the hell did he mean? A thunk in the back of the jeep and Gregory starting the engine brought her back to reality. She looked over at Gregory and saw a tear roll down his face as he drove away, confusing her.
An explosion erupted behind them and she watched as the mighty tower fell causing a smile of triumph to spread across her face. When she looked down her smile disappeared. That's why he's upset, she stared into the lifeless face of Arthur, Gregory's favorite student. She sunk into her seat and blacked out, tears flowing down her cheeks.