Operation Instant Fury Page 16

  “I have with me General Urvan Olegovich, and sir, would you tell our viewers if we are winning the war in America or losing? The General is in charge of the overall operation in America.”

  “In any guerrilla war, it is hard to determine most of the time if you are winning or losing because of the nature of the war. Partisans tend to hit and run, taking their dead and wounded with them. We are killing more of them than they do us, but as you know we rarely see our enemies. They kill using crude, but effective, booby-traps, mines, and snipers. Each time we have met them in open combat, we have won.”

  “What about Fire Base Alpha, it was open combat and the partisans ran our troops from the base and the Americans controlled it for almost 24 hours.”

  “Your information, is incorrect, sir. The Commander at the time, Colonel Andrei Lazarev, chose to withdraw, regroup and then retake the base. Regrouping is common in combat and so are withdrawals. Unfortunately, he was killed when the helicopter he was using as a command post was shot down by a missile. His widow was awarded his Hero of the Russian Federation medal with oak leaf cluster. We were lucky that with both top commanders dead, General-Select Ludomir Yurievich stepped in and led the counterattack that recovered the base. He will be highly decorated for his actions.”

  “What other Commander was killed, besides Colonel Lazarev? I have only heard of one full Colonel being killed.”

  “Colonel Dimitri Isaak, the Wing Commander. He fell defending his headquarters building and he has also been submitted for an award for his valor. I will approve the submission for his Order of the Saint George medal today. Our Colonels died as heroes and I am damned proud of them, as I am of all Russians in America.”

  “Sir, do you seriously expect to win the war in America?”

  “If I did not think we could win the war, I would suggest we leave. I would like to point out that since the American and Korean War, no nation has won a conflict against partisans. We are determined and will win, because we have the power and forces to insure success. No nation can stand against the power of Russia.”

  Seeing a wave by his camera man, the reporter said, “Thank you for the interview, General, and I find your comments interesting. I am afraid we are out of time.”

  “You are very welcome.” the general replied.

  “This is Pyotr Arseniy, for Russian Forces Network America, live from Moscow with General Urvan Olegovich, commander of Russian forces in America. Now back to you, Natasha.”

  A beautiful anchor woman, with long auburn hair and a bright smile, said, “That was our investigative reporter Pyotr Arseniy, reporting from Moscow with the Commander of all Russian Forces in America. In other news today, Russia accuses China of assisting Americans in their war by providing supplies, gear, food, munitions, and even aircraft support. The Chinese refused to comment except to say the accusations are untr—”

  She turned the television off, showered and then started breakfast. At first she started to cook porridge, but changed her mind and decided on rye bread with butter and sliced sausages, along with scrambled eggs. The drink would be coffee, which was a rare treat, since most drank tea. At special times both coffee and eggs were eaten in most Russian homes, but they were cheap in the commissary here and they had both often. She also placed a few slices of cold cuts on the table.

  She was still thinking about her love for Petr as she cooked, only now she wasn't close to crying. She was thinking of all of his positive traits. She heard the shower running and poured him a cup of strong coffee.

  “My goodness, that cooking smells so good.” Sergeant Vova said as he entered the kitchen fully dressed. He was wearing the same uniform Olga had on, except his shirt had the stripes of a Senior Sargent on the sleeves. He kissed her on the forehead, squeezed her butt cheeks, and then added, “I did not think I was hungry until the scent of your cooking woke me.”

  “Silly, you were sleeping so you do not know if you were hungry while asleep or not.” she said and then broke out laughing.

  He laughed and then took a sip of his coffee.

  “I am not much of a coffee drinker, but I can see why some people are. This early in the morning it really hits the spot. Why did you not sleep well last night? I felt you rolling around and at one point you were talking in your sleep.”

  Smiling she said, “And, what did I say?” She placed two plates of food on the table.

  “Something about me. You kept saying, 'Petr, don't go.” Petr replied and then took a bite of his sausage.

  Lowering her head, she said, “I kept dreaming something happened to you. In one dream you lost both legs, in another you were blind, and another you were killed. I even cried this morning as I relived my dreams. Petr, do you really need to volunteer for so many dangerous missions?”

  “Sit, and let us talk.”

  “Olga, it is extremely important for all Senior NCOs to constantly act unafraid of anything because we are leaders. We set the standards for our troops. If I do not face danger at times, how can I expect my people to go into dangerous places? We must lead by example.”

  “I can understand the logic, but you volunteer for too many missions.”

  “I ask much of my troops and you know I do not volunteer as much now as I did before we started seeing each other. I am more selective now. Why all the concern over my missions?”

  Olga lowered her head and said, “P . . . Petr, I, uh, love you. I do not want anything to happen to you.”

  “Love is a pretty strong word, do you not think?”

  “Does love scare you?” she asked, her head still lowered.

  “Well, I am not overly fond of the word. Seems every woman I have loved has died and that makes me cautious in relationships. I was married once, about 20 years ago, but she contracted an unknown fever and within 24 hours she was dead. That in itself is sad, but she was pregnant and I lost her and the baby. The doctors tried to save the baby, but he was too small and died the same day she did. I swore off love from that day forward.”

  “I can understand that, really. I think if we do not love those people that come into our lives, when they die we will be hurt forever. None of us know when we will die and for us in the army, death can visit any day or any hour.”

  “Perhaps you are correct, because your comments are logical. I just cannot afford emotionally to love right now. Can you understand me?”

  “Yes, of course. My loving you has nothing to do with you loving me. I was simply stating I care about you.”

  Chapter 15

  The night was cool, and a full moon made it almost as bright as a sunny day while John and his troops were surrounding the dam. It was 0230 and they would attack at 0300, on the dot. Two of the 40 mm guns were on the road side of the dam and another one was on the far side, near some trees. Most of the troops waited patiently for John's group to take out the Russian defenses; slowly one by one, the roaming guards were taken out by knife. Then three Americans quickly slipped on the Russian uniforms. Pulling grenades, they pulled the pins and kept the spoon down. Once it was thrown, the spoon would fly off and the grenade would be armed and go off five seconds later.

  Two of the Americans in Russian uniforms neared the two 40 mm guns, which were surrounded with sandbags. The guards at both guns said something, but neither partisan spoke Russian, so they quickly threw their grenades. The crews from both guns tried to run, but the explosions were destructive. One gun was thrown into the air by the force of the explosion but it was only slightly damaged, and that was to a support leg. The other gun was completely undamaged, but the crew was dead. Moving to a gun, one man began shooting at the 40 mm gun on the other side of the dam. Then, another partisan moved to the damaged 40 mm and discovered it was still operational. A few short minutes later, the big weapons were both firing across the dam and hitting the last emplacement hard. Wounded and dead Russians were seen falling.

  A partisan with a flamethrower came out of the woods and squirted his hot and sticky flames on the members of the gun’s cr
ew. Horrendous screams were heard as the men burned to death. Behind the relative safety of the sandbags the crew danced as they screamed, and finally partisans were shooting at them to stop the noise that was getting on everyone's nerves.

  Burning, John thought, is the most difficult way to die. He then shivered.

  “Joy, get your troops to the dam and set your explosives. I have no idea where the closest Russian troops are, but you can be sure they'll be alerted once they realize we have control of the dam.”

  There was a slight holdup as the group with Joy had to clear out some Russian positions, and she estimated they'd killed over 20 Russians. Her Captain appeared and said, “Major, we're clear here. What do you want done with the men and women who work the dam? Most seem to be engineers.”

  “When we leave, release them. Check to see if they are armed or have anyway of contacting the Russians before you let them go. Anyone armed will be taken as a POW. Let's move and get the explosives on the dam. I'm glad we have C4 because it's good stuff. The engineers at Headquarters said we needed to place the explosives half way down and then at the very bottom of the dam. If the two explode at the same time, the explosion and resulting force should crack it wide open.”

  “Sergeant Turner!” Captain Johnson yelled, “Get the explosives in place. I want this ready to blow in 30 minutes, now move!”

  Joy shivered as she watched two men rappel down the front of the dam and began working, suspended only by the ropes. Twenty minutes later the explosives were in place and the two dangling men were pulled up. She then ordered everyone out of the area and she moved to the side where she would blow the dam.

  “One, Three here, I'm ready to do my task.” she said over a hand held radio.

  “Do it now, Three, and then evacuate to the truck and we'll depart. I repeat, blow it now.”

  Joy grabbed the handle on the detonator and twisted it hard right. A huge explosion was heard, and looking up, she saw both explosions go off at the same time. For some reason, she expected the reinforced concrete to blow into the air, but that did not happen. She did watch as the dam cracked in the middle and then a larger crack showed at the base of the dam. Water began to leak and the cracks grew larger and then turned into hundreds of small cracks.

  Suddenly the concrete began to fly out of the middle explosion site and water leaked from the holes. The water spurted out and the dam started making noises. She left the detonator and ran for safety at the top of the dam.

  “Get in the truck now!” the Colonel screamed at her. “The dam is breaking up and within 30 minutes it'll be wide open.” Then turning to Private Green, John said, “Tell Copperhead our mission is complete, without any wounded or killed. Hurry, we need to be moving.”

  Joy climbed in the passenger's door and said, “Let's go, the dam is breaking up!”

  The engineers were running in all directions and the tails of their white coats were flapping in the wind. No one bothered them, and it was as if they weren't there.

  Minutes later, three heavily loaded trucks made their way slowly back to the base camp. The night had been a success, if they could reach home without a fight. It was still dark, so John worried about attack helicopters that would for sure have infrared detection screens. If they spotted them, there was no way they could hide the trucks, so they'd have to jump and try to hide on their own. The odds, however, were great that they'd lose people.

  The drivers and most of the troops had their NVGs on because no one liked to attack in the dark. The drivers could see almost as well as during the day, except everything was a shade of green.

  “Colonel, I have Copperhead on the phone and he's informed me that the Russians have sent helicopters to the dam. They counted four aircraft on radar; it appears to be three Black Sharks and one transport chopper. They can't tell with 100% accuracy, but he said to move your ass and do the job now. Once they realize the dam is blown, they'll come for us.”

  “Tell them we copy and we'll contact them once we return to our FOB.”

  “Roger that, Colonel.”

  “I know of a cave near here and it's large enough to drive one truck in, but no more. I know all our people will fit in there with a lot of room to spare.” Staff Sergeant Fillmore said from beside the Colonel.

  “Captain Johnson?”

  “Sir!”

  “Come here, because we need to talk.”

  Moving through the men, the Captain was soon beside John, and a Staff Sergeant stood and gave the Captain his seat.

  “We need to go to this cave Fillmore was telling me about and unload our troops until morning. That way we won't risk them on the way home. Ask for volunteers to go with the trucks, but the odds are good they'll be attacked. I need one man in the back of each truck, also a volunteer, so he can warn the driver if a chopper gets on his ass and lines up to attack. Let them know this might be a suicide ride home.”

  “Yes sir.”

  “Fillmore, how much further to the cave you told me about?”

  “Turn right on the next gravel road and go down a mile. Then turn right and it's on the side of a sandstone cliff, and it's a big mother too. I learned about it maybe two years ago when the Russians were on our ass and my Captain led us here. We lived in the place for over a week.”

  Sliding a window open to the cab, John said, “Driver, at the next gravel road take a right. When you go down about a mile, turn right and you'll see a cave on the side of a sandstone cliff. We'll get out there and then you drivers will return to base, but you will have a spotter in the back of the truck to warn you of helicopters. Both the spotter and driver will be volunteers. I pray you reach home safely. If you're attacked, jump from the trucks and try to hide. Don't be heroes. Good luck to all of you.”

  The men made ready to move and most in John's truck heard the full conversation. Six men volunteered to go with the trucks, and as they left in a cloud of dust, John wondered how many, if any, would be alive in the morning.

  “Saddle up. Major Barnes, form on me. We need to talk.”

  As they moved, he explained his idea of hiding in the cave, maybe at the expense of three drivers and three spotters. She found the cost and advantage well worth the risk. Being a commander in combat was nothing like in peacetime, because human lives were often traded to gain a mile, to end a threat, or like in this situation, to save the majority.

  If the men lived through the drive back to camp, of course everyone, including the Colonel would be happy, but if the men died, then John had the advantage he'd saved 94 lives instead of losing them. He felt commanders were investors of a sort and sometimes the cost in lives was worth the price.

  “There's the cave.” someone said.

  “Fillmore, I want you and Private Smith to check the cave out and make sure it doesn't already have visitors.”

  “Will do, sir. Come on Smith, we get to see the view first.” Fillmore said with a cackle and grin. John knew the man was relieved they were no long on the trucks.

  The two men were as quiet as they could be getting to the cave and, once there, they moved near the entrance to the cavern. Not a sound was heard. Then, they both heard scratching or clawing in the dirt. Fillmore, suspecting it was the wind, moved to the front of the cave just as momma skunk ran out with her babies. Before he could even scream a warning, the skunk’s tail came up and he was squirted in the chest. He began to dry heave and his eyes watered. Bending over, he began to puke.

  Smith, not able to take the smell, moved into the cave and then returned a few minute later. He pulled out a handheld radio and said, “Cobra Two, Tiger One.”

  “Go One.”

  “The man with me has been sprayed by a skunk. The cave is empty, but the skunk was not happy leaving. Over.”

  “Copy. Have him undress down to his underwear and we'll give him a new uniform. He'll need to bathe first and he can used the river that runs along side the gravel road down here to wash. Wait for us or until his eyes clear enough to see. Copy? Over.”

  “Copy.
Tiger One, out.”

  “Take all your clothes off except your undershorts. That will take most of the smell away and then, when you can see well enough, go the river and wash. You'll still smell after the bath, only not as much.”

  “I know this is funny to you, but by God, it's not funny to me in the least. Russians I expected, but never a polecat. Damn me, I can't hardly stand my own smell now.”

  Giving a low chuckle, Smith said, “You'll be okay in a couple of days, but I'm sure they'll not want you in the cave. I'll make camp outside with you, my friend, because no one should have to camp alone, especially with Russians out looking for us. Now, get undressed.”

  When he returned much later after scrubbing with river sand, he was still smelling foul so he remained outside the cave. He moved to the very top of the cave and discovered he could see great distances. Sending Smith in to borrow a pair of binoculars, he volunteered to keep watch during the day.

  “How far can you see?” Smith asked.

  “A good twenty miles or so. Can't you see that far?”

  “I need glasses, but I've not had any since my last pair was broken in a firefight. They fell off and I accidentally stepped on them.”

  “You don't act like you need glasses.”

  “I can see okay within fifty feet, but further than that and my vision gets blurry.”

  “I never knew you wore glasses, until today.”

  “Do you see anything moving out there now?”