John Returns Read online

  I would add that these land-based units are highly effective. To be perfectly clear, I mean that they are absolutely devastating. Unfortunately, the collateral damage is way out of proportion to their effectiveness. Will we use them in this battle? Absolutely! Should we make them a part of our land campaigns, on our own soil? I would, without hesitation say, no. Would I recommend we use them when attacked by a foreign power, again, yes.”

  “I’m just a grunt, but I thought stationary forts went out of favor when Hitler went around the Maginot Line.”

  “The Maginot Line couldn’t fire a twenty-five-pound armor-piercing flechette or sabot round 100 miles at roughly 2.5 miles per second or shred advancing armor and troops with thousands of flechettes each second.

  Within two years, rail guns will encircle the entire ISA. We have hundreds of barges and five factories dedicated to manufacturing the rail guns and ammunition.

  We have rethought our aircraft and missile tactics by also using the rail guns like mortars and lobbing the slugs up into the air so that the pellets, for lack of a better word, will rain down on the target. This results in a somewhat less spectacular kill ratio due to the loss of kinetic energy, but they still destroy the target.”

  “Can they spot scuba divers with satchel charges and stop them?” asked an amused Gus.

  “Sadly, no, but we have planned for that contingency, and we’re confident our counter measures will do the job.”

  “So, when do we expect the crap to hit the fan?”

  “We anticipate their attack to commence sometime next week when the fake platform barges arrive and the crews start to assemble them to look like the real thing.

  Hey, this tactic worked for the Allies during WW II. We’re staging the fake platforms away from the civilian population. Most of the slugs that miss will fall on vacant farmland.”

  “Well, all right. Now, let’s get NCIS in here to catch your spy and find out how they infiltrated our highest command. One question; Can these, uh, Death Stars take out small targets across the river from Louisville?”

  “The short answer is yes the guided ones can, however, anything close to the target will also be destroyed. We can fire a flechette round 150 miles, or 10 feet with accuracy. We can also fire that same round 10 miles straight up and have it hit a pie pan at 150 miles. Yet, to be completely honest, we can hit that pie pan, but we’ll also take out anything else in the immediate area. The rail gun concept is, after all, an area weapon. If you just want to kill a man or truck, we can lob a hundred small explosive slugs up and let them fall on the target.”

  “Who do I send the target coordinates to?”

  “Um, John, I need to discuss a private matter with you. Please join me after the others leave.”

  “Now this sounds serious.”

  “It is.”

  John frowned and asked, “Am I being fired, or reprimanded?”

  “I’d consider either one if I thought it would help get you in control.”

  “Okay, they’re gone. What can I do for my old friend?”

  With a grim expression Gus said, “John, I intend to go to Kentucky to observe the battle platforms in action. I want you to join me on the one initially dedicated for Louisville.”

  Jumping to his feet, John said, “Oh, Hell no! Gus, you are the Secretary of Defense and cannot allow you to get your ass blown off in a battle. If the USA finds out you are anywhere near that platform, they will throw everything they have at it. Have you ever heard of anyone in your position going to an artillery battery during combat?”

  “John I have to make sure our Death Star project is the best option to protect our new country. Like you, I have reservations about placing our protection in stationary forts even if they have more firepower than a battle fleet.

  Angry now, John said, “Gus, this is just a plain dumbass decision. The after action reports will give you all of the information you need to assess the effectiveness of the rail gun project.”

  “General Harris, I am not asking for permission. I am giving you a heads up, and a mission requirement to accompany me.

  Come on, John, I need this. Please understand you know that like you, I am a warrior. Again, please don’t make me order you to do this.”

  “Gus, does the President know about this?”

  Gus, looking defiant said, “No, he does not. Nor will I inform him. I’m going, and that is that.”

  “Oh shit!” said a defeated John, “All right, you old fool, but my rules for security. You got that?”

  “Dang John that was easier than I thought it would be. You must be gettin’ soft in your old age.”

  Now smiling, John said, “Gus, you are still an old fool, and so am I, but I’m glad to have you by my side in what may be the largest battle between the U.S. and The Independent States of America.”

  ✪

  Chapter 14

  Lost Again

  Ohio

  2022

  “Sir we are about as far from anyone that can hear us as possible, and with that radio blaring I can barely hear you.”

  “Scott, Gus and I plan to be in Louisville when the U.S. DHS Force attacks. Gus is coming up to check on a new weapons system.”

  “Dad that is the dumbest idea I have heard in a long, long time. Then, you joining Gus is even dumber. When the USA finds out, they will mount the mother of all attacks on our heads.”

  “What if we are two miles away from where they actually think we are and have the firepower of two battle fleets and 30 rail guns?”

  “Is that the plan, or just dumb luck?”

  “Fuck you too, but in truth, I’m not really sure. I’ve been pretty much kept in the dark, but it’s not like Gus to play me to get what he needs.”

  “Dad, Gus is the Secretary of Defense first, and your friend second.”

  “Yeah, yeah, you’re right, of course. Scott, your role in this is to supply a company of Rangers to protect us from potential infiltration teams. Gus asked for a platoon, but I think there may be a major threat.

  You need to position the men without them being detected. I would also appreciate additional Observation Posts established to provide early warning from an attack from the river.

  Our location will be on the waterfront on a couple of barges. The attack is supposed to happen next Wednesday. If they don’t attack then, they will after we begin testing the long range rail guns. Oh, I almost forgot to add that we are to move into southern Indiana and take the area around New Albany. We need to take fifty miles on either side of the city and 50 miles deep. Your boss will be calling you to a meeting any minute.”

  “Damn Dad, you don’t ask for much, do you?”

  “Son, Gus asked for a list of targets, and the rail gun system will use them for practice.”

  “Sounds like science fiction to me, but I have to admit those Wombats can sweep the sky and destroy everything in sight.”

  “Son, those are the little bitty rail guns.”

  “Crap, you mean there are larger ones.”

  “Yep, much larger, and way, way meaner. The downside is the collateral damage. I fear that the big guns will be limited to the 7 seas, and eventually, space. The Navy is limiting the size to one hundred pound projectiles. Anything larger causes large craters like an asteroid impact if they miss their target and fall to the ground.

  John handed Scott a slip of paper with the coordinates and said, “Sorry, but remember those and eat the paper.”

  Scott pulled out a lighter and burned the paper saying, “Dad, please, you have obviously watched too many spy movies back in the day. Dad, my team, will be there two days before you arrive. We’ll have everything secured, and ready for you.”

  They hugged and headed back to headquarters.

  ***

  Ohio River 0430 hrs.

  Dressed in black, Joe rowed a black Kayak from the Indiana side back to the Kentucky side. He had just met with Tom and passed on the latest Intel from his observations of the DHS.

  There were m
any veiled hints at an impending attack in the Louisville area, but nothing specific. He also gave Tom a list of the DHS encampments and a list of high priority targets not too close to high concentrations of civilians. He delivered both the list and the latest Intel before going back across the river.

  Scott had positioned a Marine Recon squad on the Indiana side to provide security and guard Joe’s truck. It was 0430, still dark due to the heavy cloud cover and no moon. Marines scanned the riverbanks with their night vision scope attached to the standard issue M4.

  Numerous pairs of eyes glowed back. Wildlife was afoot on the riverbank, but no threats as the agent closed with the shore. Joe spent the rest of the early morning hours preparing a briefing for his meeting in U.S. territory.”

  ***

  Ohio River near

  Elizabeth, Kentucky

  Wendy and Joe were again ordered to return to Indiana the following night. They were ordered to wait until daylight before traveling. A pickup truck sat awaiting their arrival. It was to be returned to the same location at mission’s end.

  “We’ve been ordered to stay away from the Louisville area until ordered to return. We are to head west and stay close to the river.”

  He crawled out of the boat as Wendy replied, “Let’s check out some of the small communities down river.”

  “Sounds good to me.”

  Joe knew why but didn’t say.

  Wendy said, “I assume it has to do with the potential attack.”

  They loaded the kayak, tied it down and headed to the main road. Highway 11 was just a two-lane road, but it took them in the right direction away from Louisville.

  Wendy knew about Joe’s wife being killed a few months back but flirted with him anyway. He was polite at first and ignored the flirting, but after several weeks, she caught him checking her out and thought nothing ventured nothing gained. She invited him to stay at her place a couple of times after a long night of reviewing taped phone calls. He always made excuses and went home. She really liked him and decided to give him time for the wounds to heal. She also wanted to be there when he decided to date again.

  They arrived in Elizabeth, and there were no lights; however, the only gas station in town was open, and they were able to buy some bottled water, bread, and deer BBQ. The station hadn’t had gas since the lights went out.

  They drove on southwest about 12 miles until they saw Laconia up ahead. There was a roadblock, so they readied their Berettas and drove slowly up to the barricade. The people were friendly enough and let them go on into the town when they saw there was no danger.

  “Damn, only one store and no gas.”

  “Come on Joe, let’s go in and do some shopping.”

  Sitting on the front porch was an old man with a shotgun drinking coffee.

  Joe walked up and said, “Hello my friend, will you sell me a cup of coffee?”

  “Sure, but I don’t take any of that U.S. paper, Patriot Dollar crap. Hell, no one takes it. What cha’ got to trade?”

  “Well, I don’t know. We decided to take a ride along the river and didn’t plan our trip very well. What do you want?”

  “You work for the guvmint?”

  “Yes, but I just work in a department that is trying to figure out how we’re gonna get the damaged buildings repaired. Fear not, my friend, I’m not a bad guy.”

  “I’ll take bullets, gasoline, silver or gold.”

  “Well, I’ve got a few pre-1964 silver coins on me.”

  The old man looked at the coins and said, “They’ll do, but I don’t charge an ounce of silver for a cup of coffee.”

  “Glad to hear that my friend, cause we don’t plan to pay that much. My girlfriend is in the store shopping. I’m sure she’ll come out with something more expensive than a cup of coffee.”

  Wendy heard the comment and hoped that maybe Joe was ready to date again. She knew exactly how to test him.

  The man poured Joe a cup and gave him a ham and egg sandwich. They talked between bites.

  “Have you or your girlfriend been down into the ISA?”

  “No, but I really want to go and see for myself if things really are so much better there. My boss would send me to a camp if I got caught so you can guess why I haven’t been. I hear they have plenty of gas, electricity and running water.”

  “Damn, I miss my flush toilet. I hate carrying the slop bucket out every morning to empty into the hole. I ran out of lye, now I just dig a new hole and cover it up as we go. The little woman, hee hee, little woman, yeah right, big as a barn. A course I wouldn’t want her to hear me say that. Anyway she hates to go in a pot.”

  “Don’t worry, sir, your secret is safe with me.

  I work mainly in the field, but try to imagine having slop buckets for an office with twenty people. The women hate it worse than we do.”

  Wendy and the man’s wife could be heard jabbering in the store and came out to join the men twenty minutes later. She had two bags and asked Joe for a silver dollar to pay for the contents.

  “What is our money buying?”

  “Some food, two bottles of wine, a piece of cheese and a surprise for you later today.”

  The woman giggled when she heard the last part and said, “Your girlfriend has a nice surprise for you.”

  They returned to the truck and drove west on Highway 11 towards Mauckport, which was on the river just across from Brandenburg.

  “Mauckport is 20 miles from Louisville. We’ll be okay there if we can just find a place to stay and some food. Remind me to get some silver dimes and quarters out of the lockbox. I think we got took on the purchase at the store.”

  “You haven’t seen my surprise yet.”

  “Tell me more about my surprise.”

  “Then it wouldn’t be a surprise.”

  They stopped along the river and found a sandy beach before arriving at Maukport.

  “Joe, go on down to the beach while I get ready to swim.”

  “Okay, but I don’t have any swimming trunks.”

  “Just swim in your underwear.”

  Joe was wading in the river when he heard Wendy close the door on the truck and head down to the beach. He turned around and saw a well built gorgeous woman in a string bikini. He was very impressed with the bikini and Wendy’s swimming demonstration. They played around in the water and rowed the kayak around before lying in the sun on a blanket.

  “Joe, do you like your surprise?”

  “Any man would want to see you in that bikini.”

  “Do you think a thong is a bit much? That was the only bikini the store had. I think it fits rather well.”

  Joe rolled over, took Wendy in his arms, kissed her and proceeded to remove the bikini.

  ***

  Gabe Logan was staying at his sister’s home just outside of Mauckport. His mom and dad also lived in Mauckport, and Gabe enjoyed visiting his family when he came to town. His sister’s husband was his best friend. Gabe was a young go-getter looking to score on some cars smuggled across the river from Brandenburg. He was making a small fortune buying the EMP damaged vehicles for nothing, fixing them and selling them on the black market to USA officials. He could find most of his cars on the highways, but the government officials always wanted the high dollar sports and luxury cars that he had to pay people to find.

  He bribed the DHS agents to allow him to drive his old car hauler all over southern Indiana and Ohio chasing down and bringing repairable vehicles back to his shop in Columbus, Ohio to fix and sell.

  His brother in law helped him find cars and repaired a few between Gabe’s visits. He was tagging along with Gabe on his trip to visit his sister in Columbus.

  Gabe winched the cars onto the car hauler, strapped them down and now had to wait until sundown to head back to Columbus. It was easier to bribe the third shift DHS guards since they were the bottom of the barrel. He was bored as he walked down to the river with a fishing pole to pass the time.

  ***

  “Mr. Secretary, radar has pick
ed the first wave of aircraft. There appears to be 12 Tomahawks ten minutes out. Our Satellite also shows 6 - F18s, 10 - F15s and 4 - C17s taking off as we speak. They should arrive in less than 30 minutes if they hold to normal protocol.”

  The missiles were soon in range, and the rail guns only had to fire two short bursts apiece to destroy the missiles.

  Give orders to fire everything we have at them once they drop their loads. They will be bees without stingers. Hold back our missiles and aircraft so we can test the rail guns.”

  The four Wombats started firing near the fake platform and destroyed twelve missiles.

  Gus and John watched, as the rail guns appeared to perform a dance as the radar controlled auto-fire mechanism shot bursts at one target after another.

  The sound was eerie as the rail guns accelerated thousands of slugs the length of the rails and spit them at targets miles away. It was similar to what a silenced machine gun would sound, but not as loud.

  “Mr. Secretary all of the inbound missiles have been splashed.”

  “Well done, gentlemen.”

  “Have any U.S. air assets made an appearance along the line?”

  “No sir, they headed this way and then turned back to their base.”

  “Get in radio contact with the Admiral.”

  “Yes, sir, right away, sir.”

  Gus could barely contain himself as he said to Admiral Jones, “Admiral, get on the horn to the Air Corps, kick their asses but do not chase them deep into the USA. I don’t want to start a nuclear war.”

  The battle quickly turned into a rout, as ISA Aircraft attacked unopposed. The DHS ground forces turned tail and didn’t stop until the ISA forces stopped chasing them.

  John kneeled beside the door gunner of the helicopter, which hovered at 1,000 feet above the northeast side of a low railroad bridge watching as target after target was destroyed.