CHAPTER 06

   John settled in the branch of the tree and then grabbed for the binoculars. They were not exactly perfect for the job. Like most of the gear he had now, the binoculars were scavenged from a dead elf. It was not like John and his team had come down here to fight and, when a fight had started, he and his two companions found themselves hopelessly outgunned and under supplied. Their first order of business had been to fix that problem and, to John’s dismay, it had been far easier than he might have thought. There were too many dead elves laying by the roadside right now. It seemed as if the entire Kalean-Erc garrison had hauled ass at the first sign of trouble. They had also managed to get caught in one ambush, after another, along the road.
The garrison had been made up of troopers from the Noveus-Faeyu. John thought he should have been surprised by what happened to them but, he was not. It looked as if just as many had been killed by the rival Olyan-Notae clan as had been by the Orc. A few of their columns appeared to have even been shot up from the air, meaning the Imperial Air Force. This did not surprise John either. From what he had seen, those Spitfires were not really bothering to identify their targets before pulling the trigger. It would seem that the pilots attitudes were that if it were on the road, it was fair game. After John thought about it he supposed that, from the Elf point of view, it made a certain amount of sense. They were not just trying to stop the enemy, they were also trying to stop their own troops and civilians from running away.
Even if John could rationalize it, that did not mean he had much sympathy for those pilots. He was on the ground and that made him as much of a target as the refugee’s he had seen strafed by elf fighters. Hoop and Jamie had wanted to shoot back at those guys but, John put his foot down about it. They had a snowballs chance in hell of hitting their target and, even if they did, then what? They would have exposed their position to another fighter and, for what? Just to shoot down a ‘friendly’ that might later be of use? No, John realized they had to grin and bear it.
As he looked off in the direction of the town, John thought about the situation with the friendly fire and almost laughed. If this had been the movies then his guys would have eagerly blasted away. In the movies, operators were often eager to fight and quick to jump in any they found. The reality was very different. Operators picked their battles carefully and practiced their attacks extensively before hand. Their primary weapon was not a small arm or rocket launcher, it was intelligence. That was what had driven John up this tree. He was trying to learn all he could so that they could fulfill their current objective. It was not to fight but, too flee.
Hoop was at the base of the tree and keeping an eye out in their immediate environs. He had liberated an elf medium machine gun from a mangled utility vehicle. It was a very close copy of a World War Two vintage, German, M-42. There were some designs that just could not be improved on and this machinegun was definitely one of them. Jamie had managed a sniper weapon with a large scope, of more modern design, and one that the Elves had probably stolen from Earth, like a lot of their technology. He was covering this little operation from afar, in a hidden position. That was a good thing because, as Hoop saw it, this was a bad place to be.
Making his opinion clear to John, he called up the tree and suggested, “would you hurry your fucking Limey ass up. This is high ground and that damn well means it’s fucking Grand Central Station.”
This was not exactly news to John. He had thought about it before he even decided to take this action. If an Orc patrol did not come by here then someone’s would. It was not exactly like anyone knew who they were so, as far as John had it figured, they were liable to be shot at by anybody. That ‘little incident’ back at RAF Merlin, with the Hundred and First dropping an entire battalion on their alleged allies, was more than enough to drive that idea home. John realized he would probably not feel safe until he got back to Gnomeland and his own network of base camps.
Apparently, judging by the tone of Jamie’s voice, as it came in over the short ranged radio, John was not the only one who felt that way. Even over the broken static, John could hear the concern as Jamie asked, “what’s the deal down there?”
John finished his sweep of the area and did not figure his answer would make it past the interference. He said one word, “rally,” and then climbed down the tree. He and Hoop proceeded to the meeting point without hesitation, putting a few good obstacles between them and the high ground. When Jamie linked up, John told both his guys, “I couldn’t tell how hard the town got it but, it got it all right. I’m guessing it hasn’t been overrun though. There’s still a lot of fighting going on there.”
Hoop asked the obvious but, irrelevant, question, “who the hell is fighting them? Sure as hell ain’t the elves.”
Jamie was busy rearranging his gear as he replied, “my guess would be the good citizens of Kalean-Erc. What about Phvengs?”
The establishment owned and run by Ian Balfour was a restaurant, bar, and brothel all rolled in to one. It also served as kind of a corporate headquarters for most of Balfour’s enterprises, which ran far beyond what went on at the old plantation house. That included many transport businesses and this was why John was heading in that direction. He was hoping to grab some method of travel that could get them north.
John just shrugged, “couldn’t see much but, it looked quiet enough in that direction. Judging by the smoke and bangs, I’m thinking the Orc went right for the center of town and…”
Jamie nodded, “Phvengs is north and on the outskirts so it should be safe enough. Maybe we can grab a truck after all.” A distant flare shot up over the tree line an then slowly began to fall as it‘s parachute deployed. Jamie looked to Hoop, “is that yours?”
Hoop grabbed his machinegun and stood up, “sure as hell is. We need to get moving.” He had left a trip line in place at their observation point, just in case somebody had noted their presence there. Apparently, someone had.
John had no arguments with the basic strategy but, he also had another thought, “lets see who it is first.”
That was not an idea that Hoop was on board with, “who the fuck could it be? Nobody friendly, that’s for sure.”
As Jamie stood up he corrected Hoop by pointing out, “we’re not up north. It could be anybody down here. John’s right, lets see who it is.”
As they began to move out Hoop mumbled, “anybody is damn right. At least in the Hurt I knew who the hell was trying to kill me.” He followed them anyway and the three operators slowly worked their way towards a position that would give them a vantage point over the high ground where the flare had went off. John was a little surprised at what he saw. Of all the possible contacts, this had not been one he had imagined. There was a human woman and a little dragon over on the hill. They were fooling around the tree he had climbed up. Were they trying to do what he had been? Surely they saw the flare go up, didn’t they?
Then came the voice from behind John. He figured he would be dead if the owner of that voice wanted him to be so, he cautiously turned over and asked the guy, “how did you know we’d be here?”
Mike Green shouldered his shotgun, “just kind of looked like a good spot to watch that flare go off.”
John stood up and called in his team. He was a little angry with the American as he asked, “how the hell did you sneak up on us?”
“I didn’t,” replied Mike after he whistled for the rest of his party to join them. He then went on to explain, “I was laying here when you crawled up. Like I said, looked like a good place to watch that flare go off.”
Hoop snarled at the guy, “fuck you doctor biker. What the hell you doing out here anyway?”
When Patty arrived she looked at the three they had just found and, Mike saw the questions forming so he told her, “these are the guys I was telling you about. Course,” he nodded to John, “you was the last people I thought we’d run into out here. What the hell you doing here?”
Jamie shot back, “that’s kind of the question I had for you.”
John decided it was time to put an end to the conversation, “that’s for another time. It also don’t matter for squat. We were headed for Phvengs. What’s the word?”
Mike snorted a short laugh and it almost sounded to John as if he was appreciative. He then said, “I wouldn’t do that if I was you guys.” Mike nodded to his ape companion and then back to John, “the Notae done took that place. They got a good sized force camped out there.”
That caused all three operators to grumble and it was Jamie who just up and said it, “probably using it as a headquarters. They’ll want every one of those damn trucks and that means…”
Mike winced and looked at the Canadian, “what the hell you need a truck for? You guys ain’t thinking about going north, are you?”
Now it was John’s turn to give a short and appreciative laugh before he replied with, “we didn’t say anything about our direction of travel.”
“Yeah well,” Mike now laughed but was more condescending, “I can’t figure too many other directions you guys would be headed. Problem you got is, the Orc are all over the Yellow Brick Road. You’d never make it in a truck.”
John did not even consider the information to be anything but valid. He looked to Jamie and said, “chopper it is then.”
Jamie was somewhat hesitant, “I don’t know John. The IAF might blow us out of the sky.”
Hoop was not so concerned, “get me the right chopper and no Spitfire is even gonna see us.”
Suddenly, all three operators were a bit surprised when the woman stepped forward and eagerly said, “I want to go with you.”
It was John who gave her the obvious answer, “no offense but, um, no, Miss Walsh? Right?”
Patty put her hands on her hips and noted, “so you know who I am?”
Jamie told her, “kind of hard not too. We do see the news on occasion. Sorry Miss Walsh but, we’re not that interested in hanging out our dirty laundry.”
It was a response that Patty was more than ready for, “and I’m not really that interested in putting up a clothes line. This is personal.” Patty pointed to John and stated, “I’m guessing you’re Snow.”
Hoop nearly spit, “how the fuck do you know so much woman?”
John nearly growled at Hoop, “shut up.” He then tried to be a bit more diplomatic with the reporter, “yeah, that would be me, Miss Walsh. I’m sorry but, my colleague here is right. Even if you have no intention of putting our ops on the air, it’s classified. I don‘t think my bosses would be too happy to know I drug a well known talking head out into the Hurt with me.”
That drew a laugh from Mike, “your boss? Near as I can tell you guys have pretty much gone rogue.”
Now Hoop really was mad, “what the fuck!” He was more angry at John, “how does this guy know this shit when you only just got around to telling me?”
Jamie slapped his forehead and mumbled, “way to go Hoop.”
Patty cut through the grumbling that was about to follow when she dropped a name, “Angie Thompson.”
Hoop wanted to say something but, John stopped him and then became diplomatic once again. He did not figure a denial would do him any good at this point so he just leveled with the woman, “Miss Walsh, how can you be so sure Angie even wants to see you?”
Patty realized that might be a problem, particularly when Mike told her what he knew. Patty had to admit that she was not so sure she believed Mike or, that is, until now. What she got from this English commando was nothing short of a confirmation. It would be the kind of story that would make her career, again, ten times over. The only problem was that Patty found she did not care about that. She had loved Angie and, this felt like nothing short of a betrayal. She wanted the truth and, it did not appear as if these special forces types were willing to give that to her.
Fortunately Mike stopped things from heading in the direction that they obviously were. He pointed out their more immediate situation by saying, “we don’t need to have this conversation here. We can head back to Aldo’s place. It’s safe enough there for the moment.”
As they left, Patty walked by Mike and quietly noted, “sorry I ever doubted you.”
That was nowhere near as important to Mike as when John walked up and asked, “how did you stumble over us out here anyway?”
Mike nodded in the direction of the rice patties, “you guys checked out those dead farmers. I tracked you from there.”
Again, John seemed appreciative and respectful, “not bad for a Phd. Ever thought about taking up another line of work?”
Mike noted that the rest of their party had gotten ahead of them but, right now, that was a good thing from his point of view. He stepped up to the commando and told the guy, “I got a pretty good gig as it is. Course, right now, I think you and me are on the scent of the same trail.” John still kept his cards close to his chest so Mike just put it to him, “there’s something out here besides Orcs. Near as I can figure, that’s what you’re looking for.”
John just shrugged, “what would make you say that?”
Mike kept his eyes locked on the guy and replied with a contemptuous smile, “Orcs ain’t as dumb as people think but, the one thing I have definitely learned is, they ain’t smart enough to plan an attack like this. Somebody’s giving them orders and I think you know that too.”
This only led John to ask a more obvious question, “what was it you do for the US government, again?”
“Exactly what I told you at Phvengs that night,” Mike replied. “Sides that, don’t hand me all that bullshit. This goes beyond all that crap.” Mike waved his hand around, reminding John of their current situation, “we’re talking about our ultimate survival here. If these things can plan this then they sure as hell are a bigger threat than anybody back home has figured.”
As John turned to leave he was smiling. He also told the doctor, “I’d give a little more thought to my job offer, Doc.”