The learning curve for the assault rifles wasn’t as steep for most of the platoon, many had been hunting all their lives. The mortars and anti-aircraft weapons would have to be handled by the recon teams, we couldn’t risk giving our location away with constant explosions. From a bird's eye view it was nearly impossible to tell the town was even here, with the heavy tree cover in the basin. We used low velocity rounds for the target practice and let the better shots compete to use the sniper rifles. Jesse probably could have beat the others, but I needed him for something else. He was by far the fastest and most agile runner we had and I intended to take advantage of it.
“So what exactly is this special task?” he asked as he were surveying the traps in the pass.
“We've been compromised.” I said, shoving a log down the steep hill.
“Like we have a spy here or something?”
“No, nothing like that.” I said, “this isn't going to work.”
“You're killing me,” he said sitting down to take a breather. “Just tell me what you're talking about.”
“I'm going to,” I said leaning on the cane that I really didn't need anymore. “but it goes no further, you don't tell JoAnne, you don't tell Liz, you don't even discuss it with the recon teams.”
“When you put it that way, I’m not so sure I want to know.”
“The Chinese have bought off top military officials,” I told him, “any information they have about us is being handed directly over to the PLA.”
“Then they know this is a set up?” He asked, looking like he had just been punched in the stomach.
“I don't think so,” I said “but they may have found some indication that we are here, which means they likely won't wait until spring to move.”
“We're fucked...”
“Maybe,” I lamented “we only have a handful of people who are combat ready, the rest there's no telling how they'll react under fire.”
“We need more time.”
“We need a lot more time, but we haven't got it.” I said “We can't support a fire fight in the pass, we're going to have to blow it.”
“Connor, this thing is almost two miles long.” He said in disbelief.
“I might have added an extra zero when I was requesting the explosives.” I said with a wry grin. “The only problem is the distance, we'll have to have someone near the outlet to detonate it.”
“Are you asking me?”
“Yeah Jesse.” I said “I don't want to, but we both know you're the only one fast enough to make it back in time to avoid being caught by the air support.”
“I'll need some pretty heavy cover.” he said
“And you'll have it,” I said “I can set up with a team using sniper rifles and anti-aircraft guns on the east ridge, all you have to do is follow the path fast enough to avoid the air show.”
“JoAnne isn't gonna be happy about this,” he said
“With any luck,” I replied “they'll be safely in Seattle by the time we're attacked.”
“What're you going to do once we get there?” he asked
“Get as much of this metal pulled out of my back as I can.” I said, allowing him to change the subject.
“Well that's a lot less fun than what I was planning.” he said laughing, “I wanted to go to the fish market.”
“The fish market? What the hell is that?”
“It's this huge outdoor market down at the port,” he said “My grandparents used to take me there every weekend.”
“I tell you what,” I said “if we make it out of this alive, I’ll buy you the biggest fish there.”
“How?” he said teasing me, “you ain’t got no money.”
“This certainly isn’t a paying gig,” I said “but I do have quite a bit of money that my parents left me. I’ve never touched it though, it didn't seem appropriate.”
“Do they still have banks?” he asked
“Yes, Jesse. I'm reasonably sure that banks still exist.” I told him, “and schools too.”
“I already finished,” he said “like two months ago. I still have to take the test in my name, but I’m done.”
“That's good,” I said “maybe you can get a job flipping burgers after you're done being a war hero.”
“Hey, do you think they still have McDonald’s?” he asked. I responded with a flustered look. “I'm kidding, I’m kidding.”
Every day in December I ran them through the drills. Each day, Jesse made his run from the pass to the east ridge, where my team would move back to the town and finally the extraction point to let the airstrike finish the job. TJ and Terry were ecstatic to have been allowed to use the sniper rifles, it was like their own Christmas present. Which was a good thing, by the time Christmas rolled around no one was celebrating. Everyone had gone so deep into prep mode that not a single tree was decorated.
Instead we spent our days lining the pass with high powered explosives. Wrapping the trees with plastique instead of ornaments.
Beta team had set up a field medical tent near the extraction point for Johann, in anticipation of injuries. We ran through drill after drill with a thousand different variations, preparing ourselves for any and all discrepancies.
Sombers and Salinger grew anxious, having gone months without word from their command. A sense of dread had begun to settle over the town, it had even started to wear on these people's resilience. Perhaps they knew, like I did, that no matter how much prep was put in we were ultimately fighting against losing odds.
Chapter 30