Grant

"Whose idea was this?" Grant asked. "Pretty sure it wasn't mine."

"Which part?" asked Nick. "Choosing this hill to die on?"

"Whole fuckin' operation," Grant replied. "About now I wouldn't mind bein' on a hill. One about forty miles from here."

The nearest thing resembling a hill was miles away. They were in a ditch, deep enough that they had to crawl up the bank a few feet to see anything.

"Looks like they're waiting," Chris said. "They're not exactly eager to come out here after us."

"Nah, they'll wait for reinforcements. Get some machinery. At least some Hummers if nothing else. More likely wait for APCs if they can get'em.

"They'll be on us soon enough. Any ideas?"

"Lemme see if I can raise someone," Grant said. He took out his communicator.

Chris scanned the installation with his binoculars. There was little movement, other than an occasional vehicle moving near the perimeter.

"How's it look?"

Kenny Deason had joined them. He had a bandana tied around his head, holding an improvised bandage in place. He'd been in the lead Rhino and was lucky to be alive. A dozen or so of them hadn't been so lucky, and Chris wasn't looking forward to the update from the medics. They were a couple hundred yards away, around a bend.

"Looks like we're both waiting for backup. Who gets it first... dunno, if they're waiting for some heavy equipment it could be hours. Fort Dunn is over forty miles away. And they may not have anything to send, depending on what's going on elsewhere."

"There must have been a leak," Kenny said. "They knew we were coming. They must have some eyes up, don't know how we missed them."

"Hard to maintain 24/7 coverage," Chris replied. "Harder for them, but they get lucky once in a while. And if they were alerted, they'd be sure to be watching. In case we avoided the mines they'd be in trouble."

"Got Grimwings on the horn," Grant said. He had a headset plugged into the communicator. "Hang on."

They watched as he talked and tapped and swiped the screen of the communicator.

"There's a pair of HS-44s on the way," he said after a few minutes. "They'll rotate cover until they can get an airstrike underway."

"Any idea on time?" Chris asked.

"Hour, maybe. They'll keep us updated. What's the status on our casualties?"

"Lemme holler at Doc."

Chris put on his headset and keyed a local channel.

"How's it look, Doc?"

Grant and Kenny waited as they talked.

"We got six dead." Chris said. "There's eight more that need to get out of here soon, but they're stable."

"We should be able to evac now," Grant said. "They're not gonna try anything until their backup arrives, if it does. Lemme see if they can get a chopper in, it's straight-line, they can come in low."

He keyed a channel and adjusted his mike.

"They have two HH-33s," Chris said. "With any luck they should be free."

"We could use some luck," Kenny replied.

"We're about fifteen minutes out," Chris said. "Less for the Redtails. Let's see where they are, I'll make contact."

He adjusted his headset and synced his communicator with Grant's, then adjusted the view to show their position relative to the home base.

"There's a blip that may be one," he said. "They'll probably come in about ten minutes apart. From here, they got about twenty to twenty-five minutes to bingo fuel. That'll let them keep continuous coverage."

"Got a medevac chopper on the way," Grant said. "The second one's out, have to make two trips. Shouldn't be a problem."

"How about the airstrike?" Chris asked.

"Not sure, they're working on it. Should've anticipated this, had something on standby."

"There's a squadron of A-4s at Lindsey Field." Chris said. "That's about, damn, close to half hour."

"Yeah. Let's hope our friends over there can't raise any air resources or we're in a lot of trouble."

Chris doubted they could, but the timimg made him uneasy. If they managed to put even a couple of gunships up they'd be in trouble.

"Think we should disperse?" he asked.

"We should," Grant replied. "Spread out as much as we can. I'll feel better once our casualties are out.

"Kenny, go tell Doc they're incoming," Chris said. "Tell everyone else to spread out, couple hundred feet apart. Small groups, two or three."

Kenny departed.

The Redtail was making good time. Or what he hoped was the Redtail. The small dot was visibly moving closer.

"Our guardian angel," Grant said. "Hiya, Redtail." Chris listened, watching his screen.

"Couple of miles south," Chris said. He switched to the frequency Grant was on.

"I see'ya," Redtail said. "Hang in there."

"How's it look from up there?" Chris asked.

"All quiet," Redtail replied. "Nothing much moving. I'm not seeing anything behind them either."

Between the garrison and Fort Dunn was sparsely populated land with a couple of small towns and some scattered rural dwellings. The one highway should be visible from the air.

"Can you see the road?" Grant asked.

"Yeah, all clear."

"It'll be a while before they can get anything here, but keep an eye on it."

"Will do," Redtail replied. "The airstrike is on the way, I'll probably have to hand you off to number two before then. I'll keep you posted."

The first medevac flight arrived and departed. Eventually another blip appeared. The second Redtail.

"Hi guys."

A female voice, one Chris recognized. Ysabel. On loan from Mantis.

"Hi yourself," he replied. "Glad you could make it."

"You kidding?" Ysabel said. "You only call when you're in a jam."

"Get us out of this one and I'll behave for a week or two."

"Promises. I'll see what I can do."

"Time for me to clear out," said Redtail One.

"Catch you later," Grant replied.

Probably again before this is over, Chris thought.

He and Grant chatted with Ysabel while they waited. The medevac chopper returned and picked up the remaining wounded.

Redtail One returned and Ysabel went back to refuel before they had an update on the airstrike.

"About another ten minutes," Grant said. "I'm gonna keep'em on the line until three, then we'll pop smoke to make sure they don't hit us."

"I'm back," Ysabel.

"Redtail outta here. Enjoy the show."

Chris watched his screen, waiting for the blips of the incoming airstrike. He hoped it was enough.

"OK, first flight five minutes," Ysabel called.

Chris saw the four blips. Four A-4s, each probably carrying six Mark II CBUs. Two dozen cluster bombs. Properly distributed they could do the job, and the survivors certainly would have little interest in them.

Grant pulled the ring on a smoke dispenser and threw it up over the rim of the ditch. A plume of yellow smoke billowed out. A couple of seconds he followed it with a red one.

Chris turned to look behind them. Shortly the flight appeared, about two hundred yards apart. He looked down at the screen of his communicator. Four more blips were incoming.

He watched the impacts. There wasn't much to see, the bomblets sprayed over the target, a lot of smoke. Ragged chain of explosions. About two minutes later the next flight passed over and dropped their load.