Episode 17

Drone Channel Zero

We were being jammed.

More gunfire! I tripped over a kid’s bicycle and sprawled to the ground, ducking behind the step-up porch of the house as a spray of bullets sent chunks of brick spattering around me. I heard a scream of pain as my team sent back answering fire and saw the driver of the truck slumped against the wheel. I looked up but saw nothing. If that drone were overhead right now!

One of the men in the back of the truck was down and the two others had taken cover behind it, blindly popping off rounds towards our position. Behind a tree Jock sent answering fire. I ran around behind the house to get behind the truck. I came around the side and stayed low, spying Rocky, who was already there, crouching and aiming from behind a brick planter. He took out the soldier behind the back tire with a burst of fire, then suddenly threw his arms up, jerking like a puppet as a spray of fire came from somewhere else. Dammit! I hit the ground hard. Where the hell did that come from?

I scanned the area in front of me, then saw two soldiers across the road in the field, crouching down low. One of them had shot Rocky, probably seeing his muzzle flash through the smoke. I snapped a smoke grenade off my belt and threw it into the road. It bounced and hit the chainlink, bringing another rattle of fire.

“Get that laser,” Jock shouted. “Get the laser on target right now! I’m pinned down here!”

More gunfire rattled from the road in front of the house.

The smoke was thick now and I crawled on my belly to where Park had propped the tripod. Along the way I ran into the crumpled form of Jones. His helmet was on the ground beside him. I couldn’t tell if he was dead or what. There was no time to check him out and we’d all be crispy critters if that laser wasn’t realigned fast.

“Get me smoke!” I yelled into the radio, and a second later a smoke bomb flew overhead, hiding me in a thick, choking grey cloud.

There were bullets whizzing past as our guys traded fire with the Corwies but I don’t think I heard anything. The blood pulsed in my head, my focus narrowed to a tunnel, and I thought of nothing but that laser! I even thought I could hear the buzz of an approaching drone. I finally reached the tripod and dragged it fifteen feet, then pulled it up and pointed it toward the gun emplacement above the field. I made sure it was as on-target as I could place it, then dropped to the ground just as the searing hiss of an incoming missile tore through the sky above. The flash was blinding in my goggles and the blast that followed was deafening—tango down!

Or was it? As the smoke and dust cleared, I saw the missile strike had struck the front of the pit, rather than inside it. It was possible that there might even be someone alive behind the sandbags, or that the gun itself might be operational if the Corwies managed to reman it. But if anyone was still alive in there, they’d be out of it, bleeding out of their ears and concussed into walking vegetables.

“Aces, Tommy!” came Jock’s voice over the radio, thick with relief. “Well done, Falkland. That was too close!”

The distraction of the missile strike must have given our boys the advantage because I no longer heard any gunfire. I looked around and saw three of our guys in the road by the truck, standing over a fallen Corwie. I remembered Jones and went back to him. His eyes were open now and he was staring up at the sky, blinking heavily.

“Hey Jones,” I said. “You still with us?”

He turned his head and focused on me, then gave a slight nod, then winced. “Got… hit…”

I picked up his helmet. The front was dented.

“Shot…” he said, trying to get up.

“No,” I said. “If a bullet had hit your helmet there you’d be dead.” I looked in front of him, where some blocks lined a little garden path, then found one which had been smashed to bits. “Must have been a chunk of rock, Corporal.”

He brought himself up unsteadily on his elbows. His forehead had an angry red slash mark from his helmet being struck. He was going to need medical attention. I helped him sit up and get his back against a small tree just as the rest of the team joined us.

“He alright?” Jock said to me. I shook my head. “Probably concussed. Lucky, though.” I tossed him the helmet. “We’re gonna have to help him.”

“Yeah,” said Jock. “Where’s Rocky?”

“They got him. He’s back there in the road.”

Jock cursed. “Go check on him, Four-eyes. Park, grab that target laser.” He stood and looked over at the nest we’d hit. I followed his gaze and we had the same thought at the same time. “That gun still looks operational,” he said. “We’re gonna have to go spike it ourselves.”

“What happened to our drone channel?” I said. “Jammed?”

“That’s my guess,” Jock said as Four-eyes returned. “He’s dead?” Jock said, seeing the expression on Corporal Raymond’s face. Four-eyes nodded. “Crazy bastard,” Jock said. “One of the best. Okay, Raymond, you and Park get him out of the road and leave him by the house. They’ll come get him.” We all had tags linked to our vital signs. Vitals cease, tag emits a signal. Easier than combing battlefields looking for corpses.

“Ward, help Jones—we’ll take that gun in person.”

Jock radioed for backup and found another squad was near enough to assist in taking the cannon. As he directed them in, we found an entrance through the fence. Our backup was about six blocks away but we still didn’t see any troops near the nest, so we started across the field without them, keeping low. The clatter of far-off guns and the occasional impact of a missile told me our other teams were staying busy. The radios for each squad were trackable back at base, allowing for us to find each other quickly. Once Jock called for backup, we would be found relatively simply just by keying in his signal and tracking it via field tablet.

We hit the edge of the field and then the terrain turned up sharply in a scrubby ridge of eroded red clay and rock. Anemic thorn bushes and wildflowers hung on to the rough slope in patches and we clutched at what we could to make the ascent. Above us was the ring of sandbags and as I got closer, I saw one side of it was thrown everywhere and scattered in a big mess. At about half-way up I heard a shout and looked down behind me, thinking our backup had arrived. With a shock I realized two jeeps carrying a squad of royal guard were racing towards us across the field.