Dark as Daylight Ch. 11

"Good report major, let me speak to that pain in the ass."

"I guess you mean the general?"

"All generals are a pain in the ass major."

"Yes sir."

"General Marcus, Colonel Canyon would like to speak to a pain in the ass."

"Tell that bastard to look in the mirror."

"What do you want Canyon?"

"I thought you were dead general. You were supposed to call me 30 minutes after our last phone call. You didn't, and I got a perfect update from your aide, Major Sebring. Has anyone attempted to come out of the 'Bear Pit', at the entrance?"

"If anyone did, he's dead. We had 30s pointing in there, and the 'Rules of Engagement' were, 'If it moves, kill it.' I'm sure those gunners had no problem following that order."

"Do you know how the people in the field are getting their orders now?"

"I would suspect just like our guys are getting it from me; through a central communication system."

"Do you think you could get one of their headsets, and have one of your techies find their frequency so you can home in on it. I'd like to talk to their head guy, person to person."

"Lucius, you got thrown out of the Army for talking to people person to person."

"I got thrown out of the Army, because I refused to call general's, like you, to the stand. I refused to air the Army's dirty laundry to the press, and therefore to the world at large. I could have called three four-star generals, several three-star, and a couple of two and one star generals to the stand. They would've backed me up for what I did. They would have told the judges how many soldiers I saved, because of how timely the information I sent them was that changed operational decisions. I did in the field what the CIA did behind closed doors.

The mass graves I found, the ones that wound up on the front pages of newspapers all over the world, I never took credit for it. I let the big guys get it. They owed me big time, and I never collected."

"I'm sorry Lucius, I didn't know. I just read the transcripts, and thought you were rogue. I got my Star when I was in the Philippines, and never was assigned to that damn place. I knew it was a disaster from the beginning, just like it always is when it comes to ethnic situations. Why is it always us that has to clean house?"

"When you find an answer for that sir, tell me about it."

"I will have your headset in 10 minutes. My techies will take it apart in 30. We will home in on it signal, as soon as our helicopters are available."

"Keep me advised general, call me in 30."

***********************

And then they came, just as the Colonel said they would. The dump trucks lined up nose to tail along the street, and left their engines running.

The 50 caliber machine guns, hidden in the graceful mounds of earth, and flowerbeds, 200 yards left and right of the house, fired at these behemoths, keeping the men inside them from raising their heads, and firing their weapons at the main house.

The drivers never saw the bulbous discs, lying in the roadway, nor were they aware they were dead, microseconds after these discs exploded, destroying the trucks, and the men inside them.

Fear went through the hearts of the men who were scheduled to follow up the initial attack. They were expecting to go into a house that was in shambles, but this house was still intact. Someone extremely smart was protecting it, and that someone was probably Patricia Valentino. They knew her history. They knew she worked for the FBI, and they knew she took down the hierarchy of the five families of the New York mob. She was someone to be feared, and she just showed them she had not lost her touch.

Their leader said, "Valentino is only one person. We can see her driveway from here. There is nothing on it but the gravel the cars drove up on yesterday. It has not been disturbed during the night. We have gone over the videos to verify that. Drive your trucks onto the grass and get onto that driveway as soon as possible. Fire your weapons as you do so. She will probably take her family down to the safe room. She does not realize we have a method to open that door. Our friend has purchased the company who made it. He has told us how to beat the system.

Once we are inside, we will kill her husband immediately, and then threaten every other person there until she gives us access to her computers. We will transfer everything that's on there to our friends, and once it's verified by them, we will kill them all.

We were paid well to do this job, let's get it done."

They were down to 56 men, because of the loss of the men in the dump trucks. However, they felt heartened by the speech of their leader, and were prepared to charge the house in their open back trucks.

The leader forgot to take into consideration many things, but the most obvious was the two 50 caliber machine guns, located to the left and right of the driveway. It appeared the Colonel was right again. They were not dealing with a soldier, or a man who was the brightest lightbulb in the package."

The drivers started their trucks. The men checked their weapons, took off the safeties, and prepared for a bumpy ride.

Inside the garage, two windows opened, and the snouts of two more 50 caliber machine guns poked out.

Inside the house, four windows were raised. The first and the fourth window had the two Gatling guns connected to electrical outlets, and were loaded with a belt of 8000 rounds of ammunition. It also had a bag on the opposite side for the spent casings to fall into. It was much easier than picking the casing up one at a time later.

The two center windows contained 'SAW's. (Squad Assault Weapons) They would only use these if anyone survived the massive assault by the other weapons.

Paul knew this was not going to be a fair fight.

The drivers drove like maniacs off the paved street, and onto the grass. The first truck hit a contact mine, as it veered back towards the driveway. The explosion knocked the tiny truck into the air, twisting it, igniting the gasoline in the fuel tank. This caused it to explode a second time, as it was on the way down.

The machine and all the men in, and on it were dead.

The second truck attempted to stop, but slid sideways on the grass, until it set off a Claymore mine. The thousands of ball bearings inside, exploded in an arc of 160 degrees, killing everything, and everyone in their path.

The explosive inside the Claymore flipped the over, like a playing card. The fuel on board was ignited, and the end came quickly, when the secondary explosion occurred.

Seeing the carnage in front of them, the other trucks stopped and tried to maneuver their way back to the street and safety. This was not to be.

The 50 caliber machine guns from the garage, and from the flowerbeds opened up with a furious assault on the men and the trucks they were riding in. They started in on the truck closest to the street, until it to exploded, blocking the exit.

The men in the three remaining trucks jumped out, and ran for the cover of the forest. They were cut down summarily. The trucks they were riding in were also dispatched.

The assault on the Valentino household was over in 11 minutes and 37 seconds. 83 foreign nationals were dead. 6 dump trucks littered Dix Hills Road. 7 small open back trucks lay destroyed on the northern most portion of Stephano, and Patricia Valentino's driveway.

Patty had to make a phone call.

"Sam, it's Patty, it's all over. All the bad guys are dead. We have about 90 of them scattered on my lawn. Tell the owners of these vehicles that they were destroyed in a fire. They will be replaced at no cost to them."

Sam Meister asked, "Do you think this is finally the end of the Patty?"

"Sam, you and I have been friends for so long, I can't lie to you. There are three men that are still out there, unaccounted for. We don't know what trouble they can, or will try to cause, or where they can cause it. Until they are found, and brought to justice, I just don't know. South Carolina is still in play. The Colonel gave control of this operation to Paul, because the attack down there was more problematic than up here."

"Patty, I'm glad you, and your people are okay. I will send my trucks and my people there to clean up the human mess. Every crematory in the area is going to be busy for the next few days."

"Make sure the owners know to keep quiet, and they will be handsomely paid. If they say a word they will be out of business, for one reason or another."

"They have already been warned, by me, to keep their mouths closed about what was happening, or their businesses would be inspected constantly for any and every infraction under the law."

"Thanks Sam, you are good and dear friend."

"Thank you Patty, who else keeps my entire police force on the east side of town, looking for an escaped convict, where there is none; while on the west side of our town, there is a war going on."

"I wanted to make sure no one got hurt Sam. I couldn't have lived with that. Why don't you bring the family over a week from Saturday for dinner? I'll make a lasagna for you."

"I'd crawl on my knees to get there for one of your lasagna's. Thanks for the invitation Patty, we will be there."

"Be here at 6, dinner will be served at 6:42."

"Only you would be so exact."

"You can't break the habit of a lifetime. Goodbye Sam."

"Stay safe Patty."

*****************

"A rough count, from our cameras, looks like they got 500, or more through the fences general."

"Persistent bastards aren't they. Well it's daylight, and we know this ground better than they do. Let's go flush them out, and kill them."

"General, I'm sorry, but I disagree again. Let them come to us. We are in strong defensive positions, and we know what they're after. We also know they did not bring any food or water with them, because they were expecting a quick victory. As the day goes on, this is in our favor. We know where our water sources are; all we have to do is turn them off."

"No Major, I'm going to use our helicopters to keep them pinned down, and bring our troops up to get them. There is a time for defense, and then there is a time for offense. Now it's time to kick some tail. See if they have repaired Huey, yet"

"Roger that Sir."

Major Sebring went to communications, but didn't call aviation repair, he called Lucius

"What's happening Major? How much trouble could he get into in 20 minutes."

"He wants to go on the offensive Colonel. He wants to pull our men out of our defensive positions, and go after 500 men using our helicopters as cover. If he pulls half of our men out of defense, that still gives the opposition a 5 to 1 advantage over us. I think he's gone over the edge, because of what you did to the Southern Force using construction equipment, the helicopters, and the 80 men that blocked their retreat. He has 360 prisoners of war, and he thinks he's going to get a medal for it. He forgot he was kicked out of the Air Force, because he had an affair."

"That's his problem Major, he was never a ground warrior. He was always looking at things from above, never from the ground. Let me talk to him."

"You know he's going to fire my ass, don't you?"

"You led troops in battle adventure before Major, haven't you?"

"Three tours in Iraq, and two in Afghanistan."

"You have one more tour left in you, and it's at the front of the building site. When he kicks you out of the communications area, that's where I want you. Keep a satellite phone with you, so we can keep in contact with one another."

"I'll be there Colonel. Let me hand him the phone, so you can yell at him, and he can yell at me."

**************

"General, Huey could be as much as two more hours. They are still working on the oil, and fuel lines. Colonel Canyon would like to speak with you."

"Did you call that little bastard, because you disagreed with my decision?"

"As a ground officer sir, it was the dumbest decision I've ever heard of."

"Major get your ass out of here, and get on the firing line. Let's see if your bravado is as good as your thinking, when you're being shot at."

"I'm used to being shot at sir, are you?"

"Get your ass out of here now."

"What do you want Lucius?"

"I want to be 3 ½ feet from you, so I can kick your ass general. 5 to 1 odds and you want to go on the offensive? If you had five airplanes, and the enemy had 50, would you attack? Would you be the leader of that formation, or would you be sitting on your ass, in your office, and send some young lieutenant out there to die for you. You are a fucking moron. You are an Air Force Officer looking to bomb a target. You've never seen anyone die close-up, general. It's not fun to see another man have his guts blown out, when he is standing 3 feet from you.

You must not attack. You must stay in your defensive positions, and make sure everyone has five times the ammunition than standard munition requirements. That's how the Army defends against 5 to 1 odds. It's not one bullet one kill. Sometimes it's not five bullets one kill. You have to protect the building site!

Nothing Else Matters, but those two boy's inside that building site, and they are your responsibility general.

Are you sure you want to go traipsing around the property, and leave those two boys unguarded? How long do you think it would take the enemy to realize those boys are not at the bottom of the spacecraft, or hiding anyplace else on the surface? They will go upstairs, and see those stasis boxes stacked in neat little rows. They may use them as target practice, not realizing who's inside them. They may yell and tell them that's what they're about to do. Do you think a 15-year-old boy has the courage to stay quiet, knowing his 12-year-old brother is lying next to him, and is going to die in the next minute? I don't, I'd want to save him. How about you?"

"Lucius, I always said you were a pain in the ass. Okay we stay in our defensive positions. I'll make sure everyone has five times the amount of ammunition they're supposed to. Should they have anything else as back up, there's no reason saving anything for tomorrow, if there is not going to be a tomorrow."

"Give them hand grenades, RPG's, Bouncing Betty's, anything that will slow down the enemy's advance. The slower the enemy moves, the more time you have to kill him."

"I'll bet you that's a line from your book."

"It's the opening line on the preface page."

"You are some piece of work Lucius. I never read your book, because as you said, "I am an Air Force Officer, and troop movements never concerned me."

"They should have General; because its' the guys on the ground that win the wars greedy people start."

THE END

DARK AS DAYLIGHT

Chapter 11

BY

Prolonged_Debut10

Note: I'm sorry this chapter took so long to get to you. I had a particularly bad time this past few weeks, and was unable to concentrate on anything but myself. Thanks for understanding, and staying with me, as this journey winds down. Bob/Prolonged_Debut10