Chapter 22

Early Thursday Morning

Nexus Ranch

Near Harborton, Washington

“Ben sorry to shake your bones out of bed, but I think you got trouble coming,” said Ray Jay after calling Ben’s phone.

“No problem Ray Jay, I was up anyhow. We’ve been expecting something,” replied Ben.

“Well, just a minute ago I was on patrol near Olympia and a convoy of 5 Black Escalades went past me and that medallion you gave me started going off like a damn pinball machine.”

“Yeah that’s about what we were looking for,” said Ben.

“Oh and I didn’t think of it at first but we got notice that the local Sheriff’s department is blocking off some roads out near your ranch. This feels bad Ben. Is there anything that I can do?” said Ray Jay.

“Thanks Ray Jay, it’s much appreciated but we’ve been waiting for this to happen. You can help us most by keeping a low profile away from anything that might happen out here,” said Ben.

“Alright if you are sure. If I see anything else I’ll let you know,” replied Ray Jay.

“Thanks Ray Jay, the heads up is much appreciated.”

“No prob. Stay safe out there,” said Ray Jay as he disconnected.

‘Shit’, thought Ben, as he sent out the imminent action alert. Now it starts. He would have much preferred to take this to their enemies instead of letting them get close to those he protected and those he loved. But it couldn’t be helped. Here at the more than 600 acre ranch he could contain the conflict from the outside world and make sure that at least it started by his rules.

His first option had been to simply ambush them as they pulled up to the ranch. It seemed unlikely that they would be stupid enough to just drive up to the ranch house and if instead they dismounted at the end of the driveway, a simple ‘L’ shaped ambush could easily take them all out, especially if he used the pair of belt fed M60 medium machine guns that mysteriously appeared yesterday morning. The venerable, but now retired from active duty guns would easily turn all 5 SUVs into so much scrap steel before the mercenaries inside could even dismount.

But that option was quickly nixed by Jess (Rhiannon). The Fae had been able to give up war centuries ago and she felt that their attackers should have at least an opportunity to surrender. Secretly, Ben was a little relieved. He knew his first option was the least risk for his people but he had seen what massed machine gun fire could do and wasn’t anxious to relive it. Besides, stray rounds from an M60 could easily fly 1000 yards or more and he didn’t want collateral damage of any sort. He also thought it was possible that at least some of the attackers thought that they were on a legitimate government sponsored operation.

So he, Jess and Ferg with input from the war council came up with a plan and fallback plans that they thought would work. In the very worst case scenario, the non-combatants at least would be safe.

As the alarms sounded and the girls and other noncombatants filed into their shelters Ben sighed and donned his body armor and old 782 gear and headed out to his position. They had a plan and it was a good one.

But Ben had read Sun-Tzu and also knew from first hand experience exactly what happened to plans on first contact with the enemy.

Sarah squatted next to Ferg and their patrol of 15 of the Fae as they checked the map with their red gel flashlights. They had responsibility for the right flank of the Area of Operations. This consisted largely of the thick woods to the west of the long dirt driveway that led to the ranch itself. Instead of a static stand and fight defense their mission was to use their stealth skills, as well as the magic of the Fae to eliminate the attackers one or two at a time as they attempted to approach the ranch. Fae engineers had placed multiple deceptions and traps, they just had to ensure that the attackers fell into them.

As she looked into the faces of the young Fae that she would be fighting with she sent a prayer to her goddess to keep them and those at the ranch safe from this evil.

A brief warmth and a pulsing glow from her pendant let her know that the Tiger Goddess Waghoba, protector of the innocent and her celestial mother was with her.

Pieter was quite certain he was going to strangle this ‘Dell’ idiot with his own intestines before they even got started. Dell was adamant that they should just drive up to the compound shooting anything that moved, swarm the building, break down the doors and voila! They’d be done. This was not what they had agreed on yesterday and not what Pieter and his men would ever do even if assaulting a group of nuns. A careful approach using concealment and cover until the last few yards and then a fast efficient clearing operation with sniper cover from the trees. That was the method that would keep Pieter and his men healthy. Pieter had worked with most of them before and they were good boys (anyone under 35 was a boy to him these days). Well except for the three Chechen cowboys they picked up at the last minute. They were an unknown component but were vouched for. Either way he felt obligated to not risk them unnecessarily.

Pieter had been on way too many missions where faulty intelligence and an overabundance of optimism led to an overabundance of body bags. Besides there was something very off about this whole thing. Pieter understood well the gray areas between government and the law but even for a sanctioned but black operation this seemed very thrown together. He didn’t trust this Dell asshole and barely trusted the agency that contracted him for the op. If the money wasn’t so ridiculous he would have stayed in semi-retirement. But this one op would give him what he needed to finally buy that small dacha on the Black Sea that he had dreamed of for decades.

Finally, tired of the roadside discussion, Pieter drew his Makarov and shoved it under Dell’s chiseled chin forcing him up on his tiptoes.

“We do as we planned, or you die right here. We don’t need you to get our money. Yes?”

Dell managed a small nod as he felt the cold steel hard under his jaw.

“Good. You stay here. If I see you or your ‘gang’ following us before we are done clearing. I will shoot you all myself. Team One with me, Team Two with Gabriel. Move out,” said Pieter as the two teams melted into the tree line one on either side of the dirt driveway.

“Movement to front” said the Fae translator assigned to Ben. “Tinkerbell reports two groups of 10 on both sides of the driveway. A third group of 6 is hanging back.”

In spite of the complete seriousness of the situation Ben had to hold back a grin. He never thought that he’d be getting a sitrep (situation report) from a flying fairy, much less one actually named ‘Tinkerbell’.

“Standby everyone. Remember no one takes any chances. If they don’t lay down their weapons or even move like they are going to lift their weapons, light ‘em up. Don’t hesitate, believe me they won’t,” Ben cautioned his mixed team of Fae and humans. “Gunny move the first squad into position at the first ambush site.”

“Aye, aye sir. On the way,” Gunny rose to a crouch, “First squad on me.”

Ben spoke into his throat mic, “Lima One go for the comm blackout in 5.”

“Roger wilco comm blackout in 5,” replied Lizzy from her sniper overlook/comm post as she prepared to shut down all non Nexus radio transmissions.

“Mike One, standby to disable drivers. Keep a lookout for any squirters,” Ben radioed to Mei.

“Roger that 6 actual,” Mei replied from her position near the road where she could sleep disable the vehicle drivers who were acting as the mercenaries rear exfiltration watch. She hadn’t tried her sleep powers on so many at once before but her people were relying on her and she would do it however she had to. Her and Tom were also on ‘squirter’ watch ensuring that any hostiles leaving the Area of Operations surrendered, were disabled, or eliminated. Nexus could not chance anyone getting out of the area before they could deal with them.

The first sign of trouble came about 200 meters into the treeline after the team had been stealthily advancing through the heavy tree cover for about 5 minutes. Pieter lost contact with the point man of the wedge shaped formation in the middle of a sitrep.

A few minutes later the screaming began.

Gabriel was a cautious man by nature. In spite of public perceptions and the movies, you didn’t stay alive long as an Israeli commando if you weren’t. There was a place for decisive aggression and even explosive violence but there was never a reason to take a chance you didn’t have to. This whole op felt off to him and he agreed with Pieter, the team leader, that they needed to treat this as they would any combat op. Both he and Pieter knew exactly what a Navy Cross was and they both knew that if they were going against a former Captain of Marines who had received one, then they could expect trouble.

Sure enough, trouble itself arrived within 5 minutes. Comms went down faster than a Tel Aviv hooker. One minute 5x5, the next, nothing but static. Even his inter-team channels were burned. Luckily, he was able to relay a hand signal to his point man to halt the formation, but for some reason the two men at the wings of the wedge shaped formation continued on into the night as Gabriel silently cursed them.