Chapter 38

Sunday evening 10:20 pm

Red Dragon Compound

Near Olympic National Park Washington

The dirt driveway in front of Ben and Ferg looked like the floor of a slaughterhouse. 1,400 steel balls traveling over 3000 feet per second in two overlapping 50 degree arcs had hit the 15 Red Dragon operatives like the Grim Reaper’s scythe. All that remained of the first 5 men were bloody smears and chunks of meat and bone. They had taken the brunt of the blast but even those further back had all been hit with at least one of the 00 sized balls. Ben and Ferg quickly dispatched the stunned survivors with single shot’s from Ben’s M1 and Ferg’s M14. The Red Dragon operatives never had the slightest chance to fire back, which is just how Ben liked it. Fair fights were for suckers. If he could have called in Naval Gunfire from the USS Iowa’s 16 inch guns, that would have been his first option.

Now it was clean up time. Ben and Ferg started checking the downed targets making sure their tickets were thoroughly punched.

“Ben, Mei and Kelly are in trouble!” Ben heard in his headset from an obviously rattled Lizzy who had forgotten their comm protocols under the stress.

“On my way. Stay put, we can’t account for 5 targets. Sierra should be in position to help.” said Ben tersely.

“In position,’’ said Sarah (Sierra) calmly.

“Ferg proceed as planned. I’m out to check on Mei and Kelly.” said Ben to Ferg as he turned, jogging back toward the cabin where the small trail that led to the main road started.

“Roger”. Replied Ferg.

As Ben ducked and twisted down the narrow path that Mei and Kelly had taken, he realized that he had to quickly calm himself and keep his emotions in check. His girls needed him to be frosty until this was all over. Freaking out about Mei and Kelly wasn’t going to help anyone. Ben had just convinced himself that it was probably nothing major when a single shot rang out to his front. Fighting the impulse to just speed ahead, Ben paused and slung the M1 over his shoulder and drew his .45.

The shot had been just a few feet in front of him around a turn in the path. He could now hear Kelly yelling something and a man’s voice. They seemed to be stationary, or moving very slowly at the moment. Rather than charge straight up the path and into a gunfight, Ben slid behind some cedar trees just to the left of the trail and worked his way forward. Luckily Kelly was making enough noise to cover the sounds of his movement and there was enough moonlight to see where to place his feet.

As Ben worked his way around to where he thought Kelly and the unknown man were he heard a light moan. There! Through a small gap between the trees he thought he could see Mei on the ground. Ben wanted to crash through the brush to her, but knew that would likely mean that they all would die here along this moon washed trail. So he kept moving to where he thought he could get an angle on the unknown man.

Finally, the forest opened up a little into a small clearing and he could see them. A shortish Asian man wearing all black tactical gear was attempting to push Kelly in front of him along the trail and she wasn’t cooperating. She kept trying to push around him back toward where Mei was laying on the forest floor. They were about 50 feet away. Too far for a decent shot in this light, especially with Kelly there.

Ben had to get closer.

Ben was moving as quietly as he could, closing the distance steadily. Kelly kept resisting the man taking a few steps and not moving again until he threatened her and pushed her forward. Finally, Ben could tell that the unknown man had had enough.

“You stupid bitch. You are just not worth the trouble of taking you hostage. Now you are going to die.” yelled the man as he raised his pistol.

Ben had to do something but the man was mostly between him and Kelly. Even if he hit the man there was a very good chance that the round would go through him right into Kelly.

“Hey asshole. Where do you think you’re going with my woman?” yelled Ben in his command voice.

It could have gone so many ways, but Ben had stopped him from shooting Kelly. Instead of shooting her, he grabbed her by the hair, yanked her in front of him and put the pistol to her head. Well at least I can see exactly where she is now, thought Ben as he continued to move slowly into a shooting position.

“Take another step and she’s dead.” threatened the unknown man.

Goddammit thought Ben. A standoff is not what I need right now. We only have about 25 minutes before the County Mounties start showing up.

“And you’ll be dead a second after her.” replied Ben. “Just let her go and you can take off.” Ben lied. One way or another this goomba was a deader.

“Do you think I’m stupid? You destroyed everything. My whole command, the entire operation, everything. I’m now going to be on the run for the rest of my life. Why shouldn’t I kill her and destroy your life?”

“Ah so you must be Ming!” said Ben. “What’s it feel like to know that you are going to be considered the largest fuck up in Special Operations history?” Ben added, hoping to goad the man into making a mistake.

Sunday evening 10:25 pm

Red Dragon Compound

Near Olympic National Park Washington

Lizzy was terrified. She could see activity around the main house. Ben had said that there were 5 targets unaccounted for. That must be them on the porch milling around. She could hear loud voices arguing in Chinese. Finally it looked like they had come to a decision and they all piled into a midsize SUV and headed down the driveway toward her post on the other side of the road.

Ben had given Lizzy a choice in this scenario. She could let any “squirters” leave and they would just hope that it didn’t come back to bite them in the ass later, or she could trigger the secondary ambush and try to take them out. If the ambush failed to catch them all, they would likely spot her and take her under fire. She knew that Sarah was somewhere in the woods that ran alongside the driveway and should be in position to hit the escaping targets from the flank, but Lizzy just wasn’t sure.

It all came down to trust. Did she trust that Ben had planned this part out properly and that Ferg had set the mines up correctly? Did she trust that Sarah who had no combat experience was in the right position and could help her? Lizzy only had a second to make a decision. Lizzy could feel the regard of the warrior goddess Athena at her shoulder. Fuck it. The enemy was in front of her. They had hurt and killed many defenseless others, They had hurt the people that she loved. They weren’t getting away. The SUV passed the hidden marker Ferg had set up for her.

Lizzy squeezed the first clacker.

Sunday evening 10:25 pm

Red Dragon Compound

Near Olympic National Park Washington

Ben could tell he had rattled Ming by stabbing at his pride. Ming was boiling over as he opened his mouth to speak. Just then there was a huge blast behind Ming that lit up the woods all around them. Ming instinctively looked back toward the blast and inadvertently loosed his grip on Kelly’s thick mane of hair.

Kelly was ready. She dropped to her knees and threw her right elbow back into Ming’s wedding tackle as hard as she could and then flattened to the ground. Ming forgot all about the pistol in his hand as he bent over to clutch at his crotch. Ben finally had a shot and he took the milliseconds needed to line it up perfectly. With a smooth squeeze of the trigger he put a .45 caliber round right through the top of Ming’s head.

Ben moved forward to make sure Ming was dead and then realized there was no need. Ming’s head was literally in pieces. Kelly jumped up and ran unsteadily to him. Just then there was another blast and they could hear the distinctive sound of Matilda barking in 3 shot bursts.

“Sarah and Lizzy just set off the second ambush! We have to go get Mei!” Ben said.

“Go to her, I’ll catch up!” Kelly shouted.

Ben ran up the trail as fast as he could until he could spot her prone body. He threw himself down next to her scrambling for the trauma kit attached to his tactical pack and his flashlight.

“Mei! I’m here, can you hear me?” Ben said as he started checking her from top to bottom. But couldn’t find the wound.

“Ben, you came back for me!” Mei said in a weak raspy voice and her eyes fluttered as she coughed once and then passed out again.

“Always my love. I will never leave you!” Ben said, his voice breaking.

As he played the light over her upper body he finally saw where the bullet had impacted the shirt but not penetrated. At first he was relieved and then he realized how labored Mei’s breathing was. Quickly Ben used the shears in the trauma kit to cut away Mei’s kevlar under shirt and on her left side he could see a massive bruise spreading out across her chest and what was an obviously broken rib. Shit! If that rib had lacerated or punctured her lung Mei didn’t have long to live. If they were closer to a hospital she would have a chance but it was at least a half an hour back to Harborton. Even moving her could kill her.

“How is she?” Kelly said as she collapsed next to them.

“Not good, I think she has a punctured lung. Moving her could kill her but if we don’t get her to a hospital, internal bleeding will.” Ben said sick with worry.