Chapter 30

Flashback – Jack – At the old Orthodox Church

Hell's Fucking Bells! Ben tipped his wheelchair on the side and I recognized the sound that prompted him to do it. I dove to the floor right beside Ben's new nurse and made sure to hold her head down as all hell broke loose. The stupid fuckers in the BTR 80 decided to fire on the church with the 14.5 mm cannon and it ripped the hell out of everything. I didn't know who the fucker was that gave the order but their ass was mine if I lived through this...

Flashback – Ben – One more frying pan!

I heard the 14.5mm cannon start firing and tipped my wheelchair on its side just in time. The rounds ripped the hell out of the church and made a hell of a ballistic crack as they passed overhead. It was impressive that even after penetrating the wall most of them were still supersonic and made me dream of having a rifle that fired that round. I hunkered down behind some shit and hoped like hell I didn't get hit...

Flashback – Masha – At the old Orthodox Church

I could not believe that the idiots in the BTR 80 opened fire on the church with the 14.5mm machinegun; didn't they realize that our troops were inside? Tatiana yelled, "Why the hell are they firing at our troops?"

Instead of providing a rhetorical reply, I was occupied looking for something to make them stop...

Flashback – Jack – At the old Orthodox Church

Son of a bitch! That hurts like hell! The fucking rounds were blasting through the church walls and peppered us with sharp as hell pieces of the wall. I yelled to Elena, "We need to crawl further away from the wall. Stay low like me."

We crawled like crazy toward Banzai, got close to him and the fool was grinning like crazy! I asked, "Have you lost the rest of your fucking mind?"

He yelled back, "Hell no, I was just thinking how great it would be to have a sniper rifle in this caliber, hell it would blow the fifties away."

I complained, "Well now I'm certain you have lost your fucking mind. They are trying to kill us."

He stated, "As if hell they could! Because of the height of the BTR 80 if they fire low enough to hit us, they will probably hit the floor and it will deflect the round upwards and over us."

A round goes zing as it goes past us and Banzai added, "See, that's a ricochet off the floor."

I do admit I felt better when he said that, then just as quickly as it started the firing stops. I yelled as I jumped up, "I'm going to go kick some ass!"

Banzai complained but I ignored it - I had some ass to kick!!!

Flashback – Masha – At the old Orthodox Church

I tore off part of Tatiana's white skirt, tied it to my rifle (by using the bayonet) and began to wave the flag like crazy!

Finally the firing stopped, Tatiana stood up, shook her fist at the BTR 80 and began to swear at them. I grabbed her arm and declared, "We need to get you to the hospital."

We took off running just in time because then the idiots in the BTR 80 did something even more idiotic...

Flashback – Ben – One more frying pan!

I complained, "Jack you need to stay down." But the old fart was already up and running when we heard a whump.

Elena looked at me and questioned, "Ben what was that?"

I answered, "Unless I'm wrong, they are firing gas rounds into the church. Hurry and get me up and let's see if we can get out of here while we can still see."

I was shocked at how quickly she moved! She had my chair up but then said, "Ben your chair is ruined. Can you walk?"

I looked at it and immediately saw she was right. Not only was one of the wheels destroyed, the top frame was busted to shit. I answered, "I willing to try but I will need help." She was strong as hell for such a small woman! She got under my left side and we slowly moved toward the back of the church as the tear gas started to fill the church...

Flashback – Jack – At the old Orthodox Church

Those fuckers didn't know when to stop - they gassed the church! I continued moving in the same direction (toward the window), ran into the fucking wall, moved my way to the left, finally found the window and dove outside.

I coughed and hacked like crazy until my vision and lungs cleared, then I stood up, flipped off the BTR 80, leveled my AK at it and fired at the fuckers!

In hindsight perhaps that wasn't such a good idea...

Flashback – Ben – One more frying pan!

We just made it to the back of the church when son of a bitch ... They started firing again! Thank God this time it was the thirty and not the 14.5. The thirty caliber rounds bounced off the outside walls of the church and didn't even make much noise – the sound reminded me of hail.

Elena slowly lowered me to the ground, pulled out her cell phone and said, "It's time to stop this!"

She placed a phone call to her television station and began to describe everything...

Flashback – Jack – At the old Orthodox Church

I dove to the ground just in time as the fuckers opened up on me with the damn thirty caliber and I wished like hell they would have used the 14.5 again. When the thirty rounds impacted the wall of the church, they splattered and hot pieces of copper and lead rained down on me. I crawled like crazy away from the wall toward the BTR 80. I wished like hell I had an antitank round I could have fired at them...

Flashback – Jens – At the military hospital

After giving me the things I requested my parents left and the nurse came back into the room and confronted me, "Jennifer, you should know better than to try to pull that fake crying routine on me. It was an embarrassingly bad performance."

I looked down at the bed, pulled at the sheets and apologized, "I'm sorry, Daddy already scolded me about this. I won't do it again."

She surprised me when she said, "You should be happy that you can be Odette in Swan Lake. That's a dream that few people ever get to fulfill."

I looked at her and challenged that thought, "How would you know about that?"

She glanced at her watch and answered, "Well, I have a little bit of time so let me show you and tell you."

She put her foot on the chair beside the bed, pulled up her pants leg and I gasped! Her leg looked terrible! It was misshapen and looked like someone had beat on it with a hammer. Then she sat down and began, "You might not believe this, but when I was younger I was like you: I was scheduled to dance the part of Odette for the NYCB (New York City Ballet) but then this happened and I never had the chance to fulfill that dream."

My throat became very dry as I asked, "If you don't mind me asking, what happened?"

She smiled and replied, "If I still minded I wouldn't be talking to you right now. Much like you, I was the new and rising star. I had just dethroned the previous prima ballerina and was basking in the glow that I, yes I, would finally start the beginning of my career. The night before the opening I was at the meet and greet party when I unwisely accepted a ride home from the director of the ballet. I didn't realize at the time that he was drunk. On the way back to my flat in the City, he ran head on into another vehicle. It took the emergency crew two hours to free me from the vehicle but that wasn't the worst part."

I asked, "What could be worse than that?"

She stated, "Well, the director died but even worse than that he killed a family of four. A father, mother and two beautiful twin girls."