A Story of Cinders: From the Ashes

Chapter 24: Seek and Destroy

           

Charlie awoke in the House of the Rising Sun, the redhead from the bar draped across his chest. His comlink was buzzing. Guess it was time to go. He grabbed the bottle on the nightstand and took a swig. Then he got up, not caring about waking his companion from the night before. The first thing he put on was his necklace. Nothing would go wrong this time. Then he rebandaged his arm. It didn't need the bandages, but he couldn't afford to let it be exposed. It would be an instant giveaway. He quickly suited up, not wanting to make his teammates late, grabbing the bottle before he left, and thanking the woman for a good night. Making sure to grab his weapons on his way out, he quietly slipped out of the building, not wanting to attract any more attention, heading to the craft landing. The desert sun was bright and merciless. He quickly slipped on his sunglasses. He wasn't even hungover. In fact, he felt great. Despite the long night, he was ready for this mission. Confident, not only in himself, but in his teammates. Perhaps he could be a team player today. A short time later, he arrived, the wind from the craft rotors blew massive amounts of dust and sand in his face, the sound of the rotor blocking out every other sound. Red, John, and Louis had already taken their seats on their bird. John was beckoning him to hurry up. The other one had already taken off, and was well on its way to The Brig. He hopped on quickly, sliding the door shut behind him. The cabin was surprisingly quiet. Every other craft he had been on was noisy. "What took you so long?" Louis grumbled?

"Looks like our boy had a long night," Red remarked, noticing the red lipstick smears on his neck.

"Redheads man..." Charlie chuckled. The craft lifted up slowly.
     "So, we've got a few hours until we get to the Brig," John said to the team. "While I have all your attention and while we're alone, I thought I'd brief you on some more intel Will gave me."

"Do tell," Louis said, inspecting his sawed-off lever action shotgun, the Maw, with care. The shells were fitted into his belt and bracer on his right arm. They were slugs, meant to take the head of a rampaging lion instead of human targets.

"I see they're being completely forthcoming this time..." Charlie grumbled.

"I know, right? Anyway, so the intel we got from the lieutenant stated that Karlov has moved a few dozen T-48 Manticore class tanks around down near Tucson. These are some nasty sons of bitches. Armor too thick for even my sniper rifle to penetrate, three independent plasma-casting turrets, and a top speed of almost 40 miles per hour. The only real reliable way to take these out is with some heavy duty ordinance."

"So then why are we going to a military prison?" Red asked.

"I'm getting to that. So he wasn't lying about the whole Barlow thing. We really are on loan to them. But our entire mission is a diversion to keep Damion's team's eyes on us. The real mission is going on south of us. A platoon of Will's men are going down to Fort Sill, in Oklahoma, to secure a battery of A-19 Crusader artillery guns. So we have something to hold the tanks off with."

Louis shook his head, "When are we gonna be done pussyfooting around with this situation? We'll never get Karlov if we're being used as a diversion."

"If they don't get these guns, our fight is over before it can really take off. Things are definitely heating up, though. We won't have to be doing this shit for long."

"At least this time we know the full story though..." Charlie said, looking over his weapons. "And plus, this'll be a nice little confidence booster after that last round of horseshit. Let's all have some fun with this one, savvy?"

John chuckled. "Savvy. Haven't heard that one in ages. But he's got a point. This should be a cakewalk compared to actual trained soldiers."

"Don't underestimate the Painted Men, though," Louis added. "Every dog has their day and all..."