Alarm of War

them. They carried full packs bulging with ammunition and food and collapsed to the ground, chests heaving.

Emily tore open one of the packs and dozens of battery packs spilled out. A second pack had two hundred ration bars and the third pack had more batteries.

“And a special surprise,” one of them, Odackal, said. Emily made a “tell me” gesture. Odackal smiled and opened his haversack to reveal bottles and bottles of water. Emily felt a rush of relief.

“Oh, thank God!” she exclaimed. “I could kiss you!”

“Hmmm…Really?” Odackal raised one eyebrow in amused question.

Emily snorted. “Just a figure of speech.”

“When we got to the base, we were all dying of thirst, so we figured that a little water wouldn’t be a bad idea.” He looked sheepish for a moment. “On the way back I had to drink two bottles just to keep going.”

“You did great.” Emily distributed the ammunition and made sure everyone had some water. By the time they finished, it was full dark.

Cookie joined her then, carrying a map. She calculated they were ten or twelve miles from Killarney Bridge. “Moon will be up soon, enough light to travel, at least for a few hours. We could be at the bridge by dawn if we push.

Emily smiled. They had ammunition, food and enough water to keep them going. And they had not been spotted by the enemy. They could do this. They could take Killarney Bridge with hours to spare.

Eight hours later, Emily sat back in despair. There was no way she could take the bridge by assault. None at all.

They had reached the top of Sunflower just before dawn, only to find four Green Company soldiers sound asleep. They were “killed,” then woken and told to stay off the ridge so that their comrades on the bridge would not see them Flashing Orange Forever. One of them had a radio, which Emily gave to Kimball. “If anyone calls looking for a report, just tell them you don’t see anything,” she ordered.

Now Emily lay atop the ridge, binoculars to her eyes, studying the bridge through the first light of dawn. Cookie and Hiram lay beside her, touching hip to hip. The other platoon leaders waited just behind them.

“I would kill for a cup of coffee,” Hiram grumbled. He swung his binoculars the length of the bridge. “My, my…they have been little busy little beavers, haven’t they?”

Emily stifled a curse. The bridge was small, only the length of a football field, and only one lane in each direction. The Green and Red soldiers had dragged tree trunks and rocks to block off both ends of the bridge, rendering them impassible to the trucks in the convoy. Also, at each end of the bridge there were two roughhewn bunkers, built from more logs, with firing slits cut into them. Blue Company was armed only with the Bull Pup laser rifles. There were no grenades, mortars or artillery. To take out a bunker they would have to storm it, then physically tear open the bunker walls and kill the defenders. Each bunker was positioned so that it could fire on anyone attacking the other bunker. As they watched, more “enemy” soldiers carried logs onto the middle of the bridge, where they began erecting yet another barricade.

Emily shook her head. It was just too much. Her troops would be swept with fire the moment they started down the hill. Once on the bridge they would have no cover at all and would be charging into fortified positions defended by twice the number of soldiers at her command. It was exactly the type of stupid frontal assault that she had criticized others for. So…so…

So who says it has to be a frontal assault? What if they by-passed the bridge altogether? But where, and how? She brought the binoculars back up to her face and began to scan the bridge pilings. The pilings were made of cement. They were large, round and dirty. No, she realized, not dirty, but stained. There was a clear water line mark about six feet above the water.

“You’ve got five hours to accomplish your mission, Tuttle,” a voice suddenly said into her ear. “You better get your ass in gear and take this bridge!” Emily turned and saw Sgt. Kaelin lying prone just behind her. Cookie and Hiram had discretely withdrawn.

“Well, well, Sergeant Kaelin, and just as I thought you had taken a vow of silence.” She turned back to the river. No doubt about it, the summer’s drought had left the river running much lower than normal.

“Are you paying attention, recruit?” Kaelin demanded.

“Are you egging me on, Sergeant?” she asked mildly, still scanning the river. “Trying to panic me into charging the bridge and getting us all killed?” She looked up at him. “You wouldn’t do that now, would you, Sergeant Kaelin?”

Sergeant Kaelin frowned. “You are running out of time, recruit. If you don’t-” Suddenly Emily, in a surprisingly intimate gesture, leaned forward and put a finger on his lips, silencing him. He blinked in surprise. She leaned in close to his ear.

“You are here as an observer, Sergeant, remember?” she whispered softly. “Just observe. I know what I need to do.” She rolled to her feet and walked away. Kaelin was shocked. If any other recruit had done that, he would have bitten off their head. He watched her go, his surprise gradually giving way to a jumbled stew of mild annoyance and bemusement. Well, by God, he had put her in this situation because he wanted to see what she could do. This had better be good, he mentally warned her.

“What do you see?” Emily asked the platoon leaders. The sun was just creeping up and Killarney Bridge was still deep in the shadow of the hill. They all had binoculars trained on the bridge.

“Heavy defenses,” said Lee.

“A lot of targets concentrated in a very small area,” replied Skiffington with relish. “Once we pin ‘em down, they won’t be able to move worth shit.”

“Static defenses,” Kimball said thoughtfully. “We can put a platoon over the river and attack from the flank. They’ll be caught in cross-fire from the side and this hill.”

“Take us hours to pry them out of there,” complained Kara Zavareei, “and we don’t have too many hours left.”

Cookie was counting. “They got most of their men right here, Em, camped out by the bridge. If we can pin them down…”

“And go around!” Emily confirmed. “The river is low. We need to get upriver and find a spot to take the trucks across. Push a feint at them here and cross someplace else.”

Skiffington laughed. “My platoon will go across and attack the bridge from the flank. This will be fun.”

Now, wondered Emily, where was Gold Company with the convoy?

Odackal supplied the answer as soon as the platoon leaders had slithered back from the crest of the hill. “Gold Company just called in. They are four miles away. The Company commander wants to hear from you as soon as you’re free.”

Emily radioed immediately. The Gold Company commander was Rafael Eitan. “Are you on the river road?” she asked. “Oh, yes,” he replied. “It took us a while to get here, but now we are making good time. I still have all the trucks, but I am down to seventy three men.”

“Now listen carefully,” Emily said slowly. “I need to know your exact orders.” There was a pause as Eitan considered this.

“Well, I have a convoy of ten trucks, with cargo. I have to get the cargo to a location on the map called ‘Four Corners’ by noon today.”

“And what do you orders say about the Killarney Bridge?”

“Well, it is the only bridge across the river, isn’t it?”

Emily grinned wolfishly. She was right. Kaelin, you are a devious sonofabitch. “Okay, Rafael, I want you to drive exactly three miles, then stop. Do you understand? Three miles, no more. And Rafael, do any of your trucks have a winch?”

She left Skiffington and Kimball with their platoons and strict orders to wait for her signal before attacking. “Once you start, you have to keep them occupied for at least three hours.” She looked hard at Skiffington. “No heroic charges, Skiff, you understand? If you get your platoon wiped out, they’ll be able to mob Kimball’s platoon, and then wonder just where the rest of us might be. You need to keep them occupied.”

Skiffington gave her his best devil-may-care grin. “Don’t worry, Tuttle. ‘Prudence’ and ‘caution’ are my middle names.”

“Kick your ass you screw this up, Skiffington,” Cookie said.