“You should be used to it by now,” said Taylor.
Chandra nodded as she gritted her teeth. It wasn’t a helpful comment, but it didn’t make it any less true. She turned to Jones and quickly snapped out her orders.
“Be ready for lift off the second we reach you.”
Charlie nodded and quickly rushed out of the room to make final preparations. She looked back to Taylor and could see that he was equally as unimpressed with their intelligence and going into yet another blind operation.
“Commander, we may punch above our weight, but what happens if we come across enemy resistance beyond the stragglers we have seen so far? With no intelligence and restrictions in our air support, we could be left to die.”
“I won’t let that happen, Major.” He paced a few steps but turned back.
“The truth is this country is a God damn mess. They’re too few troops and workers to get everything done. Now that the war’s over, few are interested, and many are stuck trying to rebuild their own countries. The only reason you and me are here is because the UK remained relatively untouched by the whole affair.”
“We’re not the only team like this, are we?” asked Taylor.
Chandra watched in astonishment as the Commander shook his head in response.
“No, but you are the most successful. Enemy resistance is being found all over in the lands which were the fighting grounds of this war.”
“That’s half the bloody world,” she said.
Phillips nodded.
“Taskforces have been set up all over to try and deal with them. There are two other units like you in France alone. Some have had it a lot worse.”
“How much worse?” Taylor asked.
“Enough to cause some of those units to be withdrawn from service and have to be replaced. The war may be over, but we are still burning through troops.”
Taylor moaned. “You’d think it was time the French Army took over the job in its own country,” he spat.
“That may well be so, but there are too few of them left as it is. This country needs our help just as much as ever. After all, what was the point in fighting, if we were just going to leave them to the wolves at the very end?”
“I thought we were fighting for our survival, not for France.”
“That’s enough!” shouted Chandra.
Phillips could not bring himself to discipline Taylor for his outrageous behaviour. Not only did he support Mitch’s opinion, but also fully appreciated the fact that they were the ones having to do the fighting.
“We know everything there is to know. Every second we waste here now puts further lives in danger. With your permission, Sir, we’re moving out.”
“Good luck, Major, to both of you and all of the Company.”
Taylor nodded as a thank you. He had calmed once it became apparent there was nowhere left to vent his anger.
“Let’s move,” said Chandra.
The two officers pulled on their helmets and rushed out of the room to find the copters loaded and ready to go, just as Chandra had requested. Jones stood on the entry ramp to one, beckoning for her to join him.
“I’ll see you on the ground!” shouted Taylor.
He split off and rushed for one of the other copters where he could see Parker waiting for him. Even before his foot was through the door, the engines were roaring to life. He leapt into the craft and slumped in a seat that had been left for him. Parker rested down beside him as the thrusters lifted them off the ground.
“Guess this is the same as last time?” she asked.
“Pretty much.”
He looked to the rest of his platoon who barely seemed to care for further information, but he was going to tell them anyway.
“Listen up. We’re going in hot, hotter than our previous mission. As to be expected, we’ve got barely any intelligence for the area and little understanding of what faces us. All we do know is that civilian and local forces are on the ground and having a hard time. Air support is unfeasible due to friendlies held up beneath the enemy positions.”
“Beneath them?” asked Clark.
“Some kind of bunker, and that’s all we know.”
“Great. So we can’t flatten it, we have multiple civilians involved, and a dug in enemy?” replied Lam.
“You got it,” replied Taylor with a smile.
It was a short journey to Dijon when they were in the air, but it was yet another tedious trip in a post-war environment that seemed more miserable and desperate than the hardships that preceded it.
“Landing in five!” called Rains over the intercom.
Taylor opened his mouth to speak but was instantly silenced as their copter took a heavy impact, jerking them harshly.
“Incoming, incoming!” Rains shouted.
Their copter took quick evasive action and banked heavily as the engines roared to full power. Taylor felt his heart stop at the realisation that this was already not going to be half as simple as he’d hoped.
“We’ve got pulses incoming. I can’t shake ‘em!” Eddie called out.
A second later, the ship rocked again even harder, and a hole ripped through the fuselage. They were fortunately at a low enough altitude that they stayed in their seats.
“This is echo five, we are going down. I repeat, going down.”
Taylor could feel they were descending quickly, and Eddie was having a hard time getting the nose up as they plummeted towards the ground. He looked around at the other marines and could see there was little fear in their faces. No one cried out in fright or panicked. They knew their fate was out of their hands. They expected to hit the ground at any minute, but then the copter rocked back as thrusters kicked in. It was not enough to slow their descent completely, and just a few seconds later they crashed through the outer wall of a vast industrial complex.
Taylor grasped the grab handles tightly beside him and held Parker with his other hand as their transport smashed down to the ground and slid fifty metres along the ground, smashing everything aside in its wake. Sparks flew several metres high either side of them until they finally rocked to a sudden halt.
They looked around at each other in astonishment, not one of them had been injured. They could do nothing for a moment but remain in their seats in shock and disbelief. Eddie leapt into the cabin with a smile on his face.
“Well, holy shit, that ain’t the most graceful manoeuvre of my career.”
Taylor and Parker began to laugh reservedly until the rest joined them. The Major got to his feet and reached forward to shake Eddie’s hand.
“Damn fine flying, Lieutenant.”
“Really? Where’d you learnt to fly?”
“Joking aside, you just saved our asses.”
“I’ll remind you of that.”
“I’m sure.”
Taylor strode to the door and hit the release button, but it didn’t respond. He lifted his leg and kicked with the force of his exo-suit, and the door burst from its mechanism and slid out across the concrete floor outside. He coughed for a minute as thick dust filled his mouth. As it cleared, he looked out across the plant floor and could see the body shells of hundreds of cars and the wake of many more that they had trashed.
“Eddie, the insurance companies will love you.”
The Lieutenant reached the door and jumped out with the Major to walk among the wreckage. He spun around, marvelling at his work until a broad smile appeared on his face once again.
“It’s okay. They’re French cars, so they were scrap to begin with!”
Taylor chuckled as he leapt from the door and landed with a heavy thud on the hard floor.
“As for my baby, look at her!” shouted Eddie.
