Gordon did not hesitate, but neither did the Witiko, who tried to bring his own weapon to bear. Knox managed to get one hand on the end of the barrel and another near the stock. They grappled in a test of strength between two evenly matched competitors.
First, Gordon pushed the alien into the wall. A framed and autographed University of Miami Hurricanes #55 Jersey with the name 'Ross' on the back fell and cracked.
Next, the Witiko grunted and turned the tables, swinging Gordon into the wall. This time no collectibles fell but Gordon saw movement out the corner of his eye: Louie the commando stopped at the kitchen archway and stared across the wide open living room at the struggle.
Knox broke the stalemate with a solid knee to the stomach of the alien. The enemy crunched over but did not relinquish his grip on the rifle. Gordon admired his foe's strength and determination, but the intent had not been to wrest the gun from the soldier. Instead, Gordon wanted access to the Witiko's back.
It surprised the Witiko to feel Gordon let go of the gun. It surprised him even more when Knox pulled a wire on the alien's jetpack. The rockets ignited in a brilliant blast of orange fire and sent the silvery humanoid across the dark living room like a giant bullet. With his arms flailing the alien slammed head-first into the bewildered I.S. commando, pushing him and the Witiko into the kitchen area where they crashed into a counter. The fuel from the jet pack ignited and a small explosion spread through the front of the house…
…Roos saw the sign he waited for: the flash of something big detonating inside Gordon's home. He considered it possible that the explosion meant Gordon Knox just died, but the instinct that had served Roos so well since the onset of Armageddon told him that was not the case.
Writing off both entry teams, Roos waved his hand at the house and told the Witiko officer, 'Fuck it. Blow it all up.'
The officer sent a signal via a wrist-mounted communicator.
High above the quiet cluster of homes nicknamed 'Knoxtown,' a ship about twice the size as Gordon's house broke through the clouds with running lights off and its profile invisible to the radar net protecting northeastern Pennsylvania.
Ray gazed skyward until he spotted the shadow of the Stingray descending. He heard the gentle roar of its rocket propulsion and began contemplating a series of cover stories should any witnesses catch sight or sound of the approaching ship. If need be, D'Trayne's people would take the fall by playing the role of renegades seeking revenge. Hopefully it would not come to that, but Roos and the Boy Scouts shared the same motto: always be prepared.
The alien ship dropped to five hundred feet and hovered. Roos watched as a highly focused energy beam cut across the night above the treetops and directly into the home where Gordon Knox made his last stand. The crackling glow of the weapon cast the landscape in a soft illumination next of kin to moonlight. Roos thought it a beautiful sight.
Slabs of roof jumped off the home, walls collapsed, and flames engulfed everything.
If only, Roos thought, Evan had not been so egotistical in his revenge, we could have just done this from the start.
Still, Roos knew the cover story for the explosion would require planting evidence, bribing someone to come forward as a witness, yadda, yadda, yadda. Yes, it would have been better if the team put a bullet in Knox's forehead and disappeared the body. As it was, Roos would have to go in after the flames died down, pull out the remains of his men and the Witiko, and-most important of all-identify Knox's cadaver, because Ray Roos would not sleep until he knew for sure Gordon Knox no longer lived.
14. Beach Front
Jon sat at the head of the table in the mansion basement feeling relieved that this would be the last meeting in a week of meetings.
Joining him at the table were Phillip Rhodes-newly appointed commander of Stonewall's 2 ^ nd Mechanized Division of Virginia-General Cassy Simms of the 1 ^ st Mechanized Division, General Casey Fink leader of the 3 ^ rd Corp currently stationed in Texas, General Shepherd who commanded the 1 ^ st Corp from HQs in both Colorado and California, General William Hoth of the Philippan which hovered in New England, and Captain Woody 'Bear' Ross, commanding officer aboard the Excalibur, currently involved in a training mission in Georgia to be followed by a trip to the Pittsburgh shipyard in July.
A speaker phone in the center of the table brought General Prescott, commander of 2 ^ nd Corp, to the conversation from his base in Long Beach as well as Captain Kristy Kaufman of the Chrysaor who was vacationing in the Shenandoah Valley while her ship underwent maintenance.
'Sir?'
Jon realized he had drifted off and missed Rhodes' question. Of course, Rhodes had a lot of questions. He was a good man; a good soldier. As such, he took to his promotion with an abundance of enthusiasm.
'I'm sorry, what was that Phil?'
'I was just confirming that we have no new deployment orders. Nowhere, well, to go.'
Shep jumped in, 'Well, now I reckon that isn't the case considering that Mexico was always figured to be the next stop on our little worldwide parade.'
Heads nodded in agreement. According to reconnaissance, only wild animals-alien and otherwise-lived on the tundra to the north beyond the major Canadian cities clustered around the old border.
In contrast, Mexico-as they had painfully learned-hosted Centurian formations. The destruction of the base in Monterrey may have blunted the enemy's advance toward the Rio Grande, but intelligence suggested additional Redcoat armies mustered further to the south.
Therefore, Jon's answer took them by surprise. 'Well, we just have to wait and see. Right now I think we need to be focused on the domestic side of things.'
Cassy Simms glanced around at the others and asked, 'Sir, what exactly does that mean?'
'It means that the military is under civilian control, just like in the old world. Dante is the Secretary of Defense. He was Trevor's best friend so I think we can trust him. We all have doubts about our President but he was elected by the Senate twice and those Senators were elected by the people.'
A little voice from the back of Jon's mind said, Keep telling yourself that. Must be nice to have someone to take orders from again.
Brewer ran a hand over his eyes. That little voice inside his head grew louder every day.
General Hoth raised his hand like a school boy in class.
Brewer nodded and Hoth asked, 'I need to understand exactly what that means. Are you telling us that we ultimately report to Dante Jones?'
Sometimes dealing with Hoth drove Jon crazy. The man had a streak of lawyer in him. He not only lived by the book; he ate, slept, and shit by the book, too. He thrived on order and the chain of command, the types of things that were not so clear cut in the new world, even more so in the midst of the current power transfer.
Jon, however, told him what he felt to be true: 'Yes, in the sense that Dante Jones speaks on behalf of the President. We all report to the President, now.'
Casey Fink blurted, 'That does not make me feel so good.'
'I'm sorry about your feelings, Casey, but things have changed. We have to give this time, got it?'
'Easy, Jon, we're all giving it time,' Shep said. 'But it seems to me there are a lot of people sitting at this table who don't have fond feelings toward our new President. That's going to take some time getting used to.'
Jon heard, you gave in too quick; you handed it all over without thinking it through.
'These are tough times,' Jon said with a tremble of defensiveness in his voice as he paraphrased Evan Godfrey's words. 'What the people out there need now are institutions and things, not just personalities and Generals. You can see it already; a bunch of labor problems that were driving us nuts just two weeks ago have gone away. We have to give this time.'
'Does that mean we're not going to invade Mexico?' asked Kristy Kaufman over the speaker phone.
Jon raised his voice, 'We're going to wait and let the new government settle in. We're going to concentrate on defense for a bit. Once all is said and done, I expect the war to continue. But we can't rush things. I'm asking for
