Other Rangers went forward, all of them men Baker had baptized in the last two days.
The Syrian armor came on.
A dozen men knelt on the rock with Baker, all of them holding hands, forming a line of human beings across the road. Baker led the men in prayer, his voice strong and resonant. He spoke the verse, and they followed him.
“The Lord is my shepherd,” Baker said, “I shall not want.”
More men came forward, knelt and took hands. The prayer grew louder.
The vibrations from the Syrian cav units grew stronger.
“He maketh me to lie down in green pastures,” Baker went on. Goose glanced forward and saw that several Rangers were frantically working on the overturned transport truck.
“He leadeth me beside the still waters,” Baker said, and the men joined him immediately. More Rangers stepped forward, filling in the human wall that separated them from the advancing Syrian vehicles. “He restoreth my soul.”
Some of the pain went away in Goose’s knee. A calmness came over him even though he knew the Syrian guns were already sweeping the fragile flesh-and-blood wall.
“He leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name’s sake.”
“Sergeant Gander!” Remington’s voice cut through the descending tranquility. “Get those men on their feet!”
Goose couldn’t move.
The Syrian tanks spread out along a wide place in the mountain road. The road was wider at this bend, overshadowed by a huge stone ledge. The tanks stood four across, and APCs ranked behind them.
“Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me.”
Drawn by the feeling that touched his heart, Goose went forward. Taking up arms against the tanks wasn’t going to stop the heavy rounds that would rip them to shreds. Even bringing the RSOV’s TOW missile launchers to bear wouldn’t stop the carnage that was about to be unleashed.
Remington swore and came after him. “Sergeant! I gave you an order!”
“Thy rod and thy staff, they comfort me.”
And Goose repeated the words with the men. He heard the words of the psalm rising into the night sky. His burden of worries was lifted from him. This was right. He just wished that Remington could see it. Something in the world had changed; it had grown darker and more bright. He missed Bill Townsend, but at the same moment he felt like Bill was with him, kneeling with the dozens of men praying with Corporal Baker.
“Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies.”
Goose heard Remington ordering the other Rangers into a defensive posture.
“Thou anointest my head with oil. My cup runneth over.”
Then a peal of thunder took away all sound.
“Ready!” Remington shouted into the silence that followed.
The gunners adjusted, taking advantage of the higher incline where the Rangers were.
“Aim!” Remington roared.
For a moment Goose felt fear worm into his heart as he considered that he might not ever see Megan, Joey, or Chris again. Before the fear could grow, though he heard a voice, calm and powerful.
“Be still and know that I am God!”
The voice took Goose’s breath away. In the next instant, the huge stone ledge jutting out from the mountain tore free and skidded down the mountainside, triggering an avalanche of rock and boulders that gained mass and speed. To Goose, it looked like the whole mountaintop toppled and fell.
And when the mountain fell, it swept the Syrian cav away, rolling tanks and APCs and Jeeps over the edge like they were a child’s toys.
When the mass of rock stopped moving, a thirty-foot wall of stone and dirt stood where the enemy had been only a moment ago.
For a moment, the silence was almost complete except for the rolling thunder of the echoes of the avalanche passing through the mountains.
Baker began again. “Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.”
Drained but uplifted, First Sergeant Samuel Adams “Goose” Gander bowed his head and gave thanks to his Lord.
EPILOGUE
United States 75th Army Rangers Temporary Post
Sanliurfa, Turkey
Local Time 1453 Hours
Church was held under a canvas tent near one of the walls of the city. Benches had been fashioned out of ammo lockers and boards salvaged from the wreckage of buildings that had been hit by SCUDS.
Corporal Joseph Baker, heavily bruised from the action that had taken place only twelve hours ago, stood at the front of the congregation and talked about the miracle that had leveled a mountain and turned back the Syrian army.
Several of the men in the group were reinforcements from Ankara and from Wasp. They hadn’t seen the mountain leveled, but they had been drawn to the story.
Goose stood at the back of the group. His injured knee throbbed maniacally and he kept most of his weight on his good leg. He knew that if Remington saw him favoring the limb that the Captain would order him to the temporary hospital area for treatment.
Until his unit was safe, Goose couldn’t rest. He stood in the baking heat that hung over the wrecked city and hoped that what he’d been told about the coolness of the approaching evening was true. So far the Syrians hadn’t tried to invade the country any farther and the sat-recon systems were all back on-line. With the reinforcements in place from the United States, the United Nations, and the Turkish military, Goose was certain the Syrians wouldn’t try anything until they were able to mass an overwhelming attack. At best guess, he and his men—and the Allied forces as a whole—had a few days of breathing room.
But the attack would come. Goose was certain of that, too.
Baker described the power of the Lord, how He had reached down and saved the 75th Rangers as they’d fought and struggled to escape the Syrian forces. As he talked, media people shot footage of the Rangers.
“Probably just a Syrian missile,” one of the reinforcements said ahead of Goose.
