Deception City: A World at War Novel (World at War Online Book 5) (25 page)

He took shelter behind a particularly thick stump and sighted his machine gun. Danny couldn’t see anything but muzzle flashes coming from the southwest, but that was enough for now. He squeezed the trigger and fired tight bursts at the enemy force, trying to suppress them enough to allow the rest of his troops to reach cover.

“Bravo 2, how close are you to my position?” he called over the radio.

“About fifty yards. We hear gunfire. Are you engaged?” Javy asked.

Danny fired off a long burst before replying. “We’re engaged and pinned down. No way we’re getting to the bridge in time, but this is our best pathway.”

“What do you want us to do?”

Only one thing
to
do, Danny thought to himself. “Head for our position and leapfrog us. We’ll cover you. Ryan, you listening to this?”

“I am.”

“Do the same. If you run into resistance, Bravo 2 holds position while Bravo 3 leapfrogs. We’ll try to follow once we’re past, but if we can’t then we’ll provide the rearguard.”

“Understood,” Javy replied.

“Make sure you get the bridge,” he insisted.

“Wouldn’t dream of anything else,” Ryan said.

“Leaving it all on us, huh?” Javy replied flippantly. “Guess I can play the hero and bail you out of the fire.”

That brought a smile to Danny’s face despite the situation. “Oh please. Just move.”

More gunfire interrupted him before he could say anything else. Bullets tore into the trees all around them, tearing out chunks of wood and bark and showering him with splinters. Danny considered it a minor miracle that despite the intensity of the enemy fire, none of them had been hit yet.

“Danny, I think I have an I.D. on them,” Xavier said over the radio. Danny could see him firing his assault rifle out of the corner of his eye.

“What have you got?”

“Their unit patch through my scope,” Xavier replied flatly. “It’s Ymir.”

Danny gritted his teeth. Just what they needed right now, a confrontation with one of Ragnarok’s best infantry units.

“Doesn’t matter,” he said. “Keep pouring it on them and cover the rest of the platoon.”

He focused his aim down the sights and started firing again. For a second Danny though he might be scoring hits, because the muzzle flashes died away.

But then an entire sheet of smoke and flame sprang out from the enemy position. Danny barely had time to register what was happening before the world exploded around him.

The first blast ripped a huge chunk out of the tree to his right, sending splinters and massive woodchips flying in every direction. One smashed into the tree he was using for cover, missing his head by mere inches and showering him with fragments. It took a split-second for Danny to realize what was happening, but when he did he scrambled to find a new hiding spot. By chance he stumbled across a shallow divot in the earth and leaped inside.

Just in time, too, because the tree he was previously using as cover suddenly blew apart under the weight of two explosions. Another streak of smoke and flame whipped overhead, impacting into the trees behind them and showering the area with deadly fragments. Danny could see several troops on his HUD in need of medical attention, but he couldn’t do anything about that right now.

Instead, he braced his machine gun and fired toward the enemy positions, desperately trying to suppress them.

Ymir wasn’t fooling around. Faced with significant resistance at a spot that threatened their entire operation, they responded with overwhelming force. In this case, they were firing braces of RPGs, trying to crush the Black Wolf force before they could reach the bridge.

“Javy!” Danny said into the radio link. “Ymir’s in front of us firing RPGs. When you get to our position just sprint through!”

“Copy. Do you need help?”

“Just get to the bridge,” he ordered tersely.

Xavier came on the radio. “We’re not going to last long at this rate.”

“I know.”

“We’re going to have to take a risk. Call for air support.”

Danny frowned. “That’s really going to put them at risk. They might be in the antiaircraft gun’s cone of fire, even at this distance.”

“We don’t have a choice!”

Danny was about to reply when another pair of RPGs streaked by them, slamming into the surviving trees around them. If Ymir kept this up there would be nothing left but toothpicks and charred corpses, he thought to himself.

“Point conceded.” He changed radio channels, then grabbed at one of the grenades on his belt. “Raven 2, Raven 2, come in.”

“This is Raven 2,” Blake responded.

“You see my marker?”

“I see it on the radar.”

“We’re under heavy fire. Can you give us support if I mark the target with smoke?”

“That I’ll do,” Blake confirmed. “Just give me the target.”

Danny let go of his gun, stood up, pulled the pin and threw his grenade as hard as he could in the direction of the enemy. He narrowly made it back into cover as a flurry of bullets ripped through the air above him.

“How was the toss?” he asked into the radio, to no one in particular.

“Looked good from my end. I see the smoke coming out,” Xavier said.

The gunfire from the other side suddenly stopped.

“What the heck?” Danny said.

“Looks like they’re bugging out,” Xavier told him. “They know what’s coming.”

“Do you still want me to make an attack run?” Blake asked.

Danny nodded. “Got to make good on our threats. Don’t overdo it, though.”

“Got it.”

He contacted his other two squad leaders. “Javy, Ryan, you’re clear! Head for the crossing! Xavier, we’ll follow behind them and cover their backs.”

“Got it,” came the response from all three.

Danny was on his feet and sprinting toward the river when minigun fire started tearing through the forest. If it wasn’t doing any damage, it would at least discourage their enemies from pursuing for a bit.

“Bravo Wolf, we’re at the river,” Javy said over the radio. “We’re taking our shots now.”

“Good shooting,” Danny told him.

He emerged from the trees just in time to see the recoilless rifle fire.

BAM!

An explosion tore into the makeshift pontoon bridge, tearing it clean in half. Several soldiers trying to cross were thrown into river by the force of the blast. The survivors scrambled for the closest shore, but out on the open water there was no cover. Danny and several others sighted their guns and pulled their triggers.

“Sword Lead, Sword Lead,” Danny called over the radio. “The bridge is down. The bridge is down.”

“Good work,” David said. “We’re-”

Something slammed into him and forced him to the ground. It took Danny a second to recognize the chatter of autocannons, and then he realized they were under heavy fire.

“Target the guns! Target the guns!” Ryan was shouting over the radio in the midst of the din.

BAM!

One gun fell silent, engulfed in a sheet of flame, but that was the least of their worries right now. As he struggled to his feet, Danny saw enemy movement on the opposite shore, probably from the Ragnarok troops waiting to cross over the now-destroyed pontoon bridge.

They hadn’t won yet. Not even close.

Danny got back on the radio. “Bravo Wolf, form up a defensive perimeter! We hold this position until backup arrives!”

There was nothing else to do. They couldn’t just consider this a job well done and leave. The pontoon bridge might be gone, but they still had hundreds of enemy troops to deal with on both sides of the river. And if Hydra didn’t secure the shoreline again, Ragnarok could very well force their way across by boat.

If that happened they could be stuck here for months, fighting a brutal and grinding battle they could ill afford. Even with the addition of Magic Battalion, their forces would be severely overstretched.

“Sword Lead, Sword Lead,” Danny called over the radio as his troops hunkered down at the edge of the forest.

“Go ahead.”

“Ragnarok’s still trying to force more units over the river. I’ll try to hold, but I’m going to need reinforcements soon.”

“Understood. We’ll start making a counter-push. Just hold out until we reach you.”

Easier said than done, Danny thought to himself. He only had a platoon to start with, and their earlier confrontation with Ymir cost them several valuable soldiers.

Oh well. They were definitely outnumbered, probably outgunned as well, but they were the only force that was in a position to hold off the enemy advance around the river. Although…

“Sword Lead, what about Gio’s platoon?” Danny asked as he reloaded his machine gun.

“They’ll be making the push with us, but there’s a pretty good size enemy force in front of them,” David told him. “They might not be able to move fast.”

“Got it.” Their options were dwindling fast.

“Danny, there’s movement to the rear,” Ryan said over the radio. “Looks like Ymir’s back.”

Nothing else to do. “Xavier, have your squad cover the approaches across the river. Javy, Ryan, we’ll hold off Ymir.”

Danny moved forward to a better firing position. Just in time, too, because Ymir began swarming out of the overgrowth toward the river. At least they’d have no shortage of targets.

“Weapons free. Use anything and everything,” he ordered. A second later, he squeezed his trigger.

The chattering sound of his machine gun was lost among the din of battle. Bullets cracked all around him, most passing harmlessly through the air, some finding flesh. An RPG smacked into the canopy overhead and exploded, deflected by the mess of branches.

He could hear the calls for medics over the radio and see the blips on his radar disappearing at an alarming rate. Danny knew full well that they probably didn’t have much time left.

And then his gun suddenly jammed.

Danny tossed away his weapon and looked for another. In the desperate fight he had been forced to fire far too rapidly, and the barrel of his gun had fused. He spied an assault rifle lying next to one of his fallen soldiers and grabbed it, taking the remaining ammunition as well. It didn’t have the firepower of a machine gun, but at this point it probably didn’t matter. They’d be overrun within a few minutes anyhow.

“Sword Lead, we need you to step on it,” Danny said in a surprisingly calm tone for the situation. “We’re not going to last much longer.”

“Copy that. We’re making progress,” David reassured him.

Not fast enough, Danny thought. A grenade explosion forced him to duck back into cover and then move. Mere seconds after he fled his previous location another explosion went off that would have been right in his lap.

By chance he found himself next to Javy, firing off intermittent bursts at the surging enemy force.

“We’re screwed,” Javy said.

“I know.”

“We need fire support.”

“I know.”

“Call in the gunships and pop smoke,” Javy told him.

Danny frowned. “There’s still AA guns on the other side of the river.”

“Are they so valuable that we can’t risk them? We’re completely screwed if we don’t get fire support soon,” Javy argued. He pulled the pin from a grenade and chucked it toward the enemy lines.

Danny gritted his teeth and opened up a radio link to Blake. “Raven 2, we need air support. Desperately.”

“Got it.”

“Bear in mind that there’s still AA guns on the far bank.”

“We’ll handle it. Just pop smoke,” Blake told him.

Danny pulled the pin on another smoke grenade, stood up and threw it toward the enemy lines. “Hope this works,” he muttered to himself.

“If it doesn’t we won’t be around to care,” Javy commented.

“Yeah, that’s what I’m afraid of.”

“Bravo Wolf, I see your smoke,” Blake said. “This is going to be tricky. We’ll make a fast attack run with rockets parallel to your position. You’re along the river, right?”

“Right,” Danny confirmed.

“Alright, some of these might end up close.”

“Don’t worry about friendly fire,” Danny told him. If they didn’t get air support they were all dead anyhow.

Even if they did get support, it might not be enough. Danny sighted his weapon and took out an enemy heavy moving out from cover, but a dozen more surged in behind her. Gunfire forced him to duck back behind a stump, hoping that it would hold out against the onslaught.

“Gotta go,” Javy said beside him. “We’re taking too many casualties and they need to be treated.”

“Do it,” Danny ordered, even though it would hurt them. Every medic tending to the injured was someone not firing at the enemy.

“Starting our run,” Blake told him, and a second later the forest in front of them lit up with explosions. The amount of fire coming from the enemy lines suddenly petered out.

But then another explosion went off further down the line to the west.

“Danny,” Blake said, “I just lost Raven 8. My copilot’s dead, and my bird’s heavily damaged. I’m going to have to pull out.”

“Understood,” Danny replied with a sinking feeling in his gut. “Thanks for the assist.”

And with that, their last trump card was gone.

“Squad leaders, report,” he ordered. “How many guys do you have left?”

“Five, counting myself,” Xavier said.

“I’ve got four as well,” Javy spoke up.

“I have four… Make that three. Three left,” Ryan said.

And with him that made thirteen, Danny though gloomily. That number certainly didn’t bode well. He was almost sorry he had asked.

“Sacred Sword’s fighting their way up here, but they’re encountering heavy resistance. Our air support is gone. We’ll do what we can in order to hold our positions until help arrives.”

And they’d do whatever they needed to make sure the flank didn’t fall. Their actions at the river had probably stalled the enemy advance, but they had to regain their lost ground before it turned into a quagmire.

Danny had a feeling they wouldn’t live long enough to see the end of the battle, but if they could buy the rest of their comrades some time then it was worth it.

“Looks like this is our last stand, huh?” Xavier commented over the radio.

“Looks like it,” Danny agreed. “Don’t we get all the fun jobs?”