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  The I-10 that skirts Tucson was a depressing tangle of abandoned semi-trucks and other vehicles. Still, for only a moment, fate did shine its light of fortune over the Black Knights, as the destruction of the electric grid had occurred in the early pre-dawn Hours, and well before rush hour. Even so, this stretch was difficult to slide through.

  Steiner had lost valuable time in his struggles with the Zetas and now this guerrilla war being fought against him by an enemy he was never able to see, these ghosts, always ghosts, if only they would stand and fight.

  The one time the Knights followed an altered road sign had cost the Knights seven precious Hours before they were finally able to weave their way through tight barrios to find their way back to the I-10. These simple acts of sabotage and misdirection continued to cost the mercs the one thing they needed most…time, time to create distance from that damnable trailing enemy.

  The unseasonably brisk, dry, southerly desert winds carried dust and sand which filled every available space, especially in the eyes, noses, mouths and clothing of the mercs. These winds coming from the deserts of Mexico were also causing the daily temperatures to rise to ever more uncomfortable levels, as were the tempers of Steiner’s band. Soon, both would be at nearly intolerable levels.

  Steiner also knew that he should go to the Davis-Monthan Air Force Base to replace his lost munitions in what he now knew must have been an attack from the overpass in Luna County, New Mexico. The overpass incident had been no accident, oh no, the tire shredding strips which lay in his path, along with the missing, or incorrect signage could only mean one thing; guerilla attacks.

  The Colonel also knew that this guerilla war being waged upon his force could possibly add, at a minimum, two to three days to his tortoise-like dash through this hellish desert. He further considered the possibility that these delays could bring him back under the combat umbrella of the trailing Cobra Gunships. Steiner knew he should replace his reduced ammunition supplies, but he now knew that sending a detachment to Davis-Monthan Air Force Base was folly. Such a mission would surely bring about more of the ambushes that must inevitably befall his diminishing force.

  Yes, thought Steiner, ‘My force is being whittled down to a point where we will not have a chance to defeat the devils which must be drawing nearer and the guerillas that seem to forever be nipping at our heels.’

  Were they slowed to a crawl through the I-10 minefields, or were they now rapidly gaining ground?

  CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN

  Who are they?

  17 May 03, 1100 Hours

  The Road, I-10

  Fort Bliss, Texas

  At 1100 Hours, General Levins and Colonel Murtaugh were in the third vehicle of the ROA convoy discussing their tasks upon the convoy’s arrival at Fort Bliss by noon, when Levi heard over his headset radio; Kahuna 6, I am channeling you through to Eyes 6, wait, out.”

  “Kahuna 6: Eyes 6. Over.”

  “Eyes 6: K 6, hear you 5 by 5. Over.”

  “Roger K 6, we have company just outside of Bliss. I count a battalion-sized unit, no heavies, trucks and Humvees only. They are approximately twenty miles from the South Gate of Bliss. Their movement is around 1-5 miles per hour. Over.”

  Gus began reaching for his map case in the back seat as Levi said, “Roger Eyes, can you tell anything from their vehicle markings? Over.”

  “Roger, K: Gunner tells me his optics show the vehicles to have Mex flags and markings. We are maintaining a very low profile and have not yet been spotted. Request instructions. Over.”

  “Roger, Eyes: Make contact with Air Ops and let’s get your snakes in the air, pronto. Mex trucks here can only mean an invasion of Texas and New Mexico. Have your ships armed to the teeth and once you have everyone in position, we’ll hit them, and hit them hard. We cannot allow them to beat us to Bliss. Also, have a Dusty pick me up ASAP. Over.”

  “Roger, K 6: Understand, gather attack force to destroy convoy, also a Dusty to pick you up, Roger? Over.”

  “Eyes 6: Kahuna 6: Roger. Over.”

  “K 6: Eyes 6: Wait. Out.”

  Gus had his map out and open to the approach path of this mystery column of Mexican Army marked vehicles. He said, “Levi, they are, at least, one hour ahead of us. If we don’t take them out quickly, we could end up fighting among the buildings of Bliss. If we wait, we’ll take unnecessary casualties. I agree with your decision to hit them before they know we’re here. We don’t want to give them a chance to prepare a defense, and cause Bliss to look like Detroit.”

  Before Levi could respond, his radio again came to life saying, “K 6, Eyes 6, your Dusty will be at your location in three mikes. Over.”

  “Roger 6: Can you keep everyone out of sight until I arrive at your location? Over.”

  “Roger K 6: I may have to refuel at the El Paso International Airport soon after the attack. I don’t want to enter Bliss until your ground pounders have cleared it. Over.”

  “Roger, Eyes 6: K 6. Out.”

  Levi then called the Commo Truck and asked if they had followed the conversation.

  “Yes, sir,” said the on-duty Communications Officer, “I have also taken the liberty of informing the Sergeant Major and the Company Commander of your orders.”

  “Good job, L T, good job, they’ll know what to do from there. Colonel Murtaugh will remain with the convoy.”

  Gus immediately began to protest, but Levi stopped him with an open hand, palm out gesture.

  “Gus, we can’t both be on that Dusty, if something happens, you will be needed here to maintain continuity of command.”

  “Yer damned right we can’t, except that you seem to have forgotten that it is my job to go, and for you to remain with the convoy!”

  Levi smiled and said, “Sorry, old buddy, call it Commander’s prerogative this time around.”

  Gus mumbled something about damned old fool, but said, “You know you make me crazy, right, Levi?”

  Levi just smiled and said, “Pull over, Gus, my taxi is here.”

  One minute later, Levi was airborne. The Co-pilot knew that Levi would need to be where he could clearly see the battle, so he offered to trade places with the General.”

  Levi said, “Thank you, L T, but please, you just stay in your seat to help drive this whirly-bird.”

  “Yes, sir,” replied the Co-pilot as he happily turned back to his front.

  “Pilot, once we are ready to begin the attack, maintain a ninety-degree right-profile so I can see clearly, Roger?”

  “Roger that, sir, can do.”

  Levi then contacted Eyes 6 and made arrangements to land the ROA Air Corps in the designated Assembly Area, and for Colonel S. Levins to meet with Levi just before the attack.

  Susan ordered her crews to remain with their birds while she met with the General. She ran over to Levi, and he asked for her plan of attack.

  “Yes, sir, we are blessed with an incredibly bright cloudless day. I have decided that our first pass will consist of eight Cobras coming in from high altitude directly out of the sun. That will conceal our presence as we make our attack by raking the convoy from the front to the rear. Once the initial eight have cleared the kill zone, our second flight of eight, which are sitting on a parallel hard road with engines running, will then lift off to an altitude of ten feet. Their mission is to attack the right flank of the convoy to ensure the complete destruction of our target. The A-flight will then be released to fly to the El Paso Airport to refuel. A squad of your grunts are on the way there now to secure the fuel stores. We also have support personnel enroute to top off our tanks.

  B flight will remain onsite to provide Combat Air Patrol and, if needed, will clean up anything that might still be moving.”

  Once she had completed her plan, Levi approved and said, “I like it, Colonel, it looks like you’ll catch them about one mile from the South Gate. Go git ‘em, tiger, hit ‘em hard.”

  Susan smiled, and said, “With sixteen Cobras, oh, yes sir, we’ll pound them to dust.” The
n with a sneaky smile, Susan Levins quickly grabbed her husband’s shoulders and rising onto her tippy-toes, she kissed Levi on the cheek before turning to run back to her Snake.

  Levi said in a soft whisper, “Please God, bring her safely back to me.”

  Zeta Plan

  17 May 03, 1100 Hours

  One hour from Fort Bliss

  The leader of the Zeta Cartel in Eastern Mexico, Don Pedro Jesus Maria Jose Madeira wanted to create a new Mexican Empire to be christened Zetaland. The fort would become the capital city of Zetaland and be renamed for the founder, Madeira City.

  Madeira also felt an urgency to create a blocking force against his most powerful enemy, the Sinaloa Cartel to prevent their own capture of the riches of Fort Bliss. This area of Texas was primarily desert and mostly unsuited for a flourishing economy. Still, he must start somewhere, and Bliss, with its superior infra-structure, must not fall into the hands of the Sinaloa. He and his staff were not pleased with the long, roundabout route to Bliss, but they also did not wish to risk their reduced force going through the disputed lands or to go to war with the Sinaloa’s for entering their territory. The Zeta’s trip would just have to be longer, but the Zees only risked angering that powerful cartel during the very short distance through their northern territory. This was a nearly uninhabited area of the Sonoran Desert in its purest form.

  The Zeta convoy had originated in Matamoros, Mexico and made their slow road-march along the coast on highway 2. They remained in Mexico on highway 2, which runs along the US Mexican Border, running north to just south of Brownsville. From there the Zees turned west until reaching the town of Ciudad Acuna. Madeira’s initial plan had been to cross into the US at Nuevo Laredo by blasting a hole in the Border Wall before continuing to San Antonio and on to Camp Stanley, with its treasure chest of munitions.

  Unfortunately for the Zees, the scouts sent ahead returned with the sad news that there was nothing of value between Laredo and San Antonio. They also reported that the once great city was now an absolute ghost town.

  After capturing Camp Stanley, they began to move northwest along Texas State Route 90 through Uvalde to Del Rio, Alpine, and on to Van Horn. The convoy would cross back into Mexico just west of Van Horn and to approach Fort Bliss from the south.

  Initially, Madeira had fumed at being forced to make the trek all the way to Fort Bliss, but he knew that his new Empire of Zetaland could never be safe if the Sinaloa Cartel captured Fort Bliss. From his perspective it seemed clear that he must ensure that his enemies were unable to gain such a magnificent foothold in the old US. Now, he felt much better after his advanced party reported that only a few squatters had needed to be dispatched.

  The Advanced Party sent to Bliss had the mission to make preparations for the arrival of the first battalion sized unit. Two other convoys of equal size waited for the order to make their way to Zetaland.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT

  17 May 03, 1120 Hours

  Mexico

  30 Minutes South of

  Fort Bliss, Texas

  The cobras waited in ambush at an elevation of nine-thousand feet and as the Zeta column reached the ambush site along the last straight stretch of road before entering the Fort Bliss South Gate. At 1120 Hours, the aerial attack hit the column with the Cobra Gunships exactly as Colonel Levins planned. The first strike came directly out of the midday sun. By using the sun as the backdrop, the Zees were unable to see, or hear, the rapidly approaching Gunships until it was far too late for any reaction, other than the beginning of surprise. The ROA Air Corps flew straight down the throat of the column from north to south with eight Cobra Gunships in column, quickly overwhelming the unsuspecting invaders.

  The B-flight of eight Cobras hovering at ten feet above the ground flew the second strike. Like the Cavalry Troops of the old Western Forts, they came in eight abreast and continued to pour hellfire and damnation upon the Zeta convoy. This action ensured the invading Mexican Zeta Cartel’s total destruction and ended Madeira’s visions of empire. Huge explosions erupted from the Ammunition Train and Fuel Trucks as they were hit by both machine guns, missiles, and incendiaries. The resulting black oily smoke from the disseminated convoy could be seen for a hundred miles.

  The first-strike ships peeled off, and after witnessing the total devastation, disengaged from the battle and flew to the airport to refuel. The deadly Gunships had opened up with withering fire, consisting of missiles, 20 mm, and 7.62 caliber mini-guns. The attack was so sudden, the Zetas were unable to provide any return fire in their defense. Death came to every occupant of the convoy within mere seconds, and in less than two minutes the entire convoy was nothing but smoking hulks with bodies burning in the trucks. The Zeta invasion ended at exactly 1148 Hours on the morning of 17 May of Aught 3.

  The ROA convoy continued their drive on to Fort Bliss. They had serious work to do to re-arm, refuel both vehicles and fuel trucks before getting back on the road.

  Levi felt no need to spend precious time investigating the Zeta dead zone site and would, fortunately, never discover the families mixed in with the dead combatants. They were simply collateral damage. In war, there is always unavoidable collateral damage.

  The Sonora Desert provides a near perfect environment to delay the erosion of metal. For a thousand years, the rare passerby would see the bones of the destroyed vehicles and wonder what had happened here.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE

  Whiskey Tango Foxtrot

  17 May 03, 1200 Hours

  Front Gate

  Fort Bliss, TX

  The day had turned quite hot along the US-Mexican Border with temperatures hovering just over one-hundred degrees Fahrenheit. The skies were an almost blinding blue/white, which forced every soldier to don sunglasses. The winds raged from the south at twenty-two miles per hour, blowing sand into every crevice.

  The ROA convoy stopped abruptly at the front gate after the Point Vehicle saw the heads of nearly forty men. Though it was difficult to be sure, the men were presumed to be of Mexican descent. The Sergeant in charge of the point vehicle called the Sergeant Major and requested both he and General Levins come to the Front Gate. He felt sure the ROA leadership would want to see the results of what had surely been the scene of a mass murder.

  Both Ravens and Vultures had been feeding on the bodiless heads, lending an even more tragically eerie scene.

  Levi and the Sergeant Major arrived at the Convoy’s Point jeep. “Dear God,” said the General of the ROA as he looked upon the macabre scene. Have the mercs gone completely mad? How could they do such a thing, I mean, why in God’s name would they do such a thing?”

  It took only seconds for General Levins, Colonel Murtaugh, and Sergeant Major Cobb to arrive at the gate. The men looked at the severed heads in both horror and disbelief. The Sergeant Major said, “General, with your permission I will get a detail to remove these, these…sir, I’m sorry, but I can’t even find the words to describe what we are seeing. I mean, I know what they are but it’s just so surreal.”

  “I know, I know,” said an equally stunned Levi. “We haven’t seen the likes of this since just before the Caliphate War began. What is wrong with our human species?

  Sergeant Major, every single one of our troopers must see this act of barbarity. They need to be reminded exactly who, or I should say, what we are chasing. Please tell the 1st Sergeant to get a burial detail. I have no idea who these men were, but let’s get them in the ground.”

  “Of course, sir, but before we get them buried, I think we might just want to seal them in body bags until we search the Fort. If the heads are here, are the other remains somewhere inside?”

  “Yes,” said Levi, “good thinking, Brad, if we can find the bodies, we should bury them all in a mass grave.”

  Finding the remains was not overly difficult. The ROA detail merely honed in on the Buzzards circling the bodies as they awaited their turn to begin feasting on the remains.

  While finding the decaying bodies of th
ese unidentified men was disquieting in the extreme, it was the three mud encrusted men that were hung over the now long dead firepit that left no question as to what the mercs were capable of doing.

  All of the remains were placed in a mass grave and buried with the respect due to any human being. The ROA troopers were now also out for blood. These animals must be stopped and utterly destroyed.

  The ROA troopers would never know who these men were, nor would they know of the atrocities committed by them upon the Black Knights.

  CHAPTER THIRTY

  0730 Hours

  I-10 West

  ROA Convoy

  The ROA convoy was preparing to begin movement west when the forward OP spotted two men on horseback approaching the column, displaying a white flag from the barrel of a rifle.

  Levi, Gus, and the Sergeant Major quickly made their way to the front of the vehicles to meet these new arrivals. As soon as the two men, riding Paint Horses, reached fifty feet ahead of the convoy they were ordered to dismount and lay their weapons on the ground before being allowed to continue forward.

  Levi and Gus were told of the new arrivals and they hurried to the forward edge of the convoy to see what was happening.

  Levi noted that the men were wearing Desert Camo Uniforms. He was fascinated to discover that these two men were obviously Indians. Their faces were streaked with what he could only assume was War Paint.

  Gus also noted that each rifle laying on the ground had a sling which held one eagle feather that fluttered in the morning breeze.

  Levi asked, “Good morning, what is it you want?”

  The taller of the two men said, “Good morning, sir, my name is David Elk Man, and this is my friend Henry Red Fern. We come in peace and are here as friends. We wish to pass along information to you about your enemy who rides in the same iron beasts as do you.”