Without Law 18 by Eric Vall (most difficult books to read .txt) 📗

plasma gun and held it across the hood of the jeep as I took aim at the bridge. Anna and I had put enough fluid that it shouldn’t matter too much where my blast landed. As long as it hit one of the drops, then it should ignite.

I took a deep breath and pulled the trigger.

The familiar blue light flashed from the end of my gun, but nothing happened.

“What’s going on?” Tara asked.

“Did you shoot?” Paige pushed.

“I did.” I nodded. “I don’t think I hit the plasma.”

Apparently, it needed to hit one of the drops exactly in order for it to ignite. This might be a little more difficult than I had originally thought.

I took aim at the side of the bridge where the drops should be, and I pulled the trigger of the plasma gun, but once again, nothing happened, so I adjusted my gun slightly to the right and pulled the trigger again.

Nothing.

I sighed, adjusted, then pulled it again, and this time my blast caught one of the drops of fluid.

I dropped down behind the front tire as quickly as I could, but the sound of the blast filled my ears, and I felt the ground tremble beneath me as tiny bits of concrete landed all around us.

My hands instinctively covered the top of my head, and I squeezed my eyes shut against the dust that filled the air. My ears were ringing from the explosion, but after a moment I could hear the sounds of the last bits of debris hitting the top of the jeep.

“Is it over?” Paige asked, but her voice was muffled since my ears were shot for the moment.

I carefully peered over the top of the jeep and saw the destruction we’d caused. The bridge was no longer standing, in fact, there was barely any of it left at all. I’d expected some of the concrete to still be intact and hanging over the edge, but that wasn’t the case. The bridge was reduced to complete rubble, and if I hadn’t known it was there beforehand, I might’ve thought the road was just never finished.

“Tav?” I heard Minji’s voice come through the walkie talkie on my hip.

“Minji,” I answered.

“Are you okay?” the Korean woman asked, and her voice was panicked.

“I’m fine,” I said. “What’s going on?”

“We saw a huge blast,” she explained. “We were worried one of the MiGs came back, or maybe the Boston troops were early.”

“No.” I shook my head even though she couldn’t see it. “We were blowing the bridge.”

“Oh, okay,” she replied, and I could hear her sigh of relief even through the small speaker.

“What’s your current position?” I asked. “ETA?”

“We’re nearly to King’s Creek,” Minji said. “Maybe half a mile away.”

“Good,” I said. “We’ll see you soon. Be careful.”

“You, too,” she said, and I hung the walkie back on my hip.

If Minji was able to see the explosion from that distance, then it was a good thing we’d blown the bridge when we did. If the NK troops were within a few miles, it was possible they would have seen it as well.

Granted, they most likely would have assumed it was something to do with their buddies’ battle against the American resistance, but I still didn’t want to give them any reason to try and hurry over here. The longer we had to get things ready, the better.

I needed to check on the howitzer, but I also needed to see how things were going with the roads. That was probably the most important part of our plan. Getting the NK troops into the position we wanted them was the catalyst that would allow us to take them out.

“Hammer, come in,” I said into the walkie.

“Here,” the man answered after a moment, and he sounded out of breath.

“What’s your status?” I asked, and my eyes narrowed on the bridge in front of me as I waited for his reply.

“We’ve managed to block off Highway 60,” he told me. “We’re working on the side roads now, but it’s taking longer than anticipated. I even split up my group, but we’re still pressed for time. At this rate, we aren’t going to get to the interstate.”

“I understand.” I nodded. “Just focus on the side roads, the girls and I will handle I64. Once you’ve finished with the back roads, I want you to leave a couple of guys there to camp out and shoot at anybody who tries to come into the area. They may not see anybody, but in case the NK troops send out scouts, I want them to get the message that there’s only one way for them to go. You and the rest of your men head back here ASAP. Got it?”

“Roger that,” Hammer said.

“Get back to it,” I told him. “Radio if you need anything else.”

“Aye, aye, Ranger Captain,” the man said, but even the playful phrase sounded serious since he was clearly still focused on whatever task he was completing at the moment.

I hung the walkie on my hip once more, then I turned to the girls.

“We’re blowing more shit up?” Tara asked.

“Looks like it,” I agreed.

“What about checking on Ben and the howitzer?” Paige asked.

I thought for a moment. We didn’t have a lot of time, so we needed to prioritize everything properly. The interstate was our main priority since it would be the route the NK troops would most likely be coming down. However, if we left right now to take out the interstate, then there was a possibility we wouldn’t make it back with enough time to make sure the howitzer was lined up properly.

“If we head to the interstate now, we don’t know how long we’ll be there,” I explained. “We could run into any number of issues that makes