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

remarked, and her eyes narrowed on me.

“It doesn’t,” I agreed, and I pushed the button on the walkie again. “Hammer, come in.”

My heart sped up as I waited once more.

Suddenly, a crackle came through the walkie.

“Hammer here,” the SEAL’s voice rang through the air, and I nearly let out a sigh of relief, but then he spoke again. “I’ve got bad news.”

“Fuck,” I muttered, then I mashed down on the talk button of the walkie. “What’s wrong?”

Chapter 12

Anna, Bailey, and Tara all stared at the small black device in my hands as they stepped closer to me so they could listen.

“What’s goin--” Paige asked as she approached the group.

“Shhh.” Tara held up a hand to stop the brunette from speaking.

“We saw the NK troops,” Hammer said.

“Were you spotted?” I asked quickly, and my eyebrows pulled together.

The NKs would probably think Hammer’s group was just part of the American resistance, not that they’d be wrong, I could only hope that it wouldn’t tip them off to the larger attack we had planned.

“No,” the SEAL replied. “We weren’t spotted, but Tav, these guys are packing some serious firepower with them.”

“What do you mean?” I asked. “What do they have?”

The girls and I had dealt with the Boston troops before, and we’d managed to take out a good portion of their supplies and weapons. They could have had more we didn’t get to, though.

“Some tankers of plasma fluid for one,” Hammer said. “And at least ten smaller vehicles and three larger ones.”

“That’s not that bad,” Anna whispered.

“They’re also hauling two MiGs,” the SEAL continued.

“Hauling them?” Tara asked.

“What do you mean they’re hauling them?” I asked into the walkie. “You only saw two?”

The NK soldier on the radio earlier had told us they had three, but if the count was really only two, then that would make things even easier for us.

“They’re hauling two,” Hammer answered. “But there was another one in the air. It was circling around, just kind of staying with the troops as they moved.”

“Shit,” I breathed. I had expected they’d have the MiGs in the air, but hearing it still made me cringe inside. Those jets were powerful as hell, and it wasn’t exactly on my bucket list to try and take one of them down. Especially not with an ancient M51 Skysweeper. That was all we had, though, so that was exactly what we were going to do.

“We’ve got the side roads blocked off, though,” Hammer said. “And we’re on our way back now.”

“Get here as soon as possible,” I said. “And be careful.”

“We’ll see you in a few,” the SEAL replied. “Over and out.”

I hung the walkie back on my hip and turned to look at the girls.

Anna’s red eyebrows were pulled together in thought, and her green eyes stared off into the distance.

Paige had her bottom lip between her teeth.

Tara’s plump lips were pressed together, and her eyes were narrowed as she looked up to the sky in contemplation.

And finally, Bailey’s pretty pink lips were pulled into a small frown, and her head was cocked to the side as she looked at me with concern.

“Isn’t that kind of good news?” Tara asked after a few seconds.

“They weren’t lying about having three MiGs,” Anna said. “How is that good news?”

“Did anybody really think they were lying?” Tara asked, and she cocked her hip out and put her hand on it.

“I guess that’s a good point.” Anna shrugged. “But I still don’t see how that’s good news.”

“Well, think about,” the platinum-blonde said. “They’re expecting to meet the rest of their troops in Yorktown, right?”

“That’s right.” I nodded.

“And we’re a few miles north of that,” she continued.

“Get to the point already,” Anna said.

“If they’re only flying one plane on their way here, and we’re closer than they expect, then wouldn’t it be safe to assume they’d still only have one plane in the air?” Tara asked, and she shot Anna a playful glare for hurrying her along.

“Huh, that’s a really good point,” Paige said, and she narrowed her eyes and pointed at Tara. “It does seem like it would be a waste of fuel to have all three of them in the air.”

“Right,” the platinum-blonde agreed. “If they’re just using the single plane as a scout, then it wouldn’t make sense to have all three going at once. I doubt they’re even prepared to use more than one at a time.”

“I think you’re right.” I nodded. “They’re probably only going to have one in the air by the time they get here.”

“We still have to take out that one,” Bailey said. “But that’s better than three.”

“A lot better,” I chuckled.

“It doesn’t really change our plan much, either, does it?” Anna asked.

“Not particularly,” I agreed. “It might even make it easier for us if there’s only one plane to take down. That means the howitzer can fire sooner, and so can we. If we had to wait for three planes to go down that would’ve given the NK soldiers more time to respond.”

“This is perfect, then,” Tara said with a grin.

“I wouldn’t call having to take out a MiG with an old ass Skysweeper perfect,” Paige laughed. “But I guess it’s as close to perfect as we’re going to get.”

“Whatever makes things easier on us.” Tara shrugged.

“Good point,” I agreed, and I picked up the walkie from my hip again. “Ben, Jeff, come in.”

A few seconds later a male voice crackled through the small speaker.

“Ben here,” the pilot said.

“Hammer gave us an update,” I explained.

“What’s going on?” Ben asked, and his voice was serious.

“We think the NK troops only have one plane in the air at a time,” I said.

“Really?” he asked.

“They’re