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

Hammer interrupted. “You did what you thought was best, and we all respect the hell out of you.”

“Yes.” I nodded. “We aren’t telling you this because we feel like you wouldn’t be valuable. We’re telling you this because we feel like you’ve earned your retirement.”

“You said you were retiring,” Hammer reminded him. “Tav has a place set up where you can do that.”

“What do you mean?” the Captain asked, and he looked more interested now than a moment ago.

“Sir, my crew and I, we have a good setup in Vermont,” I told him. “You’re welcome to go there.”

“Mmm, I appreciate the offer,” he said. “But I don’t want to impose.”

“It’s not an imposition,” I assured him. “You should be able to relax at least a little bit. You are retired after all.”

The last bit was said with a laugh, and the Captain couldn’t help but laugh back.

“Alright.” He nodded. “Vermont sounds nice.”

“I’m going to be sending some of the civilians back home, too,” I said. “They’ll be able to escort you.”

“You don’t think they’ll make it in battle?” the Captain asked.

“You know,” I said with a shake of my head. “I trained them, but they haven’t been in a real battle before, not like we’re going to see in Atlanta.”

“They could panic,” the Captain said. “I think you’re right to protect them.”

“Thank you.” I smiled. “We’ll get some supplies for you all, and you should be back home within a day. I really think you’ll like it there.”

“You know, I wasn’t sure how I felt when you and your crew showed up here,” the Captain admitted. “But you’ve proven to be exactly what we needed. Thank you for your service, Connor Tavish. You’re a true American Hero.”

“I appreciate that, sir,” I chuckled.

“I’m serious.” He looked at me with a straight face. “Not every man, or even every soldier would do what you’ve done. You should be proud of yourself, son. Remember that.”

“Yes, sir.” I nodded and smiled. I truly was touched by his words, and I was proud to know he considered my team and I to be heroes. I never strove for that title, but it felt good to hear it, either way.

“Thanks for that,” Hammer said with a clap on my shoulder as we walked out the door.

“Anytime,” I told him sincerely.

After I left the Captain’s chamber, I made my way back down to the fire and found that everybody was now awake with some coffee in hand.

“Alright,” I said as I approached the group. “Looks like everyone has some coffee, so this seems like the perfect time to start planning our next moves.”

I half expected one of the girls to make a smart ass comment about how we just won a battle and how I was trying to make another plan already, but nobody said a thing. Everybody looked at me intensely, eagerly listening to what I had to say.

We all knew how serious this was, and there wasn’t a moment to spare. There was no telling what state our boys were in down south. For all we knew, we could be the last hope to keep the majority of the NK army at bay.

I had faith that our boys were holding strong, but I’d seen what the NK troops were capable of, and I knew we were going up against some seriously powerful weapons and soldiers with no give-a-fuck attitudes. It was a deadly combination, and we needed to be on our ps and qs if we were all going to make it out of this alive.

“So, what’s our plan, Captain Ranger?” Hammer asked with a small smile. His little joke was enough to allow everyone to relax just a little bit, but I could tell from his demeanor that he was serious.

“We need to get all of our equipment down to our boys,” I said. “We don’t know how many troops of ours are left or what they have, but if we can get some larger plasma weapons down there, our boys will have a fighting chance.”

“What about the MiG?” Tara asked. “Can we haul it with the ship?”

“And the jeeps?” Anna added.

“The ship isn’t meant to hold that much extra weight,” Smith said with a shake of his head. “We could probably bring some of the tankers and weapons, but definitely not the jeeps and MiG.”

“Well, shit,” Tara cursed.

“We need the ship and the MiG, though, right?” Paige asked.

“That would be ideal.” I nodded. “I’m not sure we’d have enough room to carry all the weapons using just the jeeps.”

“So, we’re going to have to split up,” Anna commented.

“It looks that way,” I agreed.

“My SEAL team and I can escort the MiG,” Hammer volunteered.

“Wouldn’t it make more sense for you guys to pilot the ship?” Paige asked.

“Pike and Smith are the maritime pilots,” Hammer explained. “The rest of us don’t have too much experience with that. Besides, I’d rather do what we do best. Protecting valuable targets is part of our job, too. What do you say, boys?”

There was a resounding cheer from the SEALs, and Hammer turned back around and flashed me a smile.

“Alright.” I nodded. “If Hammer and the SEALs are going to escort the MiG, then the girls and I will take the ship. The civilians can ride with us since Hammer has enough men to drive the jeeps.”

“Won’t we get there before them?” Bailey asked.

“Not if I can help it.” Hammer grinned.

“It’s only about an eight to nine hour trip,” Paige noted. “We could all get there in a day.”

“You’re right,” I agreed. “We can have Hammer’s crew meet us near the water, then we’ll all ride over to find our boys.”

“We might be able to radio them, too,” Bailey suggested.

“We’ll try.” I nodded.

“Great,”