Chapter 28
One Week Later
It turned out to be one of the hottest days during the summer. School was cancelled on the day of the Delburg invasion. The rally bell intentionally did not ring. Everything was low-key.
Platoon-D, and the HQ squad took their place in the Fort. Lieutenant Murphy saluted Captain Durand as they changed the guard.
The entire Company of Ohio Coalition troops assembled with the Crawfordton Guard, Platoon-B, and a Platoon from Shanesville.
Ethan Mentzer and his scouts were also among them. The scouts were very interested in liberating Delburg from the tyrannical Gofinns since Delburg was the Scouts' hometown. They felt this may be their defining moment. They wanted desperately to rid Delburg of the Gofinns, and the Scouts never knew when they might lose their horses. Once the horses were gone, their ability to command and control would be severely limited. Seeing horses in this part of the country was a rarity.
Guard Platoon-A was to stay in the basement of the House and rest. Sleep, if possible. They would be called upon if needed.
But Ella was part of Platoon-A. Ella was outside. She and Amy were out to inspect the troops; especially Ethan Mentzer. Ella nudged Amy who looked back at her. Ella moved her eyes to Amy's other side to signal to her that Ayanna was there. Ayanna was standing there enjoying the formation as well. They both started snickering and went back to their ogling.
Ayanna thought the silly women would be so jealous if they knew she got to ride with Ethan on his horse. It was true that Ayanna, even as young as she was, thought Ethan was a beautiful man, but that was not her focus. As she looked around at the many souls, she thought to herself, how many of these people would even be alive five years from now? Ten years? Twenty years? She was a lot younger than almost everyone there. Would she live most of her life without any of them? Who would be in her life?
Ayanna was moved emotionally to snuggle next to Phil the way she used to. "Phil, are you happy with your life. . .The way it turned out?"
"You know you are a funny girl."
"Well?"
"I've made a lot of mistakes, I guess, but if I had it all to live over again, knowing what I know now, I would probably steer clear of those mistakes, but I'm sure I would make a whole bunch of different ones. But I have to say, I have the best wife a man would want, Jesus saved my soul from my sin, and gave me a great place to live and good health, I have great friends, and also I have you. You make my life better, dear one." Phil held her close to his side.
"Phil, you are the coolest guy I have ever seen."
"Sounds like you need some glasses."
Jayden exhorted his best platoon to function with honor, but be safe. He asked Angel to offer a prayer for the operation and the soldiers and bystanders participated.
When it was almost completely dark the combined force marched to a wooded area near Delburg. They were to wait there until night. The plan was to meet Crawfordton agent, Rocky Smillen and raid the Gofinn Headquarters with the best squad, simply called 'Elite 1'. Once all hell broke loose the rest of the forces would quickly subdue confused elements without the benefit of their leadership.
The Coalition leadership believed through Rocky's reports, that the Gofinns did not have the benefit of much in the way of heavy weapons.
The Coalition did have a couple of heavier machine guns, which were normally at the Fort, but were to be used in the operation.
The force took their places as planned. Captain Durand had not gotten any word of any breach in secrecy, but the potential certainly existed for it. There were a lot of military assets moving all over the place with a lot of citizens intermingling with them. For that reason, the overall plan was not given out prior to its execution.
It was as dark out as it was going to get.
Durand ordered, "Elite 1, execute."
A half dozen men with firearms and bows were clad in black with blackface moved toward the edge of town where Rocky's house was. Everyone else was to stay in the woods.
Rocky Smillen led the way to the Gofinns Headquarters. The route was dark and went through a residential area. Delburg inhabitants were used to staying inside at night. Rocky knew there was a strict curfew so there would be very little if any third party meddling.
The team arrived at the commercial section where the Headquarters was.
The headquarters was on a street corner. The front door was heavily guarded. There were bonfires burning on the street around the front and side of the Police station. There were two guards standing duty outside in their field of view.
The team was looking at the side of the building and the back door. The Commando Lieutenant motioned for two men to go out and around and come up a back alley to the back door of the building.
After a couple of minutes, the time was ripe. The Lieutenant motioned for the archery assault. They fired. The first guard took an arrow in the upper chest and went down without a peep. The second guard was also hit at a relatively short range and went down. He was making some noise. One of the back alley Commandoes ran up and slit his windpipe before anyone else was alerted, including the guards on the front of the building.
Now the team had an open path to the back door of the Headquarters. Everyone gathered at the steps of the back door and prepared to rush in.
Weapons at the ready, Elite 1 walked up the steps in an orderly method. They walked past some jail cells full of people and saw several unsuspecting Gofinns. All of the Gofinns had a Commando pointing a rifle at or near them. None of them spoke. The Commando Lieutenant and Rocky Smillen went up to the front door, then charged out and started firing at the guards who were looking in the other direction. At the same time all of the Gofinns inside the Headquarters were shot.
The commandoes checked all of the rooms in the building. They found no one. The building was secured. Now it was time to try and hold on to their prize. . .
Immediately gunfire erupted from all quarters upon the concrete-block building. Bullets were making their way inside. Elite 1 was only returning enough fire to suppress until help came.
Captain Durand ordered the rest of the force to invade. Everyone was to proceed toward the center of town and try to hammer Gofinns against the Elite 1 anvil.
Gofinns tried an unimaginative assault into the back door of the Headquarters, but were slaughtered before they could enter one step inside.
One Gofinn found a ladder and several got into the upper floor of the building. One of the Commandoes heard footsteps on the wooden upper floor of the old building and was waiting at the bottom of the stairs for them. The first Gofinn trying to sneak down the stairs was blasted and came tumbling down. The others backed away from the top of the stairway and were trying to return fire. Another Commando shot back at them through the ceiling and the second story floor. Then the Commandos heard survivors going back to the ladder.
Many of the Gofinns in the perimeter areas of Delburg had left their post to try and retake their Headquarters in the center of town. They had mixed notions about what to do since they were not getting any orders.
About the time the Gofinns thought the attack was a limited one. They were being shot at from and endless number of angles. The attack was taking its toll on the Gofinns. The Gofinns were forced to take the defensive, and the battle soon evolved into a city fight. This was not something that was going to be resolved in the next few hours.
Gofinns could not just rush into any house and expect safe quarter. The citizens of the town hated them and would put a knife into their back if possible, since almost all of them had no gun.
Almost all of the pressure was taken off of the Commandoes at the Headquarters. At least for now.