Chapter 28

Richard’s Away Team

Lightning lit the night sky, illumining the earth. An old stone station hut used by cattle-hands came into view. Richard noticed a small light coming from the building. Stopping his men, he signalled for a frontal attack. He had the Fifty set up.

‘Give us five, then open fire,’ he instructed the machine gun operator.

The remainder of the team moved forward in a tactical line. Richard checked his watch. One minute till all hell would break loose. He was now only fifty yards from the stone building. He could hear voices inside.

‘This is not the fucking homestead,’ one yelled. ‘It’s an outstation!’

Richard smirked. ‘Okay, hit the deck!’ he screamed. The Fifty chattered and sustained its rate of fire for a good minute. Richard could see the trace flying overhead then slamming into the building. The occupants returned fire, but the cover of darkness didn’t give them a clear target. He looked behind and could see the muzzle flashes of the Fifty as it continued its barrage of fire.

The building began to crumble from the onslaught of fire. Rocks that had stood for one hundred years gave way. It eventually collapsed exposing the inside. Another flash of lightning showed Richard three very scared men huddled in the rocks.

‘Drop them and you live, fire and you die right here,’ he yelled.

Gunfire came from the building, which Richard returned. He didn’t hold back, his finger hard on the trigger as he sprayed the pile of rock. The rest of his team joined in. The Fifty began to fire again. Soon the building fell silent. Richard called a stop and inched forward. He found two bodies. Amazingly, one had escaped the onslaught.

Frazer’s

Rain continued to fall. Large puddles had now formed on the hard red soil at the front of the house.

‘Where are Richard and the boys?’ John asked Jillian.

‘Not sure. Didn’t he go after the tanks or something?’

‘Well, as soon as he gets back, tell him to go to his fire point. We have to try and stop them now.’

‘Where are you going?’ Jillian asked.

‘Same, to my position.’

‘I don’t want to stay here by myself,’ she pleaded, panic-stricken.

John walked towards the puddles on the ground. He knew the black sinking soil would have the tanks stuck fast. Currently, they posed no threat. He turned back to her.

‘I need you to be strong here, Jillian. I’ll have a man stay with you. Doc will be here too.’

‘I thought Doc was going with you to run your medical post?’

‘He won’t be needed till the shooting starts. Then he’ll fly to the evac position near the cattle yards. Max and Rat will stay. They’re good men.’

‘You take care, John. I want you back in one piece. Both of us do,’ she said, rubbing her tummy.

One Day Later Canberra ACT – 0700 Local Time

Grey called the meeting to order. Only those who were part of the NWC were present. He rose from his seat and cleared his throat.

‘Now is the time to get your families out. D-day is 2pm tomorrow. Tasmania’s not on the strike list so that’s the safest place to go.’

‘What about our closest friends?’ someone at the back of the room asked.

‘When we agreed to this, friends were not included, only close family. We are about to become the new commanders of this planet. We can’t afford hangers-on. It’s going to be a long and difficult road. We don’t need the pain of fostering friends and others simply because we don’t want to see them die. On the table are your tickets for wives and families. The planes leave in two hours. I suggest you be on them.’

Indigo Base Camp

Mike Taylor returned to the launch room and addressed Trident Missile control.

‘They ready?’

‘Got two back. The other three will drop right back on top of us,’ the controller said.

‘The President wants an early launch of these Tridents. He has a fleet off the coast ready to come in and take over. What cities have we got online?’

‘Sydney and Melbourne, the two most populated.’

‘Change Melbourne to Canberra, can you do that?’

‘Yes, sir, I can. It will take me a couple of minutes.’

‘Call me when you’re done.’

‘Sir – Canberra, that’s where our top people in Australia are.’

‘Not for much longer. America wants it all.’ Grey got up. ‘Remember, call me soon as they are online.’

John climbed up to where he had hidden the firing gear. He rechecked everything. The rainstorm had not done much damage, but he was unsure about the explosives buried deep in the rock face. He did not have the time to check. Suddenly, he heard a hissing sound, then saw tail fire as two of the trident missiles were launched heavenward.

John stared in disbelief as the missiles began to arch towards the east. He heard the chatter of the Fifty followed by the RPGs slamming into the remaining tridents. They fell to the ground. Gas began to leak out of the delivery heads, drifting along the ground. The breeze began to shepherd it towards the buildings in the complex.

The cattle came thundering down the valley into the canyon. As predicted, the NWC security force were scrambling to escape, some falling to the ground holding their throats as the gas took effect.

Those who made it out of the danger zone were now following the cows as the movement sensors went off one at a time. Sirens at the camp screamed. When the security forces reached the ambush point, John slammed the plunger down. The rocky sides of the canyon collapsed, blocking their retreat to the base.

Roo moved forward. ‘Take out the generators.’

Fletch aimed one of the RPGs, fired it and soon the powerhouse was in flames.

On his return, Roo took control of the Fifty, aimed it and was about to push down on the fire lever, when bullets began to thud around him. Taking flight, he yelled to his men, ‘Pull back!’

Frazer’s

Dicko watched as the tall ICBM climbed skywards.

‘Hey, Doc, crank up your plane, we got work to do!’ he yelled, gathering his laptop and locations book.

Jillian came running. ‘Doc’s not here! He flew out to the cattle yards.’

Dicko ran out to the satellite dish, connected his computer, then called for Jillian. She arrived, wondering what all the panic was about.

‘When I tell you, move the dish and follow that rocket.’

He tapped on the key pad.

‘God, I hope this works.’

The other four ICBMs headed skywards.

‘Fuck!’ he shouted. ‘On my mark, track them.’

Jillian gripped the dish with both hands.

‘Now!’ he shouted.

Jillian followed the missiles as Dicko entered data. He picked up the change code, removed old coordinates and replaced them with new ones.

‘Here goes!’ he muttered, hitting Enter.

A few seconds later, the missiles changed direction and headed North East. Dicko grabbed Jillian and began to dance around.

‘We did it, Prime Minister, we did it!’

‘Did what?’ Jillian asked with great excitement.

‘Return to sender! Boomeranged ʼem back to the sickos who made ʼem.’

Happy at what he had achieved, Dicko settled down and glanced at the news page. His jaw dropped.

‘Dear God, they’ve wiped out most of Canberra and half of Sydney.’

Jillian stopped walking and turned.

‘What are you saying?’

‘Shit!’ Dicko exclaimed, handing her the laptop.

Jillian dropped the computer, fell to her knees and burst into tears. Canberra. Their son was still at the Academy. Her secretary and housekeeper, loyal, average people who kept the nation running, now dead. Sydney! She had a lot of friends who lived there too, people with young families. Gone. All gone. She sobbed and sobbed as Dicko tried to console her. ‘Who did this, Dicko? Who?’

He hugged her. ‘Jillian, it was the greedy and corrupt power mongers of America. They want the whole country.’

‘I damn well hope that’s where you returned those missiles to.’

He pulled her closer, not sure what to say.

Indigo Base

Corpses littered the compound, dead from the nerve agent. Roo kept his men at a safe distance from the noxious vapours still moving along the ground.

‘Let’s go home,’ he said, turning his back on the destruction he had helped create.