To Sail a Darkling Sea - eARC (28 page)

“Can that guy get them down, over?”

“He says he can, but we sort of need real stretchers. Over.”

“They’re on the way up, Shewolf.”

“Roger. Just waiting on Seawolf, then. Out here.”

“Seawolf, status, over?”

“Chocking the doors shut, over,” Sophia replied.

“Leave a team to do that and move to link up with Shewolf’s team.”

“
Roger Division. Hill, Hadley, keep at it. Olga, hold up. Division, Seawolf.”

“Go Seawolf.”

“Be advised, I do not have enough people for two-man teams at each primary point. And I’m pretty sure the refugees are going to be freaked coming down this stairwell. I’m going to leave singletons at primary points and try to figure something out for the stairwell. We’ll either have to have a security person walking groups down or… something. Left some details out of the plan on this, over.”

“Roger. I’ll see if I can scrounge up some more people. In the meantime, hurry up and link up with the Marines, over.”

“Will do, Seawolf out. Yu, you okay with going down to the foyer on your own?”

“Yes, ma’am,” Leo said.

“When the refugees come down, guide them out to the street team. Standby. Anarchy, Seawolf, over.”

“Go, Seawolf.”

“Can you move your teams across the street and still maintain coverage? Yu is going to come down to the foyer. He’ll handle the hand-off there. I do not want less than two there on the street. That’s a primary threat point, over.”

“Roger, we can handle that, Seawolf.”

“Seawolf, Division.”

“Division, Seawolf.”

“Div Two will move two-man team and leader to ocean side of the street. You keep your people on the land side. Hand-off Div One to Div Two will be at the street instead of waterline. Over.”

“Roger, Division. Anarchy, did you copy that last, over?”

“Roger, handoff at street, aye.”

They’d finally reached the roof. The Marines were still up on the cliff at the second set of condos. There was a group of refugees up there as well, eyeing the boarding ladder askance.

“Faith, Soph.”

“I see you finally decided to join the party.”

“Yeah, yeah. I’m going to put myself at the bottom of the ladder. Olga’s going to have the doorway. As soon as Hadley and Hill get here, I’ll have them escort groups down the stairwell. But you guys are going to have to talk them down and belay them from up there. I’m stretched as far as my people reach. Over.”

“We’ve got more clearing to do, over.”

“I repeat, I’m stretched as far as my people can reach. Do you want me to explain it in simple Marine terms?”

“We were listening in. We’ll handle it from up here. Over.”

“Thank you. Seawolf out. Okay, Olga, you’re on the door.”

“Yes, ma’am,” Olga said.

“Hill!” Sophia shouted into the stairwell. “How far you got to go?”

“Four more floors!”

“That’ll do,” Sophia said. “When I send them over, get them organized in groups of not more than, say, seven. Then let Hill or Handley escort them down.”

“Yes, ma’am,” Olga said.

“Seawolf, Shewolf, over.”

“Go, Shewolf.”

“Change of plan. Get your ‘I Heart To Climb’ butt up here. The climber dude is getting ready to get the old folks down and nobody with my team knows how to really belay someone. Oh, and like, none of them speak English. Guess that high school Spanish is going to come in handy. Over.”

“Stand by. Division, you okay with that? I can’t run my people at all from up on the cliff. Over.”

“Sounds like the only choice, over.”

“Anarchy, Seawolf.”

“Anarchy.”

“You need to stay in place. But tell Yu if he gets any orders yelled down from Olga, it’s the same as getting them from me. I’ll tell Hill and Hadley the same when they get here. Break. Shewolf. I am not going to leave this position until my last two people get up here. Then I’ll head up there. Seawolf out. Olga, you’re going to have to manage Hill and Hadley. Issues?”

“Not from me,” Olga said. “Will they take my orders?”

“They will when I get done with them,” the Lieutenant said as Hadley and Hill finally made it to the rooftop.

“Thank God,” Hadley said. “That climb
sucked
!”

“And you’re going to be doing it again and again and again,” Sophia said. “Here’s the skinny. I got to go up there,” she said, pointing to the top of the cliff. “When those people get to the bottom of the ladder, they’ll come over here. Olga will get them assembled in groups. You will then escort the group down the stairwell and hand-off to Yu. Then walk back up, and get another group. I’m not going to be here. Olga is now in charge of that part of the evolution… ”

“Why her?” Hadley asked. “I mean, why do
we
have to walk up and down and she stays here.”

“Because I said so,” Sophia said. “And there’s a reason and you can ask about it when we’re done for the day. But for right now, you do it because I’m the God damned boss. Do you understand?”

“Yeah,” Hadley said.

“The correct response, Seaman Recruit, is ‘yes, ma’am,’ ” Sophia said, tightly.

“Yes, ma’am,” Hadley said.

“You follow Olga’s orders like they’re mine,” Sophia said.

“You coming, sis? Or should we order take-out?”

“Take a breather, then get ready to hump the stairs,” Sophia said.

* * *

“I still don’t see why we gotta hump the stairs,” Hadley muttered. “What is this, the Pussy Mafia?”

“Tú hablas espanol?” Olga said.

“What?” Hadley replied.

“Do you speaka the Spanisha?” Olga said. “How are you going to deal with them? Most of them probably don’t speak English.”

“Oh,” Hadley said. “You speak Spanish?”

“Yes,” Olga said. “And so does the Lieutenant.”

“Why’s she gotta go up there, anyway?” Hadley asked.

“None of the Marines know how to belay someone down,” Olga said. “So she’s going up there to manage that.”

“She sure can climb,” Hill said as Sophia went up the ladder like a spider despite the weight of her gear.

“Let’s hope she knows what she’s doing up top,” Hadley said. “Or bet you one of them goes splat.”

* * *

“Hey, sis,” Sophia said, rolling over the wall.

“Took you long enough,” Faith said, shaking her head. “What now?”

The area the survivors were gathered in was a small garden behind the condo complex. There were a number of recent kills blown around by fifty-caliber rounds and there were holes through the concrete wall that prevented a fifty-foot fall. The boarding ladder was hooked to the top of the wall.

There was a coil of climbing rope, somewhat worse for wear, on the ground and some climbing gear including harnesses and a pair of heavy leather gloves.

“The dude up there said this would do,” Faith said.

“It’ll do,” Sophia said. “I only really need two Marines. One to handle security, one to belay. The belay guy should be fairly big.”

“Bearson,” Faith said. “Belay. Derk, you stay on security.”

“Aye, aye, ma’am,” Corporal Douglas said.

“That all you need?” Faith asked.

“Yep,” Sophia said.

“Okay, the rest of us are out of here,” Faith said. “Let’s go.”

“Bearson?” Sophia said. “You’re going to need to set down your weapon at least.”

“Aye, aye, ma’am,” the Marine said, unclipping his weapon and leaning it against the wall.

“Corporal,” she said. “Get some blankets or something out of these ground-floor condos.”

“Aye, aye, ma’am,” the Corporal said. He went to the closest condo and stepped into the darkened interior over the broken glass of the porch.

“Bearson, come here,” she said, pulling out the climbing harness. It was currently sized for a much smaller person but it fit the Marine. She had to get down on her knees to put it on. “Don’t get any funny ideas.”

“No, ma’am,” Bearson said.

“Excuse please… ” one of the survivors said. “Este to the… ” he was pointing at the wall.

“Hablo espanol,” Sophia said. “Momentito.”

“Got some blankets, ma’am,” the Corporal said, walking back out with an armload of blankets.

“Stand by,” she said, putting a figure eight on the harness. “Fold them and put them on the wall to the left of the ladder, just in contact. Bearson, sit down on your butt. That’s where you’re going to stay the rest of the time.”

“Aye, aye, ma’am,” Bearson said, sitting down. “This I can do.”

I need to talk to the refugees.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

“Hello,” she said in Spanish, walking over to the group of refugees. “I am Lieutenant Sophia Smith of the United States Navy, Wolf Squadron. We are all glad that you survived but until we get you to the boats, the problems aren’t over. There are too many infected in this town for our small force to get you down to the boats by the roads. So you are going to have to go back the same way we got here. It is, however, quite safe. I am an experienced climber and all that you have to do is climb a ladder. We will attach a safety rope to you so that even in the slight possibility that you slip, we will be able to keep you from falling. I assure you, again, it is quite safe. I need one volunteer, please… ”

The man who had approached her raised his hand.

“I will go. I am tired of this place. Terribly tired.”

“Please raise your arms,” she said. She tied a bowline around his upper chest, tight. “If you slip, just fend off from the wall and keep your arms down. You can’t really slip out of this. When you get to the bottom, call to the girl at the door down there. Tell her that she needs to move over to the ladder to help people untie themselves. Can you do that?”

“Yes,” the man said. “I can even untie this knot myself.”

“Don’t do that til you’re on the roof, okay?” Sophia said, smiling. “There, now, Corporal, help me get him over the wall and onto the ladder… ”

* * *

“Habla Ustéd espanol?” the first refugee said.

“Si,” Olga said. “Hablo espanol. If you will wait here, we will gather a group and one of these men will escort you down.”

“The woman at the top? She said that you, the woman, needs to go to the ladder and untie people who cannot do it themselves.”

“Oh,” Olga said, nodding. “Okay, guys, I’ll assemble the groups at the ladder, you take them from there downstairs. You got it?”

“Jesus, why couldn’t they get this all figured out the first time?” Hadley groused. “We’re just gonna stay in place in teams. No, now we’re going to be by ourselves. No, now we’re going to be… ”

“Because we haven’t done it before,” Olga snapped. “Just follow the damn orders, Hadley!”

“Screw you, Olga,” Hadley said.

“I don’t have time for this,” Olga said. “Just get ready to take the people down.”

* * *

Slowly, one by one, with much coaching, the refugees were put over the wall. Only one slipped off the ladder, an elderly man who lost his footing. But he was only ten feet or so from the bottom and Bearson belayed him down easily.

More turned up as the Marines continued their clearance of the local area. There were more bursts of fire, at one point a lot of fire, but nothing on the radio. So far, so good.

“Division, Team Shewolf, over.”

“Shewolf, Division.”

“All the target buildings are clear. No injuries to refugees or Marines. We are bringing the last group back to Seawolf hand-off at this time.”

“Roger, Shewolf. Good job. Seawolf, how’s it coming with the infirm? Haven’t seen any of those over the side, over?”

“I still haven’t seen the stretchers turn up, Division,” Sophia replied.

“Let me check on the stretchers, over.”

“Division, Seawolf. Thinking about it, unless they’re in really bad health, I really think that the stretchers are a sub-optimal choice. We just lower them on a rope. Unless they physically can’t take it.”

“Shewolf, Division. Are you back in contact with the climbing guy, yet, over?”

“Not yet, Division. Moving this last group of refugees.”

“Contact him and check on what Seawolf is suggesting, over.”

“Aye, aye, Division.”

* * *

“Gotcha, ma’am,” Derek said, balancing the woman as she reached the ground.

The elderly Spanish lady was bitching about something a mile a minute in Spanish. Derek’s Spanish was limited to “Dos cervesas, por favor” and “¿Cuál es el costo de un rapidito?”

“Any idea what she’s saying, ma’am?” he asked the Lieutenant.

“Do you call this a rescue? Where are the helicopters? Who are you people? Are you really from the United States? I don’t believe it. Where are your ships? Where have you been all this time?” the Lieutenant translated. She said something in Spanish and the woman babbled back at her, just as angrily. There was some back and forth and the woman finally stopped, shaking her head. She patted the Lieutenant on the arm then pulled Derek’s face down and kissed him on the cheek.

“What was that for?” Derek asked.

“I told her she’s looking at half the remaining United States Marine Corps,” the Lieutenant said. “Now carry her over to the ladder. We’re going to have to belay her down there as well. Then probably through the building.”

“Hola! Hola!” a voice said from above them.

Rapelling down the rope was a very tan and handsome man in his late twenties. He landed with a bounce and waved and bowed as if wearing a broad hat.

“Senor Javier Eduardo Estrada, at your service, bella senorita!”

It was only when he hit the ground that it was apparent he was shorter than the Lieutenant.

“My
boat
is the
Bella Senorita
,” the Lieutenant replied. “
I
am Lieutenant Sophia Smith of the United States Navy.”

“Lieutenant Smith?” the man said then pointed upwards. “Teniente Smith?”

“My sister,” Sophia said.

“Ah, the resemblance is notable,” Estrada said, then held out a hand at chest height. “Except for the height.”

“You’re one to talk,” the Lieutenant said, chuckling. “Maybe because it’s not such a long way down for me to look, I’m the one that can handle them. Corporal. If you’d move Mrs. Alvarado over to the ladder, please? We get her all the way to the boats and I think we’re done.”