Chapter 13
MARCH 21, EVENING
SHORTLY AFTER RETURNING TO FORT Brazos, Adrian went over the training results with Linda.
Linda reported, “We’ve completed all the tasks you wanted. The results are good. Surprise attacks on the village really brought out weaknesses. We’ve worked on those over and over. These ladies aren’t going to be caught napping ever again, that’s for sure. We have forward scouts out all the time now, mostly to the east, because we know that’s where they’re coming from, but also in all other directions in case they circle around. Even without the scouts, the women are on constant alert status. But the scouts give us a heads-up when anyone is coming. Even if the scouts get caught up, they’ll have time to fire a couple of shots, and that’s all the warning we need.
“The men have trained in ambushes and the specific attack tactics you suggested. The men have gotten very good at setting up ambushes, hitting hard and fast, then fading out to meet back up at a rendezvous point. We’re out of paint balls and gas cylinders, but I think they’ve done us as much good as they’re going to now anyway.
“I’ve identified the men and women that will be the battlefield medics and stretcher bearers. They’re all in intensive training at the hospital and every one of them is catching on fast. Their morale is good, and they are all proud of their role. They are getting tremendous support from the combat teams also; they see them as battle field angels and let them know it.
“The MASH unit is organized and ready to set up wherever needed. They can set up in under twenty minutes now, excluding tents, and start moving out to relocate on a minute’s notice. You didn’t mention drilling them but I thought it a good idea so went ahead. They needed to learn how to pack and unpack quickly. They’ve also been getting training in map reading so that they can find their way to the next spot. The village hospital has been organized for rapid response to incoming patients from the MASH unit, or from walking wounded. That’s something else I instituted. The medics will determine if a person can’t continue to fight, but can walk to the hospital bypassing the MASH unit. If they can be treated on the battle field and returned to the fight they will be. Triage in the field, so to speak.”
Adrian said, “Good report and excellent decisions. How do you feel now about being second in command?”
“Better. Your demonstrated trust in me hasn’t gone unnoticed by the troops, and I was given enough rope to prove or disprove that trust. Apparently I am proving it, because I haven’t had a single problem with my orders being followed. I thought I would have some trouble from the men, but I haven’t.”
Adrian said, “That’s well and good, and as I expected, but I meant how are you feeling yourself? What’s your confidence level now?”
“As good as it can be, knowing I haven’t been tested under real conditions.”
“That’s an honest answer. I appreciate that. I want you to know that I have one hundred percent confidence in you when the bullets are flying. I didn’t choose you for this randomly, but I can’t exactly explain my reasoning, because it is more of an intuitive feeling than a logical formula. My gut tells me that you’ll remain cool and level no matter what, that you can and will think on your feet, and that you’ll remain clear-headed and see the big picture as events change and swirl around you. That is a rare talent—staying cool and seeing the overall battlefield under intense pressure. It’s what makes a leader, and exactly what the troops not only need, but fully deserve. They deserve to receive orders from someone who is in control and can act rationally and rapidly as needed.
“I’m sure you’re still wondering why I didn’t pick one of my own teammates from the Army to command the women. Let me add in another element I didn’t go into previously. My guys are all outstanding soldiers, battle tested and excellent at what they do. What they do is follow orders extremely well. What they don’t do—and never had any expectation of doing—is to have to think up what those orders should be. I was in the same boat until recently, when events forced me to take a leading role. It was sort of a field promotion. Creating battle plans, organizing troops, determining the strategy and tactics were new for me. Maybe I have some talent for it—I think I do—but more important is that other people believe I do and rely on me, so I have to do it well.
“You’re in the same spot I was in. You’re having this thrust on you, on top of that, you have no battle experience . I can only imagine how strange this must be for you, but I believe you have the clear-headed thinking that the role requires. A bonus is that you don’t have baggage with any of the women, no old resentments from the past. The fact that you don’t have battle experience, of course, creates self-doubt in your ability to carry it off. Any intelligent person would and should have those doubts. Your being a woman is not relevant; this isn’t about what chromosomes you were born with, and I hope it’s not playing much in your thinking. It certainly isn’t in mine. If it is, just remember Joan of Arc, Zenobia, Golda Meir, Margaret Thatcher, and thousands of other female war leaders throughout history.
“It’s my firm belief that you are of that quality, and it’s backed up by what I’ve been hearing from the troops. You have my complete confidence and trust, and I feel good about you having my back. It’s a solid feeling knowing you’re here and that I can rely on you. Now I think it’s time for you to go out on a scout and see the enemy for yourself. Choose who you want to go with you— it’s your choice—and be back in short order. I’ll keep the training going while you’re gone.”
Linda’s head was reeling. She felt an involuntary surge of pride and confidence welling up from Adrian’s faith in her. She suspected that was exactly what he had intended, to bolster her confidence in herself, but the feeling was undeniably heady all the same. Suddenly, she realized that she would march into Hell with a bucket of water if he asked her to. This, she thought to herself, this is what a good leader does; he motivates by showing trust and respect. I’ll take this as a lesson and use the same technique myself. He’s proving his trust in me by sending me out on a scouting mission, choosing my own people to go with me. Damn, he’s good at this.
Linda said, “Thank you General. I promise, I will not let you down.” Her smile was kept on the inside as she said it.
“Good. I don’t expect you to. Now let’s go over the duty roster name by name. I want to know what you think of each person.”
Later that day, Matt invited Adrian and Linda to observe a test firing of his pipe cannon. “This is basically a large single shot shotgun. It can be reloaded and reused, but it takes two people half an hour to set it up again—too long for any battle I can think of. As you can see, I’ve set pieces of plywood downrange to get an idea of the maximum effective range as measured by spread of the chain sections. My calculations indicate that the best range will be forty yards. The cannon has rudimentary sights welded on top for horizontal alignment. Elevation is set by using this carpenter’s level. At forty yards, we’ll need only a few degrees of muzzle elevation for the chains to hit at a three-foot height. I’ve estimated the muzzle elevation at ten degrees. I’ll measure where the chains actually hit and recalculate from that. Once I know for sure, the level will be marked to show the leading edge of the bubble. This test will also give me an idea of the most efficient length and number of chains to load. These are eight inches long. I love the way the chains can be rolled up and then loaded; they go in very compactly, so I can get a lot of them in there.
“Fully loaded, this thing weighs in at one hundred and sixty pounds. I’d thought I could do it under one hundred pounds, but I can’t. Still, if three women shoulder this, they’ll each be carrying fifty-three pounds. Put four women under it, and they’ll be shouldering forty pounds. It’s very portable. I’ve also welded lugs on each side of the barrel to tie off with. If the cannon isn’t anchored, the recoil could throw the barrel back several feet. An easy way to anchor it is by doing it the way I have for this test. Two spiral anchors—like these that were used for mobile home tie downs—are screwed into the ground using a longbar for leverage, and then the cables are connected from the anchor on each side to the lug on each side. It only takes a few minutes to set the whole thing up. Sandbags, tree trunks, rock piles—almost anything can be used to rest the barrel on. But I think I have time to weld adjustable bi-pods on them like this one. Two pieces of pipe, one just small enough to slide inside the other, with holes drilled through them and a pin inserted through the holes make it easy to set these up.
“Firing it is as easy as pushing a button. Instead of using capacitors, I’ve used a nine-volt battery. I found some while looking for the chainsaw chains. Okay, ready to see it go boom? Stand back over there and cover your ears.”
Linda and Adrian stepped away as he’d suggested. Matt followed them, stringing out wire. “I’m certain it’s safe to stand right next to it, but since this is the first test fire we’ll stay back out of an abundance of caution. Ready?”
Seeing the two nod, Matt pushed the igniter button. The cannon instantly roared, shaking the ground under their feet. A huge jet of orange-red flame gouted from the barrel. Blue smoke filled the air downrange, blocking their view of the plywood. The cannon rocked back against its restraints, but remained anchored. Matt did a little jig while smiling from ear to ear. “Wasn’t that beautiful? Huh? Wasn’t that just gorgeous?”
Adrian, a bit surprised by the violence of the cannon blast, was smiling along with Matt. Linda had a stunned look on her face. The reality of what lay ahead had just become much clearer to her.
Matt didn’t wait for the smoke to clear. He took off downrange to look at the plywood panels he’d set up. Linda followed him, suddenly curious and excited. Adrian quickly followed. The damage to the plywood was unbelievable. The chain sections had ripped right through the panels. The holes were the length of the chain sections. Some were horizontal, some were vertical, and most were on an angle. The spread of the chains was forty feet. There were a few gaps between the chain strikes, but overall, if men had been standing shoulder to shoulder across that forty-foot spread, only three or four might have survived.
“Hot damn!” Matt yelled. “Hot damn! That’s serious damage!” Matt almost never cursed; he was pumping with adrenaline and excitement. Linda was astonished at what she saw. Adrian was smiling now from ear to ear. “This is good stuff, Matt!”
Matt said, “I’m off to the shop to make as many of these as I can. See you kids later!” Matt turned and literally jogged back toward his shop.
Lind turned from the plywood and looked at Adrian. She was imagining the damage this would do to humans. “Damn. I don’t know what to say. This is…this is just...I don’t have words for it. I’ll bring the women out here and show this to them right away. It will be one hell of a morale boost for them. I’ll catch up with you later.” Linda took off at a fast walk back toward the village.
Adrian stood there for a long time, looking at the shredded plywood. He was beyond pleased with the cannon’s effectiveness. For the first time, he began to think that the women had more than just a good chance at defending the village. They had an excellent chance if they could get enough cannons set up in the right places and used them at the right time.
MARCH 23, MIDAFTERNOON
Linda and Clif watched the two scouts that were half a mile in front of the raiders as they came directly toward them. The scouts were walking along bored and half alert, not aware that they were moving directly toward two of their enemies. Clif whispered, “If you still want to take them prisoner, they’ll be here in about three minutes. We’ll have to take them silently, tie their hands, gag and blindfold them, and get the hell out of here. It’s that or kill them. I think we’ll have about two to three hours before they’re missed. Hopefully they’ll be thought to have deserted, but we can’t count on that. That means we’ll have to move fast and not stop for anything until we’re all the way back to the fort.” This was a huge speech for Clif, but he liked Linda and she needed to be instructed.
Linda whispered back, “We’ll take them prisoner; they may have information we can use. I’ll follow your lead on how to make the capture since you’ve done it before and I haven’t.”
Clif replied, “It’s simple enough. When they are right on top of us, we stand up with our weapons cocked and ready. They’ll have three choices: fight, surrender, or run. They’ll know that if they fight, we have them cold and they’ll die, and if they run, they’ll get shot in the back before they can move two steps. The danger is that they’ll react without thinking. So we stand up casually and talk casually, kind of throwing their reaction time off kilter while they try to figure out just what’s happening. Worst case is they go for it, we cut them down, and we don’t get two prisoners. Don’t look at their eyes; watch their hands. Their eyes can’t shoot you—their hands are the thing to watch. But they’ll surrender, all right; we just have to make sure they do it quietly. Here they come—be ready.”
Linda felt her heart pounding in her chest; she was tense all over. She controlled her breathing as she watched the pair of armed men coming closer. Finally, they were almost on top of her. Clif squeezed her arm and whispered, “Now!” and they stood up at the same time with their rifles pointed at the two men, who were now only six feet away. Linda’s finger was on the trigger and she was hyper-alert to their hands, as Clif had warned her to be. The two men’s eyes went wide and they started to bring their rifles to bear in a reflex motion, but froze as Clif said in a calm, matter of fact tone, “Gentlemen, you’re captured or you’re dead—your choice. If you make one tiny little sound, you’re dead. If you twitch, you’re dead.
“I want you to know we treat prisoners decently and eventually let them go. Now, slowly bend down and place your rifles on the ground, and then slowly step over your rifles, with your hands up high.” There was a moment’s pause, and then Clif said, “Now. Slowly bend down and let go of the rifles.” The two men paused for only a millisecond, and then one began bending down. As soon as he did, his partner followed suit. When they stood back up, their eyes shifted from Clif to Linda and back again. Linda eased her finger’s pressure on the trigger a tiny fraction, but she was still tense and ready to fire.
After the two men had stepped over their rifles with their hands up, Clif patted them down and removed their side arms and knives. Clif was careful not to get between Linda’s line of fire and the two men. He had them remove their shirts and quickly tore them into strips. He used the strips to bind their hands behind their backs and gag them. He made blindfolds with small slits in them and placed them over their eyes, tying them off behind their heads. “I want you men to be able to see enough to see where you’re walking. Can you see?” he asked. One nodded and one shook his head no. Clif adjusted his blindfold until he could see to walk.
Clif whispered in Linda’s ear, “The blindfolds are psychological. With limited vision, they are less likely to try to take off running to escape, but if they can’t see at all, they’ll be a constant nuisance, and we have to move fast.” Linda nodded to show that she understood.
Clif then took a piece of parachute chord from his pack and tied a piece of rope from one man’s waist to the other man’s waist, leaving a long lead from the forward man. This was self-evident as a further means of discouraging escape attempts. The men knew they wouldn’t be able to run without getting tangled in brush. Clif said, “Okay, boys, here’s the drill: we’re taking you to our base. I’ll be in front leading you by the rope with you two following me single file. My partner will be behind you. Try anything at all, and she’ll stick a knife up your ass so deep it’ll cut your tonsils. Make too much noise, and you’ll know you made too much noise when you feel the knife. There won’t be any warning; we can travel faster with just one of you, anyway.”
Clif picked up the men’s weapons, the handguns and knives going into his pack and the rifles slung over his shoulder. He policed the area to make sure they had left no clues behind. The ground was hard and dry; no tracks were going to be found. Grabbing the lead end of the rope, he started off at a slow pace to give them time to adjust to walking with their new restrictions, but soon picked up the pace to a fast walk, double timing when conditions warranted it. Linda brought up the rear, her knife in hand and ready to kill quickly if need be.
They traveled the rest of the day and all that night. It was a hard, grueling walk, but stopping was out of the question. The bandits were approaching the point where Adrian would attack them, and there was no time to lose. Walking cross-country at night was difficult and slow, as there was only enough ambient light to make out shadowy shapes. The prisoners stumbled often, but they were exhausted and had shown no inclination of attempting escape. Linda and Clif exchanged places periodically, as each position had its difficulties. It helped a little.
They arrived at Fort Brazos just after dawn, exhausted, filthy, and triumphant. Bringing in prisoners had been a goal since the first scouts had gone out. These were the first ones captured, and they had been brought in undamaged. Linda was hoping that one of them held some key piece of information that Adrian would find useful. She was amazed at herself for being so eager to earn his praise, praise that she thought he had been piling on her only to keep her spirits up, not because she had earned it. Well, she had damned well earned some for these two prisoners. It made her feel good to know that she had earned this.