Free A New World: Reckoning by John O'Brien

and altitude, I note a single, thin line of smoke wafting in the air. It soon becomes apparent that the plume is emanating from a Stryker sitting on the plain.
    Thinking the worst, I call on the radio for Greg once again. No reply. A fear surfaces, thinking that we’ve found Greg and have arrived too late. I feel a lump in my throat. I sent him without adequate support and I dread that I may be staring at the result of that mistake. A measure of guilt fills me knowing that it was done because I was distraught over my son.
    “Gonzalez, zoom in on the Stryker. Tell me what you see,” I call.
    There’s a pause as we continue to close the distance. “I can’t tell much, sir. It appears to have some battle damage and I see a body lying beside it.”
    “Look outward and see if you can spot what caused this,” I say, looking in the sky around for any indication of aircraft in the area.
    If that is Greg’s Stryker below, I can only assume, yes, that word, that the other group who targeted us is responsible. Although we found details of the facility and their capabilities, those are only words in a database and may or may not reflect reality. I am marginally set at ease thinking that, if they had aircraft capable of this, they wouldn’t have sent a team halfway across the country to take us out.
    “There are a few more bodies west of the vehicle, but I don’t see anything else in the vicinity,” Gonzalez reports.
    Closing the distance, I see the situation in greater detail. Black streaks appear along the side of the Stryker where it has been hit hard. I circle, looking for any signs of life or movement but I don’t see anything except the slowly rising column of thin smoke. The fact that the vehicle is still smoking indicates that it may have happened recently. Looking farther outward for any tell-tales signs of whoever did this, I don’t see anything other than the brown dirt terrain with rising peaks to the northeast and northwest.
     
    *    *    *    *    *    *
     
    Gav watches the large screen with interest. The live feed shows one group of her armored vehicles as they speed down a valley, chasing a lone Stryker a few miles ahead of it. A short while ago, waking early, she gathered the video feeds from the night prior and watched the pursuit. She observed the squad she had sent her company against narrowly escape a trap in a remote mountain town; watched as the chase continued to the south. All the while, a second group raced to get ahead and trap the squad in the valley.
    Now, with the trap set, she observes the formed blockade and the single Stryker being herded toward it. The video blurs momentarily as the camera on the satellite, orbiting two hundred miles above, adjusts the zoom level. The feed catches the one armored vehicle as it turns off the raised embankment of the freeway and speeds across the flatland.
    Her face remains blank, but inwardly, she is pleased as she watches the successive blows against the Stryker, bringing it to a halt. The high-resolution camera catches the emergence of survivors and their race toward the edge of a deep ravine.
    The camera pulls back quickly, giving the ones watching a slight feeling of vertigo. As it settles to present a wider area, Gav watches her two armored groups close in on the gathered squad.
    Tracers race out from the southernmost column, reaching toward the fleeing survivors. Dirt flies up and, upon clearing, shows bodies lying in ruin on the ground. The fire shifts toward two who were behind the larger group and are now fleeing back toward the disabled vehicle. Heavy fire erupts around the two, impacting the ground and the metallic sides of the Stryker. Although the view is obscured to some degree by the amount of fire pouring in, Gav watches one of the running figures fall to the ground. The other dives in the open hatch. A column of smoke blossoms against the lone Stryker as it absorbs another 105mm shell.
    “Nahmer, we have two aircraft lifting off