Free Evacuation (The Boris Chronicles Book 1) by Michael Anderle, Paul C. Middleton Page A

how she can be when she gets a bee in her bonnet. I pointed out that in ten years she still hadn’t learned not to flinch when she pulled the trigger, but…”  

    Boris sighed. He really didn’t need this, but Paul was an old friend. To his surprise, Janna spoke up in the sudden silence, “Paul, I placed you in our small command group. That is you, Boris and myself. You are third in command. But Alecta doesn’t have any military experience, nor a reputation as a hunter, tracker or a decent shot. She’d be useless to the group compared to what she could contribute to the space-borne group.”

    She paused, then shrugged, and said. “I think this is where we pass it up the chain Boris. I’ll call Cheryl Lynn. Explain, and see if we can expedite her transport to the design group. That way she won’t play games. Hopefully whatever task they give her will keep her too busy to have other worries.”

    Boris turned to her and grinned, his relief obvious, “And that is how a good aide works out the little things. Paul, you could learn from her. We’ll get back to you as soon as it’s arranged.”

    Hopefully, the NVG couldn’t organize anything else before they were ready to move. They were now only waiting for a storm to cover the area. When that happened, they could travel without any additional assistance. The cloud cover would make everything easier.

    —

    Unfortunately, the weather had not co-operated. It had taken another five days before they had enough clouds overhead to cover their split and scatter movements. During that time the NVG had started a pair of reinforced companies moving towards the town. The same night Boris found out about the force approaching he had begun moving his people into ambush locations. The experienced fighters were all in a position to do attritional ‘shoot and run’ encounters. Half would scatter to their targeted areas of responsibility after each bushwhacking, the rest would fall back to the main force. The NVG was moving by back roads, avoiding highways. After three sprung traps, Boris expected them to switch to an alternate route. He had forces of approximately twelve hundred and fifty set along each of the probable routes into town. The plan was to wipe the NVG out to the last man.  

    They had time. ADAM predicted that the cloud cover would last at least ten days. The NVG planned to arrive in three. Boris expected them in about five.  

    Once they knew the attack route from their interception of communications and scouts verification, Boris would consolidate his forces. Four hundred or so troops against his nearly three thousand. He doubted his casualties would be even between 50-100. Particularly with the extra doses Bethany Anne had provided for his medics, nurses, and doctors. The mercs had unboxed and prepared their portable anti-armor weapons, and there were enough to take out any APCs.
     
    Each officer had access to an account provided jointly by himself and Bethany Anne. These would provide funds for them to disburse to the troops so that working would not be necessary, although many of them would as part of their covers.

    Boris had allowed for four weeks of travel for the refugee column to get to safety. It was, he hoped, a generous schedule. The extra time allowed Bethany Anne to provide a piece of equipment that Janna had requested. A camouflaged mobile command base that would permit them to travel quickly and discreetly between areas of operation. What Team BMW had produced looked like a rusting shipping container. It was modified to fly like the pods and had enough internal power to run communications and basic computer support. A small kitchen, first aid equipment, and beds were also included.

    It also included, somewhat to Boris’s distress, three motorcycles for local transport. Boris hated riding the damn things but did agree they made sense. Motorcycles would be able to go places that cars couldn’t, so they could hide the shipping crate most of the