Free Howl: A World at War Novel by Mitchell T. Jacobs

but there's still hostiles on the walls. Could you take care of them when you land?”
    “Will do, Danny,” Selene confirmed.
    Normally the first wave would have done it, but Danny felt that taking the central building as quickly as possible was critical. Ragnarok was plenty resourceful, they weren't one hundred percent sure what they stored here besides overdrive. He didn't want to give them the time to rig up an improvised bomb if he could help it.
    “Bravo Wolf, we have movement at the river front,” Karen said. “No accurate count on numbers, but they're hostile.”
    “ Hold position,” Danny said. They were in a tight spot. The landing area needed to be held, since their air support couldn't do strafing runs with them in close proximity. But that left them out in the open exposed to enemy fire once they moved up. It was a predicament, indeed.
    Then he heard the motors.
     
     
     
    The guards on the riverfront didn't stand a chance. They barely had time to turn their heads before Redd Foxx was on top of them, guns blazing. It was totally opposite of everything she had ever seen out of them, but it was completely devastating. One moment there there several squads at the docks; the next moment the pitiful few survivors were scrambling to find cover.
    With little else to do Nora was manning a machine gun, firing at any target she could find. It was oddly satisfying, in a way. She was normally a precision shooter, and it felt good to cut loose and blaze away.
    Three of the boats moved closer to shore and disgorged their passengers. Nora could see Liz at the front, leading them in a sweep of the outer building around the shore. In the skies above more helicopters descended, bringing Alpha Platoon with them. There was gunfire, movement, but there was nothing intense.
    They had done it. They had caught Ragnarok completely by surprise.
     
     
     
    Crack.
    Even inside the cockpit, surrounded by the rush of air and the engine noise the sound of a sniper rifle was distinct.
    “I don't see any more targets,” Miko said through the radio.
    “ Keep searching,” Zach said. Out of the many crazy ideas they had come up with, this had to be the most insane. Zach was flying in a helicopter with a Raven Company pilot, with Miko sitting on a bench seat on the starboard side. She had rigged a harness to steady her sniper rifle with the aid of Paige from Hephaestus Company, and was using her elevated position to find and pick off targets.
    Sniping from a helicopter was fairly commonplace in the real world, but this definitely wasn't the best vehicle to do it from. The small mass of the chopper meant there was less inertia to absorb the vibrations from the engine, so there was noticeable movement. Miko was also extremely exposed, and it was fairly easy to see that she was sniping. That would probably attract all manner of fire once the enemy figured out what they were doing. Then again, it was probably worth the hassle.
    “I still don't see anything,” Miko said. “Selene's platoon swept the walls, and Liz has the shore pretty well cleared out. No clue what's going on in the main building, but it's not like I can really do anything with that.”
    “ We'll see if there's anything else to do,” Zach said. He opened up a channel. “Bravo Wolf, Bravo Wolf, what's your status?”
     
     
     
    “We have the area outside secure,” Danny responded. “Selene took a squad in to support Xavier and Javy. I can still hear some firing, but we should have this entire place secure in a few minutes.”
    “ Copy that, Danny. Get in contact with Anna and Nora. We want to be quick about getting the overdrive.”
    “ Sure thing,” Danny said. That was where Robber Baron got its name. They were going to steal as much overdrive as possible, give Ronin their share and then put the rest back on the market. The price would skyrocket since Ragnarok would need to replenish their stocks. That would also take valuable funds away from other things that