camped just below Jackson. My men want to attack and wipe them out before they establish more settlements. What do you want me to tell them to do?”
“First, tell them not to attack. This could be the break that we’ve been waiting for. They may have found out where Harris is and are going to get him. Tell them to have a couple of small teams dress up like gang members and harass the convoy and kill a few every day or so. Hit and run, but do not engage them. They will chew you up and crap you out like shit through a goose.”
“Sir, I beg to differ. My men are top notch and can hold their own with any army.”
“Pride goes before a big fucking fall. Dismissed.”
***
Sonny’s snipers patiently waited on the orders to begin taking out the enemy targets. They had watched the gang members going about preparing for the attack on the convoy without realizing that they were about to die before they even saw the convoy. There were approximately 100 armed gang members spread out along Highway 20 at their choke point. They had been busy placing some burned out cars filled with explosives along the route about 100 yards before their position. They had a couple of guys that looked like ex-military, but for the most part, they were undisciplined.
“Sonny, you are cleared to begin firing and mortars will begin lobbing shit on them in 30 minutes. Good luck.”
Sonny waved, got his team’s attention and gave the signal to begin firing. All of the snipers had suppressors on their rifles so they got off three or four shots each before the gang knew they were under attack. The dumbasses were hiding behind cars and stacks of tires with their backs to Sonny’s team. It was downright impossible to miss and was easier that shooting fish in a barrel. Just as the gang members wised up and ran to the other side of their cover, the mortars started raining down on them. Body parts, car parts and dirt were blown into the air and littered the ground. The mortars fell for about five minutes and there was nothing left to kill. The Rangers and 82 nd Airborne methodically searched the area for gang members and shot all survivors.
The mopping up was almost complete when several soldiers were shot and fell dead. The rest scrambled for safety and returned fire without really knowing where to shoot.
“Sonny, have your men look for snipers.”
“Will do.”
They searched for an hour, but only found the locations that the snipers fired from. There were cigarette butts and spent casings from a .308 caliber rifle.
“Scott, I don’t think that the snipers were with the gang members. I think they were well trained military snipers. If I had to guess, they are from the USA or the Chosen People.”
“I think that you're right about the military training. Who is our best tracker?”
“Private Jones is the best.”
“Put a team together to support him and find those bastards. We lost two men and a woman to those bastards. I want payback.”
They cleared the roadblock and started towards Dallas on Highway 20 without any issues. The bridge over the Mississippi was intact and had been cleared by the people of Vicksburg. The city was in good shape and had strong leadership that would fit in perfectly with the ISA’s culture. The farms and ranches were producing and needed someone to buy the excess products. Scott gave them a radio and had them trained to use it. They would contact the ISA and start working on joining the new country. Scott radioed back to Jim and asked him to send a team to help train the locals to protect themselves until the military could secure the area.
They stopped a couple of times while local towns removed roadblocks that had been erected to keep the thugs and gangs out. Scott used the opportunity to have discussions with the local leaders and told them that the ISA would be placing outposts in the area to rid the country of the gangs. This news was
Learning to Kill: Stories