Doomsday Warrior 16 - American Overthrow by Ryder Stacy Read Free Book Online Page B

once the combat squad had returned to Pattonville. The lieutenant wasn’t going to allow himself to meet the same fate. He knew that if General Hanover’s plans came to fruition, those in on the ground floor, men like himself, would rise to the top, would be rulers of America someday soon. He had to be smart, careful, and daring, all at the same time.
    He waved the men on and rode around to the back of the convoy to check the gas canisters. Two wagons with special ball-bearing shocks and padded wheels were in the rear of the contingent with teams of specially trained “non-bolting” ’brids in their traces. They couldn’t take any chances with the deadly CX12 nerve gas. One slip with that stuff and everybody would be corpses faster than they could say “shit.”
    “How’s it going, men?” the lieutenant asked the drivers of each wagon. “Any problems at all? And I mean at all. Anything making funny noises, any canisters shifting? Anything? I’d rather you told me and we called the whole mission off than have another disaster.”
    “No problems, sir,” both drivers responded. They knew the capabilities of the gas and weren’t exactly about to mess around with it themselves. The entire commando force wore toe-to-hairline rubberized suits and breathing apparatus which they had swung back around their necks. The gas had been watered down slightly so that theoretically it couldn’t be absorbed through the skin but had to be breathed in. The Pattonville science team had done wonders with gas. Using one basic molecule taken from an old canister of gas from before the great war, they had managed to twist it, bend it, and reshape it so they had four gases. Four levels of deadliness. Level one knocked men out and destroyed their individuality—turned them into kind of zombies, level two knocked out and killed in minutes. Level three killed in seconds, through breathing. And level four—just a few molecules of it on the skin burned out the nervous system within ten seconds.
    It was all for the greater good, the lieutenant repeated to himself silently as he rode back up to the front of the line. All for the greater good. With the Free Cities in their loose conglomeration of alliances, nothing was ever going to happen to change the political shape of America. Anarchy reigned. And with anarchy nothing could evolve. General Hanover had been chosen to change things. A great man at a turning point in history. And the lieutenant had been with him from the start when the general took over Pattonville. The coup had been the lieutenant’s most thrilling day in his life. His loyalty for the general was absolute. It better be.
    An advance scout came riding back just as Lieutenant Trancer reached the lead of the line.
    “Sir, sir,” the man shouted breathlessly as he reined in his ’brid. “We’re there. It’s just over the next ridge. I surveyed it for a good five minutes with my binocs—and nothing. A couple of guards up in some trees near the town entrance, asleep. Could hear their snores a hundred yards off. There’s nothing to stop us. I guess the bastards aren’t exactly expecting an attack.”
    “Good, good,” Trancer laughed, slapping the man on the shoulder. He was suddenly feeling in a good mood. This attack was going to come off without any problems. He could feel it in his guts.
    He led the team up to a grove of trees beyond which the town lay fully exposed like a naked woman in her bed of dark trees. The squads had been through this all before as they quickly broke down into their combat formations. The gas canisters were removed and strapped to the backs of the dozen men who would be carrying them in.
    He gathered the officers of each of the commando squads and went over the plans once more.
    “Now Alpha team comes in from the east, Beta team from the west, Omega team from the north, and Epsilon from the south. Got that?”
    “Affirmative,” the men replied with enthusiasm.
    “We’ll commence the gas