Russian Winter: CATU Book 2 Ch. 18

Silverdale, Washington

Leadthem straight in to the plant," Commander Jiang Chi says.

The terrorist group sits outside the plant, waiting to begin their strike. Jiang Chi hopes to come out of this fight alive, but is prepared, like all his men, to die. So far they meet the goal to cause a distraction and use up valuable resources, now it is time to end things here.

"What of the police?" Whitmire asks.

"I've already taken care the problem. What's your arrival time?"

"We should make it there within fifteen minutes."

"Excellent."

Whitmire hangs up the secure line and turns around. Doug stood in the door way, anger twisted on his face. "Setting us up. I wasn't sure you were a traitor until now," he spats.

"How long have you been standing there?" Whitmire asks, thoughts of escape running frantically throughout his head.

"Long enough to hear what I needed. I'd kill you now with a moment's hesitation, but you're too valuable, so you're under arrest."

Doug starts moving forward when Whitmire holds up his hands in front of him. "Whoa! Now wait a minute," he says beginning to back up, tying to buy time. "You've got it all wrong, I'm not informing anyone."

"No?" Doug asks, stopping his advancement and putting on a confused look on his face.

Feeling confident and in control, Whitmire relaxes. "You've got it wrong. I'm a good guy here and certainly no traitor," Whitmire explains.

"I find it strange how you have provided information about the whereabouts of these terrorists. You should have had different people report to me instead of just you."

"You got me there," Whitmire says and he leaps at Doug. He tackles Doug. Both men slam into the wall. Doug landed a punch in Whitmire's stomach then uppercutted him with an elbow causing Whitmire to stumble back several feet. Doug wanted to put a quick end to the fight, so he reached for his gun. Whitmire is quicker, once again lunging at him. As Doug manages to slip the gun from its holster, Whitmire grabs his wrist and slams Doug's hand against the wall until his grip releases it.

Doug swings with his opposite hand toward Whitmire. He blocks the attack easily not expecting the knee to his groin. Whitmire doubles over, Doug quickly grabs him and slams his head into the wall. Whitmire drops to the floor with a moan. Doug reaches for his gun, but Whitmire's foot lands in the back of Doug's knee, causing him to land hard on the floor. Whitmire moves swiftly, grabbing him in a choke hold.

"I knew it wouldn't be easy to kill you, but with you gone, it'll be easier to complete my task," Whitmire says. He squeezes tighter, further cutting off Doug's air supply.

"How long...How long have you been..."

"A traitor?" Whitmire finishes the sentence. "You don't think Adams was the only one working for them do you?"

Doug isn't surprised at the answer; he almost expected one like it.

How many more are there?

If he survived this, he was determined to find out.

Whitmire continues to squeeze, blackness begins closing in on Doug. Being on his knees doesn't provide much in the way of leverage, but he is determined to not give up. Feigning, he lets his body relax and go limp. Whitmire relaxes his hold briefly giving Doug the opportunity he needs.

He grabs Whitmire's arm, sinking his fingers into his skin as hard as he can. Whitmire howl, but keeps his hold of Doug. Doug is already maneuvering into a better position. Once he has his center of gravity below Whitmire's, he forces Whitmire over his shoulder, tossing him across the length of the office and into the desk. The desk shatters into pieces on impact. Whitmire recovers quickly, standing up, grabbing a leg of the wooden desk. He turns expecting to see Doug standing across the space, but is surprised as he comes down from the air landing a fist into his face.

Doug grabs Whitmire as he stumbles from the unexpected blow. He pulls Whitmire in close and then head butts him. Blood spurts from Whitmire's broken nose. Doug lets go of him, letting him drop to the floor. "You are right; it is hard to kill me. Now like I said, you are under arrest."

Whitmire slowly gets to his feet, starring down Doug the entire time. "Only one is going to leave here alive, but if it's not going to be me, then I'm taking you with me," Whitmire says, as blood drips down his face.

"Give it a rest. You've already tried your best."

"Sir, we are approaching the power plant," a voice says over the intercom.

Whitmire takes the moment of distraction and rushes Doug. Doug accepted the attack and both men slam into the door. The door shudders from the impact, threatening to give way. Doug began to push away when a loud explosion rocked the semi. The door is no longer a concern, because the entire back half of the trailer is gone. What is left is on fire. Flames lick at the two men as the truck swerves, the driver trying to gain control. Whitmire loses his balance and rolls out, grabbing hold of a piece of the truck at the last moment.

Doug takes a look at the other truck, which remains unhindered, then dives for Whitmire's hand. He grabs it just as Whitmire's grip falters. Whitmire looks up with confusion all over his face.

Before anything can be said, another explosion rocks the semi, causing it to overturn. Doug is forced to release his grip on Whitmire. Whitmire flies from the truck. He hits the pavement rolling, coming to a stop as his body wraps around a tree.

Doug crawls out from underneath the overturned semi. With only a few cuts and bruises, he is otherwise just dazed. The other semi suffers the same fate as his. What remains of the tactical force is trying to gather themselves as they fall under attack.

Chinese soldiers dressed like the ones from American Falls, begin pouring out from the power plant. Bullets rip by as the tactical force took cover.

"Get cover and return fire! Don't let them overrun us!" Doug shouts to his men.

They don't have great cover behind the smoldering wreckage, but they are Doug's best soldiers. Seeing Doug doesn't have a gun, one of the soldiers tosses one to him.

Right as he catches it, a solider comes around the corner, gun ready. Doug is quicker, unloading three shots into him. The tactical soldiers, gathering their wits and weapons, begin fighting back, slowly pushing the Chinese terrorists back. They break rank and begin finding cover.

Doug rushes over to the remaining members of his team. "Where are the police?" he asks.

"We have a report the precinct has been attacked and the remaining police are scattered."

"Then it's up to us to put an end to this," Doug says, as a grin forms on his face.

"Yes sir," the soldier replies, loading another clip into his rifle.

Gunfirerains on Jiang Chi and his men. The battle takes an unexpected turn, in a bad way.

That fool Whitmire, couldn't even do a simple task.

"What are we going to do sir?" asks a soldier.

"We continue to fight, you fool!" he growls. "We hold them until the explosives are fully set."

"How will we escape?' the soldier asks again.

Anger begins to set in, to the point he would shoot this soldier himself for his cowardice. Instead he says, "If we cannot escape then so be it. We have served General Wei and China with glory!"

Pride beams in his voice and raises shouts from the other soldiers near them. All except for the soldier standing next to Jiang Chi. The man stands there with a look of doubt, the will to fight gone from his eyes.

Jiang Chi almost pulls his pistol out to shoot the man, when the soldier suddenly drops to the ground without a word. Blood pours out his back from several bullet holes. Before the commander has time to process what just happened, bullets hit the ground and car he is using as cover.

Realizing the tactical soldiers are winning the battle and advancing, Jiang Chi shouts orders as he tries to find a way to regroup with his men.

"Protect the plant with your lives! For the glory of China!"

The tactical team is making progress. The terrorists are slowly being taken down and their retreat is leading them to the power plant. Doug hopes to cut off their retreat though. He doesn't know what they had planned or how far they'd gotten in that plan, but he has his own plans.

With the last of his remaining force, he sends half to make their way around to flank the terrorists. It is a successful attempt. The tactical troops get the drop on the terrorists, catching them off guard. The man Doug suspects to be their leader is revealed as the soldier he appears to be talking to drops dead and he begins giving orders.

The terrorists drop back until they have nowhere else to go except into the power plant. Each man has the determination to win, either coming out alive or dying in the process.

Doug shadows Jiang Chi until he sees where the man is headed. The terrorists may be ready to die for their cause or country, but Doug knows a runner when he sees one. When an opportunity to get ahead opens up, he takes it.

Jiang Chi skids to a halt when Doug steps out in front of him. He is quick to recover, quickly drawing his pistol. Doug, with many years of training and experience is expecting it. He kicked the gun from Jiang Chi's hand and then lands a fist into his face. The crunch of bone and cartilage is heard as his face begins to swell from a broken nose and cheek bone. Jiang Chi falls back landing on the ground. Still feeling victory, he looks up at Doug.

"Ignorant American," he says laughing and shaking his head. "You think by stopping me this will all end?"

"I'm guessing you think opposite," Doug states, standing over the man. He knows the man is stalling him now and any intentions he has to get away are far gone.

"My life means nothing compared to the glory of China. When General Wei comes down on you, it will not be swift or merciful. Your life is forfeit, as well as the rest of your pitiful brethren."

Jiang Chi continues to laugh.

Without any warning, an explosion rocks the area. The ground shakes; a wave of flames rolls over the two men. Doug drops and rolls out the flames. When he looks up, Jiang Chi is engulfed in flames, standing still looking straight at Doug, laughing the entire time. After what seems like an eternity, Jiang Chi finally drops to the ground in a smoldering heap of burning flesh.

Doug picks himself up and makes his way back to where he left his men. The power plant, what is left of it, is covered in fire. Most of Doug's team survived. The ones that don't, suffer the same fate as the terrorists.

As he returns to the site, a tactical agent greets him. "Sir, are you alright?" the man asks.

"I'm fine," Doug says, thinking about the image of Jiang Chi on fire, looking down at him and laughing. He'd seen many horrors of war, but never something like that.

"Round everyone up. We have two tasks; pull out our men and make sure all the terrorists are dead or rounded up."

"Yes sir," the man says. He runs off carrying out Doug's orders.

Doug continues to stand there, starring into the fire that burns. Sirens begin to blare in the distance, as he assumes, were fire engines.

The task is finally complete, he hopes. The terrorists have been stopped, but the damage was done. If Jiang Chi was right about China rolling through, things were only going to get worse.

After several minutes lost in thought, Doug finally turns away from the fire. Even with danger looming over the horizon, there were tasks that still required his attention. His job is far from over.