Rogue Forces

“Good strike, Boomer,” Patrick McLanahan said. The first AGM-177 Wolverine strike missile released a CBU-97 Sensor-Fuzed Weapon over the lead vehicles in the easternmost battalion driving southbound as part of the Nahla operation. Dropped from fifteen thousand feet, the CBU-97’s dispenser released ten submunitions, each of which deployed four skeets and laser and infrared seekers. As the submunitions fell toward the column of vehicles, they started to spin, and as they did they detected and classified all the vehicles below. At the proper altitude each skeet detonated over a vehicle, sending a molten blob of copper down onto its prey. The blob of superheated copper easily penetrated the usually thinner top armor of the Turkish vehicles, destroying every vehicle on the road for a quarter of a mile.

“Roger that, General,” Hunter Noble said. “The Wolverine is maneuvering for the western column for the second GBU-97 pass, and then it’ll attack the troops closest to Nahla with the eighty-seven.” The CBU-87 Combined Effects Munition was a mine-laying weapon that dispensed over two hundred bomblets over a three-thousand-square-foot rectangular area, effective against soldiers and light vehicles. “The second Wolverine is in a parking orbit to the south in case the Iraqis have trouble with the Mosul brigades.”

“Hopefully we won’t need it,” Patrick said. “Let me know if—”

“Problem, Patrick—I think we lost the first Wolverine,” Boomer interjected. “Lost contact. It might have been shot down if it was detected on radar when it made its attack.”

“Send in the second Wolverine on the western battalion,” Patrick ordered.

“Moving. But Jaffar’s guys might make contact before it arrives.”

The eastern column of Turkish infantry vehicles was initially stopped cold by the first Wolverine attack, but the survivors were soon on the move. As they raced forward to meet up with the center battalion, several Iraqi antitank teams in spider holes along the highway opened fire, destroying five Humvees and an M113 armored personnel carrier. But the Iraqis were soon coming under intense fire from other Turkish troops, and they were trapped in their spiderholes. A line of three Humvees had discovered three spider-holes and quickly destroyed the first one with forty-millimeter automatic grenade fire.

“Wa’if hena! Wa’if hena! Stop!” the Turks shouted in Arabic. They exited their Humvees, weapons raised. “Get out now, hands on your…!”

Suddenly they heard a loud CCRRACK! and one of the Humvees exploded in the blink of an eye. Before the explosion subsided they heard another CCRRACK! and the second Humvee detonated, followed by the third. The Turks flattened on their stomachs, searching for the enemy who had just blown up their vehicles…

…and a few moments later, they saw who it was: the ten-foot-tall American robot, carrying the impossibly large sniper rifle and a large backpack. “Time to run along,” the robot said in electronically synthesized Turkish. It leveled the big rifle and ordered, “Drop your weapons.” The Turks did as they were told, turned, and ran after their comrades. The Iraqis leaped out of their spider holes, scooped up the Turks’ weapons and their remaining antitank missiles, and went looking for more targets.

“Jaffar’s guys are doing pretty good on the eastern side,” Charlie Turlock said. “I think we have the rest of this battalion broken up, thanks to the Wolverine. How’s it going on the west, Whack?”

“Not so good,” Wayne Macomber said. He was “tank plinking” on every large armored vehicle that came within range, but the column of Turkish vehicles coming toward them seemed endless.

“Need some help?”

“General?”

“The second Wolverine is five minutes out,” Patrick said. “The first one went Tango-Uniform. But we still have two companies on the east that I want to get turned around first. We have to hope the Iraqis hold.”

“Colonel Jaffar?”

“I am sorry I left such a small force at the reconnaissance plane,” Jaffar radioed amid loud engine noises and a lot of out-of-breath gasping. “Some of our vehicles broke down as well.”

Patrick could see where Jaffar’s battalion was relative to the four platoons guarding the XC-57, and like the second Wolverine he was not going to make it before the Turks started their attack. “General, I’m closer,” Charlie Turlock radioed. “Whack and I together might be enough to at least slow the Turks down long enough.”

“No, you have the eastern flank, Charlie; we don’t want anyone stunting around from that direction,” Patrick said. “Martinez, I need you to sprint ahead of Jaffar’s guys and engage.”