What a thing, Jake decided, his thoughts bouncing all over the place today. He’d survived the encirclement in Amarillo, Texas this summer. He’d survived the harrowing trek to Colorado and now it looked like he might survive the siege of Denver. If they reached Idaho Springs, they should be safe until the next venture. It would be nice if they could stop the Chinese advance for once and push them back.
Four hours later, Jake, Goose and the Lieutenant sat around a small sterno flame that burned under their tin pot. They heated a can of pork and beans, a delicacy after their nearly starvation diet.
Darkness fell around them, and Chinese artillery boomed in the distance. The flashes played off the low clouds. One flash highlighted a cloud that looked like an arrow pointed back at the enemy.
“They don’t want to let us go,” the Lieutenant observed.
Jake stirred the pork and beans. The aroma was killing him. He was hungry and his stomach ached.
“You know what I think,” the Lieutenant said.
Jake shook his head as he kept his eyes on the beans. When it began to bubble, they would be ready.
“We’re the ones who broke their back,” the Lieutenant said.
“We’ve lived like rats for months,” Jake said. “I don’t know how that broke anyone’s back.”
“I don’t mean just you and me. I mean all the ordinary Americans who picked up a gun and joined the Army, the Militia or the partisans. Here in this hellhole, it was all of us working together. The Army has better equipment, but we held just the same.”
Jake thought about the earliest battle where most of the Eleventh CDMB had run away. Still, some had fought the enemy until the very end.
“I don’t know if I agree with you,” Goose said. “The Chinese chased us out of Denver, didn’t they? And they destroyed it.”
The Lieutenant snorted so snot flew out of his nose. He used his sleeve to wipe his nostrils. “Sorry, but I don’t feel as if we were chased out. The enemy shoved and we shoved back. Yeah, they pushed us out of the majority of the city, but we made them pay in blood. We made them pay so much that our Army had time to regroup and turn the tables on them. Why did that happen? I’ll tell you, because you and me picked up our guns and fought to the last drop. We ground them down and weakened them enough to give the tank lords the opportunity. But without us, the Chinese would have conquered America.”
“Seems to me they’re still in America,” Goose said.
“Yeah,” the Lieutenant said, “with a noose around their necks. Give it a little more time, and we’ll hang these SOBs.”
Jake used the spoon and scooped some pork and beans. He ate the sample. It was hot and tasted great. “Supper’s ready,” he said. “Are you guys?”
Goose and the Lieutenant held out their tins. Jake divided the pork and beans evenly into three parts.
“Another few days,” Jake said, after he licked his spoon and tin clean. “And we’re out of—”
“Don’t jinx us by saying it,” Goose said.
Jake blinked at his friend and finally smiled. “No. I won’t jinx us. Let’s clean up and get some shut-eye.”
“We’ll clean up,” the Lieutenant said. “But then we keep moving. I want out of here and now’s our chance. So we move until we’re out or we’re dead.”
“Yes sir,” Jake said. “I like that advice.”
IDAHO SPRINGS, COLORADO
Paul sweated from the hard work and his hands were sore. “Ready?” he asked Romo.
“One, two, three,” Romo said, grunting the last word.
The two of them lifted a stretcher with a soldier on it. They carried the man from a truck out of Denver to a waiting Chinook helicopter. The helo was near capacity and Paul and Romo had carted at least a quarter of the patients into it.
There were here because SOCOM had been ordered to harass the Chinese in Denver. They hadn’t started on their mission yet because the medical people were short-handed and had asked for help.
The soldiers coming out of Denver looked more like skeletons. They were gaunt, all of them with the thousand-yard stare and too many having lice. The last few weeks had been the worst for them, as most of the airdrops hadn’t landed near enough the besieged soldiers to give them enough supplies.
Paul knew the orders for these men. The strongest were supposed to hike west along I-70, bypassing the ballistic-missile