Chapter 16: Prison break

Patterson

“Alright Cole, we’re only a couple of streets away from the prison,” reported Daniel from the cockpit. “Do we know where the Major’s team is camping?”

“No, we do not,” Patterson replied as he reloaded his assault rifle. “but I doubt it will be hard to find them. The Major's not known for his subtlety.”

Patterson stood up from his seat as soon as he was done reloading and then walked to the door that separated the APC’s cockpit from the passenger bay. He took a look at his squad and happily concluded that everyone looked ready, especially Riley. Patterson wasn’t sure if the man was happy because he was part of Rhino or because of the Lieutenant markings he was wearing now, but it might have been a mix of both.

Once Nick leaned inside as well, Patterson spoke up. “Alright people, as soon as Daniel parks the APC somewhere safe, Kingsley and I will do a quick scout around the area.”

The captain pulled back his weapon’s charging handle as a reply. “Once we know that the immediate area is secure, North, Riley, and Hopkins will follow us into the prison complex while Daniel and Nick will drive around the compound to look for potential hostiles or friendlies.”

“Shouldn’t be too hard,” Nick responded.

“Our primary objective, for now, is to find Major Jefferson and then the rest of Rhino, but keep an eye out for friendlies, hostiles, or maybe even supplies. Any questions?”

Riley raised his hand. “Not a question, but if anyone happens to spot an ore-transport truck then sound off immediately.”

Kingsley turned to Riley. “What for?”

Nick and Riley exchanged a glance, and then Riley continued. “Well uh… we managed to get a merc to talk before we got to the Ledford building.”

North crossed his arms. “In other words, you got a prisoner. What happened to them?”

Riley did his best to avoid looking into anybody’s eyes. “I kind of… let him go.”

Kingsley was about to speak up but the new private was faster. “Look, I know, but his fate is beside the point,” he explained hastily. “What’s more important is that he told us that they loaded up a few of those trucks with civvies and then they got transported to some location on Paks.”

“So,” said North. “…if we find one such truck, we likely find the locals?”

“Some of them at least.”

North nodded, and then stood up from his seat. “Seems like we’re going truck hunting then.”

They drove around for a few more minutes before Cole heard the faint sounds of gunfire. The closer they got to the prison the louder it got, until eventually Nick yelled up. “Contact, two o’clock!”

He immediately opened fire, and when Patterson turned around to look out one of the side hatches of the T-Croc he saw a black armored man fly off from one of the rooftops.

“Rhino, get ready to move!” shouted Patterson as he made his way to the backdoor of the APC.

Nick was firing off dozens of bullets left and right while Daniel was making sharp turns to avoid the gunfire and the one rocket that was fired at them. They must have driven a good hundred meters before the T-Croc made a sharp turn and drifted into a bombed-out building. “Infantry, get moving!” shouted Daniel.

Patterson immediately shoved down the ramp with his shoulder and in that same movement he opened fire with his assault rifle and knocked down the two enemy soldiers that were running towards them. The prison complex itself was on the other side of the intersection they were heading towards, and the surrounding area was filled with old stores and offices, with most of them having broken doors and windows. Their APC stopped in one such office building that was missing the entirety of its southern wall.

Once the soldiers were down, Patterson dashed to the closest piece of cover he could find. He fired off a few more rounds and then turned back to check on the rest of the squad. Kingsley and North stuck together like glue as they ran inside another building next to their office, while Hopkins and Riley made their way towards Patterson. When they caught up to him, Patterson noticed that the two of them switched weapons. Hopkins was using Riley’s handgun, while the man was using her APGM rifle. Both seemed quite unsatisfied with their weapons.

As soon as Riley fired off a few shots he turned to Cole. “So who were they shooting at before we got here?!” he yelled, trying to overcome the gunfire.

“Probably the Major’s squad so let’s move up!” Patterson shouted back.

The three of them hopped out of their cover, and a few seconds afterwards Daniel drove the T-Croc out of where they parked it, and then drove down the right side of the office while Nick continued firing with the MG. As soon as they made it to the street, Patterson was under fire from the APC’s direction. He quickly jumped behind another piece of the office's wall that collapsed onto the road, with Riley and Hopkins following his example. Riley took it a step further and when the fire died down he continued running towards the building where North and Kingsley had gone to.

Patterson went after him and found the rest of his squad sitting inside the remains of a bar. They were all hiding behind booths and were exchanging fire with a squad of grey soldiers who were firing at them from the walls of the prison. There were about thirty meters of open ground between the bar and the prison’s fence, with another few meters between that and the perimeter wall, and the biggest piece of cover that Cole could see was a single bush.

Now it was confirmed that there was indeed an enemy presence in this area, but Cole still couldn’t figure out who the prison guards were fighting before they had arrived.

“King, any idea who they were shooting at before we got here?”

“No, but they should be around here somewhere!”

Patterson fired off a few rounds, and after changing clips he spoke up again. “Any concrete leads?”

North leaned back into cover. “I heard a sniper rifle from the right when we ran out here. Try that way!”

Patterson nodded, and after waving at Riley and Hopkins to stay, he quickly hopped over the booth he was behind and began sprinting to the right. He was about to reach the street that separated the bar from the other line of the buildings when their T-Croc came back to their location. Daniel turned it around by about ninety degrees in the middle of the street, which provided cover from the gunfire.

Once Patterson reached the vehicle, Nick yelled up. “The area behind us is clear, LT! Should we charge the prison?”

“Not yet! Just circle around and draw their fire!”

Nick nodded, and then crouched back inside the APC to reload his machinegun while Patterson continued running towards the other line of buildings.

He managed to cross the street just before a flock of bullets reached him, and from there he jumped through the glass window on his side of the dark-red house he was running towards. As he jumped through the glass and rolled on the ground, he felt his two arms being cut by the glass pieces littering the floor.

He immediately forgot about the pain as soon as he looked up from the ground.

“Lieutenant?!” asked the black-skinned soldier with wide-eyes.

Corporal Richards was standing in front of Patterson with a sniper rifle in his hands.

“Morning Corporal! You need a hand?”

Richards laughed up, and he quickly pulled Cole up. He then led Patterson towards the rest of the squad, which consisted of Major Jefferson and PFC. Tibor. Both soldiers were wielding assault rifles, with the Major’s one having a grenade launcher as well.

“Lieutenant! Where the hell did you go?” Jefferson asked when he stopped firing.

“Long story! Any plans on getting to that wall?”

Jefferson hastily changed mags, and then spoke up.

“A frontal attack won’t work, and by the time we get around them and find a way into the prison, they’ll just change positions. Recommendations?”

Patterson smiled. “Certainly. Do you have a flare by any chance?”

Jefferson nodded at Tibor, who then grabbed a yellow flare from his pack and tossed it to Patterson.

Cole then gripped his radio and then turned it on. “Hopkins, you think you can toss a flare to the other side of that fence from here?”

Patterson heard a few gunshots from her side before she replied. “Yes sir, but I don’t have any!”

“Throwing you one now!”

Patterson then made his way up to the window he came in from and then threw Tibor’s flare to the other building. Hopkins was able to pick it up since it landed quite close to her, and a second later the yellow flare was lit. Hopkins hurled it forward as hard as she could, and much to Patterson’s amusement it actually flew over the fence, quite close to the wall.

He gave a thumbs-up to Hopkins and then ran back to Jefferson’s squad. “Cover your ears and hit the dirt, we’ve got artillery incoming!”

Richards was probably about to ask for clarification, but Jefferson quickly pushed him down to the ground. Cole crouched down as well and a moment later he heard the distant sound of the Claymore cannon. He counted down from three in himself, and once he got to one, the deafening sound of the incoming shells made his thoughts disappear, most likely along with the prison wall.

The sound of explosions was still way too loud even while Patterson was covering his ears, but since he could still hear it apparently didn’t cause severe damage to his hearing.

As soon as the ringing stopped, Patterson carefully looked outside.

The wall, which a minute ago was filled with grey or black-armored soldiers, apparently ceased to exist. Only a few bricks and some scrap metal remained of the fence and the former perimeter wall. Patterson looked at the destruction with a proud look on his face and then turned towards the surprised-looking Major.

“Sorry to be blunt Jefferson, but it seems like our artillery just beat your squad!”

Richards stood up from the ground to look at the rubble as well, and then punched Patterson in the arm. “That’s some fine work, sir! Wish we ran into you sooner.”

“Since when do we have artillery support?” asked PFC Tibor.

Patterson looked at his wrist terminal. “Since… 37 minutes ago. There have been some other developments too.”

“Feel free to fill us in later then,” responded Jefferson “we need to investigate that prison before the enemy gets a chance to call for help.”

Patterson nodded, and with Jefferson at the front, the four of them made their way to the T-Croc. Daniel and Nick were both waiting for them there, and as soon as they spotted Jefferson, they immediately straightened themselves out and saluted him. The Major did the same, and when Kingsley and the others made their way to them, he spoke up.

“Alright, so––”

“Holy shit,” exclaimed Tibor. “Riley, that you?”

Riley turned towards the private, and a second later his eyebrows skyrocketed. “Gary!” he exclaimed in his surprise “…the hell are you doing here man?”

The two ran up to each other and exchanged a handshake and a brotherly hug.

“Fuck, it’s good to see you in one piece…” beamed Tibor.

“Same to you dude! I thought you were having a week off in Baldock?”

“That was the plan, but as soon as I heard about the distress call, I immediately volunteered to join the strike teams!”

It turned out that Tibor and Riley knew each other quite well since they were practically neighbors. Hopkins was looking at the two with a smile on her face, and even Jefferson seemed somewhat happy.

Once the two were done with their introductions, he spoke up. “Alright soldiers, thanks to your artillery we now have a clear route into the prison complex. From what we could gather, the facility is tightly guarded, so expect resistance and close-quarters combat.”

“Are there any civvies inside?” asked North.

“No clue,” Richards responded. “but I doubt they’d guard this place if it was empty.”

“In other words, check your fire and be prepared for anything,” concluded Jefferson, and then turned towards Kingsley. “Now, Captain. As soon as we’re inside, I want you to take Richards, Tibor, and McConnel to clear the northern section of the complex. Your callsign will be alpha.”

Kingsley nodded. “Roger that, Major. I assume you’ll take the rest and clear the south?”

“That’s right. Schmidt, you and Norton should stay in the T-Croc in case the enemy decides to flee.”

North and Daniel both saluted, and two immediately made their way into the vehicle.

“Okay people,” howled the Major once the two soldiers prepped the vehicle. “…let’s liberate that prison!”

*

“Alpha to Bravo, so far everything’s clear,” said Kingsley into the radio.

“Roger that Alpha. Same on our end,” replied Patterson.

The two squads were already inside the prison compound. To their surprise, there wasn’t anybody in the courtyard behind the wall they destroyed, but this was most likely going to change. With Jefferson at the front, Bravo team hurried to the closest entrance they could find, which they found about forty meters from the wall on the side of a rectangular grey building. Nick and Jefferson stacked up to both sides of the doorway, with Hopkins and Patterson taking cover behind them.

“Three… two… one…” counted down Jefferson.

The major kicked the door open and charged inside with his rifle drawn out. Patterson and the others ran after him, and to their luck, nobody was on the other side. Jefferson raised his left fist and made a spinning motion with it. Stay close. The squad continued moving forward, and Patterson kept looking behind himself to see how Nick and Hopkins were doing. Nick seemed focused as always, but Hopkins on the other hand seemed distracted. Either something was on her mind that was troubling her, or she was scared. Neither of those scenarios was good in a combat situation.

As they reached another closed door, they repeated the previous stacking maneuver. Another countdown later Jefferson pushed open both doors and immediately threw himself down to the ground.

Two enemy soldiers were running towards them, but before they could draw their weapons all four soldiers of Bravo discharged their weapons. Cole and Hopkins both missed their first shots, but Nick’s shotgun and Jefferson’s assault rifle burst proved to be enough to send both enemies down.

While Jefferson got up, Patterson reached for his radio. “This is Bravo, we engaged the enemy!”

“Alpha here,” came the reply from Tibor “so far, nothing…”

Jefferson waved at Patterson to follow which ended their conversation.

As Bravo made their way down the corridor, they went up a stairway. They continued running until Jefferson suddenly stopped next to a window. Bravo stacked up behind him, and once they were there the major leaned out from the wall. He flinched as soon as he looked down, and then slowly turned back to Patterson. “Bodies. Lots of them.”

Patterson felt his heart skip a beat, and as soon as the major moved, he looked through the window. About a dozen or so people were lying on the ground in pools of blood, with weapons, cartridges, and a few limbs scattered around them. Much to Cole’s disgust, a few of the bodies had civilian clothing on. The others were wearing black or dark grey armor.

“Looks like we weren’t the first here…” remarked Patterson.

“That’s good news, right sir?” Hopkins asked.

“Depends on who did the killing,” responded Jefferson.

The squad continued moving forward, and a few seconds later they heard the dampened sound of gunfire from somewhere inside the complex.

Patterson’s radio turned on. “Bravo, this is Alpha. We have engaged the enemy in Prison block B!” reported Tibor.

“Roger that Bravo, we’re on our way,” Cole replied.

“Belay that Lieutenant,” retorted Jefferson. “We need to make sure this side is clear first. Might get flanked otherwise.”

Patterson lowered his eyebrows, and then pressed the button on his radio again. “Can you hold out for a while longer?”

“Was about to ask you the same thing!” replied Richards cheerily “We’ll hold our own Lieutenant, don’t worry.”

Cole put away his radio in his relief and then nodded at the Major. My bad. Jefferson didn’t say anything but instead proceeded to run forward. They made their way through a few more corridors until they reached the door that led to the main cell block. They stacked up on the door again, and this time Patterson kicked it in.

He immediately got hit by something hard and fast that sent Patterson down to the ground.

He quickly rolled behind the wall next to him while Nick and Jefferson opened fire at the enemy and charged forward.

Hopkins stayed right where she was, and she quickly helped Cole up. “Are you all right sir?”

Patterson quickly checked his armor vest. There was a very noticeable dent near his stomach, but when he put his finger there, he could only feel hot metal. “Vest caught it. Let’s go!” he stated before he ran after the others.

As soon as they stepped into the room, Patterson saw that they were on the top of a long staircase that led to the first floor of the main cell block. This whole section of the prison was old, dirty, and the walls were littered with either bullet holes, cracks, or dents. On both sides of the stair were concrete walkways bridging the second level of the cellblock and the corridor they came from.

Before Patterson had to dive behind the concrete barrier next to the stairway, he noticed around five or six enemies on the second level alone, with most of them hiding behind the support pillars. Hopkins quickly made her way behind cover as well, and after she fired off a few shots she yelled up. “Do we have any grenades?”

Without saying a word, Major Jefferson quickly gripped the other trigger on his rifle, and after he unfolded the second set of iron-sights on it, he jumped out from his cover.

The rifle made the usual "thump" sound as it launched its grenade, and when it landed a second later one of the pillars on the second level disappeared, along with the enemies behind it. Patterson took this opportunity to fire off a burst at the scattered mercenaries, and as soon as Hopkins opened fire as well, he charged forward. Nick followed his example, and while Cole was firing at the enemies on the second level, Nick was trying his best to take out the ones on the first floor. If Patterson’s math was right, there was only a single soldier left.

Once he reached the destroyed pillar, the last enemy jumped out from behind the flipped food-cart he was hiding behind.

As soon as he did, two arms gripped his neck from inside a cell and viciously pulled him towards the bars. Patterson took the chance to shoot out the kneecaps of the soldier. The man yelled up in pain as he fell to the ground, but before Cole reached him a bullet suddenly pierced the enemy’s head.

Patterson turned around and saw Jefferson with his gun drawn. “No time for prisoners Lieutenant.”

Cole was about to retort when an accented voice sounded off from one of the cells. “Gentlemen, if you could come over here for a second…”

Jefferson raised his head when he heard the voice, and he, along with Cole quickly ran to that cell.

Behind the bars was a blonde-haired, mustached man, who was wearing a blue beret and the uniform of the Sapphirian Navy. “Well met! I assume you’re here to get some payback from these bloody mercenaries?”

“Amongst other things,” replied Cole as he holstered his weapon. “You a soldier?”

The man saluted. “Captain Adam Stanley of the Blackfortress Naval Guard.”

Patterson saluted back, and then shot off the jail door’s lock with his pistol. “Lieutenant Patterson and Major Jefferson. We’ll go over the introductions later, but our other team is under fire right now.”

Stanley nodded, and after he picked up the dead soldier’s gun, he turned to Patterson. “In that case, consider me and my men under your command Lieutenant.”

“Your men?” asked Major Jefferson with a raised eyebrow.

Stanley smiled and nodded towards the row of cells behind the one he was in. Patterson quickly walked forward, and he felt a smile crawl upon his face.

Two more pissed-off Sapphirian soldiers were standing inside the cell, ready to join the fight.