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“Reloading!” Ronan grabbed the belt-fed ammo, opened the top of the machine gun, stripped out the old belt, and slapped in the new one. He slammed down the cover and charged the weapon as Wraith arched and headed back to the attackers. Wraith pulled his M-4 out of the carrier and fired as they approached. Ronan sprayed each of the vehicles with the M0240. They circled again and made their way back. This time, Wraith slowed and then stopped. They looked at the Jeep and then at each other. Ronan unstrapped and jumped down from the Jeep, catching his M-4 when Wraith tossed it to him. He put the weapon’s selector on fire and approached the bodies strewn around the vehicles, but there was only one destination in his mind. He took his toe and turned over the first man he came to. With a sneer of disgust, he went to the second, then the third. Habib. So, it wasn’t the militant factionsattacking the convoys. It was the militia. That’s how no militia were hurt.
Ronan tapped his ear. “Status.”
“Stryker is hit,” Wolf said.
“I’ll be fine,” Stryker replied.
“Wolf?” Ronan wanted confirmation.
“I can stop the bleeding, Skipper, but he needs stitches at least.”
“Deacon?” Deacon had a medic on his team.
“Bandit.” The man snapped the call sign.
“Already heading that way,” Bandit said.
“Cobra team?”
“Fine,” Deacon acknowledged.
“Habib is dead. It was the fucking militia that attacked us.”
“Skipper, incoming. From the north.” That was Jug.
“Fuck. Reload. Stryker?”
“I’m driving, I’ll drop Stryker beside Jug,” Wolf said.
“Bandit, take the M-240.”
“Already hooked up, Cap.”
“Holy shit, Cap, there’s a slew of them,” Bandit said.
Ronan jumped back into the Jeep, and they spun out, heading back to the convoy. “Stryker, you’re oureyes. I want to know if they come from any other direction.”
“Copy, Skipper,” Stryker acknowledged.
“Jug, when do they come in range?” Ronan asked.
“About another thousand meters, Skipper.”
“Bandit, arch out to the West. We’ll split them to the East.”
“Copy.” The two Jeeps took off.
“Fire in the hole,” Deacon said. A missile flew straight from the center of the convoy and exploded before it got to the trucks.
“Fire,” Ranger said. Another missile flew as Ronan ensured his belt was full and his weapon was charged. The explosion split the convoy in half before they reformed and came straight at them again.
“They aren’t taking the bait,” Bandit said.
“Hold. They’ll come out,” Ronan said as they kept flying over the broken ground.
As Jug started firing, two more missiles flared at the same time. Ronan and Bandit opened fire, and the three outside vehicles peeled off to come at them. Fuck, the tactic was one he’d seen before. “These guys have training. Don’t let them cut you off.”
“Roger,” Wolf said.