Canis Lupus REX: Terror in the Woods by Johnson Vince

Author:Johnson, Vince
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2019-10-05T00:00:00+00:00

FOUR

The MH-47G was revved-up, loaded and ready for dust-off. For Garland, it was a typical kill mission with one major exception. Langhorn's spotter dragged-up at the very last minute and the commander was taking his place. As he informed the rest of the unit on the flight line, “For this operation, I'm not your CO. For this operation I'm just Henderson, just another spotter. You guys do your jobs and I'll do mine. Everyone got that?”

Everyone got it but nobody was comfortable with it, least of all Langhorn.

They lifted-off and headed for the target area. The curious army reservists at the base were given no explanation about the mysterious, unmarked, black Chinook or its crew's origin or destination.

Now that the actual mission was underway, Garland felt a sense of calm descend on him. It was the fatalism of destiny. He would either get killed or survive. Live or die. Either or. Like flipping a coin. It was all up to chance now. How would the odds of the universe stack up? It was why Garland never played poker, craps or the slots. He would never waste whatever luck he might have by gambling.

He carefully cradled his rifle. The heads-up infra-red scope had been calibrated to within a centimeter at three hundred meters. It was rugged, but any unnecessary jostling might affect its accuracy. He looked over at Landry, whose usual cockiness seemed tempered by mission jitters.

“You still going after that Rex coat?” Garland shouted to make himself heard above the noise of the rotors and turbofan engines.

“Yeah, man. Rex coat,” he answered with a thumbs up gesture and an unconvincing smile.

“Well stay close and stay cool, brother. We'll both get back home,” Garland reassured.

The chopper continued its course over the forest for over an hour until the red status lights in the cabin blinked off and the amber lights came on. They were approaching the drop zones.

Rex territory.

Taking his cue from the amber status light, the load master at the forward hatch began preparing the first drop by attaching Team One's scanner crate to the winch line. Henderson and Langhorn stood up in their bulky layers of liquid nitrogen-cooled, carbon-mesh and ghillie camouflage along with their weapons and gear and approached the rear of the Chinook. There, the flight engineer passed them the fast-ropes and stepped back. Team One stood at either side of the open cargo ramp, grasping the two dangling fast-ropes as the tree tops passed below.

Garland could feel the RPMs of the rotors and the whine of the jet turbines gradually decrease as the chopper's forward airspeed began to slow, then slowed more, then stopped completely. They were hovering over the first drop site.

The entire crew turned to watch as the status lights turned from amber to green. Langhorn and the commander stepped off the cargo ramp and shimmied down the fast-ropes as the load master up front lowered their scanner crate.

The chopper hovered, waiting for the all-clear signal confirming that the team had successfully deployed and detached the crate on the ground, out of sight below the tree canopy.

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