Fortress Doctrine (Maelstrom Rising Book 5) by Peter Nealen

Author:Peter Nealen [Nealen, Peter]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2020-10-22T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter 19

“What’s the holdup now?” Hank looked up as they lurched to a stop, the canyon walls above already casting evening shadows over the small convoy. They’d stopped that way far too often over the last six hours, and the grumbling and cursing from the back, as Vega, Fernandez, Taylor, and Coffee were thrown around, reflected that.

“Who the fuck let Faris drive?”

“Shut up.” Hank’s own patience was at a low ebb. They hadn’t gotten nearly as far over the last six hours as he’d hoped they would, and at the same time, he knew that much of that was his own fault. He’d wanted to avoid encountering another Soldado or Vengador convoy, even at a distance, but that had meant going into the badlands along the west bank of the Rio Grande.

“It’s another box canyon,” LaForce reported from up front.

“Of course it fucking is.” Faris’ newfound discipline and “gung-ho” spirit was wearing thin out there in the desert. “We’ve gone a whole, what? Three miles?”

“Calm down. This was never going to be a picnic.” But all the same, Hank knew that they had to do something differently. “Gray Man and Six-Four-Five, this is Actual. Meet at my vehicle.”

He kicked the door open and got out, stifling a groan as he straightened up. The cramped quarters inside the cab, coupled with the beating they’d all taken from the terrain, were reminding him that he wasn’t exactly what most people would consider a young man anymore.

The two other senior Triarii joined him. They were all tired and dusty, their eyes getting bloodshot. It had been a long haul already.

Hank spread the map out on the hood. “We’ve been trying to go this way, over this ridge. It looked like we had a possible route along here, but so far, there’s been nothing. No roads, no trails, not even any tracks, and the terrain’s been a stone bitch.” He traced their planned route with the tip of his pocketknife. “I know we wanted to avoid the Cañon de Ángulo because of the fields and farms along the bank, but if we don’t find another route, we’re going to get stuck or break an axle back here.”

Spencer shrugged. “I’m not married to this route. I seem to recall saying it was a bad idea in the first place.”

Hank grimaced. Spencer had, in fact, objected to the route across the badlands. Fortunately, they hadn’t had a catastrophic failure yet, but they were only one pit or badly placed rock away from being afoot again.

He had no doubt that they could “tactically acquire” new vehicles in Manuel Benavides, especially if the bad guys were using it as a staging area. But he’d maintained for years, first as a squad leader, then as a platoon sergeant, finally as a Triarii section leader, that the more potential points of failure you add to a plan, the more likely failure becomes. And going into the staging area for an invasion of Texas was going to be more than just “a” potential point of failure.

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