Outrider by Mark Wales

Author:Mark Wales [Wales, Mark]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2024-06-12T01:05:35+00:00

29

Jimbo adjusted the radio volume and heard Jack’s voice boom in from the plains.

‘Copy. Wheels up in ten mins,’ he responded.

He ran to the pilots’ room and rapped on the door. The pilots were already half-dressed in flight suits.

‘Outrider is live. See you on the tarmac.’

He ran across to the team room and rapped on the door. Loud rock music echoed around the room, punctuated by a dog barking.

‘Zeus, shut up!’

The door opened and Cole stuck his head out.

‘Jack’s gonna cross at 1600,’ said Jimbo.

‘Copy.’ Cole turned to his team. ‘Wheels up in five. Orders in the air.’

The pilots pulled on leather jackets with filthy shearling collars as they sprinted across the airstrip to the Cessna Skycourier that sat under the corrugated iron half-dome. They pulled the wheel blocks, then climbed in and dialled the engines to life.

The four elite Resistance fighters were already at their lockers, assembling body armour and collecting weapons. Jimbo had a satchel with radios and wrist-mounted maps for the mission. He slipped a radio in the back of their body armour and entered the code fills, slapping each one on the back when they were ready.

Zeus sat in his harness at Horse’s feet.

The fourth Horseman, Beetle the Sniper, shouldered a long rifle with a thick, hourglass-shaped scope and tightened the sling. The young soldier had his Sri Lankan parents’ dark complexion and intense eyes, and a gregarious sense of humour.

Each operator ran an eye over their buddy’s gear to check it as they prepped. Sacha’s tattooed forearms strained as she and Jimbo prepped Mrs Rabbit.

‘Let’s move,’ said Beetle. ‘Engines are running.’

‘Comms check complete,’ Jimbo confirmed.

Each team member wore a streamlined parachute vest for low-level jumps, and carried four magazines, a pistol and an M4. Their combat uniforms were sleek and form-fitting, stretched across their broad shoulders. With the parachutes, body armour and weapons, they looked dangerous and drilled.

Cole had a black patch with four horses on his chest rig, and a black and yellow Free Australia flag rolled into a tight bundle and attached to the back of his body armour.

Mrs Rabbit was being put through its boot-up sequence. Sacha spoke commands into her earpiece to move the robot from the stand-by bay out to the tarmac. She added two heavy boxes of ammunition onto the robot’s back.

Cole spoke as they completed their final checks. ‘Outrider 11 is about to run a border penetration. He is mounted in a HiLux, three-up. The passenger is an asset. Extremely high value. This is her image.’

He showed them a photo on his tablet, of Constance back as a trainee at the CIA Farm in Virginia.

Beetle gave a low whistle. ‘Definitely an asset.’

Sacha rolled her eyes.

‘The other passenger is Harry Dunne. Jack’s boy.’

‘Jack, what have you gotten yourself into?’ muttered Horse as he clipped a set of goggles and tiny earmuffs onto Zeus’s head. The dog cocked its head to one side to make it easier to fit the earmuffs.

Jimbo spoke in an even voice.

‘There are four fighting-age males near the checkpoint.

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