Task Force Mars - Kevin Dockery [82]
But Jackson remained keenly aware of the unseen enemy soldiers who certainly were closing in from the right and left. He dispatched Sanchez and Marannis to watch the left flank while Rodale and the limping but furious Robinson moved out to guard the right.
By the time the two fire Teams had moved into position, the Eluoi in the front were advancing again. Chief Harris, Falco, and G-Man started to put out fire, conserving rounds but making sure the enemy knew they were there. As the 6.8-mm projectiles snapped past them, Jackson and Master Chief Ruiz, who had been the base of fire, peeled back, turning to the right so that they wouldn’t step into the line of fire. With a rough jerk, Jackson pulled the consul along with him with his left hand. This wasn’t the time to worry about the niceties of polite society. It was far more important to move fast and not get shot by friendly fire than to worry about manhandling somebody.
The pursuing Eluoi were slowed by another grenade, the concussion blasting explosively through the woods. The men in the white uniforms kept their heads down, returning fire blindly, creeping very carefully from one protected position to the next. Even that tactic wasn’t very effective as G-Man launched a grenade that burst in the air right over a pair of crouching infantrymen. Neither of them got up. Still moving back, the SEALS pulled away from their pursuers.
“No one in sight on the left, LT,” Rocky called out from behind a nearby tree. “I think we put some distance between us.”
Good. It was only a delay in the ultimate confrontation, not a victory, but it gave the SEALS a chance to keep fighting.
Rodale, in a hoarse whisper, added another bit of information that was far less encouraging. “Smokey’s hurt bad, sir. He’s biting the bullet and shooting the hell out of those white shirts, but damn, that burn—”
“Okay, thanks for the heads-up, Rock.” Nothing we can do about it now, dammit!
Passing the others once more with Char-Kane in tow, Jackson and his men continued into the woods, turned, and set up a field of fire. Within only a few moments, all the SEALS were a hundred meters back into the woods without any of the enemy in sight. Robinson was leaning on Rodale’s shoulder, his face pale, and when the lieutenant got a look at his leg—where the plasma beam had scorched him and Teal had placed a hasty bandage—Jackson knew that Rodale had been speaking the truth. Blood was seeping through the gauze, and the wound stretched from his chest to his ankle.
As the officer looked ahead of him, he saw a small flower garden where Teal was kneeling. The enemy wasn’t in sight, and his man might have found a way out for all of them.
“Consolidate!” Jackson said loudly as they set up a final perimeter around the flower garden. This time his men held their fire as there weren’t any targets visible in front of them. Only the trees and their oncoming Teammates met their eyes.
“Tell me you have good news, Teal,” Jackson said as he let the master chief see to the men.
“I really wish I could, boss,” Teal said. “Right now, we’re in the middle of these damned woods. There isn’t anything around us but flat grasslands and hostiles. There must be a dozen of those ships out there, each with a load of troops. We’ve got nowhere to go but right here.”
“We can make it damned expensive for them, sir,” G-Man said from where he knelt in the flowers. The big man and his huge weapon were incongruous among all the colors and perfumed smells.
“Roger that, sir,” Chief Harris put in.
All Rocky did was unship his M76 Wasp and hold it in his hands. On their blast setting, the missiles he had left would