Reconquest: Mother Earth

Chapter XVI

Chapter XVI

Mitch signaled to cut the engines on the landing boats.  

The boats sat five hundred yards off the shore on the west coast of Mexico, one hundred miles south of the old US border. There was no longer a United States. For Mitch, the only distinction was the area the aliens occupied and the area the humans occupied. There was too much of the former and not enough of the latter.  

Six men manned each of the five landing boats, representing his elite forces. Although they included new recruits with military experience, Mitch had trained most of them himself. At first, he had been wary because they were so green, but he no longer doubted them. They had proven themselves in these terrorist attacks.  

When he had time to think about it, he found himself amazed at the irony. When he had been with the SEALs, his aim had been to stop terrorism. He had come to despise the cowards who would kill innocents in their terrorist attacks. Yet here he was, doing things that a few short years ago, he had found to be despicable.  

He signaled the men to jump off the boats. He was the last to exit and swim to the shore. Just like the others, he carried a twenty-pound case of explosives.  

Over the last six months, he had taken weapons from military bases in the area. They had also been manufacturing their own bullets, explosives and weaponry. As a result, his men were now well armed.  

Mitch watched the other men swimming. He had no difficulty swimming under these conditions since he was used to it, but for some, this was their toughest amphibious operation.  

Over the last six months, he had given them rigorous training at a nearby lake. This included rudimentary underwater demolition.  

He was glad to see none of the men struggle in their swim to the shore. He gathered them at the shoreline. They ran in single files in teams of six. A month ago, they had taken aerial photos in a nighttime flyby with a helicopter. From intelligence obtained from new members of their community, Mitch knew this was a trade center for the distribution of deuterium and krypton, two noble gases in high demand among the aliens that they used human slaves to mine for.  

Tonight, Mitch wanted to put a dent in their operations. Their targets were six high-rise buildings off the coast. These remarkable structures reached the heavens, and had been constructed in a fraction of the time it would have taken people to build inferior buildings.  

At the base of a building, Mitch's team broke up and circled the perimeter. Mitch ran to his spot at the rear of the building and set a timer to detonate the explosives.  

The night was eerily quiet. He expected resistance. In earlier raids, they had encountered unsuspecting aliens who had to be dealt with. Using the element of surprise, they had suffered minimal casualties.  

After checking the timer to make sure it operated properly, Mitch ran back to the reconnaissance point at the shoreline. Corey Goss was the only person to return before him.  

He took a moment to catch his breath while waiting for the others to return. Over the next two minutes, they trickled back. The team leaders performed a headcount. One man was missing. Mitch gritted his teeth. They could not afford any delays, but he couldn't leave anyone behind.  

Mitch looked at his watch. "I'm going back for him." 

Before he left, Steve Minard, the missing team member, ran toward the shore. "I had a problem with the timer. I had to tinker with it, but I was able to set it." 

"Good," Mitch said. "Let's roll." 

Mitch ran into the warm night water and swam out. Without the pack of explosives, swimming was easier. When he first started with the SEALs, he found night swimming intimidating. As a child, after dark he often sat on the beach watching the waves crash on the shore, thinking that if he went into the water, the sea would swallow him, and no one would save him. His entire body shook before his first night swim. Just like most of his fears, he conquered it by doing it.