The Broken Peace

First Lieutenant Devers rechecked his timepiece at 2317 hours. He let out a long sigh in frustration. Sergeant Kreb sat beside him and offered him a drink from his flask. Devers accepted, thanking the man for the distraction.

This was the fourth night he and a squad of marines staked out the flower shop their prisoners told Marquette about during their interrogation. He was beginning to believe they were lying or that the MLA had changed the location of their weapons cache.

Devers rubbed his eyes as a tension headache began to form in the back of his skull. The men with him were growing restless, and so was he. Marquette wanted to catch the insurgents in the act, but that involved patience and luck. While luck came with the territory of a combat leader who survived numerous missions, patience was different. Even the most well-trained soldiers had their limits on how long they were willing to wait, and his men were starting to become restless.

Their hideout was an empty warehouse about half a block from the flower shop. Technicians concealed a tiny camera at the rear of the shop. At the same time, they tapped into the security cameras of the businesses around the flower shop so that the place was under constant surveillance. Four marksmen were stationed on the rooftops of the buildings around their target, watching for any signs the insurgents returned to claim their weapons.

Devers and his men were inserted into the building disguised as construction workers. Their cover story was they were contracted to renovate the warehouse for the new owners. Each day and handful of marines replaced the same number from the day before, giving the appearance of people coming and going from a construction site. It was a clever plan, except for the part that said he did not get to leave.

Rubbing his eyes again, Devers gave thought to getting some sleep. Two techs sat around a table with several screens monitoring the streets for any sign of the insurgents. Nothing happened except for half a dozen false alarms since they set up their post. They took little notice of him as he walked past them on the way to his cot in the back of the warehouse.

Before he could sit, one of the techs called out. "Sir, I think we've got something. A delivery truck just pulled up at the backdoor of the shop."

Devers returned to the man's station as the truck began to back toward the loading door. "Awful late for a delivery," Devers said, "Boothe, do you see the truck from your vantage point?"

"I see it, LT—two people up front, one man, one woman."

"Keep your sights on them." Devers picked up his comm device, "Kennel, this is Watchdog."

"Go ahead, Watchdog," came the voice on the other end.

"Kennel, I have a possible target—a small truck with two occupants on a late-night delivery."

"Watchdog, proceed with caution. If the target is authentic, your orders are to commence your operation."

"Roger that, Kennel. Watchdog out." Looking toward Krebs, the lieutenant said, "Get your men ready."

Several minutes passed as the Marines prepared themselves for action. Another minute passed when Krebs reported they were ready. "Alright, Marines, prepare to move. Sharpshooters, do you have your targets painted?"

"Yes, sir," came the reply. Devers turned to Krebs to order the attack, but a sudden report from the sharpshooters interrupted him. "Sir, new targets have arrived. Hold the attack."

"Marines, hold your positions. What do you have?"

"A second vehicle joined our friends inside. Hold one." Tension hung in the air as Devers awaited the report. Marines rechecked their equipment and fidgeted as they waited. "Sir, I've got a high-value target. It's Malone."

"Are you certain?" Devers asked.

"Yes, sir, confirmed. What are your orders, sir?"

"Wait until he is inside, and then take out your targets. Kreb, I want Malone alive."

The sharpshooter observed as Malone and his group walked into the flower shop. "Lieutenant, the target is inside. Permission to take out the lookouts."

"Take them out. Kreb, deploy your men." Devers turned to the two techs, "Deploy the drones to cover the storefront. Terminate anyone who comes out except Malone."

A split second apart, the sharpshooters took down the lookouts with a single shot. The Marines rushed toward the now unguarded entrance of the flower shop. Their weapons at the ready, the Marines sprinted toward the rear of the shop.

As the Marines reached their target, the woman from the truck emerged from the shop. Before she could utter a sound, a Marine put three bullets into her chest. The Marines made entry into the shop without a pause. The shocked insurgents inside tried to scramble for their weapons, but the Marines cut them down before getting off a shot.

"Clear the building," Kreb called out. The Marines fanned out, searching for any survivors. The back of the shop contained numerous shelves holding flower pots, decorations, vases, and many types of colorful flowers. There were no signs of weapons or survivors.

The Marines arrived at the door to the shop's storefront. Krebs tried the door, saw it was unlocked, and appeared not to be boobytrapped. He cracked open the door. Gunshots from the other side greeted him as he took shelter against the wall. "Flashbang," he called out.

A Marine rushed forward. He took shelter next to Kreb.

The sergeant counted to three on his fingers as the Marine pulled the pin on the flashbang. Kreb flung open the door as more shots rang out. The Marine threw the flashbang into the room and then took cover. A moment later, a bright flash and earsplitting explosion sounded in the storefront.

The Marines rushed in, finding Malone lying on the ground, blinded by the flash but otherwise unharmed. "Corporal Hearst, prepare to take Mr. Malone back to base."

Kreb returned to the storage area of the flower shop while several marines opened the crates from the truck. "Sergeant, take a look at this," a marine said as he held up an assault rifle from the container.

"An RX-73 assault rifle, carbonized stock, magnetically accelerated projectiles with day-night scope. Standard issue military hardware of the Spartiartes. Get this stuff secured, and get the Lieutenant here."