Lobo Malo

Chapter 23 - Blown Down House

East Mall Sector
0502 EST

Ryckmen couldn't quite bite down a brief giggle as he looked to the east, seeing the looming silhouette of the Capitol haloed with pre-dawn light. Tarvey and Bundmeister looked back at him with raised eyebrows.

"Not starting to crack on us, are you, Lowell?" asked Bundmeister tartly. "Because if you are, your timing absolutely sucks."

"No, Bunny, not cracking on you. Just thinking about Robert's Rules for Rangers." He grinned ferally at Bundmeister. "Dawn's when the French, Indians, and Division agents attack."

This produced a low chuckle from the team. They were heading along Pennsylvania Avenue towards 1st Street. The remnants of a tropical depression had pushed north, cooling the area down slightly and dumping a large amount of moisture in the air, setting up a somewhat misty morning. It would likely burn off by midday. With any luck, it wouldn't be the only thing disappearing today.

Surprisingly, the True Sons didn't seem terribly interested in trying to advance against the crash site. Ridgeway had probably deduced that the final battle was upon him and he wasn't going to fritter away his remaining forces trying to attack a firmly entrenched opponent. Particularly one who was in the best possible position to intercept anybody he might try to send out to stir up trouble behind the lines.

It had been tempting to simply launch the attack from the Air Force One crash site, still held by Theater militia and heavily reinforced over the last 48 hours. But Ryckmen had held out for coming in along the perimeter fence surrounding DZ East and across the front of the Capitol. The chain link fencing and stacked Jersey barriers would provide cover while the Theater forces would be a very large distraction. Sawyer had promised some support for the initial insertion on to the Capitol grounds, but once they got past the outer defensive works, Team Peacemaker was on their own.

"Where do you think Ridgeway has the briefcase?" Gregory asked softly as they turned south.

"Ricky, you might have a thought about that," said Ryckmen.

"Ridgeway's not stupid. Prouder than Lucifer telling off God, but not stupid. My guess, it'll probably be somewhere which he might be able to make use of some of the contents. The briefcase has to have been carrying information aside from the entry codes for whatever bunker those antivirals were being stored in. Ridgeway would never let potentially useful intelligence sit idle in a safe somewhere."

"I don't like the idea of going in blind, guys," grumbled Bundmeister.

"It's the Capitol, Bunny. The House is on one side, the Senate's on the other, and the Rotunda is in the middle. How could we get lost?" chuckled Tarvey.

"We don't know what they've done inside. They've almost certainly repurposed sections for functions such as barracks, infirmaries, armories, and general storage. And since you mention the Rotunda, the fact it is in the middle makes it ideal for a command center. Everything naturally flows through there."

"Which, in turn," said Gregory, "suggests it's a good location to search first once we get inside."

Bundmeister shrugged, then nodded. "Yeah, it does. Thanks, Peace. Feeling a little jittery."

"Just take a page from Brother Henry and remember Shepard's Prayer. 'Dear Lord, please don't let me fuck up.'"

The team chuckled again, the last of the pre-battle jitters working themselves out as they felt themselves focusing on the task at hand. They passed through the Peace Memorial Circle and over to a small knot of Theater militia. Jury-rigged mortar tubes were aimed at a high angle. One of the militia members came over, smiling in the early morning gloom.