Thunder Run (Maelstrom Rising Book 6) Read online

  NIGHT AMBUSH

  The dot settled on a dark figure in fatigues and soft cap, carrying a PKP machinegun. I let my breath out, carefully eased the selector to fire, and squeezed the trigger.

  After the quiet of the woods, the crack of the suppressed shot was still devastatingly loud. The rifle surged back in my shoulder, but my position was good enough that it barely threw the dot off, and I saw the man crumple as the bullet tore through his armpit, ripping apart his heart and lungs before exiting out the other side. He fell without a sound, his knees giving way and dropping him on his face.

  A heartbeat later, the rest of the team opened up. Ripping reports echoed through the woods—though the shots were a lot quieter than they would have been without the suppressors, there’s no way to make a supersonic bullet completely silent. The first seven men in the file were all smashed off their feet in a couple of seconds. At that range, we could hardly miss.

  For a brief moment, nothing more happened as the echoes died away. A faint groan signaled that not everyone in that lead element was dead. I might have heard a muttered curse in Russian, somewhere ahead of us. But the shocking violence of what had just happened would take a few heartbeats to sink in.

  THUNDER RUN

  MAELSTROM RISING BOOK 6

  Peter Nealen

  This is a work of fiction. Characters and incidents are products of the author’s imagination. Some real locations are used fictitiously, others are entirely fictional. This book is not autobiographical. It is not a true story presented as fiction. It is more exciting than anything 99% of real gunfighters ever experience.

  Copyright 2021 Peter Nealen

  All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form, or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, to include, but not exclusive to, audio or visual recordings of any description without permission from the author.

  Maelstrom Rising is a trademark of Peter Nealen. All rights reserved.

  Printed in the United States of America

  http://americanpraetorians.com

  Prologue

  Calls for Terrorism Hearings Concerning Texas

  Representative Amelia Anderson-Pugnoli has openly called for hearings in Congress regarding the recent clashes in West Texas which saw the Texas National Guard seize control of the West Texas oilfields. She and the nearly one hundred twenty Representatives who back her have said that the actions of Texas Governor Hollis, the Texas National Guard, and the right-wing organization that calls itself “The Triarii” amounted to insurrection and international terrorism. “This kind of violence amounts to nothing less than a betrayal of everything America stands for! Texas is not a sovereign country, and even if it were, the attacks on international companies and Mexican nationals are crimes against humanity and must be punished.”

  Governor Hollis has issued no statement at this time.

  Violence Continues on West Coast

  Seattle is in flames again tonight, this time in reaction to the alleged killing of a local community activist near Capitol Hill. While the Capitol Hill area has been an epicenter for unrest since 2020, the latest spate of violence appears to be between several local activist groups. As this article goes live, it is still unclear what prompted the latest dispute, but it may have been a personal clash between would-be leaders of the Seattle Chapter of People’s Revolutionary Action. However, rumors continue to swirl that Hamal Johnson-Rodriguez was assassinated by right-wing extremists or even by agents of the Federal government.

  This is only the latest incident in waves of violence that have wracked the I-5 corridor since before the cyber-attack that crashed the power grid. The unrest has put considerable obstacles in the way of recovery, and months after the lights went out, they remain out for large portions of every major city on the West Coast.

  Rumors Swirl about Chinese Involvement in Current Unrest

  Conspiracy theories abound during times of crisis, and the current problems our country faces are no different. People look for someone to blame, for some explanation for the random and chaotic events that have upended their lives. So, it should be no surprise that such theories have erupted in popularity since the cyber-attack last year.

  Many of these conspiracy theories are often used by unscrupulous actors to further their agendas. The current rumors that the People’s Republic of China may have been involved in the cyber-attack, and has been fomenting the chaos in its aftermath, however, are wildly irresponsible even for the right-wing organizations that have fed the fears of the American people in the aftermath of a disaster of unprecedented proportions. To attempt to antagonize the world’s foremost emerging superpower at a time like this is reprehensible, and those who spread these rumors should be silenced.

  Stalemate in Europe

  The European Defense Council has issued strongly worded condemnations of what it terms terrorist attacks on French territory by American forces early this year. They have refused to confirm or deny whether or not the strikes did, in fact, cripple the French nuclear arsenal, which has been under the Council’s effective control for the last five years.

  From what this reporter was able to determine, however, hostilities appear to be at something of a standstill since the strikes, which came in the aftermath of an attempted coup in Germany. We were assured by European Defense Council spokespersons that the ultranationalists in Poland are nearly exhausted, and that they are confident that negotiations can be opened soon to resolve the dispute with the United States that was fomented by those same ultranationalists.

  Indian-Chinese Ceasefire Holds Despite Skirmishes

  The ceasefire on the Doklam Plateau remains in effect, though both India and China have moved large conventional forces into position on both sides of the border. While skirmishes have intensified along the Line of Actual Control, so far, there have been no major offensive moves made by either side.

  Even so, analysts have pointed to an uptick in terrorist attacks in the Indian-controlled areas of Kashmir. Most deny that there is any solid link between the skirmishes along the Line of Actual Control and the terror attacks; the Lashkar e Taiba fighters have no known ties to China, especially given Chinese treatment of the Muslim Uighurs in Xinjiang. However, a few have pointed to past support for other Islamist terror groups, and the fact that jihadist groups have only very rarely targeted Chinese interests.

  Despite the upheaval happening elsewhere in the world, many eyes remain fixed on Kashmir as a major potential flashpoint.

  Britain Still Professes Neutrality

  In the wake of the strikes that rocked the French naval base at Brest, the British Royal Navy has stepped up its patrols in the North Sea and English Channel, but their ships and aircraft have kept their distance from both the French and American navies. When questioned, Prime Minister Jameson has simply said that, “The United Kingdom has enough difficulties of its own without becoming embroiled in a war on the continent. The UK left the European Union before the ill-advised European Defense Council came into being, and when the belligerents are all NATO members, we have no binding responsibility to become involved under the North Atlantic Treaty.”

  While the Prime Minister did not say as much, some pundits have pointed out that Great Britain’s own domestic unrest and economic hard times—especially in the wake of the last crash of the British Pound, which saw the currency reach a new low on the international monetary exchange, furthering the damage done by the waves of recession that have wracked the country since Brexit.

  Also brought into question is whether or not the British Army is even in any shape to take sides in the continental war. While the riots at the end of
last year have quieted, they have not ceased altogether, and entire British Army units are said to still be disaffected, if not in outright mutiny.

  Is the Russian Bear Stirring?

  While Baltic Fleet units continue to patrol close to US Navy ships in the Baltic, the Russian Army continues to move. Russian Army forces have poured into Ukraine, but while Estonia remains occupied, no buildup has been detected there. This has hardly been comforting to the Latvians and Lithuanians, however, though they now find themselves alone, cut off from Poland by the Kaliningrad Oblast, and with Russian Navy ships between them and the USS Abraham Lincoln, which entered the Baltic last month, not to mention the USS Dwight D Eisenhower, currently deployed in the North Sea.

  Russian forces are, however, massing on the Polish border, both in Kaliningrad Oblast and Ukraine, despite the commitment of forces in the latter to quell the growing Ukrainian unrest—in a sharp reversal of the situation only a few years ago, when the unrest was largely being fueled by pro-Russian separatists. Russian “partner forces” are also staged in Belarus, but have so far avoided deploying forward, it is believed due to requests from the Belorussian government.

  Moscow has issued no formal statements about any of these troop movements, only offering to serve as a mediator between Washington, Warsaw, and Brussels. These offers have, so far, fallen on deaf ears.

  Chinese Offer Peacekeepers in Europe

  In an unprecedented move, Beijing issued a formal offer to the European Defense Council today to send People’s Liberation Army peacekeepers to Poland and Slovakia under UN mandate.

  While it would not be the first time PLA peacekeepers have been deployed abroad—the People’s Liberation Army has deployed several thousand UN peacekeepers around the globe—most of the UN missions they have undertaken have been in Africa. To deploy peacekeepers in the Western world is truly a sign that the world is changing rapidly, and signals China’s readiness to step into a true leadership position on the international stage.

  “We cannot continue to assume that events around the world do not affect us all,” said Jiāng Tiān Yué, a spokesperson for the Chinese Embassy in Paris. “We live in One World, and we must act like it. It is in everyone’s best interest to bring this unfortunate conflict to a close in a way that benefits all.”

  It is currently unclear just what shape the peacekeeping force would take. A spokesperson for the European Defense Council, Janine Lévêque, declined to make a formal statement, but indicated that the Council may already be in talks with Beijing concerning the offer.

  More US Forces Arrive in Poland

  For the first time in over two decades, the entirety of the US 1st and 2nd Infantry Divisions, along with the 1st Armored Division, arrived in Europe as coherent units. Due to the logistical situation, the three divisions traveled by sea, for the first time since World War II, in ten separate convoys spread out over nearly a week. “Without direct support from the UK, or any of the other surrounding countries such as Denmark or Sweden, we had no choice but to convoy across the Atlantic,” Colonel Maria Tormond said. “There were several alarms that indicated we might have come under naval attack, but the passage was mostly uneventful.” She would neither confirm nor deny reports that two tankers and a supporting cargo ship were sunk by French submarines off the coast of Scotland.

  The three American divisions are now unloading in the port of Gdansk, under air cover from the USS Abraham Lincoln and the 1st, 2nd, and 52nd Fighter Wings. The 52nd had already redeployed to Poland after declining relations with Germany led to the closing of most American bases in that country.

  It will take some time for the three units to fully deploy. In the meantime, there are two major questions: What is the US Army’s next move in Europe? And how will the European Defense Council react to such a major deployment in a country currently hostile to the rest of Western Europe?

  Chapter 1

  Chris was on point, about five yards ahead of me, when he suddenly froze and put up a clenched fist.

  I followed suit instantly. When you’re in hostile territory, you pay attention to what your point man does. While every man in a small team has to be alert at all times, the point man is the team’s eyes and ears.

  And while we were still on the Polish side of the line, I definitely considered where we were “hostile territory.”

  Staying in place, I scanned the woods around us carefully. We’d switched night vision in the last month, having gotten a new supply shipment in when the convoys carrying the Army’s reinforcements had arrived. I wasn’t entirely sure about losing the thermal capability, but the clarity and the depth perception the PS-31s provided were a lot better.

  Unfortunately, even with the better NVGs, I couldn’t see what had prompted Chris to halt.

  The woods were dark, despite the faint lights from Mamonovo about two and a half miles to the north. We’d picked a new moon on purpose. The PS-31s turned the darkness into pale grays, but they couldn’t show me what I didn’t have a line of sight on.

  Then I heard it. A faint rustle through the trees, somewhere ahead of us. I’d been tracking the rest of my team by sound as well as sight since we’d crossed the border out of Poland, about two miles away from the border checkpoint, so I’d noticed when the signal to freeze had been passed back and we’d all stopped moving. Someone was ahead of us, moving through the trees.

  And they were coming closer.

  Chris looked back at me, turning his head slowly and pointing to his twin-tube NVGs before pointing roughly due north. Then he held up four fingers, clenched his fist, and held up four fingers again.

  Eight men. Due north, coming toward us.

  I acknowledged and signaled for him to get down. I started to lower myself to the ground, even as I turned back toward Greg and repeated the signal. If we were close enough to hear them, they were close enough to hear us, and it was therefore too late to try to move away. There were a lot of fallen needles and leaves on the forest floor, and moving over that kind of ground cover without making a sound was difficult at best.

  I eased myself down on my belly, carefully lowering myself so as not to make too much noise, keeping my LaRue OBR held ready, though I didn’t get on the scope, instead scanning just above it. My helmet was already weighing my head down, though the 31s were a lot lighter than the PSQ-20 thermal fusion goggles we’d been using.

  I didn’t dare twist around to look back—it would make too much noise—but I had more than enough confidence in the rest of my team by then not to worry about whether they were spreading out and taking cover. The Grex Luporum Teams were the Triarii’s elite already, and we’d gathered enough combat experience since all hell had broken loose in Slovakia almost a year before that some things had simply become second nature.

  Movement drew my eye. I turned my head a fraction of an inch to see better.

  The man stepping carefully through the trees was lightly equipped, just like we were, though he wasn’t wearing NVGs. A soft patrol cap was on his head, and he had what looked like an AK-74 in his hands. The next man who appeared out of the woods behind him was dressed and equipped almost identically.

  They were damned close, and we weren’t exactly in the best of ambush spots. But that was why we drilled hasty ambushes.

  After a moment, I could see that they weren’t quite walking straight toward us. They were going to pass by about ten to twenty yards away. Which was good, but this was still going to be a knife fight in a telephone booth.

  We were going to hit them. I wasn’t in the least bit inclined to let them waltz past us. I could still smell the smoke from Pęciszewo. It was a bitter, metallic smell on the spring air, even attenuated by distance and the woods. There hadn’t been much wind since that village had been hit, so the stink of burned wood, plastic, tar, and flesh had lingered in the air.

  Chris had dropped where he was, still facing north, though he’d rolled partway to his side to cover the oncoming shooters with his OBR. I had gotten down in close to the same
attitude, since I hadn’t known for sure where the bad guys were, and I was kicking myself a little for it. Behind me, I knew that the rest of the team had turned to alternating sides before getting down. It gave us three hundred sixty degrees of security without having to clump up to form a circular perimeter. We’d practiced it for a long time now, because it worked in the bush. And the men behind me—at least half of them—were now in position to light the raid force up without needing to move.

  I slowly and quietly pumped my fist toward the shadowy figures as they moved through the trees. Hasty Ambush Right. I lay there for a few moments, giving the team time to pass the signal—presuming Greg had seen it, which I was sure he probably had, having already noticed that we were in a tight spot—and for the “little green men” to walk all the way into our kill zone. Finally, as the sixth man came alongside me, I rolled to the side and brought my OBR to bear, tilting the rifle so that I could pick up the offset red dot in my NVGs.

  The dot settled on a dark figure in fatigues and soft cap, carrying a PKP machinegun. I let my breath out, carefully eased the selector to fire, and squeezed the trigger.

  After the quiet of the woods, the crack of the suppressed shot was still devastatingly loud. The rifle surged back in my shoulder, but my position was good enough that it barely threw the dot off, and I saw the man crumple as the bullet tore through his armpit, ripping apart his heart and lungs before exiting out the other side. He fell without a sound, his knees giving way and dropping him on his face.

  A heartbeat later, the rest of the team opened up. Ripping reports echoed through the woods—though the shots were a lot quieter than they would have been without the suppressors, there’s no way to make a supersonic bullet completely silent. The first seven men in the file were all smashed off their feet in a couple of seconds. At that range, we could hardly miss.