CHAPTER 49
Upon arriving in Italy, Grandma sent Princess to bring Billy and his battalion off the mountain. Billy wept with joy upon seeing his friends. In contrast, Billy’s scrawny frame and overly emotional weeping scared the hell out of them.
“You look half-dead,” Grandma said by way of greeting.
“It’s great to see you, too, Grandma. I expected you earlier.”
“A storm delayed us three days. What’s the plan?”
“Well, I may smell like roses, but my troops need a hot bath. We should turn in early, wake up around midnight, then bomb Jebe into the tenth century.”
At midnight, he gave his final orders to the battalion and company commanders:
“Jebe knows Jack is coming, so he’ll have something dangerous planned. Expect the unexpected. I want everyone to wear these great-smelling Mongol uniforms to confuse them. We’ll attack from the west instead of the east so they mistake us for reinforcements. The super-quads will take out the sky patrols, but hidden sentries will still sound the alarm before we’re in position to bomb. Our true surprise will be our numbers. When scouts see thirty thousand quads, they’ll assume we’re reinforcements.
“I want the first battalion to bomb the Mer de Glace glacier because a lot of Mongols are hiding under the snow in front of it. The next four battalions will drop their shrapnel bombs on the structures. The other battalions should blanket the camp and drop your bombs wherever Mongols pop up out of the snow. Shoot them before they get off the ground.
“Grandma, circle high with the super-quads, broken into companies flying figure eights around the perimeter. I’d not be surprised if Jebe has hidden a battalion or two over a ridge to take us by surprise.”
A few minutes later, as the commanders briefed their teams, Billy took Princess aside.
"I think I'm farthest along," she said proudly, caressing her bulging belly. He had not yet told her about his babies with Marie or the English and Irish women.
"If it's a boy I want to name him Wilhelm, and if it's a girl, Elizabeth," Billy said, knowing he better state his preference now, as she’d obsess over her own choices.
"Then I get to name the next two!"
"Then I get to name the three after that!" he retorted with a smile.
"Then I get to name the four after that!" They laughed together, so comfortable with each other.
“Battle is no place for a pregnant woman,” he said softly, scared for her. “What if we have a prodigy that shoots flame out of your you-know-what?”
She instantly hardened. “I’m going.”
And that, was that.
The Mongols scattered their ger huts to minimize the bomb hits, but the sheer volume of munitions canceled out that strategy as the whole valley vaporized, sending up snow geysers and turning tons of ice into slush. Warned by alert sentries, Billy watched thousands of quads exit hidden huts buried in snow. The Americans gleefully fell on them.
Flying requires wand use, which warms and heals, so his troops were relatively limber and awake, despite the bitter cold night. The Mongols, on the other hand, woke up abruptly, could not know the tactical situation, while cold, sleepy, and scared.
Billy had no doubt that Jebe prepared them for just this moment, but several weeks had passed since then. Billy had accustomed them to hourly raids so that most sleepy quads could not appreciate the gravity of the situation until too late.
Circling above the battle, Billy searched for the nasty surprises that Mongols were famous for. And he didn’t see them. Instead of making him feel better, it bothered him, so he rose higher to see beyond the vast camp.
And not a moment too soon. An aerial battle broke out to the north. Billy screamed a warning as he sprinted across the sky, confident his super-quad companies would follow. By then another fight started to the south. He overtook one of his companies, signaling the commander to follow him. They cut across another and raced together to the fight. Far to the east he heard the echoes of another battle.
Just a click ahead, one of his companies jumped a larger group of enemies, judging by the fireballs illuminating the night sky. His two companies banked sharply left to attack from the rear. He noticed a third company rushing to follow him, so he slowed down so they could catch up.
The three companies flew in a line, descending at an optimum angle to fire in a fall stabilized by their boot wands. The angle made all the difference. Because they flew in a 10 X 10 formation, instead of just the front ten quads firing, every quad could shoot. Six enemy companies rose to attack, but better wands and greater height gave Team Red twice the range.
His three hundred descended enough, so Billy signaled them to rise in an arc over the enemy. At least one enemy company anticipated this, so Billy raced ahead to cut them off. He flashed his wands so they’d concentrate on him. Now all he had to do was survive the next minute, dodging and shielding until his troops could destroy them.
Because his super-quads could fly faster, they could stay out of range of those behind them while shooting other enemies who didn’t see them.
Reinforcements arrived, so Billy raced to the next closest fight. He saw an enemy unit chasing a friendly one, so he did his infamous scream and, sure enough, the dummies turned to face him, although he was still too far away. He let the enemy come, then blew past them. When every second counts, those fools just lost several minutes. Billy saw a Mongol company descending on his troopers, so he fired a volley. The fireballs had to travel too far to hurt, much less kill, but the heat wave made them break off their attack to identify the unseen threat.
Genghis promised a fortune, so commanders chased him instead of easier targets, letting him lead them away. What began as an even fight turned increasingly lopsided, so he flew to the next closest battle, but Grandma had it under control. He helped them win faster, eager to deprive Mongols of precious marathoners.
Someone came to tell Billy they got the general. They had removed his armor and chained him to a boulder. Heat severely burned his left side, from his hip to his face.
"The famous Red Baron," Jebe said, not at all afraid. "You should be congratulated. I haven't been beaten this badly since I last argued with my father."
Billy shut him up by breaking his jaw with his fist, which really hurt his hand.
“Who got him?"
Champa, the hot Vietnamese he impregnated, waddled forward. She resembled an angry Asian version of Princess, but was so skinny while pregnant that she looked like a snake who swallowed a pig.
"The new wands you gave me saved my life."
"Kill him slowly," he commanded.
She started slicing Jebe up to inflict maximum pain, enjoying every minute of it -- therapy for finding her family massacred. His body now knew death was imminent, so Champa transferred his wands while contently watching life drain out of him.
Billy always suspected that Champa had many reasons to feel vindictive towards the Mongols, but never asked. Now, however, he could tell that she satiated some of that thirst. Something seemed to fall off her shoulders. She turned to Billy and bowed very low, in a gesture of deep respect.
"On behalf of my ancestors, I thank you."
Billy shocked the reserved woman by hugging her like a child. “When you give Jebe’s wands to our child, he or she will always remember your victory that restored the family honor. May your anger die with Jebe.”
Billy noticed Bear staring at him strangely, and knew instantly that something was wrong.
"She'll live," was the first thing Bear told him, "but she's burned up bad."
He didn't need to give a name.
Billy followed him to a hut that managed to survive. Princess lay hurt, but conscious. Snow eased the burning that cooked her skin from the lower spine to the back of her head. She lost most of her beautiful hair and it looked like a vampire nibbled on her left ear.
"I never saw it coming," was all the explanation he needed. That's how h
e foresaw his own doom. The blast must have hit between her helmet and her back armor. “The suit you gave me saved my life.”
Unfortunately, he was going through his new armor faster than Uncle George could replace them.
"Bear caught her as she fell and used snow to minimize the damage," one of the healers told him. "The third-degree burns will heal, but leave scars. The baby should not be effected if she recovers well, but her state of mind may determine the baby’s fate.”
Billy could see that Princess feared how this would change their relationship. The scars on her neck may never go away. He knelt to kiss her lips.
"A few more burns and you'll be better looking than me." She tried not to laugh because it hurt so much but, honestly, he couldn’t understand how anyone could enjoy touching him, much less for hours at a time like Princess did. "This changes nothing between us, you know. Don't make me enforce our contract: you still have to marry me and have my babies. If your hair doesn't grow back, I'll cut off your brother's while he sleeps. He doesn't like me anyways."
Her face beamed gratitude. "I know you have to go. When will I see you again?"
"Not soon. I need to destroy the Khan’s new million-quad armada in Kiev."
"Please take someone with you," she joked.
Billy got up. “Bear, my next trip to the bank, I’m gonna transfer a ton of gold into your account for saving my wife. If it’s a boy, I’m gonna name him after you.”
“Bear?” he asked skeptically.
“No. Harry, because you’re so hairy your body doesn’t need soap so much as shampoo.”
Princess smiled. “I now know my son’s name.”
Billy just gave Princess something to look forward to during her weeks of recuperation. Outside the hut, Bear set him straight.
“Keep your damn money. I did what anyone would do for a comrade in arms. And I still owe you for the wands.”
Bill placed a gentle hand on his shoulder. “I didn’t give you the gold to reward you. I did it to remind Princess how much I value her. Save it in case I’m not around to support her or the child.”
That left Bear speechless. He had never known anyone who could see so far ahead. But, then, Billy had another inspiration.
“I need someone to kill me for the Khan’s thousand ton reward.”
The thought of killing Billy horrified Bear. “What am I gonna spend a thousand gold tons on?”
Billy laughed. “I’m not asking you to keep it. I’m asking you to take it. Just think of how many mercenaries Genghis could hire with a thousand gold tons. Did you take any wands from their marathoners?”
Bear took out his best captured wand set. “These are actually pretty good. I got a battalion commander as he tried to rally his men.”
“Then let’s go somewhere private so you can kill me. After stripping the enemy a month ago, we put our clothes on them just so it’d look like they massacred us. I got great close-ups!” Billy closed his eyes, then passed those videos. “Remember to tell every news agency from here to Peking that Jebe destroyed us and that you killed the Red Baron. And if you get an opportunity to give Genghis one of your famous bear hugs, well, that’d be hilarious!”
They didn’t have time to bury the dead. All but the seriously wounded flew to the Mongol logistical camp off the mountain. But they found the support base virtually deserted. Locals washed clothes and tended kitchens. Nobody shot at Team Red, so they didn’t shoot at anybody. While they ate, the locals told them the Mongols abruptly left a few days before.
“They went after Jack,” Grandma predicted. “If that storm didn’t cost us three days, we’d have surprised them.”
“Have them sleep,” Billy ordered, since they were too tired to do anything else. “Set up a wide perimeter. I’ll find out what happened to Jack. Grandma, have them pack enough food for a long trip.”
Billy flew all day and found Jack’s camp after sunset. Billy saw thousands of corpses as he descended. Jack didn’t even get up. Once he landed, Billy could see why: Jack’s right leg was severely burned.
“You let them ambush you?” Billy asked in astonishment.
“I didn’t let them do anything,” the old man shot back angrily. “This is war. They had weeks to plan their ambush. I doubled the usual patrols, but I had few super-quads or marathoners. I had everyone sleep in their armor. I kept a third on standby during the night. Plus, I only had weeks to organize and train them. What else could I do?”
“You knew they knew you were coming, so you should have ambushed their ambush. Put your highest fliers in the same units and rotate them to protect you from high-altitude bombers. Establish layers of sentries far from camp who can signal each other without letting the Mongols know. Arrange dummies to lure the enemy in while your best quads wait in hiding. How much of your force did you lose?”
“Over half. But their losses were just as heavy.”
“Word of their victory will spread like herpes.”
“How did you do?” Jack demanded.
“We killed them all, including Jebe. Princess got burned bad, but will be okay. Now we’ll go north to destroy this new armada.”
“We should spread word of your victory over Jebe,” Jake argued.
“No!” Billy didn’t mean to yell, but can’t this man ever think ahead? “The Mongols must think they’ve won so I can surprise them. I want you to record me laying on my back, dying. I’ll remove my shirt so everyone sees the X on my chest. Pretend you found me on the mountaintop, my forces slaughtered. I need you to zoom in on my chest and act scared when you realize that I have stopped breathing. Are you up for it?”
“That’ll be the easiest thing I’ve done all day.”
Jack recorded for ten minutes while Billy recounted in detail how famously clever Jebe tricked him, and how he’ll never forgive himself for sending his super-quads to their doom. He said it so convincingly that Jack almost believed it. Billy let Jack get a close-up of the Millennial Wands he took from Subodei to convince Genghis Khan it really was the Red Baron. Then Billy surprised him by projecting a video.
“This is the bastard who got me,” the teenager said after Jack examined his fake wound. The movie showed a carefully rehearsed duel with Bear yelling triumphantly when he stabbed the Red Baron in the back.
When the Baron started crying over the loss of his team, Jack -- still traumatized by the death of his troops -- joined in. It looked either moving or pathetic. They ended it with Jack pronouncing the Red Baron dead and weeping over the corpse.
“Let me review it,” Billy demanded impatiently.
“Geez, Red. I can’t see your chest rise,” Jack said as it ended. “No one will mistake your disgusting skeleton body for someone else’s. How can women even touch you?”
Billy let that slide since he didn’t know. “Tell your commanders you’re gonna visit me on the mountaintop. Then return tomorrow, act depressed, and finally break down to explain how Jebe wiped us out. Transfer my death video, but make them swear to not share it. If you are convincing, Mongol spies will do the rest. Everyone believes the rumor, while few believe a speech.”