Chapter 23

“Su Lin calling Grant.”

“Go, Su Lin.”

“We’re on the way but you can meet us and take out the ships. We’ve got the Admiral, his orders and charts. McVey was there, but once he saw us he uttered two words and keeled over. When we reached him, he was already dead. We did gather all his notebooks as you suggested, but we didn’t worry about the bugs, locators or explosives. We figured getting this stuff back to the boat was priority.”

“You were correct, and we can see you on radar. Keep your current heading and we’ll pick you up shortly.”

Su Lin answered, “Aye aye, Skipper,” but ruined the effect by starting to giggle.

“Broadsword to Cutlass.”

“Yes, Grant?” answered Cal.

“Recovering special ops group in one zero minutes. How are you doing?”

“Let’s say I’m in a target rich environment. There were more than twenty ships up here. “Much of Baltimore is burning, but you can tell there’s a lot of resistance. We’re using the chain gun and twin fifties to help even the odds some.”

“Excellent. See if you can make contact with any of the Americans.”

“I think, at the moment, most of them are more scared of us than they are of the Redcoats. In fact, I suspect many of them don’t associate our presence with the destruction of the fleet.”

“Then when you feel like you’ve done all you can, go ahead and head back toward Norfolk. We should be there in approximately three zero minutes.”

Ensign Young was now operating the helm and began to reduce speed and swing around with his stern facing the Zodiac. The storage doors were opened and a ramp slid out from beneath the opening. The sailor operating the Zodiac increased speed, ran up the ramp and through the doors. The ramp was retracted as the door closed, and then everyone came through the hatch into the central part of the boat. The Admiral was fuming, but totally silent. Of course the duct tape over his mouth might have had something to do with it.

Teng set a large water proof bag on the floor in front of Grant, and Su Lin followed with a smaller bag. Teng informed Grant, “I have information regarding the intentions of the King. He plans to now own everything and rent out land to new people, many of them family or cronies. Of course, that’s after he wipes out all the existing settlers. He intends to use part of the land for a giant prison, similar to the original idea of Australia. Georgia will be given to Spain for treasure and a promise to leave the rest of the colonies alone. Everything north of Philadelphia is to go to France on a similar deal, and both countries will allow free trade and will not dispute any land of the remaining colonies between the Atlantic and the Mississippi.”

“Will this be believed if we can find enough people left to give them the facts?”

“It’s in the Kings own hand and bears his seal.”

“Do we know why he’s calling for this total destruction?”

Su Lin answered, “McVey convinced him that the hunger for freedom and democracy was like gangrene. It must be amputated or it will spread to the people back in the British Isles.”

“Well, put this man in a separate cell in the brig. Make sure they’re not adjoining to the three who are currently there.”

“Aye aye, Skipper.”

“Fire control, are you ready?” asked Grant.

“Yes, Sir.”

“Be aware boys, three of those ships may take more than one missile.”

“Noted, Sir.”

“Helmsman, move us forward toward the ships at sixty knots. It’s time to let them see our red eyes.”

“Aye aye, Skipper.”

With that, the red night vision lights came on in the control room and the window shields were raised. Thus, a few minutes later, when a lookout spotted the monster the decks of the ships looked like chaos, and as the Broadsword rapidly approached the six ships the panic seemed to increase. When they discovered the Admiral was missing they wildly began abandoning ship. Less than ten boats had reached the water when the first volley of missiles hit. One of them must have struck the powder magazine, because the secondary explosion rained burning embers to all the other ships. Three more missiles were fired and then the monster closed its eyes and swam away.

“Good job everyone; now let’s go rendezvous with Cutlass.”

Ten minutes later radar reported, “Skipper, a ship is exiting the Chesapeake. From her signature, I think it’s Cutlass.”

“Distance?”

“Sixty-three miles, Sir. We’re both about thirty miles to the point nearest to Virginia Beach.”

Grant looked at the chart, and said, “Unfortunately, that’s way out of our way. Do we have the ability to drop the fuel bladder with a radio locator?”

“Yes, Sir.”

“Do so and give Cutlass the channel. Let me know when it’s in the water and they have the signal.”

“Aye aye, Skipper.

Grant returned to his charts. The ones he had showed he had sufficient depth up to Fort Washington, but they were from two hundred and fifty years in the future.

“Skipper, bladder is in the water and Cutlass has the signal. They said to tell you good luck.”

“Thank you. Sonar, with your forward look, how fast can we go and still have time to go to emergency stop”

“In this boat, we would be lucky to stop at ten knots.”

“Then set the alarm to let us know when depth drops below twenty feet.”

The young man gulped loudly, and replied rather tentatively, “Yes, Sir.”

“Helm, set course to three five five until we reach Tangier Island; speed is forty-five knots.”

“Yes, Sir.”

You could feel the tension increase with each mile the boat traveled north. It didn’t matter that thousands of ships much bigger than Broadsword would one day travel up this waterway. At the moment it was dark and they were no longer in the open sea. That made them very uneasy.”

Ensign Young called out, “Tangier Island in twenty miles, depth is sixty-seven feet.”

“Cutlass to Broadsword. We have the bladder and are filling our tanks. As soon as we finish we’ll head to Boston.”

Grant thought for a moment, and made a major decision. “Cutlass, negative on Boston as initial destination. Go up the Delaware and clear it of British ships before heading north. Work your way up the coast, as I suspect most of the damage has already been done. We may not be able to prevent the burning and much of the killing along the coast, but we can destroy their support and supplies. Let’s hope that will be enough until we can mount more of a land attack, as well as provide food and munitions to the survivors.”

“Aye aye, Captain,” answered a voice Grant didn’t recognize.

Ensign Young called out, “Tangier Island in zero eight miles, depth is fifty-nine feet.”

“Helm, when you reach the island set course to two six five to enter the mouth of the Potomac. Once in the river drop speed to twenty knots and stay as close as possible to the center of the river. If depth drops to twenty-five feet reduce speed by two knots of every foot of depth we lose.”

“Yes, Sir, but I’m going to need Sonar to guide me on depth, as I’ve got to concentrate too much on following the river.”

“Ensign, what about night vision on from the camera? The river should be easy to follow.”

“Sorry, Sir. I forgot about that ability, but I’d still like sonar to guide me on the depth.”

“Sonar, you heard the man.”

“Aye aye, Skipper.

Ensign Young announced, “Switching to camera.” After a minute, he added, “This is much better, Skipper.

“Just keep things steady, Ensign, as we’ve still got almost a hundred miles to go.”

“What if we can’t go that far?”

“I know that in our time, there were some pretty good sized yachts that cruised the river all the way to Washington. At the same time, if it does get too shallow we’ll use the two forty footers to go the rest of the way.”

Grant picked up the radio and called, “Broadsword calling Saber.”

“This is Saber,” answered Josh Barnes.

“Josh, what’s the current situation?”

“Stiletto is back and his mission was a success. The five ships that entered the Savannah River were destroyed, though their hulls may be a menace to shipping for a while. Someone got wind of the British plan early enough to sound the alarm, and without their ship’s support they were beaten back rather quickly. Most of the remaining Redcoats are in the marsh between Wilmington Island and Tybee Island.”

“At least that’s some good news. What about Charleston?”

“Our people have turned the tide here and they’ve got most of the remaining Redcoats isolated on John’s Island. Most of the loyalists kept screaming that there must be some mistake, but the redcoat general was captured and revealed the King wanted the Carolinas for himself and had ordered everyone killed. They’re still moaning about the unfairness, but they’re doing it very quietly. It’s funny to see these loyalists being fed and housed by those whom they had previously considered rebel trash.”

“How about our people?” asked Grant.

“Most are moving back to your compound. We did lose one we didn’t realize earlier. That downtimer, James Watt was with Mr Horry when the British attacked.”

Grant was sad, because he really liked the man. Then Grant realized what the man’s death would mean to the English. They would never take the lead in the industry of the world without his steam engines. After this defeat, and the loss of Watt, England may never rise above the level of a third world country. No, Grant thought after another moment, I can’t allow England to be that damaged.

“Are my wives still on board?”

“No, Sir. They’re helping refugees near the ferry, and they’re being well protected.”

“What about the Redcoats at Georgetown?”

“They started burning and killing, but when they reached the harbor their ships were burning and all our guns were turned toward them. A short time later they surrendered.”

“I thought I ordered no quarter?” asked an angry Grant.

“Your orders were countered by your wives. We figured that two queens beat a king, so you lost.”

Grant was trying to be furious, but for some reason the way Josh told the story it was impossible for him to be that mad. “What are we doing with the prisoners?”

“We’re putting them on the new barrier island, now known as Grant’s Key. We’re using a few at a time to help in the clean-up, but they’ve already been informed they’ll be rebuilding Charleston. Your wives said it would be better than adding a few thousand bodies in the harbor to draw sharks.”

“Where did that come from?”

“Fran asked Beth how the bodies should be handled and she told him to throw the Redcoats to the sharks. When the British saw what we were doing with their dead they protested. She told them, ‘surrender or swim with the sharks.’ They couldn’t throw down their muskets fast enough.”

“Have she and Sabrina done any other countering of my orders.”

“I don’t think so, but they’re both proclaiming you the new monarch of South Carolina.”

“Oh shit.”

“Sir, most of us could agree with you, but they have a point ... this area needs a government immediately, one that has the power to get things done. There is only one person that can do that at the moment, and that’s you. Besides, I’ve listened to you and if anyone can help us do it right this time, it would be you.”

“Does everyone think that way?”

“As far as I know, and that includes the Marion Brothers.”

“Well, I’ll think about it,” replied Grant. “In the meantime, I need you to move north about a hundred miles or so, or we’re going to lose our radio network. I’m heading up the Potomac and it’s almost a hundred miles upriver to Mount Vernon.”

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Winds of Change

Mike Lowe aka The Scot

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