Chapter 10: The Assault Begins

Over the next two days the Russian forces massed outside of the city. Mike and Pete watched from the Sear’s Tower. Pete was worried that the city would not hold and Mike could see that in his eyes. Mike knew that the Russians would break the outer defenses of the city and he knew it would become a brutal fight street by street. He was worried because the Russian had been given special combat training ever since the Second World War after the Battle of Stalingrad where the Russians had won because of the street by street fighting.

Pete and Mike then went down to the main lobby of the building where they found John and Chris waiting for them. They had scheduled a visit to the outer defenses to make sure that everything was in place for the attack that was soon to come any day now. They left in a heavily armored Humvee and traveled to the outer defenses of the city.

It took about twenty minutes to reach the outer defenses of the city. They were not much. Each post had a couple of heavy machine guns and one M-1 Abrams Tank. These defenses would never hold and everyone knew it. They were merely there to buy time to amass the forces that the United States had left and counterattack, hopefully it would be large enough to drive the Russians back far enough to mobilize the rest of the U.S. forces to knock the Russians off of their shores.

Suddenly a loud roar came flying over the sky. Mike knew what this meant and he prayed that it was not now not yet, but it was. The Russians were beginning the attack on the city. It was perfect timing the president out in the open on the front lines when the attack began. It was almost too perfect of a timing for the attack, but there was no time to waste they had to get the president back inside the city.

Mike shoved Pete back into the Humvee and forced it to drive back to the tower. Mike, John, and Chris ran to the front lines where the Russian forces began to advance on the front lines of the city. The American tanks opened fire on the advancing Russian forces. Then a smoke trail was seen in the sky heading right for the tank.

“Everyone get out of the way.” Mike yelled.

Everyone dived out of the way as the missile hit the tank and destroyed it with one strike. The Russian jet flew over the city and was suddenly shot down by American anti-aircraft weaponry. Mike could not believe that the Russians were able to destroy their tank with one hit. How did they know the one weak spot on the tank was its back lower armor? That was a well-guarded American secret. There was no time to think about this however, the Russians were advancing on the American positions to quickly. Of the twenty men who had been at the defenses there were only five of them left along with Mike, John, and Chris. The eight of them squeezed into the one Humvee that was left.

“Move it driver,” Mike yelled and the car sped off down the road.

There were explosions all around the city as Russian and American fighter jets engaged in the sky over Chicago. As they drove back toward the Sear’s Tower a Russian fighter jet fell out of the sky and landed twenty feet in front of them. The driver tried to stop, but smashed into the burning jet. Mike, John, and Chris climbed out of the Humvee along with two men that were not killed in the crash. They still had five blocks to make it before they could make it to the tower, and the Russian forces were closing in all around the city.

They raced down the streets trying to reach the tower before the Russians could, everyone knew it was only a matter of time before the Americans outer defenses broke and the real battle for the city would begin. It would be street by street, building by building, and room by room. About three blocks from the tower, two U.S. soldiers came running out of an ally. Suddenly there was an explosion right in front of them and they were thrown through the air and killed instantly.

“What the hell was that?” John asked with a look of fear in his eyes.

He did not have to wait long for an answer, because ten seconds later a Russian T-90 came rolling down the street. Mike and the rest of them ran into an adjacent building before the tank could spot them. It was way too soon for the Russians to break through and that tank was headed straight for the tower. Mike began to wonder how they were getting pass the defenses so easily and also how they knew the command post was at the Sears Tower. By this time Mike knew there was a traitor in their mist, and he had an idea who it was, but there was a more urgent matter to attend to right now. He told John to get on the radio and call in air support to destroy the tank.

“Gold Eagle we need a strike package on Russian armor rolling down street toward command post, can you assist?” John radioed.

“Copy that we are coming in low and hot now. Danger close get your heads down. Gold Eagle out,” the pilot responded.

“Everyone hit the deck,” John yelled.

Everyone in the room dropped just in time as an American F-16 came in low and fired on the Russian T-90 and destroyed it. The radio came to life once again, “This is Gold Eagle you are clear all the way to the tower. I will circle and provide support until you reach it. Gold Eagle out.” Mike opened the door and they sprinted the last three blocks toward the tower until they reached it.

When they got into the tower the lobby had been barricaded and the generals sat around a table debating on how to defend the city and more importantly the tower. The one block radius around the tower was well defended and basically impenetrable. There was a top Marine division covering the North, Army Rangers to the South, and regular army to the east and west with help from special ops teams, and finally an entire tank column to assist where needed. The only weak spot was the actual roof of the tower which was basically undefended. This was because no one thought the Russians would dare to attempt a landing on the roof with the tower surrounded the way it was.

Mike looked around and wondered how long they could hold out. He knew they could hold until reinforcements arrived from Texas which was scheduled to arrive in two days with two entire armies. They could hold until then as long as their weakness was not found out by the Russians, but how could that happen Mike thought.

After a day of fighting Mike was ready for a rest he knew that he would need it for the next day the Russians would be within the block radius and ready to strike. He slept that night thinking that nothing could happen and they would all pull through in the end. For once reinforcements arrived they could begin the counterattack against the Russians. Mike slept in the lobby with his team, while his brother, the president, slept two floors above lightly guarded.