Chapter 9: Mike's Past Revealed

Mike sighed and looked at John. He knew that he was right and decided that he would tell him and Chris. Mike knew perfectly well that they would not tell anyone.

“Walker what happened?” John demanded with a concerned look on his face.

“It was on the way back from the capital with Peter,” Mike responded. “He told me the name of the person who had contacted him from Russia. The man’s name was Victor, but he did not know his last name. I did however know his name, it was Victor Cherenkov. We had been in a joint country anti-terrorist team after the death of Bin Laden in 2011. After about five years he decided that it was possible to take control of the Russian government. He asked me to join him, but I refused and he said that I would regret that day. I reported this to our commanding officer, but by the time they investigated, Victor had disappeared and could not be found. I had not heard of him or his whereabouts since then. After Peter had told me what the man had said I knew we were in trouble and that this was no mere threat. That is why I am making these decisions; this man has the power to end our great country. We are not what we used to be because of these liberals and what they have done to our country and we were left defenseless to this threat.”

John and Chris were shocked by the story Mike had just recounted to them and now understood perfectly well why Mike had made the decisions he had made. The chopper continued to fly across the ocean and soon they spotted land. Mike knew that the Russians only held the major cities along the coast and had not moved to far in land. Looking at the fuel gage he decided that they had enough fuel to make it to Pittsburg and would be able to refuel. From Pittsburg they would fly to Chicago and make a stand. Mike knew that the Russians would not nuke Chicago if they defended it. They wanted to take the president of the United States alive and show him off as a prize to the rest of the world. Mike was not willing to let that happen to his brother.

As they approached Pittsburg they radioed in to command of the nearest military base and explained their story. They were then granted permission to land. The commander told Mike that if he wanted they could spare an Apache attack helicopter to fly them Chicago. Mike decided to take the commander up on his offer and about two hours after landing they were in the air on the way to Chicago.

When Mike turned back to look at the city he saw Russian Tanks coming over a mountain to bear full force against the city. He wanted desperately to turn the chopper around and engage the Russian, but knew that he had a job to do. As they got farther from the city there were loud bangs and the siege of Pittsburg began. John turned back to look when the firing began and asked Mike, “Do you think we even have a chance?”

Mike responded, “I don’t know John, I just don’t know.”

Chris then jumped in, “Well chance or no chance, I am not going to spend the rest of my life in a Russian prison camp. I am all in no holding back. We either kick these Russian dogs from our shores or bury me on this soil.”

“Amen to that,” Mike and John responded.

It took two hours but soon they saw the outline of the Chicago skyline. Even now Mike felt despair as he saw Russian troops, planes, armor, and artillery massing outside of the suburbs of the city. They did not even receive anti-aircraft fire as they flew over the Russian positions. Mike then realized how much confidence the Russians had. He prayed that they had some weakness and that the people of Chicago still had one last fight to give.

They flew into the center of the city and landed near the Sears Tower, which looked to be the command post. They departed from the chopper and walked down the streets of Chicago until they came to the Sears Tower. A MP was standing outside and when he saw them approaching he recognized it as Mike and moved aside to let the three of them in.

Mike led what was left of his team into the lobby where his brother was sitting with his chief advisors and generals talking about what looked to be plans to defend the city. When Pete saw Mike he dropped what he was doing and ran over to him.

“Mike, thank God, I thought you were dead,” Pete said with a look of relief on his face.

“No we are alive,” Mike responded, “You can’t get rid of me that easily.”

“How I thought you were captured and taken to New York. I thought you would have been killed when the city was destroyed.”

“No we were taken prisoner, but escaped. We tried to stop the missile from hitting the city, but we couldn’t. We then stole a Russian helicopter and escaped.”

“Well thank God you and your team are here Mike. Speaking of your team tell the rest of them to come inside and relax for a few minutes while we go over defensive plans.”

Mike looked down at his feet with a grim look on his face. Apparently he did not know that half of his team had been killed when they were captured and the other half had died when they tried to take the helicopter. He knew that he had to tell Pete, but he just could not. He finally found it inside of him to look at Pete, who now had a worried look on his face.

“Pete,” Mike said with a sob, “This is my team.” He looked to John and Chris and then said, “The rest of the team is dead.”

Pete had a look of shock on his face. He then fell to the ground because he could not believe this. That team had been all over Iraq and Afghanistan. They had fought in every type of warfare imaginable, and now they were gone. Pete, along with Mike, had always believed that the team was invincible and nothing could stop it. He then stood up and looked at Mike with a look of pity on his face.

“Well Mike,” Pete finally said, “We will make those Russians pay for what they did.”

He brought Mike over to the table where his generals sat and laid out what would become the defense of Chicago.