Chapter Forty-Two

The Informer

A battle won, without a drop of blood being spilled, is the most astonishing victory

Elisium

5L 21/21/21/10

"Hell of a day and a never-ending night. Don't know when will I get to see my bed."

Commander Simon was trying to keep himself awake while sipping his eighth cup of coffee. He first supervised the shifting of boats from the yard towards the river, then saw off the convoy, and then assumed the command of the Ruins. With just around one-fifth of the total troops left behind to defend their fortress, he had to ensure that everything was in proper order.

Christopher had warned him that their enemies might try to breach one of their outer posts. After the attack on the storehouse, fortifications had been enhanced and more guns and canons had been deployed. Mines and traps had been laid down on roads leading to the Ruins. Anyone who tried to navigate these roads without proper directions would never make it to the city.

Simon had spent the whole night assigning his troops to different locations and was looking forward to retiring to his residence when one of his soldiers knocked the air out of his plan.

"What?" Simon furrowed his brow. "But how and why?"

"I don't know sir, but they are waiting for you in the command room."

Simon rushed towards the command room. "Good morning HighCommander. When and why did you return from the Demon's Entrance?" Simon noticed that Deputy HighCommander Alfred and three other commanders were also with him.

Christopher's eyes were darting all around the room. "I never made it that far. I got some crucial intel and decided to rush back to the base."

"What intel Sir?"

"Enemies are planning to attack the Ruins and take control over our headquarters."

"I have increased the number of troops on all the outer posts. Shall we send more?"

"No. They will not attack from the outside, they will attack from within. They will use the tunnels."

"But we sealed the tunnels."

"Some of them. There are many more and they are going to use those unidentified passages."

"May I ask Sir, what is the source of this intel? Who is your informer?"

Christopher slammed his fist on the table. "Will you stop asking questions and let me act." Simon was taken aback by this outburst. Christopher never lost his cool but today he was edgy. However, he quickly got hold of himself. "Sorry for shouting but we are short on time. Commander Darren escaped from enemy confinement and reached one of our outposts. He messaged me on my radio. Thankfully I was still in range when he radioed and I turned around to deal with this situation. Darren is in very bad shape and our soldiers will bring him to the Ruins as soon as he is okay to move."

"What shall we do now?"

"As per the info, they will attack all our outposts simultaneously to create a diversion. In the ensuing chaos, the enemies expect us to panic and send most of our troops towards the outposts and leave the Ruins defenseless. That is when they will attack it from within and take it over."

"Seems like a good plan."

Christopher nodded. "Yes, my friend. So first of all, we must disable all the automatic warning sirens. They will be deliberately targeting the security fences to trigger the alarms and cause panic amongst our troops. And the last thing we need is fear and anxiety."

Simon signaled to his officers in the command room and they switched off the IWS. Christopher then turned to Alfred. "Take a few officers and hurry to our weapon's store. Pick the weapons which I have instructed you to. We need fast guns for short-distance combat. We may be outnumbered, so our guns should scythe through our enemies like a knife scythes through butter."

Alfred rushed out of the room with three other officers. A red light started to flash on one of the electronic circuit boards.

"Distress signal from outpost number three," Simon said looking at the board.

Christopher started pacing around the room. "So boys, the diversion has begun. Simon, rush and alert all our officers. I want every single soldier to be present in the training ground in an hour. After creating these diversions, the enemies will wait for a couple of hours before attacking. They want us to send our troops to the outposts so that they can easily take over the Ruins. But what they don't know, is that we now know the locations of their underground tunnels. Before they come out, we will enter their holes and turn them into their graveyards."

"Okay, sir. I will start assembling our troops right away." Simon saluted his HighCommander and rushed out of the room.

***

David was in charge of the ambush from one of the tunnels inside the Ruins. There would be other attacks, but his position was very critical. David's exit opened up in an alley inside what was once the Royal Mound. As per Darren's information, the large clearing outside the Royal Mound was turned into the army training facility. Aden's soldiers used the surrounding buildings for recreational activities, so they were mostly deserted at night. David's troops had to quietly secure these buildings without triggering any alarms.

David's marksmen had the exact location of the watchtowers and they sniped out four unsuspecting nightguards without any fuss. However, one of the guards on a distant tower spotted their movement. He sprung into action and pushed down on something. David expected the blaring noise of the warning sirens to disrupt the chill of the night, but nothing interrupted the blissful silence. The guard manically pressed again and again, to no avail. He grabbed his gun to shoot at his enemies, however, a bullet found his heart and another one pierced his head. David's snipers showed off their years of training and the poor guard didn't even manage to fire a single shot.

David told his men to hurry up and take their positions inside the empty buildings as enemies would be filling this ground any time soon. While his troops secured the structures, David silently admired his father's master plan. After being outsmarted by Christopher twice, George thought like him and did the exact opposite of what he expected.

The most logical thing for Elisians was to attack the convoy and stop them from reaching the Demon's entrance. But that would have led to an open field battle and Aden's army would have always had an upper hand in such an engagement due to their superior weapons. George made a calculated guess that owing to the Jennifer factor, Christopher would take most of his army to the Demon's entrance, leaving his otherwise extremely secured fortress, very thinly guarded. This was the best chance to stab the enemy in his heart. And David's army didn't just have the element of surprise, they were also up against tired minds and bodies. Most of Aden's soldiers had worked extra shifts to prepare for the massive movement and the last thing they wanted was to defend against a brutal attack.

David was however much more impressed by his father's most genius idea. If everything went as per that plan, there wouldn't be any further loss of life on either side. A battle won, without spilling a drop of blood, is the most astonishing victory. By the end of this day, they might be in control of the enemy headquarters, their defense structures, and most of their weapons. This would leave them in a much better position to tackle the additional troops arriving at the turn of the loop.

***

Christopher was waiting at the gate of the army headquarters when Simon hurried towards him.

"All the troops are present in the training ground waiting for your instructions."

"Have the weapons been distributed amongst them?"

"Commander Alfred is bringing the guns you requested from the weaponry. He will be there by soon."

Christopher nodded and then whispered something to one of his lieutenants. The lieutenant ran away in the opposite direction.

Christopher entered the training ground and climbed a small stage built in its corner for viewing the parades. Two people entered the ground from one of the buildings behind the stage and Aden's soldiers let out a collective gasp upon seeing them. Commander Roger and Commander Darren climbed the stage accompanied by a few soldiers of David's Army.

And then chaos landed a punch on the calm. Roger snatched a gun from one of the soldiers and shot Christopher from behind. Christopher who was looking the other way collapsed to the floor. Roger shouted at the top of his lungs, "He is not Christopher. He is George, his duplicate. Run. Take cover. You are surrounded by enemies."

A complete pandemonium broke out at the training ground. Unarmed soldiers of Aden's army, who were standing in the middle of the ground, panicked and started running. David's men, who were positioned in the surrounding buildings, began shooting. The helpless soldiers tried to take cover, but there was no escape from death. The situation quickly turned into a hunting game. The shooters locked onto their targets, took their aims and the clueless prey had nowhere to go.

Jennifer rushed to check on her father who was lying on the floor and embraced him. "He has been shot in the back. Someone help him, please. He has been shot." Tears streamed down her cheeks.

George somehow managed to mumble through his labored breath. "Stop.. the .. firing.. don't .. kill .. unarmed.. men.. please.. dear.."

Jennifer got up and screamed, "stop the firing. Stop it." Her voice echoed around the ground, above the sound of gunfire.

David, who was on the opposite side of the ground, heard his sister and ordered his men to hold fire. The shooting stopped and the surviving soldiers of Aden gradually halted in their tracks. Everything came to a stand still. The running track at the ground had been painted red with blood. The gymnastic area was littered with bodies. A creepy silence gnawed at the souls. The only noise was the painful whimpers of the injured soldiers.

***

In the manic moments, after he shot George, one of the soldiers wrestled the gun out of his hand and held him down. Roger did not put up any fight. He had already achieved what he wanted.

But now he saw another opportunity. After the storehouse ambush, George had ensured that Jennifer was always surrounded by a ring of soldiers. It was almost impossible for anyone to target her. But in this shambolic situation, everyone had gathered around George and she had broken away from that protective ring. Once again, enemies had dropped their guard at a crucial juncture just like they had done during the time of Moses.

Jennifer was right in front of his eyes. Unguarded. All he needed was a gun.

Roger suddenly flipped around and punched the soldier holding him in the face. He was a master in hand-to-hand combat. Roger had given the impression of surrendering and this sudden assault startled his captor. In a quick motion, Roger grabbed his gun and aimed it at Jennifer. No one was even looking in his direction at that time.

He had already killed one Savior before. And he had just murdered the enemies' army chief. Now if he took out Jennifer, it could be the final nail in their coffin. He could end this bloody war, right there, right now. The victory, for his world and its people, was only one shot away.

Roger leveled the gun and pulled the trigger.