Operation Honey Trap vs The Emperor of the Apocalypse-Chapter 166: Falling from Bridgewater

The team traipsed down the railway tracks on the bridge, which was half road, half railway. Alton was in the lead, with Niko on rear guard duty.

They crossed onto the piece of the bridge that was the lifting span. There was a quaint little orange house on the girders above them, where the bridge-keeper used to live so that they could open and close the bridge when needed. Inside, were the bridge operating controls.

Alton had the binoculars and was using them to keep a careful eye up ahead of them, and along the river.

"Oh shit!" he cursed, "not again! Incoming! Patrol unit about to enter the bridge from the southern end!"

Niko had a careful eye to the north. "Incoming from the south too, General! They’re going to sandwich us in the middle!"

"Alton, let’s lift the bridge span and cut them off so they can’t cross!" said Delphi urgently.

"Excellent idea! Everyone up to the house. We’re going to open the bridge!"

The team pounded up the ladder that climbed up to the bridge-keeper’s house.

"Baer, Niko," said Alton, "take a door each and bust them in".

Each warrior kicked open the front and side doors to the tiny house.

Unbelievably, a soldier sat inside. He was holding his sword in front of him, shaking.

"What the hell?" growled Niko. "Where were you hiding? Were you waiting for us? Did you alert those soldiers? You did, didn’t you!"

He didn’t give the guy a chance to respond.

Alton came running through the door as Niko was menacing the soldier, who clearly just wanted to surrender given their overwhelming numbers.

"Masks on," Alton warned the women, who were yet to enter the house. "Leave him Niko, just put your sword to his neck and get the bridge opened!"

"Open the bridge right now, or I’ll slit your throat," Niko threatened the soldier.

"Alright, alright, don’t hurt me, I’ll open it," he quaked.

"Now!" Niko shouted in his face.

The man started to operate the controls in front of him. He was clearly very practised at this, because the alarms went off and the central span of the bridge started to rise rapidly.

"Thank goodness he was here," Delphi whispered to Alton. "I doubt we could have worked all of that out fast enough."

It was clear that the little packs of soldiers coming in from both directions were not going to make it in time, before the bridge was made uncrossable by the centre span being lifted.

"Baer," Alton called the man over and took him aside. "Get that man to show you how to operate the bridge, then throw him in the river," he whispered.

Baer looked very pleased with this order, and he strode off to force the man to show him the tricks of the trade.

Brenner approached General Meyer. "General, nice as this cottage is and all, we have no food, so we can’t live up here for long, and we need to work out a way off this bridge before they send for reinforcements. Can I suggest you and I head out to the tower on the south side and take out the patrol?"

"Hm. Yep. There don’t seem to be any other options which don’t involve us getting very wet."

"I’m coming too," said Delphi quickly. "I’m a better shot than Brenner."

She wasn’t showing off, she was simply stating the facts.

"It will be incredibly dangerous, Delphi," said Alton. "We’ll be balanced on the struts of the tower. If you’re hit with an arrow up there it’s a long way to fall."

"I’ll try not to get hit then," she said firmly. "Three shooters will get through them much faster than two. Arrie can spot for us from behind that column," she pointed at the widest of the steel columns that rose to the top of the tower that housed the simple concrete weight and pulley system that operated the bridge.

"On it, General," confirmed Arrie. "With my size I’ll be completely hidden behind that girder."

There was a shout as Baer finished ’learning how to operate the bridge’, and he picked up the soldier, throwing him over his shoulder and heading for the door.

"Where are you taking me?" the man cried in fear.

"Time for a dip," Baer replied ominously.

"What? No! That’s more than a hundred-foot drop!"

"If you’re a good boy, I’ll let you go feet first, so it doesn’t hurt... much," Baer chuckled at his own joke.

There were some muffled sounds from outside the cottage. Loveday peered out to see Baer prising the man’s fingers from the railing. Then, there was a long, loud yell.

"One down," muttered Alton. "Let’s go archers. Niko, you and Wolf keep a watch on the soldiers on the northern end and make sure they don’t try and climb up here. Any signs of that and shoot them off."

"Yes sir!"

"And let Baer know when he’s finished enjoying himself, that he’s to stay in the house and move the bridge up and down in any way that’s helpful."

Getting into a suitable position for shooting proved to be more difficult than they’d expected. The towers were all thin steel girders, not wide enough to stand on and fire arrows from. There were cross beams of angled steel that acted like ladders, and Brenner positioned himself on one of these. Alton climbed down a level and positioned himself on the ’ladder’ directly below him.

Delphi ran back inside the cottage. "Baer, move the bridge down a bit so I’m level with Alton and I can shoot from the edge of the road."

Baer started lowering them down a few metres, and Delphi set herself up lying flat with a crossbow on the asphalt. It was a much less precarious position than Brenner and Alton had taken.

Arrie stood on the road not far from Delphi, protected by a steel column, peering out at the patrolmen.

Brenner started to shoot, and they could hear the cries of the men below as arrows rained down on them. Alton pinned in the men at the rear, who were trying to fall back. Any that turned and ran, he shot in the back.

"General, the man at the front, your ten o’clock, has his arrow sighted on Brenner," called Arrie urgently.

Delphi shot the man just as his loosed his own arrow.

It flew high and didn’t slow Brenner, who had already shot two soldiers.

"Fellow at the left rear’s making a run for it," shouted Arrie.

Alton shot the man in the leg before Delphi got her shot away. She fired anyway, and her arrow took the man through the shoulder.

"Your two o’clock, Delphi! He’s aimed at Brenner!" cried Arrie.

Delphi turned and shot. She hit the man, and he dropped to the road, but not before he got an arrow away.

The shaft flew so close to Brenner, it took a thin slice off his bicep, but the punch of it unbalanced him, and he was knocked from his treacherous perch.