[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
strike its target. Heads mostly, totally unprotected.
Trantor never knew what hit her. The projectile entered through the top of
her skull, traveled down through her neck, and buried itself in her left lung.
Her eyes rolled back in her head, blood gushed out of her mouth, and she fell
backward into some Scotch broom. The rest of the fire team died with her.
Smith, who had hoped to keep the Sauronsin their vehicles and thereby keep
casualties low, knew his entire plan was starting to come apart. He watched
the Saurons hit the ground and bounce back up. Once they reached apogee, the
aliens seemed to hang there as if suspended by invisible ropes. They
maintained a diamond-shaped formation and wreaked havoc on the resistance
fighters below. Smith wanted to shout orders but knew there wasn t time.
Someone would do what needed to be done or the whole group would go into the
shitter. The lead Kan fired, and a man named Hatch was thrown off the back of
a truck.
Unlike the parking lot on the freeway below, there was only one vehicle
sitting on the overpass. It was a yellow school bus with the name Bright
Stars Preschool emblazoned along the side.
The door opened, a man named Luis Rallos stepped out, flipped a cigarette
away, and brought the rocket launcher up to his shoulder. There were only two
things he d ever been good at: high school football, and the use of heavy
weapons. Crew-served machine guns, mortars, and light artillery, he d fired
them all.
But his absolute favorite, and the weapon for which he was best known, was
the twelve-round Slingshot, first issued to American troops just three years
before, and the source of the nickname Rallos acquired during a tour in the
army: Rocketman.
The launcher, which was extremely light and fired minirockets, each the
size of an old-fashioned number-two pencil, was the first weapon of its type
intended for use against soft targets.
The Saurons were an interesting challenge. Partly because they were too close
to use the heat-seeking guidance system without endangering his comrades,
partly because they were falling, and partly because they were relatively
small targets.
But so was a receiver in the end zone, especially when viewed from fifty or
sixty yards away. Perhaps someone else would have thought about the angle of
deflection, the fact that the wind was from the west, or any of a half dozen
other factors. But not Rallos. He fired the Slingshot the same way that the
younger version of himself had thrown footballs quickly, instinctively,
naturally.
The first rocket hit Rel-Dek, exploded, and showered the humans below with
bits of raw meat and still-morphing chitin.
The second projectile struck Dor-Buk s right foot, sheared it off, and
exploded ten feet away. What remained of the bug cartwheeled through the air,
was shattered by three rounds of double-ought buck as it passed over the point
where Farley stood, and crashed into the front of a Sauron tanker-truck. The
windshield shattered and a terrified Fon peered out through the remains of the
Page 123
ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html
warrior assigned to protect him.
The last of the Kan had surrendered to gravity by that time, hit the ground,
and been blasted before they could bounce. A woman known by the handle
Longlegs had their range, and slugs from her M-18 tore them apart.
Suddenly the battle was over. A couple of Fon drivers had survived, but the
rest of the Saurons were dead.
Deac Smith turned to look up at the point where Luis Rocketman Rallos stood
silhouetted against the sky. The resistance leader offered a salute, which the
other man returned. The right person, in the right place, at the right time.
As with many battles throughout human history, that was the difference between
victory and defeat.
The thought had no more than completed itself when a beam of incandescent
light touched down a hundred feet away, a tanker-truck exploded, and
concussion blew half a dozen people off their feet. There was a loud cracking
noise followed by the stench of ozone. The Saurons were attaching from orbit!
Smith spoke while still flat on his back. This is D-One to all teams.
Withdraw according to plan. Rendezvous two . . . repeat,two . . . execute.
Over.
The freedom fighters split into fire teams, ran like hell, and were clear by
the time the second, third, and fourth energy bolts struck the ground.
Hit and run, hit and run, hit and run. It was the same approach the Vietcong
had used against both the French and the Americans.
Slowly, using the existing network of reenactors, survivalists, and
ex-military as a cadre, Smith intended to create a classic guerrilla movement.
There was a problem, though one he would eventually be forced to confront.
It s one thing to fightagainst something, such as the Saurons, but another to
fightfor something, such as freedom.
What the movement needed, and Smith couldn t supply, was political
leadership. The kind Churchill supplied to England, the kind Mao supplied to
China, and the kind Mandela supplied to South Africa. All Smith could do was
fight and hope for the best.
The hawk, which still circled above, continued to hunt.
BELLINGHAM, WASHINGTON
[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]