Read Online Return From the Inferno by Mack Maloney - Free Book Online
Authors: Mack Maloney
Tags: Suspense
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explosions, the chattering of AA guns and the peel of air raid sirens. Still groggy, he leaned further out of the back of the truck to see that the city was now in flames and under heavy air attack.
58
In the thirty seconds he had before the soldiers realized he was conscious and stuck him again, he was able to determine that the men were using laser sighting devices-probably PAVE/PENNY-to target smart bombs falling on the city with ear-splitting regularity.
His fourth conscious period came close to dawn. The truck was just moving out from its targeting perch and heading back down the abandoned highway.
The soldiers quickly injected him again and when he lay back down he could see the sky through the flap in the back of the truck. It was filled with smoke, but there were brilliant patches of light blue and red, the prelude to a clear warm summer's day.
Just as he was going under for the fifth time, Itchy thought he saw a very strange sight. It looked like hundreds of Ws written in contrails across the sky.
But later on, he assumed that it was just a dream.
It was midmorning when Itchy woke up for the sixth time.
He was back in the same field where the men had taken him prisoner. They were off the truck. It was nowhere to be seen. Instead a large CH-47 Chinook was on hand. The soldiers were loading their gear into it as another dozen or so new troops maintained a tight defensive ring around the LZ.
Itchy was kept awake while an intense discussion about his fate carried on between the man who appeared to be the leader of the sixteen soldiers and the pilots of the big troop helicopter. Through stuffed ears, Itchy was able to hear the gist of the debate, which was that the Chinook was overloaded and underfueled and even one more person on board could make the difference weightwise as to how successful the flight would be.
It was very apparent that no one involved wanted to spend much time on the question. This made Itchy itchy. If he was simply excess weight to them, then a bullet to his brain would quickly solve the problem. Yet that option never really came up.
59
One of the pilots blew a whistle and immediately the troops began climbing aboard the helicopter. The man in charge of the sixteen soldiers walked over to Itchy and untied his hands and feet. Then he tossed the rope at Itchy's head.
"As long as you live," the man told him, "you'll never have a day as lucky as this one."
With that, he climbed aboard the chopper, closing the door behind him. Then in a great burst of power and engine wash, the Chinook took off, and went straight up until it was out of sight.
60
Chapter Eleven
The two Fourth Reich soldiers who manned Outpost #6406 began the day with a meal of powdered eggs and stale coffee-and no drugs.
The Wabash River was running particularly rough this morning, too rough for the men to take their usual morning bath. Instead they gathered some of the brisk water in cans and took turns dumping them over each other's head, the
"in the field" equivalent of taking a cold shower.
The outpost-a thirty-five-foot high tower which sat on a slight bend in the Wabash-was equipped with state-of-the-art video equipment, infrared sights, NightScope devices and even thermo-detection gear. Its weaponry included two
.50-caliber heavy machine guns, a small rocket launcher, an SA-7 portable SAM
system and a small arsenal of light weapons. The outpost had spy drone launch capability and three ways of instant communication back to the main NS HQ in Bundeswehr Four.
The job was simply to keep an eye on things. A half mile to the south there was a large tract of farmland which was worked by two hundred slave laborers.
Directly to their east was a small truck repair facility, also worked by slave labor. Next door to that was a small jail which held people marked for execution. Outpost #6406 provided surveillance and early warning threat detection for all three of these facilities. By keeping constant tabs on the many
58
In the thirty seconds he had before the soldiers realized he was conscious and stuck him again, he was able to determine that the men were using laser sighting devices-probably PAVE/PENNY-to target smart bombs falling on the city with ear-splitting regularity.
His fourth conscious period came close to dawn. The truck was just moving out from its targeting perch and heading back down the abandoned highway.
The soldiers quickly injected him again and when he lay back down he could see the sky through the flap in the back of the truck. It was filled with smoke, but there were brilliant patches of light blue and red, the prelude to a clear warm summer's day.
Just as he was going under for the fifth time, Itchy thought he saw a very strange sight. It looked like hundreds of Ws written in contrails across the sky.
But later on, he assumed that it was just a dream.
It was midmorning when Itchy woke up for the sixth time.
He was back in the same field where the men had taken him prisoner. They were off the truck. It was nowhere to be seen. Instead a large CH-47 Chinook was on hand. The soldiers were loading their gear into it as another dozen or so new troops maintained a tight defensive ring around the LZ.
Itchy was kept awake while an intense discussion about his fate carried on between the man who appeared to be the leader of the sixteen soldiers and the pilots of the big troop helicopter. Through stuffed ears, Itchy was able to hear the gist of the debate, which was that the Chinook was overloaded and underfueled and even one more person on board could make the difference weightwise as to how successful the flight would be.
It was very apparent that no one involved wanted to spend much time on the question. This made Itchy itchy. If he was simply excess weight to them, then a bullet to his brain would quickly solve the problem. Yet that option never really came up.
59
One of the pilots blew a whistle and immediately the troops began climbing aboard the helicopter. The man in charge of the sixteen soldiers walked over to Itchy and untied his hands and feet. Then he tossed the rope at Itchy's head.
"As long as you live," the man told him, "you'll never have a day as lucky as this one."
With that, he climbed aboard the chopper, closing the door behind him. Then in a great burst of power and engine wash, the Chinook took off, and went straight up until it was out of sight.
60
Chapter Eleven
The two Fourth Reich soldiers who manned Outpost #6406 began the day with a meal of powdered eggs and stale coffee-and no drugs.
The Wabash River was running particularly rough this morning, too rough for the men to take their usual morning bath. Instead they gathered some of the brisk water in cans and took turns dumping them over each other's head, the
"in the field" equivalent of taking a cold shower.
The outpost-a thirty-five-foot high tower which sat on a slight bend in the Wabash-was equipped with state-of-the-art video equipment, infrared sights, NightScope devices and even thermo-detection gear. Its weaponry included two
.50-caliber heavy machine guns, a small rocket launcher, an SA-7 portable SAM
system and a small arsenal of light weapons. The outpost had spy drone launch capability and three ways of instant communication back to the main NS HQ in Bundeswehr Four.
The job was simply to keep an eye on things. A half mile to the south there was a large tract of farmland which was worked by two hundred slave laborers.
Directly to their east was a small truck repair facility, also worked by slave labor. Next door to that was a small jail which held people marked for execution. Outpost #6406 provided surveillance and early warning threat detection for all three of these facilities. By keeping constant tabs on the many
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