matter with him, has he been hit?’
‘Just scared silly.’
‘Ain’t we all.’ Ripper’s helmet was knocked back, to reveal his spotty forehead. ‘Reckon you’ve found a cure for my acne, Major. Pretty soon some Ruskie is gonna come along and blow my head off.’
‘There’s a squad of heavies coming.’ First to spot the approaching Russians, Clarence looked about for a useful place of concealment.
Hyde had already found one, an empty vehicle workshop ... well, almost empty. When the others squeezed through the narrow opening between the tall sliding doors, they also had to step over the corpse of a fitter whose head lay at an unnatural angle to his spread-eagled body.
‘What a beauty, what a bloody beauty.’ Going up to the big BTR-60 armoured personnel carrier that was the only vehicle in the place, Burke ran his hands over the meticulously applied three-colour camouflage finish, then walked round it, touching each of the eight brand new tyres in turn and enthusing about its lavish equipment. He completed his tour of the massive battle-taxi. ‘Have you ever seen one of these brutes in this condition, ever seen any Ruskie or Warsaw Pact transport in this condition?’
‘It’d make short work of the fence.’ Libby was more practical in his appraisal of the eight-wheeler.
‘The search seems to have moved away,’ Clarence made his report from the door.
‘They will be back.’
That the girl was right, Revell didn’t doubt for a moment What the Russian character lacked in capacity for initiative was more than compensated for by an ability to apply sheer mindless persistence to any situation. And if the cause of that determination was a vindictive lust for revenge then it became all the stronger. When the Soviet NCO got over his first burst of passion, and stopped darting about at random, he was going to commence a very thorough search of the area.
‘Into the carrier.’ Revell knew they had nothing to lose, were as good as dead if they didn’t burst out. They would still have the element of surprise on their side for a few minutes longer, but as the hue and cry spread that would vanish. It had to be now or never.
The others wasted no time in boarding, clambering up the APC’s hull and climbing in through the small side doors and roof hatches. Two of them had to assist Boris, who was incapable of doing anything for himself, so great was the state of shock he was in. Hyde held back, to help with the heavy doors.
Starting at the third attempt, the armoured vehicle’s engines filled the shed with noise and pungent black exhaust fumes. As they did, the pair threw themselves at the doors and a growing wedge of bright sunlight flooded in, making beams through the smoke.
Burke set the APC rolling as the last man boarded. ‘You hear these motors? This crate must belong to someone very fussy, or very special. The mechanics must have spent hours on them. They usually run like asthmatic steam engines.’
Having boarded by a rear hatch, Revell went forward to the commander’s seat beside the driver, and was slowed by having to thread his way past the gunner’s seat suspended from the turret above the middle of the single narrow compartment, and already occupied by Libby. By the time he got his first look out through the forward vision port, their driver was already setting an erratic course among the various vehicle parks and workshops.
‘I’m bloody lost, this place all looks the same to me. Where’s the fucking perimeter?’ Having to brake hard and swerve to avoid a petrol tanker that pulled out in front of them, Burke recognised a feature and got his bearings as they turned on to the new heading. But it wasn’t the one they wanted, and with serried ranks of close-spaced huts and parked trucks and field cars to either side, there was no way he could turn off.
Having at last in the cramped confines of the turret managed to feed a belt of mixed armour-piercing and incendiary rounds into the 14.5mm
‘Just scared silly.’
‘Ain’t we all.’ Ripper’s helmet was knocked back, to reveal his spotty forehead. ‘Reckon you’ve found a cure for my acne, Major. Pretty soon some Ruskie is gonna come along and blow my head off.’
‘There’s a squad of heavies coming.’ First to spot the approaching Russians, Clarence looked about for a useful place of concealment.
Hyde had already found one, an empty vehicle workshop ... well, almost empty. When the others squeezed through the narrow opening between the tall sliding doors, they also had to step over the corpse of a fitter whose head lay at an unnatural angle to his spread-eagled body.
‘What a beauty, what a bloody beauty.’ Going up to the big BTR-60 armoured personnel carrier that was the only vehicle in the place, Burke ran his hands over the meticulously applied three-colour camouflage finish, then walked round it, touching each of the eight brand new tyres in turn and enthusing about its lavish equipment. He completed his tour of the massive battle-taxi. ‘Have you ever seen one of these brutes in this condition, ever seen any Ruskie or Warsaw Pact transport in this condition?’
‘It’d make short work of the fence.’ Libby was more practical in his appraisal of the eight-wheeler.
‘The search seems to have moved away,’ Clarence made his report from the door.
‘They will be back.’
That the girl was right, Revell didn’t doubt for a moment What the Russian character lacked in capacity for initiative was more than compensated for by an ability to apply sheer mindless persistence to any situation. And if the cause of that determination was a vindictive lust for revenge then it became all the stronger. When the Soviet NCO got over his first burst of passion, and stopped darting about at random, he was going to commence a very thorough search of the area.
‘Into the carrier.’ Revell knew they had nothing to lose, were as good as dead if they didn’t burst out. They would still have the element of surprise on their side for a few minutes longer, but as the hue and cry spread that would vanish. It had to be now or never.
The others wasted no time in boarding, clambering up the APC’s hull and climbing in through the small side doors and roof hatches. Two of them had to assist Boris, who was incapable of doing anything for himself, so great was the state of shock he was in. Hyde held back, to help with the heavy doors.
Starting at the third attempt, the armoured vehicle’s engines filled the shed with noise and pungent black exhaust fumes. As they did, the pair threw themselves at the doors and a growing wedge of bright sunlight flooded in, making beams through the smoke.
Burke set the APC rolling as the last man boarded. ‘You hear these motors? This crate must belong to someone very fussy, or very special. The mechanics must have spent hours on them. They usually run like asthmatic steam engines.’
Having boarded by a rear hatch, Revell went forward to the commander’s seat beside the driver, and was slowed by having to thread his way past the gunner’s seat suspended from the turret above the middle of the single narrow compartment, and already occupied by Libby. By the time he got his first look out through the forward vision port, their driver was already setting an erratic course among the various vehicle parks and workshops.
‘I’m bloody lost, this place all looks the same to me. Where’s the fucking perimeter?’ Having to brake hard and swerve to avoid a petrol tanker that pulled out in front of them, Burke recognised a feature and got his bearings as they turned on to the new heading. But it wasn’t the one they wanted, and with serried ranks of close-spaced huts and parked trucks and field cars to either side, there was no way he could turn off.
Having at last in the cramped confines of the turret managed to feed a belt of mixed armour-piercing and incendiary rounds into the 14.5mm
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