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seemed intent on coming straight to where he was, as if they knew he was holed up in the bunker with the cat. Smiley clicked on his radio. “Joe, I just tagged another one. Keep your eyes peeled. The desert’s thick with them.” “I read you,” Joe’s voice replied. 156 “I’m going farther out to check around. Don’t shoot me by mistake. Be sure of your target.” “I understand.” It’s a sorry state of affairs when you have to depend on someone like Joe to guard your back, Smiley reflected as he adjusted his night vision goggles. Of course there was a ray of light. The cat had saved him having to kill Frank so someone could find his body, check the dental records, and assume Smiley was the dead man. A silver lining to every cloud, Smiley told himself, pausing as he neared a clearing among the scrub brush. After cautiously inspecting it, he sprinted across the open ground, passing the body of the soldier he had just killed. An angry whine, followed by the distant report of a rifle caused him to drop to the ground. A second bullet cracked over his head. They might not have night vision equipment but that was pretty damned close, he told himself. He was going to have to be more careful not to silhouette himself in the darkness. He rose to his knees, searching for the sniper that had nearly got him. He stared in the direction of the reports, and then saw five men spring from the brush and charge toward him. “Got to hand it to them, they’re brave,” Smiley said, raising his pistol and taking careful aim at the rearmost runner. He fired, downing one and then another of those coming toward him. The infiltraters saw the muzzle flash of his weapon and lifted their rifles, expelling a furious salvo in his direction and forcing him to hug the sand 157 for six seconds as their fired. As their bullets cracked by, he noticed a Mexican machine gunner to his left had joined in. The tracers from the automatic weapon flashed far to his left, indicating that the gunner was firing blindly. When the shooting had subsided, Smiley gritted his teeth and rose in the darkness. The remaining three soldiers were now quite close, walking toward his position slowly with their guns ready for the least sign of danger. As the approached, a jackrabbit suddenly sprang from its hiding place, loping off at right angles from the soldiers who opened up again, their bullets raising plumes of dust around the scampering animal. Smiley took advantage of their mistake, quickly downing two before they realized they were being fired upon. The remaining soldier whirled and fired blinding into the night, just as Smiley aimed and pulled his trigger. The slug hit the soldier in the chest. Despite his wound, the man remained standing, bringing his rifle around. Smiley shot again, this time catching him in the face, dropping him where he stood when the bullet smashed into his brain. Smiley groaned as the machine gun opened up once more, this time beating the dirt just ahead of him, causing the bullets to ricochet through the night as he dropped and kissed the sand. The criminal reached up and turned on the radio mounted to his night vision goggles. “Joe?” “Read you, boss.” “A machine gunner has me pinned down here. 158 Can you come around to the front of the bunker and pick him off with the Minigun?” “I’ll try.” “You’d better do more than try. Get a move on.” Another barrage slashed over Smiley’s position. “Hurry up.” The machine gun opened up with another short burst. This time the bullets struck well to his left. At least they aren’t sure where I am. What’s taking Joe so long? “Boss?” the radio crackled. “What?” “Keep your head low. I’m taking out the Mexs gunner now.” “I’m as low as I can get here.” A withering fire erupted from the bunker, the bullets tearing into the machine gun ahead of Smiley, clanging off the metal weapon and churning up a cloud of dust on the hill. The shooting ended, leaving only the moaning of the wounded. “That should slow them down for a while,” Smiley said. “Good work. Now turn off the Minigun and return to the back of the bunker in case they try to circle around. I’m headed back in.” Smiley got to his feet, turned, and found himself facing one of the wounded soldiers who had his rifle leveled at him. Instead of dropping back to the ground, Smiley fired three slugs at the infiltrater just as he opened up with his own weapon. The henchman felt a stinging pain in his leg; the soldier clutched his stomach and dropped to his knees. Smiley followed 159 up with a head shot. After glancing along the sand dunes on either side of him to be sure there was no sign of any more Mexicans, Smiley staggered back toward the bunker. The desert was quiet. Smiley holstered his pistol and examined the wound on his leg. Just a scratch. An inch over and he would have lost the leg to one of the explosive bullets the Mexicans used. As it was, the round had grazed his skin, most likely exploding when it had passed him. Maybe my luck’s changing after all, he thought. He glanced across the desert once more, double checking to be sure there were no more of the soldiers around the area. And then he saw her. Smiley’s mouth dropped open and he felt like a small child who had just been convinced that ghosts were real — and hiding under his bed. Because the specter coming toward him looked like nothing if not a ghost. Her skin glowed a phosphorescent green in the darkness and beams of blue light shot from her eyes, lighting up the area around her and overloading the circuits on his night vision goggles when she stared at him. He ripped his glasses off and peered into the darkness to see that she was visible even without the night vision equipment. “What the hell?” he asked himself, drawing his pistol. He forced himself to control his growing sense of panic, standing his ground as the goddess came toward him. “Hold it right there,” he commanded, wondering if the thing was able to hear or would react to his order. 160 Her eyes grew brighter, bathing him in their light. Then the light vanished and he found himself looking at a young woman, standing in the darkness. “Where am I?” she asked, blinking as if she’d awakened from a dream. “Never mind,” Smiley said. “Just keep going the way you were headed. I’ll follow.” She turned and continued toward the bunker, her eyes again glowing up to bath her path in light. [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ] |
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