[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
he wasn't going to leave his back door unguarded. The Blocking Force would go
on blocking.
It was harder to get a clear picture of the Battle Force. They'd struck hard
and done their work thoroughly. In the process they'd become scattered all
over the base, and were only just now regrouping to mop up and start
collecting prisoners and wrecking facilities.
Casualties appeared to be light. One company had lost the better part of a
platoon to an undetected gun position. Blade's own reserve had lost twelve
men. Otherwise the casualty reports only trickled in by twos and threes.
Argus One came back on the air, reporting the overrunning of the mortar
position. A few minutes later, Blade felt the ground start to shake at
intervals as the Battle Group's demolition teams went to work. The thud of
explosions came through the smoke, followed by the rumble and crashing of
collapsing buildings and the crackle and roar of flames.
A captured enemy truck rolled past, two of the raiders in the cab and two more
sitting in back. The rest of the back was filled with limp bodies in civilian
clothes. The first load of prisoners was on its way back to the transports.
By now the smoke from the mortar barrage and the crashed helicopters was
drifting away. Two demolitions men came up to Blade and asked for permission
to set charges on the radio masts. Blade gave the permission, scrambled up on
top of the radio truck, and sat on the roof.
Now the attack planes came roaring in low overhead, ten of them. Blade tuned
in on their frequency, listening to their cheerful comments on the shambles
unfolding below. After a minute he got their report.
Page 93
ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html
Their job was also done. Two planes had gone down over the target, but the
only first-class enemy airfield within five hundred miles would be out of
action for at least a couple of days. They'd shot down five enemy fighters
over the field, and on the way here they'd added four light-attack planes, a
transport, and two helicopters to the score.
Blade gave them a "Well Done," but he couldn't give them any targets. The
dragon base was disintegrating so rapidly under the hands of the strike force
that there was nothing left for the pilots to do except fly air cover until
the job was done.
Blade signaled to the driver of the radio truck, and it headed for the pilots'
planned drop zone near the canyon of the dragon caves. Rounding up the pilots
was something Blade wanted to supervise himself.
Everything else seemed to be well under control.
The biggest explosion yet shook the ground so violently that the driver nearly
lost control of the truck.
For a moment Blade wondered if the Demolition Group had blown the dam
prematurely. Then he saw flames and smoke mounting toward the sky from the
fuel dump. The smoke rose to join the vast cloud that already hung over the
base, casting its shadow on the ruins. The only thing that seemed to be intact
anywhere on the landscape was one of the breeding vats. As Blade watched,
smoke puffed up from its base and it split apart. Most of it fell to the
ground and the rest stuck up like a solitary jagged tooth.
The roar of assault transports lifting off sounded overhead. Blade looked up
to see the transports of the
Demolition Group pass, shifting as he watched from vertical to horizontal
flight. That meant the charges on the dam were set and fused. Blade checked
the left breast pocket of his battledress. On a slip of paper, there was the
code to detonate the fuses by radio command if the timers didn't work.
As Blade's truck rolled into the drop area the pilots started abandoning their
planes. One by one they swung low and slow over the area, pulled up, and
ejected. The ejection seats kicked them up and clear, then their white and
yellow parachutes streamed out behind them and they began drifting down all
over the area. The cyclists roared off to pick them up. Blade sensed an
urgency in their speed, a desire to get the job done and follow the Demolition
Group out of here!
Blade's truck pulled up at the very edge of the canyon. As he climbed out, the
transport of the Blocking
Group roared overhead, its wings swinging back to the high speed position. Its
[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]