turn by smaller ones scattered among the undergrowth.
Those hidden most carefully were fed instructions to delay detonation until a certain number of armoured vehicles had passed, in the slight hope of catching a command APC or even a bridge-layer. In any event their discharge over a period of time into the flanks of the enemy advance column would be bound to disrupt it, if not bring it to a halt while the area was cleared.
‘Right. That’ll have to do. Back to the truck.’
The fat pressure tank was just being lowered behind a low wall beside the mill. In the shadow of the building, with the added embellishment of a few broken planks and sheets of corrugated iron, it blended in perfectly.
‘About five minutes to make the connections, Sergeant.’
‘Six,’ muttered the other Dutchman.
‘Seems a pity.’ Looking wistfully at the building, Burke gave a heavy sigh.
‘Whoever was doing that up must have been sick as a pig when they had to abandon it. A bit of sympathetic restoration and it would have made a lovely home. I could retire to a place like this. Look at the setting.’
Andrea was arming small mines and throwing them to lodge among the crevices of rock below the bridge. ‘None of us will live long enough to retire.’
That was virtually the first time she had ever spoken to him directly, and then it had to be that. Shit, Burke had been happy with his delusion. Why the hell did that hard-faced bitch have to bring him back to the reality of this nightmare?
ELEVEN
With his hands cold and wet it took Hyde a while to strip the insulation from the ends of wire. He handed them to the Dutchmen fussing about the still sentient bomb and clambered over the wall to the road, unreeling the small cable drum as he went. ‘In theory this should stop those commies dead, for a while anyway.’
‘I had an uncle who was big on theories.’ From his lookout post on the cab roof, Ripper watched the sergeant carefully conceal the first few meters of twin wire along the base of the wall, weighting it with chunks of rock and other litter.
‘You want to hear about him?’
‘We’re going to anyway, aren’t we?’ Burke realized as soon as he’d said it that he’d made a mistake by drawing Hyde’s attention to him.
‘Since you’re not doing anything,’ - Hyde thrust the reel into their driver’s hands -’you can run this up the hill to the crest and connect it to this.’ He placed a small but heavy matt-black box on top of the drum.
‘Me? Run? All the way up there?’
‘Don’t piss about, move. And you can stay up there. I’ll bring the transport.’
Watching the ace goldbricker of the Special Combat Company break into an ungainly trot, Ripper tried hard not to giggle and almost succeeded. He failed completely to hide a laugh when a snag in the wire almost jerked Burke off his feet.
‘You boys can listen if you’re not too busy,’ Ripper called out to the pioneers.
‘Like I was saying,’- he shook his head and a bead curtain of raindrops flew from the brim of his helmet -’this uncle of mine, he used to screw with a crazy dame from the county funny farm. His theory was, if she ever upped and told on him, who was going to believe a crazy lady. And it worked a treat, for a couple of years. That is until the old shrink who ran the place got himself run over and squashed flatter than Scully’s tenderized cat.’
That he didn’t appear to have anybody’s attention didn’t bother Ripper. He ploughed on.
‘The new boy they brought in was fresh out of medical school, full of new ideas and fancy notions. First thing he did was to halve the number of pills being swallowed. The old boy had kept all the crazies doped so he could have a quiet life. So just after that my uncle comes sneaking around, looking for his weekly blow- job. First he knows that everything ain’t all it was is when his crazy lady throws a fit and bites the end of his pecker. I heard tell that his yell carried clear across to
Those hidden most carefully were fed instructions to delay detonation until a certain number of armoured vehicles had passed, in the slight hope of catching a command APC or even a bridge-layer. In any event their discharge over a period of time into the flanks of the enemy advance column would be bound to disrupt it, if not bring it to a halt while the area was cleared.
‘Right. That’ll have to do. Back to the truck.’
The fat pressure tank was just being lowered behind a low wall beside the mill. In the shadow of the building, with the added embellishment of a few broken planks and sheets of corrugated iron, it blended in perfectly.
‘About five minutes to make the connections, Sergeant.’
‘Six,’ muttered the other Dutchman.
‘Seems a pity.’ Looking wistfully at the building, Burke gave a heavy sigh.
‘Whoever was doing that up must have been sick as a pig when they had to abandon it. A bit of sympathetic restoration and it would have made a lovely home. I could retire to a place like this. Look at the setting.’
Andrea was arming small mines and throwing them to lodge among the crevices of rock below the bridge. ‘None of us will live long enough to retire.’
That was virtually the first time she had ever spoken to him directly, and then it had to be that. Shit, Burke had been happy with his delusion. Why the hell did that hard-faced bitch have to bring him back to the reality of this nightmare?
ELEVEN
With his hands cold and wet it took Hyde a while to strip the insulation from the ends of wire. He handed them to the Dutchmen fussing about the still sentient bomb and clambered over the wall to the road, unreeling the small cable drum as he went. ‘In theory this should stop those commies dead, for a while anyway.’
‘I had an uncle who was big on theories.’ From his lookout post on the cab roof, Ripper watched the sergeant carefully conceal the first few meters of twin wire along the base of the wall, weighting it with chunks of rock and other litter.
‘You want to hear about him?’
‘We’re going to anyway, aren’t we?’ Burke realized as soon as he’d said it that he’d made a mistake by drawing Hyde’s attention to him.
‘Since you’re not doing anything,’ - Hyde thrust the reel into their driver’s hands -’you can run this up the hill to the crest and connect it to this.’ He placed a small but heavy matt-black box on top of the drum.
‘Me? Run? All the way up there?’
‘Don’t piss about, move. And you can stay up there. I’ll bring the transport.’
Watching the ace goldbricker of the Special Combat Company break into an ungainly trot, Ripper tried hard not to giggle and almost succeeded. He failed completely to hide a laugh when a snag in the wire almost jerked Burke off his feet.
‘You boys can listen if you’re not too busy,’ Ripper called out to the pioneers.
‘Like I was saying,’- he shook his head and a bead curtain of raindrops flew from the brim of his helmet -’this uncle of mine, he used to screw with a crazy dame from the county funny farm. His theory was, if she ever upped and told on him, who was going to believe a crazy lady. And it worked a treat, for a couple of years. That is until the old shrink who ran the place got himself run over and squashed flatter than Scully’s tenderized cat.’
That he didn’t appear to have anybody’s attention didn’t bother Ripper. He ploughed on.
‘The new boy they brought in was fresh out of medical school, full of new ideas and fancy notions. First thing he did was to halve the number of pills being swallowed. The old boy had kept all the crazies doped so he could have a quiet life. So just after that my uncle comes sneaking around, looking for his weekly blow- job. First he knows that everything ain’t all it was is when his crazy lady throws a fit and bites the end of his pecker. I heard tell that his yell carried clear across to
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