The gunfire from their recruits was not as loud as she expected. Valgerda repeated her order. More recruits joined in, but their firepower had diminished, and their shots were sporadic.
“You’re OK?” Valgerda stopped shooting to check on Magnus.
“Yeah, I’m fine. Lost my footing there and avalanched down the hill.”
He gasped for air and flattened his jacket. Then he dusted off the snow.
She glanced at his leg. The skin was now completely exposed, and his pants had ripped in another place.
“I’ll get that checked as soon as we’re over this bump,” he said. “What were you saying about those trucks?”
“They’re moving back. Or at least it looks like that.”
“Maybe they’re regrouping.”
“It could be.”
“How are we doing?”
Valgerda looked around then dug out her binoculars from inside her jacket. A brief surveillance of their troops gave her the bad news. “We’re retreating, too.”
“What? Who gave that order? Gunter?”
“I don’t remember hearing it.”
“Cowards. It’s those damn cowards.” Magnus lifted himself to his knees. Valgerda placed her arms around his waist.
“What are you talking about?”
“I noticed insubordination even before the helo crash. I’ve got to fix this myself.”
He staggered to his feet. Realizing they were out of enemy fire range, they both kept their heads up.
“Hey, you,” Magnus shouted at a man smoking a cigarette and chatting with other recruits, their backs turned against the battle hill. They were standing about a hundred feet away from the runway, at a very safe distance from the gunfight. “Ali, right?” Magnus asked with a grimace.
“Yes,” Ali replied. “Wanna smoke?”
Magnus shook his head, his hand groping for his submachine gun. Once he found the trigger of his MP5 still hanging in its holster, he pointed the gun at Ali.
“Hey, man, what you doing?” Ali spread his hands, taking a step back. The half-smoked cigarette fell out of his mouth.
Magnus caressed the trigger, jamming the gun into Ali’s throat.
“Don’t try it,” Valgerda barked at Ali’s companions, who scrambled to pick up their guns. She kept her rifle lined up with their heads. “Unless you want to bang seventy virgins tonight.”
“Relax, I’m not going to shoot you,” Magnus said coldly. “But next time you disobey my orders, I’m gonna kill you all, one after the other. When I tell you to advance, you do it, or I’ll blow you heads off. Now get your asses there, all of you, and use those guns in that fight.” Magnus gestured with his head toward the hill.
The group took up their weapons and reluctantly headed for the battle. Valgerda followed their every move, in case someone decided to become a martyr. No one did. She sat across from Magnus, on a heap of frozen snow.
“I’ll get the first aid kit and do what I can.” She pointed at his wound.
“Fine,” he said with a shrug. “I’ll update Gunter on our status. We’ll need more men. Maybe all of them.”
Chapter Twenty-five
“So, that’s your plan?” Anna rolled her eyes. “Drive to their flanks, plant the explosives and kaboom, it’s done, just like that.”
Joe’s face remained calm. Kiawak looked at Justin, who was sitting with his back against the ice ridge. They were back in the small clearing, their improvised headquarters away from the battlefield.
“What do you think?” Justin asked Kiawak. His words sounded more like a plea for support rather than a simple question.
“It… it may work,” Kiawak replied, unsure about how to word his hesitant approval. “I mean, the frontal attack isn’t working, and we’re still counting our losses. This is probably our last attempt.”
“It will work,” Joe said strongly. “We will make it work.”
“You’ll need a lot of suppressive fire,” Carrie noted. “We also have to take the Otter airplane out of the equation before we sneak any men down to the lake.”
“I’ll go with my own truck,” Kiawak said, ready to stand up. Justin placed his hand on Kiawak’s shoulder.
“I’ll go with you,” Joe said.
“Wait a second,” Justin said. “Let’s not rush things. Carrie, you were saying about the Otter?”
“The airplane’s last attack left us with three wounded. I don’t want Kiawak and Joe or anyone else out in the open while the Otter’s still overhead. We’ve got to trap him or engage him head on.”
“Plus, the Danes have launched another attack, this time with twice as many troops,” Anna said.
“Which makes it even more pressing for us to act now.” Kiawak spread his hands. “If we keep sitting here and talking, they’ll climb up the hills and we’re all be dead.”
Anna squinted as Kiawak spat out the word “dead.” They were under the threat of incoming bullets at all times. But the way in which Kiawak uttered the dreaded word, in a cold, flat tone had a powerful effect on her doubts and fears. She asked, “Where do we start?”
“I’ll take on the Otter,” Carrie replied. “My big gun is almost out of ammo, but if I calibrate the Hellfire missiles properly, I should easily bring down the airplane.”
“I’ll have everyone hammer their soldiers, so they’ll have no time to fire at you,” Justin said. He turned his head in Kiawak’s direction. “You’ll need more than Joe for this thing to work.”
Kiawak nodded thoughtfully. “Of course. I’ll take two, maybe three other guys. I’ll drive, two guys will set the charges, and a fourth man will slam the Danes with continuous fire.”
“I’ll do the same on the other side,” Joe said. “We need to advance at least halfway to the bottom of the hill, about half a mile. We’ll use the chopper’s pit as a central point, since the ice sheet has already cracked around it. I wonder how big each explosive charge should be?”
“How much dynamite do we have?” Kiawak asked.
They all chuckled.
“No, seriously,” Kiawak continued. “Like Justin said, this is our last stand. We can’t afford any miscalculations.”
“All right,” Joe agreed, noticing the head nods of Carrie and Justin. “We’ll use all we’ve got. In terms of distance, I’m sure fifty feet apart should do the trick.”
Anna asked, “How thick is the ice sheet?”
“About two feet or so,” Kiawak said, “but I can’t be sure. We don’t want to just break the ice along the perimeter. We want to break apart the entire sheet over which these bastards are positioned, so they’ll all sink and die, drowning and freezing to death. Fifty feet between charges is about right.”
“That will require constant pounding for twenty, thirty minutes,” Justin estimated.
“Yeah, that sounds reasonable,” Kiawak replied.
“What do you think?” Justin asked Carrie.
“I think the battle will be over either way, but I hope it will swing in our favor.”
“I’ll round up the men.” Kiawak stood up. Joe followed behind, encouraging him with a shoulder tap.
Justin gazed at them for a long time, wondering if he would see them again.
“We’ll be in position in five,” the pilot of the DHC-6 Twin Otter airplane informed his two gunners kneeling by the rear cargo door. They had attached their safety harnesses to the handles inside the compartment, in order to withstand the rough flight, as the plane took sudden turns and steep dives. “Try to get the chopper this time,” he added.
“What about those trucks?” asked the first gunner, pointing at two vehicles rolling down the hill. They were off to the sides, and it seemed they were avoiding a direct clash with the Danish troops.