“Save it for yourself.”
“I’m not cut,” he said.
The soldier looked at him as if he were out of his mind.
“I’m cut?” said Dog. Then he remembered that he had gashed his hand and arm. He looked down at it, and saw that much of his uniform was torn and covered with blood. “This is nothing,” he told Lang.
Despite their predicament, the soldier laughed. “That’s the spirit, Colonel. Keep thinking positive.”
Chapter 78
This time, Mack was ready when the door opened. He’d filled the can with urine and was poised near the door, balanced on his haunches and ready to spring.
He hit the big man full in the face with the urine; as the terrorist reeled backward, Mack bolted through the open space, aiming to flatten the man in the hallway who stood guard with the rifle. He caught him in the neck with his fist, then felt himself tumbling across his body, the AK47 in his hands.
How he got it turned around, much less how he managed to aim it or make sure it was ready to fire, Mack didn’t know. It seemed to him that one second he was smacking his left shoulder against the wall and the next he was standing over the two dead Muslims, the AK47 smoking. The hallway became a cave filled with smoke. Mack saw the door at the end of the hall in front of him and ran for it, sure that flames were roaring behind him.
Someone shouted as he flew through the door. He turned left and right, firing from his hip and not stopping, never stopping as he ran for the road. As he reached it he heard the pop-pop-pop of an assault rifle behind him; the next second he fell nearly straight down. He threw his hands out, realizing he’d slipped onto an embankment, but there was nothing to grip, and he tumbled wildly down a deep ravine, sliding past a thin strip of vegetation to dirt and stone and then mud. He crashed into a wide, deep stream, flailing in the water that bit at him and pushed him wildly backward in its current. At first Mack was content just to get away. Then he realized the rushing water represented a danger all its own. He tried to grab something, anything, and stop himself from being carried away. Finally, at least a mile if not more from where he had gone in, Mack crashed into a log and managed to hold on.
Water rushed all around. He spit and coughed as he worked himself up the log toward the stream’s bank. He kicked against something solid; thinking he could stand he tried to get his feet under him, only to lose his balance and nearly his grip on the log.
When Mack finally got to the side, he crawled up over a small, narrow bed of sand into the bushes. There, exhausted, he lost consciousness.
Chapter 79
Zen had just finished showing Starship how to work the communications board in the command trailer when Danny checked in from the platform.
“We have movement at the airport near the Megafortress,” said Danny. “I’m going to knock it out of action with the helicopters as planned. We’re just about to board the choppers.”
“Okay, do it.”
Danny hesitated a moment. “I have this other proposal — request, really. From the Brunei air force. They want to liberate one of their planes.”
“At the airport?”
“There’s apparently a section owned by a prince that has older aircraft, which could be used.”
“We’re talking about Prince bin Awg?”
“Yeah. We’ve examined the airport with the LADS blimps. There are no forces in that section, and we can cut off their access pretty easily once we disable the Megafortress”
“I’d say go for it. Just don’t take any unnecessary risks.”
“Yeah. Dog’s not around?”
“Went to pay a courtesy call on the locals. He’s due back any minute. I’ll have him get a hold of you when he’s back if you want.”
“All right. I’m going to move ahead”
“I’ll have him get in touch, one way or another,” said Zen.
A peal of thunder rumbled in the distance as Zen signed off. Zen looked over at Starship, who glanced toward the nearby window. There wasn’t a cloud in the sky.
A second clap came so close that the trailer vibrated up and down.
“Was that thunder?” asked Starship.
The door to the trailer jerked open. “Incoming!” yelled Major Merce Alou. “We’re being shelled!”
“Shit. The planes,” said Zen, wheeling back. “We have to get the Megafortresses up. They’re sitting ducks.”
“Right,” shouted Alou, disappearing back outside.
“We’ll never get off the ground,” said Breanna.
“We have to,” said Zen, pushing his wheelchair for the door.
Chapter 80
Jennifer took over the LADS system for Sergeant Liu as he left to join the assault team. Jennifer made sure the feed for the airport was directly available to Danny’s team via the Dreamland network, then began switching through the others. The images were also being monitored back at Dreamland. The command center there was also receiving some of the operating data from the blimps, but could not control them unless the takeover command was specifically ordered from the field terminal. The satellite link used up a large portion of the available bandwidth, and was somewhat kludgy; it was generally considered easier to operate them directly from the field.
It had been a while since Jennifer had spoken to Dog, and she couldn’t resist the temptation to check in with him at the Malaysian base under the guise of seeing if the two additional LADS blimps had arrived there yet.
“Dreamland command trailer, this is Whiplash base,” she said. “Looking for an update on the new units. What’s their situation?”
There was no answer. Jennifer glanced at the communications board, making sure that she had it set properly.
“Dreamland command trailer — are you receiving me?” she asked.
“We’re under attack,” blurted Starship over the radio. “We’re taking mortar fire.”
“Mortar fire, copy,” she said. “Do you need assistance?”
There was no answer. Jennifer looked at the screen showing where the LADS units were located; the nearest blimp was monitoring the Brunei-Malaysian border about a hundred and seventy-five miles away from them — much too far to see them.
“Do you need assistance?” she asked again, but there was still no answer.
“Dreamland command, this is Whiplash base,” said Jennifer, switching over to the direct channel back home. “The team with the Megafortresses in Malaysia is under fire.”
“Copy. We’re working on getting some local support,” responded Major Catsman, who was on duty in the center.
“Okay,” said Jennifer, her voice so soft it was nearly a whisper.
What could she do? Sending one of the LADS units there seemed like a futile gesture; even at maximum speed it would take the blimp close to four hours to arrive.
But she had to do something. She selected the control screen for unit eight and cursored into the target area, setting the course. Then she enabled the unit’s auto-pilot; the blimp would fly its course on its own without needing to be checked, and then politely buzz its minders when it was within ten minutes of its destination.
“Whiplash Leader, are you hearing me?” she asked Danny.
“Roger base. We have the Megafortress in sight on the ground at Brunei International Airport. We’re preparing to disable it via TOW missiles.”