‘Yeah, well I am still going there, but I can have a sideline can’t I?’ In the poor light of the compartment Dooley was having to strain his eyes to see the pages, and gave up. ‘Anyway, I don’t go for the real elderly crows, just the nice plump mature ones, those still able to remember what it was like, and fancy a refresher course with an Adonis like me.’
‘I think you can forget about doing either.’
Watching the contamination monitor, Clarence saw it edge a fraction higher as a gust of wind buffeted the APC on the exposed ridge. Another couple of points and they would have to put on the respirators. The prophylactics they took in such quantities could not be guaranteed to work in so polluted an atmosphere. ‘We would just be lying to ourselves if we ever imagined we’re going to get out of the Zone, except in a box.’
‘You’re wrong.’ Revell stamped the dust from his overshoes before entering. ‘Looks like the Russians let fly with all this chemical muck without licking their fingers to test which way the wind was blowing. Some of it came right back in their faces. This saturated area extends much further on their side than they’ve admitted. There’s a village just over the hill, and it’s definitely not West German. A couple of miles back we must have crossed into Czechoslovakia. Did the infrared camera register anything interesting?’
He’d been waiting to be asked, and Boris handed over the clearest of the three frames he had taken. The heat sensitive film had captured the small town in merging shades of muted red and blue. Some particularly distinctive individual buildings, like churches, could be identified, but of much more interest was the sprinkling of darker red spots, most of them on their own, but some in clusters, or lines. ‘I tried to count them, but there are so many?’
‘What are they?’ Having pushed in for a look, Andrea found she could not interpret the images.
‘Well a couple of them might be weak sunlight reflecting from glass, or bare metal. That large one,’ Boris indicated a red smudge, ‘is a petrol station. The underground storage tanks hold heat quite efficiently. But most of them are bodies. Decomposition will be keeping their flesh at a higher temperature than their surroundings. Those registering most strongly will be inside vehicles, be rotting more slowly.’
‘That is excellent. For once the war has been carried behind the iron curtain. I am pleased.’ Without asking she took the picture and examined it closely, trying to estimate the number of dead. ‘The Russians and their puppets have so far always fought the war beyond their own borders, I am very happy that this time their people have suffered.’
‘You evil bitch.’ Clarence could have hit her. ‘Those aren’t combat troops lying down there, that’s women and children.’
‘The communists have never hesitated to slaughter indiscriminately, you know that better than most, your own family…’
‘Be quiet, don’t say it.’
Although the sniper said the words so softly they were hardly a whisper, Andrea stopped in mid sentence. They looked at each other, her overspilling hatred meeting his coldly calculated determination, and each found its match.
‘Shouldn’t we be moving?’ Ripper lay between the two silent antagonists and the tension over him was like an axe poised to drop. ‘Hey, now don’t you start nothing, I’m in the middle. See, I’m wounded.’
It was Andrea who broke the deadlock, but not to finish what she had been saying. Her voice was almost mechanical in its delivery. ‘There is no longer any hurry. Only one road leaves the town on the far side, and it is under water. The traitors will be going no further, we have only to go and… collect them?’
Revell had been about to intervene when Ripper had spoken first, now he was glad he’d not. Inevitably he would have sided with her, and it would not have gone unnoticed. Even the eye contact that she and the sniper had maintained for so long had torn at him. ‘Let’s go. I want all ports manned. Thorne, get into the turret and pull the co-ax machine gun. Try rigging the flamethrower for use from there. The hoses should reach if you take it easy with the traverse. I haven’t seen any, but it’s possible the commies were waiting for them down there. I don’t want us to bumble unprepared into any welcoming party that might be in progress.’
‘Don’t worry, Major.’ Once again the bulky cylinders caused havoc and confusion as they were dragged half the length of the cramped interior by Thorne.
‘If they are, it’ll hot things up for them.’
‘There they are.’ Burke was first to spot the Range Rover, parked in the middle of the road a hundred yards ahead.
A figure crouched beside the vehicle and as they approached stood, took a cautious step back, then hesitantly waved. Still clutching a wheel brace he held that half welcoming, half nervous pose then as the distance between him and the approaching APC shortened he saw the faded West German emblem on the Marder’s front, threw down the tool and ran.
‘After him.’
The moment it took them to throw open the heavy rear door, and the penalty of having to run in the cumbersome NBC suits was too great a disadvantage to overcome. The man took the steps of a church four at a time and slammed the massive iron studded door before the squad reached the foot of the flight.
‘Shit, this place is built like a fortress.’ Dooley ran his hand over the large stone blocks of which the church was fashioned.
Hyde and Revell took it in turns to shout through the stout double doors in an attempt to persuade the civilians to come out.
‘Our arrival must have come as a shock,’ Clarence sat on the steps. ‘After having come this far, I cant see them just tamely going back with us. They’ll simply sit tight and wait for their Russian chums to locate them.’
‘That seems to be about the size of it.’ Getting no response to his calls, Revell ceased, and stepped back to look up at the building’s high-set windows. ‘We can’t afford to hang around for long, but the orders said to use kid gloves, so we’ll give it a last try. In the meantime, back the Marder into a side alley, no point in advertising where we are to any sky-spies that the Ruskies send over. Check for another way into this place while I spell out the alternative to these damned civvies.’
As he turned to the door again he realized that Andrea was close by his side. He liked her there, but he knew what her automatic response would be as soon as entry was gained. She would start shooting, and he couldn’t let that happen. ‘You stay with the Marder.’
Andrea knew why Revell ordered that, and began to protest, but checked herself. Understanding his reasoning did not make it any easier to accept. Learning the skills of command was not going to be easy. With sullen reluctance she shouldered her M16 and followed the APC as it backed into a narrow street beside the church.
Not bothering to listen as the major put the position to those inside, Thorne calculated the quantity of explosive he would need to blast a way in. ‘A couple of pounds of plastic will open the door. Save your lungs, Major, let me have my turn.’
‘Do that and we might just catch one of them behind it. Let’s see if Sergeant Hyde can find another entrance first. A side door ought to be easier to force than these great things.’ Damn it, damn them! Revell was tempted to give loud vent to his feelings for the benefit of the civilians, but knew it wouldn’t help, might even have the detrimental effect of reinforcing their obduracy if at the moment they were wavering. Telling them what he thought of them might be good for him, but it would as certainly eliminate any last chance of their cooperating.
Using the butt of the assault shotgun he hammered on the deep grained wood and called one last time. Still there was no response. The timber of the door seemed to absorb all his words, but he felt sure they must have heard him. Damn them!