Those were Panzergrenadiers.
“Merde,” Bairamov said.
CHAPTER 27
Scar-Face stood beside the suits on the far side of the cavern, and barked rapid orders in a language Logan didn’t recognize. Prussian, presumably? He’d heard a few words of the language from Heinrichs, and it sounded familiar.
“Anyone understand Prussian?” Logan whispered.
“A little,” Bairamov said. “Sounds like he wants them to hurry up and move out of here.”
“Why would Panzergrenadiers be on New Strasbourg? And why would they be with the Montagnards?”
“I don’t know. But I figure we’ve found out who’s been shipping weapons to the insurgents. They must be planning something, and we can be sure it won’t be anything we’ll like.”
“Maybe they’re preparing to invade,” Desoto said. “Getting their guys in before the main force arrives, and destabilizing the local government to make the invasion easier.”
“Then they’d have been stupid to have caused enough trouble to bring the Legion in. The Compagnie would stand little chance against Panzergrenadiers. But the Legion has kicked their ass before.”
“So they must want us here for some reason,” Logan said.
“Yeah, and that’s the scary part.”
“The ones we met in the tunnels don’t seem that tough,” Desoto said.
“These guys are just the Montagnards, is my guess. The Panzergrenadiers wouldn’t want to waste suit-trained men hunting us runaways in a tunnel. They’re much too valuable to lose doing something they aren’t needed for. They’re probably here to advise and support, not to get killed.”
Rifles fired behind them.
The shots went wide in the dark tunnel, but Logan’s helmet jerked as a ricochet from the wall bounced off it.
“Move,” Bairamov said.
Desoto crouched, and ran along the ledge.
The gunfire intensified for a second as he was silhouetted in the tunnel mouth, then the ledge curved round enough that the men in the tunnel could no longer see him. Logan grabbed the girl’s hand, and pulled. She squealed and struggled, until he pulled harder. As she began to move, Logan pushed her ahead of him.
Bairamov fired wild into the dark tunnel as Logan followed Desoto, pushing the girl in front of him. He tried to ignore the clatter of rock shards and thumps of ricochets hitting his helmet and armour as rifle rounds slammed into the cave wall and roof.
The men in the cavern below them yelled. Then more rounds began to impact the walls, fired from the cavern.
Desoto was almost at the far end of the ledge. Logan pushed the girl toward him.
“Go,” he said. The girl ran on.
Logan raised his rifle above the top of the wooden barrier. The sights weren’t compatible with his helmet, so he could only hold it there and fire a few bursts down into the cavern to try to keep their heads down.
He moved a metre along the ledge before he fired again. Then heard footsteps as Bairamov raced toward him.
“For fuck’s sake, move,” Bairamov said.
The wooden barrier exploded behind Bairamov as a burst of heavy rifle fire from one of the suits hammered into it, and shredded the barrier into a spray of wooden splinters. Logan turned and ran, with Bairamov close behind, as the suit’s fire tore up the wooden barrier all around the cavern.
Then they were back in the relative safety of a tunnel at the far end of the ledge. The gunfire continued, but the men in the cavern couldn’t fire into the tunnel to hit them. Logan gasped for breath, and his head began to pound from lack of oxygen as he pushed his body as hard as he could.
The girl slowed in front of him, but he grabbed her waist and pushed her on. “Keep moving.”
Desoto led the way. The tunnel reached a crossroads, and he turned right. They followed it, Desoto leading, Logan helping the girl, and Bairamov bringing up the rear.
“Now many do you think there are?”
“Maybe a platoon? That’s few enough to sneak down here on a shuttle without being spotted, but enough to make life hell for anyone they might meet. And they’ve already caused enough trouble to split up 1st Company across the department, and taken some of us out of action.”
“Then what’s 3rd Platoon going to do against a platoon of Panzergrenadiers supporting insurgents, sir?” Desoto said. “We’re already down on numbers.”
“Maybe Poulin can lecture them to death. But they’re sitting ducks for a surprise attack, unless we can warn them.” Bairamov turned to the girl. “Do you have any way to communicate with people outside the mine?”
She shook her head.
“What about your horse?” Logan said. “How long would it take to reach the nearest village that can send a warning?”
“A couple of hours.”
“I don’t know how to ride a horse,” Bairamov said.
“I didn’t mean you,” Logan said.
“You can’t be suggesting…?”
“We’ve got to do something here to stop them. And she’ll be safer out of here.”
“I am not trusting an insurgent to bring help.”
“Got a better plan?”
“Desoto could go.”
“Desoto, can you ride a horse?”
Desoto shook his head.
“And do you know where the next village is?” Logan said.
“No idea.”
“Fine,” Bairamov said. “You can both go.”
“Two people on the horse will slow us down,” the girl said. “Besides, he has a broken arm. How would he hold on?”
Bairamov shook his head, and pushed them onward along the tunnel. “McCoy, if you really are working with this girl, Volkov won’t have to kill you, because I will.”
The tunnel forked. Desoto turned to the right, and they hurried along it. Logan listened for boots behind them, but they would be impossible to hear over the noise they were making themselves. Echoes of their footsteps seemed to come from all directions, as the noise bounced around the rock walls of the maze of tunnels and returned to their ears.
Hopefully the Montagnards would find it just as confusing.
Desoto stopped, and the girl squealed as she slammed into his side. Logan grabbed her shoulder as she stumbled, and pulled her back to her feet.
“Ladder, sir,” Desoto said.
“Then get up it.”
Desoto clambered up the ladder. Logan helped the girl find the rungs, and she began to climb. He followed. They passed one level, then another. Then his head rose above the floor of the next.
A green symbol flashed on Logan’s helmet display as he climbed, and his head reached the middle of the tunnel. He stopped.
“Sir…” he began.
“Just keep moving,” Bairamov said, his voice muffled as he spoke from the shaft below Logan’s feet.
“Sir, I’ve got a signal from your suits.”
The girl had stopped a couple of rungs above him. Desoto clung to the ladder above her, and peered down.
“Where?” Bairamov said.
“They must be somewhere close. The signal wouldn’t pass through this rock.”
“Find them.”
CHAPTER 28
Logan watched the signal level meter as he led the way along the tunnels. The signal was higher than when he climbed off the ladder, but it had been higher before as he tried to follow it, then faded out again. Wherever the Panzergrenadiers had put the suits, they surely couldn’t be far from the central shaft. They wouldn’t want to drag them down these tunnels if they could just take them down the ramp, away from the entrance. If he was right, the group was still heading the correct way.
Metal clanked and thumped on rock up ahead. Faintly at first, but it grew louder as they approached the main shaft, and the echoes made it seem louder still.