At the same time Kamigami and Lee ran for the next intersection, with the shooter right behind them. Kamigami fired as he ran, cutting into the men standing there. Most of them died in the first hail of gunfire, but one crawled free. Kamigami skidded to a halt and slammed his body against the wall. He motioned the shooter forward and made a tossing motion.
Four quick concussions rocked the center tunnel as the grenades went off. The shooter held his M-79 around the corner and fired again. His partner had almost made it back to the left tunnel when a grenade rolled around the corner, coming directly at him. He kicked at it wildly. The grenade rolled off the shooter’s boot, and he kicked again, half scooping it around the corner with his boot. The grenade detonated with a sharp crack, taking the shooter’s foot with it. He fell to the ground, still alive, his body protected from the full blast by the corner.
The shooter with Kamigami tossed a grenade down their tunnel as Lee fired blindly in the other direction, out the open entrance.
The lone shooter at the center tunnel fired, sending three more grenades into the hell he was creating. The last round ricocheted off the tunnel wall and hit the side of the missile loaded on the first transporter/erector. It exploded, cutting into the missile’s solid-fuel propellant.
The shooter with Kamigami threw another grenade down the tunnel as the first one detonated. The blast blew the second grenade back, directly at Lee. Lee fell on the hand grenade at his feet and took the blast in his stomach, saving the shooter and Kamigami.
The missile in the center tunnel started to cook off as the shooter emptied his magazine and pulled back to reload. He glanced down the gallery toward the left tunnel and saw his partner crawling toward him, leaving a trail of blood.
Kamigami fell to the ground and crawled to Lee, not to help him — it was too late for that — but to use his body as a shield. The shooter with him was out of grenades and was firing down the tunnel with his M-16.
In the center tunnel the rocket motor partially ignited, sending a plume of fire back over the missile behind it.
Two soldiers ran around the corner of the intersection at the left tunnel and fired down the cross gallery. The shooter at the center tunnel crumpled to the ground. His wounded partner stopped crawling and rolled a grenade at the two soldiers, yelling and cursing like a madman as the grenade exploded.
Kamigami reached Lee and grabbed the satchel charge he was carrying. “Cover me!” he yelled at his shooter. He crawled for the entrance, dragging Lee’s satchel charge with his own.
In the center tunnel the uneven thrust of the rocket motor pushed the transporter/erector forward, carrying the missile with it. The wheels rolled over the men trapped there as it headed out the tunnel. But the entrance was solidly blocked by the cave-in.
Kamigami crawled along the ground, almost to the open entrance, as bullets ricocheted off the walls. In the half-light coming from inside, he saw a large fissure that split the wall. He jammed the two satchel charges into the crack and pulled the tabs, igniting the fuses. He had sixty seconds. Kamigami looked back and motioned his shooter out. The shooter started to run, but a hail of gunfire from deep in the tunnel cut him down. He screamed in pain, and Kamigami crawled back to get him.
The transporter/erector accelerated as it rolled past the cross gallery. Kamigami saw it and put on a burst of speed, finally reaching the downed shooter. But he was dead.
The transporter/erector crashed into the blocked entrance. But the high-explosive warhead did not detonate. Instead it combined with the burning propellant and the transporter’s diesel fuel to send a wall of fire back down the tunnel and out the cross gallery. The fire engulfed the second transporter and its missile, starting the process all over. Kamigami saw the wall of fire coming at him down the cross gallery and got to his feet, running for the entrance. The fiery blast washed over him, knocking him down. He rolled on the ground, desperate to extinguish his burning clothes. He shed his web harness as he rolled, taking patches of burning cloth and skin with it. He tried to come to his feet but couldn’t. He tried a second time and staggered forward, racing the burning fuses. He was almost to the entrance when a gunshot echoed from outside. The bullet ripped into his abdomen. He clutched the wound with both hands and lurched out the entrance. He fell to the ground and crawled around the corner as the satchel charges blew, mangling his legs.
The sniper squeezed off a shot, dropping the soldier who had gunned down Kamigami. Tel was up and running for all he was worth, as more gunfire kicked up the dirt around him. Before Colonel Sun could give the order, every man in the First SOS was firing. The earth rumbled as the ridge above the tunnels collapsed.
The concussion reverberated through the command post. “Damn,” Maggot muttered. “That fucker was close.” He drew a diagonal line through the four marks he had made counting the cannon rounds. “Five.” Every head was raised, looking at the heavy beams in the ceiling, wondering if a direct hit could penetrate. Frustrated, Maggot punched up the line to the control tower. “Has the counterbattery radar got a fix yet?”
“He’s constantly moving,” the controller answered. “Range twelve miles.”
“And he’s big,” Maggot added. Tension boiled beneath the surface as they waited for the next round.
“They only got one,” Pontowski told them. From the looks on their faces, he had to tell them more. “My guess is that they’re stretched to the limit and it’s go-for-broke time. They know that come morning, when we can fly close air support, we’re going to hurt them. Bad. So we got to hang on till then.”
“All we got is fuel for ten sorties,” Maggot said. “The jets won’t be recovering here.”
“It may be enough,” Pontowski said. A loud boom shook the bunker, and dust drifted down from the ceiling. A second explosion rocked them, this time much harder. “That was a secondary,” he told them.
Clark monitored both the radios and the phone bank as reports trickled in. It seemed to take forever. “A shelter took a direct hit,” she finally announced.
“Did they get a Hog?” Pontowski asked.
She shook her head. “Two casualties.” She listened. “Oh, no. It was the shelter next to the med station, and the fuel holding tank ruptured. Fuel is flooding the med station, and Ryan is evacuating.” Another round slammed into the base, this time farther away. Then, “Mortars on the southern perimeter.” A slight pause. “Heavy small-arms fire at the gate.” Her eyes were wide with fear, but there was no panic in her voice. “APCs on the western perimeter with troops.” APCs were armored personnel carriers.
In his mind’s eye Pontowski could see the chaos outside. Could he sort it out in time to get his Hogs airborne? He made a decision. “Maggot, you got it here. I’m going to the BDOC.” He slapped a fresh battery pack into his radio and dropped a second one into a pocket. He reached for his helmet and ran for the entrance. Much to his surprise, Clark’s driver was right beside him.
“I drive for you,” he said. They jumped into the van and made the short dash to the BDOC.
Rockne was waiting for him and reported his arrival to Clark. “What about those APCs?” Pontowski asked.
“I can kill fuckin’ APCs,” Rockne snarled. “But I need more fire teams. And I just ain’t got them.” Another artillery round hit the base, this time in Whiskey Sector. “And I’m gonna kill that bastard.” Like the infantry, Rockne was growing to hate artillery.
Pontowski studied the base defense chart as a sergeant marked which DFPs were engaged. They were holding, but he wasn’t sure for how much longer. “We gotta hold.” He was running again, talking on the radio to the command post. “On the way to Maintenance. Tell them I’m coming.” He piled into the van. “Maintenance Control. Go!” An artillery round landed in the trees a hundred yards to their right. Fortunately, a hardened shelter deflected most of the blast away from them. The driver clutched the wheel and gritted his teeth as they raced down the taxiway. The big blast doors of the shelter cranked back when they approached, and the van drove straight in. The doors were closing before they halted.