Plague Bomb (21 page)

BOOK: Plague Bomb

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Banking away, the helicopter began a wide turn down into the valley. Relaxing his grip on the rock, Revell was pushed aside by the girl as she took hasty aim and sent a long burst after the gunship.

That fire was as ineffectual as the rest had been, and unharmed the chopper maintained its wide descending turn. At two hundred feet above the valley floor it levelled out and raced in over the village from the west.

Against the eye-confusing clutter of the rooftops Revell didn’t see the drop tanks go, but the gash of red flame along the main street was clear enough, and its twin that engulfed the houses behind the church.

... two, three, four ... To himself Revell counted off the second then watched the expanding white fire envelop every inch of the centre of the village, only the very tip of the bell tower showing above the intensely bright bubble of flame. Many of the houses, their walls bursting under the intense pressure created by the searing blast, seemed to implode, falling in on themselves. Others^ beyond the circle of devastation wrought by the super-napalm, steamed and smoked and began to burn.

A huge ball of black smoke rose over the village, to reveal blow-torch like feathers of red and yellow roaring from the church’s every door and window.

Only one of the bogged down T-84s brought its anti-aircraft mount into action against the gunship as it flew over, and then only in hesitant bursts, that signalled the gunner’s confusion as to what was happening.

‘Looks like you got what you wanted after all. The Russians have done it for you.’ As the sound of the helicopter’s engines faded into the distance, Revell held out his hand to assist Andrea over the last few feet to the crest of the ridge.

He hadn’t expected her to, but she took it, and her fingers enmeshed with his as she hauled herself up. For a moment he forgot what he was going to say. ‘Right ... So let’s put in some distance. There’s a long way to go.’

That was an understatement, but Revell could have made light of anything. As they started down he was aware that Andrea was close by him, even when the going became so treacherous that the descent called for all his attention.

This was what he’d wanted. It had been a long time coming, but she was with him now, and he’d keep it that way. To hell with the past, to hell with Inga, with the bitch, with everything.

So long as Andrea was with him in the Zone he was going to enjoy making war, and together they’d be making plenty of it.