"Nothing," he said, grabbing at his mouth. "Excuse me!" he muttered, rushing out of the room.

The First Lady looked at one of the younger agents, who was throwing up in a wastebasket, the screen where the anchorman, green-faced, was just straightening up and then at her personal Agent.

"I'm glad you picked me up, aren't I?" she asked.

"Yes, ma'am," the agent responded, stone-faced. He'd still been in the door, looking over his shoulder for the threat, when the guy made the shot and all he could think was "we havegot to get that guy on the Detail."

"Vanner, what's the pool on Bukara's replacement?" Mike asked.

"Sadim," Vanner said. "He's the senior Chechen in the sector and most of the survivors are his men. He's not going to be as easy as Bukara, either."

"We'll deal with it," Mike said as his earphone beeped indicating that Nielson was on the other freq.

"Go, Tiger Two."

"Kildar, do you think that waswise ?" Nielson asked. "Pierson is f.u.c.kingfuming . The President, along with several million other people around the world, is reported to be puking in the bathroom."

"No," Mike said, coldly. "But it sure was whatI call quality television."

Chapter Forty-Four.

"Lasko," Adams said over his throat mike. "You there?"

"Go, Tiger Three."

"You are now officially the most famous sniper in the world,"Adams said, chuckling. He'd figured out how to get the feed just in time. "You know that was on satellite TV, right?"

"I was unaware," Lasko replied. There was, however, the slightest note of satisfaction in his normally toneless voice.

Lasko had no orders to engage the other targets and wasn't about to throw away a rep that high; another shot like that was not guaranteed. He would need a new screen name, though. 2782Robar sounded about right.

He picked up his meat-roll and took a bite, chewing slowly and methodically. His beer was untouched.

He wasn't about to have alcohol interfere with his fine motor control.

He continued to peer through the scope, watching the gathering Chechen force.

Come to the slaughter, pigs of Allah.

Serris hated f.u.c.king mortars. He hated being fired on them because the b.a.s.t.a.r.ds were worse in a way than regular artillery. He'd heard it was because their bursting charge was heavier than similar sized artillery or something. He'd caught some regular artillery duringIraq and even one time inAfghanistan but mortars were worse. And all the f.u.c.king muj had the d.a.m.ned things;Iraq was seemed to have more mortars than it had stray dogs. AndIraq hada lot of stray dogs.

But he hated humping the things even more than he hated being under fire from them. He'd cross trained with the 60 guys and come away with the definite desire tonever have to be f.u.c.king 11Charlie. I mean, most of the time you couldn't see what you were firing at, you humped the s.h.i.t around day after day and then most of the time everybody forgot to use you. It just f.u.c.king sucked.

But compared to these motherf.u.c.kers, 60mm mortars were like carrying around some spare sand in your boot. These f.u.c.king 120s... the guy who invented these motherf.u.c.kers should beshot .

He currently was holding one of the rope handles of the baseplate and not enjoying the experience one f.u.c.king bit.

"Jesus, Lane, lift up a bit," Serris snarled. "I'm taking all the weight!"

"It's not my fault I'm short," Lane puffed. "Try bending over or something."

"If I bend over I'm gonna get a hernia," Private Thomson said, his foot slipping out from under him.

"f.u.c.k!" the Ranger snarled, trying to hold up his end of the tube.

"Oh, son-of-a-b.i.t.c.h," Sivula said as more of the weight came down on him. "Don't hold yourselfup with it, newbie!"

"Would youplease quit f.u.c.king b.i.t.c.hing?" Sergeant Simmons said, shaking his head. He had the bipod over his shoulder but still helped Thomson struggle back to his feet. "JesusChrist ! You're f.u.c.king Rangers . You're supposed to eat pain forbreakfast . Those f.u.c.kinggirls following us have been carrying those d.a.m.ned ammo boxes for the last fifteen klicks and you're b.i.t.c.hing cause you gotta carry a f.u.c.king baseplate maybetwo ?We can't even pa.s.s the bunker line! They're going up into the f.u.c.kingpa.s.s .

You know, where the motherf.u.c.kingenemy is? So Would You Please Quit f.u.c.kingb.i.t.c.hING ?"

"Well, now that you put it that way," Serris said. "Can I just say one thing?"

"What?!"

"I hate f.u.c.king mortars..."

"I hate f.u.c.king mortars,"Adams said, ducking involuntarily as another salvo dropped across the Keldara position.

The Chechen mortar teams had finally gotten into position and they had apparently limitless ammo. Most of it was courtesy of the Russian Army, which had a terrible problem with securing its resupply convoys.

How they'd humped all the ammo into positionAdams wasn't sure, but they'd probably used mules.

However they'd done it, they'd been hitting them for the last fifteen minutes and the Keldara had taken more casualties in that time than in the whole d.a.m.ned pursuit. Oh, most of them were light, just minor shrapnel, but a couple of guys in Padrek's team had had a round land right in their position. Two more body bags to add to the next Valkyrie load.

"They are quite unpleasant," Oleg said. He was pulled up against the side of the position, his head tucked down, but otherwise trying for the "totally imperturbable" Look. He said it in English, Scottish accented English no less, andAdams had to shake his head.

"Now you're sounding like a f.u.c.king Brit,"Adams growled. "I never should have let McKenzie teach you guys. You're going to start talking about 'a spot of bother' and 'a dog's breakfast' next."

"Actually I was thinking more along the lines of 'a bit of a tiff.' As in 'well, this is a bit of a tiff, what?'"

"Oh Christ."Adams keyed the video feed on his BFT pad and shook his head again. "They're getting in position for another a.s.sault." He keyed his throat mike. "Yo, a.s.s-Boy..."

Kacey didn't have to look up, turn her head or otherwise move to fix D'Allaird with a stare when he opened the door. She'd been sitting in the hard wooden chair, the only seat in the "ready room" for the last two hours and a half hours with her arms crossed looking at the door.

"Your bird is repaired, ma'am."

The chief was just about covered in grease and hydraulic fluid. Forget being in his coveralls, being on his face, arms and hands; it was matted into his hair.

Kacey picked up her helmet off the floor and walked to the door, her face cold.

"I figure you've got the loft for a couple of gunner positions," D'Allaird said as they walked to the hangar.

His face and tone were just as hard and cold. The two Czech contract mechanics were just walking out, clearly discussing in Czech just how soon they could getout of this f.u.c.king place. They, too, were covered in oil and hydraulic fluids. "So I mounted the last two gatlings. The bird is armed and fueled.

There are some yellow lights but nothing is critical. I won't certify it once you're in combat, though."

"Understood," Kacey said as she walked over to the Hind. She stopped and blinked, though, at the sight of the gunners. "What did you do, dig up the morgue?"

Father Ferani had, indeed, spent most of his time in the Great War safely behind the lines, much to his chagrin. But only "most." He had also been a member of the groups that ran weapons and supplies intoStalingrad during the siege. Those had been floated down on barges, often under direct and indirect fire from the Germans. It was not distinguished service but he'd had quite a few shots fired at him in anger. His biggest disappointment was that he rarely got to fire back.

When the call had gone out for people to man the guns on the attack bird, everyone had again volunteered. But this time, the Fathers interjected. Their argument went something like this. All of the young people were committed to the battle. Those of the middle agemust stay to keep the farm going and, in extremis, defend it if all the others fell. And the job was not strenuous; all that the person need do was hold onto the gun and fire. Even the old women could do that. The Elders were more than capable, thank you.

Everyone knew it was a lie. With the exception of Father Kulcyanov, none of the current crop of elders had ever had the opportunity to earn their Death Guard. Grapa Makanee, who had died two years before, was, except for Father Kulcyanov, the last survivor of the line combatants of the Great War. The Fathers wantedone chance, d.a.m.nit, to earn their Death Guard.

So the rest of the Keldara humored them. Not only because, excepting only the Kildar, they were the final word in discipline amongst a disciplined people but because the way things were going,everyone was going to get the chance to earn a Death Guard. Had not Mother Lenka gathered all the young women to go to the battle? What was next, the Mothers?

Father Kulcyanov had excused himself. While he would have enjoyed one last whiff of cordite, he had a Death Guard, a big one that had been waiting many decades to be his servants in the Halls. And he knew that, with his heart, it was possible he would not survive even if he was not shot.

Then there was the matter ofwhich Fathers got to go. None except Father Kulcyanov had been willing to relinquish the honor. Father Makanee had suggested arm wrestling. Father Ferani had countered with a hand-axe free-for-all, the traditional way of settling things that no one could agree upon in the Keldara.

Father Kulcyanov had forced them to draw straws. Father Ferani had been p.i.s.sed. He'd been slowly developing the desire overdecades to bury an axe in Father Devlich.

Father Ferani smiled at the young woman and gestured for her to get in the aircraft.

"Are fighters," he said in painfully bad English. "You pilot. Fly. Fight. Kill. We guard sides."

"Gunny," Kacey whispered, "I think that zombie just said something."

"Kacey, everybody else is committed," D'Allaird whispered back. "I found out when I was working on the bird that all the young women have gone up to the pa.s.s. All there is left is oldsters and kids. And this guy's apparently got some combat experience."

Another oldster, this one somewhat younger, leaned out the door next to the first and looked at her fiercely.

"Are going?" the man barked. "Battlewaits!"

The first oldster looked at him contemptuously and spat something in a firm and angry tone. In a second the two were b.i.t.c.hing away at each other in what Kacey figured was Georgian. They sounded like a couple of quarreling old women.

"Thereally old one is Father Ferani," D'Allaird said as Kacey climbed into the c.o.c.kpit. "He was in the Russian Army in WWII. The other guy is Father Devlich. They're the bosses of two of the Six Families.

So they're sort of muckety mucks."

"Great," Kacey said. "Not only do I have a couple of corpses riding shotgun, they'reboss corpses.

Thanks, Tim."

"I was sort of busy fixing the bird, ma'am," D'Allaird replied.

"And you did one h.e.l.l of a job, Chief," Kacey said. She sat up in her seat and gave him a peck on the cheek. "Thanks."

D'Allaird looked shocked, raising one hand to his cheek.

"Captain Bathlick!" he said after a moment.

"What?" she asked as she hit the engine start b.u.t.ton. "You see an Equal Opportunity Office around here? h.e.l.l, if there was they'd probably be happy as h.e.l.l. We've got equality of race, s.e.xand age down pat. Black engineer, female pilot and two zombies manning the minis. Let's roll this puppy out, chief. Like the man said, battle is awaiting."

As before people swarmed forward at D'Allaird's raised hand and pushed the Hind into the open. It wasn't nearly as spiffy as the last time; the bird was covered in holes that were patched with hundred-mile-an-hour tape, and all the hydraulic fluid hadn't been cleaned off. But, as D'Allaird had promised, while there were some yellow lights, none of it was critical. She wasn't going to need the FLIR for this mission.

But she wasn't going right away. Another oldster, the guy wearing the tiger skin, walked up to the front of the bird as it was rolled onto the pad. He had that axe and mistletoe in his hands and he waved both over the nose of the bird, chanting something Kacey couldn't hear.

She wasn't particularly into mystic mumbo-jumbo but it seemed important to the Keldara so she waited.

But then he stepped back and straightened into a position of attention and raised the axe in front of his nose just like a rifle salute.

Kacey looked at him for a second and then remembered who the guy was. This was the guy who'd picked up a "hero's medal" for taking out four Tigers with a f.u.c.king rocket launcher. And been inStalingrad , which deserved a medal all in itself. She was being saluted by the equivalent of a Medal of Honor winner.

Kacey slowly raised her hand and gave him the one crispiest salute she'dever rendered, warrior to warrior, the way it wa.s.supposed to f.u.c.king be. She wasn't saluting some guy who'd been promoted for honorable service as an a.s.s-kisser in the Pentagon and she wasn't being saluted for being a flying truck driver. She was being saluted as a warrior by one f.u.c.king warrior par excellence: a pro.

She dropped the salute, fast, and hit the key to engage the props.

Time to go to f.u.c.king war.

The Pred pilotknew he should have turned over control before now. His supervisor had asked, twice, if he wanted to turn over the bird. But he'd been flying this mission through the whole last phase and he wasn't about to walk away now. He had a mission. Find those f.u.c.king mortars.

He'd been given a vague area to look and he was looking. But the area was chock-a-block with rock formations and mortars, honestly, were pretty hard to spot during the day when they were firing. At night it was different, they put up one h.e.l.l of a visual signature. But they didn't give off a lot of smoke when they fired. The biggest daytime signature was the dust from the baseplates when they slammed into the ground.

Finally, he caught a flash out of the side of the camera view and slewed the camera towards the flash. At first he wasn't sure he'd found them but then they fired again, throwing up those puffs of dust and, this time, he caught the slight smoke signature.

"Mortars spotted," he said. "I've got clearance to engage?"

"Roger," his supervisor said, walking over. "Two more birds inbound in about ten minutes. I've got Tommy and Hank ready to rock on them. You about ready to take a break and let this one cruise back?" The supervisor bent down and peered at the screen, pushing his gla.s.ses up his nose.

"In a second," he said, lasing the target. There were three mortars and he'd been told there were more around somewhere. There, they weren't in one battery but they'd been cl.u.s.tered. There was a trail in the area and that was probably the reason. Three batteries of three mortars apiece. Looked to be the standard Russian 120s. And glory be...

"Stupid," the supervisor said, pointing at the screen. "They've got their ready ammunition stacked between the guns.

"I noticed," the pilot said, banking the Predator around to line on the positions. It wasn't strictly necessary, but it increased the ease of engagement. "Four rounds, three positions. Two piles of ready ammo and three guns per. How d' you want me to do this? One round to each position and one to finish off the wounded at one?"