H271 lurched as Flowers drove it down into a washout directly at the base of the mesa.Des Grieux let the tank settle as he searched the sandstone face through his gunnery screen.
"This where you want us, Sarge?" Flowers asked.
"Clam Four, this is Shellfish Six. Report! Over."
"Right," said Des Grieux over the intercom. "Shut her down. Is your hatch closed?"
The intake howl dimmed into the sighing note of fans winding down. Iridium clanged forward as Flowers slammed his hatch.
"Yes sir," he said.
Des Grieux fired his main gun. Cyan light filled the world.
The rockface cracked with a sound like the planetary mantle splitting. The shattered cliff slumped forward in chunks ranging in size from several tons to microscopic beads of glass. H271 rang and shuddered as the wave of rubble swept across it, sliding up against the turret.
"Clam Four to Clam Six," Des Grieux said. He didn't try to keep his voice free of the satisfaction he felt at the perfect execution of his plan. "I've had an accidental discharge of my main gun. No injuries, but I'm afraid my tank can't be moved without mebbe a day's work by heavy equipment. Over."
"Slick," said Lieutenant Kuykendall, "you stupid son of a bitch."
She must have expected something like this, because she didn't bother raising her voice.
Kuykendall's right wing gunner worked over the Notch with his tribarrel as
When H271 lighted the night with its main gun, the Hashemites guarding the Notch came to panicked alertness. During the ten minutes since, combat cars fired short bursts to keep enemy heads down while the Slammers pulled out.
This thirty-second slashing was different. The gunner's needless expenditure of ammunition was a way to let out his frustration—at what Des Grieux had done, or at the fact that the rest of the Slammers were running while Des Grieux and the indigs stayed to fight.
The troopers of Task Force Kuykendall were professional soldiers. If they'd been afraid of a fight, they would have found some other line of work.
Kuykendall squeezed the gunner's biceps, just beneath the shoulder flare of his body armor. The trooper's thumbs came off the butterfly trigger. The weapon's barrel-set continued to rotate for several seconds to aid in cooling.The white-hot iridium muzzles glowed a circle around their common axis.
