Courage in the Ashes by William W. Johnstone

Author:William W. Johnstone [Johnstone, William W.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780786006519
Amazon: 0786020210
Goodreads: 2013302
Publisher: Pinnacle
Published: 1991-01-01T05:00:00+00:00

Totally ruthless. And his men will be highly trained and professional. It’s going to be a slugfest for us, believe that.”

“The latest communiqué says the people are desperate over there,” Beth said. “They don’t know how much longer they can hold out.”

“Tell them to hold out for a few more weeks,” Ben instructed. “We’ll be there.”

“We damn well better get there in a few weeks,” Thermopolis said. “I just spoke with the leader of the group in Galway. That’s the only port still open to us. He said Jack Hunt’s people are knocking on the door and we’d better get there quickly. If Galway falls, we’ll have to try for a landing in Londonderry and hope for the best.”

“With external tanks, the Apache is capable of flying across the Atlantic,” Striganov pointed out. “But I think that would be an exercise in futility, since once they discharge their weapons there would be no place for the birds to be resupplied.”

Ben shook his head. “No. We can’t risk losing a single one of them. This Jack Hunt, will he have SAMs?”

“I’m sure of it,” West said,

“All the birds equipped with AAWWS?” Ben asked.

“All except the converted Hueys,” Ike said. “All the rest are equipped with Longbow.”

The Airborne Adverse Weather Weapon System—called Longbow—is a complex millimeter-wave radar that enables the chopper crew to detect and kill tanks, missiles, and aircraft, day or night, in smoke, fog, or adverse weather.

“What is the earliest we can sail?” Ben asked Ike.

“One week, Ben. We can’t push any harder. Everything has got to be right. Got to be checked and checked and checked again. Once we’re out there, we’re alone.”

“Jack Hunt,” Ben said to Beth. “Does he have a Navy?”

“No. Not if you’re talking about destroyers and battleships and things like that. He does have gunboats.”

“We can deal with them,” Ike said. “Don’t sweat that. The recoilless rifles alone that we’ve set up on the decks have a range of seven thousand yards. And we have much heavier guns than that ready to bark.

Even if Hunt has missile capability to use against us at sea—and we have received nothing that would indicate he does—we could still deal with it. It’s docking that has me worried.”

“Jack knows nothing about Naval warfare,” West said. “He’s strictly a ground-pounder. But a damned good one.”

“Then he and I have something in common,” Ben said with a small smile.

“It ends there,” West said, unusually grim-faced. “Jack Hunt is called ‘the Beast,’ Ben. And he makes Sam Hartline and Lan Villar look like angels.”

Dan Gray arched an eyebrow. “I have never heard of this man. So I must deduce that Jack Hunt is not his real name.”

“That’s right. I don’t know what his real name is, but he went under Bob French for years.”

“Ahhh!” Dan said. “Now I know who you’re talking about. Yes. A butcher.”

“That’s correct.”

“He would have artillery,” Ben said, bending over a map of Ireland.

“Yes. What are you thinking?”

“Galway Bay is twenty three miles wide at the entrance. It narrows down considerably.

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