Echo Six: Black Ops11 Killzone by Eric Meyer

Author:Eric Meyer
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Publisher: Swordworks
Published: 2016-12-21T05:00:00+00:00

Chapter Seven

He waited in the buttoned down turret of the T72. They were supposed to have a free hand, and their Syrian Air Force liaison officer had promised to keep the bombers away until they reached the center of the town. He’d probably been true to his word, for there were no Syrian aircraft visible. When Captain Mustafa Shigan peeked out through the periscope, he saw the distinctive twin fins of a Russian Sukhoi Su34 on a low level pass over the town, trailing flares before the nose tilted up, and it climbed almost vertically in the sky.

“Fucking Russians.”

“Excuse me, Sir?”

He looked left and gave his gunner an irritated glance. He hadn’t meant to voice the criticism aloud. In the Syrian Army, an officer had to be careful what the enlisted men serving under him overheard. If an incident resulted in an inquiry, words spoken in haste could come back to bite the officer in the ass.

“Nothing. As soon as the aircraft leave, we’re going into the center of the town. You can start searching for targets. We could be moving at any moment. Load HE, make ready.”

“Yes, Sir.”

The gunner pressed buttons to activate the automatic loading system. The two-section 125mm ammunition came in two parts, the shell and the propellant charge. The automatic system carried them in separate loading trays, positioned on top of each other. The machinery whirred, and the breech clanged shut after both elements of the shell were in position ready for the next shot.

The gunner was quiet for a few seconds, peering through the periscope, and then he grunted in annoyance. He adjusted the eyepiece and wiped it with a filthy rag. “Damn thing, it’s covered in shit.”

Shigan pulled a clean piece of rag from his pocket. He’d been saving it to keep his own periscope clean, but the gunner had need of it more than he did. When the bastard pulled the trigger, he wanted him to hit the target, first time every time. He watched him wipe the lens, and he handed it back. The Captain shuddered at the grease mark on the hitherto white cotton and tossed it to the floor. The gunner looked through the eyepiece again and chuckled.

“It’s just a kid. I thought for a moment I had a camel jockey in my sights.”

“You’re sure he’s not a threat. They recruit them young.”

“I’m sure. He’s unarmed. Plucky kid, he’s walking straight toward us, like we’re an ice cream stand. It’s weird, because most of these people run like crazy when they see our armor.”

Something about the way he said it made Captain Shigan uneasy. He threw open the turret hatch and poked his head outside to get a clearer view.

The gunner is correct. The behavior of the boy is unusual. Yet he doesn’t carry a weapon. Weird.

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