The Price of Honor by David Hackworth

Author:David Hackworth [Hackworth, David]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
ISBN: 978-0-307-81910-9
Publisher: Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group
Published: 2012-05-09T04:00:00+00:00

THIRTY-SEVEN

* Hamagar *

Pop, pop, pop, pop.

Too damn cold to laugh.

Knees up to his chin, Nate was wobbling down the road ahead of them on a rickety little motorbike spattered with mud and grease. Except for the submachine gun slung across his back, he looked like a guy taking his first ride without training wheels.

Pop, pop, pop, pop.

They crested a hill, swung around a long curve and came out on a narrow ridge overlooking Hamagar. Below them, the stone houses and barns of the village huddled around the broad town square. In the middle of the square they saw three very lonely British Saxons.

“Jesus,” Nate yelled over his shoulder. “It looks like Hunter’s mobile CP.”

Drago shrugged. “He likes to keep an eye on things.”

Sandy pointed down to the square. “Won’t be easy, I’d say.” A crowd of villagers, perhaps three hundred men and boys, was swirling around the UN vehicles. All three of the APCs were immobilized, their wheels jammed by timbers. The rear door of the lead Saxon opened, and Hunter stepped out. His beret loomed over the crowd, a bobbing blue dot on a field of brown.

“Nice of him to stop by and see how his boys were doing,” Sandy said.

“Lot better’n he is,” Nate said. The villagers were pressing around the tall peacekeeper, shouting him down. For a while, he tried pushing back, but as the villagers closed in tighter, he ducked back into the Saxon and slammed the door shut. Howling now, the starving villagers he had set out to feed began rocking the APC, trying to spill him.

“What’s their problem, Drago?” Sandy said.

“They think the UN’s sold them out. It looks like that sometimes.”

“Like right now?”

“I’d say so.”

Sandy turned to Nate. “We need an army, man. You’re gonna be it. Drago and I are going down there. Give us a couple of minutes, then make a whole lot of noise.”

“You’ll hear it.” Balancing on the bikes, Sandy and Drago set off down the twisting road for the village. Pop, pop, poppity-pop.

When they reached the square, Sandy stopped just short of the mob. A few men and boys turned and looked at them sullenly. “Tell them to stand down,” Sandy said. Drago shouted a few words at the back of the crowd.

No one moved.

Revving the bike’s pennywhistle engine, Sandy got the front wheel between two jostling farmers and started wedging his way toward the besieged APCs. He could hear the popping of Drago’s bike right behind him. “Tell them they’ve got the wrong guys,” he yelled. Drago started shouting, and Sandy sensed a slight softening in the crowd. Kicking up the engine, he pushed on, knocking aside hands that stretched out to block him.

Suddenly, he heard the pounding on the APCs stop. The villagers split ranks, allowing him to skid forward to the lead Saxon.

Standing next to the door was a small man with a pistol stuck in his belt. Nosing up to him, Sandy stopped the bike and let Drago draw in beside him.

The Muslim’s face was deeply creased.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.