The Rat Patrol 3 - The Trojan Tank Affair by David King

Author:David King
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Published: 2013-05-16T04:00:00+00:00

11

The plane, a Messerschmidt Bf-109E Troy recognized from the square wing tips and stepped up canopy behind the sleek, pointed nose, skimmed the rolling dunes at the edge of the flat, moonlighted desert. Its altitude was no more than five hundred feet and it had been searching now for more than half an hour, sweeping an area of about ten miles east and west from the two German patrol cars that still burned, bright orange in the pastel-shaded night. Jerry wanted the vehicle, patrol or unit that had struck so suddenly behind his lines and drawn blood. The plane would maintain its vigilance until ground patrols could seal off the area or the fighter itself discovered and destroyed the attacker.

Troy had watched the shadow that concealed the jeep in the wadi where he and Tully had taken cover shrink as the moon soared high. Now the moonlight was touching the blunt front of the hood and soon it would shimmer on the flattened windshield. He listened to the stuttering engine of the plane as the pilot came back for yet another look, throttling down to almost stall speed.

"We're going to have to make a break for it," Troy said to Tully, looking out across the three miles of open desert that lay between them and the dunes to the south. "By the time the plane reaches us next time, we'll be lit up like a pin ball machine."

"We can't get across that stretch without him nailing us," Tully said and tossed away the matchstick he'd been gnawing.

"No," Troy said decisively. "This calls for action."

He clambered to the back of the jeep, limbered the machine gun and trained it in the direction of the explosively spluttering aircraft, waiting for it to come into view. He did not want to shoot down the plane. He had not wanted to destroy the patrol cars. He did not like alerting Jerry to this penetration but in each instance it was a matter of survival at the moment and tomorrow would have to tike care of itself. Troy did not think they were near the staging area and at least they were some distance from the rock. The loss of two patrol cars and a plane might confuse the enemy about the strength of the attacking force and draw patrols from other areas to this section.

"Break for the other side the minute we catch him," Troy shouted.

The plane loomed, seeming to hang overhead at Troy's right and he caught it in a burst that raked from nose through fuselage. It burst in a roaring puff ball of white hot flame a thousand yards beyond them and crashed to the desert in thousands of flying splinters. The jeep skittered out of the wadi and fled for the dunes three miles away.

From far above, Troy heard the changing pitch of another airplane's engine and a distant throbbing beat became a piercing shriek as it dived toward the Messerschmidt burning brightly. The second plane streaked over the wreck and climbed steeply.

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