Ed Howdershelt by Dragonfly Run

Author:Dragonfly Run [Run, Dragonfly]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Twenty-seven

The rebels were slow learners. Each of our morning huntings turned up as many as half a dozen snipers over the next month. A total of 152 brand-new AK rifles were collected before the morning sniping ceased. We lost one man to snakebite during that month and lost none to rifle fire. The land mines we collected were used on the mountainsides to clear a wider skirt of open ground around the mine perimeter.

Something changed during the second month, however. One day there were thumping noises from the treeline in the early afternoon. Most of us mercs got flat fast and yelled to anyone else around us to do the same. A few of the business-suited types actually did as ordered, but most tried to run indoors.

When mortar rounds began slamming into the buildings and parked cars, people on their feet were at a definite disadvantage. The barrage was repeated twice in overlapping patterns, indicating that the shooters either knew what they were doing or were being coached. The last barrage was delivered rather slowly, obviously by only one or two mortar teams, which meant that the others were making a getaway.

When the explosions stopped, we mercs spread out down the hillside to try to find the mortars and encountered inaccurate sniper fire that was intended to slow us, which it did. Half an hour later even the sniper fire had stopped, but we proceeded with caution anyway.

We came up empty after an afternoon of searching. That was another sign that the shooters had a coach. The slow last mortar barrage and the sniper had been intended to keep us pinned while the others disassembled the tubes and got away.

Mortars have a finite range, so possible distances to probable firing sites wasn’t too hard to compute. That night sixteen of us loaded up with ammo and grenades and parked ourselves in the bush around the mountaintop somewhat below the maximum possible range of a mortar. Another two teams of eight each were stationed and spread out about midway along the two switchback roads that serviced the mine. It was a long, boring night, but it paid off.

One of the trucks that transported workers seemed to be losing parts near my position. I first thought it might be a trick of the dim dawn light and road dust. I looked closer with binoculars and saw that men were dropping off the truck as it passed my position. The same was happening with the other truck and the buses. I clicked my radio three times, said, “Four,” to identify my location, then clicked three times again.

A whispered, “Can you talk?” came back to me. It was one of the team leaders.

“Yeah,” I whispered back. “About a dozen guys have been dropped off on the switchback just below me and they’re hauling stuff together in a pile down there. I can probably mess up their morning, but I don’t want to be here alone if they decide to come up after me.”

“Do it.

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.