'Of course,' said Donny.
'At that moment I signal, Fenn's on the horn with you Air Force boys.'
It was the Air Force major's turn.
'We've laid on a C-130 Hercules call-signed Night-Hag-Three, holding in orbit about five klicks away, just off Than Nuc. We can have Night Hag there in less than thirty seconds. The Night Hag brings major pee: four side- mounted Vulcan twenty-mm mini-guns and four 7.62 NATO mini-guns. It can unload four thousand rounds in less than thirty seconds. It'll turn anything in a thousand square yards to tenderized hamburger.'
'That's better than napalm or Hotel Echo, sir?'
'Much better. More accurate, more responsive to ground direction. Plus, these guys are really good. They've been on these suppression missions for years. They can pinwheel over a zone just above stalling speed like a gull floating over the beach. Only, they're pumping out lead all the while. They bring unbelievable smoke. The snake eaters love them. You know the napalm problem. It can go any way, and if the wind catches it and takes it in your direction, you got a problem.'
'Sounds good,' said Bob.
'Sergeant Swagger?'
It was the CIA man, who'd brought the Solaratov documents.
'Yes, sir, Mr. Nichols?'
'I'm just asking: is there any conceivable way you could take this man alive? He'd be an incomparable intelligence asset.'
'Sir, I should say, hell, yes, I'll try my damndest, and we'll share whatever we git with our friends who've cooperated with us. But this bastard's tricky and dangerous as hell. If I get him in the scope, I have to take him out. If he gets away, we go to gunships. That's all.'
'I respect your honesty, Sergeant. It's your ass on the line. But let me tell you one thing. The Sovs have a new sniper rifle called the Dragunov, or SVD. He might have one.'
'I've heard of it, sir.'
'We've yet to shake it out. Even the Israelis haven't uncovered one. Be very nice if you brought that out alive.'
'I'll give it my best, sir.'
'Good man.'
Donny was supposed to get a last few hours of sleep before he geared up, but of course he couldn't. So much ran through his mind, and he lay in the bunker, listening to music coming from the squad bays a few dozen meters away
CCR was banging out something from last year on somebody's tape deck. It sounded familiar. Donny listened.
Long as I remember, the rain been coming down, Clouds of mystery falling, confusion on the ground, Good men through the ages, trying to track the sun, And I wonder, still I wonder, who'll stop the rain?
It had some kind of anti-war meaning, he knew. The rain was war, or had become war. Some of these kids had known nothing but the war, it had started when they were fourteen and now they were twenty and over here and it was still going on. It was coming for them, they'd get caught in the rain, that's why the song was so popular to them. Kids had picked it up in DC last year and it was everywhere. He knew Commander Bonson had heard it.
He thought of Bonson now.
Bonson came back to him. Navy guy, starchy, duty-haunted, rigid, black-and-white Bonson. In his khakis. His beard dark, his flesh taut and white, his eyes glaring, set in rectitude.
He remembered the look on Bonson's face when he told him he wasn't going to testify against Crowe. Man, that may have been worth it, that one moment, let Solaratov grease my ass, it was worth it, the way his jaw fell, the way confusion--no, clouds of mystery, confusion on the ground--came into his eyes. He could not process it.
He could not accept that someone would turn his little plan over. Someone would actually tell him to go fuck off, derail his little train.
Donny had a nice dream of it all, the moment of soaring triumph he'd felt.
Oh, that's just the beginning, he thought. I will get back to the world and we will see what became of Commander Bonson, what his crusade got him. What goes round, comes round. You put shit out in this world, somehow you get it back. Donny believed that.
Now, sleep was impossible. He rose, restless, bathed in sweat. He had another three hours to kill before they mounted out.
He rose, left the bunker and wandered for a bit, not sure where he was going, but then realizing he did in fact have a destination. He was in grunt city, among the line Marines, the proles of 2-5-Hotel, who really were Firebase Dodge City.
He saw a shadow.
'You know where Featherstone would be?'
'Two hootches back. Oh. You. The hero. Yeah, he's back there, getting ready to get his ass wasted in the grass.'
The anger Donny felt surprised him. What the hell was this all about? Why was everybody so pissed at him? What had he done?
