before you go in, the target will be warned. Many of you could die in
the charge.' Burton saw several faces nod warily as the interpreter
conveyed his words. 'My suggestion is that you all go in at the
double-a quick, silent run. You go in very fast and close to the
ground. The Israelis favor this tactic, and they've surprised a lot of
Arabs with it, I can tell you.' He summoned a bluff grin. 'Ready,
lads?'
Two or three Colombians nodded, but most looked a shade paler than they
had when they thought Burton's mortar barrage would precede their
attack. The Englishman took a final look at his unit. They were a
ragged lot by any standard, standing there in the rain, weighted down by
bandolero ammo belts, grenades, and LAW rockets. They would have been
comic but for the near certainty of their impending deaths.
Looking past them to the distant house, Burton felt a sudden, almost
irresistible urge to order them back to the choppers, to save'their
miserable lives before they charged the fortress that waited beyond the
gray wall of rain. But then he remembered The Deal.
'Move out!' he shouted angrily. 'Goddamn it, charge!'
The Colombians stared dumbly for a moment; then they turned and trotted
down the slope into the shallow bowl.
One hung back-a teenager named Ruiz, whom Burton had tried to instruct
in the finer points of mortar operationwaiting to see if he was needed.
Burton started to nod, then he sensed someone behind him.
He turned to see Alberto, the huge MNR guerilla observer. Burton
pointed to the mortar tube he had dropped onto the grass and eyed the
guerilla questioningly. When Alberto nodded with confidence, Burton
decided he would prefer skill to g6w company today.
He motioned for Ruiz to follow the charge.
Alberto immediately began setting up the mortar, but Burton, impelled by
some morbid instinct, crouched on the rim of the grassy bowl and watched
the Colombians go in. As his eyes followed the camouflaged
figures-running now-he suddenly noticed something odd about the floor of
the bowl. Subdividing the approaches to Horn House into measured
sections were dozens of small, grass-covered mounds. At first glance
they seemed only natural irregularities in the ground-animal spoor,
perhaps-but Burton soon realized that the humps were anything but
natural. His mind faltered for a moment, not wanting to accept it; then
his gut instinct grasped the whole, ghastly scene.
A killing ground.
Those innocent-looking mounds concealed land mines. Burton shouted a
warning, but the Colombians had already passed out of earshot.
Alberto raised his head at Burton's shoutThen it started.
Sixteen Claymore mines exploded simultaneously, sending thousands of
steel balls scything through the air at twice the speed of sound.
Half the Colombians were shredded into bloody pulp before they could
scream. The sound came in waves, deep, shuddering concussions muted by
the rain.
Most survivors of the first blast staggered to the ground, mortally
wounded. Shrapnel detonated some of the Colombian ordnance.
Grenades flashed in the dusk; one of the LAW rockets exploded in a
blinding fireball, consuming the man who carried it.
Burton lay stomach-down, shielding his eyes against the flashes.
Alberto tugged at Burton's pack, groping for mortar rounds so that he
could return fire. Burton'slai)ved the hie guerilla's hand away.
'Bloody hell! All you'd do now is pin-point our position!' He punched
his fist into the soggy veld.
'Poor bastards.'
In spite of the Englishman's pessimism, Alberto grinned and pointed down
the slope to where, unbelievably, a halfdozen Colombians still crawled
doggedly toward Horn House. Having gone too far to retreat with any
hope of survival, they went blindly on. Forty meters from the great
tliangular structure, one of them rose to one knee and let off a LAW
rocket. The smoke trail arrowed across the grass, and the exploding
warhead tore a jagged hole in the wall above a shuttered window.
Emboldened by their comrade's success, three wounded Colombians got up
and cheered, then charged the main entranee with their AK-47s on full
automatic.
At that moment-with a sound like a handsaw n'ppi' tin-Smuts's,Vulcan gun
opened up from the observatory.
From the tower, Jijrgen Luhr watched the carnage with morbid
fascination. He could not quite comprehend the fact that he had
obliterated a dozen human beings with the flick of a switch. The land
around Horn House looked as if a hundred plows had passed over it,
sowing blood and fire. The remotely detonated Claymores had churned the
earth into a smoking graveyard. When the Vulcan gun began to fire, Luhr
thought he had gone deaf. White flame spat out of the six spinning
barrels; the unbelievable rate of fire made the scarlet tracers look
like laser beams arcing across the slope below. Anywhere the gun
lingered for a full second, more than a hundred depleted-uranium-tipped
slugs impacted in a steady stream of death.
The rain and darkness obscured the remaining attackers, but Smuts seemed
to have no trouble finding them. Wearing ear protectors now, he worked
the pedals with practiced skill, traversing the gun with remorseless
accuracy. Watching Smuts's slit-eyed face behind the Vulcan, Luhr
actually pitied the men who remained alive.
Four floors below the observatory, Robert Stanton, Lord Granville,
watched the weapons he had known nothing about blast his dreams of power
into oblivion. If Alfred survives this night, he thought desolately,
what will Shaw give me?
Not afucking thing, that's what! He shook his head in wonder.
Not one member of the assault teaxn remained standing!
Unbelieving, Stanton pressed his palm against the windowpane, watching
in horror as the Vulcan's terrible tracer beam climbed the slope, then
disappeared over the ridge. Seconds later a fireball mushroomed into
the sky. Probably a helicopter, he realized. Stanton could bear no
more. He knew he had but one chance now: to find Horn and allay any
suspicion that he was connected with the attack. If Burton is killed,
he thought hopefully, I might just bring it off. He dashed into the
dark hallway and made for the study, almost sure that Horn would be
