“Maybe the Ramanthians have plans for it,” Santana replied. “We’ll be there shortly. Cross over, push two miles down the highway, and settle in. If bugs come in from the west, I want as much warning as possible. Out.”
Fareye replied with the traditional double click and ordered Nhan forward. He felt exposed on the bridge, knew someone was watching him, and wondered if he would hear the shot that killed him.
As Deker rounded a corner, and began to make his way down a 10-percent grade, Santana saw the span up ahead. It was a well-maintained steel-arch bridge. According to the data fi?le that was associated with those coordinates, it was about 3,250 feet long. The structure was two lanes wide, had been constructed twenty-eight years earlier, and was 610 feet high. “Okay,” Santana said, as Deker arrived at the east end of the span. “I need a volunteer. . . . Someone with a head for heights. Over.”
“That would be any one of us,” Colonel Six said, from the passenger seat in the fi?rst half-track. “Take your pick. Over.”
The clones had been allowed to keep their weapons, thanks to the fact that Dr. Kelly was locked up inside Lupo, and Santana had Six on a short leash. “Good enough,” the cavalry offi?cer replied. “If you would be so good as to select a couple of your men, and send them down to inspect the underbelly of this bridge, I would be most appreciative. Over.”
“So we’re looking for explosives? Over.”
“Exactly,” Santana said succinctly. “Alpha Six out.”
Having dispatched Dietrich to help lower the Seebos over the edge, and keep an eye on them, Santana turned his attention back to what he saw as the most pressing issue. And that was the defense of the bridge.
But what if that was where Akoto wanted the allies to focus their attention? What if the real attack came from the west?
Santana lacked suffi?cient resources to put a large force on the far side of the span, but Lupo couldn’t climb the surrounding slopes, so it made sense to send him across. The cavalry offi?cer gave the necessary orders and held his breath as the huge cyborg began the 3,250-foot-long journey. Lupo was at risk, as were all of those within his cargo compartment, including Kelly and her patients. Thankfully, the trip went off without a hitch, and it was only a matter of minutes before the big cyborg was on the far side of gorge, and marching down the highway.
Having secured the other end of the bridge to the extent he could, it was time for Santana to address the surrounding heights. Rather than wait for the bugs to occupy them, and come swarming down, the legionnaire was determined to cut the insectoid aliens off on the ridgetops, where the fl?ow of enemy soldiers would be severely restricted. It was a madeto-order situation for his T-2s, any one of whom could single-handedly stop such an advance, so long as he or she had adequate cover and plenty of ammo. To avoid any such calamity, Santana planned to place two cyborgs on each ridge. That would allow them to rotate in and out of combat while hardworking CVAs humped ammo to them from below. No sooner had the T-2s been sent on their way than Colonel Six appeared at his side. Santana was standing on the bridge deck by then—having sent Deker up onto the south ridge. So the men were eye to eye as the clone delivered his report. “You were correct,” the Seebo confi?rmed. “Explosives are hidden under both ends of the bridge. That’s why the bugs left the span in place. They can blow it anytime they want to.”
Santana felt the hairs on the back of his neck start to rise. Somewhere, within direct line of sight, a Ramanthian was watching them through a pair of Y-shaped bug binos. Lupo was a high-priority target, but the bugs had allowed the quad to cross in spite of that fact, which seemed to suggest that the chits had an even bigger payoff in mind. So what were they trying to accomplish? Stall the allied column and destroy it just short of the span? And thereby preserve the bridge? Or wait until the allies were streaming across and blow the structure at that point to infl?ict the maximum number of casualties? There was no way to be sure. “Can we disarm the explosives?” the cavalry offi?cer inquired mildly.
“I don’t know,” Six said honestly. “They’re probably booby-trapped.”
“Yeah, that would make sense,” Santana agreed.
“But there might be another way to deal with the problem,” the Seebo put in.
“Yeah? What’s that?”
“We could screen the explosives off, so the bugs can’t see what we’re up to,” Six replied. “Then, rather than disarm the explosives, we’ll remove the steel beams they’re attached to. There’s a cutting torch on each half- track.”
Santana frowned. “That’s a clever idea, but won’t it weaken the bridge? Each quad weighs fi?fty tons.”
“There’s a lot of structural redundancy in any well-built bridge,” Six insisted confi?dently. “And we won’t remove any more steel than we absolutely have to.”
Not being an engineer, the cavalry offi?cer wasn’t so sure, but couldn’t see any alternatives, and knew the main column would arrive soon. “Okay, Colonel,” Santana said. “Make it happen.”
Six took note of the “Colonel,” an honorifi?c that had been noticeably absent up until that point, and knew it was Santana’s way of communicating respect. Not approval, but respect, which was more important to the Seebo’s way of thinking. He nodded. “Can I ask a favor?”
“That depends on what it is,” Santana replied cautiously.
“Look after Dr. Kelly. Get her off Gamma-014 if you can.”
“I’ll do my best to get both of you off the planet,” Santana promised. “So they can put you on trial.”
“I’ll take that as a ‘yes,’ ” Six replied, and did a neat aboutface. And with that, he was gone. Lead elements of Kobbi’s column arrived fi?fteen minutes later, but were forced to stop, or risk crossing the boobytrapped bridge. Right about the same time the insistent rattle of machine-gun fi?re was heard, as the Ramanthians attempted to push their way off the ridgetops, only to be met by a hail of bullets when the waiting legionnaires fi?red on them. Then, as General Kobbi and his T-2 arrived on the scene, Fareye called in. “Alpha Six-Four to Alpha Six. Four Gantha tanks are coming my way—followed by what looks like a battalion of troops. Over.”
Now Santana understood. Rather than simply cut the column off, Akoto planned to eradicate it, and the Ordo gorge crossing had been chosen as the place to accomplish that task. If the column remained where it was, the Ramanthian general would catch it from behind, and if his troops were able to break through, they would attack the allies from above. Meanwhile, if the fugitives attempted to advance, they would collide with the Gantha tanks. Or go down with the bridge. The bugs had all the cards.
