"Gordon R. Dickson - Childe Cycle 04 - Tactics of Mistake" - читать интересную книгу автора (Dickson Gordon R)

"Pity," said Eachan Khan. He finished screwing on the sniper barrel, poked its muzzle through one of
the aperture cracks and squinted into the daylight. He firedтАФand a big, blond-bearded man in a
camouflage suit came crashing out of the jungle wall on the far side of the road, to lie still.
"The bus will hear the firing as it comes up behind us," said Mondar out of the dimness behind Cletus.
"They'll stop and phone ahead for help. A relief squad can get here by air in about fifteen minutes after
Bakhalla hears about us."
"Yes," said Eachan Khan, calmly, and fired again. Another body, invisible this time, could be heard
crashing down out of a tree to the ground below. "They might get here in time. Odd these guerrillas didn't
let us pass and wait for the bus in the first place. Bigger package, less protection, and more prizes
inside тАж I'd keep my head down, Colonel."
This last sentence was directed at Cletus, who was heaving and wrenching in a fury at the shutter on
the down side of the car. Half-propped off the road surface as the car was by the bulge of that same
surface under it, opening the shutter gradually produced a space facing on the ditch. Into which the dead
driver had pitchedтАФa space large enough for Cletus to crawl out.
The jungle-hidden riflemen became aware of what he was up to, and a fusillade of shots rang against
the armored underside of the carтАФthough, because of the narrow angle it made with the ground, none
came through the opening Cletus had produced. Melissa, suddenly recognizing what was in his mind,
caught at his arm as he started through the opening,
"No," she said. "It's no use! You can't help the driver. He was killed when the mine went offтАФ"
"The hell тАж with that тАж " panted Cletus, for a fire-fight did not encourage the best in manners. "The
dally gun went with him when he fell."
Wrenching himself free of her grasp, he wriggled out from under the armored car, jumped to his feet
and made a dash for the ditch where the body of the driver lay unseen. An explosion of shots from the
surrounding jungle rang out, and he stumbled as he reached the ditch edge, tripped, spun about and
plunged out of sight. Melissa gasped, for there was the sound of thrashing from the ditch, and then an arm
was flung up into sight to quiver for a second and then hang there in plain view, reaching up like a last and
desperate beckoning for help.
In response, a single shot sounded from the jungle and a slug blew away half the hand and wrist.
Blood spattered from it, but the hand was not withdrawn; and almost immediately the bleeding dwindled,
with none of the steady spurt and flow that would have signaled a still-pumping, living heart behind it
Melissa shuddered, staring at the arm, and a shivering breath came from her. Glancing about for a
minute, her father put his free hand for a moment on her shoulder.
"Easy, girl," he said. He squeezed her shoulder for a second and then was forced back to his loophole
as a new burst of shots rang against the body of the car. "They'll rush usтАФany minute now," he muttered.
Sitting cross-legged in the dimness like a figure meditating and remote, Mondar reached out and took
one of the staring girl's hands in his own. Her gaze did not move from the arm in the ditch, but her own
grip tightened, tightened, on Mondar's hand with a strength that was unbelievable. She did not make a
sound, but her gaze never moved and her face was as white and still as a mask.
The shots from the jungle stopped suddenly. Mondar turned to look at Eachan.
The Dorsai looked back over his own shoulder and their eyes met.
"Any second now," said Eachan, in businesslike tones. "You're a fool if you let them take you alive,
Outbond."
"When there is no more point in living, I can always die," answered Mondar, serenely. "No man
commands this body but myself."
Eachan fired again.
"The bus," said Mondar, calmly, "ought to have gotten close enough to hear the firing and phoned, by
this tune."
"No doubt," said the Dorsai. "But help'd have to be on top of us right now to do any good. Any
second, as I said, they'll give up sniping at us and make a rush. And one pistol won't hold off a dozen or
more тАж Here they come now!"