A missile shrieked by. Mclntyre instinctively dug his face into the grassy ground. The blinding flash, instantly followed by an ear-splitting explosion, told him that another nuclear warhead had been fired at themFully half the men he had started out with were already dead r wounded, but that particular missile, Mclntyre knew, was off target. It plowed up some ground, knocked down trees for a square mile around, and sent up an ugly mushroom cloud, but it hadn’t hit any of his menIf anything, it had merely made the engineers’ job a little easier by clearing some more of the hilly country for them.
Patiently, Mclntyre waited until the Komani squad had put their beamgun together. Then he tossed a pair of grenades at them, in rapid succession. The explosions were sharp but unspectacular. When the smoke cleared, the beamgun was a shambles and the Komani killed. With a grim smile of satisfaction, Mclntyre edged back to the slit trench where Giradaux and the rest of his men were waiting-
Another strong attack’ll finish us, the sergeant knew. And th’ Komani are gettin’ set for a .big one. Pretty soon now. Plenty of movement down in that brush. They’re just about set to wipe us up.
Someone was rushing toward him, racing as fast as he could while doubled over so that one hand nearly touched the ground. Mclntyre pointed his pistol at the lanky, awkward form, then recognized Giradaux.
“I thought I told you to stay with the others,” the sergeant growled as Giradaux flopped belly down beside him.