Corwin leapt out of his seat and to the far side window to see for himself. A German fighter soared past and was banking hard to come around for a second run. One of the other C47s had been struck in its left side engine and cockpit. It was plummeting towards the ground. In that moment he realised just how mortal they were; they were not even carrying parachutes. Beyett was quick to rush to the aid of the wounded soldiers.
"What do we do?" Lieutenant Burr shouted to Corwin.
He could see the terror in the man's eyes, for they were indeed in a death trap.
"He's mine," stated Lecia.
She jumped over several bodies as she rushed to the back of the plane and pulled open the side door. Corwin and Burr ran to her side with weapons in hand.
"What are you doing?" Burr asked in amazement.
Corwin placed a hand on his shoulder.
"Let her work!"
They looked out; the fighter was still banking hard to come up on their tail where their unarmed transport would be a sitting duck. It came up on their rear left hand side, allowing all three of them to see it from the doorway.
"No way you can make that shot!" Burr yelled.
She clung to the side of the fuselage, locking her rifle against it for stability, and began to take aim.
"We can't take another pass!"
The fighter's guns opened fire, but only got off two shots as Lecia squeezed the trigger on her Enfield rifle. The shot penetrated the fighter’s cockpit and struck its pilot in the forehead, killing him instantly. The gunfire stopped, and the aircraft began to bank and finally dip into a spin.
Burr was wide eyed in shock.
"How?"
But she said nothing in response. Corwin hauled the door shut, and they looked back to the stunned soldiers staring at them. Finally, one began to clap, and within a few seconds even the wounded had joined in. But she did not blush or look at all fazed by it. She stepped back to her seat as she passed the applauding solders.
"That's just showing off," said Vi.
The wounded were patched up as best they could. One looked close to the end, while the others seemed like they'd make it and were eager to go on, if not capable. Burr knelt down beside the two with lesser wounds.
"When we get to the ground, you two stay here, and look after him," he said as he pointed to the dying man.
It was an act of kindness towards all three of them, and Corwin was impressed. Nevertheless, they were rapidly losing combat strength. The pilot looked back at him with a look of dread.
"Undercarriage is damaged!" he shouted.
"Just do whatever you have to do to get us on the ground!" Burr ordered before Corwin could say much the same thing.
Everyone knew the plane was their ticket out of there, but they were too focused on the mission to let that get in the way. They were making their descent quickly now. In the distance they saw flashes of light from bombs lighting up the sky, and they could hear the continual thunderous eruptions as the RAF smashed the target they were heading for. Corwin looked out of the window. They were coming in fast, so he took a seat and braced himself ready for the impact. He reached across and took hold of one of the wounded men and held him firmly in place.
"Hold on!" yelled the pilot.
Part of the undercarriage that was down touched the surface of the field with an almost perfect landing. The pilot held it there and slowly brought the other side of the plane down until the wing clipped the edge of the field. It turned and slid in the mud. Half of the wing was torn off, and the undercarriage collapsed. The belly of the fuselage smashed into the dirt and brought them to a quick stop.
The pilot shouted, "Everyone okay?"
Corwin looked around and amazingly they were okay, if a little stunned. He got up and rushed to the door.
"Get the wounded to one of the other birds."
"Stay alert, and stay safe," Burr said to the crew of the craft. He rushed to the side door and tried to force it open, but the fuselage had buckled and it was jammed.
"May I?" Rane asked.
Burr turned in surprise on finding the towering soldier standing right next to him. He stepped aside, and Rane kicked the door with seemingly little effort. The door buckled and folded at the centre, and then burst off its hinges. He flew five metres across the field and left Burr in utter shock. He thought to ask more, but stopped; he was just glad to have Rane on his side.
They leapt out of the aircraft and found themselves just thirty metres from the nearest friendly aircraft that had touched down safely. There was so much moonlight they could see clearly across the open field. That was both some relief and terrifying, for their approach to any enemy target could therefore be seen from a great distance.
Corwin noticed Williams approaching at the head of his platoon. They seemed to have made it to the ground unscathed. The CO looked at their wrecked aircraft and dwindling numbers for just a moment before realising the mission must go on. He looked around to get his bearings for just a moment before pointing and leading the way.
“Come on,” he said and went enthusiastically forward.
Corwin wasn’t sure whether he was a man with combat experience or just had an inbuilt and inbred confidence that made him endearing, but he’d gladly follow the Colonel. They continued on through the night with seemingly no resistance at all. It seemed to them all that they had made it there safely; they hoped at least.
After covering a few klicks through the countryside, they reached a main road leading to the target, and sharply deviated to the north to track through foliage and around a perimeter fence. Williams brought them to a standstill, and Corwin was close by his side. He was pointing to a guard tower with a sentry just the other side of the fence. A large spot lamp was mounted on the near side.
“Let us handle this,” said Corwin.
Williams nodded in agreement, and Corwin pointed for Frasi to go forward. He slung his suppressed Sten over his body and covered the distance with such agility and finesse that he was barely visible as he hugged the ground. He reached the fence and scaled it more nimbly than a cat and was over it before anyone had time to notice.
Frasi seemed to vanish into the short foliage the other side of the fence, and everyone waited with anticipation. Then they saw him leap onto one of the support beams without even using the ladder. He stormed up the side and leapt through one of the narrow openings of the tower. He launched himself onto the guard like a bird of prey, and both collapsed out of sight. Just a few seconds later, Frasi appeared and beckoned them to join him.
Williams signalled them forward, and three of his platoon went straight for the fences with wire cutters in hand. They went at the steel piece by piece, but it was taking an age. Rane was getting tired of it and ran forward at one of the support beams. It was thick as a telegraph pole. Seeing his previous display of strength, Burr didn’t question it and only watched in awe.
“What’s your man doing?” Williams asked.
But Corwin only pointed towards the fence for them both to watch. Rane hit the post with immense speed and power, and it sheered at the base. Fifteen metres of the fence around him flattened as he smashed it down into the complex. He looked back at Corwin and wanted to speak, but knew they had no time, so merely signalled for them to go forward and advance through the opening that had been created for them.
Some distance away, fire crews were battling flames that the bombing had caused. There were large craters across the open ground, and several concrete domed structures appeared to be the roofs of the underground structure. Williams signalled for one of the platoons to circle off to the left hand side, and for Burr to go right. He took the centre.
The bombing had ripped a number of holes in the structure, with several car size pieces now scattered across the site. But most of the damage was merely to the ground around them, and repair crews were already at work fixing the damage. Frasi was still far ahead of them and approached the nearest crew with his suppressed submachine gun in hand. He opened fire on s
ingle shot without stopping and killed four of the Germans with eight perfectly aimed shots. They could barely hear the noise of the heavily dampened weapon. He stopped soon after, and as the rest of them caught up with him, they came across a ramp leading down into the facility. It had a two metre thick steel roof at the opening. There was a huge tear where a shell had clearly struck it and prised the metal apart, and yet not been able to damage the structure.
Corwin was first down the ramp, but Burr was close behind. The ramp zigzagged several times until they arrived twenty metres below the surface, where to their amazement they found an open doorway. As they approached, two soldiers appeared and stepped out before them. Both carried weapons on their shoulders and had no warning of their presence. They stopped and quickly pulled the weapons from their shoulders, but Burr opened fired with his Sten as Corwin squeezed the trigger of his Bren. The two soldiers were cut down in a hail of automatic gunfire.
But that gunfire echoed far into the distance, up the ramps they had come, and through the doorway inside. They looked at each other, knowing the element of surprise was gone.
"Come on, let's go!" Burr shouted.
The officer leapt enthusiastically in through the doorway and into a tunnel just three metres wide. Steel ribbing supported the thick concrete walls, and they could tell that nothing below the surface had been affected by the bombing. It was buried too deep and was far too strong.
"How the hell are we gonna blow this place?"
"We'll find a way, Lieutenant," replied Beyett. He rushed in behind them and carefully studied the walls.
"Our demolitions expert," added Corwin.
"I thought you were the medic?"
"I'm a lot of things, but don't you worry about that."
A klaxon style alarm suddenly fired up, and now they knew they truly were up against it. Burr led them on.
"We really have no idea what is being built here, do we?" Corwin asked Beyett.
"Whatever it is it can't be good."
Two soldiers leapt out from a side door ahead and began firing the second they were visible. Both wore the advanced body armour and had assault rifles like those they had seen at Bossan's house. Burr let out a cry of pain and dropped his weapon as he was hit. Corwin and Beyett returned fire, but the two soldiers quickly ducked back in for cover. Corwin kept firing bursts, holding the Bren in one hand and firing from the hip to keep them down. He wrenched out a grenade, pulled the pin, and launched it down the corridor.
It slid to a halt right beside the doorway, and the German soldiers hauled the door shut as the charge exploded. Corwin rushed forwards to discover the steel door barely damaged by the blast, and he could hear the locks being clamped shut the other side. He looked to Rane and he smiled, for he knew exactly what to do. He slipped the Vickers onto his back and rushed at the door, hitting it like a charging bull. The British soldiers once again could not believe their eyes as he struck and barrelled his way through. As he did so, he took hold of the doorway and rushed forwards, using it as a shield as the two soldiers fired. The shots ricocheted from the huge plate of steel, and there was no stopping him. He smashed into them like a freight train. The two soldiers were launched back several metres against the far side wall and crumbled down dead, their bodies broken from the massive trauma.
"You know we tend to use explosives for that, old boy," Burr said to Corwin.
Corwin smiled, for the young Lieutenant sounded like an old man to him. His Sten gun was back in hand. Blood was seeping from a wound on the Lieutenant's upper left arm, but he was ignoring it in a stiff upper lip sort of way.
"And plenty of times, brute strength really is the answer, Lieutenant."
Burr shook his head. "Hard to argue with that."
He carried on along the corridor, and they stopped at a doorway. It had warning signs all over it in German that the contents were highly explosive. They stepped inside to ammunition crates the size of a jeep and stacked to the ceiling. Corwin stepped up beside the nearest one. He drew out his knife and slipped it inside the lid to prise it open. Inside was a warhead that filled the entire container.
"This must be what we came for," said Burr.
Corwin looked up; the crates were stacked as far as the eye could see. Beyett was already studying what was before him.
"Can we set these off with the explosives we have?" Corwin asked.
"Definitely."
"Set three charges here," said Burr.
To their side were two large wheeled trolleys, supposedly designed to transport the warheads.
"Let's take a couple along with us."
Rane wrapped his arms around the first box and hauled it onto the trolley. Nylund and Porter loaded the next.
"Hell, yes," Porter said, marvelling at the huge ordnance he held in his hands, "What I wouldn't give to take a few of these babies home."
The charges were placed, and they were once again heading down the access tunnel they had first started on. It opened out into a vast open plan facility, with missile launch bays set up in rows fifty deep for as far as they could see.
"My god, they don't do anything by half measures, do they?" asked Burr.
Many of the warheads were already mounted in place aboard missiles inside the bays and stacked beside them.
"They must be days away from unleashing these," said Beyett, "Everything here is high explosive, so we cannot risk firing a single shot."
Corwin shook his head. That was not a nice thought.
"Fix bayonets! Nobody pulls the trigger, no matter what!" Burr gave the order.
"You've got to be fucking kidding me," replied Nylund.
"This is gonna be a party," added Porter.
Corwin slipped his Bren gun onto his back and drew out his knife. It was a bizarre situation, for all the lights were on and there was perfect visibility.
"Come on, let's get these charges set," added Burr.
They moved up to the first metre thick support beam, stretched up to the ceiling, and began placing charges.
"You sure these warheads will blow up if we rig them to go?"
Corwin looked back to Beyett to answer the Lieutenant.
"Trust me, they'll go up more easily than you think they can. It'll be a miracle if we are able to get out of here alive."
They continued onwards along the silos placing all the charges they had, but Corwin raised his hand to bring them to a sudden halt. He’d heard footsteps in the distance. He began creeping forwards, leaving the others behind, and still carrying nothing in his hands but his combat knife. He reached the end of a row of missile bays when suddenly someone leapt around the corner and held him at gunpoint. But he sighed in relief on seeing it was one of their own, and Williams was standing just behind him.
Before either of them could say a word, they heard a single Sten gun open up on full auto. It was coming from Corwin's right side, and they knew it must be the Third Platoon at the entrance to the silo.
"What is it?" Williams saw the look of horror on Corwin’s face.
"Look around you. One stray bullet and we could all go up!"
Corwin then rushed towards the sound of gunfire. He took a bend and found the platoon at a broad entrance. It seemed they had been chased into the room and were firing out around a ninety-degree bend.
"Hold your fire!" Corwin hollered.
A few more shots rang out as he shouted it once again, finally grabbing hold of one of the shooters and pulling him back out of view of the enemy.
"Nobody, I mean nobody fires a shot!"
The man looked at him in surprise, but Williams soon appeared and confirmed the order.
"What are we supposed to fight with, Sir?" asked the soldier.
"Bayonets, your bare hands, anything you have to. Even a ricochet could end us all, and they know it. Or why else do you think they aren't firing back?" added Corwin.
The man nodded in agreement and drew out his bayonet.
"Hold this position," he said to the platoon leader and turned b
ack to his people.
They heard a war cry from several soldiers rushing down the corridor with bayoneted rifles. Corwin jumped into the opening and beside one of the rifles and smashed the back of his fist into the man’s head. The force stopped his upper body dead, as his legs were thrown forwards, and he went crashing down to the ground. Before he had time to recover from the stunning strike, Corwin stamped on his neck and crushed his windpipe. He proceeded to throw his knife at another soldier, and it embedded in his collar just above the neckline of his body armour.
Corwin leapt forward and drew out the blade, thrusting it back into the windpipe as the man staggered back, and finally slumping down dead. It was all the display of close quarters the British soldiers needed to get the idea. The one he had grabbed placed his Sten gun over his shoulder and drew out a slender stiletto bladed knife from a concealed pocket at his right knee.
"Two minutes to finish setting charges, and then we're out of here," said Williams.
They split up and began planting all the explosives they were carrying. But as Corwin placed his last one, he heard a crashing sound, as if some part of the room was collapsing. He looked around just in time to see a British para fly through the air from behind, and one of the silos then disappeared from view. He could only have been struck by something of superhuman strength.
Another crashing sound rang out as he heard a deep roar. He rushed to the end of one of the silos and looked on in horror to see the last thing he expected or wanted to see there.
“Robak,” he whispered to himself.
The giant genetically enhanced monster was in amongst several of the troops and fighting with nothing more than his bare hands. He grabbed one of the men’s helmets and twisted to snap his neck. A straight punch to another sent the poor fellow flying through the air and crashing into a support beam of one of the missile supports. His back broke on impact, and he slumped down to the floor.
Williams went at the towering Robak with a bayoneted Sten gun. He ducked under a punch from the creature and thrust the tiny blade into his stomach. But Robak simply placed his hand on the Colonel’s chest and shoved him. He couldn’t hold onto the weapon and was thrown back onto his back and slid across the floor. Robak pulled out the Sten and tossed it aside as the stunned Colonel drew out his last defence, the same stiletto bladed Fairbairn Sykes knife that they all carried. It seemed to be of little hope against the unstoppable power of Robak.
Time War: Invasion Page 15