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“Put the sensor right on the interior of the tube,” said Rubeo in his headset.
350
DALE BROWN’S DREAMLAND
“Hey, Doc, I thought you’d gone for coffee.”
“Hardly. This is probably an exhaust manifold, Captain.
Not optimum. Move to the last pipe in the second row.”
“We’re tight on time.”
“I understand that.”
Da
“Shit,” he said.
“Very good,” said Rubeo. “Open the pipe.”
“How?”
Rubeo didn’t answer. Da
“That was expedient,” said the scientist. “Please take your sample now.”
Da
As he stood there he could see the Marine corporal ru
“Enough,” said Rubeo. “Now we would like a measure on the reaction chambers, the large tube structures directly behind you. Do not fire at those,” added the scientist. “While puncturing the i
Da
“Close enough,” said Rubeo. The handheld ruler didn’t have a transmit mode, but Da
RAZOR’S EDGE
351
“Why don’t I just take the whole damn chamber?”
“That would be infinitely preferable,” said Rubeo. “An admirable solution.”
Da
The boot moved slightly. He heard, or thought he heard, a groan from the pile.
Not one of my guys, he thought. Still, he found himself fighting an urge to stop and help the man.
“Do not damage the circuitry if possible,” said Rubeo as Da
“Looks like a bunch of wires.”
“Yes,” said the scientist.
“You sure you want them?”
“Do you want me to explain how the probable current can be determined from the size and composition of the wires, and what other suppositions could be made—or should I skip to the math involved in determining the propagation of electromagnetic waves?”
“Fuck you, Doc,” said Da
Dreamland Command Center
0742
“MUCH MORE PRIMITIVE THAN RAZOR,” SAID RUBEO, TURNing away from the console.
“In the matter of size, yes,” said Matterhorn, one of the laser experts.
“In everything.”
352
DALE BROWN’S DREAMLAND
“I disagree,” answered Matterhorn. “The size of the mirror array and the lack of mobility in the aiming structure indicates to me that they’ve found a way to target it by focusing individual frames at the reflective site.
They’ve obviously gone operational too soon, but that undoubtedly was a political decision.”
“Piffle,” said Rubeo. “Razor is several times more powerful.”
Dog took a step away from them, turning his attention back to the image from Dreamland’s miniature KH satellite. The high-resolution optics on the satellite could not be sent as video, but in rapid burst mode it updated every twenty seconds. The effect was something like watching dancers move across a strobe-lit stage.
Except, of course, the dancers were his people under fire.
“The mission has been invaluable,” Matterhorn said, probably sensing Dog’s a
The colonel ignored the scientist. More vehicles were starting from the barracks area. “Da
“I’m with you, Colonel.”
Aboard Quicksilver , over Iraq 1843
TORBIN FELT HIMSELF STARTING TO RELAX AS THE LAST OF
the attack jets checked in, hooking onto the course for home. His fingers hurt and his neck was stiff.
“Crew sound off,” said Captain Brea
“Torbin, how are we looking?”
“Good,” he said. “Thanks for picking me up back there. I appreciate it.”
RAZOR’S EDGE
353
“Not a problem. Chris?”
Torbin tried to stretch away some of his cramps as the others joked. Had he screwed up? Normally the copilot handled the missile shots, but he should have taken the radars down himself.
Nobody else thought he’d messed up, though.
Ironic—on the other missions, he’d been the one convinced he hadn’t failed, and everyone else pointed the finger. Now it was the other way around.
So was he a screw-up?
The computer snapped a warning tone at him.
“Radars, airborne,” he relayed to the captain. “Three, four—helicopters coming north.”
“They’re not ours?” asked Brea
“Negative, negative. ID’d as Mi-8 Hips,” he said, reading the legend on the panel. “Assault ships. I have a bearing.”
“Hang tight everyone,” said Brea
“They’re on a direct line for High Top,” said Chris Ferris.
“The fighters will take care of them,” replied Brea
In Iran
1855
THE HIND BUCKED AS THEY THREW THE CAPTURED GEAR
inside. The rotors revolved at low RPM, their wash making it difficult to move in a straight line. The part of the mirror assembly they’d cut away proved so heavy that the two Marines had to help Egg and Pretty Boy get it out of the building; even then they dragged it most of the way.
“Something moving beyond the fence,” warned Liu.
“Can’t see through the smoke.”
354
DALE BROWN’S DREAMLAND
“Okay,” said Da
“Two more of those disk things inside,” yelled the Marine corporal.
“All right,” said Da
He tossed his plundered CPU unit inside the Hind, then ran back to the building, heading toward the arrays. Light filtered through the smoke; a fire flared in fits near the tu
He cringed, expecting to hit hard and on his face; instead his chest and face landed on a large, soft pillow.
Not a pillow, but the stomach of a dead Iranian soldier.
Da
Da
He moved toward it, meanwhile sca
Two large suitcaselike arrays sat next to a small screen; he slung his gun over his shoulder and hoisted them from the floor. They were lighter than he thought but hard to hold in his hands as he began picking his way back outside.