Eden's Hammer - By Lloyd Tackitt Page 0,42
of guerrillas that only load two rounds in their magazines so they don’t get too caught up in the action—it’s a smart move.”
Tim said, “If that fella shows me something to aim at, there won’t be a nickel’s worth of dog meat left of him one second later. These half-inch chunks of lead tear up a lot of territory when they hit. So start slow, that way maybe he won’t take cover too fast.”
MARCH 17, DAWN
Adrian and Jerry picked their main targets, but waited for four men to be open targets at the same time. It was a tense wait. Two or three would occasionally be open at a time, but not four. Adrian had begun to think that they would have to settle for two or three when suddenly, four were in the open. Four shots, sounding like one single long blast, roared from the creek bed. Four men fell. Then the tall man seemed to be picked up off his feet as a huge spray of red mist filled the air behind him. Adrian and Jerry were already on their feet and running back up the dry wash when the sound of the .50 caliber shot filled the air. By the time they had covered a hundred yards, the .50 had fired twice more, then fell silent.
Tim arrived at the bridge just seconds ahead of Adrian and Jerry. The three men ran up the dry creek bed another hundred yards and then left it to head for the hill. They made good time getting to it, using all the cover available. When they got there, Tim was exhausted. Adrian got his binoculars out and started scanning the areas he thought they might come from. As soon as he noted that Tim had caught his breath, Adrian said, “Tim, you head on to the barn now. Go in a straight line. Jerry and I will wait here until we see movement. If they’re coming fast, we’ll play rabbit with them and draw them away, then disappear and meet you at the barn as soon as we can. Don’t shoot unless you have to. If you hear us shooting, you’ll know about where we are, but keep going. Got it?”
Tim said, “Got it. See you at the barn, children.” He got up and started walking without further comment.
Adrian said, “That’s what I like about Tim. No nonsense, no fussing, no false heroics. He does what he says he’s going to do, and does it damn well. Most men would have tried to make excuses for being slower than us, but not Tim. He just sees it as a fact and deals with it. Gotta love that, don’t you?”
Jerry just grinned without taking his eyes off the distant tree line. “Look, movement at your ten.”
Adrian quickly moved his field glasses to his left, following Jerry’s instruction where to look. “I see four men, and they’re coming fast.” Swinging his glasses even farther to the left, he said, “And there are more coming from the nine position.” Moving his glasses back to the right, he said, “Okay, more coming from the two spot. Looks like they’re trying to make a big circle, hoping to catch us inside of it. Let’s roll.”
Adrian and Jerry trotted down the backside of the hill and angled off forty-five degrees to the left of Tim’s line of march. They double-timed, but used all the cover they could.
MARCH 17, MORNING
After half an hour, Adrian and Jerry slowed to a walk and began looking well ahead of them. “Look over by that peach orchard, Jerry—I see eight or nine men. They’re moving back in to close up the circle, and we’ll be just outside of it. Once the loop is closed, I think they’ll start closing the circle in, trying to flush us out. There is definitely disciplined thought behind this; they just didn’t make the circle big enough to catch us. We’ve got two choices: shoot some more of them, or stay silent and get back to Tim. If we start shooting, we’ll likely have them on our tail all the way to the barn. I think we’ve found out what we can and it’s best to leave them be for now. What do you think?”
Jerry replied, “Well, it’s a cinch we’re not going to defeat them by ourselves. What is it you always say? ‘Pick battles small enough to win but big enough to count?’ I agree—let’s head on back.”
Tim watched from the barn’s roof, his .50