Red storm rising - By Tom Clancy Page 0,130

a grassy meadow. There had been sheep here recently--the smell was unmistakable and the grass was short. Instinctively the men walked in a crouch toward a gravel road. The houses and barns here were spread irregularly. They picked a spot where the space between buildings was about five hundred yards, hoping that the dim light and their camouflage uniforms would make them invisible to any observer. No one was about in the open. Edwards halted his group and looked carefully through his binoculars at the nearest houses. Lights burned in some, but no people were visible outside. Perhaps the Russians had imposed a curfew ... meaning that anyone seen moving might be shot on sight. Happy thought.

The riverbanks sloped downward sharply about twenty feet to the water, and were covered with rocks smoothed by years of erosion at high-water time. Smith went down first as the others lay with weapons ready at the lip of the south bank. The sergeant moved slowly at first, checking the water depth before hurrying across, rifle held high in the air. Edwards was surprised how quickly he went through it, then up the far bank. The sergeant waved, and the rest of the men followed. Edwards soon found out why the sergeant had crossed the stream quickly. The waist-deep water was icy cold, like most of the streams on Iceland, fed by melting glaciers. He gasped and went across as fast as he could, his rifle and radio held above his head. A minute later he was atop the far bank.

Smith chuckled in the dark. "I guess that woke everybody up."

"Like to froze my balls off, Sarge," Rodgers groused.

"Looks clear ahead," Edwards said. "Beyond this meadow is another creek, then the main road, a secondary road, then up a hill into a lava field. Let's keep moving."

"Right, Lieutenant." Smith got to his feet and moved off. The others trailed behind him at five-yard intervals. The little bastard's in a hurry, isn't he?

The ground here was agreeably flat, the grass as high as their boot tops. They moved rapidly, keeping low, weapons held ready across their chests as they angled slightly east to avoid the village of Holmur. The next stream was shallower than the Sudura, though no less cold. They stopped on crossing it, now only two hundred yards from the highway. Again Smith moved off first, this time with his back bent double, moving in rushes followed by pauses while he knelt to examine the terrain repeatedly. The men behind him matched his movements exactly, and the team got together again in tall grass fifty feet from the road.

"Okay," Smith said. "We cross one at a time, a minute apart. I go first. I'll stop fifty feet on the other side by those rocks. When you cross, don't screw around--run and keep low, and come to me. If you see something coming, get as far from the road as you can and drop. They can't see you if you lay still, people. Take things real easy. Okay?" Everyone, Edwards included, nodded agreement.

The sergeant was as good as his word. After a final look to be sure that nothing was moving in their direction, he raced off across the road, his personal gear flopping and slapping against his body as he did so. They waited a minute, then Garcia followed. After another minute, Rodgers went. Edwards counted to sixty and darted forward. The lieutenant was amazed--and appalled--at how stressful this was. His heart pounded with terror as he reached the roadway, and he froze dead in the center. Automobile lights were approaching them from the north. Edwards just stood there, watching them come closer--

"Move your ass, Lieutenant!" the sergeant's voice rasped at him.

The lieutenant shook his head clear and ran to the sound of the sergeant's voice, one hand holding his helmet in place on his head.

"Lights coming down!" he gasped.

"No shit. Be cool, sir. People, let's get spread out. Find some good cover and freeze. And make Goddamned sure those weapons are on safe! You stay with me, sir."

The two privates moved left and right into tall weeds, disappearing from view as soon as they stopped moving. Edwards lay next to Sergeant Smith.

"You think they saw me?"

The darkness prevented him from seeing the angry expression accompanying Smith's reply: "Prob'ly not. Don't freeze in the road like that again, sir."

"I won't. Sorry, Sarge, this isn't exactly my thing."

"Just listen and learn what we tell ya', okay?" Smith whispered. "We're Marines. We'll take good care