Prometheus's Child

Начало книги

“Bugger me, they’re at it again!”

Gunfire erupted fifty meters away as Warrant Officer Derrick Martin wiped his hands on his “spotty dots” camouflage trousers and unslung his Steyr F88C assault rifle. Peering ‘round the corner of the bullet-pocked market front, he was glad not for the first time that he had violated orders in carrying his personal weapon in the “blood box” armored ambulance. “Presence” was fine and good when all you wanted to do was impress the locals. It was downright stupid when those same people wanted to nail your hide to the wall like a plaster duck.

The American-made M113 “Bucket” continued burning a block and a half down the littered street, drawing a crowd of African celebrants. Few in the mob were armed, but some realized that the white soldiers who escaped from the light armored vehicle must be on foot. One Australian had not. His body was dragged away from the APC and some teenagers began stripping the corpse.

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