Mission 3: Operation Olympiad
Disclaimer: Same as before.
Many thanks to Crescent Venus who helped push this fic along with her reviews.
~ ~ ~ ~
I've been back for a few days now. I'm on light duty insomuch that I haven't been assigned any new missions of late. I've just finished a nice run and a work through with the weight set that Sir Niles thoughtfully provided for the soldiers assigned here to use and topped that off with a few rounds on the punching bag. In the Regiment, once you're in, you're expected to maintain a proper level of physical fitness at all times and if you fail to do so, you're RTU'd, returned to unit, end of story. The fact that SAS soldiers are the fittest members of the army is what enables us to carry out great feats behind enemy lines.
After I've cleaned up, I head out to the rifle range. Sir Niles is quite a gun enthusiast, but we've modified his range to military specifications, insomuch that we have the various guard units practicing their skills as well as SOE and OSS operatives practicing marksmanship. I'm carrying, over my shoulder, an Enfield No. 4T rifle, a sniper version of our standard Enfield rifles used in the line infantry units.
The goal of going to the range is to zero a weapon at a particular range. To zero a weapon you merely fire at a known distance, say 300 yards until you can hit the bull's eye consistently at that range. For sniper rifles, that's making sure the scope as well as the iron sights are zeroed. In accordance with the standard operating procedures, I'm making sure the sniper rifles are zeroed to 300 yards with open sights and 600 yards with scopes.
"Rusty?" Diane says, walking up to me as I'm walking towards the range, "Colonel Hosgrove wants to see you."
"Did he say what it was about?" I reply, as I shoulder my rifle and walk back towards the armory to drop it off.
"He didn't." Diane said, "He just said you're needed, immediately."
As I drop the rifle off at the armory, I make a mental note to zero it after lunch. As we walk towards the mansion I notice Diane's wearing that scent again, that light lilac aroma that I'll forever associate with her. The only thing she knows about the Traverse Town mission I pulled, recently, was her part in it, that my mission was reconnaissance and the fact that Frollo's death was advertised in every newspaper in Traverse Town and a lot of other worlds. I don't think it takes much brains to put to the fact that I had some sort of role in the assassination of one Claude Frollo, and I'm sure Diane knows I did him in but can't ask me if I did because that mission doesn't even exist in our archives. You see we committed everything from the mission file, the equipment list, the dossier on Claude Frollo, even the forged papers from my mission to the incinerator. There is no evidence, in theory that this operation ever existed.
There is evidence, in Traverse Town, however. I was sure to have a forger copy one set of my papers, took a photograph of the contents of the DLB in Cid's shop, and put both items and a set of spare civilian clothing into a false panel in the wall of Cid's loft. This is insurance so Darby or any other blokes who fancy screwing me over will have a nasty disadvantage with any sort of bargaining with me.
"Lieutenant Puckett reporting as ordered sir." I say, as I rap on the door.
"Come in." Hosgrove says.
I do so and he says, "Well lieutenant, your last job went off without a hitch. Conveniently Claude Frollo died without any trace of evidence that links his murder back to us."
I smile inwardly as he speaks. Major Darby's standing behind the table, the foppish bastard that he is. He's probably one of the most critical blokes I've ever met since I'd joined the Army and I remember a couple clashes with him when I was with the Royal Anglican Regiment before I joined the SAS.
He's looking at me now, with that critical eye. In his eyes I was never a good enough officer. "Right, this is your next operation." Darby begins, "As you know 1 SAS is operating in the Olympia Theater of Operations. The 'scalawags' are working extensively with local resistance movements against Hades."
I bristle inwardly at Mr. Spit and Polish. Sure members of the SAS may look a bit scruffy to the average Army officer, but we do things the average Army officer wouldn't even think of doing. What kind of bloke parachutes out of a plane at night behind enemy lines, commits acts of sabotage so effective that if you're captured it's a sure ticket to being shot.
"You're objective is to assist with Operation Olympiad." Darby begins. I can't believe that bastard's been permitted to be the Special Operations Liason officer, coordinating efforts of various Allied Special Forces units, including my beloved Regiment, "SAS units have been parachuting behind enemy lines to assist Olympia's resistance in destroying Hades' bridge routes across the rivers and mountain passes. "
"I believed OSS could lend a hand." Hosgrove adds, "And who better than a former officer from the SAS to go in."
"I see you've been practicing using that Enfield sniper rifle." Darby says, "You'll be putting that to good use."
"Lieutenant Schonke will brief you on more necessary equipment if you have no further questions." Hosgrove adds.
"No sir." I reply. I know enough not to ask too many questions in my line of work. I've got two operations under my belt with OSS, plus several with 1 SAS, and I know soldiers have to follow orders.
I walk out into the hallway where Diane's waiting for me with more equipment lists. I can see she's feeling her talents are being wasted in briefing operatives on missions, but Darby 'demoted' her to that role because he feels that she's incompetent. Bollocks! She spends hours decoding enemy transmissions or creating new encryption protocols. She doesn't need this bloody job of supply officer pushed down on her.
"As you know you're operating with your old unit again." Diane says, "You already know that you're carrying the Enfield rifle into battle, but I took the liberty of packing a sidearm. I hear the snipers' request for pistols all the time in case the fighting gets close. Enemy forces known to be operating in the area are largely Heartless but expect Hades to come up with a few nasty surprises."
"Right." I reply, it was a good thing I was zeroing that Enfield anyway, because at the ranges that combat in mountainous terrain or open plains takes place nothing beats a telescopic rifle.
I notice she looks tired, "Didn't sleep well?"
"Decoding a couple messages kept me awake later than I thought." Diane replies, "Plus Darby's been on my case. It's like he doesn't believe in me..."
"Diane, I believe in you." I reply, I want to say more but she's already got Chris, "I know you're the most capable one in the intelligence department. Hell even Blythe says that, and he's not the sort to make compliments that easily."
"Darby somehow thinks that because I'm a woman I can't do anything that men can do." Diane replies.
"Darby's a bloody prick." I reply.
"Excuse me, Mr. Puckett," Darby says, "Did you mean that?"
"Yes sir." I reply, laconically.
"Remember what they say about what you say about your superior officers..." Darby replies.
"Yes sir. Sorry, you are an over critical, chauvinist who singles out people he doesn't like and tries to run them out of the service." I reply.
"Puckett, you're lucky you're going on a mission." Darby says, storming off.
"Rusty, aren't you worried..." Diane says, when Darby's out of earshot.
"Frankly, no." I reply, as we head out to the armory and supply buildings where I draw ammunition, rations and other supplies.
Diane takes me over to a nearby jeep and drives me off to the airfield. Waiting is an American DC-3 transport. I see two other fellows, wearing the distinct brown berets with the maple leaf insignia that instantly identifies them as Canadian Special Forces. A couple jumpmasters are helping us rig our parachutes, attach our weapons, and make sure that our gear is secure.
"Good luck." Diane smiles at me, looking for all the world like a dark eyed pixie.
"I'll see you soon." I reply smiling.
~ ~ ~ ~
A few hours later, we're flying above Olympia. For operation security I have never met these two Canadians or even heard I would be working with them until I'm aboard the aircraft. They are Sergeant Black Leclair, a French Canadian, and Lance Corporal Todd Farley, a young, bookish looking kid from Nova Scotia.
These two are demolition experts and our objective is to demolish a bridge over the Melegar Gorge before 0500, when a convoy of Heartless are going to cross the gorge and engage 4 Commando, holding Olympiad Pass. From a radio transmission we know a couple of survivors from a five man SAS team are also in the area. When their raid against the bridge went ass upwards two of the men were killed on site, a third was wounded and then killed by the Heartless later on and the other two escaped. One of them had a radio/telephone kit and signaled to HQ that we had two SAS operatives trapped behind the lines.
That's where we come in. I see the light in the cabin go to green and the loadmaster opens the left door. Doing the airborne shuffle, myself and the two Canadians move forward like three pregnant ducks, hooking up to the static line over our heads. I'm at the front, since I'm the officer and it in the airborne the officer jumps first. I take my position, hands on the outside of the door and with a gentle assist from the jump master I clear the aircraft and feel the jolt as my parachute opens.
Over my head I see Black Leclair's chute starting to open and a few seconds later Farley's chute goes open. The wind is steady, but not gusting from the north east. According to our calculations we should hit the drop zone pretty much on top of the SAS troops' last recorded position.
~ ~ ~ ~
"Lieutenant Schonke," Hosgrove began, "I notice you've been looking fairly exhausted lately."
"We all have been sir." Diane replied, "Cryptography is tiring work."
"You seem more tired than everyone else, lieutenant." Hosgrove replied, "Frankly I'm concerned. Blythe says you're the best cryptographer in the department, and he shares my concerns."
"Sir, I can't just abandon my post..." Diane replied.
"You're doing no such thing, lieutenant." Hosgrove replied, "How long do you think you can keep working with less than two or three hours of sleep? I managed to secure for you a ninety-six hour liberty pass, effective tomorrow, I suggest you get some rest and use the next few hours to make arrangements."
"Sir..." Diane protested.
"That's an order, lieutenant." Hosgrove said, firmly, but gently, "Dismissed."
Diane executed an about face and walked out of the office. On her way she saw Major Darby who looked at her saying, "You get out of things too easily. Do you think because you're female I'm not going to call you a bad performer..."
Diane stiffened, taking the verbal abuse. Silently she thanked God Rusty wasn't around or she might suffer one of his well intentioned, but ill advised, attempts to stand up for her. God knows she was working her hardest, and only Darby held the opinion she was a bad performer, but this was one annoyance she didn't need. Darby was such a jerk, plain and simple. She packed her bag and made her arrangements before she went to bed.
~ ~ ~ ~
Well, no sign of the SAS troopers at the landing site. Black Leclair is guarding the southwest corner of the pass with his M1 Garand. Todd Farley's carrying his Thompson sub machinegun.
We find our two SAS guys in a cave. "Fancy meeting you here wanker."
"Digger, come here often mate." I reply.
"What's the situation..." Digger says, he's about ¾ drunk from the morphine. Thankfully, Fosby, the other trooper is a skilled medic as well as a radioman.
"We parachuted in, six of us, with Lieutenant Atwood." Fosby says. Atwood was a new fellow, a young Australian 2nd Lieutenant, from my old rifle company.
"We got dispersed by a nasty wind." Fosby continues, "Arnhem and Collins were swept in front of a Heartless position and were killed instantly. We lost Craycroft when it snowed here six days ago. LT got killed in an ambush three days ago."
Arnhem, Collins, Craycroft, and Atwood were guys I'd served with since the first days in Egypt. Knowing they're dead, victims of this war with the Heartless, makes me more determined to blow this bridge.
"Have you guys gotten a look at the bridge?" I asked.
"Craycroft and Collins had the demolitions kit, and both of them are dead." Fosby replies.
"That's taken care of. We've got a demolition kit handy. We just need to reconnoiter the bridge before we blow it. Todd, stay with Fosby and Digger, Black Leclair and I will take a closer look at the bridge." I reply.
~ ~ ~ ~
Diane walked into the foyer of the mansion. Flight Sergeant Dora May was manning the foyer watch. Diane saluted her and asked, "Request permission to go ashore?"
"Permission granted, ma'am." Dora replied, "Enjoy your pass..."
"Thank you, Flight Sergeant." Diane replied, smiling, "I could use the break."
"You look like it too, ma'am." Dora replied.
"All I really need now is an hour or two with a cute masseuse and I'll be in heaven." Diane replied.
"Oh, shall I tell Chris? Or Rusty?" Dora replied, adding a belated, "Ma'am."
"What does Rusty have to do with anything?" Diane smiled, slightly uncomfortably but feeling slightly flattered.
'Oh shit.' Dora thought, backpedaling in her head, "Forget I said anything ma'am."
"Have a good evening Flight Sergeant." Diane replied. She walked out of the foyer and towards her car.
She never made it there. She never saw the two men walking behind her, one of them tall, clean cut and handsome, the other short and fat. They walked noiselessly behind her, blending into the shadows until they got close enough. The last thing Diane remembered smelling was the sickly sweet aroma of chloroform as the cloth pad was pressed to her mouth and nose.
~ ~ ~ ~
We're gonna hit the bridge at last light, so this means almost a day of lying in wait at the bridge, observing the guards, checking the structure for weak points and the like, and finding the perfect areas to snipe at the said guards from. Black Leclair has his turn at the binoculars, taking note of traffic, location of guard posts and the like. I'm currently asleep.
"It looks like we should place the explosives on the main support girders, and a secondary charge at the secondary supports. Once those go the structure will cave in on itself." Black Leclair says.
"Guards?" I reply, waking up.
"Two MG 42 machinegun positions, sandbag bunkers, four troops a piece, Soldier Heartless." Black Leclair says.
"Vehicle traffic?" I ask.
"Not very heavy in the daytime, but the two anti-aircraft sites up the road make it risky for air strikes. But when we blow her, we should do our flyboys a favor and kill those AA guns..."
"Sounds perfect." I reply.
~ ~ ~ ~
Up Next: The mission concludes and Rusty goes rogue on his quest to save Diane...
Disclaimer: Same as before.
Many thanks to Crescent Venus who helped push this fic along with her reviews.
~ ~ ~ ~
I've been back for a few days now. I'm on light duty insomuch that I haven't been assigned any new missions of late. I've just finished a nice run and a work through with the weight set that Sir Niles thoughtfully provided for the soldiers assigned here to use and topped that off with a few rounds on the punching bag. In the Regiment, once you're in, you're expected to maintain a proper level of physical fitness at all times and if you fail to do so, you're RTU'd, returned to unit, end of story. The fact that SAS soldiers are the fittest members of the army is what enables us to carry out great feats behind enemy lines.
After I've cleaned up, I head out to the rifle range. Sir Niles is quite a gun enthusiast, but we've modified his range to military specifications, insomuch that we have the various guard units practicing their skills as well as SOE and OSS operatives practicing marksmanship. I'm carrying, over my shoulder, an Enfield No. 4T rifle, a sniper version of our standard Enfield rifles used in the line infantry units.
The goal of going to the range is to zero a weapon at a particular range. To zero a weapon you merely fire at a known distance, say 300 yards until you can hit the bull's eye consistently at that range. For sniper rifles, that's making sure the scope as well as the iron sights are zeroed. In accordance with the standard operating procedures, I'm making sure the sniper rifles are zeroed to 300 yards with open sights and 600 yards with scopes.
"Rusty?" Diane says, walking up to me as I'm walking towards the range, "Colonel Hosgrove wants to see you."
"Did he say what it was about?" I reply, as I shoulder my rifle and walk back towards the armory to drop it off.
"He didn't." Diane said, "He just said you're needed, immediately."
As I drop the rifle off at the armory, I make a mental note to zero it after lunch. As we walk towards the mansion I notice Diane's wearing that scent again, that light lilac aroma that I'll forever associate with her. The only thing she knows about the Traverse Town mission I pulled, recently, was her part in it, that my mission was reconnaissance and the fact that Frollo's death was advertised in every newspaper in Traverse Town and a lot of other worlds. I don't think it takes much brains to put to the fact that I had some sort of role in the assassination of one Claude Frollo, and I'm sure Diane knows I did him in but can't ask me if I did because that mission doesn't even exist in our archives. You see we committed everything from the mission file, the equipment list, the dossier on Claude Frollo, even the forged papers from my mission to the incinerator. There is no evidence, in theory that this operation ever existed.
There is evidence, in Traverse Town, however. I was sure to have a forger copy one set of my papers, took a photograph of the contents of the DLB in Cid's shop, and put both items and a set of spare civilian clothing into a false panel in the wall of Cid's loft. This is insurance so Darby or any other blokes who fancy screwing me over will have a nasty disadvantage with any sort of bargaining with me.
"Lieutenant Puckett reporting as ordered sir." I say, as I rap on the door.
"Come in." Hosgrove says.
I do so and he says, "Well lieutenant, your last job went off without a hitch. Conveniently Claude Frollo died without any trace of evidence that links his murder back to us."
I smile inwardly as he speaks. Major Darby's standing behind the table, the foppish bastard that he is. He's probably one of the most critical blokes I've ever met since I'd joined the Army and I remember a couple clashes with him when I was with the Royal Anglican Regiment before I joined the SAS.
He's looking at me now, with that critical eye. In his eyes I was never a good enough officer. "Right, this is your next operation." Darby begins, "As you know 1 SAS is operating in the Olympia Theater of Operations. The 'scalawags' are working extensively with local resistance movements against Hades."
I bristle inwardly at Mr. Spit and Polish. Sure members of the SAS may look a bit scruffy to the average Army officer, but we do things the average Army officer wouldn't even think of doing. What kind of bloke parachutes out of a plane at night behind enemy lines, commits acts of sabotage so effective that if you're captured it's a sure ticket to being shot.
"You're objective is to assist with Operation Olympiad." Darby begins. I can't believe that bastard's been permitted to be the Special Operations Liason officer, coordinating efforts of various Allied Special Forces units, including my beloved Regiment, "SAS units have been parachuting behind enemy lines to assist Olympia's resistance in destroying Hades' bridge routes across the rivers and mountain passes. "
"I believed OSS could lend a hand." Hosgrove adds, "And who better than a former officer from the SAS to go in."
"I see you've been practicing using that Enfield sniper rifle." Darby says, "You'll be putting that to good use."
"Lieutenant Schonke will brief you on more necessary equipment if you have no further questions." Hosgrove adds.
"No sir." I reply. I know enough not to ask too many questions in my line of work. I've got two operations under my belt with OSS, plus several with 1 SAS, and I know soldiers have to follow orders.
I walk out into the hallway where Diane's waiting for me with more equipment lists. I can see she's feeling her talents are being wasted in briefing operatives on missions, but Darby 'demoted' her to that role because he feels that she's incompetent. Bollocks! She spends hours decoding enemy transmissions or creating new encryption protocols. She doesn't need this bloody job of supply officer pushed down on her.
"As you know you're operating with your old unit again." Diane says, "You already know that you're carrying the Enfield rifle into battle, but I took the liberty of packing a sidearm. I hear the snipers' request for pistols all the time in case the fighting gets close. Enemy forces known to be operating in the area are largely Heartless but expect Hades to come up with a few nasty surprises."
"Right." I reply, it was a good thing I was zeroing that Enfield anyway, because at the ranges that combat in mountainous terrain or open plains takes place nothing beats a telescopic rifle.
I notice she looks tired, "Didn't sleep well?"
"Decoding a couple messages kept me awake later than I thought." Diane replies, "Plus Darby's been on my case. It's like he doesn't believe in me..."
"Diane, I believe in you." I reply, I want to say more but she's already got Chris, "I know you're the most capable one in the intelligence department. Hell even Blythe says that, and he's not the sort to make compliments that easily."
"Darby somehow thinks that because I'm a woman I can't do anything that men can do." Diane replies.
"Darby's a bloody prick." I reply.
"Excuse me, Mr. Puckett," Darby says, "Did you mean that?"
"Yes sir." I reply, laconically.
"Remember what they say about what you say about your superior officers..." Darby replies.
"Yes sir. Sorry, you are an over critical, chauvinist who singles out people he doesn't like and tries to run them out of the service." I reply.
"Puckett, you're lucky you're going on a mission." Darby says, storming off.
"Rusty, aren't you worried..." Diane says, when Darby's out of earshot.
"Frankly, no." I reply, as we head out to the armory and supply buildings where I draw ammunition, rations and other supplies.
Diane takes me over to a nearby jeep and drives me off to the airfield. Waiting is an American DC-3 transport. I see two other fellows, wearing the distinct brown berets with the maple leaf insignia that instantly identifies them as Canadian Special Forces. A couple jumpmasters are helping us rig our parachutes, attach our weapons, and make sure that our gear is secure.
"Good luck." Diane smiles at me, looking for all the world like a dark eyed pixie.
"I'll see you soon." I reply smiling.
~ ~ ~ ~
A few hours later, we're flying above Olympia. For operation security I have never met these two Canadians or even heard I would be working with them until I'm aboard the aircraft. They are Sergeant Black Leclair, a French Canadian, and Lance Corporal Todd Farley, a young, bookish looking kid from Nova Scotia.
These two are demolition experts and our objective is to demolish a bridge over the Melegar Gorge before 0500, when a convoy of Heartless are going to cross the gorge and engage 4 Commando, holding Olympiad Pass. From a radio transmission we know a couple of survivors from a five man SAS team are also in the area. When their raid against the bridge went ass upwards two of the men were killed on site, a third was wounded and then killed by the Heartless later on and the other two escaped. One of them had a radio/telephone kit and signaled to HQ that we had two SAS operatives trapped behind the lines.
That's where we come in. I see the light in the cabin go to green and the loadmaster opens the left door. Doing the airborne shuffle, myself and the two Canadians move forward like three pregnant ducks, hooking up to the static line over our heads. I'm at the front, since I'm the officer and it in the airborne the officer jumps first. I take my position, hands on the outside of the door and with a gentle assist from the jump master I clear the aircraft and feel the jolt as my parachute opens.
Over my head I see Black Leclair's chute starting to open and a few seconds later Farley's chute goes open. The wind is steady, but not gusting from the north east. According to our calculations we should hit the drop zone pretty much on top of the SAS troops' last recorded position.
~ ~ ~ ~
"Lieutenant Schonke," Hosgrove began, "I notice you've been looking fairly exhausted lately."
"We all have been sir." Diane replied, "Cryptography is tiring work."
"You seem more tired than everyone else, lieutenant." Hosgrove replied, "Frankly I'm concerned. Blythe says you're the best cryptographer in the department, and he shares my concerns."
"Sir, I can't just abandon my post..." Diane replied.
"You're doing no such thing, lieutenant." Hosgrove replied, "How long do you think you can keep working with less than two or three hours of sleep? I managed to secure for you a ninety-six hour liberty pass, effective tomorrow, I suggest you get some rest and use the next few hours to make arrangements."
"Sir..." Diane protested.
"That's an order, lieutenant." Hosgrove said, firmly, but gently, "Dismissed."
Diane executed an about face and walked out of the office. On her way she saw Major Darby who looked at her saying, "You get out of things too easily. Do you think because you're female I'm not going to call you a bad performer..."
Diane stiffened, taking the verbal abuse. Silently she thanked God Rusty wasn't around or she might suffer one of his well intentioned, but ill advised, attempts to stand up for her. God knows she was working her hardest, and only Darby held the opinion she was a bad performer, but this was one annoyance she didn't need. Darby was such a jerk, plain and simple. She packed her bag and made her arrangements before she went to bed.
~ ~ ~ ~
Well, no sign of the SAS troopers at the landing site. Black Leclair is guarding the southwest corner of the pass with his M1 Garand. Todd Farley's carrying his Thompson sub machinegun.
We find our two SAS guys in a cave. "Fancy meeting you here wanker."
"Digger, come here often mate." I reply.
"What's the situation..." Digger says, he's about ¾ drunk from the morphine. Thankfully, Fosby, the other trooper is a skilled medic as well as a radioman.
"We parachuted in, six of us, with Lieutenant Atwood." Fosby says. Atwood was a new fellow, a young Australian 2nd Lieutenant, from my old rifle company.
"We got dispersed by a nasty wind." Fosby continues, "Arnhem and Collins were swept in front of a Heartless position and were killed instantly. We lost Craycroft when it snowed here six days ago. LT got killed in an ambush three days ago."
Arnhem, Collins, Craycroft, and Atwood were guys I'd served with since the first days in Egypt. Knowing they're dead, victims of this war with the Heartless, makes me more determined to blow this bridge.
"Have you guys gotten a look at the bridge?" I asked.
"Craycroft and Collins had the demolitions kit, and both of them are dead." Fosby replies.
"That's taken care of. We've got a demolition kit handy. We just need to reconnoiter the bridge before we blow it. Todd, stay with Fosby and Digger, Black Leclair and I will take a closer look at the bridge." I reply.
~ ~ ~ ~
Diane walked into the foyer of the mansion. Flight Sergeant Dora May was manning the foyer watch. Diane saluted her and asked, "Request permission to go ashore?"
"Permission granted, ma'am." Dora replied, "Enjoy your pass..."
"Thank you, Flight Sergeant." Diane replied, smiling, "I could use the break."
"You look like it too, ma'am." Dora replied.
"All I really need now is an hour or two with a cute masseuse and I'll be in heaven." Diane replied.
"Oh, shall I tell Chris? Or Rusty?" Dora replied, adding a belated, "Ma'am."
"What does Rusty have to do with anything?" Diane smiled, slightly uncomfortably but feeling slightly flattered.
'Oh shit.' Dora thought, backpedaling in her head, "Forget I said anything ma'am."
"Have a good evening Flight Sergeant." Diane replied. She walked out of the foyer and towards her car.
She never made it there. She never saw the two men walking behind her, one of them tall, clean cut and handsome, the other short and fat. They walked noiselessly behind her, blending into the shadows until they got close enough. The last thing Diane remembered smelling was the sickly sweet aroma of chloroform as the cloth pad was pressed to her mouth and nose.
~ ~ ~ ~
We're gonna hit the bridge at last light, so this means almost a day of lying in wait at the bridge, observing the guards, checking the structure for weak points and the like, and finding the perfect areas to snipe at the said guards from. Black Leclair has his turn at the binoculars, taking note of traffic, location of guard posts and the like. I'm currently asleep.
"It looks like we should place the explosives on the main support girders, and a secondary charge at the secondary supports. Once those go the structure will cave in on itself." Black Leclair says.
"Guards?" I reply, waking up.
"Two MG 42 machinegun positions, sandbag bunkers, four troops a piece, Soldier Heartless." Black Leclair says.
"Vehicle traffic?" I ask.
"Not very heavy in the daytime, but the two anti-aircraft sites up the road make it risky for air strikes. But when we blow her, we should do our flyboys a favor and kill those AA guns..."
"Sounds perfect." I reply.
~ ~ ~ ~
Up Next: The mission concludes and Rusty goes rogue on his quest to save Diane...