Ice War Read Free Page A

misplaced.
    She shouldn’t even be here. With a new leg and the intense trauma, both physical and psychological, of the disastrous Operation Magnum, nobody would have blamed her for turning down the mission. But she had said yes, and told anyone who asked that it was because she didn’t feel her fight was finished, that she didn’t want to let down her comrades, that she felt she had something to offer. She had a thousand reasons.
    But the truth was that six months lying in a hospital bed plus another six months of rehab had bored her senseless. Fort Carson too had bored her with its regimented mealtimes and mindless routines. She needed the buzz: the thrill, the coil-gun jumping in her arms, adrenaline coursing through her body. Sometimes it seemed she only felt alive when she was in imminent danger of death. But she couldn’t tell that to anyone. Not even Monster. If the counsellors back at Carson heard her say that, they would never let her out of their sight.
    Someday the war would be over, one way or another, and she would have to deal with it. But that day was a long way off, and by then she might not even be alive to worry about it.
    “Weapons check,” she said. She checked her own, hitting the release that sprang the coil-gun over her shoulder and into her arms. “Okay, Angels. Listen up. You are probably wondering what we are doing here.”
    “Yeah, bro,” Wall said. “I am wondering why I am freezing my ass off in the middle of nowhere when there are warm bunks and hot pizza back at base.” He seemed to be having a problem with his weapon release.
    “Don’t worry about it, Wall,” The Tsar said, moving over to give Wall a hand. “It’s just typical ACOG. They send us out on these missions but everything is so top secret that we don’t know whether we’re wiping our ass or blowing our nose until we see the colour of the tissue.”
    “And I don’t care how warm the bunks are at Fort Carson,” Barnard said. “I’d rather be out here doing something than sitting around doing nothing.”
    She wasn’t the only one, Price thought.
    “Okay,” Price said. “This is a straightforward reconnaissance mission. We are to avoid contact. In any case, ACOG tells us there’s no enemy activity within fifty klicks.”
    “Except for a million Pukes lined up on the Chuchki shore, waiting to have a go at us,” Wall muttered.
    “That’s the point, Wall,” Barnard said. “They’re fifty klicks away. They’re not here.”
    The Tsar stepped back so Wall could test his gun again. It released without problem, jumping straight into his hands. He tried it three or four times to be sure.
    “Little Diomede Island is packed with so many sensors that they can hear a snowflake freeze,” Price said. “And those sensors tell us that the Pukes are still sitting on their backsides over in Russia. All we have to do is stroll over to the island, set eyes on the control station, observe and report.”
    “Report on what?” The Tsar asked.
    “There are two operators on that station,” Price said. “Specialist Gabrielle Bowden and Specialist Nicholas Able. We need to know that they’re both okay, and that everything is as it should be.”
    “Maybe we should have just phoned and asked them,” Wall said.
    Price ignored him. “Once ACOG are satisfied that everything is aboveboard, we get the hell out, as quickly as we can.”
    “And if we run into any real Pukes?” Wall asked.
    “Then we’ll waste them all,” Emile said. “Bring it on.”
    “He’s kinda cute,” Barnard said. “Reminds me of Wilton.”
    “Emile, our orders are to avoid engagement,” Price said. “Don’t go all Chuck Norris on me.”
    “Gonna be a walk in the park,” The Tsar said.
    “Some park,” Wall said. “Where’s the grass, the lake and the pigeons?”
    “I think this place is awesome!” Emile said, gesturing around at the translucent blue and white of the walls of the lead.
    “All right, Angels. We are Oscar Mike,” Price