Operation Syria

— 25 —

“Here they come,” Wiggins shouted. They had two walls and a stairwell to defend and only Davies with any real firepower. Wiggins took his handgun from Maggie.

“No offense, lass, but I think I can do more damage with it.”

Banks set Wilkins to watch the stairwell, had the women stand in the center of the tower away from the parapet, then put Wiggins and Hynd on the north side while he and Davies took the west, where the bulk of the spiders swarmed.

“Don’t shoot unless they start climbing,” he shouted. “And pick your targets. The chopper is inbound, any time now. We need to survive the next minute.”

Even as he said it, they heard a distant thump of rotors.

“Lights coming in over the river, Cap,” Hynd shouted.

“Okay, everybody, get ready to move, this is going to be tight.”

He got on the sat phone.

“Good to see you guys. I hope you’re packing. We need a strafing run before you come for us.”

“Rebels?”

“Something a bit more exotic,” Banks said, then had to put the phone in his pocket. Two large spiders scrambled up the wall directly below his position, scuttling upward as if defying gravity.

Davies sent the first of the two spiders back to the ground but needed three shots to do it. Banks put three into the other, right over the eyes, and it too fell away but when another took its place and began to climb, he pulled the trigger of his handgun and came up empty. Wilkins stood above the stairwell, surrounded by smoke and blasts of heat rising from below, firing down the steps. On the other wall, Hynd and Wiggins fired calmly and steadily downward and kept the beasts at bay. But it was a matter of seconds before they’d all be out of ammo.

The chopper came to their aid, cavalry riding over the hill at the last minute. It arrived over the north cliff of the escarpment and the pilot must have taken in the situation quickly, for he flew the length of the hillside, twin guns blazing, blowing a swathe of spider parts, legs, and gore into the air in a ten-meter-wide road.

“Yippee Ki-Yay, motherfuckers,” Wiggins shouted.

They weren’t out of trouble though, for a dozen or more of the smaller spiders were coming up the wall below Banks and Davies and Davies was struggling to hold them at bay.

“I’m out,” Hynd shouted.

The rat-a-tat clacking of the spiders was louder even than their firing or the roar of the chopper as more began to climb.

The chopper came down on top of them, hovering less than six feet above, the downdraft almost knocking them off their feet until they found their balance in the roar of wind and sound. Banks motioned for Hynd to give him a hand and between them they boosted first Kim, then Maggie up into the arms of a waiting airman.

The squad fell back under the chopper as they boosted Wilkins up inside. Davies took guard while Wiggins went next, then Hynd leapt up, grabbed the door with both hands, and hauled himself aboard.

“Last call, lad,” Banks shouted. “All aboard who’s going aboard.”

Davies threw his rifle for Banks to catch then leapt, more easily than Hynd had managed, catching the waiting arms of Wiggins above and being hauled up into the chopper.

Three spiders came over the parapet at the same time, giving Banks no option but to strafe them in a burst of fire that emptied the weapon but did the job of blowing the spiders to shreds and sending the pieces tumbling away below. He turned to make his leap for safety and looked up to see Wiggins’ eyes go wide.

“Jump, Cap, jump now,” Wiggins screamed, “that’s a fucking order.”

He dropped the rifle and leaped. Wiggins caught his left hand and for a terrible second he swung, one-handed, then almost fell when he felt a weight tug at his left foot. The chopper was already rising when he looked down to see one of the horse-sized spiders, clinging onto his boot by its fangs. He swung up, made sure Wiggins grabbed his free hand, then kicked out with his right foot at the beast’s eyes, feeling something give, something soft, then the weight was gone. He looked down between his feet to see the spider fall back onto the top of the tower, a tower that was already completely overrun by scuttling spiders.