Run With The Brave Page A

headlights of Cane’s vehicle. At the same time, Kellar put a bullet into the soldier inside the truck and another commando dropped the man standing beside him.
    Before the two soldiers by Cane’s truck, and the soldiers with Ryder, could react, they too were swiftly gunned down.
    One fast-thinking soldier, however, managed to fire off a few rounds, killing Lieutenant Owen instantly before he took a bullet to the head from Ryder.
    Up the line, soldiers rushed towards the trucks, crouching and weaving between the vehicles, firing erratically as they advanced.
    Hurriedly stripping the dead of weapons and ammunition, at the same time returning fire at the approaching troops, Ryder, Cane and the remainder of Detachment A then scrambled into the two Mercedes. In the rear of the front truck, Ryder and those with him readied themselves for a firefight whilst Brady jumped into the cab, pushed the driver aside and took the wheel, powering the diesel forward. Cane and Kellar did the same in the truck behind, Kellar at the wheel.
    Ignoring other traffic coming both ways and causing mayhem as vehicles careered off the highway to avoid collision, they swung the heavy vehicles out of the line, across the broad expanse of tarseal and roared on into the surrounding barren landscape followed not long after by the two parked army trucks hard on their heels.
    In the desert darkness, Ryder’s truck veered away from Cane’s as they raced, zigzagging madly over the shale-strewn, uneven terrain. Ryder, using rifle and ammunition taken from the dead soldiers, kept up continuous fire at the headlamps and black mass of the pursuing vehicles. The vehicles were closing rapidly, issuing heavy fire. The commando next to Ryder jerked and screamed as half his head was blown away, and another beyond him threw up his arms and toppled over the side head first onto the sand. Even in these most desperate of times, his thoughts were on the nuclear devices; they could not be left to the Iranians. He rushed to the shattered rear window of the driver’s cabin, bullets zipping through the canvas cover and off the metal all around.
    â€œThe code – quick, give me the code to disable the nukes!” he screamed at Brady.
    â€œNegative! Negative!” Brady screamed back, desperately trying to keep the bouncing, swerving vehicle under control.
    What the fuck! Is he refusing?
    He tried again, “Give me the fucking code, soldier; we ain’t got time to play games. The bastards find these nukes we’ll pay with our lives!”
    â€œI told you, Negative,” the American spat, turning quickly and giving Ryder a wilting look, “It’s NEGATIVE! NEGATIVE!”
    Ryder got the message, felt foolish, then turned and, with the help of one of the commandos, ripped up the floor and broke open the casings to expose the smooth, dark grey metallic spheres, so small yet capable of such devastation once armed. He flipped open the lids on top of the two spheres, entered the required code and pushed down the red button marked: ‘Destruct’. Within seconds the contents, including firing mechanism, miniature computer and flotation devices melted away. Then, in the darkness, with the help of the others, he tossed each as far as he could away from the careering vehicle.
    Over the roar of the truck, engine revved to the max, and the crackle of machine-gun fire filling his ears, Ryder hoped Cane would do the same in the bouncing, zigzagging truck not far ahead. He need not have worried; the American had systematically destroyed the spheres and cast them out into the darkness at the same time as Ryder.
    Minutes later, under a fusillade of fire, he watched Cane’s vehicle, peppered by machine-gun fire, suddenly veer out of control, all tyres on the rear wheels completely shot away. The big Mercedes careered on for several hundred yards, skewing and throwing the captain and the others all over the rear making it impossible to return