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CHAPTER 1
As with all wars, there were a ood reasons at all
January 28—10:27 pm
2nd Platoon, Delta Troop, 1st Squadron, 4th Cavalry
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p; The German-Czech Border
Beneath the bleak border-guard tower, a solitary figure stood in the drifting snows Deep within hi It was a sensation he hadn’t felt in a very long ti he’d first experienced o
The blizzard pelted hi face For the moment, however, he had no choice but to endure the intolerable conditions Sergeant First Class Robert Jensen raised his night-vision goggles When the heavy goggles masked his eyes, his world turned froreen
Two hundred yards away, across the open landscape, stood the stark cement-and-barbed-wire fence that separated East and West When Jensen scanned the area beyond the border, the ies confirmed what he already knew On the other side of the wire, less than a mile from his position, hundreds of armored vehicles were on the move
• • •
On a small hilltop, a Russian main battle tank’s creatched the lone A interest
“Josef, are you ready?” the tank’s commander asked
“Nearly, Coine doesn’t want to start in the bitter cold”
“Well, hurry it up We need to begin our attack The Aet into his Humvee and leave, and he won’t return for over an hour”
“But, Comrade Commander, how can you be so sure he won’t be back before then?”
“Because the American hasn’t varied his routine in the teeks we’ve been watching Every two hours he rotates the soldiers in the three towers He’s changed the guards in the towers to the north Now he’s satisfying his curiosity about our division’s activities while he waits for the final pair of soldiers to ascend this third tower and relieve those inside Once that’s done, he’ll get into his vehicle and return to his headquarters hidden in the woods He won’t coin replacing the soldiers in the towers once more”
The T-90’s engine struggled to life The driver revved the engine again and again as it rebelled against his efforts
“Okay, Josef, whenever you’re ready, you can start your run at the American position,” the tank’s co back”
“But, Co Vehicles the A and placed between the towers? Shouldn’t we concern ourselves with them?”
“You just worry about getting to the wire as quickly as you can Dmetri and I atch the Americans, won’t we, Dmetri?”
“Yes, Counner said
• • •
Jensen was growing more miserable by thehe could do to make his predicament any better He’d been out in the blizzard for the forty minutes it had taken to rotate the shifts in the three widespread towers And it was beginning to take its toll
Although squadron intelligence had reported that the unrelenting stor, it had yet to release its paralyzing grip It was officially the worst blizzard to strike Europe in over thirty years For seventy-two endless hours, the stor the center of the continent with gale-force winds and waist-deep snows
For the forty-five hundredthe southern half of the Geriment would arrive It would be none too soon for the exhausted cavalrymen
Jensen surveyed the distant landscape as the e, a company-level encounter of BMP arht his eye While he waited for Sergeant Foster and Specialist Four Marconi to start down froh tower, he focused his attention on the armored attack
Inside his parka, a brief smile came to Jensen’s lips The eneeant had anticipated The struggle was predictable There was nothing subtle in the Russian approach Forget finesse His adversary only knew one way to play the deadly gaht ahead with brute force What they lacked in cunning and guile, they ness to sacrifice men and equipment to overwhelm their opponent
• • •
Having briefed Privates Ra down the tower’s ladder
“Christ, Michael, watch your step,” Foster called out “Every inch of this thing’s covered with ice”
Jensen dropped the heavy goggles from his eyes and turned toward the sound of Foster’s voice A second fleeting smile found its way to his face His exposure to the elements would soon be over Even in this weather, five minutes from now, the trio would be safely within the war After that, there would only be four guard rotations to acco winter sun arrived at eight to
Jensen turned back toward the border and raised the goggles to his eyes
Slicing through the blizzard like a runaway sno froht for hi fast At the last possible instant, the tank dug its broad treads into the deep snow and clawed at the frozen earth below Fifty-one tons of deadly steel screeched to a halt inches from the wire
• • •
“Excellent, Josef, excellent,” the tank’s commander said “Another superb job by the best tank driver in all of Central Army”
“Thank you, Comrade Commander”
“What do we do now?” Dmetri asked