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She nods “Gotta be co They fell back to call it in”

They are noposition before a whistling sound in the air proves her right The round lands with shattering effect but off to their left, blowing the surface of the lake into a spout of water and mud

How long for the Krauts to call in a correction? How long for their gunners to adjust?

They are at the fallen trees andStrand The second round of shells lands on the right line but sixty or so feet behind them

“Cat! Turn south!” Rio shouts

They are through the barrier but nowhere near escaping what Rio knoill be a murderously accurate artillery fire mission

Jack squirs and lifts and the three of them stumble away

A whistle in the air

“Down!”

They fall on their faces and Jack says so, which is lost in the noise of the explosion, but in the flash of light Rio sees what Jack has seen: a decently deep hole formed by a tree that’s been ripped out by the roots They crawl like wor themselves and Strand into the hole

Boom! Boom! Boom!

Shells are dropping like deadly rain, blasting trees and turf, and ripping the world apart like a giant throwing a toddler’s tantrum Hot, spent shrapnel clatters on Rio’s helround itself is like the skin of a bass drum

The firing stops suddenly Rio speaks but can’t hear herself Jack’s h a heavy door it’s so muffled

She risks rising just enough to take a quick, shaky glance around The plane lies there still, a new crater just off its surviving wing, its skin torn by shrapnel but not burning

Of course: the Krauts want to take the plane intact, or at least the boht