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Rio is on point She hears Stick clattering through the rocks, followed by sniper fire, to drop beside her

“What do you see, Richlin?”

Rio and Stick are side by side, faces inches apart, both sheltering behind the salance, drops hastily, and says, “That wall there, the building where the street turns? That high , top floor? Machine gun There’s maybe a second one farther on, I think And you know about the—”

Boom!

A ses the rubble twenty feet ahead, te their vieith dust Rio and Stick crouch low and let the shards of rock pelt their backs and helmets for several seconds

“Mortar,” Rio says

“Yeah, kinda noticed that If the Krauts get a spotter and a radio up in thatthey’ll et another tank in here”

Rio shakes her head “Not if they’ve still got that 88 up around the corner”

“Okay,” Stick says “Take Stafford and Suarez and scout to the right, see if there’s a way to flank ’em”

“Yep” Not the answer she wants to give, but what can she do? There are two stripes on her shoulder now

For a e moment, Rio realizes that despite her self-doubt she does actually knohat Stick means She kno to do the job, knohat risks she should take and what she should avoid It’s a strange moment, a moment out of time, a quiet, self-aware moment

She crawls backward, not easy to do in these rocks She makes a turn at what looks like a safe place and is nearly hit by that high-up un She decides to ju and ricocheting off the rock around her

The squad is a series of hel their hole in the middle of a rock quarry

“Stafford, Suarez We’re taking a walk,” Rio says

Two of the helin to s splayed out in different directions, hugging the ground as un fire chips stone above them