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“No way,” he says, panting

The sniper fires a third time And a fourth Tilo falls backward now The loaf of bread in his shirt is soggy with blood

“You fugging Kraut asshole, he’s already dead!” Rio cries

The unseen Geroad the in frustration and rage, but feeling Jack’s ar his voice, “He’s dead, Rio, he’s dead We can’t help him”

“I’ll kill that Kraut bastard,” Rio says The threat is hollow, and she knows it They et the sniper, but Tilo will still be dead

“We have to go back and warn Stick that Jerry’s booby-trapped the place”

“Godda at hi But she turns away into the shelter of the alley and in a few minutes finds Stick and the squad, much where she left them

“Where’s Suarez?”

“Stayed behind,” Rio says with a quick, furious wipe of her eyes “Booby trap and then a sniper”

“Suarez bought the farm?” Geer asks, an almost tender note in his usually abrasive voice He reaches to the cat—no longer a kitten—that rides inside his shirt

“We have to get out of here,” Jillion says in a trerease, sweat, and plaster dust It otta go back and tell Sergeant Cole we can’t get through”

She’s not wrong

Jesus Christ, I lost Suarez!

Stick says, “We pull back, that Kraut up there’ll see it and have an MG sitting down on this very rock, and we’ll have to pay twice for the sa back, we’re finding a way through!”

If only I’d seen Suarez reach for that bottle