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On the dock, each guard grabbed one of Max’s ar their partners in the guardhouse and along the beach to keep the helicopter at bay Max tried to fight theles were ineffective

RACING OVER GREENLAND

like a vengeful deoing through the last of its systehteen-hundred-pound tungsten rods Inside the external case, the telephone-pole-sized projectile had been spun up to a thousand RPMs to give it stability for when it hit the at computer, archaic by today’s standards but le-minded focus, as the satellite hurtled toward the proper coordinates

A tiny burst of co rockets when it detected the need for a minute course correction The cover over the launch tube slowly peeled open, like the petals of a flower, and, for the first tisten core was exposed to the vacuum of space

It continued to streak over the earth, as the planet rotated below it, every second bringing it closer to its firing position with no regard to the dra out below

"CHAIRMAN, WEPPS,” Juan heard over his tactical radio “We are in range”

“Lay an antipersonnel round on the eastern cliff,” Cabrillo ordered

Eight miles out to sea, the autofeeder for the L44 selected the desired round froun was located in the Oregon’s bow, in a hidden redoubt, giving it a nearly one-hundred-and-eighty-degree traverse when its carriage was fully extended The outside doors had already been lowered and the barrel run out Deep inside the ship, the targeting conized the laser pip beamed at the top of the cliff by the drone and instantly calculated its position relative to the cannon The barrel caht elevation, and, when the bow rose on a wave, the big gun bellowed

The computer was so accurate, it fired an instant early to account for the microseconds it took for the round to leave the barrel and the distance the earth would rotate while the projectile was in flight

Ten seconds after leaving the gun, the shell split open, releasing a metal storm of hardened pellets that hit the top of the cliff like a un blast Clouds of dust exploded off the cliff, and so pall were the uards

“Nice shot,” Juan called “Now the west”

The rated, and he scraed a few steps before he was hit by a flying tackle and suard clubbed him in the back of the head, and, for a ht the curtain of darkness and willed himself to remain conscious

A second explosion rolled across the beach as another round detonated It hit just below the snipers’ den and did nothing more than pock the stone with a thousand tiny pits

“I know, I know,” Wepps called, and, twelve seconds later, the western cliff was obliterated

The guards threw Max into the back of a pickup, the one pressing Max’s head to the floorboard with a subone no uardhouse took a direct hit fro blew apart at the seae fire like a deadly rose The concussion rocked the pickup forward, and, for a ht the wheel and kept on the road