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Right behind the Russian sled, one of the gray hovercraft flen the hill The wide, flat hovercraft reray The central portion of the ine, while the thinner surrounding section and the rubber skirt that drooped from it were there primarily to create the cushion of air that it rode on

As the gray machine followed the Russian commandos, Joe cut in behind it He had the impression its driver hadn’t seen hiet As they raced across the ice, Joe tried to get at the rifle strapped across his back, nearly wrecking in the process

Eventually, he ed to slide the rifle around until it rested at his side It was balanced by the strap that remained across his shoulder Situated like this, he closed in on the target like a fighter pilot trying to save the life of his wing in front of hiloves he worewith it as the Russian snowht

The hovercraft followed, and Joe leaned into the turn, swinging wide, until he was back on target He put the glove to his ertips, and ripped the glove off The frigid air chilled his fingers instantly, but with his bare hand he was able to grab the rifle grip, flip the safety off, and fire

A spread of bullets lanced forth from the barrel to no effect

The hovercraft turned left, and Joe fired again This tilass flying into the air — but still the hovercraft raced forward unaffected

Ahead of theap between a rocky ridge and a high drift of soft snow They shot toward the gap, a fatal mistake

The hovercraft’s driver lined theered his oeapon A direct hit from the flash-draw stunned the ine The fleeing sled turned sideways Its right-hand ski caught a rut, and thethe limp commandos in different directions

Rather than repeat the snowht It raced up the hill, skidded sideways, and pointed its nose back around and doard Joe

Joe flipped the selector to full auto and fired at will, tearing up the front end of the hovercraft and shattering its windshield Despite the da machine didn’t stop

Joe tried to dodge the onco craft, but he skidded on the ice He was either about to get zapped or be decapitated He dove off the snowround

The hovercraft raced over the top of hi the snow ram The tremendous doard air pressure underneath the hovercraft’s skirt blasted Joe out to the side as if he were a newspaper caught in the swirling air behind a truck on the highway

As soon as he tu Across fro around and charged back toward hirowled: “Run him down!”

It wouldn’t take long

As Joe luh the snow, the hovercraft bore down on him at ten times his speed