Temple of the Gods - Andy McDermott [104]
The responses from the running men showed that few, if any, shared his misgivings.
They raced down the length of the hangar, passing the parked aircraft and vehicles. The great chasm of the shaft opened up ahead as they neared it. A deep mechanical grumbling grew ever louder – the massive elevator platform was approaching the top.
‘Spread out,’ said Kern as the group reached the shaft. ‘I want every part of the platform . . . covered . . .’ His voice trailed off as the elevator’s cargo rose into view.
The corporal’s nervous voice sounded over the PA system. ‘Uh, Colonel Kern, sir! They’ve, ah . . . they’ve got a tank.’
The M60’s main gun was pointing directly at Kern. ‘Yeah, I noticed.’
‘Okay, we’re at the top!’ Nina announced, standing in the commander’s position to peer through the narrow portholes in the armoured cupola atop the turret. ‘And we’ve got a welcoming committee.’
Eddie, in the driver’s seat inside the cramped forward compartment, had also seen the troops through the three slot-like periscopes in front of him. ‘Doesn’t look like they want to give us tea and biscuits,’ he said as weapons came up. He switched his foot from the brake to the oversized gas pedal and shoved it down. The 29-litre diesel engine roared, the tank jerking forward with a piercing squeal from its tracks. He saw Kern dive aside as the M60 cleared the platform and accelerated down the hangar.
Nina yelped and instinctively ducked as bullets clonked against the turret. ‘Whoa! That just made them mad.’
Eddie wasn’t worried – not about the gunfire, at least. Against the inches-thick steel armour, Kern’s men might as well have been firing ping-pong balls.
His real concern was the line of parked military vehicles. He had checked the M60’s fuel gauge during the ascent, and found it had only the bare minimum needed to power it for maintenance. It would soon run out – meaning that the troops could simply drive after them and wait for the engine to die.
He turned the steering yoke to the right. The brakes on that side shrilled, the tank making a juddering change of direction to head for the trucks.
Nina yelped again as the unexpected turn jarred her heavily against some of the cabin’s many hard-edged protrusions. ‘What are you doing? You’re going to crash into those trucks!’
‘Not into ’em – over ’em! Get into the gunner’s seat!’
‘I thought there wasn’t any ammo?’
‘This thing’s got a twenty-foot steel battering ram – it doesn’t need ammo!’
Nina understood what he meant, but was still uncertain as she clambered awkwardly across the cabin into the gunner’s position. The primary controls consisted of another aircraft-style yoke. ‘How does it work?’
‘It’s not rocket surgery! Just turn it and see what happens!’
There was a periscope lens above and to the right of the controls; she peered into it, seeing the view ahead. The M60 was thundering straight at the first truck. She hesitantly turned the yoke a little. With a skirl of hydraulics, the turret turned in response. A vertical twist of the handgrips and the main gun rose, the view through the periscope also tilting upwards.
She swung the turret back to its original position – to find the truck looming in her sights. ‘Hold on!’ Eddie shouted.
The M60 slammed into the truck’s front quarter. It was shoved sideways until it hit its neighbour – and the tank then rode up over it, crushing it flat. The second truck suffered the same fate, glass exploding everywhere as steel tracks chewed through its cab.
Eddie turned the yoke back to the left. The M60 lurched around as if grinding the remains of the trucks beneath a treaded heel, then advanced on the first of the Humvees. There were two rows of the big 4×4s, too widely spaced for the M60 to squash them all in one go; Nina braced herself, rotating the turret and lowering the main gun to hit the second line.
The Humvees were