He squeezed the trigger, not even aiming, but simply pointing the ATAR’s muzzle and loosing a long burst into the French lieutenant’s chest, knocking him back. Bergerac spun toward him then, firing despite the smear of ice and steaming liquid clinging to his visor, the rounds stitching through the sand toward Knox’s head.
A clatter of thin, high-pitched gunshots slammed Bergerac forward, lifting him onto his toes and pitching him down and across Knox’s legs. Knox screamed as the weight smashed his injury.
“Gunny! You okay?”
It was Major Garroway, trotting toward him with his ATAR at the ready. “Shit, Major, am I glad to see you!” He turned so that he could see Elliott, limping heavily as she made her way to the scene of that last desperate fight in the sand. “You pitch a mean beer, lady,” he said admiringly. “Can’t land a spaceship worth shit….”
“Hey, any landing you can walk away from, jar-head.”
He tried to sit up. “Gotta check on Ostie. She’s down.”
“M’okay,” Ostrowsky said. She sounded dazed, a bit shaken. “Had the wind knocked out of me, is all.”
“How are you, Gunny?” Garroway asked. Stooping, he rolled the French colonel’s body clear.
“Dinged m’leg in the landing. Major, we gotta do something about these Navy drivers!”
Knox looked past Garroway at the plain south of the base. The fighting, it appeared, was almost over. Gunfire continued to snap across the plain or kick up geysers of sand, but most of the UN troops were dropping their weapons now and surrendering.
“Hey, guys!” Elliott called, pointing. “Look at that!”
They all turned to see what she was pointing at. Five of the MMEF Marines had knocked down the UN flag above the base and now were raising the five-meter length of pipe once more. Kaminski’s American flag was fastened to the top, while Alexander stood nearby with an EVA camera, taking pictures.
Despite the obvious and deliberate parallelism to another Marine flag-raising, that one on a speck of volcanic rock in the Pacific nearly one hundred years before—Knox’s eyes filled with tears at the sight…an inconvenience in full armor, when you couldn’t wipe your face. Unwilling to let others hear his throat-rasping emotion, he dropped his voice to a growl. “So, is that it?” he said. “Did we win?”
“We won,” Garroway said. Without ceremony, he raised his right arm, touching his glove to his helmet in salute, dropping his hand as the flagpole reached the vertical and was anchored in place at the base.
“Ooh-rah,” Knox said. “What’d we win?”
“That, I’m afraid, has yet to be determined.”
“Oh, I don’t know,” Elliott said. Knox could hear the grin in her voice. “These two missed a case when they were chucking the beer overboard. At least we have that!”
Garroway laughed. “It’ll do for now, people. It’ll do for now.”
Behind him, the American flag flew from its makeshift pole in the golden light of the Martian afternoon.
TWENTY-FIVE
FRIDAY, 22 JUNE: 1340 HOURS GMT
Warrenton, Virginia
0940 hours EDT
Kaitlin was on the floor in the den playing chess with twelve-year-old Jeff Warhurst when the call came through. “Kaitlin?” Stephanie Warhurst started speaking before she was fully in the room. She sounded concerned. “It’s a vidcall from Monty, at the Pentagon, and he says it’s on a special line. I don’t really know why he’s calling you….”
“It’s okay, Mrs. Warhurst. Can I take it in the E-room?”
“Of course, dear. I’ll transfer the call there.”
“Hey, Kaitlin?” Jeff said, looking up from the board.
“Yeah?”
“Are you gonna be a Marine someday, like my grandpa…and my dad?”
The question, coming out of nowhere, shook her. She’d thought about it a lot, of course…and she’d been thinking about it again ever since her return from Japan. But…
“I don’t know, Jeff,” she said. “Why?”
“I dunno. Just wondering, I guess. I’m gonna be a Marine, you wait! And the UNers better watch out!”
There seemed to be no proper answer to such an assertive statement. She rose and started to follow Mrs. Warhurst.
“Oh, and Kaitlin,” Jeff added.
“Yes?”
“Just thought I’d warn you. Your queen’s a goner.”
She grinned. “Take another look, sport. If you take my queen, I’ve got mate in five.”
“Huh?” Jeff looked incredulous.
“Sometimes sacrificing a piece can give you a significant advantage. See if you can figure it out by the time I get back.”