Breakthrough (The Red Gambit Series) (22 page)

When the rifle had been produced
in a Russian factory
it was firing-
tested like all rifles,
and
the
Soviet
s always set aside the best
of them
for further conversion to snipers rifles. The weapon Schultz had liberated was the very best of the best, its 4xPEM sight perfect
,
and
not a blemish to be seen on the whole length of the weapon.

Conservative estimates
credited
Schultz
with
kill
ing
over
one hundred and fifty
enemy
troops
with the weapon but his speciality was in killing snipers themselves, and up to sustaining his amputation
,
he had been
officially been accredited
with
twenty-two
such executions,
high value
kills
that
meant that many German boys still breathed.

“
So
,
where are they hiding?”

Müller grabbed his chin, half contemplating the stirrup pump, half preparing his answer.

“The other side of the river. Other than that
,
I don’t
really
have a clue
,
Erwin.”

“Fuck.”

“I agree entirely
,
Feldwebel,” grinning from ear to ear as
his plan took shape, “But we’
ll kill the bastards
,
just the same.”

Muller showed Schultz a hole in the wall
. It was
covered
with a
large
pillow
,
and an old blanket sat next to it, ready for use.

The former officer knew how Schultz liked to operate and had made the necessary extras available.

“I thought that would be suitable for you?”

Schultz liked the height. He could comfortably lie down and the
pillow
would be handy to prevent the brickwork scratching Irma. He checked the area behind the hole. It was dark enough to be
safe,
and he settled himself down, ready to adjust Irma’s sights.

“Range to the target? Best guess?”

Muller drew in the dust on the
floor, sketching each item in turn until dramatically marking his final position with a cross.

“Roughly
two hundred
metres to the bridge. They’
re not there. I think
eight hundred
me
tres to the tree line, but they’re not there. I think they’
re in the middle ground
,
Erwin. My gut says on
the road line. You know there’
s a ditch either side.
Probably about.....here
”

Schultz considered the matter and resolved it immediately.

“I will set for
five hundred
metres then.”

“I see no advantage in firing from
elsewhere
, especially as I’
ve found such a perfect spot for you here
,
Erwin.”

Schultz mumbled a reply, his mind already coming into focus for the job in hand.

“Excellent. Now you have a few mi
nutes while I get set up. You’
ll like this.”

The officer grinned with unconcealed glee as he picked up the old stirrup pump and
worked at
sep
a
rat
ing
it
from the perished hose
.

His own preparations done for now, Schultz held the rifle between his knees and reached for his cigarettes.

“Time for a smoke, Herr Hauptmann?”

“You are way ahead of me
,
aren’t
you?
Carry on
,
Feldwebel.”

The puzzled man sat
more
upright and eased his false limb into the right position, lit a cigarette
,
and watched his commander and friend set his trap.

Schultz had finished his cigarette at the same time as the trap had been prepared. When Müller had finished
,
he stood back and admired his handiwork.

“You are a fucking sneaky bastard
,
Herr Hauptman
n,
if you don’t mind me saying so!”

Muller half-bowed in mock appreciation.

Schultz stretched himself out on the floor, again checking the area behind him, and brought ‘Irma’ into position.

Taking hold of the blanket he
pulled it up over his head to prevent any light showing through when he extracted the pillow.

Before committing himself Schultz stuck his head out and
looked up at his leader for the command.

With an unlit cigarette in his mouth
,
Muller checked everything was ready.

“Let’s do it.
Alles klar, Herr Feldwebel?”

“Alles klar
,
Herr Hauptmann,
”
said Schultz, as he and Irma retreated into their personal darkness.

“What a
fool
.
Olga, an easy kill for you, sweetheart.”

Maleeva had slid down into the ditch where she was enjoying
a few sips of
water before resuming her work.
The whispered summons brought her slowly sliding back into position.

“Stop calling me sweetheart
,
you uncultured ass
wipe
,” the words were hissed with mock venom, for she and Erinov were more of a team than was militarily permitted. Soon she would have to declare that she was pregnant, but not who the father was
,
or the two would not serve together again.

“Where?”

“The building nearest the bridge. The man hides but
yet he
reveals himself. Can’t you see?”

He waited as the sniper swept the zone.

“The smoke, Olga.
First floor balcony, y
ellow door to the left of centre. Slightly open. You can see him breathing out his smoke and the very tip of his helmet.”

Maleeva settled and concentrated on the yellow door. There. A breath of smoke blossomed at an average man’s head height from behind the slightly open door, and as Sergei had said, the very tip of a helmet was in view.

“Fool indeed
,
Comrade.”

“F
our-seven-five
metres I think.”

Maleeva just hummed ‘uh-ha’, her rifle alrea
dy set to four hundred
and her ability to make the adjustment herself not in question.

Carefully
,
she assessed the point at which the smoke made itself known around the door, using the helmet tip to make a judgement as to where to place the shot.

One more puff to make sure.

The rifle kicked into her shoulder and Sergei saw a hole appear in the door at precisely the spot he would have fired
,
had it been his turn to rifle this day.

Another stream of smoke escaped
,
and the helmet remained.

Ego is often a dangerous thing, e
specially if you are a
sniper.

For a sniper, e
go can be a
terminal
affliction
.

Shocked that she had got her calculations wrong
,
Maleeva adjusted without sparing a thought for any other possibility.

She breathed out and fired, Sergei immediately marking the
disappearance of the helmet tip and noted Olga’s grunt of satisfaction.

Ignoring the familiar ‘zip’ sound of a passing bullet,
Erinov
turned to congratulate his
lover
,
to be greeted by the vision of her
lifeless eyes
as she
slid
back down towards the bottom of the ditch.

W
ithin seconds he joined her, a Mosin-N
agant round taking him just in front of his left ear and blowing off the larger portion of the right side of his skull.

“Done.”

The rifle was withdrawn from the hole,
and the
pillow
put back to stop up the gap. I
mmediately Schultz
emerged from under the blanket, he started to run
a rag over
Irma’s
body, removing any dust.

Müller let the end of the
fire
hose drop to the ground and
, having spat
and wiped
away the dirt that had accumulated on his lips from blowing smoke down it, he
concentrated on enjoying
a
second
cigare
tte, free from the taste of soot and rubber.

Looking across at his old
comrade
,
he appreciated the man’s
professional
examination of his brain
wave
sniper trap
.

The old fire hose secured to the door at head height, with the wooden shelf jammed in behind it on which the helmet had proudly sat before the second shot sent it spinning away.

“You are one perverted soul, Jochen Müller. I have to hand it to you on that one.
The Devil will welcome you to his domain with open arms, you do know that?
”

Müller guffawed loudly.

“Oh, what a comfort!
Danke,
Kamerad
. At least I won’t be alone.”

Schultz acknowledged the point with an accepting nod and a grin.

The light moment evaporated as professionalism established itself once more.

“Same position or do you need to move?”

Schultz gave it a moment’s thought.

“I can go from here again I think. It was only the one sniper
,
wasn’t it?”

“Yes it was. So, w
hen you’
re ready
,
we shall see whether we will get any more customers for our
contraption
,
although I
think
the Russians will be coming in larger numbers soon.”

As they had started their deadly game
,
the artillery and mortars had picked up
their
firing rates, a reasonable signpost for an imminent attack.

‘C’ Company had been very badly mauled in their defence of Tostedt, which was why Lascelles had shuffled the pack and dropped them back into Dreihausen
,
where they could
quickly
sort themselves out.

Only
eighty-seven
men had made it out of Tostedt, and then
,
only by the skin of their teeth. Behind them lay numerous dead and wounded, accompanied
by
a few volunteers to tend them. Many
Canadians
had been summarily executed before Zvorykin brought order.

Those
eighty-seven
survivors
suddenly found themselves in a maelstrom of fire, as
Soviet
T34’s and rider infantry charged down the road from Otter and crashed into their hastily prepared positions.
Some
2” mortars coughed defiantly
, a few rifles
,
and one B
ren
,
got off a few shots
before the position was overrun by dismounted submachine gunners.

The young 2nd Lieutenant who now commanded the unit was beaten to the ground as the company command post was overrun.

In less than ten minutes
,
‘C’ Company had been wiped out, over half its survivors surrendering without a fight, too exhausted by their previous exertions to offer resistance.

Through the gap
,
Zvorykin led his own tired men, but victory has a habit of giving soldiers energy
,
and they were on top of the Carleton & York engineers before they could d
o
more than manage a few desultory shots.