"Jerry Pournelle - 01 - Janissaries" - читать интересную книгу автора (Pournelle Jerry)

Major Jefferson had taken all the black troops on an infiltration raid. Rick hoped
they’d escape, but without the black troops, there wasn’t even the pre-tense of an

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integrated army. No blacks to speak and front for them. Rick wondered if that
would matter. It might, depending on who captured them.
It was his first command, and very likely the only one he’d ever have. He wasn’t
experienced. He’d begun as a junior lieutenant, just out of ROTC from the state
university, and his promotion to brevet captain was due to being in the right place
and time; he knew better than to think it meant more.
Rick thought it didn’t mean very much at all. Par-sons was a career man, but the
military wasn’t Gal-loway’s career. ROTC had been an easy way to pay for the
college education he couldn’t afford.
The other alternative was football. Rick was quick and wiry. Had he gone out for
football, he could have got a scholarship, with all the other perquisites of a star.
But he didn’t like the game. It required too much commitment.
Instead, he had joined the track team and won his letter. Track didn’t have the
glamour of football; the football jocks got first choice of the girls. On the other
hand, they often couldn’t enjoy their oppor-tunities because of injuries or training
rules. Being a runner was definitely superior in Rick Galloway’s view. He told
himself that quite often. But track hadn’t been important enough to the alumni;
there weren’t all those easy jobs available. ROTC had pro-vided Rick’s spending
money.
When he graduated, Rick realized that he’d never committed himself to anything.
He had neither joined a fraternity nor opposed them. He had few political
opinions. He was a professional neutral, and he wasn’t sure he liked the image.
A classmate, John Henry Carter, had been a career military man and had
volunteered for the CIA oper-ation in Africa. He had talked Rick into coming
along; an adventure, something to do while he was young before he settled into a
dull job and duller life. He’d known there was a possibility of being killed, but
he’d never been seriously threatened in his life. He could outrun any danger.
Carter was the only black man Rick had ever known well, and the only friend
he’d had in the outfit. Now Carter was off with Major Jefferson. Major Hendrix
was missing a leg and had stayed behind to hold the roadblock south of them.
Parsons and Galloway were the only officers left.
The plan had been for Galloway to take the hilltop and hold it until the helicopters
came; then they could go back for the wounded. Rick hadn’t like the idea, but
Hendrix made it an order. Someone had to hold the roadblock and someone else
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had to cap-ture a landing area; Hendrix couldn’t move, which left the hilltop to
Galloway.
But Hendrix hadn’t held the roadblock very long—and now there wouldn’t be any
helicopters.
And that’s that, Rick thought. He had no choices left. For the first time, he