Read Gears of War: Anvil Gate for Free Online

overlooked by a tree-covered hill, the kind of location you could slip into at night but couldn’t approach unseen by day. If there was a Stranded unit there, the best option was an air strike, but they’d hear the Raven coming half an island away.
    And here I am, calling them units like they’re real troops …
    Anya flicked the mute button on the mike. “You think we could ambush
them
instead, Sergeant?”
    “Overland?” Bernie visualized the location as best she could and began estimating where they’d have to leave the Packhorse to make an approach on foot. “It’ll take an hour or so to get in position, if we’re the closest unit.”
    “Okay.” Anya frowned to herself, then opened the mike again. “Sam? Sit tight … Control, this is P-Twelve. Contact in grid six-echo, five-nine-zero by two-eight-eight—Byrne’s located a roadside device and thinks enemy personnel are still in the area. We’re going in. Any other units nearby?”
    “Control to P-Twelve,” said Mathieson. “Are you asking for air support?”
    “Negative.”
    “Wait one.”
    Bernie kept a wary eye on the countryside as the Packhorse idled in the middle of the road. Eventually Mathieson came back on the radio.
    “P-Twelve, Rossi’s unit is ten klicks north of Byrne’s position,” he said. “He’s moving in. Control out.”
    Sergeant Rossi was an old hand; he’d expect a lot from Anya as the senior officer, and it looked like she was all too aware of that. She slapped her palm on the dashboard.
    “Let’s do it.”
    Bernie refolded the map with the six-echo grid uppermost and handed it to Anya. “Okay, we’ll go off-road at the stream and come around the back of that incline. It’s on foot from there. Where are you going to put Rossi?”
    Anya pored over the map. “Here …”
    “How about a little further over
here?
” Bernie pointed. “Then he can cut them off to the north
or
the east.”
    “Good call, Sergeant.” Anya nodded. “Thanks.”
    It was a sergeant’s job to nursemaid the junior officers until they were safe to be let loose on their own. Bernie was all too aware that this would be Anya’s first real firefight. She wouldn’t have the armored protection of a ’Dill and a bloody big gun this time. Mac could probably smell the sudden tension, because he started making little whining noises in the back of his throat and squeezed his head past Bernie’s shoulder to poke his nose out of the open window.
    “Good boy,” Bernie said. “Quiet, now. Okay?”
    Mac was only thirty kilos of vulnerable, unarmed meat, but somehow having a dog alongside made Bernie feel a lot safer. It was primal. A dog said
weapon
to any human.
    “Byrne, Rossi—Stroud here,” Anya said. “Anything moving?”
    “Byrne here. Nothing, ma’am.”
    “Rossi here. Where do you want us?”
    “Five-eight-zero by three-eight-zero, close to the stream.”
    “Roger that.”
    He didn’t sound worried. Bernie glanced at Anya as she released the switch on the mike. She’d definitely honed that reassuring voice to perfection over the years, but she kept licking her lips in a way that said she was scared shitless. Bernie was, too—sensibly afraid, the way any sane soldier should have been—and almost hoping the Stranded would make a run for it before they showed. But they were scumbags, and they had to be put down. She felt ashamed of herself.
    I really am getting too old for this shit. Baird’s right
.
    “Where’s Sam from?” Anya asked. “I can’t place her accent.”
    “Tyran father, Kashkuri mother. She’s from Anvegad—Anvil Gate.”
    Anya seemed genuinely distracted for a moment. “I didn’t realize.”
    “I like to know what I’m taking on. It’s a habit to cultivate.” Bernie watched Anya doing the mental calculations. Everyone did, wondering if Sam was old enough to remember the siege. “No, ma’am, she was born a few months after it all ended.”
    “Sergeant’s telepathy.” Anya looked embarrassed, too