Read Sword Point for Free Online Page B

away into the darkness.
    They could not see their targets, but that didn’t matter. The crew had the weapon set to fire along a prescribed arc at a set height. Anything standing more than one meter in height entering that zone would be hit.

    The rest of Ilvanich’s platoon was doing likewise. So long as every man covered his zone, in theory no Iranian could reach them alive.
    From behind the platoon’s positions a flare raced upward, then burst, casting a pale light over no-man’s-land. Their attackers were now clearly visible. Numbering in the hundreds, the Iranians piled through the gaps in the wire and rushed toward the platoon’s position. With the aid of the flare, the machine gun stopped its sweep and concentrated on the gap immediately to its front; its rounds were clearly hitting in the mass of attackers, knocking the lead rank back.
    The follow-on rank, however, merely pushed over the bodies of their comrades and surged forward. In their turn they were cut down. And in turn the next rank pressed forward.
    This process was maddening to Ilvanich. Each rank of attackers gained a few more meters. The Iranians were closing on the platoon’s positions. Ilvanich suddenly realized that the situation he faced was a simple question of mathematics: Did the Iranians have more men than he had bullets to kill them with?
    This line of thought was interrupted by a scream to his left. A junior sergeant came running up to Ilvanich and, gasping for breath, reported that the platoon to their left had collapsed and the Iranians were pouring through the gap created. Rushing past the sergeant, Ilvanich began to make his way along the trench to the left flank of his position, stepping over bodies of his men who had fallen during this and previous attacks.
    On reaching his last position, he could clearly see Iranians running past his platoon, headed for the airport’s runway. The sergeant in command of the squad covering that section of the trench had already reoriented some of his men to face the flank and the rear. His men were firing into the
    Iranians as they went by, but to no effect. The Iranians were hell-bent to reach the runway.
    In the gathering light, Ilvanich saw two BMD infantry fighting vehicles charge from the direction of the runway toward the head of the Iranian penetration. With guns blazing, the BMDs cut down the lead rank. The Iranians who were on either side of the line of fire moved away from the BMDs and sought cover. Without firing, they allowed the two BMDs to pass.
    Suddenly Ilvanich realized what the Iranians were up to. They were going to allow the BMDs to go by, then hit them in the rear. Before he could act, the Iranians began to close on the BMDs from behind. In groups of twos and threes they rushed forward, some with mines, others with explosive charges.
    Those with the mines were going to shove them under the tracks of the advancing BMDs to immobilize them. Once the vehicles were stopped, the
    Iranians with the charges would be able to set their charges and blow the
    BMDs up. With the BMDs destroyed, there would be nothing immediately available to plug the gap. The Iranians with the mines had to be stopped.
    Looking back to the front, Ilvanich could see no letup in the Iranians’
    attacks on his positions. They were still slowly gaining ground. If he switched a machine gun from the front to assist the BMDs, the horde he faced would surge forward and overwhelm his position. By the same token, if the Iranians destroyed the BMDs, eventually they would surround the platoon’s position and wipe it out. Without another thought, Ilvanich ordered the machine gun to switch positions to face the rear and engage the
    Iranians attacking the BMDs. Four riflemen were ordered to cover the machine gun’s former zone to the front.
    The machine gun was immediately effective. The fire from the rear caused some of the Iranians approaching the BMDs to stop and go to ground. In addition, the crews of the BMDs, alerted by