Judgment Day -03 Read Online Free PDF Page A

there was nothing tasty to eat inside, he dropped back to the ground and walked in a small circle before lying down beside his master. Leaning around the front of the Lexus, Mason took a long moment to study the interstate. Nothing moved, and there were no sounds of life. He shook his head slowly, a little disappointed that his instincts had driven him to take an unnecessary and time-consuming detour.
    Bowie tipped his head up and took several deep sniffs, his moist black nose sponging up odors from every direction. Then he looked over at Mason as if to ask, Don’t you smell that?
    Mason smelled the air, searching for anything that didn’t belong. There were many odors, human decay and gasoline being the strongest. But there was something else too—a faint hint of cigarette smoke. He caught it only for an instant, but the smell of burning tobacco was unmistakable. He scanned the cars ahead of him, hoping to see a wisp of smoke rising into the air like an ethereal arrow pointing to his enemy. No such luck.
    He studied the road for places where someone might hide. There were plenty of cars, most smashed into one another or pushed to the side of the road. While someone could certainly hide inside, the loss of mobility would put them at a significant disadvantage. Professionals wouldn’t do that, he thought. Then he saw it. Three giant concrete pipes sat beside the road in a deep culvert, a small Toyota pinned beneath one of them. Mason could only assume that they had rolled off a tractor-trailer as it plowed its way through the stalled traffic.
    The pipes were roughly lined up end-to-end, creating a makeshift tunnel with small gaps between the sections. The heavy concrete pipes were easily eight feet in diameter, making them traversable even when standing upright. It was an incredibly solid defensive position, providing cover, shooting ports between the pipes, and only two ways in or out.
    Something dark crossed the gap between two of the pipes.
    Mason’s heart quickened. The question of whether or not someone was inside had been answered. Now what? Getting any closer without being seen would be difficult.
    There were plenty of places around him to use as cover or concealment, should he choose to engage in a firefight, but none were as good as the pipes. The M4’s 5.56 mm rounds had no chance of penetrating the ten-inch-thick concrete. His best bet was to draw them out. Unfortunately, luring trained soldiers out of a defensive position was nearly impossible. Every infantry soldier knew the merits of putting something bulletproof between himself and the enemy.
    A second option, albeit a more dangerous one, was to stealthily approach from one end of the structure. There was enough roadway clutter that Mason thought he could probably low crawl his way to the culvert without being seen. Once there, he could snake his way to the end of the far pipe and pop in like an unwanted in-law. At that point, the pipes would act to trap the men. The biggest unknown was how many men were inside. If there were too many, even the element of surprise might not be enough to win the day.
    Fresh out of ideas, Mason decided to give it a go.
    “Stay put,” he whispered, giving Bowie a quick pat on his side.
    Then he turned away and leaned his M4 against one of the tires. Low-crawling twenty yards on asphalt covered in broken glass without being detected was going to be hard enough. Trying to do it while pushing a rifle ahead of him seemed all but impossible. Next, he lay flat on the ground, head first, with his legs splayed out behind him.
    Bowie whined softly but didn’t move.
    Keeping his head pressed against the pavement, Mason began to shimmy his way forward. The low crawl offered the smallest silhouette to anyone who might be keeping an eye on the road, but it in no way guaranteed that he would remain undetected. To keep from drawing attention to his motion, he kept his progress slow, advancing only a few inches at a time. He carefully