The Battle for Terra Two Read Online Free PDF

Japanese War or the Soviet War, Major?" He smiled indulgently. "Or do you mean the endless war preparations, the alleged Armistice that saps our resources, fueling a huge force that may never fully engage?''
    John held out a pack of Lucky Strike Greens—the late Major Harrison had done two packs a day.
    Aldridge shook his head. "Enjoy."
    "Why is a man of your attainments an Urban Corps commandant, Colonel?" asked John, lighting a cigarette. "Many Canadian schools would welcome you."
    Aldridge looked into his coffee mug, index finger thoughtfully tapping the faded red coat-of-arms etched into the side. "A man needs more than the pap of intellectualism to hold his life together. Duty is my cement, Major," He looked up. "It keeps me here. That and a sense of place. My people signed the Mayflower Compact, stood at Lexington, broke Pickett's charge, fought at Chateau-Thierry. Boston bred and buried, the lot."
    He reached out, pressing a button.
    "Know anything about our situation here?"
    "Very little, sir."
    "We're essentially a Norman castle, protecting the few from the many."
    A young Wehrmacht captain came in, carefully shutting the door. He snapped a brisk salute at Aldridge. "At ease, Erich," said the colonel, returning it sketchily.
    "Major John Harrison, Hauptmann Erich zur Linde of the Fourth Reich's Civil Order Unit. Erich's an exchange officer, here for a year. His experience in Southwest Africa is proving most helpful with the gangers."
    John took the German's hand, shaken a bit by the field gray uniform and the jackboots—the Fourth Reich had obviously kept the Third's military dress.
    "Erich's father and I served under Speidel. We crossed the Malinkoff Line together in '49." Aldridge pointed his pen at the photograph. "He's third from the left." John glanced at the picture. The younger zur Linde might have been his father's twin: tall, broad-shouldered, with the same square jaw and disturbingly resolute expression. Harrison supposed they also shared the same blond hair and blue eyes.
    "Erich, I'd like you to give Harrison the tour. He's our new G2, with CIB experience. Let's hope his insight's as useful as yours."
    "My pleasure, Colonel," said the young German. His English bore only a trace of Central Europe.
    "See you tomorrow, gentlemen. Staff meeting at 0830."
    The two saluted and left, leaving Aldridge to his reports.
    The tour began over ruins and ended over cocktails. Leading Harrison to the rooftop heliport, zur Linde signed out one of the small recon choppers. Sliding into the pilot's seat, he motioned John to the copilot's seat. They lifted off and swung east.
    The Hospital by daylight was a squat rectangle as bleak as its surroundings: windowless, gray concrete fronted and topped by the sandbags and razor wire. The rubble around it had been cleared from the hill on which it sat, providing a thousand-meter killzone. Landmine furrows puckered the slopes.
    Away from headquarters, the ruins stretched for miles. Burnt and shattered tenements, stores, garages, factories, schools, all spilling into weed-choked streets. A forest of broken glass glinted in the noon sun. Once they flew over a rusting tank, its left tread gone, eighty-eight millimeter cannon cranked at an absurd angle. Nothing moved in the whole desolate landscape.
    "Roxbury and North Dorchester are like this," said zur Linde, voice clear in John's headset. "Uninhabited since '68. South Boston, Jamaica Plain and Hyde Park are turf— ganger country. Not on our tour. They hit us in the enclaves, we hit them where they live. Otherwise, we stay clear."
    Issued in August of '68, Executive Order 1016, the Soweto Order, had mandated photo IDs and travel documents for all residents of the proscribed areas. The day after 1016's promulgation, a fifteen-year-old Chicano in the Los Angeles barrio had Molotoved a UC registration point. Two days later, the cities were burning.
    When it ended, air strikes, armor and rolling artillery barrages had laid waste much of