Colpo Lampo

“You know what else is interesting,” said Enzo.  “We’ve been led to believe that the bomb was going to be a large nuclear device as opposed to a bunch of small ones.  Very clever on Champney’s part.  Foreseeing the possibility that someone might leak his plans to the authorities, he has spoken to the attack only in terms of a single large device.  If and when there was a leak, the authorities would most likely end up looking in all the wrong places.”

“It looks like we lucked out.  We just happened to wander into the right place at the right time.  It’s up to us now to stop them.”

Enzo nodded his head in agreement.  “And we don’t have much time to do it.  It looks like they’re going to be loading up and taking off soon.  Do you have any idea if those nukes might be armed?”

“Pardon, patron, but I don’t have any idea.  We were only trained to recognize them.  We had demolition experts in our battalions who were trained in the arming and disarming of suitcase nukes.  If we ever found one, we were instructed to notify them immediately.  Why do you ask?” 

“It was just a wild idea.  I thought one way we could stop them for taking off would be to fire at and destroy the bombs.  But not knowing if they were armed would make it too dangerous.”

“I agree, so maybe the next best thing we could do is to damage the helicopters so they can’t take off.”

“Do you have any ideas how to go about it?  It looks like a problem you Legionnaires might have been trained to deal with.”

“I do.  Since we’re outnumbered, there’s no way we can go running in there firing our weapons.  We might do some damage, but we’d never get out alive.  We have to do a quick hit and run, and I mean a real quick hit and run.” 

Philippe took a soft deep breathe and continued.  “Here’s what I suggest we do.  First, we’re going to set our weapons to three round bursts.  Then we’re going to crawl out into the open part of the warehouse.  You’ll position yourself where you’ll have a clear shot at the helicopter on the right.  I’ll position myself so I have a clear shot at the one on the left.  When you’re in position, look towards me.  I’ll look to you when I’m in position.  Any questions so far, patron?”

“Only why are we setting our weapons to three round bursts?” 

“Bien.  I'll cover that in a second. When we’re both looking at each other, I’ll nod.  When I do, count to three and begin firing.  Fire five bursts at the cockpit of your helicopter.  Then fire five more bursts at its tail.  I'll do the same. Firing in three round bursts will help us keep track of how many rounds we have expended."