The whistle sounded like a monstrous, shrieking banshee. Jeremiah failed to control his tremulous voice. "How long?" he screamed at Bzynski, shaking the older man to semi-consciousness. "How long before it gets here?!"
Bzynski slurred his answer, sounding drunk, "A minute. Two at the most."
Just then, Hosea Bethea lurched down the hillside behind them, muttering and fighting shock. "I killed them," he cried, "I killed them all."
Bzynski broke from Jeremiah's grasp and caught the young soldier by the arms.
The team leader looked on in confusion and dismay. For the first time in his illustrious career, he possessed no answers, and every passing second brought certain death closer to millions. His vaunted ability to think under fire, his remarkable imagination and instantaneous problem-so
