第197页

　　John  angled  the  Banshee  to  her.  He  clipped  the  tether  line  from  his  belt  to  the  frame  of  the  Banshee  and  squeezed  his  thighs  tighter  onto  the  seat.
　　When  he  was  thirty  meters  away,  he  made  visual  contact.  Linda  had  the  rope  coiled  about  a  boot  and  wrapped  about  one  forearm.  She  held  her  sniper  rifle  in  one  arm,  and  John  could  only  surmise  that  she  had  been  firing  from  such  an  impossible  position.
　　She  uncoiled  the  rope  from  her  boot,  swung,  released  at  the  apex  of  the  arc—and  fell  toward  him.
　　John  forced  the  Banshee's  cowling  up  against  straining  hy?draulics  and  stretched  out  his  arm,  his  fingers  touched  hers—  and  her  hand  slapped  firmly  into  his  gauntlet.
　　He  swung  her  around  and  over  his  shoulder.  Linda  landed  in  front  of  him,  straddling  the  seat.
　　John  spun  the  Banshee  about  and  accelerated  back  to  the  win?dows.  The  craft's  forward  cowling  remained  wrenched  up  and
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　　slowed  them  down—but  there  was  no  other  way  to  fit  two  people  on  the  craft.
　　"Coming  in  hot,"  John  said  over  the  COM  to  Fred  and  Will.  "Open  the  door  and  get  ready  for  a  quick  exit,  Blue  Team."
　　Fred's  acknowledgment  light  winked  on.
　　"Cortana,  breach  those  air  locks.  Now!"
　　A  cacophony  of  voices  filled  John's  COM.  There  were  so  many  copies  of  Cortana  speaking  at  the  same  time  he  couldn't  make  out  anything  coherent.
　　"Cortana,  the  air  locks."
　　There  was  apop  of  static.  "Apologies,  Chief,"  Cortana  replied.  "I've  spun  off  a  dedicated  copy  to...  to...  speak  with  you."
　　John  thought  she  had  already  made  a  copy  to  talk  directly  with  him.  What  had  happened  to  it?
　　"Override  the  air  lock  safeties,  Cortana.  Open  the  external  and  repair  bay  doors."
　　"Working,  Chief.  There's  too  much  system  COM  traffic.  So  many  of  us.  Near  saturation  level.  Have  to  fight  to  get...  Stand  by..."
　　An  explosion  appeared  a  kilometer  away  along  the  far  wall.  The  Lotus  antitank  mine  became  a  blossom  of  flame  and  black  smoke  that  drifted  and  diffused  and  left  a  spiderweb  of  cracks  on  the  meter-thick  translucent  section.
　　But  the  window  held.
　　That  Lotus  antitank  mine  could  have  sheared  through  that  wall  even  if  it  had  been  reinforced  steel,  but  this  wall  had  re?mained  in  one  piece.
　　They  were  stuck  inside.
　　Three  hundred  meters  to  the  window.
　　"Cortana!"
　　In  John's  peripheral  vision  he  saw  clouds  of  Banshees  and  Ghost  fliers  gaining  on  them.
　　"Cortana—it's  now  or  never!"
　　"In  ..."  Cortana's  voice  was  faint.  "Intersystem  failure  08934-EE.  Global  system  error  9845-W.  Resetting.  Inner  doors  open.  Override  in  progress.  System  lockdo—"
　　The  COM  went  dead.
　　A  hundred  meters  away,  beyond  the  cracked  window,  the  atmosphere  turned  white  for  a  split  second  then  cleared.  Spaced
　　324 HALO:  FIRST  STRIKE
　　every  twenty  meters  along  the  bay  walls,  the  air  lock  doors  were  opening.  Beyond,  stars  shone  upon  velvet  black.
　　Fred  and  Will's  Banshees  appeared  off  John's  starboard  ca?nard.  John  pointed  and  together  they  dived,  accelerating  toward  a  bull's-eye  pattern  of  cracks  on  the  translucent  portion  of  the  wall.