trated on individual targets as the troop ships
neared the roof, or, what was left of it. Only about a fourth of it was
still level. The rest was blasted, twisted rubble. The first helicopter swung over and the Pilot cried back, "I don't dare
sit down. That mess will never hold us. I'll hover as low as I can, and
you'll have to jump."
12 Red Crow ripped off his headset, strapped on a helmet, and picked up
a rifle. He was the first to hit the roof and Bullet was behind him.
They made their way to the stairwell at the center of the building.
Suddenly, shots rang out, and a man near Bullet fell. They went into
the kneeling position and began returning the fire. It wasn't long
before those attacking them lay dead or dying.
13 They reached the stairwell and started down. The three top floors
were twisted rubble, and bodies lay everywhere, most of them in pieces.
In the midst of the rubble they found the bomb, laying on its side,
crashed half-way through the floor. "It must've been on the floor
above," remarked Bullet, "and fell through."
14 A man's body lay by the bomb in a pool of blood, his legs blown
apart, his outstretched fingers were within an inch of the button that
would have fired the bomb!
15 "All right," ordered Red Crow, "get it disarmed, then we'll start
downstairs...clean out the rat's nest, until we meet the troops coming
up from the bottom."
16 Suddenly one of the men disarming the bomb began to laugh. He became
almost hysterical and the others looked at him in amazement. "Do you
mind" screamed Red Crow, "letting the rest of us know what's so funny?"
17 "This is a Series B bomb," the man gasped, "and this is a Series A
detonator!"
18 "So?" screamed Red Crow.
19 "One doesn't work with the other! If they'd set off this detonator,
it would have simply blown the end off the bomb. Oh, it would have contaminated this area, but no big
mushroom."