PROLOGUE Audio Book Set CASCA: Halls Of Montezuma The screams of the wounded filled the air as Case Lonnergan skidded for cover behind the body of a fallen marine. Bullets struck the ground and a few yards away the dirt and parched grass erupted as a cannonball smashed into the earth and bounced up and away. Case cursed and groveled in the dirt, eyes scanning for any way up the sheer face of the stone wall of the Castle of Chapultepec. Nothing. The men around him were trying to make themselves non-existent, hoping to avoid the fusillade of shots raining down on them from the fortress above as the Mexicans strove to kill as many of the attackers as possible. Around Case a crowd of marines huddled in the lee of the pathetic cover that offered itself. More shots spattered down and another marine grunted and flopped back, his arms outspread and his eyes open to the sky. Case spat out some earth that had found its way into his mouth. As the spit hit the ground his eyes were drawn to the sun glinting off the dead man’s brass buckle. His eyes moved to the uniform, the one thing all warriors share, seeing with envy the ragged hole in it that had oozed the man’s ebbing life. Marine blues. The shelling roared on and bullets whined close. His mind drifted for a moment to the time he had shared drinks with the warriors who made up the first draft of the Marines in Philadelphia decades ago, back in the old Tun Tavern. A drink, now that’s what I need! A bullet smashed inches from his head awakening him from his memories, the sting of the gravel smarting as he brushed it off his cheek with his sleeve. He reached over and closed the eyes of the dead marine. Dumb stupid situation to be in, he thought furiously. No cover, no support and a supply mess-up that leaves us poor infantry here exposed with no way to climb that wall! Audio Book 3CD Set CASCA: HALLS OF MONTEZUMA by Tony Roberts He looked to his right where one marine was covering his head with his hands. Some protection against a bullet. “Still think you did the right thing in leaving the water?” he shouted above the din of shots. The marine grimaced and gritted his teeth. “Give me a chance to get at those sons of bitches and I’ll show you the right thing!” Case grunted in reply and rolled the other way. A bullet whined close by and ricocheted off a stone. He checked his rifle and found it to be loaded. He must’ve done that without thinking when the attack began. Still, what the hell could he do with one shot when the defenders must number a couple of hundred? And he’d have to climb that damned wall somehow. Where were the ladders? Any time now he’d be hit and then he’d have some explaining to do if he healed too quickly. He cursed again and wondered how the devil he’d come to be in this place, when he’d merely tried to get away from one lot of trouble. He’d jumped out of the pan into the fire! It had all began a few years back when he’d been hunted in South Africa, after killing a few British soldiers…… he remembered how he’d had to run from the vengeful arm of British justice, and ended up in Cape Town…. Yes, that was the start of it that dark night as he made his way to what he thought was a safer life…… The smell of tar, hemp, tobacco and salt filled his nostrils, and made him recall the many times he, Casca Rufio Longinus, to give him his original name, had sailed the world’s oceans and seas. He had lived for eighteen centuries now, and the sea was no stranger to him, even though he was not a natural sailor. What was natural to a man cursed to live until the Second Coming? He would have to once again take to the sea and travel away. Casca reached the gangplank and stared up. Lights were on in a few portholes and one shone from the deck, but nobody seemed to be moving about, so he took a deep breath and scuttled up onto the deck, scanning swiftly left and right before ducking into an open hatchway and vanishing from sight.   From "Audio Book 3CD Set CASCA: Halls Of Montezuma #25" Offered by: www.GreenBeretCD.com Oakland, Florida May 2007 Return To Prior Page