His entrails were the same as any other man's.

At first Travis thought it was an autosniper, that they had missed one of the sentry devices. Then he heard the sounds of a firefight erupt too close. The bad feeling he had had when he watched the Sikorsky depart returned, intensified.

Carlo emerged from the trees bleeding from an arm wound. His blood was red. He stumbled over to where Travis lay. "They snuck up on us, Sarge," he said.

Travis was overwhelmed by a sense of unreality. "Impossible," he muttered.

Who could sneak up on greens?

A figure moved cautiously through the undergrowth. At first Travis thought it was Chad. He had the same green skin but the head was too large, the shoulders too muscular. As the figure's head scanned from side to side he made out a hammer and sickle tattoo on its forehead. It was joined by three other figures. They huddled close, exchanging words in Russian. He froze hoping they hadn't noticed him.

Cautiously he unclipped a grenade. One of the Soviets looked up. Travis held still. He could feel his heart hammering against his ribs. The fear he lived with constantly clawed at him. He wanted to run and scream. A

noise attracted the enemies' attention.

The Russians had Greens too. This was important. The US was assumed to be five years ahead in bio-technology. Travis wondered briefly whether they had got them by independent research or industrial espionage. He decided it didn't matter. He lobbed the grenade.

One of the figures looked up just before impact, tried to throw himself flat as he shouted a warning. Travis let rip with his M-16. The Soviet Greens reeled and died. Gobbets of bloody flesh exploded across the clearing. They didn't scream. Not one of them screamed.

"Come on, Carlo," Travis shouted and headed towards the sound of gunfire.

He sprinted from tree to tree then threw himself on his stomach to worm his way round the edge of the clearing. He assumed Carlo was following.

Keep moving, he told himself, don't let the fear in your gut get control.

Bill-boy was pinned down by the bole of a giant tree.