Shoving a Kalashnikov out a rear blasterport, Doc cut loose, spraying rounds wildly all over the place. He knew there wasn’t a chance in hell of hitting the other wag, but it would certainly slow them. Krysty tried the same with her blasterport, but found it blocked with slivers of metal, more flying debris from the devastated base.
Slamming a fresh clip into his exhausted blaster, Ryan glowered at the swerving vehicle chasing them. He knew what somebody was doing below and heartily approved. Unfortunately, the driver of the Hummer was already anticipating retaliation by swerving back and forth, making the wag damn hard to hit. Holstering the piece, Ryan called down, “Pass me a LAW!”
There was some rummaging about by the companions, then a sealed plastic tube was handed up to him. Yanking out the safety pin made the sights pop up automatically. Zeroing the aft port, Ryan checked to make sure it was clear behind him, then placed the crosshairs of the scope on the veering wag, resting his finger on the firing button placed on the top of the launcher tube.
Counting under his breath, Ryan tried to find a pattern to the driving, and had to accept it was purely random. Whoever was behind the wheel was smart. But not smart enough.
The LAV was struck again by a powerful explosion, and he could see the reflected light of the blast underneath him. There was no contrail of flame, so it wasn’t a LAW, and not powerful enough for an Arm-brust or HALFA. Someone was firing a gren launcher. The Bradley was a light armored vehicle, but it could easily take a hundred 40 mm grens without damage.
The black night sped by without details to the landscape, while Ryan tried to catch the Hummer again in his crosshairs, but between the LAV rolling over the irregular ground, and their pursuers nimbly dodging, there was no way he could track the target.
“Find some flat ground!” he shouted into the wag. “Give me ten secs of straight driving!”
“They’ll get our range!” J.B. shouted back in warning.
“Already got it,” Krysty retorted angrily, as another gren brutally slammed the LAV.
Squinting through the cracked Plexiglas of the ob slit, J.B. drew his blaster and blew it away, clearing his vision immensely. A cold wind streamed into the wag, but his glasses protected his eyes, preventing J.B. from blinking blindly. There seemed to be more rolling hills to the south, but the land to the north appeared to be more level. Taking a chance, the Armorer headed that way and the LAV picked up speed as the ground leveled to a smooth plain.
Caught unawares, the Hummer stayed still for a split second. Ryan laid the crosshairs on the wag and pressed the launch button. A dart of fire flashed from the front of the tube, streaking toward the Hummer. Just then something detonated under the LAV, making it lurched violently to the right and start to tip over.
Already on its way, the armor-piercing missile streaked past the Hummer and struck the ground, harmlessly blowing chunks of the hard soil skyward. Tossing away the spent LAW, Ryan bruised his shoulder and jaw as he dropped back inside the armored wag just as it slammed into the ground, skidding out of control. Boxes were bouncing about inside the vehicle. Mildred was sprawled fully over Jak, and Sheffield was dangling from a broken safety harness, almost free. Snarling, Ryan grabbed for his blaster only to find it gone.
“Fireblast!” he roared in frustration.
With a triumphant cry, Sheffield snapped the ropes binding his wrist and dropped to the opposite wall. On his knees, Doc turned as the baron slammed him against the rear doors. Doc was astonished by the man’s strength and realized the baron wasn’t a norm, but a mutie with superior strength. Gasping from the blow, the old man rapped the stock of the AK-47 into the baron’s face.
Sheffield merely grunted from the strike and pulled the huge LeMat pistol from its holster. Shoving the weapon into the whitehair’s face, he pulled the trigger. Nothing happened. The baron couldn’t believe it. A sec man in battle with a dead blaster? What sense was that? He fumbled to find a safety as Doc smashed the stock of the Kalashnikov on the baron’s head, making him drop the Civil War blaster.