“Any chance of them being in use?” Ryan asked.
“Doubt it,” Mildred replied. “Take a look at them.”
Ryan cast his good eye over the state of the roads and tracks. They were rutted and cracked, with little sign of any use. Whereas the blacktop, despite the cracks of age and earth movement, had traces of recent use.
“Yeah. Anything that comes along this way only uses the main drag, and leaves the sides well alone.”
“Which means we should find the ville the only populated place around these parts,” Krysty added.
Progress was slow along the side of the road, and after six miles there were signs across the flat landscape that other old blacktop roads were beginning to converge in the distance.
Ryan eyed them speculatively as they took a rest. “J.B.,” he said softly, “do you remember ever coming around these parts with Trader?”
The Armorer, removing his fedora to mop his forehead and then polishing his spectacles, thought carefully before answering.
“No, don’t reckon I do,” he replied, “but, thinking about where we are, I do remember something I heard about. There was talk of a trade route along the eastern trail that went through a ville called Crossroads, that had four old blacktop roads—still in good repair— come together from the four points of the compass.”
Ryan nodded. “I can see three from here. Guess the other one wouldn’t be visible until we were actually in the ville. That many blacktops isn’t that common, and neither is a ville right in the middle. Remember anything said about it?”
The Armorer shook his head. “Not that could help us. Good gaudies, good whiskey… The baron was a guy called Roberts, or Johnson, I heard. Pretty laid back.”
“So perhaps we should not be too pessimistic about our reception after all?” Doc asked, leaning heavily on his sword.
Ryan smiled wryly. “I wouldn’t bet on that, Doc. After all, we did blast one of his sec men, and a ville like that is worth a lot of jack, which means a lot of heavy sec.”
“Ah, well, so much for thinking it may be a trifle easy.” Doc sighed. “Shall we press on and face the inevitable?”
It wasn’t until they were less than two miles from the ville, and could see the buildings in the distance, that the trouble began.
Ryan suddenly halted. Knowing there had to be a reason, the rest of the companions came to a halt and also drew their blasters. J.B. moved around the rest, keeping low, until he came to Ryan.
“What is it?” he asked.
Ryan indicated three points in front of them—fanning out across the level of the blacktop—with the long barrel of the Steyr.
“Patrol, moving across the road. I just caught sight of a man keeping low to the blacktop. There’s movement in the foliage there—” he pointed to the left “—and there—” pointing to the right “—and I don’t reckon the moving man was the one I saw originally. I figure they’re moving across from different posts in relays.”
“Split into two parties and take them?” the Armorer asked.
“Yeah, but try not to chill them,” Ryan advised him. “We don’t want to piss the baron off by chilling some of his men, but we don’t want them taking us out before we have a chance to say hello.”
“With you there,” the Armorer agreed. “How we gonna do this?”
“Me, Krysty and Dean will try and get across the blacktop and take out that side.”
J.B. frowned. “What about Jak?” He was aware that the albino youth was the best suited among them to lead a raid such as this. Indeed, Ryan would normally have no hesitation in picking him. But now?
Ryan looked back to where Jak was waiting, aware that his words, although directed at J.B., could be heard by all.
“I don’t want to risk Jak right now. I know it’s been a while since he was out of it, but I won’t risk a good man until he’s sure, and I’m sure.” Ryan looked back at Jak as he spoke, and was gratified to see the albino nod almost imperceptibly. “Jak can lead on this side.”