There was only one thing Jak could do. Knowing that blasterfire was useless, and that Dean would be staying still to avoid being stung, Jak did the only thing that would resolve the situation. Palming one of his leaf-bladed throwing knives, he took careful aim and skimmed the knife along the surface of the blacktop—so close to the tarmac that it almost touched— until it slammed into the body of the scorpion. The razor-honed point of the knife penetrated the creature’s armor and carried it away from Dean. The young man watched as the knife and the scorpion disappeared into the undergrowth at the side of the road.
Trying not to heave an audible sigh of relief, Dean began to move across the blacktop. When he arrived in the undergrowth at the side of the road, he was greeted by Krysty, holding up the scorpion, still embedded on the knife.
Jak had saved Dean and had also proved to Ryan his return to full awareness and peak condition, something that the one-eyed man acknowledged to the albino as he signaled across the road for them to continue.
The two parties now made rapid progress toward their prey. Each aimed for the sec post on their side of the blacktop, and each cut through the thin cover of the overgrown fields as swiftly as possible. Although they could disguise their progress by keeping low, the level of cover in the old fields was poor, and it was a balance between speed and keeping themselves unseen.
J.B. led the way for his party, with Jak taking point. Doc was just in front of him, and Mildred followed on J.B.’s heels. The Armorer slowed as they reached a sparse section, and Jak came around to crouch beside him.
“Not much,” he said simply.
J.B. shook his head and spoke tersely. “No way we can all proceed. You reckon you can flank them without being spotted?” he asked, indicating a path around to the far side of the sec post. There was still a sparsity of cover, but possibly enough for someone with Jak’s skill.
“Can try.” The albino shrugged. “Better go—Ryan signal soon.”
J.B. agreed, but before he had even had a chance to finish, Jak was gone.
OVER ON THE OTHER SIDE of the blacktop, Ryan had cut a swath through the undergrowth with ease, and he had now established a position within a hundred yards of the sec post. They were so close that Krysty could see the occupants: two men, drinking from a canteen and murmuring to each other, paying scant attention to the road, and especially to the undergrowth around them.
“Guess they don’t get a lot of trouble, Dad,” Dean whispered.
“Except mebbe today,” Ryan replied wryly.
The one-eyed man cast a glance over to the far side of the blacktop, and cursed to himself when he realized that he was staring through foliage to an almost bare expanse of field on the opposite side of the road. There was no way that J.B. and the others could get that far forward. It gave them a harder task, no doubt about that.
It was then that he caught a shining reflection from the corner of his eye. Far flung, it came from a metallic object to one side of the sec post and was shining in a regular pattern.
Jak.
Ryan allowed himself a smile. He should have known that they would have found a way to even the chances. He got ready to signal.
J.B. SAW JAK SETTLE and then direct a signal to the far side of the road. Looking ahead, he could see that the post was manned by a pair of sec men, neither of whom was paying too much attention to what was going on around him. One had wandered away from cover and was urinating onto a tree, while the other was resting his chin on his hands, staring at the road and seemingly daydreaming.
“It would seem that they are not used to regular traffic,” Doc observed quietly in J.B.’s ear.
“Yeah, and they expect everyone to be using the road,” the Armorer replied.
“I find that a satisfactory situation,” Doc murmured.