Before too long, the bar had become a battleground, with a firefight and hand-to-hand spilling out onto the drag.
A bar sec patrol who knew Ryan and J.B. should have been on duty went to what they assumed to be their assistance. They found themselves embroiled in a pitched battle that was already starting to attract revelers from other bars who were spoiling for a fight.
It was only a short while before word got back to Yardie, forcing the fat sec man onto the streets of the ville.
“Shit.” He whistled through his teeth as he surveyed the pitched battle that had escalated along the main drag. “What the fuck is One-eye and Four-eyes up to?” he continued. Turning to his lieutenant, he snapped, “Halve the sector patrols and posts. Get them in here now, before we get outfought.”
“Yeah, sure,” his aide agreed, before adding, “What about the baron? He wanted you.”
“Fuck,” the fat sec chief swore. “What the hell is going on here tonight? And where the fuck are Ryan and J.B. when they should be sorting this?”
It was a question to which he would have found the answer incredible.
THE COMPANIONS DISTRIBUTED their belongings among themselves, took a few precious moments to check their blasters were loaded and ready and set off from the med building. Jak and Dean knew the outskirts of the ville better than the others, who had been confined mostly to the med building or the main drag during their stay in Crossroads, and guided them through the residential areas and past the tilled fields. In the distance, the sounds of the firefight going on along the main drag could be clearly heard.
“Sounds like Conroy’s boys got a little boisterous,” J.B. commented laconically.
“Yeah, shame we weren’t there to stop it,” Ryan added.
“Wait!” Jak said sharply, indicating that they get into the shadowed cover afforded by some of the dwellings.
Ryan had let Jak and Dean lead the way, with himself and the Armorer bringing up the rear. Mildred and Krysty walked each on one side of Doc, and they had traveled in a tight line, breaking only when they had to cross open ground, where they had traversed the distance singly, the others providing cover.
And now Jak’s finely tuned hunting senses had given them a warning. They melted back into the shadows of the shacks as three sec men came running past them, cursing and loading their blasters as they ran.
“Well, well, that is most interesting,” Doc murmured after they had passed from earshot. “I would assume, from their direction, that they are from a sentry post.”
Ryan agreed. “Looks like things have really heated up. The outsider with the pox and Conroy’s mercies getting blaster happy. Guess that fat bastard Yardie doesn’t know what to do except pull in all his sentries.”
“Making it easier for us to slip away,” Krysty finished.
Jak turned and looked at them, his white, scarred face highly visible under the moonlight, even in the shadows.
“Mebbe only some sec go in—still keep frosty,” he commented.
Ryan nodded. “Triple red still, everyone. Lead on, Jak.”
The albino said no more, but moved out into the moonlight, leading the companions along the edge of town. They skirted the tilled fields, with the southerly blacktop cutting across the lands to their left. As they left the built up area of the ville behind them, Jak led them on a zigzagging path that took them through the scrub areas that had the most cover. Suddenly, with a gesture for them to stop, he pulled up.
“Sec post?” Ryan whispered.
The albino nodded. “Think deserted. Wait.”
Without another word, the albino disappeared into the undergrowth, using the scant cover between their position and the sec post with such care that he was invisible even to the companions, who were trying to follow his progress.
Within a few minutes, Jak had returned.
“Empty,” he said brusquely. “Must be in ville.”
“Good,” Ryan murmured. “This is what we need. Move out, but still keep low and on triple red.”
Falling into the familiar formation, with Ryan in the lead and J.B. at the rear, they began to move through the scrub and out beyond the deserted sec post. The scrubland across the old, disused fields provided them with some cover until they were able to cross to the ditch at the side of the blacktop, and from there head south.