Dette smiled, her eyes flashing excitement at the thought of the battle ahead. “Sure thing. Give me just a couple of minutes to get there, yeah?”
“Do it quicker if you can,” the Armorer advised her.
“You’ll know if I have, ’cause we’ll be moving up.”
J.B. allowed himself a smile. “Okay, go.”
He didn’t watch the Gate woman disappear into the early light of dawn, turning instead to the warriors around him.
“We move in two minutes max, mebbe sooner if we see a party start for the track. Don’t take stupe chances. We need all of us to fight in there. I figure there’ll be mines of some kind, mebbe wire traps hidden beneath the topsoil. Use sticks and stones, prodding the ground for wire and throwing them ahead to try and find mines. Last blaster check now, and gather stones, as well. Then we move on the signal.”
The group around him indicated their agreement, and as the Armorer ran through a last check on his Uzi, the M-4000 with its load of barbed metal flechettes, and checked his Tekna knife was secure for any close combat, his mind was racing. He picked stones from the soil, ready to begin pitching them to test the way ahead, and wondered what was happening in the redoubt There were so many possibilities, it would be a question of thinking on their feet when they got inside.
He wondered if Dette had delivered her messages yet…
JAK NODDED his understanding, his impassive visage belying the attention he paid to Dette. When she had finished, he looked around at the group of warriors he headed, and asked, “Everyone get?”
There was a murmur of agreement, and Jak’s red eyes glittered as they searched the group around.
“You know what do,” he said simply. “Give Dette time, then go fast, triple alert. Get ready.”
The warriors around checked their blasters and prepared themselves mentally for the charge.
It depended on Dette reaching Doc’s group and relaying her message in time.
DETTE WAS SWIFT, slowed only by the need to keep cover as she traveled from group to group. She had time to spare when she reached the cluster of warriors on the far side of the arc, where Doc was waiting for word of action, his LeMat percussion pistol loaded, primed and ready.
“How charming of you to drop in,” he said smoothly when Dette arrived in the clump of foliage where they were concealed. “I presume you bring word from John Barrymore?”
“Eh?” Dette gasped, momentarily nonplussed.
“Don’t worry about it,” Cat said easily from her position by Doc. “Just tell us what you’ve got to.”
Dette relayed the message from J.B. Doc checked on his old chron.
“Time to spare, as well,” he commented. “I would say that you’ve done a fine job. Pray take a second to get your breath back while we finalize our preparation.”
“Shit, how do you ever get your breath back, the amount of words you use,” Dette panted.
“Don’t worry about that, either,” Cat said slyly. “You got any intelligence, you soon get used to it.”
The two women exchanged glances of mutual loathing. Doc picked up on the atmosphere and said, “Save that for those we are about to face. I would say, from your expressions, that if you transferred that to the enemy, then you could eradicate them on your own.”
JAK LOOKED toward the area where he knew that Doc and his group were hiding. In the dim light he could see no sign of Dette. There was sparse cover between the two areas, and he knew he would be able to spot her moving among the undergrowth. Not many could have been so sure, but Jak’s eyes were better attuned to the dim light, and his almost preternatural hunter’s instincts could spot things that a lesser mortal might not.
So the Gate warrior had to have reached Doc and imparted her message. The door of the redoubt had been opening as she arrived, and was now still. By his estimation, there was still a little time before the limit J.B. set for the woman would be reached. But he was certain she had reached her final destination, and was also certain that the Armorer and Doc would lead their parties out on a cue from the albino.