Ahead, they could see that the way was clear until the point where the wag sat jammed beneath the sec door. They could also see the two groups of warriors taking cover in the area directly to the rear of the wag. There were only a few desultory exchanges of fire, and both J.B. and Doc could figure that the attack was now stalled, waiting for the reinforcements to arrive.
The Armorer turned to the united forces.
“Go in quick, take cover to the sides—be a shame to be caught by a stray blast—and await further orders.” He waved them in, and the attackers began to feed into the redoubt, flowing past him. He turned to Doc.
“I figure we should see what Ryan and Gloria have to say about this. Looks good for a full assault, but—”
“But it has been a tad too simple thus far, would you not say? Only a few traps to traverse? I would have expected more, which suggests that they have something in reserve.”
J.B. nodded. “Yeah, I’d reckon on that, too.” He stopped and peered intently at Doc, who was breathing with some difficulty and being partly supported by Cat. “Doc, how you feeling? I mean, honestly.”
“In truth, I feel as though I have a horde of stickies with those loathsome suckered fingers crammed into my lungs, trying to prevent me from breathing. I fear that the pox is finally taking a hold on me. My skin feels chafed and sore, and look—” Doc held open his shirt to reveal a network of pustules and scabs that were starting to spread across his chest and stomach. “I may not have long, John Barrymore, and while I will fight to the last, I fear that I may not be as reliable as I would wish.”
J.B. nodded once. There was no way he wanted Doc to get this far and then fall at the last fence.
Before the Armorer had a chance to say anything, Cat broke in. “Don’t worry about old big mouth, here,” she said, punching him playfully on the arm. “I’ll keep him on his feet and fighting until we get through.”
She looked at Doc, saying, “You buy the farm, I have to buy it first, yeah?”
Doc inclined his head graciously. “I appreciate your concern, madam.”
“Fine, but let’s cut the words,” J.B. said urgently. “Doc, you and Cat get to the front on one side, and I’ll go for the other. We need to get the game plan sorted quickly.”
“Agreed,” Doc affirmed. “Let’s go…”
“JOHN, GLAD YOU COULD make it and join the fun,” Mildred said as the Armorer reached the front of the vanguard party.
“Sorry, I was a little detained,” he commented wryly. “What’s going on?”
“Not as much as we’d like, I guess,” Mildred began before outlining briefly the situation as it stood.
When she had finished, J.B. scratched his head, pushing back his fedora, before taking off his spectacles and polishing them, a habit that indicated he was now deep in thought.
“So the number one priority is to push them back and move down into the redoubt, which we can only do if we drive them back far enough to get access to the other side of the sec door and bring it up fully. Otherwise we’re sitting targets trying to squeeze through that space.”
“That’s about it,” Mildred agreed.
J.B. put on his spectacles and pushed them up the bridge of his nose, his eyes shining as he viewed the way ahead.
“Leave it to me,” he said simply before darting across the corridor, using the wag as cover and keeping low.
“Ryan, I think I’ve figured a way to drive them back and keep the next sec door up while we secure this one and get it up for a full assault,” he said in a rash.
“Tell me,” Ryan replied simply. J.B. outlined his plan, and Gloria looked at him in astonishment.
“You think that’ll work?” she asked.
The Armorer shrugged. “If not, we’re fucked anyway. We have to get past them and get that door opened. I figure this is worth the risk. It can be done if you give me enough cover.”