“I’d go with that,” Ryan agreed. “You pick the two you want, okay?” And when the Gate number two assented, the one-eyed man turned his attention to the Armorer. “That was damn fine work, J.B. How are you feeling?”
“Had the tremors where the explosion set my nerves jangling, but that’s gone now,” J.B. replied offhandedly. “I’m ready to go.”
Ryan nodded, clapping his old friend on the shoulder. “That’s good. Let’s get this show going.”
They joined Gloria, who had been briefing the war party on what the situation appeared to be and enlightening the Crossroads people on what they might expect in the redoubt.
The Gate and Crossroads party numbered around seventy, the Gate men waiting outside with the wags for their warriors to return, as was their tradition. Running his eye over the assembly with as much detachment as he could muster, Ryan wondered whether the Crossroads fighters would be up to the task if they had to face ambushes and laser fire in a close combat situation. There was no doubting their intent and passion, as Yardie had demonstrated before leaving the ville, let alone their display in getting past booby traps the like of which were alien to them. But being hard about it, was it practical to rely on them in this situation?
Mebbe fifty percent, Ryan figured. Which meant that the bulk of the action would be down to the Gate warriors and to his own people. Looking at them, it was disheartening to see how Mildred, Doc and Jak had been affected by the pox. All three were now showing visible signs, and all had made it clear that they were aware of diminished capabilities.
Weight of numbers were good, but how many Illuminated Ones were there in the redoubt? If he had some way of knowing, or guessing, then he would feel much safer in making combat judgments.
Gloria turned to him, interrupting his train of thought.
“Next step, Ryan?”
The one-eyed man clicked into battle mode and began, “You know how the redoubts are usually laid out, from what you’ve just been told and from what some of you have experienced. You’ve also been told that the Illuminated Ones appear to have pulled all their sec right back, giving us what could be a clear run of the redoubt. A party of five will be heading for the area where the labs are usually located in order to try and find the source of the disease, and also the antidote and cure. The rest of us—our task is to wipe these bastards off the face of the earth before they can do more damage. In order to do this, there will be an advance party that will scout ahead, with a runner reporting back. The main bulk of fighters will follow when the area ahead has been recced. Those of you who will be in the advance party know you have the hardest task of all—you’ll be the ones who run into danger first, so we need people who can stay frosty and triple smart, keep triple red.
“For that reason, the advance party will have to be Gate women. This isn’t to belittle those of you from Crossroads—you don’t have the battle experience necessary, is all. For the same reason, myself and J.B. may go, but not Doc or Jak. Like some of you Crossroads people, they have contracted the pox and know that their reflexes are slowed.
“The aim here is to keep calm, keep it under control and risk as few of us as possible until we’re in full scale combat. Is that clear?”
There was a muttering and a murmur of agreement.
“Okay, then it’s time to pick the scout party and get moving. We’ve wasted enough time already.”
A six-woman scout team was picked, including Nita and Dette. Cat elected to stay with Doc.
“Don’t worry, my old friend, you’ll be all right with the Cat,” she whispered to him. And, in truth, Doc was glad of the support as his labored breathing and aching back and ribs made it hard for him to move swiftly.
The six-woman team set off, followed by Mildred’s party. They would move directly behind the scouts and then branch off when they reached the area where the lab was situated.