Devil Riders

“Ranging shot,” J.B. directed, touching the rope with his butane lighter. As the fuse sputtered into life, he raised the crossbow and pressed the trigger.

The flaming arrows arced over the ville to drop beyond the motel a dozen blocks away.

“Try ten o’clock, instead of eleven,” he said, reloading and lowering the angle. “All together. Ready, shoot!”

The companions launched in unison, the flurry of arrows soaring high to plummet down into the open courtyard around the motel. Bursting from the building, Jed and Sparrow came running out with blasters drawn, both of their dogs baying wildly.

“Again,” Ryan ordered brusquely, as tiny dots of light began moving along the top of the adobe wall. The sentries had spotted the firebrands. “Shift more into the wind!”

The crossbows were armed once more, and the next flight went over the motel, one arrow spiraling away randomly to disappear into the distance.

“The fuse came free and threw off the balance,” Doc rumbled angrily.

Suddenly a chorus of voices rose from the opposite side of the temple, closely followed by a tremendous crash of splintering wood. Then it came again and again.

“Sounds as if the sec men are busting through,” Dean said.

“Check the wires,” J.B. commanded, running his fingers along the shaft of an arrow. “This volley has got to be on target!”

Locking his crossbow and reloading, Jak saw a man carrying a longblaster appear on a roof a few buildings away. Only a sec man would have a weapon like that, so he fired from the hip. The unlit arrow flew straight and hit the man in the stomach partially going through. Dropping the blaster, the man clutched the shaft sticking out of his belly and shrieked in pain.

Squinting in that direction, Ryan chanced two shots with the SIG-Sauer, but the wounded man was masked by the darkness and kept on screaming. Having no choice, he slid the Steyr off his shoulder, placed the crosshairs on the sec man’s chest and put a 7.62 mm round through his heart, ending the cries.

But the crack of the sniper rifle rolled over the ville, and most of the voices on the streets stopped shouting.

“If they come to this side and find the bodies, we’re screwed. There’s no canopy over here to hide the arrows,” Ryan growled. “Load and fire at will, but hit that triple-damn wag right now!”

Fast and furious, the companions loaded and fired as quickly as possible, flaming arrows raining all over the area, setting fire to the roof of the motel and smashing to pieces on the streets. When the wind slowed for moment, they sent off the last flurry of arrows. Climbing high toward the stars, the firebrands curved sharply earthward and slammed all over the wag, penetrating the cab, the hood, and several going through the tattered canvas awning over the rear.

Only seconds later, a fire woofed out the back of the wag from the punctured fuel cans, tongues of flame licking from every hole in the canvas. Some sec man hidden behind the wag started running, but it was already too late.

The deafening explosion illuminated the entire ville in a blinding flash of light and rattled shutters for blocks in every direction. Caught near the blast, the sec men were slapped off the ground and sent tumbling through the air like burning rag dolls to hit the side of other buildings with lethal results.

Then from the boiling inferno of the barn came a series of sharp bangs and a new fireball boiled upward, spraying out debris as the cans of condensed fuel rocketed into the air and detonated above the ville.

By now every window was open and a dozen bells were ringing. Illuminated by the reddish glare of the rising fireball, the companions ducked low on the roof of the temple to try to stay in the shadows.

Blaster in hand, Ryan gave a short whistle and jerked a finger at the front of the temple. Dropping to his belly, Jak crawled to the edge of the roof, listened and then chanced a peek. Turning to face the others, he nodded and gave a thumbs-up.

“Okay, they’re off to check the explosion,” Ryan said aloud, rising to his knees. “That bought us time but not a hell of a nuking lot.”

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