Ryan wondered who would be the lookout on that side of the divide. This side he figured was obvious.
Catherine reached her wag and climbed aboard, looking across to Jak. “Let’s go,” she said to him as she took the radio handset from Lonnie and rapped the one word— “Search”—before ceasing transmission.
The albino hunter rose from his seat with an effortless grace and took a portable handset from the blonde, who turned to him and said, “You know when?”
Jak assented. “At point exchange—most vulnerable.”
“Right.” She nodded. “Good luck.”
Jak left the wag without another word, pausing only to clasp Dean’s hand. The next time they saw each other, the firefight would well and truly commence.
Outside, in the narrow channel they were using as a hiding place, there was little space between the walls of rock and the sides of the wags, and Jak skipped down between them, away from Ryan as he stood watching. The albino hunter was searching for a good place to begin his climb. He found it just past the rear wag, where there was a small split in one of the rocks that gave him a good hand- and toehold. Hoisting himself up, Jak began to scale the rock, which rose for forty feet and was almost sheer.
The sandstone was soft and inclined to crumble, so the ascent was slower than the youth would have liked, each hold having to be tested for weight before he placed himself at its mercy. The quality of the rock was of concern to him. When he reached the summit of the rock, and was observing the trade-off below, he had to be careful that no stray gravel, rocks or pebbles be dislodged and alert the enemy below of his presence.
But he would worry about that when he reached the peak. Right now he was faced with the problem of the ascent, for the rock veered out slightly. He arched his back a few degrees to make the handhold, feeling the pull of the earth below. The extra effort made him break into a sweat, and the muscles in his arms and across his shoulders tensed and cramped at the extra strain. He was fortunate that the foothold was solid and deep, so that he could plant his combat boot firmly and take the strain in his calf and thighs.
One deep breath, one pull of his upper torso and it was done. He was over the worst and up to the summit.
The surface on top of the rock was uneven and jagged, and Jak was faced with the problem of trying to find a niche from which he could observe the happenings below without being himself easily spotted.
The rock was about four feet in thickness, more than enough for him to walk and climb comfortably along its length. He kept low, trying to adhere to a winding path along irregular dips in the top of the rock.
After a couple of yards, he found what he was looking for. The rock had a hollow carved out by erosion that formed a small observation post, the rock in front of the hollow enabling him to keep out of view, but also providing—via a split down the middle of the face—a window through which he could see the arena below. Jak settled himself into the hollow and looked through the gap, defining his field of vision. It was a wide area, and obscured only the very far ends of the arena.
He settled onto his haunches, beginning the wait, wondering who his opposite number may be, and how he or she was faring.
ON THE FAR SIDE of the arena, in the opposite channel, the word from Catherine had come over the radio in J.B.’s wag. The Armorer turned to Jenny, who had previously indicated her willingness to tackle the task of lookout.
“Ready?” he asked.
The woman shrugged. “As I’ll ever be,” she replied before taking a handheld radio from Mildred and leaving the wag.
Like Jak, she had to scan the sheer rock wall for a suitable place to begin her climb, and like the albino she was soon aware of the less than reliable nature of the rocks. She tested each hold thoroughly and hauled herself up the rock face. When she was about thirty feet up, she encountered a similar problem to Jak inasmuch as the rock seemed to curve out and over her. Unlike Jak, she didn’t keep climbing, but paused for a second, casting a shrewd eye along the rock wall. If she could climb sideways for a few feet, there was a flatter part of the rock that would be easier to ascend, so she shuffled sideways, reaching out for holds until she was able to get past the outward curve and once more go upward for the last ten feet or so of the rockface.