The .50-caliber bullets chewed into the ranks of the muties without warning. They spun and twisted awkwardly as plate-sized gobbets of diseased flesh exploded from their bodies and flopped onto the dry sand, sending up little bursts of alkaline white dust.
“Dark night!” J.B. breathed.
Ryan flattened against the side of the opening but didn’t release the gren. The withering machine-gun fire left nothing alive in the open areas, and chased a handful of survivors into hiding. The one-eyed man blinked to clear his vision. Wet strands of hair hung down into his face.
The growl and clank of machinery continued. A roil of sand tracked up one side of the dunes facing them.
“Wags,” J.B. said.
Ryan nodded. There was no mistaking the sound. He’d lived with it for years while he’d been with the Trader.
An M-l Abrams Main Battle Tank clawed its way through the sand and perched on the edge of a dune less than a hundred yards away. The turret swiveled, the servomotors squealing in response, bringing the main gun to bear on the opening. An M-109 A-2155 mm self-propelled howitzer pulled into a flanking position on the left, followed immediately by two SEAL FAVsFast Attack Vehicles.
“Get the feeling we’ve stepped from the frying pan right into the fire?” J.B. asked.
“Yeah,” Ryan replied. “How much plas ex do you have in that pack?”
“What do you have in mind?”
“Shutting this door.” Ryan pocketed the gren. “If we have to.” The thought didn’t sit well with him. Many of the people he’d seen inside the installation had died while trapped in there.
“We could have a problem getting out of here later,” J.B. commented.
“Mebbe. But if we try to cross that desert and these people don’t want us to, we’re going to catch the last train west anyway. I’d rather pick the time when I show up at the station if I got a choice.”
“Right.” The Armorer slung the Uzi and dropped his pack, rummaging through it.
The war wag’s PA system crackled to life. “Attention. This is Major Drake Burroughs of the United States Army. Throw down your weapons and come out of the building.”
Ryan glanced at J.B.
“You heard him right,” the Armorer said, pushing his glasses up his blade of a nose with a grimy forefinger. “Stupe thinks he’s still part of the U.S. military.”
“Give yourselves up,” the major shouted, “and you won’t be harmed.”
“I’m going to buy us some time,” Ryan said.
Before the Armorer could attempt to talk him out of it, he stepped into the glare of the sun. He cupped his other hand and shouted back. “I’d rather talk first.”
At first there was no reply, then the words rolled like thunder. “You’re in no position to negotiate.”
Ryan grinned, knowing the wolf’s smile would be picked up by others among the unit who were using binoculars. A show of confidence didn’t hurt, especially when there wasn’t anything to be confident about. “If I wasn’t, you wouldn’t have opened the ball on this conversation.”
Burroughs didn’t hesitate long before deciding. A man pulled himself through the hatch of the Abrams war wag and waved another out of the passenger seat of one of the fast-attack vehicles. The buggy roared forward on its fat tires, spinning out tails of sand behind it. As it neared, Ryan saw the 12.7 mm machine gun mounted on top of it.
The wag stopped thirty yards away, its nose pointed in silent challenge at Ryan like a feral animal. The machine gunner’s attention never wavered.
The man in the passenger seat got out and walked toward Ryan. He was nearly six and a half feet tall, packaged tight and neat, broad at the shoulder. His uniform was black, contrasting sharply with the platinum white of his short-cropped hair. His face was seamed, tanned and leathery, the eyes and crow’s feet covered by dark aviator sunglasses. Ryan guessed his age at forty, perhaps a few years older. He carried a .45 Colt Government Model in a counterterrorist drop holster on his right thigh, and another in shoulder leather was attached to his combat webbing. Kevlar body armor was apparent under the webbing. An American flag was plastered against his upper left shoulder, but its looseness suggested that it was removable.