Hobbling closer, Overton asked the men around the fire a question. They responded, and the black-haired man lifted a whistle to his lips and blew hard, the shrill noise shattering the peaceful night.
“I know you’re here, Father,” he shouted, the words echoing slightly in the woods. “There’s an electric current flowing through the concertina wire. When you cut the strands, it instantly informed us of a break. One might be an animal or an accident, but four mean it’s you. The hole is now covered with ten armed sec men, the wire already replaced.”
Could be true, could be bullshit, Ryan thought. But there had been a slight tingle when he cut the wires and he thought nothing of it at the time. Now he was in their camp, with the noose closing. Glancing at the dirt path, Ryan saw blue shirts walking the wooden tripods across the road, trailing glittering coils of the concertina wire to seal off the exit.
Quickly, Ryan reviewed his weapons. He’d lost a longblaster with the bike, but he still had the Steyr with five reloads, an AK-47 with one extra clip, the SIG-Sauer with three magazines and a couple of knives. It was nowhere near sufficient for a stand-up fight, especially when he was outgunned and outmanned. Okay, when losing at a crooked card game, a wise man kicked over the table.
“Come out, Ryan, and we can talk this over like gentlemen,” Overton shouted, staring into the darkness.
Ignoring that nonsense, Ryan placed a hand on the belly of the wag above him, but felt no movement. Taking a risk, he eased open the belly hatch with his knifepoint the way the Trader had taught him so long ago. As Ryan swung aside the steel plate, a sec man in the driver’s seat turned and gasped. Then the blue shirt rocked backward, the handle of Krysty’s knife protruding from his neck. As quietly as he could, Ryan pulled himself inside and closed the belly hatch, then slid home the heavy sec bolt that nobody ever used. It simply took too long to open if you were trying to get out in a hurry.
The driver was struggling with the seat belt, trying to get free. Ryan neatly finished off the dying man with his panga, retrieved Krysty’s knife and checked the indicators. Plenty of fuel, nuke batteries at full power. He flipped a couple of switches and moved to the turret.
“Ryan?” Overton called, bringing the huge M-60 to rest on a shoulder as if it weighed no more than a common rifle.
Climbing up the step, Ryan fumbled with the ammo belt for the 25 mm cannon, finally getting it to feed properly into the breech by sheer determination. Without the big Detroit engines to supply electricity, the batteries would soon drain from operating the electricity-driven weapon. But in those few minutes, Ryan would blow himself a hole to freedom straight through Overton.
“All right, thendie, traitor!” Overton shouted, working the bolt of the M-60 and chambering the first round of the long ammo belt dangling from the side of the weapon. “Alpha, full perimeter sweep! Beta, secure the cave. Gamma, stand by me.”
“Traitor, my ass,” Ryan said, tripping the controls. The cannon jerked at his delicate touch and started hosing the campsite with 25 mm shells.
Dropping his weapon, Overton dived for cover as powerful detonations raked the clearing. Men simply disintegrated under the hellish barrage and the ground seemed to boil. The mouth of the cave collapsed explosively, partially sealing off the opening. In a screech of tortured metal, the antenna dish folded over and tumbled off the hill, crumpling as it impacted on the grass.
One sec man stayed sitting near the campfire, a cup of coffee sub in his hands. Ryan thought the man was paralyzed with fear until he noticed the sliver of metal sticking through the man’s chest, nailing him in place to a wooden crate behind.
The headlights of the other LAV clicked on as the big engine roared to life. On battery power, Ryan wasted precious seconds completely destroying the other APC, the predark depleted-uranium rounds punching through the thick military armor as if it were cardboard. When the first wag burst into flames, the Deathlands warrior finally dared to move onward, raking the forest and road with thundering death.
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