“Right,” Danielson admitted.
“There’s nothing out here, no settlements, no villes, not even a pesthole outpost. Only Fort Fubar. And Aten. Right?”
Danielson nodded.
“Besides, Hell Eyes is expecting us.” Ryan showed his teeth in a humorless grin. “Far be it from me to disappoint him.”
“You’ll be walking into a trap,” Danielson muttered.
Doc laughed. “We never let that stop us before.”
“Yeah,” Jak grunted. “People try trap us, we chill.”
“See?” Doc said. “A marvelously simple approach to the vagaries of life.”
Danielson sighed, shaking his head. “You’re all crazy.”
J.B. reached out and tapped the amulet hanging from the old man’s throat. “Look who’s talking.”
DEAN WAS BORED with standing watch. He had patrolled up and down the sandy, heat-baked perimeter of Fort Fubar several times, squinting out into the wasteland in all directions. He saw nothing that interested him.
Returning to the square, he looked over one of the chariots. Ryan stepped out of the storage building as Dean examined the simple controls.
“Think you could drive one of these things, son?”
“Could I, Dad? That’d be a real hot pipe!”
“Good.” Ryan’s face held no particular expression. “The rest of us will be moving on at dawn. We’ll leave one of these wags. You’ll stay here.”
Dean gaped, stricken, at his father. “Move on? Where?”
Tersely, Ryan gave the boy an overview of Danielson’s story about Pharaoh Akhnaton and the city of Aten.
“Wait for us here four days,” Ryan concluded. “Then take this wag back to the redoubt and try the gateway.”
“Why don’t all of us do that?”
“I’m taking a calculated risk. It’s possible that once we arrive in the city, whatever power is being directed to deactivate the gateway controls will end and be directed toward us. But there’s no guarantee any of us will make it back.”
“Why can’t I share the risk?” Dean asked.
“I won’t have you deliberately strolling into a tiger trap with us.”
“I’ll follow you,” Dean said defiantly.
“No!” Ryan’s tone was ragged, harsh, brooking no discussion. “You’ll do what I say.”
Dean turned away, ashamed of the tears suddenly stinging his eyes and the thickness growing in his chest.
In a softer tone, Ryan said, “Listen to me, son. If we’re not back in four days, then more than likely we won’t be coming back. At least not for quite a while.”
“We’ve only been back together a few weeks,” Dean muttered. “Not fair to leave me behind.”
“No, it isn’t fair,” Ryan agreed. “But dragging you into a trap isn’t fair, either. Do you understand?”
“No,” Dean whispered. “I’m not a kid anymore. I can make my own decisions.”
“Not this time. You’ll stay here until we come back…or until we don’t. Now, get out of the heat and grab some grub.”
Dean didn’t look at him as he turned and marched toward the storage building. He passed Krysty as she came out, and he evaded her patting hand as if she were contaminated. She had a metauh rod angled over a shoulder like a fishing pole. “Guess you told him.”
Ryan nodded. “Think all of us can squeeze into one of these wags?”
Krysty eyed it. “Tight fit, but we’ll manage. Better than walking.”
She paused and added quietly, “You sure this is the right idea, lover?”
“Hell, I’m not sure of anything!” Ryan snarled out the words. “But this Hell Eyes bastard wants you, and he’s interfering with us and he sent sec men after us. I’m sick and fed the fuck up with deranged sons of bitches dogging us, no matter where we go.”
“Well,” Krysty observed sagely, “we’re making it awfully easy for this particular deranged son of a bitch.”
“Why delay the inevitable? There’s no place to run, and this fort is about as defensible as a strawberry patch. And even if it wasn’t, combining Da-ielson’s food supplies with ours still doesn’t give us the provisions to hold out against a siege. But I’m open to suggestions.”
Krysty didn’t offer any. She looked away, nodding, lightly biting her lower lip. She swished the metauh rod in clockwise and counterclockwise swirls. Extending the V prongs toward the chariot, a thread of light, like a static-electricity discharge, popped toward the metal-rimmed wheels.