almost as if, realizing that this could be their chance to rid themselves of the
menace of the redoubt sec men once and for all, they were determined to be
organized and careful.
Mildred brought up the rear following the last of her people in time to catch a
glimpse of Krysty down one alleyway, doing the same with her people.
The plan itself was simple. J.B. had directed Mildred and Krysty to one side of
the circle, at ten o’clock. Jak and Dean led their people to two o’clock. The
two new groups formed a pincer movement to close on the sec men when their
attention was distracted, and they had been drawn away from the cover of the
wags by Ryan.
Which should be about…
Now!
MURPHY HEARD the familiar click of the H&K and located it in a second.
“There—fire at will,” he screamed, opening fire with his own Uzi on the shack.
He sprayed it with rapid-fire rounds, moving forward on the run.
As Ryan had hoped, Murphy’s men followed the lead, shaken and rattled by the
unexpected response in the ville, and following their commanding officer’s
orders blindly, as it said in the regs. Not thinking for themselves. Being
stupid.
Breaking cover.
“FIREBLAST!” Ryan exclaimed, throwing himself to the dirt floor as the H&K
shells started to punch holes in the adobe shack, spraying straw and dried mud
around him. There was whining and ricochets as some of the fire hit the sheets
of corrugated iron that helped support the shack walls. Ryan could only hug the
ground and wait out the barrage.
The walls of the shack were beginning to gape large holes, the mud and straw
building up on the floor, covering him. Mud clogged his nose, stung in his eyes,
filled his mouth with its bitter and musty taste. Lizard-like, Ryan crawled
across the floor, taking the Steyr from where he had left it. In his other hand
he still held his H&K—he hadn’t even fired a single shot, certainly hadn’t
expected Murphy to fall for it quite so completely.
The noise in the shack was intensely loud, vibrating on the corrugated iron as
if it were directly on Ryan’s eardrums. The shots blurred into one continuous
noise, the mixed H&K and Uzi fire concentrated on him and his hiding place—a
hiding place that was rapidly becoming a filled grave, as the shack tumbled
around him, and onto him. They were still firing high, as though he were
standing. But the continuous fall of mud, straw and now the sheets of corrugated
iron pried loose from the walls they had been supporting, was threatening to
engulf him as he made slow progress toward the back door of the shack.
KRYSTY WATCHED in mixed horror and awe as the sec men advanced on the shack
where she knew Ryan was holed up, spraying it nonstop with blasterfire, pumping
ammo into it as if they had an endless supply. There was no letup. When one sec
man had to reload, there were at least ten others who were still on rapid fire.
A bile rose from deep in her gut, burning in her gullet, mixing with the burning
that seared her eyes as she blinked back tears. She felt as if she were watching
her lover being chilled in cold blood. And she was now helpless to stop it.
There was no doubt that his plan to draw the sec men away from the wags had
worked. Murphy had led the way, striding toward the shack, across the circle of
earth. The whole crew of sec men had spread out in a fan formation, pumping fire
into the shack, forgetting that they were after only one man and that the whole
population of the ville was unaccounted for. All led by Murphy’s panic.
Some of the ville dwellers, blasters at the ready, looked at her. She looked at
J.B., standing at a junction in the alleyways of the ville where he could keep
visual contact with both herself, Mildred, Jak and Dean.
The Armorer exchanged rapid glances with both sides, then signaled.
Krysty nodded at the faces turned to her.
The ville dwellers, faces flushed with a mixture of fear and excitement, took