saying, but there was still a good chance that the old fart could get chilled.
He was sure that if that happened, he’d be next.
The outsiders moved across one screen and disappeared onto another, third on the
right on the next row down. They were nearing the exit ramp.
Wallace nudged Murphy in the ribs.
“Go get ’em, boy,” he said softly.
Murphy managed a sickly smile.
DEAN PUNCHED IN the code on the last automatic door. It opened smoothly. They
were still alert, still expecting sec men behind every door.
But there were none. All that lay ahead of them was the gentle incline of the
exit ramp, leading up to the reinforced doors of the redoubt.
“Too easy,” Mildred murmured, “just too easy.”
“I hear you, Millie,” J.B. replied quietly.
Ryan didn’t bother to ask Krysty what she was feeling: just one glance told him.
He signaled to Dean to raise the door while he went flat to the floor, covering
the gap at the bottom of the door as it began to rise.
A blast of warm air, swirling with dust and grit, hit him as the door began to
rise. He screwed up his eye against the stinging spray and shouldered the Steyr,
ready to pick off any enemies as soon as they appeared.
The door rose higher, and the wind became a gale, became a virtual hurricane.
One thing had rapidly become clear: it was a bad time to mount a recce on the
world outside the redoubt. It was about to get worse.
ONE OF THE SIDE EFFECT of the shift in topography that had followed the early
days of skydark was that many new valleys had been formed. This was one of them.
The shifting of tons of earth, rock and clay had damaged some of the lowest
levels of the redoubt, but had generally left the structure untouched. If
nothing else, that was a tribute to the skills of the engineers who had designed
the military complexes.
However, there was one thing that had happened as a result of the earth shift: A
small series of honeycombed caves had been formed that had intersected with the
air ducts and bore holes that had been engineered for the redoubt. For several
years these had been closed off, but when the air was clean enough for them to
be opened once again, the military personnel had soon discovered the uses to
which they could be put. Guarded by a set of sec cameras, they acted as a useful
secondary route out of the redoubt for any raiding parties. This had been of
particular use when early outside settlers had laid siege to the main door of
the redoubt.
Although such tactics hadn’t been necessary for some time, Wallace was a keen
student of history.
Murphy cursed this aspect of his commanding officer’s personality as he led the
small troop of sec men through the narrow maze of tunnels. The dust hanging in
the air was choking and bit at their eyes. Some of the men were coughing
heavily, and Murphy suppressed the urge to vomit as the dust caught in his craw.
It was typical of Wallace to think of such a labyrinthine plan. Let them raise
the outer door, then ambush them from above, making sure to pick them off or
drive them away while separating Tanner.
Murphy kept up his stream of invective as the troops reached the mouth of the
cave, suspended on a ledge over the entrance to the redoubt. He indicated to his
men to fan out onto the rocks on either side.
He heard the door start to rise above the howl of the wind. It was a metallic
sound as the edges of the metal door caught on the reinforced-concrete-and-steel
frame.
Murphy lifted the barrel of his Uzi and kissed it for luck.
Chapter Nine
“Fireblast! This is the last thing we need!”
Ryan’s angered roar was lost in the howling of the dust storm as it hit them
full force. J.B. jammed his fedora firmly on his head and inched toward Ryan,
every step impeded by the sheer force of the dust and grit as it whipped around