Without warning, the distinct, hollow boom of a cannon pealed out over the trading post, splitting the air.
Ryan looked up and spotted the cannon atop the main house, the long snout poking through the roof. Judging from the way it was set up, he guessed that the weapon was mounted on some type of elevator system that raised and lowered it through the house. With the way the house was designed, he didn’t doubt that it was normally kept in the basement level and raised all the way to the roof when needed.
“What do we do, lover?” Krysty asked.
“We leave,” Ryan answered. “Despite Annie’s willingness at the moment to protect us, I don’t trust that to stay. So we’re not staying, either. Get Morse and his boys out here. And Elmore. They’re going with us.”
“What about the people we took with us from Idaho Falls?”
“They make their own way from here,” Ryan replied. “It’ll be safer than where we’re going.”
The crackle of autofire, muted just for an instant by the roar of the cannon, underscored his words. Whatever enemies Baron Shaker had made, they were strong, relentless ones.
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Doc raced through Annie’s private rooms, the Le Mat blaster in his hand. With the sound of the first few shots, Annie had leaped from the bed they’d shared during the night. Doc had been slower, his head dulled somewhat by the wine from the previous night’s party and from the physical exertion of keeping pace with the woman’s libido.
The next room had been converted into an art studio. Paint pots and carving tools covered the workbenches and shelves. Then Doc spotted the section of wall that wasn’t quite flush with the rest. He pressed against the wall and it opened wider, sliding back on well-greased hinges.
The darkness beyond the yawning mouth was broken by a light from above.
Doc stepped inside and peered around. A shaft sank through the floors above and below. Feeling the cool gust of wind from below, he deduced that it went all the way into the basement. Pulley ropes hung in the center of the shaft.
Glancing up, Doc saw the platform above, watched it shudder and heard another report from the cannon. A ladder was built into the wall to his left, constructed simply of pieces of wood nailed across the wooden wall braces. He tucked the Le Mat through his belt and climbed the ladder.
Annie sat on the platform next to a 20 mm cannon converted to work with elevation and peripheral controls. The woman occupied a chair beside the cannon and made adjustments with wheels that controlled jagged-toothed cogs that moved the blaster. Then she fired again.
Doc pulled himself up to her platform, still clinging to the makeshift ladder. The detonation of the cannon round was loud inside the rooftop area. He tracked the cannonfire, spotting the men ranged in front of the palisade wall at the front of the trading post.
The 20 mm round exploded against the ground less than thirty yards distant from the palisade wall. It opened up a small crater in the earth and flung two corpses to the ground yards away.
“By the Three Kennedys!”
Annie jacked another round into the cannon. She sat in the chair without a stitch of clothing on. “Glad to see you up and around, Theophilus. Thought I’d chilled you with last night’s loving.” She fired again.
“Madam, I’ll warrant that you put your best efforts to the task, and indeed I found myself sluggish recuperating, but I am still here.”
Only a few rifle bullets struck the rooftop, but the gunners were too harried by Baron Shaker’s sec men and the other scavengers to be accurate.
Doc stayed low anyway.
Annie continued firing and reloading, working the 20 mm cannon with grim authority. Her accuracy punched holes in the attack.
Concerned, Doc turned his attention to the barn, wondering how the companions were faring. He had no doubts that Ryan would have them up and moving, but they were separated.
“What’s wrong?” Annie asked.
“Dear lady, I am wondering about my companions’ welfare. We have traveled down many hard and harsh roads together.”