Trader Redux
Trader Redux
24 in the Deathlands series James Axler
PROLOGUE
The day was bitterly cold, with a dazzling sun hanging at the center of an untouched blue sky. From east to west and north to south, there wasn’t even the hint of a cloud. All around it seemed that you could reach out and touch the perfection of the snow-covered mountains.
The cold air had the unmistakable scent of salt, from the Cific Ocean only a few miles away, beyond the ruins of old Seattle. Here and there it was possible to make out the thin tendrils of cooking fires, among the stumps of nuked city buildings. But whatever ate there, ate alone.
The oppressive wet weather of the past three days had vanished, and it had snowed during the previous night as the temperature dropped well below freezing.
Now, an hour after dawn, it was a heaven of morning.
Ryan and J.B. had found no cover, waking up to find their sleeping bags were crusted with frozen snow, which crackled when they moved.
“Last day of the last week,” Ryan said as he stooped, trying to get a fire going to warm them up and dry their clothes and heat some oatmeal.
“Now we’ll see.” J.B. checked that the cold hadn’t affected any of his blasters. “Yeah, we’ll see.”
THEY HAD DECIDED that the best place to begin the final stage of their search would be to pick a high spot with a view over Seattle from the east. There was a particular hill that suited their purpose and they had been working their way toward it, occasionally slipping on the icy trail.
Apart from the scattered fires among the ruins, there didn’t seem to be a living soul within fifty miles of them.
There had been a pair of white-pelted hares gamboling in a clearing among the pines, as they climbed higher, who’d totally ignored them.
In a valley to their right they spotted a small herd of deer picking its way delicately through the frosted grass. J.B. had nudged Ryan and pointed to the Steyr on his shoulder, but he’d shaken his head.
“Bullet on a still, cold morning like this might be heard twenty miles off. Could attract Abe and the Trader. If they’re anywhere near. Could attract anyone else.”
It was hard work, and both men were panting as they neared the crest of the small mountain.
“You can make out the sea from here,” Ryan said, pausing for breath.
“Yeah. Look at the Cascades back yonder.”
A few more paces brought them to the top, giving them the ultimate view, all the way around.
Now they could see the far side of the slope, bisected by a narrow hunting path. Two figures about a hundred yards below them, struggling upward through the deeper snow. The smaller man was sliding and falling, a little way to the rear.
The leader, using the butt of what looked like an old Annalite rifle to help himself, was gray-haired, tall and erect. He spotted the pair on the ridge above him immediately and stopped for a single heartbeat. Then he lifted his blaster above his head in an unmistakable gesture.
“There they are,” Ryan breathed.
Chapter One
As soon as he spotted J. B. Dix and Ryan Cawdor on the top of the hill, Trader turned to call to Abe, then started to run toward them, his long legs ranging through the powdery snow.
“How old do you reckon he is?” J.B. asked, slinging his Uzi across his back, out of the way.
“No idea. I always figured that he never had a real childhood. Teethed on an implode gren. I never heard him say much about his early past. You?”
The Armorer shook his head. “Never. Lots of rumors, but nothing to support them.”
Trader was closing fast, breath pluming from his open mouth. At his back, Abe was having difficulty with the steep ascent, slipping and falling twice in the rutted blanket of white.
Suddenly Trader was there, standing six feet away, panting with the effort of the climb, nodding as his eyes ranged over the two men. Finally he broke into something close to a smile.