Experimentally, J.B. fired at the floor with no results. He fired again at the door, and watched the blades carefully.
“Very nice,” Ryan commented, resting against
Mildred. “Never seen anything like it before.”
“Sounded like it’s powered by clockwork gears and springs,” Mildred said. “Maybe taken off a church tower clock. Did you hear the clacking?”
“Of course.”
“With some explosives we’d be through in a second,” J.B. said, shouldering the Thompson. “As it is, we have to run for it.”
“At least it isn’t locked.”
“We could don the suits of armor,” Dean stated. “No, forget that. There’s not enough to go around.”
“Are you insane?” Shard demanded. “This is suicide!”
“There is a brief lag,” Doc said, ignoring the interruption, “between contact and the blades.”
“How long?”
“A second, maybe one and a half.”
“So we have to get through instantly,” Krysty said. “Any hesitation and we’re dead.”
The sound of chopping started coming from the room behind them.
“Together then,” Ryan said, taking a deep breath. “We might need muscle, just in case there’s something blocking the exit.”
“Such as a body?”
“Or more guards.”
The companions bunched together tightly and held their weapons very close to avoid tripping.
Licking dry lips, Shard kept glancing between the door in front of them and the one behind.
“Go,” Ryan urged.
Charging over the short span, the companions hit the door in a crushing pile, digging in their heels and shoving for all they were worth. The wooden portal bent under the impact, holding for one long terrible instant, and then burst open just before the swinging blades arrived.
Tumbling to the floor, the friends rolled to their feet ready for battle, but they were in a deserted courtyard. The enclosure was bounded by a two-story-high wall of stone blocks topped with a spiral coil of razor wire, old and rusty, which only made the stuff more dangerous. To the right was a fourstory building with grilled windows, behind which rose a castlelike tower. Eugene’s dungeon. The siren was louder outside the prison, and the sky was a light gray, with yellowish clouds high in the sky.
“Rain in a few hours,” Dean noted calmly. “That’ll give us cover.”
“Excellent,” Doc said. “The acid will hide our tracks from the dogs.”
“Hell of a choice,” J.B. said. “Rain or dogs.”
Returning to the door, Jak shoved a knife blade under the jamb to hold it firmly in place. “Has to slow for a heartbeat,” the teenager explained in cold rationale.
“This is too easy,” Krysty stated, her hair coiling and uncoiling. “Where are the sec men?”
“Inside searching for us?” Dean suggested.
She studied the high walls, a thin wind moaning through the bare stone turrets. “Mebbe.”
“Keep moving,” Ryan whispered. He shook and almost fell in spite of his makeshift crutch. “Got to find shelter from rain.”
“Shard?” Doc demanded in a no-nonsense manner.
The man made a vague gesture. “Past the tower is the side gate. Guarded, not guarded, I don’t know anymore.
Ryan took a tentative step and started to slump. Mildred caught the man and carefully placed her shoulder under his good arm and braced him upright. Shoving her pistol into a pocket, the stocky doctor slung his rifle over her shoulder and started to walk. Krysty and Dean moved beside them and stayed close by.
Hugging the wall for protection, the companions moved along as quickly as possible with J.B. in the point position, his stolen Thompson carefully switched from single shot to full-auto. The cold wind was getting stronger by the minute, dry leaves swirling about the isolated courtyard. There were water troughs and hitching posts for horses. Also an old gallows, the noose twisting in the wind.
Edging past the tower, J.B. called a halt, then urged them on faster. Coming into view was a huge door of riveted steel set into the stone wall.
“How are we getting through that?” Mildred demanded.
“Dunno,” Jak said, frowning deeply.
“The…gallows,” Ryan whispered faintly. “Use the rope…” His voice faded away completely, and the man went limp.
“To do what?” Mildred asked, shaking the wounded man, trying to rouse him. “Come on, Ryan. Use the rope to do what?”