There was only one course of action that the Armorer could take. Dropping to one knee, he steadied the Uzi, using his knee to prop one elbow and take good aim. In the time it took him to do this, the saboteur had clambered into the jeep and fired the engine. J.B. could hear the grinding of gears loud across the empty desert sand as he took aim. He squeezed the trigger as the vehicle leaped into life and began to move across the land, a stream of bullets spitting from the muzzle of the blaster.
The jeep was moving away fast, but not so fast that the shells didn’t at least strike home. In the dark, the Armorer had been trying to take out the rear tires of the vehicle, as he wanted to disable it and question the saboteur if possible. But in this light, at this distance, there was also a chance that he could just take out the fuel tank and blow the wag off the sandy earth. It was a chance he was willing to take, and in the event it proved that neither option came to anything. There were flickers of sparks and light in the darkness as bullets struck the rear of the wag and ricocheted harmlessly into the air. But neither tires nor tank was touched as the wag roared off into the night.
“Dark night, Jak!” J.B. muttered as he let the Uzi drop. One man may have gotten away, but did Jak need assistance?
IN THE DARK and still of the building, it took the remarkably honed senses of the albino little time to locate the ticking that he could hear. It was muted because the source was a small chron attached to a package of plas-ex that was hidden beneath a valve leading from one part of the system to another. Take out that valve and the piping system supplying the entire building would collapse from the shock wave, the delicate balance of the still not fully restored refining system being upset beyond repair.
The light was too dim to see the device fully, so Jak lit one of the lamps that had been left in the building when the day’s work had concluded. Turning up the light and positioning it so that no shadow was cast over the immediate area, Jak could see that the device had no booby attached, and had been hidden only to maximize its impact on the intended target. It was a simple timing device, and had been set for ten minutes to allow the saboteur enough time to make good his escape.
“Jak? You okay in here?” came J.B.’s voice from the doorway. “Bastard got away,” he added in a rueful tone.
“Left gift,” Jak replied. “Timer, plas-ex…only few minutes.”
“Want me to take a look?” the Armorer asked as he came up to where Jak was crouched.
The albino nodded, and J.B. knelt in front of the device while Jak drew back to allow the Armorer room to work. He also turned to stop the others from entering, as he could hear them approach. Having met up as they all made their way to the sound of the disturbance, they were clustered just outside the refinery block.
“Take cover. Bomb,” Jak said simply.
Outside, glances were exchanged. Ryan nodded briefly at Jak and motioned the others to move back a little.
Inside, the Armorer was studying the bomb. He knew more than enough about the construction of timers and bombs to know that this was a crude but effective device. In truth, there was more than enough plas-ex to do the job, and more worryingly there were signs from an initial study that the wiring was crudely connected to the chron. There was every chance that the device may not go off on time. More alarmingly, it could be that the wires would short when he disconnected them because of the way they were fitted. Actually disarming a bomb like this was simple—if it was well made. It was the crudity that made it dangerous.
“Jak, get out and get the others to take cover,” he said levelly.
“Sure?” Jak asked simply.
“Uh-huh. And hurry,” the Armorer replied.