“The one-eyed man’s their leader,” Grundwold stated.
Fox chugged a few times on his pipe. When it was lit, he clenched it between his teeth and said, “Yes, he seemed to do all the talking for the group.”
“He’s good with a blaster, too,” Grundwold said.
“As they all are, no doubt.”
“It would make it hard for me to take them without losing a lot of my men.”
Fox grew angry with the sec chief. The redheaded one was exotic, and her hair was the most beautiful he’d ever seen. Even if she never got heavy, he knew a rich baron or two living outside the eastern villes who’d pay big jack to make a wig or weave out of hair like that. And the dark woman had the best set of breeding hips he’d seen in months. “Sec men I can get anywhere,” Fox spit. “I need breeders.”
“Yes, sir,” Grundwold barked. “What do you want me to do, then?”
“I want you to bring them here,” Fox said, blowing a plume of gray smoke just under Grundwold’s nose. “Bring me the women…whatever it takes.”
Grundwold nodded and looked down the road toward the falls. “What did you give them?” he asked.
“Three bags of fruit in exchange for some trinkets.”
“Ripe?”
“Most of the fruit is laced with sedatives. We didn’t have time to prepare the fruit in all three bags, but there’s a good mix. Should be enough to put a few of them off guard,” Grundwold stated. “That’s all the advantage we’ll need.”
“I’ll send the wag to the tower after dark.”
Normally the sec chief would have a wag at his disposal, but a slave had recently stolen one in an escape and they hadn’t been able to trade for a replacement yet. That made the second wag even more valuable, and the baron only wanted to let it outside the complex long enough to collect the new breeders and bring them back to the farm.
The sec chief nodded and said, “We’ll bring them back.” He started down the road at double-time to catch up with the rest of his men.
“Of course you will,” Baron Fox said. “Of course you will.”
“IT MAKES SENSE NOW,” Mildred said as the friends walked along the road toward the ville that was now less than a mile away. “The region around Niagara Falls was all farmland. Apple orchards, pears, plums, peaches and plenty of grapes for making some really good wine.”
“No more,” Jak stated. .
“Not after the blast. The whole area was wiped out, except for that one farm.”
“In my day,” Doc offered, “Niagara Falls was the site of some of the most exciting theoretical discussion about the possibilities of electricity. Not to mention the incredible feat of engineering that would be required to make it possible.”
“Electricity would sure give the baron or whoever owns the farm one hell of an advantage,” J.B. commented.
“Like fuel,” Jak said.
“Better than fuel,” J.B. replied. “It’s harder to steal. No one can blow it up. And it doesn’t have to be refined. It could give them lights, even the power to pump fresh water.”
“So why hasn’t the rest of the area prospered?” Ryan asked. “If there’s power here, why is the ville empty?”
“After two hundred years the power station can’t be producing all that much electricity,” Krysty reasoned.
“He probably takes everything the station produces,” J.B. stated. “Or destroyed all the power lines, except for those running to his farm.”
“I must say the people working on the farm looked healthy enough,” Doc suggested. “They must all be doing well for themselves.”
“And for other traders,” Jak said, lifting the bag of fruit.
Ryan had to admit that the farm looked like a well-run operation. But there was still something about it that bothered him. The electrified fence was a logical defense system considering the type of muties that lurked in the area and the amount of electricity that was available. Still, it seemed to be run a little too smoothly for it to be just a farm, and he’d never seen a farm that was so well armed.
“You know,” Mildred said, “there’s another thing that Niagara Falls was known for in predark times.”