Organized chaos, J.B. thought. He’d have preferred to sneak in with a precision strike, but the electric fence made that too difficult, and they had the firepower to go in with blasters blazing. So why not go with their strengths?
And it was all going to start going down in less than five minutes.
THE DOOR to the nursery burst open and Baron Fox strode in, a blaster in one hand and an electric cattle prod in the other.
“Grundwold,” the baron shouted.
The sec chief stepped forward. “Yes, Baron.”
“You’re no longer sec chief.”
Grundwold’s mouth opened to utter words of protest.
But the baron didn’t give him a chance to respond. He raised his Luger and shot the man in the shoulder, sending him flying backward against a supply cabinet.
“Anyone else have anything to say about Grundwold’s demotion?” the baron demanded.
No one said a word.
Mildred moved toward the sec chief to see if he’d been fatally shot.
“Leave him!” the baron ordered, then turned. “Fillinger!”
“Yes, Baron.”
“You’re my new sec chief now.”
“Yes, Baron!”
“Take this fire-headed gaudy slut outside and have her walk the grounds in the lights of a wag. Put two sec men on her, a blaster trained on each side of her head. Tell the one-eye either he comes out of hiding, or we’ll blow her pretty little head clean off her shoulders.”
“Yes, Baron!” he said with obvious glee.
Mildred moved closer to the bassinet that held her blaster.
“C’mon, Red, let’s go for a walk,” the baron said.
Krysty remained where she was. Mildred inched still closer to the bassinet.
“I said let’s move.”
Suddenly a loud boom thundered from somewhere outside. Several glass containers in the nursery shook. Babies were awakened from their sleep and began to cry.
The noise was followed by several seconds of silence.
“Find out what that was!” the baron ordered.
Sec men began running up the stairs.
A second loud boom sounded, and then all the lights went out. The entire building was shrouded in inky darkness.
Chapter Thirty-Eight
J.B.’s first shot had missed the tall wooden pole that held the power lines bringing electricity into the complex. He adjusted the wag slightly, moved in closer and the second blast from the cannon cut the pole down better than any ax ever could.
The pole had toppled slowly, and it took several seconds for the lines to snap and the lights to go out inside the complex. There would likely be reserve or emergency lighting coming on at any moment, but J.B. didn’t wait around to find out for sure. He threw the wag into gear, circled back around toward the front gate and was now speeding toward the chain-link fence.
“Hang on and cover up!” he cried.
He expected spotlights to catch the wag as they headed toward the main gate, but the complex was still in darkness. Maybe there was no emergency lighting after all.
The fence was in front of them.
“Three, two, one!” J.B. counted down.
The front of the wag struck the fence. The vehicle slowed; and for a moment it seemed as if they might be stopped dead in their tracks, but the steel gave way and they burst through the gate with plenty of speed.
J.B. also expected to be under fire at this point, but the sudden plunge into darkness had caused confusion among the ranks of sec men. Many searching the orchards were now caught in the dark.
As they charged across the courtyard, a sec man came out from around the corner of the main building. Dean saw him first, cutting the man down with a sweep of the .50 caliber.
“Shorter bursts,” J.B. shouted to Dean.
“Sorry.”
J.B. slowed the wag rather than stopping it, deciding a moving target was much harder to hit than one that was standing still. “Go,” he told Clarissa.
She jumped out of the wag, followed by Jak.
A moment later they were gone.
J.B. turned the wag in the direction of one of the sec towers overlooking the courtyard and main gate. “Doc?” he said.
“Ready when you are, Captain,” Doc answered.
J.B. pulled the trigger. The cannon let out a loud thud. The air around the wag smelled of cordite. Then the sec tower was suddenly without one of its legs.