Axler, James - Deathlands 60 - Destiny's Truth Read online

  Mildred saw them appear and yelled, "Cover! Incoming!" toward the startled blonde.

  The air crackled with a blast from the laser rifle, and the concrete floor at Nita's feet was suddenly scored by a ray of light that made her jump back, yelling incomprehensibly.

  "Shit—triple-stupe bitch," Tammy hissed as she turned her attention to the open door, trying to sight the Illuminated soldiers and fire on them. She opted for the Smith & Wesson Airlite rather than the laser blaster, and pulled a shot so that it rang off the metal of the sec door frame.

  Mildred saw immediately what the woman had intended, but Tammy hadn't been using the blaster long enough to be at one with it, and wasn't a natural target shot.

  "Get her in, I'll take over," Mildred murmured, raising her voice then to call to Dean, "Aim for the frame—get a ricochet."

  "Sure thing," the younger Cawdor replied, having made the same snap assessment of the situation as Mildred.

  Nita suddenly realized what was going on and dived for cover, landing heavily behind a buttress that afforded her shelter. Her trajectory had been mapped closely by further blasts, and it was only her speed that had prevented her from being injured. However, the fact that the attention of the Illuminated soldiers was focused on the one Gate warrior meant that Mildred and Dean were able to aim carefully, and without the interference of returned fire, in order to try to achieve their aim.

  Which was, quite simply, to try to put the soldiers out of action by use of a ricochet. The oblique angle of the defender's stance left no clear shot for anyone who was to keep cover, so it was up to the sharpshooters to try to angle a deflection from the metal of the door frame and hit their targets from an even more oblique angle than the targets themselves were firing.

  It was an almost impossible task. The odds on such a ricochet being perfect, under all circumstances, were astronomical. But it would be possible to attain a degree of accuracy using precision blasters and the judgment and talent of Mildred and Dean. They might not chill their target, but they could quite possibly wound, and certainly make it so difficult for the Illuminated soldiers to return fire that they would force them back.

  The two sharpshooters set up a continuous volley of fire, the carefully measured shots sounding loud in the quiet of the corridor, the sharp crack of metal and whine of the ricochets providing additional notes to make a symphony of sudden death. The blasts of laser fire from beyond the door grew less and less frequent, as the soldiers sought to evade the ricochets, and were forced to retreat down the corridor, stepping up to quickly fire a blast before moving back once more to safety.

  While this occurred, Tammy beckoned Nita, who snaked her way around the cover until she was with the Gate number two and the injured Dette.

  "Sorry—" she began breathlessly, but Tammy cut her off brusquely.

  "No time," she snapped. "Dette needs treatment back at the wags. You carry her back and tell the men what happened. On the way, get Ryan and Gloria. Time's come to move forward, I'm thinking."

  Nita, keen to atone for what she saw as her error, nodded briefly and picked up Dette without another word. She slung the brown skinned woman across her shoulder, the extra height and muscle bulk that had made her stand out among the other Gate women now coming into its own. Dette was like a rag doll on the larger woman's shoulders, and Nita carried her easily, snaking back around the covering buttresses until she was beyond range of the fire that was still occurring. Once she had cleared this, she took to the center of the corridor and ran swift and true, ignoring the occasional whimper from the semiconscious Dette as she sought to stop her buying the farm.

  "LISTEN," Jak said suddenly. "Blasterfire."

  The keen hearing of the albino had picked up the volleys of fire from Mildred and Dean, and picked them out against the murmur of background noise as the main war party made ready to advance. Ryan and Gloria had them forming into groups, with each having a chain of hierarchy so that they could operate as small units within the greater force. This would have been impossible if not for the fact that the Gate warriors often operated in this manner, and the people from Crossroads were more than happy to follow the lead of the more experienced fighters, willing to take their part but also acknowledging their own failings. They were in the middle of weapons checks and brief strategy discussions when the albino hunter was alerted to something happening ahead.

  Ryan turned his head, trying to tune out the sound around. He didn't doubt the word of the albino, but wanted to make his own assessment. Yes, there it was, distant but audible. Sounded like two handblasters. By the change in pitch between the shots, and their frequency, he was almost sure it was Mildred and Dean. The smaller, lighter precision pistols had a distinctive sound when set against Krysty's blaster, or most of those carried by the Gate women.

  The one-eyed warrior turned to Gloria. "We should move," he said simply.

  The queen was about to answer when Jak cut in once more.

  "Nita coming—something not right," he added, furrowing his brow as he listened.

  Both Ryan and Gloria turned their gaze to the tunnel ahead, following the line of vision that Jak was taking. They saw Nita take the bend at a rapid pace, Dette securely slung across her shoulders.

  "What the fuck…?" Gloria whispered, her immediate concern for her injured warrior. She ran forward to greet the scout.

  "Need to get her out to the wags, get treated," Nita gasped before drawing a breath and, as briefly as possible, informing her queen of what was happening in the tunnel ahead. Ryan joined them in time to hear what was occurring.

  "We go now," Gloria said, turning to him. The light of battle was in her eyes, and Ryan knew that already the woman was fired up by the need for vengeance against her wounded subject.

  The one-eyed warrior assented. "If they're opening up corridors for ambush, breaking into one of those may be our only chance of not being directed exactly where they want." He turned back to the clustered war party and briefly told J.B. what was occurring, while Jak—who had also been listening—informed Doc. Word of the action spread rapidly among the warriors, and when Ryan signaled for them to move, all were ready.

  The war party set off down the tunnel on the double, the small units falling into place one after the other, giving space and allowing for a flow of bodies. Meanwhile, Nita headed through the open sec door to the outside world, and ran along the track toward the woods where the Gate wags were waiting, knowing what she had to do to try to save Dette. The brown skinned warrior might always be railing against the blonde and her friend Cat, condemning them as triple stupes, but part of this abuse was based on the fact that the three had somehow formed a strong bond. The thought of Dette going out like this was something that Nita refused to even consider…even as the tears coursed down her face while she ran.

  THE FIRST of the war parties, led by Gloria, rounded the final bend toward where the advance patrol was in cover, still firing on the open sec door. With a whoop of exultation at the battle about to begin, and a fire of anger, Gloria broke into a run, followed by the rest of her team. Behind, the war party increased pace to keep up with the leaders.

  Tammy looked around at the sudden sound. "Good, now we should see some action," she said, satisfied.

  "Yeah, but what?" Krysty countered. "If the approach is too strong, then it may… Shit!"

  The red-haired beauty swore as she could see the very thing that had concerned her occurring. Hearing the approach of the war party, the Illuminated soldiers ceased fire. The sec door began to close.

  "No, dammit," Krysty yelled, taking a chance. Grabbing a laser blaster, she broke from cover and ran toward the door. She raised the rifle as she ran, firing at the keypad and metal scratch cover on the corridor side of the sec door. She knew that the door would be secured by remote once it had closed, and they would have no chance of getting past it unless they used plas-ex and took the major risk of blowing out the tunnel and trapping themselves—something she knew that J.B. would rightly counsel again
st. So this desperate action was her only chance of keeping the door open.

  Realizing what she was doing, the Illuminated soldiers on the far side of the door fired a few blasts into the corridor. Already the door was too low for them to fire straight, so they had to drop down to angle their blasts, which scored the concrete around her silver-tipped Western boots. The woman ignored it, and kept on coming, firing all the while. If she could short circuit the sec door mechanism before it had closed, it would give them access to this corridor. That wasn't what the Illuminated Ones had planned, and so they would have to make more ambushes, which could in turn give more opportunity for the war party to spread out into the redoubt. This would undoubtedly disrupt the plans of their opponents, who, as Krysty had seen, weren't so hot at thinking on their feet.

  Knocking out the door mechanism could change the course of the battle, which so far had amounted to little more than a war of nerve and bluff.

  The door dropped lower, and the area around the keypad and scratch plate became scored with laser fire. Krysty was now almost at the door, and she braced herself, stopping dead and leveling the laser rifle so that she was able to take one last blast.

  Her aim was true. The laser blast crackled and hit the door mechanism head-on, shorting out the control with a plume of smoke, a crackle of singed circuits and a crack as the power supply was severed and terminated.

  But it was too late. The door had dropped to a level where it was impossible for anyone to get through except on his or her belly, and two at a time. To even try and use this access would be tantamount to throwing lives away.

  Krysty swore loudly, knowing that she had failed. No one would blame her, as it was a slim chance at most. But it had been the only one, and she felt that she had blown it.

  So what was before the war party now?

  "I'VE JUST GOT THIS REAL nasty feeling that we're not in charge here," Gloria muttered as the war party made its way through the central corridor of the redoubt, winding down farther and farther into the earth.

  "That's because we're not," Ryan returned. "We're going exactly where they want us."

  "And that is?"

  "Mebbe where they had us in the other redoubt— rerun that and then get rid of us through the mat-trans," Ryan mused. "I don't know. Usually you can try and second guess strategy, but these guys… The way they think is not like anything I've come across."

  "Me, neither," Gloria said sourly. "Stupidworks bastards who want to get rid of everyone so that they can run the show without anyone else around. Why? What the fuck does that achieve? And what would getting rid of us through a mat-trans do?"

  "Spread the pox even further, when we got aboveground," Ryan pointed out.

  Gloria snorted and shook her head. The Gate queen was ready for a firefight, and felt irritated beyond words by being both denied her fight and also manipulated.

  "The only thing we can do is keep trying the sec doors and keep out of the big mat-trans chambers, if that's what they're trying to do," Ryan said. "We've got to keep it calm, here. That's our only hope."

  However, the one-eyed warrior felt nowhere near as cool as he tried to sound. Inside, he was boiling over with frustration. They were being herded toward an objective that was totally on the agenda of their opponents, and they were being given not the slightest opportunity to fight back. Their own objective was also being denied to them by the tactics of their opponents. And there was nothing they could do except play the waiting game.

  The danger inherent in that was that when the action exploded, the pent-up frustration and rage would lead them into error. That was something that Ryan was aware of, and why he was stressing the need to stay calm.

  And yet, when the action came, it was unexpected and explosive.

  Strung out, the units of the war party were moving at a slow pace, hoping for a break. Suddenly, all logic seemed to be denied as the sec door in the main corridor ahead came down.

  "What the fuck is that about?" Gloria whispered.

  "I don't know, but I really don't like it," Ryan whispered. "If they want us to go back, then why didn't they do it before? And if they want to guide us to the mat-trans, then why do it at all? Unless…"

  Ryan's brain raced. There was little reason he could see, unless it was a move to hold them until the Illuminated Ones had positioned soldiers to— His thoughts were sharply curtailed by the door beginning to rise. Ryan's hackles rose, and the adrenaline pumped up his reflexes.

  "Cover, now!" he yelled, throwing himself to one side of the corridor and pushing Gloria toward the other.

  The war party as a whole had no hesitation in following this command, their reflexes as honed by the adrenaline rush as those of Ryan.

  Before the door was even halfway up, the group of soldiers behind the door had begun to fire, spraying the area with laser fire. From their cover, the war party began to return fire. Two soldiers went down immediately, and the others began to draw back, taking refuge behind the buttresses and then laying down covering fire as they retreated in pairs.

  "Stupe bastards, we've got them," Gloria yelled exultantly, coming out from cover and leading the charge.

  For a moment, it did seem as though the Illuminated Ones had made a serious miscalculation, the war party moving forward in waves as they pulled back. But a worry nagged at Ryan, and it was reinforced by Krysty, who reached him through the onrushing army. Her hair was tightly coiled around her head and neck.

  "Bad feeling, lover," she yelled over the melee.

  Ryan agreed. "Too easy."

  But they had little choice except to follow the flow of the war party. There had been a couple of casualties among the leading throng. Ryan caught sight of J.B. and Jak, trying to calm down foot soldiers who were excited by the sudden release of tension, but they were swept along with the tide.

  More of the Illuminated Ones went down—over half the original force had been chilled, and the others pulled back farther along the corridor until they passed through a sec door that led into a vast chamber beyond.

  As the war party swept in, Ryan and Krysty toward the rear, still trying to pull them back, the remaining Illuminated Ones melted into the walls, leaving the warriors firing at thin air.

  The heavy sec door closed with a clang behind the last of the war party. The room was in virtual darkness, and the lights were gradually raised to reveal a large hangarlike chamber.

  "Oh, for fuck's sake," Gloria yelled, realizing what had happened.

  Ryan's face was set grim. As he had feared, they had been led—willingly, as it transpired—into the very place they had wished to avoid.

  Two large mat-trans units stood in the chamber. Set high in one wall was an observation port. The armaglass windows were dark and opaque.

  They had played right into the hands of the enemy.

  Chapter Fourteen

  Ryan felt the fires of frustration and rage boil up within him to the point where he felt that he would explode if he didn't vent them in some manner, however futile that might prove to be.

  Gazing up at the armaglass ob port that gave an unseen observer a full panorama of the war party below, Ryan felt that the opaque wall of armaglass was almost mocking them. He could imagine some of the Illuminated Ones—perhaps even the commander of the redoubt, or their overall leader—standing, poring over the people gathered below, examining them as though they were nothing more than insects. Not as human beings who were fighting for their survival, but rather as specimens who could be used in some experiment.

  Ryan knew it was a futile gesture even before he began, but it was something that he felt he had to do. Both to vent his anger, and also in some way to galvanize an army that had been deflated with the realization of how they had fallen so easily into a trap.

  Taking the Steyr from his back, the one-eyed warrior strode through the throng that clustered miserably in the chamber and took aim at the ob port. He fired a round and watched as the bullet clattered harmlessly against the armaglass, not even pitting or
scarring the surface.

  It may have been, in that sense, futile, but it did serve to change the mood of the army. Whereas, scant moments before, they had been reflective of the tone set by Gloria in her exclamation when she realized how her enthusiasm had trapped them, they now felt lifted by the defiance of the one-eyed man.

  Ryan's blast was the first of many.

  "C'mon Doc, my old beauty, let's show the bastards we're not chilled yet," Cat said, grinning as she raised her laser blaster and firing at the ob port. Her charge hit the armaglass, and although it made a faint scorch mark but little else, it was the cue for more of the warriors to fire.

  As the laser blasters, rifles and handblasters went off around them, the companions sought out one another among the throng of the warriors.

  "Is there really any point in joining them?" Mildred asked rhetorically as they gathered.

  J.B. shook his head. "Not a hope of breaking through, even by sheer weight of numbers."

  "Yeah, but at least it's got everyone on the up again," Ryan commented. "That was really the only reason."

  Krysty eyed the throng. "It's certainly worked, lover. They're fired up, all right, but what the hell can we do to get out of here?"

  "More question of what they do get rid us," Jak commented with a twinkle in his ruby-red eye.

  Dean was puzzled. "What do you mean?"

  Doc coughed, partly as a prelude to speaking, but partly because the pox was taking a stronger hold of his system. "Allow me, perhaps, to explain and expound upon our friend Jak's point. Observe, if you will, that we have been guided into the vast chamber where they keep their mat-trans units. We all, do we not, either have the disease or are carriers of such. Now, if you were in the position of the Illuminated Ones, what would you choose to do? Chill us all? Take issue and battle with us? Or would you, if you had the opportunity, not disseminate us all to the farthest corners of the land, thus achieving the rare treasure of chilling two birds with but the one stone? After all, they would not only have disposed of us, they would also have spread their foul calumny."