"Are you with me?" Hickok queried.
"Need you ask?"
"Will one of you tell me what"s going on?" Locklin demanded.
"The Storm Police expect rebels to use bows," Hickok said. "We might rattle them a mite with our irons."
"All you have are a pair of Uzis and two revolvers," Locklin noted.
Hickok nodded at the troopers in front of them, now about 50 yards distant. "They don"t know how many guns we have." He paused. "I never should"ve left the M-16 with your man Scarlet."
"You wanted him to be able to protect Chast.i.ty properly," Rikki reminded the gunfighter.
"Cryin" over spilt milk never helped anyone," Hickok stated. "Are you ready?""Ready," Rikki confirmed.
"What"s your plan?" Locklin inquired.
"Simple. We"ll charge the varmints."
Locklin couldn"t seem to believe his ears. "We"re going to charge them ?".
"Yep."
"There are sixteen of us and dozens of them," Locklin pointed out.
"Good. We won"t need to aim as hard."
Locklin shook his head. "You"re crazy."
The gunman looked at Rikki. "Why the blazes does everyone keep saying that?"
The martial artist shrugged. "Beats me."
"If we"re going to charge, why don"t we charge them!" Locklin asked, and pointed at the Storm Police drawing nearer from their rear, from the direction of the outside wall. "If we break through, we"ll be in the forest before they can catch us."
"You can charge them if you want," Hickok said."But we"re chargin" the turkeys in front. We"re not leavin" without Blade."
"You can come back for Blade another time," Locklin suggested.
"A Warrior never deserts another Warrior," Hickok stated. "Never."
Locklin gazed at his band. "You heard him. Stay close to me."
"What about me?" Dale inquired.
"What about you?" Locklin answered. "You"re a member of the Freedom Fighters. Behave like one."
Dale blinked a few times and swallowed hard."On me," Hickok directed. He glanced at Rikki. "If something should happen to me, make sure Chast.i.ty finds a nice home."
"She will," Rikki promised.
Hickok grinned and faced the Storm Police 40 yards away. "Don"t fire until you can see their britches," he said, and raced forward.
"Britches?" Locklin repeated quizzically as he followed.
The gunman concentrated on the flashlight beams sweeping the drain.
Those beams illuminated a 25-to-30 yard stretch of conduit ahead of the advancing troopers. He would need to time this just right.
Rikki was staying abreast of the gunfighter.
Hickok cradled the Uzi. "This is for Chast.i.ty"s mom and dad," he said under his breath. He sprinted into the outer fringe of light cast by the beams and opened fire.
Beside the gunman, Rikki promptly added his Uzi to the din.
"Remember the Alamo!" Hickok shouted, his moccasins pounding on the concrete.
The flashlights began waving frantically, and several shattered and blinked out. Screams and yells punctuated the gunfire. A milling of shadows cast eerie reflections on the drain as the Storm Police wavered. A half dozen dropped in the initial seconds of the attack, and those unharmed seemed to believe that a horde of rebels was pouring toward them. A few desultory rounds were expended, and then the rest broke and bolted.
"Halt! Stand your ground!" a captain bellowed, and was flattened by a hail of slugs.
"Take no prisoners!" Hickok whooped.
"For freedom!" Locklin chimed in.
The Storm Police did not show any appet.i.te for combat. Except for a few hardy souls who snapped off occasional shots, the majority of the troopers appeared to be more interested in saving their skins then indying in the line of duty.
Hickok slowed as he slapped a fresh magazine into the Uzi. "What a bunch of wimps!" he commented.
Rikki abruptly stopped.
"What is it?" Hickok asked, halting. The Freedom Fighters also drew up short.
"This is too easy," Rikki remarked. "Why are they fleeing?"
"Most of the Storm Police are not accustomed to resistance," Locklin said.
"But patrols are sent out to engage your band all the time," Rikki noted.
"They send their older troopers out to get us," Locklin responded. "The younger recruits are kept in the city. Only the older ones are a.s.signed to rebel hunts, as the Peers call them. Evidently, the older troopers are considered more expendable. The younger ones, as a result, don"t have much experience."
"Do we keep chasing them?" Big John inquired.
Hickok gazed at the fleeing Storm Police, their forms outlined by their receding flashlight beams. "No. They could be runnin" because they"re greenhorns, and they could be leadin" us into another trap."
"What do we do then?" Locklin wanted to know.
"We get the blazes out of here," Hickok said.
"How?" Locklin inquired.
Rikki"s lighter flicked on. "We must find an open manhole." He started walking deeper into the tunnel.
Hickok c.o.c.ked his head to one side. "What about the troopers behind us? Are they still on our heels."
"I don"t hear them," the last rebel in line replied."They must be tryin" to figure out what the d.i.c.kens is happening,"
Hickok said. "Good. We"ve bought us a few minutes. Now-"
"Hickok," Rikki called from eight yards off.
The gunman hastened to his friend"s side. "Have you found one, pard?"
For an answer, Rikki held the lighter aloft, revealing another manhole cover.
"Big John," Locklin directed.
Once again the biggest Freedom Fighter applied his brawny shoulder to the task, but with different results. As Big John grunted and arched his broad back, the manhole cover slowly eased to the left with a grinding noise. In less than a minute the cover was removed.
"I can see trees," Big John remarked, peering over the rim.
"Let me take a gander," Hickok said.
Big John moved to one side.
Holding the Uzi at chest height, just in case, Hickok stood on his toes and looked around. The conduit was situated in a sloping gully with cement sides and bordered by a chain-link fence. He glanced at Locklin.
"Why is there a fence?"
"To keep the public out, especially the kids," Locklin replied. "When the drains were installed, the construction crews dug a trench, poured the concrete, and enclosed the whole deal as a safety measure."
Hickok placed the Uzi on the outer rim, then pulled himself to his knees. Beyond the fence on the right was a residential area, and on the left was a park. Streetlights at periodic intervals supplied a diffuse illumination, the closest light being 30 feet to the right. Thanks to an intervening tree, the manhole section was obscured by shadows. "The coast is clear," Hickok announced softly. "Everybody out." He walked a few yards from the manhole and scanned their surroundings.
Rikki, Locklin, and the rest of the band clambered speedily from the drain."Which way to the Civil Directorate?" Hickok asked the rebel leader.
Locklin pointed to the southwest. "It"s not far."
"I just hope Blade is there," Hickok said.
"If you friend has been captured, the odds are he"s there," Locklin stated. "But our first priority is taking care of the Peers."
"Your first priority is takin" care of the Peers," Hickok said, correcting him. "Ours is findin" our pard."
Locklin nodded at the park. "We can cut through here. That"s Piedmont Park."
"Head "em out," Hickok instructed.
Working in concert, with Big John providing a boost to everyone who needed it, the Warriors and Freedom Fighters scaled the chain-link fence.
Big John came over without a.s.sistance.
"Lead the way," Hickok said to Locklin.
Motioning for his band to fan out, Locklin headed into the lush park.
They crossed a gra.s.sy knoll and reached a walkway, and there encountered their first citizens, a young couple strolling arm in arm. The man and woman took one look at the Freedom Fighters, with their unusual green attire, and took off to the southeast.
"Now we"re in for it," Locklin said. "They"ll report us to the police."
"I could catch them," Big John offered.
"We don"t harm civilians," Locklin responded. "You know that."
"I could tie them up," Big John proposed.
"We keep going," Locklin declared.
They increased their pace, with Dale supporting a rebel with a wounded leg.
Several minutes went by."We have company," Rikki informed them.
Approaching from the southeast were more flashlights.
"Storm Police," Locklin said.
"We stand and fight," Hickok stated. "We don"t want them d.o.g.g.i.n" us every step of the way."
Locklin headed toward a row of trees nearby. "Take cover!" he commanded. "Don"t loose a shaft until I do."
Hickok and Rikki ran for cover behind a large maple tree. The gunman leaned on the trunk and watched the shining beams, estimating the troopers were within 50 yards. "I"m gettin" real tired of these cow chips."
"They know they have the rebels cornered in the city," Rikki observed, "and they will stop at nothing to eliminate the Freedom Fighters."
"Not if I can help it," Hickok vowed.
"What will we do if Blade is not in the Civil Directorate?" Rikki asked.
"We"ll grab one of the Peers and throttle Blade"s whereabouts out of him. Or her, if they have such female polecats."
"You never have been one for subtlety."
"Beatin" around the bush is for the birds," Hickok said. "Roll with the flow, I always say."
"Can you translate that?"
"When I was eight, I learned one of the most important lessons of my life," Hickok explained. "There was this bully by the name of Greer-"
"I remember him," Rikki said, interrupting. "He was always picking fights with the younger children in our Family."