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The inferno of Helskel smeared the dark sky with a glow that could be seen for
miles.
Even after the dune buggy had dipped down into a gulley, the orange stain
could still be seen, like the aurora borealis.
Jak, standing and holding on to the roll bar, had been checking their
backtrack. "Whole ville going up."
"What about pursuit?" asked J.B., crouched behind the wheel.
"No sign, yet. Too busy fighting fire."
J.B. switched on the headlights. The dune buggy had peen running without
headlights for the past hour, relying on the tracker instincts and night
vision of Jak to find and follow the AMAC's trail.
Doc, Krysty and Fleur were still crammed shoulder to shoulder in the back
seat. Krysty's head rested on Doc's shoulder in a sleep so deep it was almost
a coma. The jarring and jouncing of the wag over the rutted, uneven ground had
failed to stir her.
J.B. figured to follow the AMAC's tire tracks to a certain point, then cut
over in the general direction of the cave. Trouble was, he wasn't sure how to
find that certain point.
Worries swirled through his mind like a tornado. Though he hadn't seen one,
the AMAC
could be outfitted with a shortwave comm unit, and Hellstrom could have
already been apprised of their escape. The closer they rolled to Mount
Rushmore, the greater the odds of rolling into an ambush.
He wasn't sure if they could find the cave in the darkness, since he had only
glimpsed its general location on Hellstrom's hand-drawn map. Fleur had never
been allowed to visit the pickup point. According to her, it was a trip
Hellstrom always reserved for himself and a couple of sec men. The closest she
had been to the cave was the mouth of a canyon that led to it.
Consulting his chron, then the position of the stars and the moon overhead, he
judged they had about seven hours of sheltering darkness left to them, seven
hours to navigate ravines, hills and dry creek beds to locate a cave none of
them had ever seen. Hell, they only had the word of a maniac the place even
existed.
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The dune buggy raced across the rugged terrain, and they made good time, much
better time than the AMAC during their initial trip into the area.
Around midnight, J.B. stopped the vehicle briefly so everyone could stretch
their legs and drink from the canteens they'd taken from a room off the
armory. Krysty slept on in the back seat. Only Fleur thought her near-comatose
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state was unusual. The wag's fuel tank was half drained, so Jak refilled it
from one of the gas cans. After half an hour they were underway again, Doc
trading places with Jak in the shotgun seat.
They rode far into the night until they recognized the mouth of the valley
that had been the site of their battle with the Lakota. It was about an eighth
of a mile away J.B. quickly switched off the headlights and silenced the
engine. Half to himself, he said, "If
Hellstrom's anywhere about, that's where he's laying."
Doc nodded. "I concur. He appears to be a creature of habit, and probably
intends to camp in familiar surroundings, at least until morning. I suggest we
reverse our course."
Jak leaned forward, his white hair shining like a tangle of silver threads in
the moonlight.
"Need recce, find out if there, if know we escaped."
J.B. agreed with the albino teenager. There was a chance Hellstrom and his
party might be watching for them.
Getting out of the dune buggy, J.B. said softly, "We'll take a stroll in that
direction. Doc, stay here with Krysty and Fleur. If you hear any shooting, and
when you think you've waited long enough, haul ass out of here. Stay on triple
red. Jak, since it was your idea, you can lead the way."
The two men walked toward the mouth of the valley but angled their path toward
one sloping wall of the arroyo. The moon dropped a ghostly light on the rocky,
brush-studded ground. Wind brought the faraway howl of a wolf, and the
answering yelp of a coyote. At least, J.B. hoped it was a wolf and a coyote.
They clambered up the side of the valley wall and crept along its crest for a [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]