the lowest rung of the steps leading up to the cab. Holding on to the wing mirror, I sent the information on the truck through my palm link into the smart frame. The frame extended and I placed it against the door, sending a two- second time delay detonation order. Then I dropped off the truck and moved to one side.
To my enhanced reactions those two seconds seemed to take a lot of time. The weird thing was, there was no screaming. I mean there were cries of pains from the collateral damage – try not to think of them as people. That was to be expected; we were using heavy weapons in a built-up area. What was missing was the normal screaming you’d hear from panicked civilians. This area had seen vicious street fighting against Them throughout the war so I guess this didn’t frighten them. They’d just cleared out as much as they could. Here and there I could see the odd dirty face looking at us with resentment rather than fear. Sorry.
The ceramic crucibles on the programmable frame channelled the thermite charges. The thermite cut through the hinges and the lock on the armoured door and filled the cab with fumes almost immediately. Then the concussion charge in the centre of the frame detonated. Between the charge and the door was a container with a litre of saline solution. The charge went off with a bang, battering the driver and the gunner with over-pressure. The solution created a sucking effect and the entire door flew back off the cab and into the rock on the side of the street.
The truck had stopped moving now. I heard the pops and bangs from the other vehicles behind me.
Mother came out of the alleyway she’d been hiding in, heading straight towards the truck, a Metal Storm gauss carbine at the ready.
I swung round towards the cab, shotgun at the ready. The two inside were battered and bleeding from the door charge. I didn’t want to kill them but then we weren’t going to be gentle either. I put a three-round burst into each of them – gel batons. They got battered around some more, disoriented, the fight knocked out of them. I grabbed the gunner and threw him out into the street, face down. Mother covered me. She was holding together just fine without her mech. I knelt in the centre of the screaming gunner’s back and cable-tied his hands together. I then repeated this with the driver. In many ways I was being nicer to these guys than the others were. The other three truck crews were getting hit with thirty-millimetre gel baton grenades.
With the truck crew subdued and restrained, I ejected the magazine of gel baton rounds and replaced it with a magazine of saboted twelve-millimetre, armour-piercing explosive rounds. Then I covered Mother as she threw herself into the foot well of the cab.
Unless they’re part of the Crawling Town convoy or way out in the sticks somewhere, most vehicles are heavily computerised. This meant that Demiurge had access to the systems of these trucks. However, vehicles used by the military have to be able to work without their computerised components. This is in case of an electromagnetic pulse. With a pulse even hardened electronics go offline, though they are not slagged like unprotected systems. Military vehicles also need to work without their computerised components because squaddies break stuff. Mother had to remove the truck’s CPU and transponder before we could nick it.
And then it all went quiet. The main thoroughfare was filled with smoke and on fire in a few small areas. I could hear Mother working frantically in the truck’s cab as I watched around us. I could make out Morag further down the street, doing the same as Strange disabled the CPU and transponder on the third truck. I knew that Pagan and Mudge would be doing the same on the other side of the convoy.
In the alleyway next to us the Puppet Show’s heavily disguised people appeared as if from nowhere. The normal inhabitants of the alley had been convinced to go elsewhere and the cluttered passage was being cleared to reveal a road just about big enough to fit trucks down.
It was taking too long, but it was pointless to tell Mother to hurry up. She knew what she was doing, but I still felt very exposed and Demiurge would have known what was happening from the moment we hit the first GE Raider. The Black Squadrons were already on their way.
Mother appeared in the cab door. The CPU and transponder hit the road and she signalled that she was done. She disappeared back into the cab and the truck engine started again. She was driving it manually. Moments later I heard the other three engines start up. We covered the whanau as the Puppet Show’s people guided them into the alleyway. The trucks would have their cargoes stripped, separated and hidden all over the Rookery. Then those of Mother’s people who were familiar with Moa City would smuggle the cargo back through the tunnels, staying well clear of the cable car system. That was the plan anyway.
Big Henry turned his truck into the alleyway and followed Mother. Mudge was now on the other side of the road from me. I caught a glimpse of him between the two last trucks just before Strange turned in. Morag had pulled back closer to my position now.
Strange was manoeuvring into the tight passageway, Dog Face waiting behind her.
‘Contact! Light Walker and wheeled APC coming up behind us!’ Cat.
‘Contact! Light Walker and wheeled APC ahead of us!’ Merle.
Behind me, whoosh and explosion followed whoosh and explosion as Cat fired her final two Laa-Laas – I was guessing at the mech.
I couldn’t see ahead of me as Dog Face’s truck was blocking my view as he turned into the alley. I crouched down and looked under the moving truck as Merle fired his two remaining Laa-Laas from the shoulder. I heard the explosions and beneath the truck I could see the stilt-like legs of a light Walker stagger from the impact of the missiles. I could also see the wheels of the APC. It was lucky I’d crouched as railgun fire tore through the truck above me, stitching a line down it, showering me in some unidentifiable foodstuff. Across the road I saw Mudge lift his AK and begin firing short bursts up the main thoroughfare.
It was too soon. They had got here too quickly with too many people. Something had gone wrong.
Behind me I could hear laser and assault-rifle fire from Pagan, Morag, Tailgunner and Cat. Cat hadn’t brought her railgun as it would have been too obvious. We would miss it now.
Big Henry gunned the truck and it disappeared into the alleyway. I crossed the mouth of the alley, passing the shotgun’s pistol grip from my right hand to my left.
The Walker was reeling from the double Laa-Laa hit. Merle was rapid-firing plasma round after plasma round into it, his grouping tight and each round burning a little deeper into the mech.
The APC was advancing towards us, its double railgun firing at Mudge, destroying the corner of the rock building he’d been using as cover and forcing him deeper into the alleyway.
Infantry were pouring out of the back of the APC and sprinting for cover. This was a mistake. I started killing them. I fired, dropping the rounds in just under their helmets. My smartlink, training, skill and experience showed me where to aim. Facial features were replaced with red as some mother’s son ran a little longer before he realised he was dead. Then another, then another. The APC’s railguns switched to me and I calmly moved back into the alleyway as hypersonic rounds powdered rock all around me. Across the main thoroughfare Mudge popped out of his alley mouth and started on the dismounted infantry.
A shadow from above flickered over me as Merle leaped from one side of the alley to the other. Then the rooftop that he had just left ceased to exist. I was blown across the alleyway and rubble rained down on me. The inertial armour undersuit soaked up a lot of the damage but I still felt like I’d been beaten with hammers. I struggled out from beneath the rocks and staggered to my feet.
I looked into the main thoroughfare. The APC was firing at Mudge now. More of the infantry had successfully debussed and were in cover, firing at us. I fired two more short bursts. Armour-piercing rounds flew through the superstructure of a car and exploded inside the young infantrywoman who’d taken cover behind it.
I risked glancing behind me as I reloaded, to see Morag backing down the street. She was firing burst after burst from her laser carbine.
Plasma fire on the Walker started again from Merle’s new position as I exchanged fire with the remaining infantrymen, keeping their heads down. Any who did show themselves got killed. It was only Mudge and me suppressing the infantry between hiding from the APCs railguns, but we did it with such accuracy and ferocity that their return fire was weak and inaccurate. Still we needed to get out of here.
Rubble rained down on me again as the Walker’s twin rapid-firing railguns ate away at the rock above, seeking Merle. He returned fire from another new position, putting plasma round after plasma round into the Walker. The entire front of the light mech’s barrel-like torso was on fire. More rapid railgun fire, this time from behind as the light Walker coming up behind us opened up. The street shook and I ducked back into the alley as the Walker ahead mercifully exploded. The APC shifted its railguns from me to Mudge, who had to throw himself back into the alley as the rock corner he’d been behind just ceased to exist. I saw blood explode out of his side as a ricochet caught him, spinning him around in mid-air.
