But when the rig swung around I saw that it wouldn't be necessary. The Bandersnatch was in flames. The roof was well involved, and Sam's return fire had ignited a wide section of the front wall.
'That wood must be highly flammable,' Sam guessed. 'It's really going up.'
Liam said, 'It's devilish hard to start, but once Talltree wood catches, it bums like hellfire.'
The sniping had stopped, so I slowed. A huge gout of flame roared from the roof of the hotel.
Liam whistled. 'She's a total loss. They'll never get it put out. Good thing we got everyone out of there.'
I nodded. Just then another beam hit the trailer. I gunned the engine and roared out of the parking lot?and almost ran over Sean. I braked hard and he jumped out of the way. I stopped and popped the hatch. Sean climbed in and I took off down the road.
Sean watched the side parabolic mirror. 'Pity,' he said.
'But we'll find another place to carouse.'
'Dammit,' I was saying. 'Dammit to hell.'
'Easy, son,' Sam consoled me. 'We didn't have the manpower to rush the place.'
'It might've worked. Liam said the guards were nodding off.'
'Yeah, it might've, but we would've taken casualties. Yours was the safest bet, even though we didn't bargain on a portable exciter cannon.'
'We could've given it a try. Damn.'
'Forget it, Jake. Obviously there were more men there than Liam thought.'
'He's right, Jake,' Liam said. 'Moore has at least two dozen rowdyboys on his paysheet, and that apartment of his has a room full of bunk beds.'
'Still,' I said, 'we didn't get Darla and Winnie back. And now… '
'We'll find 'em, Jake,' Sean said, squeezing my shoulder reassuringly. 'We've a few ideas of where they could be.'
'But how long will it take? And now that they know I'm up and about, it's gonna be rough.'
'We'll find them,' Sean said. 'Liam and I know these woods like?'
'Hold on,' Sam interrupted. 'I'm getting something.'
After a moment, I said, 'What is it, Sam?'
'It's our beacon. Lost it, though. Wait a minute.'
'It's Darla'' I shouted. 'She has the key!'
'Shut up and let me… There it is again. Son of a brick. Okay, let me launch the earlybird and we'll do a little triangulation.'
We heard a thump and a whine as the turbojet-powered surveillance drone came out of its hidey-hole on the roof of the cab. It warmed up, then screamed off into the night.
Half a minute later, Sam had a fix.
'We're heading generally in the right direction. The signal source is a little over three kilometers away and the direction is forty-five degrees to the right as we drive.'
'Just keep on this road,' Sean said. 'I have a feeling I know where they are.'
We bumped and thumped over the rutted logging trail for fifteen minutes, making slow progress. Then a large piece of the still-smoking roller fell away and the cab lurched violently, listing to the left.
'Hell,' I said. 'We might not make it.'
'Disconnect it from the power shaft and oversteer to correct,' Sam said. 'Never mind, I'll do it.'
Sam did and we started forward again.
'Just take it easy,' he said.
'Turn right here,' Sean said. 'See that little trail?'
'Don't know if we can fit,' I said.
I eased to the right. Branches scraped against the trailer. The port was open just a little and I could hear night sounds again. Bork-bork, greep-greep, jub jub, bleu!
'Goddamn noisiest woods I've ever been in,' I grumbled.
'Live here for a few months and you wouldn't hear it,' Liam chuckled.
'You'd be deaf,' Roland said.
'No offense,' I said, 'but no thanks.'
'Talltree's only for poets and loggers and other hopeless romantics,' Sean said. 'You level-headed types always run screaming from the place.'
'You know, when I was out there,' I began, but stopped. 'Never mind. No time now.'
'We're dead on,' Sam said. 'The source is directly ahead.'
Sean nodded, his face set grimly. 'Tommy Baker's place. I knew that if there was a woman to be had, he'd be first in line.'
I shut off the headbeams, pulled down the general-purpose scope and shoved my face into it. It was set for thermal-imaging; I changed it to night-vision, turning on the photomultiplier circuits. The gain needed was minimal. The full moon was still doing its job.
'Sam, rig for silent running.'
'Scramming main engine,' Sam answered. 'Auxiliary motor engaged, secondary power cells on. We are rigged for silent running.'
'Aye, aye, and all that,' I said. 'Okay, we're going to do it right this time.'
We tried. I stopped within five hundred meters of the signal source. After arming ourselves, we set out into the woods, following Sean over a trail that would take us to Tommy Baker's farm. We would come out directly behind the farmhouse.
Twenty minutes later, lights appeared among the trees. We crept the rest of the way, coming just to the edge of the clearing. Sean and I stationed ourselves behind a tree and peered out into the darkness. A shadowline cut across the yard, neatly bisecting a neglected garden. Junk and refuse lay everywhere.
A weathered and probably rarely-used tractor was parked next to a small shed. The house lay in shadow, but its outline was easily discernible. A tiny, square rear window glowed dimly yellow.
'Let me go reconnoiter,' Sean whispered to me.
'Okay. Be careful.'
'That I'll be.'
He stepped around the tree, paused, then tiptoed across the moonlit area and into shadow. I lost sight of him quickly, and was worried that he might trip over a piece of junk and blow everything. But he didn't.
Someone came up beside me. It was Liam.
'You think they have a radio in there?' I asked.
'I'm fairly sure they do. Why?'
'They may have had advance warning. Maybe they've moved Darla and Winnie somewhere else by now.'
'I think Moore has his hands full back at the 'Snatch. His first priority would be to put out a fire call. Besides, what about the signal?'
'Don't know. Darla may have dropped the key, or left it behind. Could be someone's just fiddling with it.'
We waited.
Sean returned about ten minutes later.
'Jake, you'd better come see this,' he said.
I looked at him.
'I really think you should,' he said, then turned, beckoning me to follow.
I did.
'Mind your step,' Sean hissed as we threaded our way through the debris.
We crept up to the window. Sean crouched beneath it, then pointed upward, inviting me to have a look.
Okay, I'd have a look. Flattening my back against the rough log wall, I inched along until I could peer through the corner of the window. Through a big tear in a tattered paper blind I could see everything.
Darla was in there. She was nude, sitting on the lap of a man who had his back to me. He was sitting on the edge of a large bed with a carved wooden headboard. A small lamp glowed on a nighttable on the far side of the bed, throwing their shadows against a white plaster wall.
