Then they were all running across the street, weapons at the ready. Moira met them halfway and took her crossbow back, and when they reached the entrance to the mall they found the man in the dark T-shirt groaning on the floor, one hand to his head.
Flint pulled the man's arms behind his back and tied them together roughly. Then he tore a strip of fabric off the man's shirt and gagged him with it, before he and Caldavir dragged the man out of sight along the wall.
Harriet looked inside the mall, which was gloomy and dark. The floor was paved with dirty tiles, and there was a handful of shops with boarded-up windows. The nearest had a sign with Mike Dantriss's name on, and when Harriet heard footsteps coming she frantically waved the others back. "Don't shoot until I—"
Chack! Chack!
The newcomer was a woman, a gun in her hand, and the heavy bolts knocked her off her feet, winding her. The gun clattered on the floor, and before the woman could cry out she was gagged and tied.
"—until I give the word," muttered Harriet. She realised she had no chance of holding her people back, so she told them to split up and check the building in pairs. "No heroics, okay? We're just going to round Darting's people up, and the spaceport security people can ship them off to the orbiter and organise for them to be taken away."
There was some muttering at that, but the others paired off and hurried down the corridor between the boarded-up shops. Only Timms remained, and she took up the fallen gun, checked it over expertly, then discarded her crossbow in favour of the blaster. "Come on, dear," she said. "Let's not leave all the fun to the others." The old lady trotted off, gun at the ready, and Harriet had to hurry to keep up with her.
Harriet heard raised voices and blaster fire, then a sound of breaking glass. More shots rang out from nearby, quickly silenced, and she hoped her people weren't taking on more than they could handle. Then she had no time to worry about them, because Timms hauled open the door to an abandoned shop, and they came face to face with Mike Dantriss, the so-called maintenance man who'd infiltrated their base. He stared at Harriet in shock, then went for his gun. It was barely out of the holster before Timms opened fire. Dantriss went down in a blaze of blaster fire, and Timms walked over and casually kicked his gun towards Harriet. Then she checked his pulse. "He won't trouble us for a while."
"I thought you'd killed him!"
"No need for that, dear. He's out of action, and that's all that matters."
There was a door at the rear of the shop, and Harriet eased it open while Timms stood with her gun ready. The door led onto a large open area behind the mall, with the back of another building facing them. A burst of gunfire lanced at them from the other building, and the door shuddered as the shots slammed into the woodwork. Harriet and Timms jumped back, sheltering against the concrete wall, and more shots hit the door, tearing holes in the timber and leaving bright after-images in Harriet's vision.
"There must be half a dozen of them at least," said Timms.
Harriet frowned. It dawned on her that Darting's people might have occupied the entire city block, not just her nephew's premises, and even now they could be circling round to the front of the building. The Peace Force veterans were scattered throughout the mall, and their slow-firing crossbows would be no match for blasters. "Captain, I need you to go and meet Alice."
"What, now?" demanded Timms.
"Yeah. She's a hot-head, and she's liable to abandon the jet and come charging into battle. I need her to stay with the fighter in case we have to make a quick getaway."
"Very well, dear." Timms offered her the gun, but Harriet waved it away. "Keep it. You might run into Darting's people on the way."
More shots hit the door, and they abandoned the shop and returned to the main hall, where they saw Moira and Worthy backing out of a shop, Moira struggling to reload while Worthy shielded her from blaster fire. Through the gaps in the boards covering the window, Harriet saw flashes of gunfire, and she raised her crossbow and fired at a shadowy figure inside the shop opposite. The window shattered, thousands of tiny fragments cascading on the floor, and the firing stopped.
"Nice shot!" called Moira. "Thanks!"
"They're in the building behind us," shouted Harriet.
"And the other side, too."
"Get everyone out. They could be trying to surround us."
Moira ran down the main hall with Worthy, her footsteps clattering on the tiles. On the way she shouted at the others, calling them back. In the meantime, Harriet escorted Timms to the front door. She looked out cautiously, but there was nobody around. "Wait at the landing zone," she told Timms. "Keep Alice there no matter what."
Timms nodded. "I'll be back," she said firmly, and then she headed across the street to use the parked cars for cover.
Harriet returned to the mall. "Listen up!" she called, and the others fell silent. "Timms and I saw five or six shooters in a building on that side," she said, indicating the shop. "I need two of you to cover the door."
Caldavir and Flint hurried off, and Harriet took up Timms' crossbow and passed it to Worthy, overriding his objections. "I know you can't shoot anyone, but you can load it, can't you?"
The robot nodded.
"Good. Go with those two, and load for them as quick as you can." Harriet turned to Banville, McCluskey and Caldavir. "How many did you see?"
"Only a couple, and one of them went down," said Banville, with some satisfaction.
"Any sign of Darting?"
They all shook their heads.
"If she's here, she'll be in the building
