“Can’t we do something, help them?” Angel asked.
“I’d love to help them out,” Christian said, “but right now we’re on this side of the fence and we should be getting to safety so we can tell the world what’s going on.”
“The kids are in Building Six,” Bailey said, pointing.
Rob followed her arm to the building she was pointing at, and nodded.
“How do I know who works there reluctantly?” he asked. “In all this chaos, everybody looks like ants.”
“If they’re wearing scrubs, they’re locked up, whether reluctantly or not. You see the ones in black pajama tacticool gear, they’re the bad guys,” Angelica said, looking at Bailey, who nodded in agreement.
“Then it’s time to get out my hammer,” Rob said, pulling the upper and lower receiver out of his bag and fitting them together. He laid out three magazines from the vest that took up most of the top of it and handed a compact spotting scope Anna had loaned him to Angelica.
She went prone next to him and set up. How could they help people the most? When all they had was a hammer, everything looked like nails. She thought that’s what Rob was referencing, but she wasn’t sure. Rob was next to her now, his big rifle out. He’d loaded it and was peering through his scope. Angel moved to the big crowd by the gate.
“I got the front gate at five hundred and ten meters,” she said softly. “Back of the group in front of us is a little over three hundred meters. They will probably hear the shots.”
“That’s what I got too when I was looking for you,” Rob said. “I need a way to help but I can’t see just shooting into the masses.”
“What if you took the power off the fences?” Christian asked suddenly.
“Now how would we do that, sugar?” Angelica asked without looking up.
“I know they probably have backup generators somewhere, but I doubt those could run the current needed for the fences, so my best guess would be to shoot out the transformers. If the fence loses power, it won’t be long until folks figure it out and push through or folks push it out from the inside.”
Rob thought that was pretty good thinking. He found a telephone pole in his scope and followed it slowly until he saw the boxy shape of one on a pole. There was no way that was what powering the place. Mini malls had their own usually he thought, a big one on the ground. Hating to sweep hundreds of innocent people with his scope, he kept searching.
“I’ve got one on the pole leading in,” Angel said after a second.
“I’ll get that one, but there’s got to be a bigger one. Probably somewhere inside the compound.”
“Would it be a big green box that hums?” Bailey asked.
“Yes,” Rob told her.
“Left side of the building we just escaped from,” she said softly.
Both Rob and Angelica were surprised; they had seen it, had heard its hum as they escaped, but neither of them had registered or remembered it until Bailey mentioned it. She was a lot smarter than she looked. Rob was going to ask Angelica about the stitches and bruising on the woman’s face, but he wouldn’t right now. No man should ever beat a woman so bad. If he knew which man had done it, he’d put a bullet right through his brain pan. Then again, a man who could put a hurt on a brute like Bailey would be a big scary mofo, he thought to himself.
“Found it,” he said, then looked down to make sure the magazine he had seated didn’t have a red stripe.
“You got the right ammo loaded up?” Christian asked, watching him look at his magazines.
“Yeah, this is going to be loud, but I doubt anybody on the other side of the fence is going to hear it over the sirens and the riot. I just needed to make sure I wasn’t shooting my sub sonics. Those are in the red taped magazines.”
“Oh,” Christian said, confused.
“A little over six hundred meters,” Angelica said softly. “I don’t have the tables—”
BOOM
Angelica was surprised, and it took her a second to find the transformer in her optic. She saw it was smoking with a perfectly round hole in the bottom left.
“Hit bottom left. It’s smoking. Sirens are still running so—”
BOOM
Bailey startled that time.
“Hit,” Angelica said. “Dead center. Something’s dripping out of it. I don’t know if it’s something cooking off inside doing it, or if the rumors they’re filled with oil are true. I don’t know much about them.”
BOOM
“There’s a fire,” Angelica said as the sirens abruptly cut off.
“They’re shooting at us!” was shouted in the distance. None of them knew if it was by the mostly peaceful rioters, or from within the fence.
Rob turned the rifle, finding the transformer on the pole he’d noted earlier. This one was a lot closer, so he waited as Angel read him the range, then fired. The transformer blew up in a ball of flame, and the noise was like a small bomb going off. It was just enough to panic the back of the crowd, who rushed forward, pushing.
“God, I hope that worked,” Governor Christian said as the men in black guarding the gate fell back.
“Watch,” Rob said as the first group touched the fence. When nothing happened, the dozen or so men who had been directly in front of the gate backed up as a group came in behind them, armed with riot gear.
“They’re tossing teargas now,” Angelica said.
Rob could see it all, and thought about sending some lead their way, but he wasn’t sure if he’d ever be left alone if he killed them. That stopped him for a second, because he’d been ready to wade through rivers of blood an hour ago.
“Not for long,” Rob said, shifting. “Range to targets throwing tear gas and shotgun guys?”
“Um… five hundred forty five,” she said, biting her lip, scared of what Rob was about
