Earthbound (33 page)

I chimed in. Couldn’t help myself. “Where you
gonna find four able-bodied men?”

That wasn’t helping. Pace did me the benefit
of not shushing me. He’s not my boss after all. Our relationship
isn’t like the one between Boze and his Nuggets. Pace and I are
equal partners. But he is a better talker, no doubt about that.

“I think what Ash is trying to say,” Pace
explained, “is that we’re feeling confident in the manpower
department. However, your argument has merit. Ash, will you agree
to a six-way split?”

“I will on one condition. Boze, if things go
bad, you promise to get Becca outta here as quick as you can.”

Becca didn’t seem to like that much.
“Asher!”

“And I have a condition too,” Pace added.
“Ash and I keep the transport.”

Boze’s face opened up with a smile. First
time I ever saw him smile. “Lower your weapons, boys,” he
instructed calmly.

“Who?” Pace asked. “Us or your Nuggets?”

“The Nuggets,” Boze responded. That surprised
pretty much everyone I think.

“But Boze!” Birkin protested.

“Lower ‘em,” Boze replied sharply.
Reluctantly, Priestly complied. Then Lister. Then Birkin.

“Weapons on the ground and kick ‘em away,” I
said. The Nuggets started to comply, but Boze stopped ‘em.

“I didn’t say drop ‘em,” he said. The Nuggets
pulled their weapons back toward their body but didn’t aim them at
me or Pace. We all just sorta waited on Boze to make the next move.
Finally, he turned and addressed me and Pace. “Even split, six
ways. First sign of shooting, I’ll get Rebecca to safety. You keep
the transport.”

I breathed a sigh of relief. Boze was in.

“You are such an idiot,” Becca muttered. And
she was right about that.

Boze reached out his hand to shake on it. I
holstered my gun and shook on it. Then Pace did the same.

A partnership between us and the Nuggets.
Never thought I’d live to see that.

We regrouped and mapped out our plan of
attack. Before we took our positions, Lister felt like he had
something to say.

“If we’re gonna do this,” Lister said, “we
need a gang name.”

“What the eff are you talkin’ about, Lister?”
Birkin scowled.

“Every good gang has a name. The Hole in the
Wall Gang and so forth.”

“I think that’s a fine idea,” Pace agreed.
“We need a name for people to fear. They’ll want something short
and handy to put on our Wanted poster. Any ideas?”

“Blood Brothers,” Priestly suggested.

“I’m not your brother,” I replied coldly.

“Sure as hell not,” Birkin added. Hey, we
finally agreed on something.

“What’s wrong with the Nuggets?” Boze
asked.

“What’s
right
with
the Nuggets?” Pace replied laughing. “Maybe that worked for you
before, but Ash and I are no Nugget. No, we need something entirely
new. A name that can stay with us after we’re long gone.”

“Death’s Door,” Birkin suggested. “Or
Murderer’s Row or something like that.”

“That’s too much about killing,” Pace
replied.

Boze interrupted, feeling the need to remind
Birkin of something. “Remember, there’s to be no killing if we can
help it.”

Birkin sighed.

“Anyone else?” Pace asked. No one had
anything, or just didn’t want to get their idea shot down in cold
blood. “All right then. I propose we call ourselves the Lost
Boys.”

“That sounds a might familiar,” Lister
mused.

“Ain’t that from a book?” Boze asked. I was
surprised he could read.

Pace nodded his head. “Yup, it’s from Peter
Pan. Remember that one? The Lost Boys was their gang.”

Birkin really didn’t care for that one. “I
ain’t lost and I ain’t a boy.”

“Oh come on,” Pace pleaded. “Somebody’s got
to like that. Ash, don’t you like that?”

“Hate it,” I replied. Hated to not side with
Pace but the Lost Boys sounded weak to me.

“So you have something better?” Pace
goaded.

I thought for a minute. Then I spoke.

“The Disrupters.”

Everyone was quiet thinking about that for a
second.

“Why the Disrupters?” Boze asked. He wasn’t
being skeptical. He was just trying to figure out if he liked
it.

“Cause that’s what we’re doing, isn’t it?
Disrupting the status quo?”

Pretty soon all those cowboy hats started to
nod. Pace’s too. Everyone seemed to like The Disrupters. So it
stuck. It’d look good on a Wanted poster too.

We took our positions for the ambush. We only
needed two good pairs of eyes, me and Pace, so he and I got back to
our place at the top of Tower Rock, looking out with our field
glasses. That afforded the others to take their positions at
various locations around the trap, so the Nuggets were definitely
gonna make this job easier. Boze waited just off the bend in the
road to the south near the river, just where the ambush would take
place. Birkin and Priestly waited atop the grassy mound right
opposite the river. They had plenty of tree cover so no one could
see ‘em if they wanted to. Hell, I had a hard time picking them out
with my field glasses and I knew where to look. And Lister hid at
the base of the mountain, so the three of us could come rushing out
to surround the transport. Becca waited on her horse just to the
north, so she could make a quick getaway if needed.

“You think we can trust them after we hit the
transport?” I asked Pace.

“Not in the slightest,” he replied. “But it’s
the best option on the table, isn’t it? If those Nuggets do
anything untoward, you do what you do best. You cut ‘em down.”

I nodded. I could do that.

“The Disrupters are off to a great
start.”

I pointed to the south. I’d spotted the
transport. It was being dragged along slowly, maybe two miles per
hour at best, by a team of horses. It was bigger than I expected.
Probably four times the size of a stagecoach. The cargo must’ve
been pretty heavy too at the rate they were going. All the better
for us.

Pace focused his field glasses so he could
see too.

“One driver. One watchman riding shotgun.
That’s it?”

“That’s all I see too.”

“This is easy pickings. They must not have
any idea we even know about them.”

We quickly hopped up and climbed down the
mountain as best we could. Given the slowness of that transport, we
had no problem scrambling to the base where we hid and joined
Lister with time to spare. He kept his kerchief tight over his
face.

“How do I look?” Lister asked.

“Don’t worry,” Pace replied. “No one will
recognize you like that.”

“Oh it’s not that,” Lister claimed. “I just
don’t wanna get dust in my mouth.”

Come on, who was he fooling? He desperately
didn’t want to be recognized. He was probably hoping he’d remain
anonymous, go back home after this and die an old man in Great
Falls.

Yeah, that wasn’t in the cards for me.
Probably never was.

“Let’s go Disrupters!”

Pace and I hid on the ground to the west, and
Lister took the other side by the river. We waited a few more
minutes until the transport finally came loping along. We kept our
heads down low to make sure the watchman didn’t spot us. Then as
they turned with the curve in the road, it was safe for us to get
up and slowly follow. It was Boze’s job to stop it, and our job to
crack it open.

We heard Boze shout loudly at the transport
through his kerchief. Then he shot a warning shot into the air.
Then we heard the horses slow and finally come to a stop. That was
our cue. We came bolting our around the curve of the road. And
there, as planned, we saw Boze pointing his shotgun at the driver,
and Birkin and Priestly covering the watchman. The plan was coming
together well.

“Toss that weapon down here!” I yelled. The
watchman followed instructions and I caught it. Remington
autoloading rifle. Not as good as bolt action but not bad.

“That’s it?” Pace asked. “Just you two
men?”

“We’re the only men here, yes sir,” replied
the watchman.

“All right then. Any trick to opening up your
cargo?”

“Best way is to just shoot off that lock,”
the watchman said.

I shrugged, pulled out my revolver and shot
the padlock off the rear door to the cargo hold. Seemed simple
enough.

“Ash, take a step back,” Pace said. “I want
you to keep a bead on the watchman just in case.”

I obliged and pointed the rifle at his
head.

“I won’t give you no trouble,” the watchman
reassured me. I believed him too.

Pace pointed to Lister. “Open up that cargo
hold, will you?”

“With pleasure,” Lister replied eagerly. He
stepped up on the foothold by the rear wheels of the transport and
peeled off what was left of the padlock. He lifted the metal flap
and put his hands on the handles for the double doors. “Let’s see
what kind of goodies are inside!”

But before Lister could get those doors open
himself, they swung violently open. One of the metal doors hit
Lister square in the face. The thrust was so strong that it sent
him flying, maybe thirty feet into the air and he landed in a heap
on the ground.

All of us were shocked. But before we could
do anything about it, something was emerging from the cargo
hold.

“Present for ‘ya!” the watchman shouted as he
and the driver scrambled off of the transport and started running
away. “Courtesy of Shādo Shay!”

That couldn’t be good. And it wasn’t.

We heard something clank loudly. The
transport started to shift from side to side. That didn’t bode
well. Boze, Birkin and Priestly took a few steps back. And good
thing too. There was no gold in that transport. Just more of those
Bions. Plenty of ‘em. I counted ten in all.

The whole thing was a set-up. That Shādo
Shay. He doesn’t eff around.

He knew he’d pull us in with the rumor of the
gold, and then he placed his elite killing squad on board to take
us out. It was sound strategy. I had to respect that.

But first I had to survive. I took a shot at
the horses pulling the transport. Not to kill them but to spook
them. Which I did. Those Bions were still half onboard the
transport, and when it moved they all fell on top of each other. I
knew that would buy us a few seconds. Tops.

“What the eff is that?” Boze shouted with
fear.

“They’re called Bions,” Pace yelled. “And
they’ll kill you so start shooting!”

We all started shooting, angling as best we
could for clean shots under their exoskeletons. I knew I nicked
one, that’s for sure, but the Bions were regaining their footing
too fast. Their weapons were emerging out of their hips.

“Fall back!” Pace shouted.

We all ran for cover. And a good thing too.
In seconds, I heard the unmistakable clank of metal marching in
unison. Next thing I knew, those ten Bions were standing up in a
straight line, firing in every direction.

I found myself with Pace tucked down
underneath a small hill. It wasn’t much but enough to keep from
getting killed. The others were behind several thick trees. The
Nuggets were firing away blindly while keeping themselves in the
relative safety behind the trees. Not a smart move in my book. They
just telegraphed to the Bions where they were hiding. Half the
Bions in fact started to march toward them. I could hear their
metallic jackboots clank on the ground. They didn’t walk too fast
but they were determined. The other five Bions headed in our
general direction. I liked these odds a little better.

“Ash?” Pace said.

“Yeah,” I replied.

“I didn’t want you opening that cargo hold
door. I had a bad feeling. It was too easy.”

“Thank you kindly,” I said. It felt good
knowing Pace always had my back. So why not one more time. “Cover
me?”

Pace looked at me. “Don’t do anything
stupid.”