Eric Flint - Time spike

Risky, though. Not because it might not work. That was a given. But it was still a lot better chance than their existing plan of just rushing the gate after nightfall. The real problem was what would happen if the ideadid work. Afterward, they'd be at Bostic's mercy. There'd be no tight, confined space that partially neutralized the mismatch between guns and shanks. "How smart are you, Bostic?" he asked abruptly. "Smart enough to make a deal and stick with it?" Bostic looked at him. "Depends on whether I think it's a deal worth making.

But, yeah, I am. 'Ain't no honor among thieves' is bullshit. Your word is all you got, when you're outside the law. If you cross a man, he ain't gonna run to find a cop or a lawyer. He'll come after you." "He might not get you. You might kill him." "Sure. That's why a lot of stupid crooks pull double crosses. Sometimes they even work-but now you got a reputation as a double-dealing shithead." He shook his head.

"It's amazing how many idiots don't know the word 'tomorrow.' "

Bostic's curiosity was aroused now. "And why are you asking? Have you got a deal to propose?" "Yeah, I do. I know a way we can all get out of here, if we work together. It's not fool-proof, but it's better than what we were planning. Or you, I'm figuring." Again, he nodded his head, indicating the floor above. "You're planning to try to bluff your way out, come nightfall, aren't you?" "Yeah." Bostic said. "It oughta work. I'm one of Luff's big men and everybody knows it. Me and my guys walk up to the gate right after sundown, tell the guards that Luff's sending us out on an errand, they won't argue the point."

"Won't they? What's the errand? Why would Luff be sending you out after dark?" He paused, for a second. "And now that I think about it, why are going to wait until dark anyway? Why not just do it now, while everything's still confused?" Again, he nodded above. "The gunfire's dying down a lot. It'll be killing from now on, not a fight. I'm willing to bet the yard's almost empty. So just walk out now." "What I said earlier," Williams muttered. Bostic swiveled his head, glaring at him. "Yeah, I know you did. That's why I'm the leader and you ain't.

Right now, everybody up there is jumpy as hell. Can you say 'trigger-happy,' you dumb son of a bitch? I'm not taking the risk.

There aren't enough of us to scare the guards at the gate. By now, Luff will have a dozen of them standing watch there. Come nightfall, we got a better chance of talking our way through." "I know a way youcan scare away the guards at the gate," James said. "And do it right now. Twelve or two hundred. It doesn't matter. They'll scatter like rabbits." Bostic sneered. "Forget it, Cook. No way I'm giving any of you some of our guns. And it wouldn't work, anyhow. Even if twenty-five of us charged the gate instead of five, it's too dangerous. Some of us would make it, but too many of us would get killed. I'm not taking the risk. My plan might have some holes in it, but that one's Swiss cheese." James gave him a smile. The thin one he'd perfected by now, that never reached the eyes and was never a tell. "Do I look stupid? Of course that wouldn't work. But my plan will." He explained what it was. After he was done, Bostic scratched his jaw for a few seconds, thinking it over. While he did, Boyne brought up the obvious objection. "Boss, if it works"-he jabbed his shank in the direction of Bostic and his men-"we'll be easy meat for these guys. They could just shoot us down." Bostic's hand came down.

"Fuck that," he said. "If I agree to this, we'll keep the deal. And why wouldn't we? Some of you would make it into the woods before we could get you-and then I'm looking at sleeping in the woods having to keep an eye out for a con slipping up to cut my throat as well as dinosaurs." He shook his head. "No, once we get out-ifI agree, which I haven't yet-we'll keep our end of the deal. The only thing you've got that we'd want anyway is the girl and"-he looked over and gave Elaine a jaunty grin-"meaning no offense, Ms. Brown-she's notthat good-looking. No woman is." He gave Williams another glare. "You hear that, Williams? You want pussy, I told you I'd get it for you. But we do it my way, not yours. And if that takes a while-if it takes a year or two years or three years-then that's the way it is. You'll survive.

You been in here for years. You know how to jack off." By the time he turned back to James, he was grinning again. That same jaunty grin he'd given Elaine. "All right, Cook. I'll hand it to you. It's a good plan. We'll do it. But there's one condition." "What's that?" He pointed to Elaine. "You go with her. Not with your guys. We'll wrap the two of you up together." James frowned. He'd be completely helpless, then, which he didn't like at all. "Why?" "Don't be so modest. By now, Cook, whether you know it or not, you're too well-known. You make too many guys twitchy. They see you in the group, some of them will start thinking. They probably still wouldn't do anything, on their own, but there's a good chance somebody would insist on checking with Luff. That's the one big weakness in your plan. If Luff gets involved, it goes up like smoke." He nodded at Boyne. "Whereas if he looks to be in charge of the detail-meaning no offense again, John-it won't be a problem. Nobody disrespects Boyne, but he doesn't make people jumpy, either." "He's probably right, boss," said Boyne. James still hesitated. There was nothing in the world he hated more-even more than rats-than feeling helpless. A soft voice came from the pallet. "I'd feel a lot better if you were with me, James," said Elaine. "I really, really would." Bostic's grin seemed fixed in place, damn the bastard. "How can you resist a plea like that, Cook?" Well. He couldn't. "Okay, Danny. We'll do it your way."

Chapter 32 Bostic didn't wait any longer than it took to make the preparations. And that didn't take long at all, because he didn't face the problem Cook and his people did of having to stay hidden in the basement and scrounge up whatever they could find. That might have taken forever, since there was probably wasn't enough in the basement for the purpose to begin with. He just marched back upstairs with Williams, locked the door behind him, and went through the admin building until he found what they needed. Which didn't take any longer than finding the first linen closet. The admin building was still empty, except for six men they found in the hallway almost as soon as they came out of the basement. They were all carrying rifles and shotguns. Bostic knew all but one of them and gave them a wave from the other end of the corridor. "Don't bother, guys! We already searched the place. Ain't nobody here." Kinsey, the con in charge, nodded and led his squad back out into the yard. The best thing about this new plan was that it was taking place right now, in broad daylight, while everything was still chaotic. Waiting until nightfall had always been a weakness in Danny's original plan, and he'd known it. He just thought the alternative was riskier. And he hadn't counted on the riot. He'd planned to leave on a quiet night. What a laugh that was, now. The guards Luff would have back at the gate would be edgy as all hell. Especially after contemplating the corpses of the first detachment Luff had put at the gate, who'd been overwhelmed in that big rush right after the killing started. Anything coming toward them that looked even remotely like a threat would be likely to set them off. But the riot had done one thing for him. At least he didn't have to worry that Luff might show up at an awkward moment. Luff would stay in his hole for hours today. He wouldn't stick his nose out until well after sundown. Luff really did suffer from megalomania, in his quiet accountant's way. That was the reason Luff wasn't in his usual office in this building today. It wasn't fear-you had to give it to him; the guy didn't have a nerve in his body-it was delusions of grandeur. On the very next day after he'd led the prison rebellion, Luff had decided he needed a "war room." That was exactly what he called it, too. War Room. Like he was some kind or president or four-star general. The warden's office in the admin building wouldn't suit the purpose. No, of course not. Too humdrum. He needed someplace thatlooked like a "war room." As best as he could manage, anyway, in a prison. And that's where Luff would be right now. He'd have made a beeline there as soon as the crap hit the fan this morning. Probably cackling with glee-not openly, of course; he was almost as hard to read as Cook-that he finally had a chance to use it properly. Danny grinned. Which meant he was almost all the way across the prison from the front gate, and would stay there for hours. Holed up in a corner of the machine shop, with his stupid diagram of the prison spread out across a work bench, pretending he was General Patton at the Battle of the Bulge. If he'd ever found some toy soldiers in the prison, he'd be pushing them around all over the diagram. What a lunatic. If he lasted long enough and stayed in charge, Danny wouldn't be surprised if Luff wound up setting himself up with a little camp a mile or so into the woods, to which he'd retreat from time to time. He might even call it Camp David. Williams found the linen closet. "How about this, Danny?