David Robbins - Armageddon Run

“And what is it you want?” Reno inquired. He struggled to maintain a calm demeanor, although he was extremely nervous. Every officer knew about the Warriors and had heard of their decidedly deadly reputation.

He was astonished to discover these three so far from their usual stamping grounds. Who was the woman and how did she fit into the scheme of things? What was going on?

“What we want,” Blade said, “and what we will get, is Catlow. You can make it easy for us, or hard on yourself. The choice is yours.”

Reno looked at the command post. Where the hell were his men? He stalled, acting friendly. “Just the four of you against my garrison? You can’t be serious!”

“There’s more than four of us, bub!”

Reno casually turned, completely unprepared for the sight he beheld.

One of the Doktor’s genetic creations, a short creature resembling a cross between a man and a feline, was strolling his way, coming around the eastern arc of the fountain, past Hickok.

Reno gaped, nonplussed.

The creature, smiling, stopped next to Reno and tweaked his chin.

“What the matter, chuckles? Cat got your tongue?” He laughed.

“You!” Reno exploded. “You’re Lynx!”

Lynx made a show of examining his own body. “Are you sure?”

“How is it everybody knows you?” the woman asked Lynx.

“You tell her,” Lynx instructed Reno.

“Lynx, here, is famous,” Reno explained. “He was in all the papers and on all the newscasts after he tried to kill the Doktor. He actually turned against the Doktor!” Reno said in a stunned disbelief.

“Too bad I wasn’t able to rip him to shreds, like I wanted,” Lynx stated regretfully.

“Did you know the Doktor has posted a reward for your capture?” Reno asked Lynx.

“Oh yeah? How much?”

“One million credits,” Reno revealed.

Lynx whistled appreciatively.

“The Doktor wants you real bad,” Reno elaborated. “I can imagine the reason. Everyone knows what you did to the Biological Center. All the newscasts reported how you used a thermo on the Doktor’s headquarters.”

“A million credits, dead or alive,” Lynx said, marveling at his notoriety.

“No,” Reno corrected him, “a million credits alive.”

Lynx’s brow furrowed in perplexity. “I don’t get it. The Doc doesn’t want me dead?”

Reno grinned. “The Doktor has made it clear he wants you alive. He has threatened to kill anyone who harms you.”

“How would you like to impress the Doktor and win his good favor?”

Blade asked Reno.

“I don’t follow you,” the officer admitted.

“It’s simple. You drive to the Citadel and tell the Doktor Lynx is waiting for him here in Catlow,” Blade explained. “Along with us, of course.”

Reno looked from Blade to Lynx to Blade again. “You must be crazy! You want me to inform the Doktor you’re here?”

“That’s what I just said,” Blade noted.

“Why would you want me to do something like that?” Reno asked.

“You let us worry about the reason,” Blade said. “Just take your men, drive to the Citadel, and let the Doktor know we’re here. It’s easy enough, isn’t it?”

“I find two problems with that scenario,” Reno stated.

“What?” Blade responded.

“First, I’m not certain the Doktor is still in the Citadel,” Reno said.

“Who are you kidding, dimples?” Lynx snapped. “The Doc has always used the Cheyenne Citadel as his base of operations.”

“That was before you obliterated his headquarters and all of his scientific equipment,” Reno retorted. “Don’t you know how many thousands of people you killed when you used that thermo? Do you have any idea how much hardware you destroyed? They had a panic on their hands! The civilian populace went bananas! The Doktor and Samuel the Second believe you’ve joined the rebels. They’re concerned you might have access to additional thermo units. The last I heard, they were in the process of evacuating Cheyenne.”

“Evacuating the Citadel?” Lynx declared.

“Precisely. The Doktor salvaged what he could from the rubble. You annihilated most of the Genetic Research Division. The last I knew, there were rumors the Doktor was relocating his operations in Denver. So you see, I might not find the Doktor in the Citadel to deliver your message.”

“You said you had two problems with the idea,” Blade commented.

“What’s the other?”

“I’m not stupid,” Reno said harshly. “What you’re proposing is certain suicide for all of you. You must have an ulterior motive.”

“Like what?”

“Like setting a trap for the Doktor,” Reno asserted.

“Uh-oh,” Hickok interrupted. “Look who finally rolled out of the sack!”

Four troopers were congregated outside the command post, observing the conversation near the fountain. They were armed with the inevitable M-16s, but they were reluctant to use their arms, hesitant to initiate a conflict when their superior officer was obviously being covered and might be one of the first to fall.

“It’s up to you,” Blade told Reno. “Which way will it be? Easy or hard?”

Captain Reno was calculating his move. If the Warriors and Lynx were here, in Catlow, it did not bode well for his missing work detail. In addition, the patrol in the jeep he’d sent out the night before had not reported back as yet. And there was no sign of the guard he always posted on the roof of the command center each night. Which could mean only one thing: 16 of his men were more than likely dead, leaving him with 24.

More than enough to polish off Blade and his companions! Blade was a fool if he expected a career military man to capitulate so readily! Reno’s lips tightened in resolve. His friends did not call him “Bulldog” for nothing!

“Tell your men to drop their guns,” Blade directed.

“And if I don’t?” Reno inquired.

“I’ll kill you,” Blade vowed.

Reno slowly twisted, staring at his men. Eight of them were now outside, and the rest would join them any second. He smiled at his men, hoping to convince Blade he was going to comply. “Men!” he shouted. “Listen to me real good!”

Three more of his men exited the command post.

“Do exactly as I tell you!” Captain Reno yelled.

Hickok, tensely surveying the growing group of troopers outside of the command post, saw them begin to spread out. He glanced at Reno, noting the officer’s calm countenance, positive the captain would obey. He was all the more amazed when the officer abruptly bellowed at the top of his lungs, “ Get them!” Reno then whirled, brushing the Commando barrel aside, and plowed into the much larger Blade.

The town square erupted into concentrated violence.

Blade and Reno tumbled into the fountain.

The soldiers started firing, advancing toward the middle of the square.

Hickok backed up, raising the Henry to his shoulder and pulling the trigger.

One of the troopers was struck in the chest and propelled to the ground.

Bertha and Geronimo opened up, both of them crouching to pose less of a target.

Lynx, unarmed, dove into the fountain.

More and more soldiers were bursting from the command post on the run, fanning out, deploying with an eye to encircling the fountain.

Hickok downed two more troopers.

Rudabaugh suddenly appeared on the roof of the command center, directly above the front door and the soldiers, a lit stick of dynamite in his right hand. He tossed the dynamite and dropped from sight.

The explosion was tremendous, spraying dirt and dust and chunks of flesh and blood in every direction.

Dumfounded by the blast, the soldiers still alive were looking for the source, unaware of the man on the roof above them. The concentration of gunfire directed at the fountain momentarily slacked off.