Free Redoubtable by Mike Shepherd Page A

comedy routine that the Wasp encountered this morning, I think Captain Drago would heartily agree,” the colonel said.
    “The nasty type running this setup is Jackie Jackson. She appears to have taken over the best houses in town for her minions and is here, on the totally misnamed Tranquility Road.”
    “Yes. I earlier observed her taste in lawn decorations. She definitely has been breathing air much longer than I, for one, would care to share it with her,” the colonel said dryly.
    “I figure the best place to nail her is at her headquarters, but I think there’s at least a fifty-fifty chance she’ll choose to beat it out of town. She’s sent her machete swingers and gunslingers up against us twice and lost both times. She could try us a third time, or she could take advantage of either of these two roads to beat it out of town fast.”
    Here, Kris had Nelly back off from the map of Lander’s Rest enough to show the roads headed out of town. One led south to the Annam plantation, among others. “This southern road is the one first and second platoons will be taking into town. She might come out to meet us.”
    “Not likely,” the colonel said. “She did that once, and it didn’t work all that well.”
    “Yes,” Kris said, trying not to look around at the bloody results. “The other roads offer her two different options. This eastern one takes her to the hills. We could likely track her, but digging out her and her muscle could be a major bit of work.”
    “Nothing my Marines couldn’t handle,” Jack said.
    “Maybe, Captain,” the colonel said. “Do we have any count as to how many people this Jackie has working for her?”
    “No estimate at all. In the past, it’s been fluid. If she wanted more heat, she’d recruit them by threatening their families. I’ll get to that in a moment.”
    When no one said anything, Kris went on. “The western road out of town follows the river and leads us to a whole lot of large ranches and plantations. I’m afraid that if she gets in among them, she could terrorize the folks into giving her cover.
    “ ‘Cooperate with me, and I’ll give you food. Help that Longknife woman, and your kids get their brains blown out.’ Who wins in that situation?”
    “It does get messy,” the colonel agreed.
    “And with her up the east road, she can strike back into Lander’s Rest. We’d have to garrison the place.”
    “And she bleeds us,” the colonel said with a sigh. “No, we want to annihilate her and her ruffians in town or while they are out in the open fleeing. Now, what is this about her recruiting methods?”
    “Nelly, show them the football field.”
    The map of human-occupied Kaskatos was replaced by a close overhead of the larger stadium. The playing field was covered with humanity. Some huddled together under makeshift tents; others sat in the open. A few lucky ones were allowed in the first few rows of the bleachers.
    Higher up the bleachers, people in black shirts or pants walked or lounged. Each carried one of the machine pistols that was standard issue to Greenfeld State Security.
    “Are those weapons all they have for crowd control?” the colonel asked.
    “I have been observing the stadium for fifteen minutes,” Nelly said, “and so far, that is the only means of enforcing their will that I have spotted. There are not even fences at the gates.”
    “So if everyone decided to leave,” Penny said, “they’d either have to let them go or gun them down.”
    “It looks that way,” Kris said. “A glance at the field in front of me will show you how loath they were to shoot at lightly armed civilians.”
    “Not much reluctance that I noticed,” Jack said.
    “So, let me see if I fully understand your tactical problem,” the colonel said. “You want to kill or capture one miscreant Jackie Jackson, preferably in the company of a pirate captain. You want to prevent her and her assorted band of terrorists from melting into the general population