Free Sunspot by James Axler Page B

the groove, then it all went to shit in a hurry. Him shooting at me, me shooting back at him. The other kin came a runnin’. By the time it was over, I’d done all five of them. I didn’t get far before the neighbors ran me down. Ville folk sold my life to Magus for ten gallons of prime joy juice.”
    “Do you get a good wage?” Haldane asked.
    “Let’s say he don’t pay in cash, as such,” the driver said.
    “What does he pay you in, as such?”
    “Why are you talking to him?” the front seat guy said. “He don’t need to know any of this shit.”
    The driver waved off the protest. “It depends,” he answered. “We get a share of whatever’s on the table. Sometimes it’s ammo, sometimes it’s jolt, sometimes it’s something tender and warm.”
    “Apple pie,” said the road trash next to Haldane.
    From the salacious look that twisted his filthy mug he wasn’t referring to a home-baked dessert.
    “Only pie on this job is gonna be miles away and stone dead by the time we’re done,” the front passenger grumbled.
    “A waste of recreational opportunities,” the driver said.
    “The women of Sunspot don’t know what they’re missing,” the toothless scum whistled.
    Actually, they did know.
    When Baron Haldane had control of the ville he kept the raping of the population by his troops to a bare minimum. He punished offenders severely, with public lashings. But when Malosh ruled Sunspot, it was another story. And it wasn’t only the women who got reamed.
    “How many fighters has Magus got?” he asked.
    “Who knows?” the driver said “He’s got some here, some there, from what I hear. All doing different things for different reasons.”
    “Where’s his seat of power?”
    “More like, does he even have one,” the pockmarked man said.
    “If you’re looking for a stationary target,” the driver said, “in case things go sour on this deal, you’re shit out of luck. Magus is mighty tight-lipped about such things.”
    “Jaws like a steel trap,” the toothless man said.
    A remark that made the road scum laugh out loud.
    “Only thing the Magus ever let us grunts in on is his retirement plan,” the driver said.
    “Yeah,” the front passenger chimed in. “Early retirement for coldhearts who talk too much.”
    “Or ask too many fucking questions,” the man next to Haldane said.
    Threat taken, the baron looked out the dusty side window. He hadn’t come on the road trip unescorted. He had brought ten members of the Nuevaville defense force with him. Fully armed, they rode in the back of one of the six-by-sixes. They weren’t along just for his personal protection. Before he initiated an all-out chemical attack on Sunspot, he planned to send some of them ahead to warn the garrison stationed there. His troops had to pull back from the ville and be miles away from ground zero before the gas assault commenced. Baron Haldane was determined to do everything he could to prevent the chilling of his own people.
    The baron-for-life was at a disadvantage in the deal with Magus. He didn’t know how to load, aim or fire the Soviet-made artillery piece. No one else in his barony did, either. In point of fact, no one had ever even seen a cannon that powerful. According to Magus, it took eight trained men to operate the gun.
    So, in exchange for payment, Steel Eyes was to provide the weapon, the chemical warheads and the expertise to lay the rounds on target.
    Nuevaville had an ample treasury of precious metals, predark relics, stored food, joy juice, weapons, ammunition and wag parts. All collected as tolls or in trade for other goods and services.
    The price Magus had demanded of him was steep. The precious metal gold was a common currency in many parts of Deathlands. He wanted half the gold and a quarter of everything else. But Haldane knew it was worth the cost to end the stalemate. He didn’t ask his people to approve spending of their treasure. He didn’t have to.
    No fool, Haldane had refused