Orbital Decay
knew he was right. The reasoning found form as he pushed harder on the pedal. “That bastard’s not hurt, Lise. He has blood on his right leg but he’s favoring his left?” He accelerated straight at the man in the middle of the road and, sure enough, he skipped out of the way, nimble as a monkey.
    “Down!” Ben screamed as he aimed for the weakest-looking spot in the roadblock. Heads began to pop up from behind it, weapons in their hands. His blood tingled in his veins, every breath feeling like hot lead. He spared a quick glance behind him, seeing that Dwight had pushed little Brendan’s head down.
    Behind them, the supposedly wounded man was running back onto the shoulder of the road to aim a revolver at them. He’d obviously forgotten the second vehicle in Ben’s little convoy because Abe slammed him down to the pavement, rolling over the body with the heavy off-road tires, still accelerating to close up with the lead vehicle.
    The people behind the barricade stared in shock as twelve thousand pounds of steel and sixteen screaming cylinders bore down on them. Abe had the presence of mind to use his horn. The effect was almost comical as the ambushers broke, running for either side of the barricade. It would have been comical if his wife and little boy weren’t at risk of being killed by scavengers.
    Ben struck the folding tables in the center of the obstruction and they smashed apart. He flinched as a heavy fragment of plywood hit the middle of the windshield, leaving a spider’s web of cracks.
    Riggs had crawled into the cargo well at the back and pushed the rear window open. After a couple of failed tries, he managed to get his G-20 into action, and the researcher poured a hail of fire on the largest of the two scattered groups of attackers. His aim was terrible, but he made up for it with his complete lack of fire discipline.
    Rather than controlled bursts, he simply held the trigger down, hitting nobody but scaring the hell out of them all the same. He emptied the top magazine in less than two seconds. He began to fiddle with the weapon, trying to figure out how to bring the bottom mag into play, but they were already clear of the ambush.
    Ben kept up the pace for the better part of two miles before easing off on the pedal. He pulled over – a habit he expected would die soon enough – and stopped the vehicle. There was nothing but harvested fields in every direction.
    He was still coursing with adrenaline. He felt the urge to go back and fight, or to keep running, but he had to stop and make sure everyone was all right.
    Lise was out of her seatbelt as soon as the tires touched the gravel shoulder and she climbed into the second row.
    Ben shut off the ignition, turning to see Brendan’s little arms wrapped around his mother’s neck. It’s OK, Mommy,” the little boy soothed. “Daddy told me he has collision through work.”
    The four adults in the vehicle cracked up, releasing the tension of the encounter. Brendan frowned for a second, then, deciding the laugh wasn’t at his expense, joined them.
    Ben saw Abe climb down from his vehicle so he opened his door and slid down to the asphalt, still chuckling. He shrugged at the curiosity on Abe’s face. “Brendan’s telling us not to worry, we’ve got good insurance…”
    A snort escaped from the pilot. “Kids,” he shook his head.
    “Everyone’s OK back there?” Ben looked past him to the second vehicle.
     A nod. “Whoever fired from your truck damn near shot our tires out, but he kept the bastards down.” He grinned. “They started to get back up but, soon as Sarah opened our back window, they decided they liked the taste of dirt.”
    “That was Riggs,” Ben sighed, looking around for any sign of life, or otherwise… “You saved us back there when you took out the gunman in the road.” It wasn’t the first time Abe had proven his worth.
    He had thrown his lot in with Ben on Tartarus station, the site where the plague had originated.

Similar Books

Forecast

Janette Turner Hospital

The Lost Continent

Percival Constantine

Divine Madness

Robert Muchamore

The Empress's Tomb

Kirsten Miller

Second Chance

Shaun Dowdall

Held At Bay

John Creasey