Deathlands 088: Alpha Wave by James Axler

Author:James Axler [Axler, James]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Action & Adventure, General, Science Fiction, Adventure, Men's Adventure, Fiction
ISBN: 9781599506326
Google: 6E3gtgAACAAJ
Amazon: 0373625987
Barnesnoble: 0373625987
Publisher: Harlequin
Published: 2009-09-07T05:00:00+00:00

Chapter Fifteen

“Krysty’s health is flip-flopping like a beached fish,”

Mildred griped to Doc in a taut whisper. “I’m not comfortable leaving her alone for too long.”

She and Doc were lying on their bellies beneath their train car, peeking out between the oily wheels. Up close, the track was almost as haphazard as the train itself. By necessity the gauge was precise, but there seemed to be a hodgepotch of material in use to bring it into being.

Between the metal rails were struts of wood, though none of the struts matched in color. Some of them had licks of splintering paint across them, where they had served a previous life as a door, windowsill or shelf.

Shingle was tossed between the tracks, its rough points pressing into their torsos as they rested their weight on the ground.

Mildred was to Doc’s left, clutching Ryan’s Steyr in front of her as she hunkered in the shadows beneath the train, hidden from view. Doc leaned forward, adjusting J.B.’s minisextant where he had placed it upright on the shingle in front of him. Satisfied, he leaned down and looked though the spy hole once more, the device’s tiny telescope aimed toward the front port side of the train.

“Ah,” Doc said, beaming, “there you are, my beauty.”

Mildred glared fiercely at the old man, but her look was wasted—he was absorbed in his work with the Alpha Wave

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minisextant. “Do you ever hear a word I say, Doc?” she growled.

“I heard,” he replied, still looking through the tele-scopic attachment. “Our Krysty is in rude health right now, Doctor, and she will be fine, I am sure.”

“You’re sure,” she scoffed, a harsh edge in her whispered voice.

“We have other, pressing matters to attend,” Doc told her, twisting the focusing knob on the little device. “A mystery which may, in turn, be the root cause of Krysty’s health problems, as you have already acknowledged.”

“Yes, but I said that while I was still sitting where I could keep an eye on her,” Mildred grumbled.

“Pish posh,” Doc said, dismissing her. After a moment he added, “They are coming out now, take a look.”

They had already observed a group of twelve, armed sec men trek away from the train, through the trees and off into nearby fields of cereal crops. Other sec men warily patrolled the terrain, blasters ready in their hands. Their position beneath the train was dangerous, but they both agreed that they needed to see what was happening with the towers, even if Mildred was starting to have second thoughts about leaving Krysty alone in the car above them.

Mildred tilted the Steyr to look through the scope, panning hurriedly across the field of vision until she found the point where Doc was looking.

“See them?” he asked quietly.

“Mmm-hmm,” Mildred acknowledged. “What are they doing?” She was looking at two technician types who appeared to be in deep discussion with a muscular 168

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man in a dark vest. She adjusted the scope, bringing the figures into tight focus—Vest Top had several white scar lines down

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