Hell Road Warriors by Axler James

Author:Axler, James [Axler, James]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Publisher: Harlequin Enterprises
Published: 2012-03-01T05:00:00+00:00

Chapter Fifteen

Ryan stood on the bridge and watched the lake bottleneck down into the last stretch of river that would take them to the locks. The dawn was overcast. The top of the St. Mary’s River formed a question mark girded by islands. They were about to hit the apex of that question mark. There was no question in Ryan’s mind as the Queen approached the narrows. This was the gauntlet, and there was a solid wall dripping with pirates waiting at the end of it. Ryan looked at McKenzie. The captain nodded and began bellowing through his brass speaking trumpet. “All hands! Battle stations!” Boatswain’s whistles shrieked on both decks. The Queen of the Lakes reverberated with the pounding of feet as her passengers and crew made ready for war. Every inch of rail had been sandbagged and began dripping with men and blasters.

“Loadmaster!” the captain called. “Raise nets!”

Capstans clanked as crewmen pushed against the spars on all four cranes. Heavy fishing nets brought from Manitoulin crawled up the sides of the Queen port and starboard to impede boarders. Both Ryan and the captain looked at the roof above them as a tremor and groan creaked through the ancient ferry as the weight of the heavy sodden strands rose. The Queen was a very shallow draft vessel to begin with. Raising the LAV to front promenade and putting both catapults and their loads of missiles on the back had raised the Queen’s center of gravity several perilous degrees. The men crowding every inch of rail space and now the netting was only exacerbating things. Captain McKenzie and his Loadmaster had rearranged the vehicles and cargo on the bottom deck to try to compensate but only so much could be done.

The Queen of the Lakes was dangerously out of trim.

Outfitted as she was for war, the Queen could probably fight off hordes of war canoes until the next nukestorm came, but when and if the locks came down and heavy wreckage filled the river, or the if the enemy had anything heavier than a war canoe or an oar-driven whaleboat, Ryan and the captain both knew it would take just one heavy blow or ramming attack to tip the Queen and sink her, and then they would all be swimming with the lampreys.

They still had a few advantages.

Again, Ryan was averse to becoming dependent on battery-operated devices, but they had them at the moment and in abundance. Yoann had been hording much of the Diefenbunker equipment and tech the convoy had taken; but this would be the battle that decided the convoy’s quest. With Six’s help Ryan had convinced Cyrielle to spread out the tactical radios. Ryan tapped the one attached to his jacket. “Captain, you want to run a last check?”

McKenzie grimaced at unfamiliar tactical. “Show me again?”

“The radio in J.B.’s LAV is the central synchronization system. We’re all on the same channel. All you do is press the button.

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