Read Online James Axler by Deathlands 87 - Alpha Wave - Free Book Online

she opened both eyes and pulled herself up, swinging her legs and feet over the side of the bed. “What happened?” she asked as Mildred passed the woman her cowboy boots.
    “They took Jak,” Mildred stated bluntly.
    “SO,” DOC ASKED THE OTHERS as the three of them walked back toward Jemmy’s bar and hostelry, “what did you two find out?”
    J.B. shrugged. “Nothing we didn’t already know.”
    As they crossed the street—now empty but for a lone, hopeful street vendor, still roasting nuts over an open barrel—they saw Mildred burst from Jemmy’s, followed by a tired Krysty. J.B. ran the last few steps to meet them, and Ryan and Doc increased their pace behind him.
    “What’s going on?” J.B. asked Mildred.
    “Jak’s gone,” she told her audience. “He jumped the wall, to get a closer look at that monstrous thing that—”
    Doc interrupted her. “What ‘monstrous thing’?” he asked.
    “The train,” Mildred said breathlessly. “Didn’t you see it? Didn’t you hear it, at least? It shook the ground, Doc.”
    “We were in the arena, the dog fight,” Doc explained.
    “’Twas mighty noisy in there, the crowd all excited and the hounds going at each other hammer and tongs. Quite the experience.”
    “Which way did he go, Mildred?” he asked, all business again.
    Mildred hefted the backpack on her shoulder, pointing in the direction of the tower. “The train stopped beside the tower, and I think they did something to it, I’m not sure what. It was all very quick, like they had done this before. The whole operation took no more than four minutes. Jak was out there the whole time, he’d sneaked up really close so he could observe and report back, figured it was something worth knowing about.” She stopped, calming her breath. “But they took him, Ryan. They took him and then they left.” She pointed in the direction that the rails led.
     “Fireblast!” Ryan cursed, taking brisk strides toward the gate.
    J.B. called after him. “What are you planning on doing? Chasing after him on foot?”
    Ryan stopped, turning back to J.B. and the others.
    “Well, what would you suggest?”
    J.B. smiled as he indicated the corral behind him with his outstretched thumb. “I would suggest that we travel in style.”
    Ryan was already sprinting down the street, heading for the corral at the far end, and J.B. kept pace with him.
    Mildred looked torn, her head flicking to watch Ryan.
    “Go,” Doc told her quietly. “I shall take care of Krysty.” She looked at him, an unspoken question on her lips, and he shook his head. “Now that she is on her feet again, I think we can just about take on the world between us. She will probably be carrying my weary bones by the time we catch up to you.”
    “Thank you,” Mildred called as she sprinted down the street after Ryan and J.B.
    While their companions raced to the corral, Doc led Krysty in the opposite direction, telling her that they needed to reach the gates. She rushed along in his wake, struggling to keep up.
    At the gates, Doc studied the cantilevered system for a few moments. One of the sentries atop the gates—a strong-looking farmhand, twenty-one and toughened up by a life of manual labor—noticed him and made his way down the wood stairs, calling to the old man. “Hey, hey, what do you think you’re doing? Do I even know you?” he asked.
    In a single movement, Doc snapped his cane open, revealing the sword blade hidden within, and had it pointed at the young man’s throat. “I will be requiring these gates to be opened instantly,” he explained.
    His mouth agog, the young sentry glanced at the blade that was poised at his neck, then collapsed in a dead faint.
    From the other end of the street Doc could hear the fast beating hooves of horses. As if to clarify what he already knew, Krysty alerted him. “Here comes Ryan.”
    Doc squinted at the lock, trying to fathom how the system of pulleys that opened the heavy gate worked, then he shook