Read Online The Bone Hunters by Robert J. Mrazek - Free Book Online

operate in an electric mode with no sound at all. It allowed for both speed and stealth, and two men were assigned to each machine, one to drive, the second to dismount and fight when confronting the enemy. The motorcycles could handle virtually any type of terrain.
    â€œAre the men prepared to employ their swords?” asked Li.
    It was the only part of the unit’s equipment that had been originally conceived by Li. A childhood fan of the actor John Wayne, Li had seen the famous “bowie knife” employed by Richard Widmark against the Mexicans in the film
The Alamo
. He had designed his own version, which was more like a short broadsword, with both edges razor sharp. The wooden grips were engraved with his initials.
    â€œThe men are very fond of your gift to each of them,” said Colonel Wong. “They will be put to good use.”
    Li watched as his cavalry unit mounted their machines.
    â€œHow many believers are there in the village?” he asked.
    â€œIncluding the children?”
    â€œAll of them,” said Liu.
    â€œApproximately two hundred,” said Colonel Wong. “However, my intelligence officer does not believe we will encounter serious resistance. Most of them will just be waking up.”
    â€œThere is always resistance,” said Li.
    â€œI meant organized resistance,” said Wong.
    Li turned slowly and stared at him for several seconds. When he wore the contact lenses, Li discovered that he rarely blinked. The phenomenon had led to his nickname within the ranks of his men.
    Ta¯ bù zhaˇyaˇn. He does not blink.
    â€œYou are a good leader of men, Wong. Leave the thinking to me.”
    â€œYes, sir,” said Wong, a bead of sweat rolling down his cheek.
    â€œCommence the operation immediately,” declared Li.
    â€¢Â Â Â â€¢Â Â Â â€¢
    Arising from her bed, Wei began heating her tea water while she gazed through the kitchen window across the lake to the distant mountains. It had rained during the night, and the chrysanthemums and plum blossoms in her garden glistened cleanly in the sun.
    After performing her ablutions, she began her preparations for the ceremonial service in honor of the Ancient One that would be held that evening at the meeting hall. Every family in the village was bringing something for the feast.
    She was kneeling in front of the dried herbs shelf in the stone-lined root cellar under the cottage when she heard a shout followed by the ringing of the alarm bell in the square. Her first thought was that there might be a fire in one of the thatch-roofed buildings.
    Climbing out of the root cellar through the opening in the kitchen floor, she looked out the window to see a phalanx of machines coming swiftly toward the village. They were closing fast, the machines about twenty feet apart from one another. The line stretched in both directions as far as she could see.
    As the machines drew closer, she saw that they were actually large motorcycles with two figures dressed like spacemen riding on each one. One of the motorcycles came straight through the alfalfa field on the outskirts ofthe village and headed toward her neighbor Chen Wa, who was standing in the field watering his plants.
    He stopped to look up at the men riding toward him and lifted his hand in a formal greeting. The figure on the back of the motorcycle extended his arm as the motorcycle flashed past. A moment later Chen Wa’s head bounced to the ground, his body crumpling next to it a second later.
    Watching the machines racing toward the village, Wei ran to the front room windows that faced out toward the square, reaching them in time to hear the agonized scream of a woman standing in front of the health clinic next to the body of her husband.
    More motorcycles arrived in the square, most of them driving people ahead of them who had been on the streets. It all seemed so unearthly. None of the motorcycles was making the slightest sound. For a