Isolation , Jones, Nathan [top 20 books to read TXT] 📗

of explosives at a town full of innocent people. Several were hurt and one might die of his injuries. Then they murdered Darrel and nearly killed Mayor Darby. I never considered this fun and games, like some did, but now people are being killed.”

He paused, looking between Denny and Nick with features set in iron resolve. “Like it or not, Jay's dragged us into a war. People have already been killed, and at this point we're not going to be able to fight back without more people getting hurt. We want to do whatever we can to prevent that, but as it stands if we don't take the fight to Jay he's going to keep hanging around, sniping us until he's racked up a pile of bodies and we're all huddled in foxholes waiting for our turn.”

Nick felt a heaviness settle in his gut. Gen's note had stressed that she was fine, but that didn't change the fact that she'd been close to where shots were being fired. And she'd been caught in the explosions, too.

She might be hurt in Jay's next attack. Or the madman might hit the camp and hurt Tallie or Ricky or Ellie. He'd gone beyond threats and water balloons to outright murder, and it had to stop.

Like Starr had said, enough was enough.

“Okay,” Nick said grimly. “Let's plan this attack.”

Chapter Nine

Eviction

Dawn was just a pale sliver of red on the horizon when Nick led Denny and the other slingshot team leaders up to the top of the hill overlooking Jay's camp.

Chet, Ben, Charlie's son Micah, and several other of their fighters with the best vision and ability to creep around at night had already scoured the area for any hidden sentries. In spite of a few last lingering traces of weakness from his bout with Zolos, Micah had impressed everyone by managing to sneak up on the single man patrolling the hill, and clubbing him in the back of the head with his rifle. It had brought the sentry down without a sound, after which Micah had made sure he was securely bound and gagged.

Denny crawled up beside Nick and spent a few long seconds squinting down at the camp below. Then he grunted. “Hard to be sure, but I think you've got the distances right . . . we should be able to hit everything in both camps and also their vehicles from here.”

“Then let's not waste any time,” Brighton, one of the other team leaders, said. “Let's get this party started before there's a shift change and they send someone else up here.”

Denny nodded and motioned curtly, and everyone spread out to their slingshot teams arrayed just out of sight beyond the top of the hill. Nick reached his own team, the McCleese brothers and Charlie on the slingshot with Val serving as spotter. At a nod from him she hurried up to the hilltop to aim their first shot.

They'd brought pretty much all the Zolos-immune fighters for this attack, leaving those still weakened by the virus to hold the sentry posts and guard their camp. That meant nobody was scouting for the town or camp, but Starr and Darrel's replacement in Stanberry both had their people on high alert in case of trouble.

Besides, Nick couldn't help but think a bit bitterly, it wasn't like they'd done such a fantastic job repelling Jay's attacks or even giving adequate warning of them up til now; with their track record they might as well go on the offensive and hope they enjoyed the same success.

Within moments his team was ready, everyone waiting impatiently. Judging by the expectant silence among the rest of the slingshot teams, as well as the teams of fighters waiting with weapons ready in case of an unexpected surprise, everyone else was good to go, too.

“Everyone ready?” Denny murmured, his words passed down the line. The confirmation quickly came back that aside from one team that was still prepping and would start when they could, everyone was. Denny nodded grimly and motioned to his team. “All right, go for their vehicles. If that's not enough to get them running then Statton, you hit near the Wensbrook camp. We'll go from there.”

Nick nodded tersely, resisting the urge to ask what they'd do if Jay's fighters charged them instead of running away.

They'd already covered that eventuality with Starr. It was why they'd picked this location to set up their launchers, since they were covered behind the hilltop and anyone attacking them would have to go uphill across over a hundred yards of open ground to reach them.

It was as much of an advantage as they could make for themselves for this attack. And, as Starr had grimly but accurately pointed out, if it looked like Jay's thugs were going to reach them then the slingshot teams could just shift their aim from the camps to the attackers.

As he'd put it, “Coming under sustained rifle fire from hidden enemies with the high ground advantage in the dark is bad enough for morale, but getting pelted by burning rag balls and watching your buddies get set on fire around you should be enough to make even lunatics like Jay's group break and run away.”

Hard to argue that.

Denny's team, using tongs and moving carefully, pushed one of the rag balls into the bucket of their launcher. It had room for several more; the teams assigned to hit the tents once everyone in them had fled would be firing the full capacity, a spreading barrage that would hopefully do the job quickly, before Jay had time to react.

Denny waited for his team to give him the thumbs up that they were on target, then personally pushed the lit punk tied to the end of a long stick into the bucket, igniting the gasoline-soaked rags.

It lit with an audible whoosh, followed quickly by a thrum as the team released their rope and the bucket sprang forwards, snapping to a stop as the rubber cords reached their limit