Murdok looked across the chamber at Zeth, who was all but invisible against the wall.
“I’m on it,” the kid said.
Murdok could hear the muties coming toward them now, feet pounding, armor jangling, breath grunting with exertion. The bastards weren’t very good at being stealthy. They weren’t very good at anything besides dying. As they came rushing out of the tunnel, Murdok blasted the first two, killing them with two quick spurts of his rifle. The third he left for Zeth.
A blade flashed in the firelight as it whirled across the cave and embedded itself in the raider’s upper thigh. The mutant howled in pain and dropped to one knee. He started to lift his gun to shoot, but Zeth was already on him. A kick sent the raider’s gun flying out of his hands. Then the kid wrapped him up in a rear naked choke. In a matter of seconds, the mutant had gone limp.
“Good work,” Murdok said, rushing forward to help secure the prisoner.
“Too easy,” said Zeth. “I would enjoy a bit more of a challenge.”
“Yeah well, don’t get too cocky just yet. We’ve still got a bunch of these fuckers to get rid of.”
“I know, I know…”
Murdok cuffed the unconscious raider’s wrists behind his back while Zeth hobbled his ankles. The raider was already beginning to stir. He would be wide awake in a minute or two, but he wouldn’t be going anywhere. They would pick him up on their way out and take him back to the ship for questioning. Poor bastard would probably wish they’d killed him instead.
Then Murdok noticed the human scalp hanging from the mutant’s belt. It was fresh. Probably one of the miners. Poor bastard nothing.
“We’ve got one secure,” Murdok said to Aeron. “We clear to proceed with entrapment?”
“Affirmative,” Aeron answered.
Murdok took a small remote detonator out of his vest and flipped back the safety cap covering the red control button. “Now for the fun part,” he said and smashed the button.
There was a low rumble, like a peel of distant thunder. Dust sifted down from the ceiling of the chamber.
Last night, when he’d been scoping out the mission site, Aeron had planted a pair of explosive devices, one at the north entrance of the mine, the other at the south entrance. With those two passages blocked, the only ways out would be the easternentrance—which Murdok and Zeth were currently guarding—or the entrance to the west.
“How we lookin’, boss?”
“Two successful detonations,” Aeron said. “The northern and southern exits are sealed. The mutants from those areas are heading for checkpoint bravo. Now all you have to do is chase ’em out the other end.”
Murdok grinned. “We’re on it.”
He and Zeth headed further into the mines, guided by Aeron’s directions from the ship. They went swiftly but cautiously, moving down the tunnels in a leap-frogging fashion, each one giving the other cover while he advanced to the next strong point. They encountered a few random muties along the way and wasted all of them with extreme prejudice.
They also encountered some raknids, the massive, spider-like critters that produced the mine’s valuable silk. The raknids looked mean, but their behavior was docile, having been domesticated centuries before. The tunnels were thick with their webs, and the sticky stuff clung to Murdok’s arms and legs as they plunged deeper and deeper into the mine.
There were no signs of dead raknids, however. That was a bit surprising, considering the raiders’ apparent propensity for violence. It was almost as if someone had given them strict orders not to harm the profitable creatures.
Suddenly, Aeron’s voice came through Murdok’s earpiece again.
“You’re coming up on Sector Bravo in about fifty yards. Get ready.”
“Copy that, boss.”
Sector Bravo was their designation for a place in the center of the mine where multiple tunnels came together. It was there that the fleeing mutants would converge as they attempted to exit the mine.
Murdok and Zeth were ready for them.
They waited until the raiders had flooded into the chamber, then they opened fire. Some of the mutants tried to fight back, but most of them fled, racing up the western tunnel in order to get away from the Mercs’ deadly rounds. That was exactly what Murdok wanted. Together, he and Zeth herded the raiders westward, picking off the stragglers as they went.
After several minutes of running, sunlight was visible ahead. They were nearing the western entrance of the mine.
“Getting close now, boss,” Murdok said. “The muties’ll be running out shortly.”
“Copy that,” Aeron answered. “I’ll be waiting for them.”
