Page 126 of The 9th Man

One walked with a limp.

Talley.

Allowing them uncontested access to cover seemed a mistake. At this distance he could not make a hit, but he could stop their advance. So he aimed the shotgun and pulled the trigger, sending a wad of buckshot their way. Scattering had been the objective, but the men charged forward. Talley and anyone he’d hire would be combat-tested. Backing down would not be their style. He racked in another shell and sprinted down the walkway just as the men opened fire, shredding the walls around the position he’d just abandoned.

He reached the mill building and ducked around the trommel, sprinting down the next walkway to the ore house where he turned left and knee-slid to a stop before his next firing position, a gap he’d widened in the plank wall. He sighted on the corner of the equipment hut. A head peeked around. He fired, shattering the wood beam beside the man’s face and driving him back. From the hut’s opposite corner a muzzle flashed. Bullets peppered Luke’s wall.

He backed away.

Thankfully, Jillian was sticking to the plan and not firing. He wanted to keep her position unknown to their attackers for as long as possible.

He rushed for the millhouse.

His firing position there was an upturned mine cart wedged into a collapsed section of wall. He ducked behind it just as bullets thudded into the cart’s steel. Overhead, the helicopter had returned. The spotlight popped on, casting bright white stripes on the dirt floor. Rapid fire came from above and rounds began chopping away at the roof, showering Luke in splinters. He threw himself into the cart and curled into a ball.

Then he realized.

His prisoner was exposed.

He peeked out and saw the unconscious man lying in the middle of the millhouse floor. An enemy, for sure, but leaving him to die like that wasn’t right. The helo’s gunner began walking rounds across the room, punching up geysers of dirt. Luke rolled from his shelter and sprinted toward the fallen man. Rock shrapnel peppered his clothes. He reached the man and combat-dragged him back to the overturned cart. The fire slackened briefly, then resumed, now concentrated on the ore room walkway.

“Incoming your way,” he shouted, uncertain whether Jillian heard him over the din.

Preparatory fire.

Designed to disorient while others made for the mill building.

The rifle fire intensified but the accuracy decreased, further suggesting the shooters were moving. Bullets sparked on the cart and ricocheted across the room. He waited for a gap in the gunfire then rose to his knees. The two men he’d forced to take cover behind the equipment hut wouldn’t stay still for long. The headframe was the next nearest structure and therefore their likely destination. The helicopter ceased fire and roared away. He knew what that meant. The attackers on the east side were close now and the helo’s gunner didn’t want to risk hitting his comrades.

“What’s happening over there?” he called out.

“Two are still behind cover.”

“That won’t last long. Let them get inside, then drop them as quick as you can. They don’t know where you are.”

Though they’d barricaded the millhouse’s door, either it wouldn’t hold for long or Talley’s men would simply find a weak point in the wall and blast through. If Jillian could dispatch them before they reached her walkway, the next wave of attackers wouldn’t know where the killing shots had come from.

“That helo will be back,” he said.

“Understood.”

He headed off and reached the headframe, focusing on the hole in the wall, but he miscalculated his angle at the mine shaft. He spun sideways and managed to avoid the hole, but crashed into the wall and fell on his ass.

A man scrambled through the wall hole.

Luke rolled backward and lifted the shotgun but before he could fire the man was on him. He released his grip on the gun and delivered a thumb-punch to the throat, which elicited anugh. The man sagged sideways, but maintained his grip on Luke’s jacket.

Tangled together, they rolled.

Then plummeted down into the mine shaft.

He realized there’d only be seconds. So he spun around on top. They slammed into the elevator grate roof, the guy beneath him taking the lion’s share of the impact. The car buckled under the sudden weight, shifted, then gave way and they dropped down into the elevator cage. Which snapped the steel cable and the cage dropped another foot, steadied, dropped again, then started swinging. The guy beneath him was stunned, eyes blinking rapidly, but managed to reach into his web harness and unsheathe a knife.

“I wouldn’t do that,” Luke said.

The man lunged.

Luke tilted his head to one side.

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