Page 9 of Game on Askole

Hank’s sat phone beeped. He answered it. “Yes, General. A chemical leak? Not a problem. Right away, ma’am.” He disconnected and tapped an icon on his phone.

The air raid sirenblared.

The tourists quickly began scanning the sky and produced a variety of weapons from purses, fanny packs, and ankle holsters.

Voss bellowed, “Why are you using the air raid siren?”

“What?” Hank put a hand to his ear. “Can’t hear ya.”

“Turn it off!” Voss yelled louder.

“What?”

It was all I could do to keep from laughing. Hank was alerting his people to the Coletti warriors invading Old Tucson.

The Battle Commander grabbed Hank’s sat phone and jabbed at the air siren icon.

Silence fell.

“Why did you turn on the air raid siren?” Voss was more than a bit annoyed.

Hank surveyed Voss like he was a dumb ass. “To make sure they’ll listen up.”

“You succeeded. Now evacuate the town.”

“Yes, sir.” Hank turned on his microphone. “Folks.” The loudspeakers emitted an ear-shattering squeal.

Everyone flinched. Several children burst into tears, and coyotes howled in the distance.

Voss’s left eye twitched, and if looks could kill, Hank would be a dead man.

The sheriff fumbled with the microphone controls for a moment. The squealing finally stopped. “Sorry about that, folks. It seems we have a chlorine leak and we need y’all to move to the far west parking lot.”

There were a lot of groans, but everyone complied with the sheriff’s instructions.

Hank motioned to his two deputies. They quickly started ejecting slow-moving tourists from the stores. He turned his attention back to Voss. “Anything else I can do for you, Battle Commander?”

Voss held out his communication device. Sam’s picture was on the vid screen. “Have you seen this female?”

The sheriff took a long look and shook his head. “Can’t say I have. If y’all will excuse me, I’ve got to get those dogies moving along.” With a tip of his hat, he walked off.

The Battle Commander raised an inquiring eyebrow. “Dogies?”

“Cattle. He’s referring to the people as cattle,” I explained.

“An odd description.”

“Not really.” I rubbed my abused arm and eyed a brass spittoon. It would make a great weapon.

Voss snorted. “It will take more than a piece of flimsy metal to render me senseless.”

Kaboom!The Coletti shuttle erupted in a ball of flames. Flaming debris rained down on frontier town.Plunk. Bang. Bang. Thunk. Thop.

My cousin Sam was the undisputed queen of bomb making.

Tourists shrieked and ran for cover as flaming bits of metal pelted them.

“Your cousin will be held responsible for this,” Voss roared.

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