Read 05. Children of Flux and Anchor for Free Online

border, so you got two army divisions spread thin as blazes. No railroads up here yet, so it'd take 'em days to form into any sort of military unit and get here."
    "But you're saying that they're going after Logh Center! That's crazy! There's half a million people living there!"
    "At least. But those half million don't know what this group's about, and we don't know how many more are set up to draw off the division guarding the old Anchor border. Damn! I just wish I knew what they were really after!"
    Rondell sighed. "The only way to find out now is to nab one of them down there alive and make him talk."
    Ryan sighed. "The range on these babies is up to two thousand kilometers. My distance guide says they're seventeen hundred and forty-two meters away."
    "That's still stretching it. And we'll never take 'em all out."
    "Don't have to. Whittle them down and they'll have to come to us. They've burned most of their cover down there."
    "They could just mount up and get out."
    "Naw. They want to buy as much time as possible. They'll come for us if only to see who and what we are. That's all open ground between us and them, though. Single shots, in alternation. Wind's blowing our way. The sound might not carry down to them."
    The man known as Ryan carefully aimed his automatic rifle and pushed a series of small studs on the side. A little dot of light appeared in the scope and after a moment centered on the back of one of the raiders below. He pulled the trigger, having set it for a single shot at a time. There was a sharp, hollow sound as it fired, and the figure was suddenly propelled forward and lay twitching in the dirt.
    Rondell fired, and a second figure was forced back against a fence rail and then collapsed like a stuffed doll.
    They got four of them in under fifteen seconds, the amount of time it took for the others to see what was going on and react. The pair was able to get two more before the six remaining raiders, bewildered at where the shots were coming from, were able to identify at least the direction and take appropriate cover.
    The pair's next five shots were not merely wasted, they told the defenders the general direction of hostile fire. Random shots began digging up the dirt all along the side of the rise facing the ranch.
    "I can't make 'em out!" Rondell called, frustrated. "We got all the easy ones we're gonna get."
    "Maybe not! Four of 'em are making their way behind the herd of horses. I think they're gonna try and stampede them up the rise, with them following. Good! Set to automatic, and when I tell you, fire right in front of the herd—close as you can. If you get a horse it's no problem."
    "Gotcha!"
    The bearded man watched until a tiny figure, moving too stealthily to get a shot at, made its way behind the horses. That was four, the most he could hope for. "Now!" he shouted, and opened up. He couldn't afford to wait until they started the stampede themselves.
    Accuracy in automatic volley wasn't much, nor did it have to be, but a huge number of puffs of earth came up from in front of the horses and the nearest two suddenly whinnied in pain and started to keel over. That was enough for the rest of them, exhausted as they were. The horses panicked, began to jump, then roared off as a group away from the two shooters on the rise and right into the four just behind them.
    They put new clips in their rifles and studied the scene. The whole thing had been over in seconds, and they could count two horses dead, one thrashing about on its side, and four very mangled human forms behind them.
    Ryan chuckled. "I haven't pulled that one in fifty years. The old ones are the best."
    The young man whistled. "They weren't kidding about you, were they? Now there's just two of 'em and two of us."
    "Yeah. Now comes the hard part."
    "If I were them, I'd make a run for it away from us. They got to know they'd be out of range almost immediately and some of those horses will stop pretty quick, being so tired. I can see a few