Armageddon Run

Chapter Eighteen

“And you say Blade sent you?” Rikki-Tikki-Tavi asked.

The column was halted at the western edge of the Black Hills National Forest in South Dakota, only 15 miles from the Wyoming border and about 23 miles from Catlow.

“How else do you think we found you?” the Indian responded. “Blade gave us explicit directions. He said you would be waiting here for word on when you should attack the Doktor.”

“And your people are willing to fight, Red Cloud?” Rikki inquired.

“We will gladly join you against those who enslaved us!” Red Cloud stated earnestly.

Rikki glanced at the two troop transports and the jeep parked in the field ahead. Dozens of Indians were clustered near the vehicles. “How many are with you?”

“Forty-eight,” Red Cloud answered. “We all want to fight,” he added proudly.

“You’ll get your chance,” Rikki promised him. He glanced over his left shoulder. The Freedom Federation’s fledgling army was encamped in a wide meadow near the forest, awaiting the signal to march on Catlow. The volunteers from the Clan and the Moles occupied the center of the meadow, positioned next to the 14 trucks. The Cavalry riders encircled the meadow, serving as a mobile buffer, prepared to take the field at a moment’s notice.

Five yards to Rikki’s right stood three stalwart figures: Kilrane in his inevitable buckskins, Yama in his blue “death shirt,” and Teucer, the third member of Beta Triad, a lean, rakish Warrior attired in a green shirt and pants. Teucer’s hair was blond, his locks secured in a ponytail, and he cultivated a neatly trimmed blond beard on his chin. He carried a compound bow in his left hand, and a quiver full of arrows was attached to his brown leather belt and slanted across his right hip. Like every other Warrior, Teucer had a preference in weaponry based on his natural aptitude and ability. As the Family’s best archer, Teucer preferred a bow and arrows. Hickok, by virtue of his uncanny skill with handguns, was entitled to possess the Colt Pythons. Blade, because of his expertise at knife fighting, carried the Bowies. And Rikki, in honor of his position as the Family’s supreme martial artist, could claim the only katana in the Family’s armory. The Founder of the Home, Kurt Carpenter, had stocked an incredible array of arms including hundreds of guns as well as more exotic weapons. Family members, even the Warriors, could not automatically assume ownership of a particular firearm or other weapon; they first had to prove themselves worthy of such a distinction.

“May I ask you something?” Red Cloud ventured.

Rikki nodded.

“Why are you so far from Catlow?” Red Cloud inquired. “Wouldn’t it be wiser to be closer?”

“We don’t want to alert the Doktor to our presence,” Rikki explained.

“If we were any closer, we would risk detection by one of his patrols.”

“But how will you know when to attack?”

“We have a man watching Catlow,” Rikki detailed. “He has one of our fastest horses. If he determines Blade and the others require our assistance, he will ride and warn us. If not, he is under orders to notify us on the evening of the second day after the battle has begun.”

Red Cloud slowly shook his head, his shoulder-length black hair waving.

“It sounds too dangerous to me. Blade and his companions could be killed before you got there.”

“It’s a chance we have to take,” Rikki said. “We want the Doktor so involved with defeating Blade, he won’t realize we are here until it is too late.”

“Are you a close friend of Blade’s?” Red Cloud questioned.

“I am,” Rikki stated.

“Then I hope, for his sake, you know how to pray!”