Capital Run

Chapter Twenty-One

They emerged from the bowels of the library into the fresh air and bright light of day in an alley due west of the building.

“You know St. Louis better than we do,” Blade said to Lex. “You’ve got to lead us out of the city. Stick to the alleys and back streets. We don’t want to run into any more Leather Knights.”

“I’ll do my best,” Lex promised. She led off, Rikki at her side.

Blade followed them, covering their flanks, constantly scanning to the rear. Amazingly, the expected counterattack hadn’t materialized. They hadn’t seen or heard a single Knight during their exit from the library.

Why not?

The rest of the Leather Knights undoubtedly were alerted to the debacle in the pit room. At least one of the Knights in the room at the time had survived and vanished.

So where the hell were they?

If the Leather Knights hadn’t appeared, there must be a good reason.

But what? Were the Knights afraid? It hardly seemed likely since they numbered in the hundreds. Perhaps many of the Knights were in other sections of the city, but there had to be enough in the immediate vicinity to overwhelm the two Warriors and the defector. Yet they hadn’t attacked.

Were the Knights wary of attempting to corner their former prisoners in the narrow confines of the underground hallways? Or, as sounded reasonable, were the Knights reluctant to pursue the trio through the labyrinth under the library for fear they would lose their captives in the maze? If that was the case, and if he were a Leather Knight, what would he do next?

The answer was so obvious, Blade stopped as if stunned by a physical blow.

There was only one possible recourse! To cover every exit from the library and wait for them to come forth.

Rikki and Lex had reached the mouth of the alley and moved into the street beyond.

Blade ran toward them. “Rikki!”

He was too late.

Hidden in the buildings on every side, over two dozen Leather Knights rose from concealment, some in windows, others in doorways, some hiding behind gutted cars on piles of trash.

“Now!” a sister shouted.

The Leather Knights opened fire.

Startled by the ambush, Lex still managed to raise her rifle and blast a stud in a nearby window. Then her left shoulder was jarred, and the rifle flew from her hands as she started to fall.

Rikki reached her side in the next instant, ignoring the hail of lead raining all around him. He placed his left arm around her waist and lifted, supporting her weight as he hurried to the alley, knowing he wouldn’t reach its cover without aid.

Blade burst from the alley with the Commando leveled. He swept the surrounding buildings with a devastating spray of bullets.

Sisters and studs screamed as they were hit, or ducked from sight to escape the giant’s onslaught.

Blade retreated into the alley.

Rikki was holding Lex in his arms. A bright red circle had formed on Lex’s left shoulder and there was a hole in her vest.

“Lex?” Blade asked.

Lexine, although pale, was game. “I’m fine,” she told Blade. “Tell this yoyo to stop worrying about me.”

Rikki gently eased her onto the ground. “Stay put,” he advised her. “We will attend to the Knights.”

Blade leaned against the west wall and eased to the corner. There was a lot of commotion from every nearby building. The Knights were reorganizing.

Rikki joined him. “Any orders?” he asked.

“If they rush us,” Blade said, “we’ll never hold them.”

“We could reenter the library,” Rikki recommended.

Blade shook his head. “That could be what they want us to do. Once we’re inside, they’ll close off the alley and have us bottled up inside.”

“Then what?” Rikki inquired. “Do you want me to take them one by one?”

“If it was dark you could do it,” Blade said. “But they’d spot you in broad daylight.”

“I’d get a few,” Rikki vowed.

“True,” Blade agreed. “But I need you here. Lex needs you here.”

Rikki glanced at the redhead. “I’ve become quite… fond… of her,” he said in a soft tone.

“I’ve noticed.”

“I’ve never felt this way before,” Rikki declared.

“I know.”

Beyond the alley, there was the rattle of a tin can.

Blade looked behind him. There was an eight-foot wall at the far end of the alley. Piles of garbage and debris were scattered everywhere. The stench was awful. If the three of them could reach that wall-There was a loud clanking outside the alley.

“What are they doing?” Rikki inquired.

Blade risked a hasty peek.

Leather Knights were advancing on the mouth of the alley from both directions. To his right, four studs were pushing a wooden cart laden with metal trash cans filled to the brim with trash. Two sisters were carrying oddly shaped sticks or branches near the cart.

No!

They weren’t sticks or branches!

They were torches!

Blade glanced at Rikki. “They plan to smoke us out. If we try to make a break for it, they’ll cut us down in a crossfire.”

“We can’t stay here,” Rikki said.

“I know.” Blade scrutinized the buildings lining the street across from the alley. Knights weren’t in evidence, but that didn’t mean a thing.

Lex moaned.

Blade placed his right hand on Rikki’s shoulder. “You’ll have to hold them while I get Lex over the wall.” He nodded toward the far end of the alley.

“I will hold them,” Rikki pledged.

“They’ll try and rush us,” Blade guessed. “Try and shove a cart in here filled with burning trash, hoping the flames will spread and force us from cover. If you can hold them until I have Lex safe, I’ll cover you from the wall until you reach us. Fair enough?”

“Sounds okay to me,” Rikki said. He looked at Lex, clutching her shoulder in agony but not complaining. “Take good care of her. If something should happen to me… insure she reaches the Home safely.”

“I will,” Blade promised. “Here. Use the Commando.”

“And what will you cover me with? Your Bowies?” Rikki grinned. “Get going.”

Blade ran to Lex, slung the Commando over his right shoulder, and knelt. “Hold on tight,” he cautioned her.

Lex opened her eyes. “Where are you taking me?”

“Out of here.” Blade lifted her into his arms.

“I won’t leave Rikki,” Lex stated.

“You have no choice,” Blade responded, and jogged toward the wall 40 yards away.

“Rikki!” Lex yelled.

Rikki smiled and waved, then flattened against the west wall. His sensitive nostrils detected the acrid scent of smoke.

It would be soon.

Blade and Lex were 20 yards off, Blade negotiating the trash and garbage as he threaded a route to the wall.

Rikki held his katana in front of him, calming his emotions. He had to shut Lex from his mind, to submerge his feelings for her and concentrate his total energy on the matter at hand.

Smoke drifted past the alley entrance.

It would be very soon.

Rikki emptied his mind of every distraction, focusing on the katana, wedding his instincts to the blade. He would buy Blade and Lex the precious time they needed, even at the expense of his own life.

“Do it!” a sister yelled from outside the alley.

There was a sudden clanking and rattling, and the Leather Knights swarmed toward the alley. The four studs pushing the cart were in the lead, the contents of the trash cans already ablaze, pouring whitish gray smoke into the air, obscuring the cart and the nearest Knights.

Rikki squatted, his eyes on the alley mouth.

The Leather Knights reached the alley, and for a moment they hesitated, their assault halted by a momentary confusion. Blinded by the dense smoke issuing from the cart, their confusion was confounded by all of them endeavoring to enter the alley at once. Unable to see their foes, they balked, and in so doing gave Rikki-Tikki-Tavi the advantage he needed.

Rikki plunged into their midst, holding his breath to minimize the effects of the odoriferous smoke. Wherever he saw a shape or shadow in the smoke, he struck. His katana cleaved to the left and the right, hacking limbs and tearing torsos.

Those Leather Knights at the forefront of the charge bore the brunt of the carnage. Prevented from firing by the density of their mad rush, they tried to retreat but were blocked by those behind them. The Knights in the rear, unaware of the clash because they couldn’t see through the smoke, shoved those in front. Those in the lead, hearing the screams and shrieks of the wounded and dying and glimpsing a swirling figure in black, pushed against those in back.

Chaos reigned.

A lone stud with a Winchester appeared in the smoke, and Rikki slashed him across the neck.

The stud toppled backward from view.

Rikki saw a sister near the wooden cart, silhouetted by the red and orange flames, and he impaled her on the point of his sword. She gasped and grabbed the blade with her left hand, losing her fingers in the bargain.

“Damn you!” she defiantly cried as she expired.

Rikki crouched, his katana at the ready. Surely this was enough? Blade should have reached the wall by now! He picked his way over the bodies and through the smoke until he was in the alley. Gray tendrils drifted above the garbage and trash, obscuring the far wall. He hastened after Blade and Lex.

“Hold it, sucker!”

Rikki twirled, the katana extended.

It was the one called Erika, her portly features smeared with dirt, her leather garments begrimed a shade of brown. She held a shotgun in her hands, aimed at the man in black. Her eyes betrayed a maniacal quality, evidence of a personality on the brink of insanity. “You ain’t going nowhere!” she barked.

Rikki stared at her fingers, waiting for the telltale flexing indicating she was going to pull the trigger.

“You thought you had me!” Erika cackled. “You and that big son of a bitch! Threw me into the pit! But I was too smart for the both of you!

Grotto went after Terza, and I ducked into the hole connecting the pit to the sewers. I saw what it did to Terza!” Erika shuddered. “I stayed hid until after you left. Then some of the Knights showed up, and they tossed a rope to me.” She laughed. “It was my idea to wait for you out here. I knew it’d take you a while to make it out.” She tittered. “Pretty sharp, aren’t I, lover boy?”

Rikki calculated five feet separated him from the crazed woman.

Erika raised the shotgun. “I’m going to enjoy this!” she declared, gloating, relishing her impending triumph. “Almost as much as I’ll enjoy being the new leader of the Leather Knights!”

The street beyond the alley was quiet; the Knights apparently had retreated, abandoning their cart. Smoke continued to float into the alley.

“Any last words?” Erika baited Rikki.

A cloud of smoke drifted over Erika, enshrouding her head and shoulders in a mantle of gray. She coughed, recovered, and squeezed the trigger.

And missed.

Rikki threw his lean body to the left as the shotgun discharged. Her shot blew apart a pile of trash to the rear of where he had been standing just a moment earlier. Before she could fire again, his right arm swept back, then forward, holding the hilt of the katana, hurling the sword like he would a spear.

Erika, immersed in the suffocating smoke, experienced a burning sensation in her chest and glanced down. She released the shotgun and doubled over as the first waves of pain struck. “No!” she wailed. “No! No! No!” She dropped to the ground, her hands on the hilt, scowling in excruciating agony. A black foot appeared in her line of vision and she looked up, squinting.

The man in black was in a peculiar stance, his right hand rigid, the fingers firm and compact. “Yes,” he said, and the right hand chopped downward.