Redoubtable by Mike Shepherd Read Free Book Online Page A

under the watchful eyes of the NCOs, kept their rifles aimed high. Not too high, but high enough that a miss-shot would pass well above the heads of the approaching trucks.
    Kris ordered Chesty’s spy eye to focus on the command rig. The man was still standing though now he leaned on the cab of the truck, binoculars roving over the Marine position. Then he came back to focus on Kris.
    Kris couldn’t help it; she gave him a confident wave.
    Two hundred meters away, the man with the binoculars put them down and scowled at Kris. Then he turned to the trucks on either side and raised his right hand.
    The trucks came to a ragged halt. Up and down the line people shouted as they leapt, dropped, or helped others from the trucks. To shouts, the general mob flowed into a line, of sorts, facing Kris and her deployed Marines.
    Kris studied them. Most looked hardly better off than the refugees Kris had just fed. Some leaned on long poles with blades on their tips. Someone must have gone into business converting available metal into machetes. There were many examples of them, similarly fashioned to the ones the Marines had confiscated from the pirates in orbit.
    Many of the people had nothing but a club or bat.
    Of course, there were also those with rifles and machine pistols.
    The two trucks on the extreme wings each disgorged twenty or so men and women who held these weapons and looked like they knew how to use them. Dressed in parts of black uniforms, they went to ground. Once prone, they settled into a steady aim at Kris’s Marines.
    They didn’t bother being nonthreatening. None of that aiming high stuff for them.
    The Marines returned the favor as their rifles came level.
    The two trucks closest to the command rig also had heavily armed types. On close observations, some even had body armor. A few shoulders showed NCO stripes from Greenfeld State Security. Once prone, they took the same aggressive aim at Marines.
    The hairs on the back of Kris’s neck stood up. From the looks of it, she needed to start a new timer on how long it had been since someone tried to kill her.
    Kris moved the overhead picture to examine the prone shooters across from her.
    Beside her, Penny shook her head. “Look at all the unemployed Greenfeld security troops. Wonder how good they are?”
    “Something tells me we’re going to find out,” Jack said.
    Kris shrugged. “I don’t recall that many times Peterwald’s State Security went up against anyone with guns, do you?”
    Penny took her own good time answering Kris’s question. “Officially, the boys in black never have used their guns,” she said slowly. “Abby says there are unofficial reports of several public protest gatherings that got sprayed with automatic weapons fire. There are no reports of anyone shooting back. The Peterwalds keep pretty tight control of guns in their backyard.”
    “Keep, or kept control of guns?” Jack asked.
    Penny just shrugged.
    Kris completed her study of the opposition. It seemed to fall into two distinct groups. Those with guns were well fed and focused on threatening the Marines. Those without guns were emaciated, formed small groups to talk among themselves, and seemed a whole lot less interested in being close to all this firepower.
    Given a bit of encouragement, Kris strongly suspected the gunless types would happily run.
    All Kris had to do was figure out a way to let them. Something told her the gun toters were there as much to intimidate their hungry partners as to impact the Marines.
    I THOUGHT WE DIDN’T WANT TO START A BLOODBATH TODAY, Nelly thought.
    KEEP REMINDING ME OF THAT. IT’S VERY TEMPTING TO LET THE CHIPS START FLYING. YOU KNOW OF ANY WAY FOR ME TO GET A GOOD ESTIMATE ON HOW MANY REALLY BAD GUYS ARE OUT THERE?
    I HAVE NOT THE FOGGIEST IDEA. I COULD GIVE YOU AN ACCURATE COUNT OF THE NUMBER WITH GUNS, BUT INTENT IS PURE GUESS.
    THAT’S WHAT I THOUGHT, Kris said with an internal sigh.
    Across the way, the boss man still stood with the