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Eddie and Linc scrambled to their feet and kept going.
“What was that?” Raven shouted.
“Jin’s firing the plasma cannon at us,” Eddie yelled back. “We have to get out of here now.”
A second blast pulverized the front of the building where he and Linc had just been standing, reducing it to particles.
“Where should we go?” Linda asked.
“Anywhere’s better than here,” MacD said.
Eddie pointed at a barracks fifty feet away. For a moment, the gunfire had stopped, giving them a brief opening to make a run for it.
Eddie nodded, and they burst out the door, Linc firing in one direction with his assault rifle, and Eddie giving covering fire in the other. Raven used the crossbow to take out one man who poked his head around a corner, while Linda and MacD took point.
Before they could get a quarter of the way, a third shot from the plasma cannon utterly wiped out the remainder of the office building. The impact threw them all to the ground.
The plasma cannon began to tear apart the barracks, systematically blowing it to pieces. The wooden roof was a blazing inferno.
“Back to the main building,” Eddie yelled. Maybe if they took refuge amongst the rubble, they’d be spared while she destroyed the rest of the complex.
They sprinted back to the ruined building, which looked like it had been shelled by artillery. At least the jagged concrete debris provided protection from the guards who continued to fire at them.
“Hali, a little help, please,” Eddie said. “The Marauder is about to annihilate us.”
SIXTY-ONE
Even before Eddie’s call, Juan had ordered Eric to bring the Oregon into Marwood Island’s harbor. Gomez’s drone gave them a bird’s-eye view of the Marauder pounding away at the base facility. But with the hills between them and the trimaran, they had no way to use the rail gun against her.
“How long until we’re in position to fire?” Juan asked.
“The harbor entrance is one minute out,” Eric replied. “There isn’t much clearance between those headlands for us to get through. I need to swing out before we enter to get a straight course.”
“Prepare to raise the rail gun, but stand by for my order.”
Juan turned to Sylvia. “Are you ready to fire?”
She looked nervous, but she nodded. She’d taken only a couple of practice shots out at sea to conserve the limited ammunition they had on board. According to Max, he thought he’d fixed the overheating problem they’d encountered in Bali. They were about to find out if he was right.
“Remember,” Murph said to his sister, “no need to lead.”
“I know,” Sylvia said.
Normally, artillery cannons had to lead the target if it was moving. They had to be aimed at where the target was going to be. But the hypersonic rail gun shells were so fast that, at these distances, the rounds would reach the target nearly instantaneously.
“We need Jin alive,” Juan reminded her. “Try to avoid completely destroying the ship if you can.”
“I’ll target the plasma cannon turret,” Sylvia said. “But the Marauder is between us and the buildings where your team is. If I miss, the shell could hit them.”
“Then hold your fire until you’re all the way in the harbor,” Juan said.
“I’ve got the Marauder’s current position as a reference.”
“Take her in quick.”
* * *
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