For a time it seemed as though Sayeeda’s concerns might be for nothing. The little convey rumbled along the valley floor raising a pall of dust that was blown behind them by the desert wind.  There was no proper road but the path had evidently been traveled enough to pack the earth into a functional road.

“Keep your eyes open,” Junebug advised Taya, “Watch particularly high ground that isn’t a peak, snipers prefer not to be at the absolute pinnacle of a formation.”  Taya nodded looking keyed up as though an enemy force might appear on the ridgeline at any moment.  There was no cure for a green soldier other than to see action but Junebug would feel better once the girl learned the trick of settling down and keeping calm till it dropped in the pot.
 
“Do you think it is likely there will be an attack?” Taya asked. Junebug shook her head. It wasn’t very likely if they were using soft skins like this. She and Neil could have taken out the whole convoy without difficulty if that had been their goal. The windshield shattered a moment before they heard the rifle report and a round spanged off the engine block with a metallic shriek. There were shouts of concern from the other cars and gun fire ripped from a half dozen sources at as many different targets as their were gunmen in the convoy. Neil slammed his foot on the accelerator as Junebug rose into a shooting stance, swinging her rifle towards the carrot the AI had thrown up for the muzzle flash, no where near where the gangsters were firing as it turned out. She sighted but didn’t fire as the sniper had already ducked back into cover. She kept her weapon trained for several seconds but the shooter didn’t reappear.

“New guys get up here!” Miguel shouted as his car swerved close to them, kicking a storm of dust and grit over them that prickled at Junebug’s skin.

“We are already up here,” Junebug shouted. Miguel gestured violently in the general direction of the ridge.

“Get up there and take care of that shooter!” he shrieked, clearly panicked despite the fact it wasn’t his car that had been hit. Junebug arched an eyebrow and then shrugged her shoulders.

“You got it boss,” she drawled. Neil gunned the engine, swerving in front of Miguel’s car and spraying a rooster tail of dust over the gangsters car to curses and shouts. One of the thugs fired randomly in their direction. Junebug stood, turned and fired back, the optics on her helmet allowing her to put a shot within six inches of the mans head, he dropped his gun and slapped his hands over his ears.

“Goddess damned amateurs,” she groused as they raced up to the base of the ridge. Neil wove in slow zig zags as she watched with her rifle up. Taya gripped her weapon and scanned the ridge, her finger on the trigger.

“Pull it up next to that path,” she told Neil, pointing to a sloping track that snaked its way up the rocky side of the valley. Neil complied, sliding into the spot so that he had maximum acceleration away from the rise.

“You wan’t me?” Neil asked. 

“Yes, but not for this,” she teased before turning and nodding to Taya.

“Your up, stay behind me and don’t shoot until I do,” she instructed, jumping out of the car and jogging towards the path.

“You got it Sayeeda,” the younger woman replied. 

“Don’t go too far but get some distance incase anyone gets an idea with a grenade,” she told Neil. The two women ascended the cliff in a series of tactical hops, covering each other as they scrambled up over rocks. To Sayeeda’s amazement the rest of the convoy was already moving on. That wasn’t a bad thing, but it was better organization than she gave the Scorpions credit for. They had nearly reached the top when the motion detector pinged and gave a read out. Sayeeda pulled a grenade from her pocket and pulled the pin then tossed it up over the large boulder that blocked the way forward. There was a flat crump of detonation and then Junebug was around the rock gun up. Taya was a step behind her keyed up and ready to shoot. Junebug slapped the younger woman’s weapon up and the rifle fired into the sky. Clutching his ears was a boy, maybe thirteen years old, he had evaded the grenade blast and was scrambling for his dropped rifle. Junebug stepped forward and kicked the rifle away. The boy screamed and lunged at her, his eyes wide with fear and hate. Junebug caught him by the front of the shirt and slammed him against a boulder.

“Easy kid,” she cautioned the boy who continued to scrabble at her arm and kick at her armored chest.

“I’ll kill you!” the boy snarled, shaking his dark hair out of his eyes.

“Yeah shit maybe, you hit our car with that piece of shit rifle from this range, pretty bad ass,” she admitted. The child stilled, confused by the compliment and scared out of his wits.

“But not today,” she told him setting him down.

“Why are you up here shooting at us?” she asked, sitting down on a nearby boulder.

“Those animals killed my father, because he wouldn’t grow their drugs!” the kid yelled before beginning to cry. Junebug and Taya exchanged looks.

“I see,” Junebug said, her face hard as granite. She sat silent for a long minute, the quiet broken only by the distant rumble of engines.

“You ok babe?” Neil asked over the radio, jolting her out of her ponderings.

“Yeah, we are coming down,” she replied, pausing for a moment before making a decision.

“Get your gun kid,” she told the boy, indicating the gun, “we will give you a ride home.”