Without Law 18 by Eric Vall (most difficult books to read .txt) 📗

before that, then they’ll have nowhere to go.”

“Are there any roads that connect between here and there?” I inquired.

“Nope.” The brunette shook her head.

“The cloverleaf it is,” I said.

I turned onto the interstate and headed south for about half a mile until I could see signs for the exits ahead.

“We should probably stop here,” I said as I pulled the jeep to the side of the road. “Let’s walk ahead and see how best to do this.”

“Alright,” Anna said, and she hopped out of the jeep.

We walked with urgency down the road toward the cloverfield. The interstate was raised up, so if we blew it anywhere around this area, the NK troops would have no choice but to turn back. There would be no way for them to get down from a drop as high as this one, not alive anyway.

“It’s going to take more firepower to blow this one,” Paige said when we came to the area just before the cloverleaf.

“It’s like, quadruple the amount of lanes,” Anna said.

“Three on this side, three on the other.” Paige nodded and turned to me. “Should we do one side first, then the other?”

“I don’t think so,” I said. “This is essentially a bridge, and if we blow one side of it, that’ll make it far too dangerous to try and get to the other side to blow it as well.”

“But if we blow it at once that’s going to be a massive explosion,” Anna pointed out.

“Right,” I agreed. “We already had Minji tell the Boston troops that the Americans were blocking roads, though.”

“Oh, good point,” Bailey said. “So, even if it’s big enough for them to see, they’ll assume that it was… well, us.”

“Right,” I chuckled. “I’ll let Minji know what to say if they radio about it.”

“You think they’ll be able to see it?” Anna asked. “They should still be a couple hours out right now.”

“They should,” I agreed. “But there’s always a chance they have scouting troops up ahead, or one of the MiGs could be surveying the area.”

“Let’s hope not,” the redhead muttered.

“Right,” I agreed. “But this is going to be a huge explosion, three times bigger than the one we just caused near the attack point.”

“How are we going to ignite it without being in the blast zone?” Paige asked. “I mean, I know these plasma weapons shoot pretty far, but with the size of this explosion, even if we’re as far back as we can get, it still seems like we’ll be too close.”

“You’re right,” I agreed. “We’ll need to shoot and run.”

“You mean that literally, don’t you?” Anna asked, and her red eyebrows furrowed together.

“I do.” I nodded. “We’ll need to be in the jeep ready to go, already as far away as possible. We’ll have Bailey shoot, then I’ll punch the gas.”

“I mean, it’s not the craziest thing we’ve done.” Tara shrugged.

“It still seems dangerous,” Paige said. “But I can’t think of a better option.”

“Neither can I.” I shook my head.

“It’s no more dangerous than half the other shit we do,” Anna said, and she turned to me and clapped her hands. “So, are we ready to lay down some liquid?”

“Looks like it,” I agreed.

The girls all pulled the pods out of their plasma weapons and handed them to me so I could puncture the small rubber piece.

“Tara, you’re with me over here on I64 northbound,” I said. “Anna, Paige, Bailey, you all take southbound.”

“No fair,” Anna teased as I handed her the newly doctored plasma pod. “She only gets to be on your team because she’s pregnant.”

“And once you get pregnant you’ll get to be on my team, too,” I teased back.

“Whatever,” Anna laughed and lightly punched my arm.

After the plasma pods were all done, Anna’s group climbed the concrete barrier that led over to the other side of the interstate while Tara and I got to work on our side.

“Be careful,” I called to Anna’s team. “Don’t get any of the liquid on you.”

“We got it,” the redhead called back.

“Are they right?” Tara asked as we started to drop the plasma onto the road.

“About what?” I asked.

“That you chose me for your team because I’m pregnant,” the platinum-blonde said.

“Partly.” I smiled. “But I also just like to have you close to me.”

“Mhm.” Tara shook her head. “I don’t want any special treatment, you know.”

“You always want special treatment,” I teased.

“Fair point,” Tara laughed. “But I mean it, I don’t want you to treat me any different just because I’ve got your bun in my oven.”

“I love when you say that,” I chuckled and shook my head. “But I understand.”

“Good,” the platinum-blonde said, and she tilted her plasma pod so liquid fell onto the pavement. “Because I know it’s going to get even worse once my belly is giant.”

“You’re probably right,” I told her. “And I’ll try my best to not treat you any differently, but you also need to understand that it is different now. You’re pregnant with our child, and I will do whatever it takes to keep you safe, even more than before.”

“I know.” Tara smiled and nodded. “And I love you for it.”

“I love you, too,” I told her. “Oh, speaking of me not treating you differently.”

“What?” Tara asked, and she narrowed her eyes on me.

“Don’t scream stop in the car anymore,” I told her with a raised eyebrow.

“Yeaaahh,” she said, and she bit her lip. “I probably could’ve gone about that a little bit better. But I wasn’t sure I’d make it another second if you didn’t stop.”

“I get it,” I chuckled. “You just panicked me for a second.”

“I know, I’m sorry,” she said, and her lip started to quiver, and she looked down.

“Tara,”