"Check," came Bascom's voice through earphones. "How is the moving coming along?" "Fine. We have three trucks shuttling between the ship and the freight hall. Everyone's turned to." Matt glanced at his watch; they'd been at the fort two hours. "Arm the women with rifles," he told the captain. "Put Lynn in charge. Have them bring our captives to the seventeenth floor. There's a brig here where we can lock them in. Is Lynn handy?" "She's right here." "Let me speak to her." "Right." There was a silence; then Lynn's voice came clear and small. "That you, Matt?" "Yes," he said. "Now listen carefully. I'm putting you in charge of the women. You're to bring those Amazons we captured to the seventeenth floor of the fort. If any of them show fight, shoot them!" He heard her gasp. "But, Matt...." "Shoot them!" he interrupted fiercely. "We can't afford to take chances--and there's plenty more where they came from!" There was a pause, then Lynn said, "Yes," in a strained voice. Matt clicked off the walkie-talkie. He realized Isaac was regarding him with a queer expression. Matt said, "Damn it, Isaac, we _can't_ afford to take chances. There are nineteen of those Amazons locked in the messroom. They'd like nothing better than to get the upper hand. They're mean, Isaac. Mean as cats that have run wild!" "You're right, of course," Isaac agreed. "But to order them shot down if they...." A second dull boom interrupted him as another bridge across Salt River was blown by Barren, the third assistant engineer. A buzzer on Matt's walkie-talkie began to whir softly. He clicked it on. The voice of Sawyer, the fat biologist whom he had sent to fortify the highway bridge, sounded in his ear. "Sawyer reporting. Two cars coming from the direction of Louisville." "Scouts?" Matt asked. "I think so." "Are you dug in yet?" "We have one machine gun set up and barbed wire strung across the bridge. We can hold them." "Let them get on the bridge," said Matt. "Then shoot up the cars. See if you can't put them out of commission." "Very well. They're coming onto the bridge now--slow." There was a silence. Then Matt heard Sawyer say, "Hold your fire." Again there was a silence that stretched on and on. Matt could feel his nerves tighten like violin strings. After an interminable period, Sawyer said, "Now!" Obviously, he was turned away from the mouthpiece because his voice was faint. Matt's fists clenched as the distant rattle of a machine gun reached his ears. There was a second burst, and a third. "We knocked out one car," Sawyer's voice sounded suddenly in Matt's ear. "The other got away." "Too bad," said Matt. "But that still gives us about six hours before they can bring up the main body." There was a loud boom from the direction of the river. "What was that?" Matt snapped. "Barren. He just blew the railroad bridge. That's the last one except the one we're guarding." "O.K.," said Matt. "Hang on."