Chapter 21

When they got back, Spartacus called a meeting and Fixit (Jack) introduced Jimmy and Juanita as a couple, and Charles, Joe, and Ilsa as currently unattached. The new men were still naked, so they were ushered out to be fitted with loincloths until uniforms could made for them. The band of rebels now consisted of 17 people and there were four Canadians. Dammit, they were already overpopulated at the dinner table and close to under supplied with guns. They still had plenty of room for apartments, but they were again short on the larger beds. Ilsa was partial to Charles, but that left Joe without a companion.

They decided to make a run for more furniture that night. The furniture delivery truck was making such a good cover for their trips around town that they figured that they could go back to a normal day-night schedule and just sleep late on those days that they had put in a long night. Everybody was happy with that change, especially the Canadians.

They also needed to pick up the materials to convert the other floors into apartments. Jack and Jimmy were competent enough as carpenters to handle that with help as needed by the other people, male and female. One group took the furniture truck to fetch beds, and the other group went after plywood, etc. These were not going to be fancy apartments, just enough to give the sense of privacy, but not worrying about sound transmission. They would just have to get used to the sound of orgasms as they happened!

This was the first time that Spartacus stayed home and let his lieutenants handle the supervision of a raid. The "Olympia Cleaners" truck was used for the wood pickup, and Jimmy went as the one to choose what they needed. Fixit stayed behind to consult with Spartacus and John on the next run for slaves. Juno (Nancy) also stayed behind to consult on recruiting more women.

Jimmy, went with Atlas (Otto), Helen, Sue, Irene, and Ima while Mento (Joseph) took the furniture van to pick up the table and additional chairs. Mavis, because of her skill with the forklift, drove the van and Lena went along for company after the furniture. It was Lena's conceit that she was going to help supply muscle, but she was really there if they needed another gun.

The others were left at home to begin learning how to shoot with Bob as the instructor. Meanwhile, Bill and Jim were working on setting up a clinic.

In the meeting that afternoon, Fixit selected four more houses that they could profitably hit, and Juno suggested two restaurants where she knew some of the staff. They knew now how they were going to handle the raids on the homes of the rich women, but they still had to work out the best way to raid the restaurants. Juno, Spartacus, and John worked mostly on the restaurants, but Fixit did make a couple of contributions.

They came to the conclusion that dinner time was the best time to hit either place, though the time by the clock was a little different. They decided to hit another home next, so they fixed that time for late next week. They needed the apartments and furniture before they recruited many more people.

The four experienced hunters decided to use the time before that on cop hunts, and they would take along inexperienced recruits to get them used to the emotional rigors of combat, though they did not expect much in the way of physical problems.

They decided to split into two groups, one, Group A, led by Spartacus and Juno, and the other, Group B, led by Mento and Atlas. Each group would take two newbies with them to get them broken in to killing people.

Fixit had already shown his mettle on the first home raid, so that left Juanita and Ilsa, who were assigned to Group A, and Jimmy and Charles, who were assigned to Group B.

Each group took Segways, because they wanted to be spotted by cops. That was easier than chasing them down. As a safety feature, Spartacus and Mento were fitted with the modified cop tactical radios so that they could ask for help from home base (John) if they ran into something they couldn't handle. Atlas was a bit macho and took along two Molotov Cocktails, as he had become completely enamored with them.

They left their base shortly after the conversation with Henry. During that conversation, Henry was asked to supply at least 20 more of the Mark 29 guns and adequate ammunition for them. Henry promised to see what he could do.

Group A headed for the restaurant district and Group B went for the theater district. They weren't that far apart, so the division was more on paper than it was in fact. They came to the theaters first and Group B hid their Segways before climbing to the building roof. Group A traveled for four more blocks before copying what Group B had done.

The first of the NG had showed up at last, well behind schedule, and were on a one-night pass for a little R&R (Rest and Relaxation). The facilities were located elsewhere in town, but there were long lines of NG women at the public brothels. Plans were immediately switched to go after the NG, and only take on the cops if and when they showed up. The tactical radios made the switch very easy, and both groups were ready when they finally got into position.

Group A was in position first, nobody knew why, but they were ready to select targets right away. The NG soldiers were in uniform, so they stood out in the crowd. There were a lot of MPs around to keep order, and Spartacus decided that they would make the most appropriate targets. To be sure that the neophytes would get a chance to shoot at something before chaos broke out, they were assigned the first targets.

Juanita and Ilsa were understandably nervous, but they gritted their teeth and went through the routine that they had been taught. They were told to shoot as soon as they had acquired the target, so the two women did not shoot at the same time. This made little difference, because it was the first time any of these troops had actually been under fire.

As they had been instructed, both women went for chest shots and red spots appeared on shirts as soon as expected. The two victims fell, and some people looked around to find the source of the shots, but most people completely ignored the deaths. The reason was that they had seen it on TV, but it had not yet registered as a personal possibility. The milling around didn't make much difference in target selection, so the two women found two more MPs to shoot at. The result on the ground was the same, but Spartacus decided that they would move along before they were discovered.

Group B was also in a target-rich environment. In fact, so much so that they had some initial trouble in deciding exactly who to shoot at. Joe and Charles were told to shoot at somebody, just to get on with it. That seem to wake both of them up, and they fired shortly thereafter. Two MPs went down, but Joe had been a little overanxious and had to put a second bullet into his victim.

Two more MPs were shot before Group B moved to another location. That was when they say the cop cars approaching. Somebody must have called in the action and alerted the cops. There were four cars, presumably carrying five cops in each car, so this was a chance for the rebels to do some real damage. Atlas called for Group A to join them, and they would make a party out of it!

Group B was already engaged before Group A showed up, but there was still plenty to shoot at. Two trucks of armed NG infantry also showed up, so they were facing more than some inadequately armed cops. The NG officer ordered the cops to fall back, an order which was gratefully followed. The NG officer lined up her troops as they would on a parade ground and began firing volley fire on command at the rebels.

Had anyone known of the Napoleonic War, they would have recognized the tactic. Of course, in the day of automatic weapons, it was entirely stupid. Nevertheless, the NG officer thought that it was appropriate. Group A showed up just as the NG began its parade ground demonstration.

Spartacus took over command and ordered everybody to switch to automatic fire. There was too much chance of a rebel being accidentally injured if the NG was allowed to keep up their nonsense. He directed his troops to fire 5-shot bursts, since they had left home with plenty of ammunition. His people used a modified spray and pray tactic. The found a target and aimed at her as quickly as possible, but did not take the time to develop a perfect sight picture. As soon as both sights had acquired the target, the trigger was pulled for five quick shots, after which, the shooter quickly ducked behind the coping at the edge of the roof.