Bunny was still engaged in a running fight, pausing for one second only every few yards to turn and fire an explosive shell at the Fixers. Four of them were on the far side of the K-110 that had fired at Mia, and they were using crowbars and hand spikes to clumsy another of the big crates toward the edge of the flatbed. Belle hammered at the crate, but the bulky container effectively blocked the Fixers.

Bunny knelt beside a tree, aimed, and fired, but his shot went high and hit the top of the crate instead of one of the Fixers. The explosion blew off one side of the huge wooden box, and the fighting machine inside toppled out. The four men scattered, but one was half a step too slow, and the K-110 smashed down on his rear leg. He collapsed screaming. The other men snuck under the truck and squirmed up and out again with the fallen machine as cover. Bunny saw a glint of metal and glass as the access hatch opened and a Fixer wriggled inside. He fired at the cowling, but even though he scored a direct hit, the K-110 hummed to life.

The ungainly device got to its feet, and the driver brought the gun arms up. Bunny hit it again and again with high-explosive rounds, but if it did any damage, he couldn’t see it. He had more of the Lightning Bugs in his pocket, but he was way too far out of range. He was going to have to get a lot closer to try to fry those things. Just as he set himself to move, the second K-110 opened up with its machine gun, forcing him to turn and run for cover. Going away from the thing.

He glanced back as he ran and saw that the first machine had turned to return fire from the trees—Belle or Andrea, Bunny couldn’t tell—and from that angle, the thing was able to cover the attempt by one of the Fixers to climb into the semi’s cab.

CHAPTER 165

EAST TEXAS CONVENTION CENTER

LABORDE, TEXAS

It was a brawl.

It was a gunfight.

It was total chaos.

The white man and the Black man who’d been yelling at each other both drew their guns and fired. What surprised me was that they actually fired. That made no sense if they were Fixers. Was I possibly wrong about this being a staged fight? Had all Santoro and Kuga done was manipulate disparate groups into a situation where violence was inevitable?

No. That was too convenient, too pat.