Horrified, Hugh de Payens swallowed hard. "I'm glad this wasn't a formal occasion."

Montdidier winked. "Damn right. My chrome-plated magnums are damned heavy."

"Enough!" Redburn commanded harshly, though his voice rose barely above a whisper. "Shang Dao, for reasons I don't understand, expresses his pleasure at being able to buy our meal. His little note also says there is a Liao Maskirovka strike team out front just waiting to get us. He suggests we withdraw through the rear."

Drew narrowed his eyes. "Can we trust him?"

Redburn hesitated. "Justin did. That's good enough for me." Redburn stood and cocked the pistol. "Payen, give Robert the laser. Move."

With smiles nervously pasted on their faces, the eight Mech-Warriors wove their way through the main dining room. Craon glanced through a window in the kitchen door, then dove to the floor. "Down!"

An uneven line of holes exploded across the kitchen door and sprayed splinters into the room. A second line cutting up at a sharp angle to the first ripped half a dozen holes into the hand-woven carpet and shattered the door's round window. Patrons hit by the two bursts reeled from their chairs and collapsed dying to the floor. Screams filled the restaurant, almost drowning out the cacophony of falling tables and breaking china as others dove for cover.

Montdidier levered himself upon one knee and pumped two bullets back through the intersection of both bullet lines. A scream and the clatter of a fallen gun rewarded his effort as the ejected shells bounced soundlessly on the carpet. Craon spun himself around, and while lying on his back and aiming the laser down toward his feet, he kicked open the door.

Redburn caught a glimpse of a dying gunman slumped against a gore-spattered tile wall, but then movement in the restaurant's vestibule attracted his full attention. A Maskirovka gunman boldly burst into the room. He framed himself in a doorway between two huge golden dragons, but before the beaded curtain's amber strands could roll off him, Redburn had fired twice.

The first bullet smashed into the gunman's shoulder and half-twisted him back into the alcove. The second bullet lanced sparks from the assassin's assault rifle. The malformed bullet ricocheted up and snapped the gunman's head back. A red wound appeared on his temple as he stumbled back into the darkened vestibule.

Holding the kitchen door open, Craon shouted, "All clear!"

Redburn waved the others toward Craon. "Go! Go!" The unarmed MechWarriors crawled forward, but Montdidier spun and directed his fire toward the restaurant doorway. One Maskirovka assassin poked his gun out from between a dragon's undulating coils. Montdidier snapped off two quick shots, and the man's face disappeared.

How does he do that?Redburn saw the man Montdidier had shot fall to the ground and then heard shouts explode from those gathered near him. Montdidier smiled and ducked toward the kitchen. Redburn, still stunned, followed, then hunkered down beside the hot stove with de Mesnil.

The Sergeant nodded toward the first man Montdidier had shot. "Archie's got his assault rifle, and Geoff's packing the pistol he had in his holster. They're checking the back alley."

"What about the others?"

De Mesnil grinned. "Drew and Hugh found a couple of butcher knives to their liking and are waiting by the door." Redburn frowned. "What about you?"

De Mesnil jerked a thumb at Montdidier. "I'm just waiting for him to shoot someone else, then I'll take the victim's weapon."

As if summoned by de Mesnil's statement, a Maskirovka agent burst through the kitchen door in a headlong charge. As he turned to face the crouched MechWarriors and rake them with a burst from his submachine gun, his right foot slipped on a greasy spot on the floor. He started to fall, but a pair of shots by Montdidier lifted him up and knocked him back toward the freezer door.

De Mesnil reached out and snagged the submachine gun's shoulder strap. Pulling the gun to himself, he smiled. "Payen, next time have him drop the gun closer, eh?"

Montdidier snorted derisively in reply and led the other two MechWarriors through the kitchen and out to the night-shrouded alley. There, with Montbard and de Payens standing as sentinels at the door, Craon reported to Redburn. "Alley's secure. Archie and Geoff have the front covered. The street's pretty clear out there."

Redburn nodded. Shang Dao is keeping his people out of it. This must be some rogue Maskirovka operation."Payen, send Geoff back here to cover this door and you cover the front with Archie. Walter, you, and Robert and I will try to swing wide and line up across the street. When we're clear, we can cover the front so the others can evacuate the area."

The alley's deep shadows hid his men's expressions, but their heads bobbed acquiescence with Redburn's plan. Geoff returned to the doorway and took a covered position behind a pile of broken cobblestones and bricks that gave him a clear view of the restaurant's rear exit. Even with the light streaming through the restaurant's back door, neither of the MechWarriors waiting with butcher knives on either side of the door were visible.

I hope I can get these men out of this. I hate fighting outside a 'Mech!Redburn used the back of his sleeve to wipe the sweat from his brow. Last June, I fought on foot against Kurita ISF ninjas and now I'm in a gun battle with Maskirovka assassins. Hell, I might as well be in the Jump Infantry.

Redburn eased himself forward enough at the alley mouth to study the narrow cobblestoned street. Buildings of traditional Capellan design lined both sides of the street and turned it into a dark canyon. Dimly lit paper lanterns hung from eaves and lintels danced in the dry night breezes, but did little to dispel the night's gloom. The buildings, some of which rose up as much as three stories above their squat, drab neighbors, stared with wood and glass eyes at the foreign MechWarriors trapped deep within their district. Even though conquered and made part of the Federated Suns a generation ago, Shaoshan was still enemy territory and seethed with danger.

"They're making a break!" Archie stepped into the street and swept a hail of fire through the second man out the door. The Maskirovka agent jerked and twitched backward as the bullets blasted into him. His finger tightened on the trigger of his gun and mercilessly sprayed the street with a full clip of ammo. His lifeless body finally pirouetted into the gutter with a splash.

Two hot red laser bolts leaped from Craon's pistol after the other fleeing Liao operative. The first missed and exploded a wooden post into a storm of flaming splinters. The second stabbed through the running man's left shoulder, and the shock of the hit knocked the man down. He rolled to a stop behind a bench, then scrambled to his feet and ducked off into an alley, but minus the rifle he'd been carrying.

"Walter, Robert, with me. Payen, clean up!" Redburn sprinted into the street. Craon and de Mesnil followed like hounds on the heels of a fox. Behind them, Archie triggered another burst and kept the remaining Maskirovka agents down long enough for the trio of pursuers to dart into the alley.

Why did they wait till after dinner?Redburn watched the shadowman running ahead of him. You better not run very far or I'll throw up.Grimacing, Redburn put his head down and lengthened his stride.

When his quarry suddenly ducked into a building on the left, Redburn slowed up and raised his left hand to bring his two subordinates to a halt. "Easy now. If he's gone inside, he's probably got friends." Looks more like a warehouse than a residence. Could the rat have been so foolish as to duck into his own hole?