NO PRISONERS!

Through the dirty window on the second floor, Ben Raines could see the troops of Sister Voleta moving down the center of the street. "I love dealing with amateurs," he said with a smile. "Gorrie, give the orders to open fire, please."

"With utmost pleasure, sir," Corrie said.

Voleta lost nearly half her troops in the first thirty seconds as the Rebels gave her a taste of Rebel justice. Rockets turned the

vehicles into fireballs, 90mm and 105

howitzers, firing at nearly point-blank range, literally blew the enemy trucks off their tires and sent the trucks and those inside into thundering hell, the bodies mangled and burned beyond recognition.

Ben's Rebels had been battling Sister

Voleta and the Ninth Order for years. He would let his troops vent their anger with hot lead until it passed.

Then he saw her, standing in a doorway, looking at him. "You son of a bitch!" she screamed, her words just audible over the roar of gunfire.

She lifted a pistol and pulled the trigger.

The glass window exploded where Ben had stood an instant before. . . .

THE ASHES SERIES by William W.

Johnstone