Gale was more amused than jealous, for she understood Ben much more than he realized.
He spoke to her at length, and she detected a longing in his voice. Ben was a master at survival, having recalled all his hard service training and put it to use. But he was still a writer at heart. Ben felt that someone should, for history's sake, chronicle the events leading up to and after the bombings of 1988.
And he felt he was probably the only one remaining who could do that job.
“I guess that makes me sound very arrogant, doesn't it, Gale?”
She felt somehow closer to him for his sharing his thoughts. She knew only too well just how private a man Ben Raines really was. But while she felt closer, she experienced a sense of loss as well. As if Ben, in his own peculiar way, was telling her their time together was getting short. She accepted it. She had anticipated it. “No, Ben, I don't think it makes you arrogant at all. I think it makes you a man who is determined to chart the events of this nation. I think you owe it to history to do so. And I think I would only be in the way. What do you think about it?”
He brightened, his mood lifting. “I think you're nuts, Gale. We'll go together. I'll put this little coup attempt to bed, and we'll take off. Just as soon as you have the baby.”
“Babies, Ben, babies. I keep telling you. It's going to be twins. And I don't know if I'm going with you, or not.”
“Twins, Gale. Right. Twins. And you're coming with me.”
“We'll see, Ben,” she said, patting his arm. She smiled. “How many offspring will this make, Ben?”
Ben muttered under his breath and Gale laughed at him. “I keep telling you, Ben: You keep this up and in a hundred years, half the population in America will be direct descendants of yours.”
He sobered her abruptly by saying, “There is no America, Gale. And what is left of the nation is falling apart rapidly. And it just dawned on me, Gale. I can't pull it back together. No matter how much I might want that, I just can't do it alone. It's just too large a task for one man.”
She touched his arm as she realized he was right. “Ben . . .”
James Riverson walked up. “Sorry to bother you, General. But we got trouble coming at us. Scouts report armed men just rolled past their positions. 'Bout a platoon of them. We got maybe ten minutes 'fore they get here.”
The survivalist in Ben quickly overrode the writer's side of the man. The warrior in him, never buried too deeply, leaped to the surface. The warrior rudely pushed the philosopher aside. A line from Ecclesiastes came to Gale: A time to kill and a time to heal.
“Stagger positions on both sides of the street,” Ben ordered. “M-60s on top of that building and over there,” he said, pointing. “50s set up there and there. Move it!”
Gale watched the man change before her eyes. He never failed to amaze her. He could shift personalities at the blink of an eye. And while she loved him, she was woman enough to let him go.
In thirty seconds the street was deserted. A slight breeze blew lightly through the old town. Paper swirled through the air, floating and bouncing on invisible wings. The sounds of engines reached the ears of the hidden Rebels. The nose of a deuce and a half edged around the corner. Two men in the cab. Half a dozen in the uncovered rear. The bed of the truck was piled with supplies. The men in the trucks were armed with automatic weapons and dressed in paramilitary fashion.
Ben had no idea who the men were, or what they represented. They might be like himself, people who were trying to put the nationâor what was left of itâback on an even keel. But Ben somehow doubted that. The men were unshaven and dirty. They looked more like pirates than soldiers. Something about the men nagged at Ben's mind, pulling at the shadowy reaches of his brain. Then some old bit of intelligence came to him. Colonel Dan Gray had said his LRRPs had reported that a man named Tony Silver was in command of a large group of thugs and goons down in Florida. And at that timeâthat was several months backâSilver's men were moving into south Georgia. They were terrorizing the citizens, robbing and raping and killing and turning the civilians into virtual slaves, the women into unwilling whores.
“Do we take them, General?” James' voice whispered out of Ben's walkie-talkie.
“No,” Ben returned the whisper, his eyes on the passing convoy. “Let them through. I've got an idea. No one makes a sound. Hold your fire. James? Have a team maintain a loose contact on the column. Stay back and be careful. Keep in radio contact with me several times a day. I want to see where these men are heading. I've got a bad feeling about them.”
The column rolled through the tiny village, the men in the trucks totally unaware of the eyes on them, the guns trained on them. Death could have reached out and touched them at any time.
“That's all of them, General,” James reported from his vantage spot on top of the building. “Rear scouts report the road is clear.”
“Team out,” Ben ordered. “James? How many did you count?”
“Forty-odd. Supplies for a long time on the road. Well armed. General, are you thinking these people have something to do with Captain Willette and his bunch?”
“That was my gut reaction, yes. We'll wait for the team to report back. I think we'll find they're heading for a spot near where we've decided to settle. It wouldn't surprise me to learn this Sister Voleta and her Ninth Order is involved, as well. I got some strange vibes from that woman.”
“That would seem like a strange pairing, Ben,” Gale said. “Silver is a thug and the Ninth Order is supposed to be so religious.”
“I think she's about as religious as a rattlesnake,” Ben said. “That religious business is a front, I'm thinking.”
“A front for what?”
“I don't know.”
“Why don't we just let Colonel Gray and his people take them all out right now?” a Rebel asked.
“Because that way, we'd only knock off the tip of the iceberg. They'd rebuild. I want the entire chunk.”
“Colonel Jefferys on the horn, General,” the radio operator said. “He says it's urgent.”
Ben walked to the communications truck and took the mic. “Go, Cec.”
“One of our scouting parties was ambushed just inside the Chattahoochee National Forest,” Cecil said. “We took some hard casualties. And Ben? Ike's missing.”
FOUR
Ben tossed in his sleeping bag that night. He would doze for a few moments, then awaken to toss and turn once more. After several hours of fitful sleep, Ben threw back the sleeping bag cover and said, “Shit!”
Gale was silent. But Ben knew she was not asleep. He looked at her form in the darkness, her back to his eyes.
Gale sighed deeply after a few moments. “Will you quit staring at me?”
“Go ahead,” Ben said. “Say it. Get it over with, Gale.”
“Say what?”
“You've been pulling the silent treatment on me all evening. Now either knock it off or say what's on your mind, will you?”
She turned to face him, fixing her dark eyes on his face. “That was quite a performance you gave this afternoon. And in front of the troops, too. I must admit, I'd never seen anything quite like it.”
Ben grunted. “Yeah. I thought perhaps that was it.”
“You almost scared the pee out of those young troops, Ben. Some of them were actually trembling, listening to you rant and rave and carry on like a madman.”
“I guess so. All right. I'll apologize to them in the morning.”
“It is morning!”
“Oh. Really? Well . . . later on in the morning, then. Damn it, Gale, Ike
knew
better. He and Cec share the responsibility when I'm gone. He had no business taking off like that. This not only puts me in a bad situation, but just think where it leaves Cecil.”
“Oh, Ben! Hell! Ike is just like you. He can't sit around doing nothing. He's got to be a part of the action. Just like you. So ease off Ike's case, buster.” She softened her tone. “You're really upset about this, aren't you, Ben?”
“Yeah. But I shouldn't be, I guess. Ike can take care of himself.” But the whispered reply held a note of concern. “We've been together a long time. Really, since the beginning, back in '88.”
Gale waited.
“I met him down in Florida. Ike and four or five lovely young ladies. Ike married one of them, Megan. I told you about that.” He laughed softly. “Let's see. There was Honey-Poo, June-Bug, Tatter, Angel-Face, Bell-Ringer. That was Megan's nickname. Juno was with me, then. The husky.”
“Did you ever see any of those women again? I don't mean . . .”
“I know what you mean. No, I never did. I don't know what happened to them.”
“You ever wonder?”
“Oh, yes.”
“You twoâthree, really, counting Cecilâhave been through a lot together.”
“Yes. And Ike's not a young buck any longer. He's crowding fifty awfully hard. Goddamn it!”
“Settle down, Ben.” Gale slipped from the sleeping bag and came to him. She slipped slender arms around his neck and blew in his ear, “Watch your BP, old man.”
He smiled and kissed her.
“Really, Ben, you can't blame Ike. In a sense you're doing the same thing.”
“Oh?”
“Sure. We're sitting down here, a hundred miles away from the main group. Nobody wanted you to leaveâright?”
“We might head back soon.”
“No, we won't, Ben. Think about it.”
His smile flashed white in the darkness. “You giving the orders, now, huh?”
“You want to return so you can lead the search for Ike,” she said, pegging his thoughts accurately. “And that is dumb on your part. Very dumb. Think about it, Ben.”
He was silent for a moment. Then he sighed. “You're right, Gale. Ike knows the policy. We won't sacrifice a dozen to save one. They were his rules, back in Tri-States. He wouldn't want them violated any more than I would.”
“Get some sleep, Ben. We'll talk about it in the light.”
He returned to his side of the big double sleeping bag and to the warmth of the woman.
Her fingers found him; his hands found her.
“Won't this hurt the baby?” he asked.
Her reply was at first a chuckle. “I really doubt it, Ben.”
FIVE
“You can save yourself a great deal of pain,” the voice came to him. “Tell us where General Raines is hiding.”
“Don't know, partner,” Ike said. “Ben is his own man. He goes where he damn well pleases. And he don't always tell us.”
White hot pain tore into Ike's left arm. He bit back a scream as the electric charge lashed at him with invisible claws.
“You lie.”
“Tellin' you the truth, partner,” Ike gasped.
The pain left his arm. Ike sighed with relief. Then the pain shifted to his right leg as the wires were attached and activated by a crank. Ike chewed his lips bloody fighting back screams.
“Ben Raines is a false god.” Ike heard the words through waves of hurt. “Only Sister Voleta and the Ninth Order is real. We have learned that to worship both God and Satan is the real way to happiness and contentment on this earth. We all have taken vows to destroy any who worship false gods. Where is Ben Raines?”
Ike looked at his torturers. “Fuck you!”
The pain came in waves.
SIX
Tony looked at the just-budding breasts and thin pubic hair of the young girl lying on his bed. Blood dotted the white sheet.
She had been a virgin. A real, honest-to-God cherry. Tony had begun to believe there weren't any of them left in the country. He'd wait a few minutes more before taking another whack at the kid. Been a long time since he'd had any pussy that tight. Like to have never got his cock in. Sure felt good once he did, though.
“How old are you, kid?”
“Twelve, I think,” she whispered.
“No shit! You got some fine gash, baby. It got good to you, didn't it, sweets?”
The child hesitated for only a few seconds. Then survival took precedence over the pain between her legs. She knew all about Tony Silver. Everybody in north Florida and south Georgia knew about Tony Silver. The Man. She was young in years, but wise to the ways of staying alive. She was a survivor. “Yes,” the child said. “I liked it.”
Tony grinned. “Sure, you did, baby. Ol' Tony's been pleasin' the ladies for years. Now you roll over here and give ol' Tony some head. Get me all hard again and we'll have some more fun.”
The child named Ann did not hesitate. She was tired of being cold and hungry and afraid and always running for her life. This wasn't nearly as bad as all that. And she knew from talking with older women that it would get better as time passed.
She took him orally just as the door to the motel bedroom opened and a man walked in. He approached the bed, flicked his eyes to Ann's young nakedness, then shifted his hard gaze to the naked man.
“Raines' right hand man, Ike McGowen, was captured yesterday up in north Georgia. But he's a tough one. Voleta's people haven't been able to break him. Yet,” he added.
“Don't kill him,” Tony warned. He pulled Ann's mouth from his half erection and pushed her away. “Cool it, baby.” He looked at the man. “This Ike guy was one of them Frogmen, or something like thatâfrom way back in the wars. My guess is you ain't gonna break him with pain. Radio that stupid cunt, Voleta, and tell her to use mental shit on the guy. But first, tell her to tape record some of the guy's screamin' and hollerin' and send it to Ben Raines' headquarters. Let Raines hear his best buddy being tortured. That'll get the son of a bitch's attention, I betcha.”
The goon looked confused for a moment. “But . . . how can we do that, boss? Don't nobody know where Ben Raines is at.”
Tony's face reddened.
“Dumbass!”
he yelled, frightening the young girl. “I gotta think of everything around here, for Christ's sake?
Somebody
in that fuckin' camp knows where Ben Raines is. Bet your ass on that. They'll get to him. Goddamn, man! Use your head once in a while.”
The goon's face brightened. “Oh, yeah! Right. That's good thinkin', boss.”
“Thanks a lot,” Tony said dryly. “There anything else on your mind?”
“Naw.”
“Then get out of here. Me and this young chick got business to take care of.”
The goon giggled and left.
Tony pulled the child to him, fondling her budding breasts, squeezing her nipples. He pushed her head to his groin. “Deep throat me, baby.”