The Horse Soldier: Beginnings Series Book 10 (62 page)

“What is Rev. Bob doing?”

Henry looked across the street to where Johnny stared. Rev. Bob stood off to the side of the chapel doorway, peeking in, but seemed as if he didn’t want to be noticed. “I don’t know.”

“Is someone in the chapel?”

“Last I passed, your pap and Hal were.”

Johnny snickered. “Praying. Is something going down that we don’t know about?”

Henry quickly looked at Johnny. “I don’t know.”

“Well
whatever the reason is that they’re in there praying, seems like Rev Bob is just as curious as we are.”

Henry swallowed and started walking
, looking back at Rev. Bob. A preacher staring at two people praying? It made no sense. If something indeed was going down with Joe and Hal then, like Johnny commented, Rev. Bob sure looked curious. But there was a problem with it. Henry would have to tell Joe about it. Being curious was one thing. Being curious and a number one suspect was another.

Ellen’s hand shook so badly she could barely measure the coffee into the basket. She had to keep stopping, staring at her shaking hand, and calming her heart that beat out of control. She hadn’t slept. She had no intentions of sleeping. How could she? In less than nine hours it all would be going down. And to Ellen, every single person she cared most about in Beginnings, had their life at stake. She could lose them all. Then what would she do?

So deep in thought
, Ellen never heard him walk into the kitchen. Just the feel of a firm hand laying over hers, taking the scoop from her made her look up. Sgt. Ryder smiled at her, but it was a smile of concern.

“Here, let me
,” he told her.

“Thanks.” Ellen move back, folding her arms.

“You were awake all night.”

“How did you know.”

“I slept on the couch, remember. I could hear your clicking fingers coming from that little office. You must have been working on something important.”

“Yeah, I was. I was working on keeping my mind off of everything. I am so sorry if I kept you awake.”

“No.” Sgt. Ryder swayed his head as he placed the lid on the coffee pot and then put it on the burner. “I never sleep completely when there is something like this about to happen. Any raids we have made with the UWA, I paced all night.” He turned on the burner. “It’s normal. Any person that’s worried about something they are about to embark on the next day, cannot sleep right before doing it. Their mind is in a million different places, thinking a million different things. What if this? What if that?”

“You are so right.”

“Want to know what the shame of it is?” Sgt. Ryder asked her.

“What is that?”

“The shame of it is, everyone worries. No one sleeps, yet everyone paces alone and it gets worse.”

Ellen blinked in surprise at Sgt. Ryder perception. “That is so true. Why is that?”

“You don’t want to bother another with your fears. Perhaps we don’t want to sound any less than we want other to perceive us to be.”

“If that’s such a shame
, Elliott, if you weren’t sleeping and you knew I was awake, why didn’t you talk to me? You thought I was working, huh?”

“No, not at all. I knew you were worried. I just figured the last person you needed to tell you they were restless was one of the two people who would be guarding your life.”

Ellen looked at his serious face then she watched a smile. “Thank you.”

“You’re welcome.” He watched Ellen turn somber. “It will be all right.”

“I hope so.” Ellen rubbed the chill that swept up her. “Because I have a lot to lose if anything goes wrong. No wait, I have everything to lose.”

^^^^

Joe was still sipping his coffee when Henry arrived
, earlier than he should have too. Joe figured Henry hadn’t been to sleep yet either. Dressed so unlike himself in the very pre-dawn hours, Joe, wearing brown camouflage looked into the hall to make sure no one was there.

“Sit down
, Henry.” Joe pointed to the couch. “Then I’ll head to El’s.” He kept his voice low and sat at the same time as Henry.

“What’s up
, Joe?”

There was so much hesitation. Joe stared at his folded his hands. “A lot can happen today. You know this.”

“Joe, look . . .”

“No Henry, hear me out. A lot can happen today. You know this. I wanted to talk to you before I left. This is for real
, Henry. Today, you have to take everything serious. You are on your own today and if something should go wrong . . . you can be on your own for a very long time.”

“Joe
, nothing is going to go wrong.”

“I hope and I feel it won’t
, but I just wanted to make sure you fully understand something. I worked my ass off for Beginnings. I helped build this place and I would die for this place. Goddamn it, Henry, don’t you screw it up. Now this past week of you being leader was all fun and games, all the big show. But come this afternoon, it may end up being real. I know you have it in you to be strong. You have to run this place strong. Promise me you will.”

“I promise
, Joe.” Henry lowered his head.

“Good. And one more thing
, Henry. I broke the trust of my son, Dean, and anyone who’s involved with this rescue operation by telling you what was happening. I trust you. You, as leader, need to know. It’s wrong to leave you in the dark. But . . . one person knows I told you the details of this plan. And if something goes wrong, if we get set up out there, it’s on your head. This person will inform Robbie of this and I can’t guarantee what my son will do to you.”

Henry looked nervous. “What do you mean
, Joe?”

“You know you’re a viable suspect in this George thing. You know no one wanted to let you know the plan for fear of you telling George. I told you the plan. You know
, Henry, others may suspect something when they see we’re gone, but only you know the full details of what’s going down today . . .where we’re going and what we’re doing. If something happens that it gets leaked to George, it will look like you were the one.” Joe stood up. “I’d better go.”

Henry stood with him and they walked to the door. “I want you to know
, Joe, I understand fully. My heart and my prayers are with you guys today. And every detail is safe with me, on my life,.” He opened the door. “Just . . . just bring Frank and Dean home.”

Joe gave Henry a single slow nod and they left the house, never seeing Andrea, still in her robe, standing in the hall by the
living room. She dropped her head and walked back to the bedroom.

^^^^

George stared at the short scientist who reminded him a lot of Dean with dark hair.
He stared at him for a long time before speaking. “Are you sure?”

“Positive.” He adjusted his glasses. “He went for a walk last night and never returned.”

“Lt. Murphy as well?”

“Haven’t noticed him in days.”

“Any clue where they went?”

“We don’t know.”

George nodded. “All right. Go on back to work as usual. I’ll get Sgt. Landers, the sergeant that came with me, to program a search party to look as soon as it gets light enough in the woods.”

“Thank you.” The scientist rose up from his seat.

George thought as he leaned back in his chair and tapped into his inner feelings. As much as he hated to admit it, something just wasn’t right and, unlike the chopper noises and the thumping, this wasn’t his imagination.

^^^^

Just as Dean tossed his tee
-shirt over his head, he heard the familiar knocking coming from the bedroom closet door. Shaking his head and then glancing with a look of concern when he saw the time, he moved to the closet and opened it. Frank walked in. “Frank. What are you doing here? I thought this was the time of day you do whatever it is you do to make yourself look busy.”

“Something is up
,” Frank told him.

“What do you mean?” Dean asked.

“O.K. I’m with them, doing the training thing, and two of the sergeants that came with George suddenly joined and started to watch.”

“Yeah
, so.”

“So, they take the men off somewhere according to George’s instruction.”

“They took them from you?”

Frank shrugged. “They told me they had a training video to show them,. I was going to go watch when I saw that Landers guy. He grabbed about a dozen SUTs and took them with him.”

“Again . . . so.”

“So, this Landers guys is a programmer.
He took a dozen of them to program them to do something, I think. I got a feeling, Dean, that something is going down. There’s too much movement on base today. Get that chemical ready and get it ready fast.” Frank backed into the closet. “I have to go before they see me over this way.”

“Frank
, wait. It’s not ready.”

“Then get something ready
because I’m not wasting any time. If I see anything suspicious happening, we hit George, take out as many of these higher ups as we can, grab Richie, get a Jeep, and get the hell out.”

Dean watched Frank vanish though the closet. He worried. If Frank’s gut was singing to him then Dean better listen because Frank had that instinct.
With that, Dean hurried and got dressed. Just to safeguard anything, he had to get to the lab and find a way to get rid of his test subjects he had frozen in the freezers at the lab.

^^^^

Beginnings, Montana

Ellen’s throat swelled and she could barely breath as she stood by her front door. They had gathered their maps and plans. Robbie called and the chopper was ready. Joe, John, Jess, and Hal slowly walked through the door.

Trying to appear brave and hopeful, Ellen gave a proud smile to Jess and Hal as they walked out
then lost it totally when Joe laid his hand on her cheek. Immediately she gasped emotionally, grasping his hand, and then clenching Joe into an embrace.

“Easy Kiddo
,” Joe whispered. “Everything will be all right.”

“Be safe
, Joe. Please be safe out there.”

“I will be. And I’ll be back . . .” He kissed her on the cheek then stepped back. “I promise you that. I’ll be back with your husband.” Joe smiled. “And Frank.”

THE RESCUE

Robbie’s return to Beginnings was signified by the chopper noise. Hearing this alerted Sgt. Ryder to proceed with the plan to meet Robbie at the hanger and he did. He watched the chopper land and he waited by the hanger structure. Robbie looked a little tired to Sgt. Ryder as he walked from the chopper, tossing his sunglasses inside, running his hands through his hair
, and walking with a slight slant to Sgt. Ryder.

But Robbie grinned. “
Just dropped off the four horsemen.”

Sgt. Ryder handed Robbie his headset radio. “
I’ve been monitoring this for you.”

“And?”

“There’s a buzz about town. About security.”

“What are they saying?” Robbie asked.

“Just that it was odd that you flew the three J’s and Hal to Bowman and someone spotted Joe out of his normal attire.”

“Nosey fuckin people in this town. Nothing gets
past them.” Robbie placed on the headset and fixed the ear piece.

“Yes, well in about an hour it will all be going down and well on
its way to being over. That’s not a lot of time. What could go wrong?”

Robbie cringed.

Sgt. Ryder looked oddly at him. “What’s wrong?”

Robbie held up a finger and spoke into his radio. “Yeah, I’m back
. What’s up?” Robbie closed his eyes.. “You heard nothing. Shit. All right. I’m on my way.”

“Did I speak too soon
?”

“Looks that way.” Robbie picked up the pace to the awaiting
Jeep. “Sector thirty two again. Henry sent two men up there this time.” Robbie jumped in the Jeep. “They haven’t returned. I have to get up there.”

“You’ll need help
. Do you have a man meeting you there?” Sgt. Ryder got in.

Robbie fluttered his lips as he started the
Jeep. “Are you kidding? No one will go up there with me.”

“Don’t say no one.” Sgt. Ryder looked at his watch. “We have an hour. I’ll go.”

“I appreciate it. Two of us can check it out a lot faster. Let’s swing by my office first to get armed.” Robbie drove off in the Jeep with a screech.

^^^^

“Goddamn it
, Frank.” Joe griped, covering his nose as soon as they entered the wooded area near the base. “It’s an open invitation for him to get busted with this damn smell.”

Jess pointed to his left. “It’s over there. We won’t smell it as badly where we’re setting up.”

Joe adjusted the large sack he carried and looked at his map. “Let’s hope so.” He checked out the time. “We’d better get moving on setting this thing up.” He peered up. “Lots of tree where we need to be. We have four speakers and a descrambler to set up. Now which two of you three are gonna be my climbers?”

Hal, Jess
, and John all looked at each other. No one volunteered.

^^^^