"To join my friends. There's a fight coming up, Ben Raines."
"I.
know that, Lora. How about staying here with me?"
She smiled, and as she did, Ben saw the wisdom in her young eyes. "It don't pay to get too close to people, Ben. More likely than not, you're gonna get hurt when you do that. "You really liked Sylvia, didn't you, Ben?"
"Yeah, I did, kid."
"Lots of times, Ben, the people you want, don't want you. Ain't that the truth?"
"That's the truth, Lora. You be careful out there."
"Oh, I'll be careful, Ben." She walked off, a very small and very brave Rebel, her black beret cocked to one side of her head.
Ben felt eyes on him and turned to look at Dr. Chase. "Lamar."
"Goddamned shame when kids have to fight wars, isn't it, Ben?"
"Yes, it is, Doc. You want to be the one to tell those kids they can't fight?"
"I think not. How's your shin?"
"It hurts."
Chase chuckled then looked at Ben. "I rather like that bandana tied around your head, Ben."
"Oh?"
"Yes. Makes you look more like the damned roguish pirate I know you are."
He walked off, leaving Ben sputtering.
Hartline abruptly halted his column halfway between Youreka and Mount Shasta. He had suddenly developed a very uneasy sensation in his guts.
"What's up?" one of his company commanders radioed to Sam's APC.
"Bad feeling," Sam radioed back. "Check the communication truck. See what they've beenreceiving the past few hours."
In a few moments, Sam got his reply.
"Nothing."
"Nothing?"
"Not a peep, Sam."
"I don't like that worth a shit!"
"Hell, Sam. The Rebels are in mourning!
They don't even know we're on the way."
"Don't be a jerk, Benny. Raines may be dead-and I'm still very dubious about that-but the Rebels aren't stupid. They might relax their guard some, but not much. I got a feeling we're heading into a trap. Put out guards. You guys meet me up here pronto."
Hartline's field commanders gathered around his APC. All but one.
Sam looked around him. "Where in the hell is that goddamned Harrison?"
No one had seen Harrison.
"He was in the drag, wasn't he?" Sam demanded.
"Last time I saw him he was."
"Don't just stand there. Go check him out."
Ralph came back, his face a bit pale.
"He's gone. His driver's gone. Everything is gone."
"What do you mean, everything is gone?" Hartline yelled. "Where's his Jeep!"
"I'm tellin' you, Sam. It's gone!"
"That goddamned Ben Raines has done it to me again," Sam bitched. "That sorry, no-good, low-life, sneaky son of a bitch has screwed me again!"
"Sam!" the excited yell came from the middle of the long column. "Sam!"
But when Sam turned around and yelled, "What?"
no one answered.
Angry, Sam ran back to the center of the well-spaced main column. He had split the column up into three parts. With a mile between each column.
Sam jogged up to a mercenary. "All right, asshole! What do you want? What'd you yell for?"
The mere looked at him. "Huh?"
"I said, what did you yell for?"
"I ain't yelled jack-shit, Sam!" the mere protested.
Sam looked around him a bit nervously. He began edging his way back to his APC. There, he crouched down, his back to the steel place. "Raines is playing with us," he said.
"Ben Raines is dead."
one of his senior commanders said, exasperation in his voice. "Goddammit, Sam, you're paranoid about Ben Raines."
"Yeah, a ghost can't hurt you," another mere said. From deep in the timber, there came a hollow-sounding laugh.
One of the younger mercs looked around him, his eyes wide, his face pale.
"Get the column outta here!" Sam yelled.
No sooner had the words left his mouth when an explosion to the north of them rocked the land.
Sam jerked up his mike. "What the hell was that?
Rear column, answer me!"
"Bridge is blown," came the weary reply.
"Next road leadin' anywhere is 97 to the north.
And scouts reports that road is closed. Next highway is 89. And that ain't gonna do us a damn bit of good."
"If I want a goddamned scenic route mapped out, Ira, I'll ask you for it!" Sam snapped.
He tossed the mike to the seat. He rubbed his face, deep in thought. He frowned as laughter once more came from the dark timber.
Sam frowned and once more picked up the mike. "Ira?"
"Right here, Sam."
"Are you cut off from Battalions One and Two?"
"All by my lonesome, Sam."
"Dig in and hold what you've got, Ira."
"Do I have a choice, Sam?"
Hartline chose not to reply. He picked up a map. "Chances are, Raines sent the sambo north with one battalion. Ira can keep him busy.
We've still got Battalion Five east of us and Battalion Four to the west. We've got Raines outgunned and out-manned. Smart-assed bastard may have planned this too carefully. He may have cut it too fine for his own good this time."
Once more, from the dark timber, came that taunting laughter.
"I know what that is now," Sam said, visibly relaxing. "The underground people. They don't use guns. They have bows and arrows and spears and shit like that. Long as we don't get in the deep timber, we're all right."
"Sam? We're sittin' ducks out here in the middle of the damn road."
"Yeah, I know. Tell Battalions Four and Five to hold what they've got. Advance only at my orders. What's in the next town?"
"Nothing. It's deserted."
"You hope," Sam said sourly.
Chapter Thirty-six.
Ike and his personal team had entered South Carolina just north of Mount Carmel, where the Georgia-flowing Broad River merged with the Savannah River. In typical Navy SEAL fashion, Ike and his people entered enemy territory at night, by water.
"Damn alligators probably in here," one team member bitched.
"Beats the hell outta "Nam," Ike putan end to it. "Let's go."
Dawn found Ike and his team hiding in a deserted house near what had once been the small town of Bradley. They would spend the hot daylight hours resting, then move out again at night.
The Rebels" main problem-other than staying alive-was that they were not sure exactly where Nina was being held.
But Ike knew how to find out.
"We grab some IPA dude and get the information out of him," he said.
"That could get bloody," a Rebel said.
Ike's smile was as savage as the IPA.
"I'm sure it will," he said.
Nina listened to Colonel Khamsin's talk, her face impassive. She hurt, but not as badly as a couple of days ago. She could hobble about, with the aid of canes. She could not wear shoes or sandals, because of her swollen feet-where her toenails had been removed with wire-pliers.
The savages of the IPA had broken parts of her body, but not her spirit. Nina did not think they could do that. She really did not know why there were torturing her.
For she knew very little about the Rebel movement. She knew there were Rebel outposts scattered throughout the Southeast, but did not know exactly where they were.
And she had told her interrogators as much.
That alone did not cause the pain to stop. Rather, it increased, for they felt she was lying.
And, of course, they had raped her. Nina had endured it silently. She had been raped before. Before she met Ike, and had fallen in love with the man.
Ike! she thought, staring at Khamsin's dark, evil face. Where are you, Ike?
"... So you see, Miss," Khamsin was saying.
"The men and women of the IPA are not that different from your Ben Raines and his Rebels. We both strive for the same things. Peace, productivity, law and order. Don't you see?"
"BLIVET!" Nina said.
"I beg your pardon?"