night.
The chatter of gunfire surrounded us as we rushed down the block, keeping City Hall between ourselves and the tanks rumbling down the street. We rounded the corner and ran into a nearby abandoned storefront.
“Everyone all right?” Ken asked.
I could see the others nodding and panting in the darkness. Jim handed me the tiny push dagger that went in my belt buckle. “Thanks,” he said. “Guess I’ll have to get you to make me one of those things.”
“Once we get out of this.” I slapped him on the back. “Anybody see how many tanks he’s got?”
“I saw six,” Ken replied. “Could be more, but I don’t think so.”
“Six tanks!” Jim spat. “What the hell can we do against tanks? We got handguns and deer rifles! What good are they?”
“I learned a little about them back when I was in the service. These are Abrams. They’re tough, no doubt about it, but I think those are A1s, and I know some of their strengths and weaknesses. We might still have a chance.”
The mayor didn’t seem convinced, but evidently decided this wasn’t the time to discuss it. Instead, he simply ignored Ken and turned to do a quick headcount while we caught our breath. “Okay, looks like everyone made it out all right. So, now what?”
I looked up to find him staring at me, waiting for an answer. “Me? No way, Jim, you’re the mayor!”
“That may be, but you seem to be the one at the middle of all this. It’s you they want, and if I understood things right, it’s you that might have a little previous experience with the head honcho. So I need to hear your take on the situation.”
Anything I might have said at that point was forgotten as my heart jumped into my throat at the sound of Larry’s voice coming from behind Ken. “Brady, report!”
I went for my knife, desperately searching past Ken’s shoulder for my target when Ken grinned and reached behind him for the two-way. He had taken it from Brady and tucked it in his own belt before our flight from City Hall. “Captain Brady, please report your situation.”
“I take it that’s the guy you told us about, the guy that tried to hijack you on D-day?” Ken asked.
I nodded.
The radio squawked again. “Brady!”
I shoved my fear back into its little corner and motioned to Ken for the radio. He handed it to me without question.
“Brady, get on the radio, now!”
I keyed the transmitter. “Sorry, Larry, Brady’s a bit tied up at the moment.” Suddenly, a thought came to me. “That’s something you should be able to relate to, isn’t it, Larry? I seem to recall the last time I saw you, you were tied up, too. As a matter of fact, I was told there was a body out there where I left you, a body with a broken knee and a hole in his shoulder. How’d you manage that one?”
There was a noticeable pause before he replied, “Dawcett? Is that really you?” He laughed. “How wonderful! I’ve finally found you. Too bad Frank isn’t still alive to share in our joyous reunion, but I’m afraid it was his body in the clearing. I’d had quite enough of his incompetence.”
“So you killed him and made the wounds match yours. That way anyone I told about you would find the body and report you dead.” I shook my head in disbelief. Troutman was unbelievably callous.
“Yes. It took me several months to heal.” He paused a moment. “But that’s behind us now, Leeland. I’ve spent quite some time searching for you. You promised me that you would be waiting for me in Shreveport.” I could almost hear that frown of his. “You lied to me again, Leeland. This seems to be a recurring flaw in your character. Tsk, tsk.”
“’Tsk yourself, Larry. Remember the other promise I made? It had to do with what we agreed would happen if we ever met again. Remember? Just before I scared the piss out of you back at the cabin?”
The pause was longer this time. Finally, anger clipping his speech, he replied, “Yes, Leeland, I remember. I remember quite well. We agreed that one of us wouldn’t walk away from that meeting.”
Ken arched an eyebrow. I hadn’t ever told that to anyone. Larry continued before anyone else could say anything. “And unlike you, Mr. Dawcett, I keep my promises.”
I was just about to taunt him again when City Hall unexpectedly exploded behind us in a deafening roar. Flaming debris showered the streets, adding the noise of a lumberyard falling from the sky.
I stared for a moment, realizing that Larry thought we were all still in there. Then my anger flared, and I thumbed the radio back to life. “That’s not quite what I meant when I said one of us wouldn’t walk away, Larry. I seem to recall there being something about us meeting face to face. What’s the matter,
“I should have known it wouldn’t be that easy, Leeland. You do seem to have the devil’s own luck, don’t you?”
“Yes, I do. Unfortunately, your Captain Brady doesn’t. He was still inside that building. He and his driver.”
“How unfortunate for them.”
“I take it that doesn’t bother you too much?”
“You should know better than that, Leeland.”
His cold-heartedness never ceased to amaze me. As it occurred to me that Larry was probably straddling the fence between genius and insanity, the shouts and sounds of the battle for Rejas intruded. “Sorry, Larry, I don’t have time for another debate. It seems my friends here are in the middle of a fight. You’ll just have to wait.”
“Leeland!” He practically screamed in to the radio. “So help me-”
I clicked off the power in mid-threat. “Okay, Jim, you wanted my advice?” I turned to face him. “The guy’s a nutcase. You can’t reason with him, so don’t bother trying. I say we split up and gather as many of our people as we can. We’ll meet at our place as quickly as possible. Larry’s bound to find out where it is sooner or later, but by then we should be long gone.”
“Why your place?” he asked. “I can think of a dozen places a lot closer.”
“You remember that stash I showed you?” He nodded. “That wasn’t the only one.”
“What?”
I grinned. “Better to have it and not need it-”
“Yeah, yeah,” he interrupted. “I’ve heard it before. Save it.” He turned to the others. “Everyone know where Amber Peddy’s place is?” Everybody nodded.
“All right, get as many people together as you can find and meet there in…” He turned back to me. “How long?”
I gave it my best guesstimation, “Three hours should give us enough time to gather people, spread the word, and get through the woods to Amber’s.”
“Okay. Eleven o’clock, no later than midnight. Let’s go!”
We scattered, each of us rushing to get to as many Rejans as we could. With an ulterior motive, I ran south, down a fire-lit Main Street. I knew Megan was eating with the Petry’s tonight, and that they had planned to volunteer to feed some of the visiting “soldiers.” That was my first destination.
I stuck to the flickering shadows, running in darkened doorways and alleys. It got easier as I got further from the twin conflagrations that had been, mere minutes before, Rejas High School and the City Hall. Turning left on Madison, I soon found that those weren’t the only fires in Rejas, only the most obvious. As I headed into the residential area of town, I found several homes ablaze. In front of one, I saw two of Troutman’s men using an abandoned car for cover as they pinned a family inside the burning building with gunfire. I drew my knives and took them from behind before they ever knew I was there. Yelling to the people in the house that it was safe, I grabbed the soldiers’ weapons.
As the family emerged, I recognized the man, though I couldn’t recall his name. Tossing him one of the soldiers’ rifles, I told them about the proposed meeting at Amber’s. They headed north, and I continued further south. Two blocks down, I turned right onto Dowling, the Petry’s street, and spotted bodies lying in several of the yards. This was one of the nicer sections of town, and many of the townspeople had moved into the suddenly abundant empty homes after D-day, making it one of the most densely populated neighborhoods in Rejas. Tonight it looked like a war zone.
