Single Combat

'You go tend the animals, hon, but be back by dark if you want supper.' The little girl kissed Sandy, made a ragged-skirted curtsy that charmed McCarty and sped off again, a knob-kneed little whirlwind lacking only her attendant dust-devil.

The late-summer sun was touching distant trees as the two adults feasted outside on cornbread, beans, and a hot sauce Sandy labeled Ajuey — pronounced 'aaivizoooey'. McCarty praised each bite as it bit him back, and claimed that his were tears of joy. He had heard of South Texas hot sauce; knew that in time it would lose its erection, and silently prayed God for that time to arrive. Bats could have roosted in his sinuses. When the sun went down, he was sure, he could use his tongue for a flashlight.

When at last his voice lost its castrato timbre, Ora McCarty resumed a previous topic. 'Governor Street is a man I mightily admire, Sandy. If he wasn't on the dodge, he'd be the man to beat on the Indy ticket.'

Those, Sandy replied, were her own feelings.

'But his hide wouldn't hold shucks if he paraded it in Streamlined America. Young's enemies have a way of wakin' up dead these days,' he persisted.

Sandy nodded and took more hot sauce with cool unconcern.

'Anyhow, I just hope I can make it back to Zion — uh, Utah, without makin' Young's hit list. Awright then, I'm nervous,' he admitted.

'I would be, too. I'd be scared to run an Indy safehouse even here in Wild Country if I didn't have — friends — to protect me.' Her candid eyes, agelessly wise but somehow artless, smiled into his. 'I gu'ess we have to decide whether we want security or improvement; and there is no security. So you and I made the same decision, hm?'

'You're a spooky young woman, you know that? Too smart too soon. If I was a young man of courtin'

age, your brains'd run me up a tree.'

'I have a lot of spare time. I spend it reading,' she said as if explaining her differences away.

'Hmm. Jim Street, you think?' He asked while savoring the idea, fearing it too. Then belittling it: 'Maybe he wants an introduction to Boren Mills. I could do that much, for sure.'

'Or maybe he wants to throw in with a winner, Mr. McCarty.'

'I'm not trained to it. Besides strummin' a mean guitar, what can I offer folks that smarter politicians don't?'

'Honesty. Compassion for the luckless. Reform. All the things religions put up front, and some governments used to work for.'

'That's not enough, Sandy. We've had Presidents who had those things aplenty without the savvy to get anything done. And a lot of folks know that, too. Making me the Indy candidate is the same as giving Young four more years in office.'

Sandy reached for his plate, paused as their faces drew level. 'I think the Feds are counting on just what you said,' she murmured, adding softly, 'and I think they could be making a very, very dangerous mistake.'

CHAPTER 39

Sandy's journal, 4 Sep'

I seem to be running a small hotel. No complaints so long as Lufo is a frequent guest as he was again yesterday. Mr. 'Gold' was a rare entertainment, a man of plain tastes & good will who traveled far during Labor Day weekend. He & Lufo set out this morn on hovercycles that would be pretentious if not for their last-legs appearance. I notice they moved out much faster than horses & a man rides low in the saddle, vanishing quickly with little commotion. Sandy Albeniz Sandra Albeniz Mrs. Lufo Albeniz Sra. Albeniz— wonder if there is already a Senora Albeniz. Or several? I'm silly to think of it until he asks me. But lordy, he's asked for everything else & I have yet to refuse him! & when he asks about him, what then? Childe would never forgive me if I took her from her only companion— might even refuse. It isn't the same as for some domestic pet. Even Schreiner ranch wouldn't hold him, especially with the things they attribute to him. Mowgli could have more easily ridden Shere Khan into the marketplace…

CHAPTER 40

The unconscious rover was moved twice; first to Elko, Nevada under the false bed of a truckload of corn where he was treated for days in a LockLever warehouse. He would have died there without the aid of Dr. Keyhoe — the man who had seen Sanger die, who had abandoned Streamlined America upon seeing the implications of her death. Fellow Masonics in LockLever's employ had helped make their escape possible.

LockLever did not maintain spies throughout all its companies to root out Indy sympathizers. Small wonder that a unique cargo like Quantrill would be routed through such conduits as L. L. Produce and then Midas Imports by men hostile to the current administration. That news was particularly welcome to rebels near the Texas coast.

Quantrill regained consciousness in a well-lit room without windows and saw that he was not only strapped down, but instrumented. Not much hope in pretending deep sleep, he thought, but it might be his only option. Soon enough the bastards would be taking his mind apart unless he could make them kill him first — by taking a few of them out. Footfalls sounded outside the door. He closed his eyes; the door opened to admit cool air and a suggestion of echoes.

'Nope. Still out,' he heard a twangy female voice declare. 'I'm not very sharp on that monitoring equipment of Doc Keyhoe's. You suppose he'll let us keep it?'

A gruff male in a rumbling near-whisper: 'Not a chance, Claire. It doesn't belong to the doc. We wouldn't have it now if this young fella wasn't a V.V.I.P. Soon as he's up and around, back it goes to the clinic in Burns.'

The door eased shut again. As his head cleared, Quantrill realized that furious mental effort would show on some monitors. He had no idea what kind of ruse they had readied for him. He hoped only that some fleeting chance would come — and that his damnable headache would subside before that.

Testing the straps that bound him to the bed — not even a real hospital bed, and the other furnishings looked too makeshift for a government facility — he found that he could easily slide his hands free. His signet ring had been taken. He used up five minutes freeing his hands, trying to imitate the motions of a sleeper. But when he turned his head to study the nearby table, a localized pain whacked him behind the ear.

He thought, Sanger, the bitch! I love you; trust me. Su-u-re. What kind of game had she been playing?

And what worthless ribbon would she get for playing him out on such a long leash for S & R? Well, that was her job — he could even grudgingly admire her. And love her. Well, fuck that. You see where it got you…

On the table: steel basin, towel, and holy God in heaven, a disposable razor! The holo monitor?

Nowhere to be seen but that proved nothing. When he moved, it would have to be with no wasted motion. And if the door wouldn't open for him? He would wait, and whoever did open it would harbor only the briefest of regrets.

He saw no clothes, no shoes. A sheet for a toga would only impede him and in any case he didn't expect to last long enough to need clothing. He peeled back the torso restraint and had the razor before he reached the door. Stupid assholes; didn't even lock it!

Down a corridor wearing only his briefs, sheet wrapped around his right arm for a pitiful shield that might parry an edged weapon, the razor in his lethal left hand. He would have fallen had the corridor been wider, a limp staggering parody of himself. All color, then shades of gray, began to fade. Whiteout: he had no choice but to kneel and tuck his head, or faint dead in his tracks.

Jesus, every footstep was a thump behind his ear. He had a bandage there too. Running footsteps behind him compelled him to try again, and he turned with the corridor as a woman cried, 'Sir! Sir, omigod, the man's gone