Ben looked at Gale and smiled hugely. “Told you Ike would find a woman.”
She shook her head. “Man is running for his life and has sex on the brain. I will never, ever understand men.”
“Good Lord!” Ben feigned great consternation. “What a sexist remark.” He keyed the mic. “I’m about ready to come in, Cec.”
There was a short pause on the other end of the transmission. “All right, Ben,” Cecil said. “I think maybe you should. I believe it’s reached the point where only your presence can defuse the situation up here. But I have to remind you, old friend: You’re going to be in a constant state of danger when you return. I can’t stress that enough.”
“It’s that bad, Cec?”
“It could blow at any time, Ben. It’s … it’s just such a helpless feeling up here. We know what is going on, but are unable to do a goddamn thing about it.”
“I get the feeling maybe I shouldn’t have pulled out.”
“No.” Cecil was adamant on that point. “If you had stayed I think you would have had an accident, Ben. If you know what I mean.”
“We covered this before. I know. All right, Cec. See you in two, three days.”
CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN
They listened to the screaming of the man as he was impaled on the stakes of the swing trap. The hoarse, hideous bellowing echoed through the otherwise silent national park. The man was calling, screaming out for someone, anyone, for God’s sake, to help him.
A man ran toward the shrieking and stepped in one of the punji pits concealed along the ancient Indian path. The man’s leg snapped at the knee and he fell forward, his scream cut short as waves of pain abruptly plunged him into unconsciousness.
“My, ain’t we havin’ fun?” Ike said.
“I know I am,” Nina said. “Bastards deserve whatever they get.”
“You turnin’ into a mean bitch, ain’t you?” Ike grinned at the young woman.
“I watched some of those same men down there sodomize my boyfriend, Ike. They thought it was very funny. I hope we kill all of them. I really, really do.”
“Well, little one, we are damn sure goin’ to do our best.”
Ike and Nina lay on the bluff of a ridge line, more than a mile from the first line of searchers. The line
had stopped. No one wanted to proceed any further. Ike watched them through field glasses.
“Talkin’ to somebody on a walkie-talkie,” Ike muttered.
“What’s up?”
“I wish I knew. Whatever it is, you can bet that bunch is up to no good.”
He handed Nina the binoculars. She watched for a moment, then said, “My God, Ike. Those aren’t bloodhounds down there.”
“No. They’re Dobermans. Huntin’ dogs, man-killin’ sons of bitches. I hate those dogs. Hated them in “Nam. Unpredictable bastards. I’ve seen ‘em turn on their handlers.” He took the field glasses and swept the area below them in a slow circle. “‘Bout half of them are pullin” out,” Ike said, his tone of voice puzzled. “They may be tryin’ to circle us. I don’t know. I don’t know what’s goin’ on, but I do know I don’t like it. Come on, Nina, let’s get the hell outta here.”
The men of the Ninth Order who had been in pursuit of Ike and Nina had received hurried instructions from Sister Voleta. Seventy percent of them were to proceed with all haste to eastern Georgia. Tony Silver’s paramilitary forces were coming up from the south to join them. Their orders had been quite brief: “Ben Raines has less than a hundred troops with him. Raines and his Rebels must be cut off and held firm. Raines must not be allowed to return to his Base Camp. No excuses for failure will be permitted. Just do it.”
CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT
“It’s really true,” a young Rebel said. He had tears in his eyes. Many others with him made no effort to hide their concern and tears. “General Raines is suffering from a bad mental disorder.” He pointed to the paper he held. “See here. Read it. Says so right on this paper. It was smuggled out of Doctor Chase’s office. He and them others have been trying to hide it from us.”
Outrage at this blatant deception caused a low rumble from the growing crowd of Rebels. They looked at each other, confusion mixed with anger.
The crowd of mostly young Rebels, male and female, looked at the paper. For all the good it did them. Most could not read further than: See Dick run. See Dick chase Jane. See Jane whomp Dick on head with club.
“This is awful!” a woman said. “Poor General Raines. I feel so sorry for him. But what can we do about it?”
“I guess,” the unofficial spokesman said, “whatever Captain Willette tells us to do. We have to see to it that General Raines is helped and protected as best we can.”
“But Carter and Bennett both told me-not fifteen
minutes ago-that Colonel Gray and Colonel Jefferys know of General Raines’ condition. He said they both refuse to do anything about it.”
“That figures,” another Rebel said. “Sure. That’s “cause they want to run things. They don’t wanna see General Raines helped. They want him to get worse, maybe even die. You all think about it for a minute. Who stands to gain the most from General Raines being out of the picture? If you guess Colonel Ike and Colonels Jefferys and Gray, you damn sure got it right.”
The now large group of Rebels, including both young and old, thought it over, talked it over. The group grew to more than five hundred. They came to the conclusion the spokesman was right. It was a damned conspiracy; it was a damned shame and a damned disgrace. And by God they weren’t going to sit still for it.
Captain Willette seemingly just “strolled up.” Actually he had received a signal from one of his own people within the group of angry Rebels.
“I’ve taken the situation into my own hands, people,” the captain said with a long face. He appeared very concerned. “And I can only hope and pray I have done the right thing. As God Almighty is my witness, I have General Raines” best interest at heart in this.”
“We know that, Captain,” a World War II vet said. One of the “Grandfathers,” as the Russian general, Striganov, had referred to the older men. Just before the “Grandfathers” completely annihilated several companies of Russian troops. “Tell us what we can do to help General Raines.”
“Have you all seen the medical report I had stolen out of Chase’s HQ?”
They had. It had outraged them all. To think such a thing was being done to Ben Raines. The persons responsible should be shot. They said as much to Willette.
Captain Willette fought to contain his smile of victory. He said, “Doctor Chase is in on this thing, too, people.” Willette continued spinning his ever-tangled web of half truths, lies and deceit. “And he’ll try to deny it if questioned. So whatever we do must be done quietly and quickly.”
All agreed with that.
“What did you mean, Captain: You’ve taken the situation into your own hands?”
Captain Willette hesitated for a moment. “I’ll tell you all in a few hours. For now, the less you know the less the chances of an accidental leak. For now, keep very quiet about what you do know. And be ready to move at a moment’s notice. Be careful. Look over there. There’s one of Colonel Gray’s snoops now. Trying to figure out w-hat we’re doing.”
“Son of a bitch!” a young woman muttered. “This is like Russia. General Raines would never allow us to be spied on.”
“That’s right. And that’s only one of the reasons we’ve got to move quickly. We’ve got to knock those now in power out, and restore Ben Raines’ health. And I’ll tell you all something else: General Raines’ own daughter is one of those plotting against him. And that’s disgraceful.”
“Tina? No!”
“It’s true. She is planning and plotting against her own father.”
The Rebels shook their heads. Poor General Raines.
