mouth was open, saliva dripping from the fanged jaws. Nina fought back a scream just as Ike squeezed the trigger of the Remington 870 and the Doberman was dead before it hit the ground, its chest torn open by the rifled slugs from the shotgun.
A third Doberman came at the pair. Its flashing teeth were only inches from Nina’s face as she pulled the trigger. The .270 slug hit the Doberman in the left eye, exiting out the back of its slender head, blowing brains and blood with it.
Both heard the whistles and calls as the dogs were yelled back to their handlers.
Nina flipped sweat from her face with her fingertips. She breathed a sigh of relief. “I have a suggestion, Ike.”
“Oh?”
“Let’s get the hell out of here.”
“I think that’s a damn good idea, honey.”
Ben motioned for James Riverson to come to his side. “Our back trail covered, old friend?”
“Yes, sir,” James assured him. “If they’re any good at all, they’ll be able to see we camped at Clark Hill, on the Georgia side. But after that, it’s clean and cold all the way into South Carolina.”
“Very well. Good work, James.” He waved to Captain Rayle. “Captain, send a team into McCormick and check it out. Less than two thousand people there before the bombings. It’s probably a ghost town, but let’s be sure.”
“Right away, sir.”
Ben looked to James. “Send teams to check out all these other small towns in the forest. So far, we’ve seen no signs of life, but let’s be certain. I don’t like surprises. We’ll camp here at Bakers Creek for this night. No fires. Cold camp all the way around. Leave no sign of our being here. Guards out and stay alert.”
Ben looked to the northwest. Other Rebels followed his gaze.
“I wish I knew what the hell was going on up there,” Susie said.
CHAPTER THREE
“From this point on,” Willette said, “we must proceed very cautiously. As soon as General Raines is pinpointed, we’ll have our people take him. And I don’t want him to fall into Sister Voleta’s hands, either. That must not happen.”
“But Sister Voleta said …” a woman spoke, her face alarmed.
“Hell with Sister Voleta!” Willette snapped. “My plan is better, much more realistic. I want Ben Raines taken alive and kept alive. I have in my possession drugs that will destroy his mind. Drugs that will turn him into a babbling idiot.” He smiled. “And we can blame it all on McGowen and Jefferys and the others. We can rig evidence that will point directly to them.” Again, he smiled. “And to show our “love” for General Raines, we’ll store Raines in a big fine house with some of the older Rebels to look after him. We’ll lavish the simple-minded fool with gifts and all kinds of things. Our love and concern for him will be evident. And we’ll have evidence that will show McGowen and Jefferys and Gray and even Raines’ daughter, Tina, plotted to destroy him. The people will be so outraged, they’ll call for the death penalty for those responsible.” He laughed loudly,
then looked around him conspiratorially. “The plan is beautiful and perfect, people. You see, with Raines out of the way, we can then knock off Sister Voleta. Most of her followers will move right into line and join up with us.”
His people agreed with him, smiling and nodding their heads.
“Sounds good, Tom. But what about this guy Tony Silver?”
Willette shrugged, then spat on the ground contemptuously. “Hell, what about him? We’ve got him outgunned even now. Shit! Let the hoodlum have south Georgia. We’ll take everything to the north and still be sitting in the high catbird seat, and Tony and his soldiers will be a friendly buffer zone to the south. I can’t find any flaws in the plan, people.”
“How come Sister Voleta hates General Raines so much?”
Willette snarled his reply. “For much the same reason I do. And the son of a bitch doesn’t even remember us. Either of us. But he’ll remember me just before I destroy him. God, how I hate that bastard.”
CHAPTER FOUR
“Oh, you’ll pay, Ben Raines,” Voleta hissed the words like a snake’s warning before striking prey. “You will pay and pay and pay dearly this time, I promise you that.” She laughed, an evil barking of non-humor. “And you don’t even know why you’re staying.”
The woman’s hate-filled brain spun its memory banks, flinging her back in time. Back years, backward in time until she stood in a bookstore in Nashville, approaching Ben Raines at an autograph party for his latest book. Back when she was just barely twenty and trying to launch a career as a country singer, back before she learned her cunt was more valuable than her mouth-in some respects. She had flirted with Ben Raines, and he had responded while signing several of his books. They later had dinner together, and bed had followed. Ben had promised to call her before he left town, for another date. But he had never called. Writers being somewhat like wandering musicians in that respect.
Nine months later, a son was born to her. Rather than put the boy up for adoption, which she had considered then rejected, she raised the child. Mother and son had become separated right after the bombings.
during the massive confusion of evacuation. She did not know what happened to the boy, Ben Blackman.
She had tried several times writing to Ben-through his publishing company-but all her letters drew only one response from Ben Raines, and this had come through Ben’s attorney in Louisiana.
“If you can prove the boy is mine, I will accept full responsibility for the boy’s care.”
Her own attorney, whom she was paying with pussy, knowing Betty was sleeping with several other men, told her to forget it.
“But the boy belongs to Ben Raines!” she protested.
“How sure are you, Betty?” her lawyer had asked the woman.
Her hesitation told him the story. “Forget it,” he again urged. “Hell, it might even be mine!”
Outraged, Betty added a middle name to her son Ben Raines Blackman.
She hated Ben Raines.
She loathed Ben Raines.
And she never forgot him, the years only fueling the hate.
She wanted to torture Ben Raines to death.
CHAPTER FIVE
“Ben Raines killed my daddy,” Willette said. “Killed him in cold blood. Back in ‘89, best I can recall. It was down in Georgia. My daddy was with blither Pitrie’s Georgia Militia at the time.”*
“I “member that bunch,” an older man said. “They’s tryin” to rid the area of niggers, as I recall.”
“That’s right,” Willette said. “And they was doin’ damn good job of it, too. I recall my daddy come home once sayin’ they’d hanged more than fifty coons that very day. I slipped out to the hangin’ round that night. That was a sight to see. Them woke-up niggers hangin’ like sides of rotten beef from trees. I was … oh, “bout thirteen, fourteen at time Ben Raines killed my daddy from ambush, Momma was already long dead. That left me alone. Just a tad of a boy. But I swore me an oath I’d someday kill that nigger-lovin” son of a bitch.” He binned. “But this way is gonna be better. I’m gonna luck that Jew-bitch right in front of Raines’ eyes, *Out of the Ashes
“fore I mess up his mind, so’s he’ll know what’s happenin”.”
“By God, that’ll be a sight to see, Tom.” One of his men laughed.
“Yeah,” Willette said dreamily. “You all can have a whack at her.”
CHAPTER SIX
Ben sat up straight and said, “Betty Blackman!” He flung the words from his mouth as recall brought clarity to his mind.
Gale looked at him. They were sitting alone under the shade of a huge tree near Bakers Creek. “I beg your pardon, Ben? What was that you just said?”
He met her dark eyes. “I said, Sister Voleta. That’s who she is. My God! I can’t believe it. But I’m right.”
