herself, Kozak continued to discover that she was, after all, very human. Though her mind told her that such errors and transgressions were unavoidable in the heat of battle, she found that she could not forgive Ellerbee for the very real professional shortfalls that had almost cost her and her crew their lives, and what she perceived as a poor attitude.
Having determined that she would never be able to fully accept Ellerbee as a responsible combat leader, Kozak did little to hide the contempt in which she held him. It showed in the manner in which she ignored him and the disdain in her voice when she spoke of him. When Kozak called for a meeting of all platoon leaders the night after the battle, she made it a point that she wanted Ellerbee's platoon sergeant, Sergeant First Class Rourk, to accompany him to the meeting. When, after the meeting, Rourk asked to see Kozak alone, pointing out that it was foolish for both him and Ellerbee to come to her meetings, Kozak didn't bat an eye. She simply looked straight at Rourk and told him, 'Yes, you have a point. In the future leave him behind.'
Kozak's efforts to remove Ellerbee or his platoon were frustrated by the brigade commander. His order that Ellerbee and his platoon stay where they were until he had an opportunity to personally review the situation pleased neither Kozak nor Ellerbee. When she went to Lieutenant Colonel Rick Zacharzuk, her battalion commander, to request that he request that the brigade commander reconsider his decision, Zacharzuk, nicknamed Ricky Z, refused to bring the matter up to Dixon. 'Things are getting a little hairy right now, especially with this German thing,' he told Kozak. 'Though I agree with you, I'm afraid the brigade commander has one hell of a lot on his mind. Until we're out of Ukrainian territory and the situation in Germany is clarified, I have no intention of bothering him with this.' Then, noticing that Kozak's shoulders physically slumped when he told her that, Ricky Z tried to soften the blow. 'Look, Nancy. In another day we'll be back in an assembly area in Slovakia. Once we're there, I don't care if you surround Ellerbee and his tanks with barbed wire and post guards on them. I imagine we'll sit there while the powers that be sort out all the hard feelings between Berlin and Washington and all the little nukes are back in hand. Until then, you'll have to make the best of a bad situation.'
As if her dark thoughts had conjured them up out of the river, Kozak heard Ellerbee's tanks rumble across the bridge and begin to close on the spot where her Bradley sat. Though she knew she was being petty and unprofessional, Kozak couldn't hide the feeling of disdain she felt every time she thought about Ellerbee. The mere image of the tanks passing her position, great black hulks against the dark overcast sky, caused Kozak's blood pressure to rise. Counting them in order to make sure that they were all clear of the bridge before she gave Lieutenant Matto permission to blow the bridge, only Ricky Z's promise to get Colonel Dixon to resolve the Ellerbee issue as soon as things settled down allowed Kozak to carry on in what she considered to be an intolerable situation.
Any regrets that still lingered in Scott Dixon's mind over his being pulled away from his brigade during the final stages of its withdrawal from the Ukraine were forgotten as his helicopter landed in the military compound at Milovice that had once served as the Soviet Army headquarters in Czechoslovakia. For there, just outside the circle marked in the well-packed snow that served as a helipad, stood his wife, Jan. Struggling against his natural desire to run up and grab her about the waist, Dixon deliberately lumbered on over to where she stood. With a smile on his face, Dixon walked up to her. 'Hi, honey. I'm home. What's for dinner?'
In no mood for Scotty's playful humor or small talk, Jan simply stepped up to him, pushed the hood of his parka back, took his face in her hands, and kissed him. For several seconds, during which Dixon reached around Jan and pulled her body against his, they stood there ignoring the stares of military personnel coming and going and the bitter cold wind that whipped past them. When their lips finally parted, Dixon looked at Jan's beaming face. 'We'd better stop this and go in before we freeze in this position.'
Jan, her face aglow, sighed. 'Would that, Colonel Scott Dixon, be so terrible?'
Giving Jan a gentle squeeze that she hardly felt through the layers of winter clothing, Scott chuckled. 'Well, I could think of worse fates. But,' he continued with a disappointed sigh, 'I doubt this is what Big Al had in mind when he ordered me to come here.'
Big Al was the nickname given to the Tenth Corps' five-foot, three-inch commanding general, who had been the division commander of the 16th Armored Division when Scott Dixon was the division's operations officer and Jan Fields was just living with him. An aviator by trade, Big Al Malin enjoyed Jan's charm, wit, and the attention she showered on him. When she finally married Dixon at Fort Hood, Big Al gave her away at the ceremony. This was a task he doubly enjoyed, since he cherished Scott Dixon's ability as an operations officer and as a thinker. Dixon, Big Al was fond of saying, was a true military artist who shared his love of military history.
Holding each other close, Jan and Dixon slowly walked over to the building that was serving as the Tenth Corps' headquarters in the Czech Republic. 'I was told less than five minutes ago that you were coming in straight from the Ukraine, Scotty. All Ed Lewis told me was that if I wanted to see you, I had better get out here ASAP.'
Surprised more by the mention of Lewis's name than her presence, Dixon slowed a little. 'What, may I ask, is our friend from Congress doing here at this time of night? Don't tell me. Congress found some facts missing again and he was sent to find them.'
Jan slapped Dixon's behind. 'Scott, get serious. The President asked him to go to Germany to lay the groundwork for negotiations between us and the Germans over the question of the nukes and the German demands that we pull out of Germany.'
Dixon chuckled. 'Yeah, Herr Ruff really pulled a slicky one over on us.' Then, holding Jan at arm's distance, he looked at her. 'And I suppose you, of course, just happened to be in the neighborhood when the President asked Ed Lewis to come over here and you asked if you could tag along.'
Looking over at him, Jan smiled. 'As a matter of fact, that's exactly what happened.'
A look of disbelief flashed across his face. 'A likely story. I suppose you expect me to believe that.'
'You can believe what you like, Scott Dixon. But it happens to be the truth. Cross my heart and hope to die. Now, tell me, what are you doing here?'
The appearance of two officers at the door they were headed for, both of whom Dixon recognized as being from the corps operations section, caused Dixon to stop. 'I really don't know, Jan dear. But I've got a feeling we're about to find out.'
Giving her husband a final squeeze, Jan said nothing as the two officers came up to Dixon and asked him to follow them.
While Jan took a seat in Big Al's outer office across from his aide-de-camp, Dixon was told to go on into the commanding general's office. There he found Ed Lewis and the general, sitting in armchairs, deep in conversation. Pointing to a pot of coffee sitting on a side table, Big Al, without any show of ceremony or formality, told Dixon to grab a cup, pull a chair on over, and join them. As Dixon pulled his seat up next to Ed Lewis, he greeted Lewis with a slight nod. Lewis, on his part, forced a smile and returned his nod. He was tired, Dixon thought. But it was more than a simple lack of sleep. His whole face, his eyes and cheeks, seemed to be drooping, almost as if the hidden thoughts weighing heavy on his mind were dragging his face down. Noticing that Dixon was staring at Lewis, Big Al started. 'The congressman, Scotty, has just come from two days of nonstop discussions with the German government in Berlin.'
Taking a sip of coffee, Dixon shook his head. 'I'm sorry, sir. I've heard all kinds of rumors, but with operations still under way in the Ukraine, I haven't really been paying much attention to what's going on outside my brigade.'
'In a nutshell,' Big Al started, 'the Germans not only seized the weapons that the rangers took at the one storage site that didn't get trashed; they've been able, with the help of the Ukrainians, to remilitarize them. The Chancellor and his minions have informed the congressman here that they not only intend to keep them but are ready to use them if we, or anyone else, try to take them away.'
Somehow, Big Al's comment didn't surprise Dixon. The use of nuclear weapons held no special horror for Dixon. It was to him simply another weapon. Having spent most of his adult life in the study of how best to destroy his fellow man, the proper employment of nuclear weapons had always been part of the equation. So the mention of them didn't cause him any great alarm or apprehension. In fact, nothing that Big Al said really surprised Dixon. To his analytical mind, it all made sense. Germany had been for years posturing itself for a more central role in the leadership of the European community. The revolutions of 1989 and the fall of communism that had opened up Eastern Europe had, by a simple fact of geography, placed Germany in the pivotal role as the gateway to the East. All that Germany needed to achieve big-power status was the hardware, which, thanks to the United States, it now
