Judgment in the Ashes Read online

  “I, uh, don’t know what you mean, General,” one of the punk leaders said. “We always treated prisoners well. The women you speak of must be lying.”

  “Sure, they are,” Ben said sarcastically. “Or just maybe you boys are the ones lying?”

  One of the gang leaders suddenly broke and ran. He got about five feet away from the group before a Rebel guard gave him the butt of a rifle in the gut, stopping the man abruptly and doubling him over, gagging and puking on his way to the ground.

  “Very dumb move,” Ben said. “Innocent people have never had anything to fear from the Rebels.”

  “Your mind’s made up, ain’t it, General?” another gang leader spoke.

  “No. But it will be when these women pick you men out of a line-up as their tormentors.”

  “And then what are you going to do with us?” another gang leader asked, his voice shaky.

  Standing off to one side, Anna laughed.

  The women told of gang rape and other forms of sexual deviation at the hands of the gangs in the city. Then the women and girls picked out the men who had both ordered and taken part in the sexual torture. The men were then PSE’d and polygraphed—tests they all failed miserably. Finally one of the gang leaders broke and told the truth. He was the only one who was spared the firing squad that cool, cloudy day. The others were buried in a mass grave.

  Rebel justice was thorough, but very quick.

  “Enemy troops are pulling back all up and down the front,” Scouts told their batt coms and the batt coms radioed the news to Ben’s rolling CP.

  “It appears to be a coordinated mass pull-back,” another group of long-range Scouts radioed in. “Military and civilian are withdrawing.”

  “They’re leaving everything behind and bugging out,” yet another team of Scouts reported.

  “What the hell is going on, Ben?” Ike radioed.

  “Simon’s cutting his territory down to a more manageable size, I’d guess,” Ben responded “If that’s really what he’s doing, it’s a damn smart move.”

  “What’s Mike have to say about it?” West asked. There were five batt coms on a hook-up to Ben’s CP: Ike, Dan, West, Georgi and Rebet.

  “It came as a total surprise to him. He’s still trying to get some intel to pass along.”

  “Orders, Ben?”

  “We’re going to push ahead, but very slowly, keeping one hell of a sharp eye out for booby-traps. Corrie’s passing that word along to the rest of the batt coms now. I want every town inspected carefully; every piece of propaganda taken and studied by our intel people and filed away.” Ben chuckled. “And just like back in the days of yore, folks, when we were just getting started: anything the Rebels can possibly use, take it and pack it for shipment back home.”

  Ben waited until the laughter had died down, both at the other batt coms CP’s and in his own, before saying, “I suspect that Simon’s tightening his front, people. If that is the case, it’s going to be a tough nut to crack. He’ll have a front miles deep and this time his supporters will defend it to the death. I’m going to try to talk to Simon, for whatever good that will do; try to talk some sense into the man. I’ll tell him again, he can have his damn country, but he’s going to have to pull all his people out of the other parts of North America; dismantle all the cells he and Bruno have set up.”

  “He’ll deny even knowing the existence of Bottger,” Dan opined.

  “Sure, he will,” Ben said. “That is, if he even bothers to speak to such as low-life as I. Just sit tight for another day, boys. I’ll get back to you.”

  Ben turned to Corrie. “Is Simon responding to our call?”

  “Not a peep, boss. And I’ve been sending for two days. I know he’s receiving it. Or at least his communications people are.”

  “Keep trying, Corrie. For one more day, until we pull out. Everything you’re sending is clear. There are people all over North America picking it up. No one can ever deny that we didn’t attempt to communicate with Simon Border.”

  “If he hasn’t by now, he isn’t going to respond to our call, boss.”

  “I know, Corrie. I’m sure you’re right. But I’ve got to try just one more time.”

  Ben walked over to his desk and sat down, opening a map of North America and smoothing it out. He took a pencil and carefully outlined the states of Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Montana, and Wyoming. “That’s what he’s going to claim,” Ben muttered. “I’ll bet my boots on it. Simon, I’ll let you have, if you’ll just agree to stop this war.”

  Ben leaned back in his chair. “Talk to me, Simon. Talk to me.”

  Corrie kept repeating her call throughout the day, urging Simon Border to respond.

  But there was no response.

  At 1800 hours, Ben walked into his rolling CP and looked at the radio tech who had relieved Corrie. She shook her head. “Negative, General.”

  “Then shut it down,” Ben ordered. “Go back to scramble and advise the other batt coms we move out as planned.”

  “Yes, sir.” The tech hesitated. She was not a part of Ben’s personal team, and not as close to the general as Corrie and the others . . . but then, nobody was. “We tried, General. No one can say we didn’t try.”

  Ben smiled at her, the smile softening his features, which had hardened and lined with age. “You’re right. And we can all take some comfort in that. Thank you.”

  “You’re welcome, sir.”

  A few moments later, Corrie stepped into the CP and jerked a thumb at her relief. The tech left her post and quickly exited the large room. Being around the general made her very nervous. “Susie bump all the others, boss?”

  “She did. We move out in the morning. Does Susie have a medical condition or something? She seemed extremely nervous to me.”

  Corrie smiled. “Just anxious to get going, I suppose, boss.”

  “Oh. Sure. Of course. I didn’t think of that.”

  Corrie ducked her head and pretended to check the bank of equipment in front of her. How to tell the general that most of his troops considered him to be the next thing to a god, and always had? That was a question that Ben’s personal team had to deal with every day. She suspected that Ben knew how the troops felt, but didn’t know quite how to deal with it.

  Ben Raines was the most loved, respected, and most hated man in all of North America.

  Of course, Ben knew that. Corrie smiled as she recalled Ben’s usual response to his critics. “Well, fuck ’em, if they can’t take a joke.”

  FOURTEEN

  “Eerie,” Cooper said, stopping the big wagon at the edge of town.

  A Scout suddenly popped out of the brush by the side of the road and walked up to the wagon, passenger side. “A few people in the town, General. Just a handful who elected not to go with the others. They said they’re tired of fighting Simon’s battles and just want to go back home. And they’re clean. We stripped them down to their skivvies. They have no weapons.”

  Ben nodded his understanding. “We’ll be right over there at that old service station. Bring them to me.”

  “Coming right up, sir.”

  There were four men and four women, seven kids. The adults stood awkwardly in front of Ben. The kids were outside, eating candy bars and chewing gum . . . they had never before seen or tasted either. The medics were on the way to check them out.

  “All right, people,” Ben addressed the group. “What’s the story?”

  “We’re tired of sacrificing for Simon Border,” a man replied. “We just want to go back to Ohio and try to pick up where we left off.”

  “You have transportation?”

  “Yes, sir.”

  “Then as soon as the kids are checked out and receive their shots, you can take off.”

  “Thank you, General,” a woman said.

  “What’s Simon up to this time?” Ben asked.

  “Pulling back,” another man said. “The faithful packed up and followed his orders without hesitation. We have been talking about going home for months. This seemed like the right time to do it.”

  “Simon is going to claim the states of Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Montana, and Wyoming?”

  “We don’t know, General. Only our leaders knew the faithful’s final destination.”

  Ben asked a few more questions, but received little information that he didn’t already know. He believed much of what the men and women had to say, but suspected they knew more than they were admitting. He questioned them closely about where they were going, and decided they were telling the truth about that. “I’m going to radio the governor about you people. Warn him would be a better word. At the first sign of your setting up another of Simon Border’s churches, I hope he boots you out. Should that happen, don’t head south to the SUSA. We won’t tolerate it. Understood?”

  “There is such a thing as religious freedom, General,” one of the women said softly.

  “Not when there is a political agenda that runs counter to the beliefs of the nation, lady,” Ben came right back. “Oh, those outside the SUSA might put up with it, liberals being what they are, but we damn sure won’t.”

  There was no more to say. The group got the message Ben was putting down, very loud and clear. Ben watched them leave the makeshift CP. He had serious doubts about the bunch ever making it, for Simon’s brainwashing was very thorough. But God help them if they ever came to the SUSA and tried to spread the word of Simon Border.

  By the end of the day one thing stood out in Ben’s mind: the followers of Simon Border lived a very spartan life, with few luxuries. Of course, most residents of a socialistic form of government did. Socialism, like communism, at least to a certain type of mentality, looked good on paper, or in theory. In practice, it never turned out quite as good as it sounded. And there were g
rowing signs that many of the followers of Simon Border were unhappy with some aspects of Border’s rule.

  Back in his rolling CP, Ben sat down behind his desk and smiled. Simon’s move to condense his territory just might backfire.

  He looked up. Corrie was watching him, his long-time friend and radio tech knowing when Ben had something on his mind. When Ben’s smile suddenly widened, she guessed accurately that he had come up with something very sneaky.

  “Bump all batt coms, Corrie. New orders. Let Simon pull his people into the five state area. All battalions follow at a safe distance. Do not engage the enemy unless they force the fire-fight.”

  Corrie blinked. “That’s it?”

  “That’s it.”

  “Boss . . . Far-Eyes are reporting that already Simon’s people are working around the clock setting up a front that stretches for hundreds of miles, beginning in Southern Oregon at the Pacific Ocean and running all the way east to the Wyoming/Nebraska border and then cutting north all the way up to the Canadian border.”

  “That’s right, Corrie.”

  “Then? . . .” She spread her hands.

  Ben laughed. “Simon might not choose to talk to me about his new territory. But I can damn sure let him settle it; let him feel all safe and comfy within his borders.” Ben leaned back, a very smug look on his face.

  “And then, boss?”

  “Then we go in and wreck it.”

  “We do?”

  “We do.”

  “We attack his front?”

  “No.

  Corrie sighed, knowing Ben was playing games with her and enjoying every second of it. The rest of Ben’s team sat silently for the moment, letting the two have at it.

  “We don’t launch an all-out assault on his front?” Beth broke the silence.

  “Not really,” Ben replied.

  “Oh, shit!” Jersey breathed, putting it together. She knew Ben’s mind better than most; knew how devious he could be, and also how the man loved to take chances.

  “Something the matter, Jersey?” Ben asked innocently.

  “I really hope you’re not thinking what I think you’re thinking,” the little bodyguard said.

  Ben smiled for a moment. “Corrie, have the riggers start unpacking and drying out all available chutes.”

  “Oh, shit!” Jersey repeated. Jumping out of airplanes was not her favorite pastime.

  “Who is going to jump where?” Anna asked.

  “We are,” Ben replied.

  “Where?” Cooper asked.

  “Smack in the middle of Simon Border’s new territory,” Ben told them with a laugh.

  “You have got to be kidding!” Beth blurted.

  “Nope. It’s a beautiful plan, I think.”

  “One that the other batt coms will shoot down as soon as you bring it up,” Corrie told him. “That is, if you’re thinking of going in, too.”

  “I wouldn’t miss it for the world.”

  “I don’t even want to be around when Ike hears of this,” Cooper said.

  “We’ll sit on it until it’s time to go . . . as much as possible,” Ben warned his team.

  “Come on, boss!” Corrie said. “There is too much planning involved in something like this to exclude the others until the last minute.”

  “Well . . . you’re right, I suppose. I’ll just have to listen to them bitch.”

  They all knew Ben was playing a game, leading them along and enjoying it. He never did anything of this magnitude without careful planning.

  “Small hit and run guerilla units,” Anna said, her pale eyes gleaming with anticipation. “I love it.”

  “You’re not going,” Ben told her.

  She laughed at that.

  “I mean it, Anna.”

  “I am jump-qualified,” she said.

  “You did so without my approval,” her adopted father told her.

  “Doesn’t matter how I did it, I did it,” the young woman stood her verbal ground. “And I’ve jumped into combat before.”

  Ben frowned. He couldn’t deny that last statement. “We’ll see about it.”

  “Uh-huh,” Anna said.

  “Corrie, order Base Camp One to start flying in explosives. You know what to ask for.”

  Corrie sighed. “Yes, sir.”

  “It’s cold and snowy up there in the north,” Cooper said mournfully.

  “We have plenty of winter gear,” Ben reminded him.

  “You’ve got to inform Ike and the others,” Corrie insisted.

  “Later, Corrie.”

  “We might have to ski some of the time,” Anna said brightly. “I am expert on skis.”

  “I’m not,” Cooper said, twice as mournfully as before.

  Anna snapped her fingers. “It’s that easy. I will show you all. I’ve been skiing ever since I can remember. We had to ski sometimes to escape from the creepies back in the old country. It’s fun.”

  “Wonderful,” Jersey muttered. “I’m so looking forward to this.”

  “It’ll never fly, boss,” Beth said firmly. “General McGowan will raise so much hell you’ll have to reconsider.”

  Ben’s smiled widened. “I can hardly wait to have him try.”

  “You’re fuckin’ plannin’ on us doin’ fuckin’ what?” Ike screamed over the air, his words coming out distorted over the speaker.

  “Told you,” Beth whispered to the others in the team.

  “Not you, Ike,” Ben replied. “You’re much too large for jumping. I plan on placing you in charge of the troops that maintain the blockade.”

  “Large!” Ike screamed.

  “Well . . . yes,” Ben said, smiling.

  “I am not large, Ben! I’m . . . I’m . . . stocky, that’s all.”

  “You’re too fat, Ike, and you know it. We’ll have to double chute you.” Ben had to bite his lip to keep from laughing. He could just imagine the expression on Ike’s face.

  “If I’m too fat then you’re too fuckin’ old, Ben!” Ike roared.

  “I am in perfect physical condition for my age, Ike,” Ben said calmly. “I have already been cleared by the doctors for this operation.”

  “Not by this doctor you haven’t!” Lamar Chase came yelling over the air.

  “When you left on your inspection tour, Lamar, you placed Dr. Cohen in charge, remember. He gave me a complete physical just this morning. I’m set to go.”

  “I know you, Raines,” Lamar yelled. “You intimidated Dr. Cohen. I know you did. I’ve seen you work before. I absolutely, positively forbid you to jump, Raines. And that is a direct order from the Chief of Medicine.”

  “You can’t issue that order until you have examined me, Lamar. And even then, if you didn’t lie about it, you’d find me in perfect physical condition, capable of jumping. And you know it, Lamar.”

  There was a long silence from the other end. “Raines,” Lamar finally spoke, “you insufferable jackass. Do you fully realize what you’re planning?”

  “I do indeed, Lamar. All the way.”

  “May I remind you that your knees are not the best in the world, Raines.” Lamar softened his tone considerably.

  “That makes no difference with the type of ’chute I’ll be using, Lamar.”

  “Then I won’t argue the point any further, Raines. Here’s Ike.”

  “Ben?” Ike’s voice came through the speaker. “What battalions do you plan on jumping in?”

  “One, Two, and Eight.”

  “Two? That’s my battalion . . . Why, you lousy . . . you did all that lyin’ just to hear me holler!”

  “That’s right, Ike. I think you’ve got one more jump in you, don’t you?”

  “I damn sure do!”

  “Buddy’s on his way here now. So come on over for some hard skull sessions. We’ve got a lot of planning to do.”

  “On my way, Ben.”

  “Me, too!” Lamar hollered in the background.

  Ben hooked the mic and looked around, smiling. “Told you,” he said to his team.

  Anna rubbed her hands together. “I can hardly wait!” she blurted.

  “Shit!” Jersey muttered unhappily.

  FIFTEEN

  “We’re not going to let the resistance groups in the areas know we’re coming in,” Ben opened the meeting. “Mike says a lot of them have been infiltrated by Simon’s people so that would be suicide for us.”