From The Ashes: America Reborn Read online

  The massive size of the invasion force causes Ben to break his light divisions into smaller units and fight a delaying, guerrilla battle against the NAL. They will pay for every inch of ground they get. And Ben’s tactics work beautifully.

  From the outset, the storm troopers pay dearly. Even with the support of American Nazis, rednecks, and juju leaders, Hoffman is beaten soundly. And help arrives from an unexpected source—Germany. But Hoffman’s superior forces still allow him a foothold in Middle America, and things get grim for the thinly spread Rebel army. But Ben’s canny knowledge of warfare and instinct for surprise is too much for Hoffman and after some difficult but effective fighting he splits the NAL and their American sympathizers and routs them soundly. Entire divisions surrender and become part of the Rebel cause. Many head north to the Pacific Northwest or head back to South America under the command of the only solid military mind left to the insane Hoffman—General Frederich Rasbach.

  While Ben contains and wipes out pockets of resistance, it’s clear that enough of the army has survived to pose another threat. Once Hoffman’s forces are dealt with, Ben turns his attention to the black militants under the command of Moi Smabura and a redneck band commanded by the famous Baptist preacher and racist, Wink Payne. Both groups are holed up in northern Alabama on the Georgia border. Ben offers them the option to surrender and sign on to the Rebel way of thinking, but they both refuse and pay the price in blood.

  With Hoffman’s troops spread to the far north and into South America, the battle for America has been won—for the time being.

  EIGHTEEN

  I pointed to a series of buildings off to my right and asked; “What is that?”

  Ben Raines: That’s a factory where compressors for air conditioners are manufactured. They make about three million compressors a year. It’s owned by the army.

  WWJ: The army?

  Ben Raines: Right. It helps defray the cost of maintaining a standing army, but it’s civilian-run and -operated, so civilian and military both profit. The military owns a number of factories and businesses throughout the SUSA. Everything from ranches to warehouses. It cuts the amount of tax dollars going to support the military.

  WWJ: The people don’t object?

  Ben Raines: Why should they? The factory provides jobs for the community—high-paying jobs—and the profits help support the cost of maintaining the military. It isn’t a new concept. China did it before the Great War, and it worked for them.

  WWJ: Speaking of China . . . ?

  Ben Raines: I can’t tell you very much. I don’t know very much. It hasn’t been that long since we got the satellites repositioned and working properly. Up until that time, most of what we knew—or thought we knew—was guesswork. And a lot of it was wrong. We now know that China lost a lot of people; probably half of its population, or more. I can tell you that we have had some limited radio contact with the Chinese and we are in the process of setting up some sort of trade agreement with them. Also a nonaggression pact.

  WWJ: Are they receptive to both?

  Ben Raines: Oh, yes. I can tell you that much. They also believe that the split nations that make up the rest of the country outside the SUSA are going to collapse and then rejoin each other, forming an alliance against us.

  WWJ: And you also believe that?

  Ben Raines: Yes. We’re gearing up for a campaign in Africa, and the WUSA, EUSA, and NUSA know that. We haven’t tried to keep it a secret. We believe they’ll rejoin as one nation as soon as we are in Africa.

  WWJ: And then move against the SUSA?

  Ben Raines: I doubt it. Not if they have any sense at all.

  WWJ: But you’ll be taking your entire army, right?

  Ben Raines: That is correct.

  WWJ: You told me earlier you would use nuclear and germ warheads against anyone who tried to destroy the SUSA . . . and you meant that?

  Ben Raines: Just as sure as God makes little green apples and little boys to eat them.

  WWJ: But North America would be destroyed.

  Ben Raines: Not Canada, and not the SUSA. And it will be a few more years before those outside our borders, here in North America, that is, once more have nuclear capability. We stole their missiles, destroyed their launch capabilities, blew up their silos, and either stole or destroyed what was left of their navy. They might be stupid enough to launch an attack against us using ground troops, but the end results will be the same.

  WWJ: You will use missiles against them.

  Ben Raines: That is correct. All we want to do is live side by side in peace and be a good neighbor. If trouble starts, we won’t be the ones to start it.

  WWJ: Those nations around the world who have managed to get back on their feet—so to speak—have they taken sides in this dispute?

  Ben Raines: Most have aligned solidly behind us. A few are still straddling the fence. But we’ve helped many of the world’s nations, and it’s difficult to turn your back on friends, and so far, most have stayed with us. I’m not saying they approve of us one hundred percent, for I know they don’t. But we’re a very stable nation with the strongest economy on earth. We have full employment and we’re producing a lot of goods other countries desperately need, and we also sell at a fair price at a time when we could be charging double what we are. There are trade representatives here from a lot of countries, and most of those countries have consulate offices here.

  WWJ: Which probably doesn’t sit too well with those outside your borders.

  Ben Raines: I believe you would be safe in saying that.

  He ended that with a smile. A very satisfied smile, I thought. Ben Raines still enjoyed sticking it to the liberals. We rode on in silence for a mile or so while I consulted my notes.

  WWJ: I want to speak with Dr. Chase, when we finally catch up with him, but let me ask you this in case I lose this wad of notes: do people in the SUSA have the right to die?

  Ben Raines: Absolutely. And doctor-assisted suicide is legal here. We don’t believe in prolonging life simply for the sake of life. And by that I mean if a person is hopelessly ill, racked in terrible pain, or their mind is gone, and if they have left instructions while they were lucid that they want to die rather than live life a drooling idiot or torn with pain with no hope of a cure, then we see nothing wrong in allowing that.

  WWJ: And what do the church leaders have to say about that?

  Ben Raines: Church leaders don’t interfere with state business. We don’t tell them how to run their churches, they don’t tell us how to run the nation.

  WWJ: How about organ donors?

  Ben Raines: What about them?

  WWJ: Do they have a say in the matter? I’ve heard they don’t.

  Ben Raines: Well . . . yes and no. If a person is about to be executed, and a healthy heart or liver or kidney or whatever is needed, and he is a match, we take it, whether he likes it or not. Probably ninety-five percent of the general population have signed donor cards that are legal and binding. Once a person signs those cards, they’re committed to give their organs.

  WWJ: Lawyers outside the SUSA would have a field day with some of your laws.

  Ben Raines: Lawyers outside the SUSA can kiss my ass.

  I had a good laugh at that and said; “May I quote you on that?”

  Ben Raines: You certainly may.

  WWJ: May I ask a personal question?

  Ben Raines: Sure.

  WWJ: Have you ever been sued . . . before the collapse, I mean?

  Ben Raines: I’ve been hauled into court a couple of times. But that has nothing to do with my dislike of lawyers. Before the collapse, I had good friends who were attorneys. But outside our borders, a lawyer’s job is to muddy the waters. That’s not the way it works here.

  WWJ: Are there any attorneys living outside the SUSA who can practice here?

  Ben Raines: Oh, there are a few. But after their first case down here, most of them don’t—or won’t—come back. Let’s take a civil suit for an example. You see, everything
is so open in this society. If you want to know who owns a corporation, just go down to the courthouse and look. I can assure you, it’s on record. That’s the Childress Factory right over there. It’s public. Stockholders. It might take you a little time, but you can find out who owns what. From a hundred thousand shares to ten shares. The stock market here is very closely monitored. There are no hidden deals or mystery buyers. If billionaire Jim Smith buys a hundred thousand of stock in Childress, he can’t hide behind XYZ Corporation. Corporations don’t buy stock, people buy stock.

  WWJ: But John Jones may be acting as an agent for Jim Smith.

  Ben Raines: He still has to list Jim Smith as the buyer. There are no under-the-table deals here. It’s been tried, and it’s succeeded for a time, but eventually we find out and assets are seized, frozen, until we sort it all out. There are men and women in our prisons right now who tried to pull fast ones—circumvent the law—here in the SUSA. We always catch them. The risk just isn’t worth the punishment.

  WWJ: Are there people who live outside the SUSA who buy stock in companies here?

  Ben Raines: Sure. But their names have to be listed. There are many, many people who retained their assets even during and after the Great War. People who live outside our borders and profess to embrace the socialistic way but want to invest in our companies. They’re welcome to do that. But it won’t be done under the table. You can’t straddle the fence here. It won’t work.

  WWJ: All or nothing.

  Ben Raines: That’s just about the size of it.

  BOOK #18

  FLAMES IN THE ASHES

  The tree of Liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots.

  –Thomas Jefferson

  And Caesar’s spirit, ranging for revenge . . . come hot from hell, shall in these confines with a monarch’s voice cry “Havoc!” and let slip the dogs of war . . .

  –William Shakespeare

  (Julius Caesar: Act III, scene 1)

  While consolidating his Rebels in Kansas for a continuing action against the remaining Hoffman holdouts and sympathizers, Ben learns that Hoffman has once again rallied his troops in the Pacific Northwest, mostly in the states of Oregon and Idaho. Another problem is that General Frederich Rasbach has totally reorganized his South American army in only six weeks and has shipped out—destination unknown. But the biggest immediate problem is that the weather in the Northwest is turning against him. He must fight Hoffman before winter closes the passes in the Rockies and the Big Horn.

  Ben is chasing Hoffman’s army north through Nebraska toward South Dakota. As they pass town after devastated town, they remember the battle to eliminate the Creepies and the destruction it caused. Hoffman’s armies are burning fields and farms as they go, making Rebel progress difficult.

  In an abandoned drive-in theater near York, Nebraska, the Rebels find a group of American Nazis watching Triumph of the Will. They cut the showing short. While interrogating prisoners Ben learns that Hoffman is planning an attack which all too soon becomes reality. The NAL launches a broad-based offensive east from a battle line starting in Grand Junction, Colorado, and running north to Billings, Montana.

  Ben heads east on I-80 toward Cheyenne. Leadfoot and his bikers eliminate Gabe Thrasher and his doped-up crew at Pioneer Village. Leadfoot brings Gabe to Ben, who orders him hanged after the fool makes an attempt on his life. Then the Rebel army concentrates on holding positions and fighting the NAL on the southern front. Tina takes the airport at Laramie and it becomes a thrust point for the advance on Cheyenne. Buddy goes after Denver. The fighting is fierce, and Rebel casualties are high. Ben’s rush to Cheyenne causes Hoffman to concentrate his forces there. Once again the costs of victory for the Rebels are high. The atrocities committed on Ben’s army are so grotesque and beyond belief that Ben retaliates in kind.

  Cheyenne falls to the Rebels just in time for Ben to learn that Payon’s forces in Mexico have been overrun by General Rasbach, and he is pushing north toward the border. Ben heads immediately south to help Payon out.

  Once again, Ben is on the move to Texas to defend the border. On his way he stifles resistance in Trindad, Colorado, and northern New Mexico. But in New Mexico he is conned into believing that a bunch of kids have suffered at the hands of the Nazis when in reality they are part of a plot to capture him. The ringleader, Jimmy Riggs, succeeds in taking Ben captive and he is transported to Mexico and prison. He is brutally tortured in an attempt to force him to agree to Rebel surrender in exchange for his life. But Ben will not negotiate such a thing even for himself. The stand on principle costs him a finger, but he is steadfast in his determination not to compromise.

  Initially the Rebels are stunned by his capture and begin to fall apart, but when they hear that he has been sentenced to death by firing squad, Ike and the crew devise a rescue. They have a little time because Hoffman himself is flying in to watch the execution.

  But when the team gets to the villa where Ben was held prisoner they find him gone and must face the fact that their leader will die at Hoffman’s hands.

  NINETEEN

  After lunch, we went for another drive, this time to a military installation located within the district, but far out in the country. We were waved through the main gate after I was given a visitor’s pass. In the distance, I could see tiny figures spilling out of airplanes, their ’chutes blossoming a few seconds after exiting the plane.

  Ben Raines: They’re jumping without static lines. Many of our combat jumps are free-fall, controlled jumps.

  WWJ: Do you still jump?

  Ben Raines: Yes. When we’re home, I jump every three months to stay qualified.

  WWJ: But you’re not home that much, are you?

  Ben Raines: Not nearly as much as I would like to be. As I said, we’re gearing up now to go into Africa.

  The General pointed to a man getting out of a military vehicle, and said, “That’s Ike McGowan, just in from the field.”

  We cut off the paved road and parked on the grass. General Raines waved and yelled at Ike.

  WWJ: Are you and General McGowan about the same age?

  Ben Raines: No, I’m older by a few years. Come on. I’ll introduce you.

  Ike McGowan was a stocky man who looked to be in his late forties. Ben Raines had told me Ike’s hair had turned prematurely gray years back. Ike said he could spare a few minutes and suggested we get a cup of coffee and talk.

  WWJ: You’ve been with General Raines long?

  Ike: Since the beginning, partner. We had pure-dee hell convincin’ Ben to take over. But when he made up his mind to do so, he was like a bulldog with a meaty bone. He just wouldn’t give it up until it worked.

  Ike was Mississippi-born and -reared, and spoke with a soft Southern accent. But he was also a field-savvy commander and next in line to take over when Ben Raines retired . . . if Ben Raines ever decided to retire. I posed that question to Ike.

  Ike: He’ll retire when he can no longer cut it in the field. And he’ll know when that day comes, and he’ll admit it. But that’s some years away, partner. Ben is still a war-hoss in combat.

  WWJ: General Raines thinks those breakaway nations outside the SUSA will reunite and someday move against the SUSA. Do you feel the same way?

  Ike: Sure do. Can’t one of those pantywaist liberals outside the SUSA abide our success here. It galls ’em something fierce.

  Ben Raines had warned me that Ike would sometimes disarm a person by using a lot of country colloquialisms, and by the time he was finished, one would think the person he’d been chatting with was an idiot. But Ike, General Raines warned, was a very intelligent man, well educated, who just liked to put people on.

  WWJ: Tell me, General McGowan, why does General Raines hate attorneys so?

  Ike: Oh, hell, Ben don’t hate all lawyers. Just a certain type of lawyer. But mostly he hates what lawyers have to do in their work.

  WWJ: And that is . . . ?

  Ike: Screw everything up. Turn a simple a
greement into something complicated. But mostly he don’t like lawyers who make a livin’ defendin’ known scum when they know the person’s guilty. It’s not so much the person he dislikes as it is the system that allowed them to become that way . . . if you know what I mean.

  WWJ: Yes. I think I do.

  Ike: Ben knows lawyers are necessary. Hell, he has a personal attorney. We all do. Like I said, it’s the system, not usually the person.

  A soldier came up and whispered something in Ike’s ear. Ike nodded his understanding, turned to me, and said, “Got to go, partner. But we’ll talk again ’fore you leave.”

  General Raines walked up, a smile on his face. He watched Ike walk away, and said, “Quite a character there. But a brilliant field commander. Come on, I’ve rounded up a couple of others for you to meet.”

  I met the Russian, Georgi Striganov, a huge bear of a man. At one time, Ben and Georgi were bitter enemies. Then I met one of General Raines’s kids, Buddy Raines. Buddy was one of the best physically built men I had ever seen. Ben had told me the young man literally did not know his own strength. We chatted for a time, and then Buddy was called away by one of the personnel in his battalion.

  As we were walking back to the HumVee, Ben said, “The other battalions are spread out at bases throughout the SUSA. Dr. Chase is still out of pocket. What would you like to do now?

  WWJ: Just drive around in the country, if you don’t mind.

  Ben Raines: I’d like that myself. Especially this time of the year. I assume you have some more questions?