The Horse Soldier: Beginnings Series Book 10

by Jacqueline Druga

  “O.K.” Robbie turned in his seat to face Dean. “Go on.”

  “This conversation has to be had because I just don’t know when I am going to leave. It could be today, tomorrow, or even next week. I need to have this settled.”

  “Dean, you need reassurance that I can come up with a plan that will get you back. Don’t worry. I’ll stake my life I can sneak a team in there and get you and my brother out.”

  “Thank you.” Dean gave Robbie a closed mouth look. “I need reassurance, but not about that. I need reassurance about Ellen.”

  “You don’t want me to touch her.”

  “No! Touch her. I mean, no, I mean.”

  “Huh?”

  Dean grunted in frustration of himself. “Two things I need from you. I am coming to you because I think, no I know, you’re the only one to do this.”

  “I’m lost.” Robbie tossed up his hands.

  “When I go, things may get bad for Ellen. They may get really bad. When it gets around that I left Beginnings for the Society, the people in this community aren’t gonna take to well to that. They may not trust her. They may look at her differently. Treat her differently and not want anything to do with her as a doctor or scientist. All those meds we made, all that work, may not be taken. But even more than the work, I worry about her and my kids. You know. And . . .” Dean’s fingers tapped on the wheel in antsyness. “You are such a strong figure in this community, Robbie. Whether you believe it or not, people love you. They trust you. They really, really like you.”

  “You want me to make sure people know Ellen is not part of the Society and help them to realize they can trust her. It’ll be easy, Dean. I’ll convince them she didn’t know. Jenny won’t turn her back on Ellen and that is a key to the women here. Don’t worry.”

  Dean smiled slightly. “With you telling me that, I just may not worry. Now . . .”

  “There’s more?”

  “Yes.” Dean took a deep breath. “I told Ellen today I want her to act as if she hates me when I leave, act just as shocked as everyone else. Be convincing. Disown me. Move on.”

  “Good idea.”

  “Glad you think that way. I need you to do the same.”

  “Be convincing? Hate you? Disown you?” Robbie fluttered his lips. “Piece of cake, I already do.” He nudged Dean’s leg. “Lighten up. I’m joking. Of course I’ll play the part.”

  “And help her move on?”

  “Of course. To where?”

  “To you.”

  Silence. Dead silence.

  Robbie cleared his throat. He took a long shuddering breath in. “To uh . . . to me?”

  “Can you play that part as well, Robbie?”

  “Act like her new lover?” Robbie’s corner of his mouth raised in a partial grin. “Dean . . .”

  “I’m serious. This has nothing to do with being lovers. This has everything to do with taking care of her while I’m gone. You can’t just pretend to be there. You have to be there. Will you be there for her?”

  “Dean, you didn’t even need to ask that. I mean, I had every intention of watching out for Ellen and your family.”

  “Every day.”

  “Yes.” Robbie nodded. “Every day. I’ll fill in, but tell me why you are coming to me? Any other man in this community could play the part. Why me?”

  Den leaned back slowly in the driver’s seat. He stared out at first then swayed his head to Robbie. “Because in the event that I don’t return or Frank doesn’t return, I want to know that Ellen is in strong hands,” Dean closed his eyes. “That someone capable is taking care of her and my family. That someone that truly cares for her will be there. Also . . .” Dean opened his eyes. “You’re a Slagel. You are part of her heritage. And even though you have no child bathing skills, and you have this weird way of showing kids how to make food fun, you’re the only man I know that can raise Frank’s and my kids the way they should be raised. If Frank and I aren’t here, you are the only man I want raising my kids.”

  Robbie didn’t know what to say. He really didn’t know what to say. He hadn’t any idea Dean thought that highly of him and it shocked Robbie to the point that no words came out of his mouth when he opened it.

  “Robbie? You’ll do this for me.”

  Robbie only nodded.

  He sighed out a breath and then Dean reached for the gears. “Whew, that’s over with.”

  “Dean, just know I will give my all and do my best to protect and watch over your family.”

  “Thank you.”

  “But only until you and my brother return.” Robbie paused and smiled. “Then you two can go back to fighting over them.”

  An emotional chuckle came from Dean after his serious talk. He shook his head, shifted the Jeep in gear, and drove toward the utility buildings, this time a little faster.

  ^^^^

  “Here he is,” Joe said of Robbie when he walked into Joe’s office with Dean.

  “What’s going on?” Robbie asked as he shut the door. His eyes shifted to his father then to Dan who stood there nervously. “What?”

  Joe raised his eyebrows and spoke seriously. “Tell him.”

  Dan bounced a little. “Robbie . . . you know how Marv won the opportunity to earn Neville points.”

  “Yeah.” Robbie placed his hands on his hips and nodded.

  Dean took a double take. He watched Robbie listening to Dan. The stance, the facial expression. If he had a goatee and dark hair he’d be his brother.

  Dan swallowed so harshly it was evident. “Well . . .” He cleared his throat.

  “Go on.” Robbie motioned his head again. “Didn’t he make the rounds?”

  Dan looked at Joe then back to Robbie. “Marv . . . Marv didn’t come back, Robbie. We lost radio contact with him.”

  “You checked the community?” Robbie asked.

  “I’ve been checking since he failed to radio me back.” Dan said.

  “Which was when?” Robbie inquired.

  “Three hours ago.”

  From looking down to Dan who was five inches shorter than he, Robbie lifted his head slowly. He had a stone cold expression on his face as he moved his eyes to his father and back to Dan. Then Robbie, without saying anything, took the keys that were still in Dean’s hand and barreled out of Joe’s office.

  ^^^^

  Binghamton, Alabama

  Still clenching his pain filled hands, Richie look side-eyed at Frank. “What?”

  “Salicain.” Frank stated sitting with Richie in a wooded area off base. “You have to get into that lab and find a vial marked Salicain.”

  “I have to seek medical attention for my hands, Frank. Look.” He showed Frank the huge blisters on his palm.

  “Oh quit being a baby. Think about how all those calluses that you’ll get will protect them the next time.”

  “A fire wall, Frank. I broke seven drill bits making your peep holes in this scientist’s home.”

  “And the secret door?”

  Richie huffed. “That was the easy part. I still don’t think your big body will fit through it.”

  “Then you will.”

  Richie closed his eyes. “Now what is this Salicain and why do I have to get it.”

  “Salicain is this drug that paralyzes you.”

  “How do you know this?” Richie asked.

  “Because George used it on my father and they did it at a really bad time in my life, right after I found out Ellen and Dean had the affair.”

  “Man, must have been a rough time for you.”

  “Yeah, and you know Dean didn’t help matters. He moved her right into his house.”

  “The man’s an asshole, Frank. I don’t even want to meet him.”

  “It’ll be painful.”

  “Like my hands.”

  “Oh knock it off.” Frank slapped his hands down on Richie’s palms that were showed to him.

  “Ow Frank. You ass.” Richie retracted his hands to protect them. “So what are we gonna do with this Sali
cain?”

  “Get that Leonard guy under control. I can’t just shoot him.”

  “Geez, Frank,. Why not?” Richie said sarcastically.

  “Oh no, Richie, I can’t. I’d like to, but I can’t. Too risky.”

  “And hitting him with this drug isn’t?”

  “Fuck no.” Frank shook his head. “They’ll think he had a stroke. That’s what it makes it look like. You get it and I hit him with it. Easy.”

  “For you to say. Do you realize what you’ve been doing? Shooting Society leaders. Officers. Freeing soldiers to make them walk seventeen hundred miles on foot.” Richie paused in amazement at Frank’s scoff. “A big scientist is supposed to be coming here and you have me drilling peep holes and making secret passages in his home. Now you have me sneaking into a lab to get a drug called Salicain.”

  “Yeah.” Frank nodded. “You got it.”

  “Oh, we are gonna be so busted one of these days. We’re gonna end up with a bullet hole in our heads like Lt. Merrick and everyone else that has fallen victim to the Frank rampage. Busted, Frank. We’re gonna get busted.”

  “Nah, Richie.” Frank stood up from the ground. “You’ll be busted. I’m too smart.”

  “That’s what you think.” Richie stood also, following a laughing Frank. “Then whose idea was it to come out here and cover up this mass grave thing you have happening?” He looked back at the mound of dirt that was covered with bushes and such.

  “Mine.”

  “No it wasn’t . . . Frank.”

  “Mine.”

  “Frank . . .” Richie huffed out and hurried to catch up to him, speaking softly under his breath as he followed Frank. “I wonder if Beginnings even wants him back. Frank!”

  ^^^^

  Beginnings, Montana

  Robbie knew it as soon as he reached the area that Marv was supposed to be checking. The Jeep was still parked where he had left it. That was all the proof Robbie needed.

  Stopping his own Jeep, Robbie grabbed the shot gun from the back and held it braced between his hands. He ignored his father’s call, only once responding to it with a very soft ‘Shh’ as Robbie headed into the field.

  He wanted silence, both in his headset and around him. If something got Marv then Robbie didn’t want it to hear him. Trying his hardest not to make a sound, Robbie moved through the high grass toward the black cloud of files that he saw ahead. His heart prayed that it was the carcass of an animal and not what his gut was telling him the flies were feasting on.

  His soft tromping foots steps and the buzzing of flies were the only things heard. Robbie would take a step and stop. There was a slight echo to his walk as if someone or something was moving at the same rate as him. Step. Stop. Robbie heard it again, a slight rustling of the weeds. Hearing that and moving to the flies, Robbie pumped the chamber of the shot gun, holding it ready.

  Closer and closer he drew, his heart pounding the whole way. He could smell something, a rotten smell, the smell of iron predominant. Robbie let every sense he could kick in as he moved, causing a disturbance amongst the insects. His senses did kick in when he felt a slight change in the ground under his boot. Stopping cold, so close to where the flies were, he slowly lifted his boot to see what his foot had landed on. When he looked down, Robbie felt the throbbing in his throat. What appeared to be an eye, veins and muscles still attached, lay on the ground. His left hand reached out, fingers extended, and grabbed on to the high grass, separating it.

  Squawk. Flap. Nailed!

  Robbie was as startled as that vulture he frightened. It flew at him, pecking at his cheek in a offensive move before squawking once more and flying off.

  Shaking his head, Robbie brought the back of his hand to under his eye but before he could wipe away the blood that flowed, his hand stopped. Robbie stared cold, emotionless into the field to what he saw laying there . . . Marv.

  ^^^^

  Miles City, Montana

  There was no way, Hal thought, that the town of Miles City was going to look like what he had accomplished in Bowman. No way. He looked around at the broken store fronts and the concrete in the streets that nearly disappeared beneath the weeds that poked through it. A dead town with no life and Hal cringed in thinking that he was going to be living there.

  In the midst of serious thought, as he watched the Beginnings truck unload not only his men but supplies they would need as well, Hal smiled. He knew if he pondered long enough, the powers that be would send him a sign that this move was a good one, and they did.

  Hal grinned.

  Looking absolutely miserable as he carried gear was Craig. If nothing else, Hal and Bowman would now be Craig-free, at least for a couple months.

  ^^^^

  Beginnings, Montana

  There were too many questions surrounding Robbie’s hurried return back to Beginnings and race into town. Robbie spoke no words and no emotion graced his face. He had a look of determination and that was the report that Joe got from everyone that tried to stop him. He didn’t respond to radio calls. He said nothing.

  Joe was not going to be one of the numbers waiting for Robbie to speak. His gut told him something when he got word Robbie was leaving town again and Joe, following his instinct, headed up to the perimeter exit by the underdeveloped section. And Joe was right. Robbie pulled up in a Jeep. e stopped it and stepped out.

  “Down the U.D,” Robbie stated into his headset.

  Joe didn’t see it at first and then he did. “Robbie.” He approached his son. “What is going on?”

  “Dad, get Henry and meet me right here in ten minutes.”

  “Marv?” Joe questioned. “How bad is it?”

  Robbie held up the black plastic. “I have a body bag, Dad. I probably would be better off with about twenty lunch sacks. I’ll be right back.”

  “I’ll go with you,” Joe called out as Robbie moved through the final perimeter.

  “No!” Robbie held his hand to his father. “Just get Henry and stay . . . stay right here.”

  “Be careful.”

  Robbie gave a single nod to Joe and walked at a quick pace, rifle in one hand, body bag in the other, through the final perimeter.

  ^^^^

  Hillside, Nebraska

  It was a late afternoon nap and one well deserved for Kyle, Link, and Ted. Not much was left of their shoes or their bodies as they found a soft place to lay and break for longer than they usually did.

  Link had some trouble sleeping. Fear of what could get them kept him awake, Ted’s snoring didn’t help either. And just as he slipped into that in between world, he heard the confusing sound of it and he sprang up. Was it real? Or was the sound like one of those voices that slip into your brain and say your name just as you fall asleep.

  He rolled on to his knees and scurried himself up listening. “Shit. It is.” Half out of it and exhausted, he mustered every bit of his strength to race after the horse sound. It had to be one of two things, Wildcats or . . .Link dropped to his knees. It was the later, UWA scouts.

  “Hey!” Link called out waving out his hands. “Hey!”

  The four horses stopped and turned around. When Link saw that he was recognized, his head and arms dropped to the ground in complete and utter gratefulness.

  ^^^^

  Beginnings, Montana

  The body bag made a weird sound as Robbie laid it in the back of the Jeep with Joe’s help. It didn’t plop like a dead body. It sounded more as if it were a half -filled sack of potatoes.

  Joe watched as the bag conformed to the small back area of the Jeep. “Jesus Christ.” He looked at a horrified Henry.

  Robbie reached for the zipper, his hands still stained with blood. “You can say that again, Dad. Have a peek.” He unzipped the bag some, not much.

  Joe’s jaws clenched and twitched. His eyes widened and his face lost all expression.

  Henry stumbled back covering his mouth. He spun frantically and faced the other way in his vomit frenzy.

  Robbie closed the bag. �
��Get Dr. And Dr. Hayes out of their Ozzie and Harriet World, Dad, and get them to the morgue. Those two are handling this. I have a feeling they’re gonna know exactly what did this and if not, they’re the only two in this entire community sick enough to not let it faze them.”

  Joe raised his eyes to Robbie. He didn’t say anything. He only reached for his radio to call of Dean and Ellen. Not much ever shocked Joe, but this certainly did.

  ^^^^

  Their pace was fast and there was also something upbeat about Dean and Ellen’s walk from their home to the clinic as well.

  “El, you have to stop looking so excited.”

  “I know.” Ellen kept her arms close to her. “But you have room to talk.”

  “You’re right. I can’t help it.”

  “Me either. This is the first real autopsy on a person in so long that you and I get to perform together.”

  “It must be good if Joe is calling us in. He sounded . . . weird.”

  “Yeah,” Ellen agreed as they approached the clinic. She stopped as Dean held the door open for her. “He said it wasn’t pretty.”

  Dean grinned. “Yeah.”

  “Dean, the smile.”

  Dean bit his bottom lip, thought horrid thoughts, and walked into the clinic with Ellen. Joe, Robbie, and Henry waited. “What’s going on?” Dean asked.

  Joe was about to speak when his eyes shifted to Ellen. “Why do you look so happy Missy Jane?”

  Ellen quickly folded her arms and widened her eyes. “Who me? Not me. I’m not happy.”

  “Yeah-yeah. Robbie, tell them.”

  “I took the body down to the morgue and got him on the table,” Robbie said. “It’s all is set up for you, Dean.”

  “I want a complete report or . . . a complete report is needed.” Joe pointed. “As conclusive as you can get.”

  “What happened to him?” Dean asked.

  Joe lifted his shoulders and let them drop. “That’s what you’re gonna tell me.”

  Ellen leaned into Dean. “Look how pale Henry is. It’s bad.”