“Yes. But in the meantime, I’ll do whatever’s necessary to preserve the SUSA.”
They rode on for a few more miles without speaking. They met no traffic, and saw no signs of human life.
“Town just up ahead,” Anna said, looking at a map. “Two or three more miles.”
“And then how much farther to the border?”
“Well . . . this road ends. You’re going to have to go either left or right on this highway. If we turn east, it’s a good twenty-five miles to the next road south.”
“And west?”
“Just a few miles to a county road heading south. It’s unpaved. But that road will take us to within five miles or so of our border.”
“West it is, then.” Ben patted the steering wheel of the big nine passenger SUV. “This is a really nice vehicle. I don’t think I want to give it up.”
Anna cut her eyes to him. “Oh, hell. Now just exactly what does that mean?”
“Means I just might decide to keep it.”
“That’s what I thought.” She rubbed the fabric of the seat. “Well, it is nice. Cooper would like it.”
Ben braked as they came to the major highway. It appeared to be in fair shape. He looked both ways. No traffic. “Strange,” he said. “Troops massing all along our borders . . . everywhere but here, that is. And no checkpoint at a junction on a major highway. I find that very odd.” He took his foot off the brake. “But, what the hell. Let’s give it a try.” He grinned at Anna. “What do we have to lose?”
She grimaced. “Oh, sure. Of course try it. What do we have to lose? Not very much. Just our lives.”
“Oh, ye of little faith. Check the map, Kiddo. How far to this county road?”
Anna studied the map for a few seconds. “The map doesn’t show the mileage, but I’d guess no more than ten at the most. Then another ten on the unpaved road down to the junction of a paved highway. Then we turn west for maybe three or four miles before coming to another unpaved road that leads right to our border.”
“It all sounds just too damn easy.”
“It sure looks easy.”
“We’ll find out.” Ben checked the road ahead and his rearview mirror. “Where the hell is all the traffic? This is just too damn weird.”
“Doesn’t anybody live around here?” Anna questioned. Then snapped her fingers. “Pops, maybe the government ordered all the people out.”
Ben held up a hand, then snapped his fingers. “Sure! That’s it. They’ve all been ordered out due to the war. So that means . . . a big push is being planned. A really big push, to paraphrase Ed Sullivan.”
Anna looked at him. “Who’s Ed Sullivan?”
About halfway down the gravel and dirt county road, Ben pulled over and dug out his radio while Anna made a visit to the bushes. The transmission would be scrambled, as were nearly all Rebel transmissions.
He was answered on the first send.
“General Raines! Are you all right, sir?”
“I’m fine. Anna’s with me, and she’s OK. Are you aware of any big push being planned by the Federals?”
“Negative, sir. Nothing in the works. We’ve beaten back everything they’ve tried. And they’ve taken some heavy losses.”
“Parts of extreme Southern Missouri have been evacked of civilians. We haven’t seen a living soul, other than FPPS agents, in several hours. Pass that word onto General McGowan, please.”
“Yes, sir! Do you want us to come in and get you, General?”
“Negative on dust-offs. I like the SUV I’m driving.”
“Ah . . . say again, sir?”
“Forget it. If I get in a jam I’ll let you know. Eagle out.”
Anna returned and leaned up against the big wagon. “Did you give them our location?”
Ben smiled at her. “Of course not.”
“I figured as much.” She stared at him for a few heartbeats. “You’ll never change, will you? You really get a kick out of lone-wolfing it, don’t you?”
“I don’t object to it. And no, I won’t change. Not until age forces me out of the field. And that’s going to be a few more years, at least.’
“Uh huh. You know, people do worry about you.”
“So I’ve been told. They should worry about something else. I can take care of myself.”
“So what happens now?”
“We hide the wagon and stick around here. See what happens and call it in.”
“On this gravel road?”
“What better route to take to move large numbers of troops, especially at night?”
She nodded her head. “You’re right. I hadn’t thought of that. The road’s dry and pretty hard-packed, too. Won’t be much dust kicked up.”
“So let’s find a place to tuck and camouflage the vehicle, and see what happens.”
“Suits me. We’ve still got lots of food, and it’ll stay cold for hours longer.”
“Hungry again?” Ben asked with a smile.
“I will be in a little while.”
“Let’s get this vehicle hidden and find us a good vantage point.” He looked around. “Like that hill right over there with the timber on it.”
She smiled and lifted a pair of very expensive and high-powered binoculars. “So nice of those FPPS agents to lend us these. There are two pairs.”
“Remind me to send them a ‘thank you’ card. Come on, let’s get into position and see what happens.”
Twenty-five
Ben radioed in their position after he and Anna counted twenty-five deuce and a halfs packed with troops, all heading south on the unpaved county road. This time, though, both Ike and Cecil were standing by to receive Ben’s transmissions.
“Our informants in that area alerted us there might be a big push in the works, Ben,” Ike told him. “Now that you’ve confirmed it, I think it’s time for you and Anna to get the hell out of that area.”
“I don’t know if we can, Ike,” Ben told him. “Traffic has picked up again. This convoy now approaching looks like it’s going to be a long one. Ike, there are tanks moving south with this column. Quite a bit of armor. This is shaping up to be one hell of a push. It would be very risky for us to attempt a move at this time.”
“Ben, we’re going to start hitting that area hard. But we can’t if you and Anna are in there. You’ve got to move out. Right now.”
“No place for us to go, Ike. But you’ve got to hit now. We can’t afford to allow this buildup to continue. Send in the steel and lead, and do it now. Do I have to make that a direct order?”
“No, Ben, you don’t.”
“That’s good, Ike.”
“The attack will begin in approximately fifteen minutes with artillery, followed by gunships.”
“Anna and I will head east and hunt a hole. Put a stopper in this, Ike. Right now.” Before Ike could respond, Ben said, “Eagle out.”
Ben looked at Anna, lying beside him on the ridge, staring at him. “We’ve got to hunt us a deep hole, Baby. This area is about to get creamed.”
“There are shovels in the wagon.”
“Let’s get them and then get the hell away from this immediate area . . . pronto. We’ll take what we absolutely have to have and haul ass. Let’s do it.”
Ben and Anna hurried back to the SUV, geared up as much as possible, and then headed east. They had walked for perhaps half a mile when the Rebel artillery barrage began. Ike was really laying it on heavy, and the Rebel gunners were right on target.
Rebel 155’s and 203mm, located just across the border, were laying down a wall of steel.
Ben and Anna didn’t have time to dig a hole, but they did find a deep ravine and hurriedly got in it, huddling close to one side while the artillery shells came crashing around them. Bits of hot steel filled the air, whistling a deadly song. The Rebel gunners were using various types of rounds, including high explosive-fragmentation/projectile and white phosphorus. The HE projectile contained sixty anti-personnel grenades. That round was among the most feared and dr
eaded of any artillery round.
Just a half mile to the west of where Ben and Anna huddled in the ravine explosions were ravaging the night, and the sky was lit up with fires as fuel tanks were ignited. From a half mile away, whenever the heavy artillery barrage let up for a few seconds, Ben and Anna could hear the faint cries of the horribly wounded men and women in the convoy.
A full squad of troops came running through the brush and timber, not in panic, but just getting away from the deadly barrage that was raining down on the convoy.
They ran right into the decidedly unfriendly fire of Ben and Anna.
The pair cut the squad by fifty percent during the first few seconds of fire.
“What the hell!” a man called. “It’s the Rebels. They’ve come across the border. They’ve sent ground troops onto US soil. Get on the horn and alert the—”
He never got to finish. Ben stitched him with 5.56 rounds and Anna started screwing the lid of the coffin down tight by tossing two grenades into the still knotted-up band of Federals.
Ben finished it with a full magazine.
He didn’t know if someone got off a transmission in the seconds before the squad was finished. He could not take the chance. He had to assume they did.
“Get some full magazines off the bodies,” Ben told Anna. “Quickly, Baby. Then we’ve got to get the hell out of here. I’ll stand watch.”
Anna hurriedly began filling a couple of rucksacks with full mags and grenades. They both ignored the moaning and the cries for help from the wounded.
“You picked the wrong side, boys and girls,” he muttered. “You pays your money, you takes your chances.”
Ben found a walkie-talkie that worked, and then they started moving swiftly toward the east southeast. The going was very slow and chancy. The night was cloudy, threatening rain, and as black as pitch, visibility limited to only a few yards in front of them.
Gradually they began putting the sounds of battle behind them, but they would have to put more miles behind them before they no longer heard the deadly sounds of the rolling thunder of the barrage.
During a rest stop Ben said, “We’re only a few miles north of our border, and maybe only a mile or so from a small river. When we reach the river we’ll stay on the west side and cut due south. We’ll be home by dawn.”
She sighed. “A deep tub filled with hot water and bubble bath. I can hardly wait.”
“You’re gonna have a long wait, bitch!” The voice came out of the darkness. “But I think we can come up with something to help us pass the time.”
Ben lifted his CAR and pulled the trigger, burning about half a mag in the direction of the voice. The instant Ben fired, Anna threw herself to one side and came up on one knee shooting. When Ben had burned half a mag he went to ground and rolled to his right, offering no target to the Federals.
The sudden resistance from Ben and Anna was totally unexpected by the Federal patrol. The voice would never speak again: Ben’s fire had taken him in the chest and neck. Anna’s CAR spat and hammered and knocked two Federals down. The other members of the enemy patrol fired at where Ben and Anna had been, their rounds chewing up the earth and nothing more.
Ben and Anna fired together at the muzzle flashes and put down several more members of the patrol.
“How many of them are there?” a Federal called.
“Just two,” he was answered. “General Raines and his bitch kid. Has to be them.”
“Mel?”
There was no reply.
“Dick?”
Nothing.
“Serge?”
Sarge had been the first to go down from Ben’s firing. He would never speak again.
“Allen?”
No response.
“Bobby?”
That was answered by a groan.
“Jesus, Don, there’s only two of us left.”
“What the hell do you want me to do about it? I can’t raise the dead.”
“Let’s get the hell out of here.”
“No way, Merle. Taking those two will mean a promotion for both of us. Think about it, man. Couldn’t you use the extra money?”
“I guess so.”
“No more talk,” Don said. “Let’s just take them.”
“How?”
“Watch me and learn.”
But it was all over for Don. Ben had pulled the pin on a fire-frag grenade and tossed it. The mini-bomb landed a couple of feet from Don and blew, scattering various body parts of the Federal over what had been a large portion of his immediate area.
“Help me, please,” Bobby moaned.
Bobby was ignored. “Don?” Merle called. “Don, talk to me, man.”
The bits and pieces of Don remained silent. And would forever.
“I’m hurt bad,” Bobby called.
“Shut up, Bobby. For God’s sake, please shut up! I can’t think with you talking.”
“I hurt, Merle. Man, I really hurt. You got to help me, Merle. Please!”
“Be quiet, Bobby.”
Ben and Anna said nothing, not wanting to give away their position. They waited. In the distance, the pounding of Rebel artillery could still be heard. Ike had ordered his people to pour it on and keep it up.
“Mel’s still alive, Merle,” Bobby called. “He’s right beside me and he’s got a pulse. Please help us.”
“What the hell do you want me to do, Bobby? Just tell me that, will you?”
“Give it up, that’s what. Jesus Christ, man! What choice do we have? Rebels will be compassionate to prisoners. That’s what I keep hearing from people who’ve fought them. But they won’t give no quarter to people who keep fighting them. They’ll kill us, Merle.”
“Well . . . you two are hurt. Mel’s still alive? You sure about that?”
“Hell yes, I’m sure. I can hear him breathing. He’s right beside me.”
“All right, Bobby. OK. We’ll do it your way. Hey, General Raines, or whoever you are. We surrender. We give up, man! You hear me?”
“I hear you. Leave your weapons on the ground and stand up,” Ben told the men. “Hands in the air. If I see what even looks like a weapon, I’ll kill you. Do it!”
“Mel can’t stand up, General. He’s unconscious.”
“Then you and your buddy stand up . . . right now!”
Two shadowy forms rose slowly to their feet, hands in the air.
“Walk toward me a few steps,” Ben told them. “Right there. Stop and sit down. Both your hands on the top of your helmet, fingers laced. Do it.”
“Watch them, Anna. I’ll see about the wounded one.”
Using a small flashlight, Ben checked out the one called Mel. He was indeed alive, his pulse strong. One round had knocked his helmet off, and another round had creased his skull. He would have one hell of a tremendous headache when he came out of it, very much alive.
Now what to do with the prisoners?
As if reading his mind, Anna said, “We could just shoot them. It would save us a lot of trouble.”
Ben didn’t know if she was joking or not. With Anna you never knew.
“Let’s keep them alive, Anna,” Ben said, shutting up the very sudden and urgent babbling from the two prisoners.
“Whatever,” Anna said.
Ben checked out Bobby’s wounds. They were very minor, but painful.
“You let us go, General,” Merle said. “And we’re gone from here. We won’t cause you any problems, and that’s a solid promise, right, Bobby?”
“Oh, you bet! A promise.”
“Be quiet,” Ben told them.
“Yes, sir! Whatever you say, sir.”
Ben quickly made up his mind. “Take off your boots, both of you.”
“Our boots?” Bobby asked.
“Those things you have on your feet. Take them off. The socks, too. Toss them over here. Easy now.”
“Yes, sir.”
A moment later, the two Federals were barefooted.
“Strip!” Anna said.
; Ben looked at her in the darkness and smiled.
“Strip? Is that what you said?” Merle asked.
“Strip, damnit!” Anna said.
“Yes, ma’am!” Bobby said, and started peeling down to the buff.
In a few moments, both men were standing buck-assed naked. Ben rolled up their clothing and he and Anna gathered up all their gear and the weapons of the Federals.
“Your friend on the ground has a bad head wound,” Ben lied. “If you move him, he’ll die. If he wakes up, he’ll probably live. You’d better stay with him. If you try to follow us, we’ll kill you.”
“We’re staying right here, General,” Merle said. “Bet on that.”
Ben and Anna turned and disappeared into the darkness.
Twenty six
Ben and Anna reached the river about a half hour later and cut south. They walked steadily, but not hurriedly. Ben figured they at least had a good two hour’s head start, maybe a bit longer, on any pursuit from the Federals, if they were lucky—But luck had a nasty habit of running out. The two men would stay with their wounded buddy for a time—until they figured out Ben had lied to them about the seriousness of his wound. Then they would take off, trooping naked and barefoot back to their lines.
The artillery barrage had ceased its deadly rumbling in the distance. There would be practically nothing left of the long Federal convoy, and damn little left of the road on which it had been traveling.
After several hours of following the river and making their way through the thick brush, Ben and Anna reached a clearing.
“The no-man’s-land,” Ben said. “It runs all around our borders. It was originally only a few hundred yards wide, but in many places now it’s several miles wide.” He took the radio from his rucksack and keyed the switch. “This is the Eagle with his chick. Anybody listening in the nest?”
The response was almost immediate. “We read you five by five, Eagle. What is your twenty?”
“North side of the no-man’s-zone. On the west side of the river. Between the river and the road the Federal convoy was using on their way south. You copy that?”
“Affirmative, Eagle. Choppers on the way. You have anything to mark your location?”
“As soon as I hear the choppers, I’ll light a fire on the north side of the zone. Just at the edge of the clearing. That’s going to have to do it.”
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