Part 18 (2/2)
The soldier winced.
”Chin up!”
The soldier buried his pain and complied by raising his chin and standing at complete attention.
”There you go,” said the major.
With one fluid movement, the major drew his knife and sliced open the soldier's trachea.
Blood erupted from the slashed jugular and screams gurgled with air rushed from the soldier's lungs as they expelled their final breath. He fell dead at the major's feet.
The prisoners gasped at the sight.
He wiped the blood from the knife on a rag and called to one of the guards. ”Send a group to retrieve their equipment.”
”And the bodies, sir?”
”Let the wasteland have them.”
TWENTY-FOUR.
”I would like to take this opportunity to apologize for my behavior when you first arrived.” Roy Tinner s.h.i.+fted from foot to foot. He spoke without hesitation as if he had practiced the spontaneous apology in a mirror. Which he had.
”Don't mention it, sir.” Logan instructed the townspeople as they strung barbed wire across the top of the walls of New Hope. Sarah worked next to him. Her smile could light the town.
”You have shown through your actions to be an honorable and capable ...”
”Really.” Logan placed his hand on the councilman's shoulder. ”You were looking out for your town's best interests. That is what these people elected you to do. And you did it well.”
Tinner wasn't used to apologizing and even less accustomed to his apology being refused.
”I ... I have to be sus ...”
”Yes, you have to be suspicious. There's no shortage of con men out there.”
”Yes. Like the charlatan that showed up before you.”
Charlatan? This guy was trying too hard, thought Logan. ”You mean Jerry?”
”Yes. A con man if I've ever seen one.”
Logan laughed. ”Jerry is no con man. Delusional maybe. But he's no con man. He's a harmless bookworm.”
The puzzled look on the councilman's face led Logan to explain.
”Jerry was a librarian. He was stacking books in a storage room when the bombs. .h.i.t. Lucky for him, the storage was in an old bomb shelter. He rode out the aftermath with tinned meat and seventy-year-old c.o.kes.”
Logan turned to instruct a woman on how to fasten the wire to the support rods.
”And there he stayed. A time lock on the door held him prisoner for a year. So what did he do?”
The councilman shook his head.
”He read. And read and read. He must have read every book in the place. The books made him smart. Too smart for his own good. When the door finally opened, he was convinced that he could help people.”
”That kind of knowledge would be helpful.”
Logan looked at the ground and his voice became distant. ”They say that a little bit of knowledge can be a dangerous thing. And, whoever they were, are right.”
”How do you know all this?”
”Jerry and I were partners out west. I thought the same as you. This guy was so smart. We could make a difference anywhere. And for a while we did. We traveled from town to town. He taught the folks how to purify water, how to build generators ... that kind of thing. We were making a difference.
”But, then there was Eternal Hope. A small town in Colorado. They had a different kind of problem. One that couldn't be fixed with wells or crop rotations.”
Logan looked off into the distance that he a.s.sumed to be west.
”Jerry convinced me and the town that he could defend them from a gang of ruthless bandits. He prepared defenses that he claimed were based on sound military tactics.”
”They didn't work?”
”They came right in the front gate and we were overwhelmed. Jerry disappeared. I did what I could. A few of us got away. No one else survived.”
Roy turned red; the reverence disappeared. ”We should have strung him up!”
”No. I don't know how a man can live with that kind of failure. But it can't be easy. The screams are his burden to carry. That blood is on his hands.”
”It's dangerous that he offers to help people.”
”From what I hear he doesn't offer protection anymore. He'll offer to run for supplies, solve various problems, find missing persons. He can't offer protection. How could he? How could anyone after that?”
Logan pulled on the taut wire. ”Good job, everyone.”
”You're a good man, Logan. Thank you for saving Sarah. And for helping us protect New Hope.”
Logan nodded without a word. The painful memories were written on his face.
The councilman, his apology offered and thanks delivered, turned and walked back to the town hall barn. There was a list in the cabinet that named Personas Non Grata in the town. He had a name to add.
Sarah turned to Logan. ”You said people don't come out of Dallas.”
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