Part 24 (1/2)

”Nothing?” Ike asked, standing in the door of the communications building.

”Nothing, sir,” the young woman told him. ”But for some reason, the static is not as bad as it was yesterday.” She looked at a chart. ”It's down by twenty percent.”

Gale and Tina entered the room.

”What's the word on Dad?” Tina asked.

Ike shook his head.

”Ike,” Gale said, ”you look like an old hound dog. Come on! You've known Ben for years. You know he's an expert at getting out of tight spots.”

Ike grinned. ”Gettin'

into them is a speciality of his, too.”

”Why does this Mississippi redneck always have to make something s.e.xual out of everything people say?”

Gale asked, winking at Tina.

”What'd I say?” Ike asked, rolling his eyes. ”What'd I say?”'

”Uncle Ike,” Ben's adopted daughter said, ”you're impossible.”

Cecil stepped into the room. ”We have a revival in here?” the black man asked.

”Yeah,” Gale said. ”With preachin” and singin' and dinner on the grounds. That'd be a first for me, let me tell you.”

Ike put his arm around Gale's slender shoulders. ”I'll make a Baptist outta you yet, darlin'.”

Gale looked at him, feigning great horror. ”Do I look like a yold to you?” she asked him.

”Say that in American, darlin',” Ikegrinned. ”My French never was very good.”

Ben opened his eyes and looked at the luminous hands of his watch. Four o'clock. He could not believe the night had pa.s.sed without an attack from the outlaws.

He rolled from his blankets and pulled on his boots.

He climbed upstairs and relieved Kathy at her lonely lookout, sending her to bed.

Ben checked the dark terrain surrounding the house.

He could not see any movement in the inkiness, but his senses were working overtime.

Something, or somebody, was out there. Waiting.

Watching.

He didn't need anyone to step down from the Mount to tell him who it was and what they were about to do. He waited and watched until five thirty.

He shook Rani awake. ”We have company,”

he told her. ”Get up and very quietly wake the kids. Get them to their posts. I think they're going to hit us-for some reason-at first light.”

The last thing Ben had done before calling it a day the afternoon before was to take the belts from some of the dead men and rig suspended harnesses for the M-16's. From the ceiling, the harnesses would hold the M-16's at the right height for the young people manning them; from the floor, the harnesses would prevent the weapons from jumping out of their young hands on full auto, and still keep the weapons aligned-more or less.

The gun slits Ben had built had been constructed with each young person in mind; just to the right height to afford the maximum protection from bullets.

Now, each person, with Ben being the exception, had twin M-16's suspended and ready to go.

Ben was ready with his homemade bombs, his RPG launcher, and his stack of fully loaded automatic shotguns taken from the dead men; along with several automatic weapons and, of course, his old faithful .45-caliber Thompson.

Rani joined him on the ground floor with a cup of steaming hot tea. Together, they sipped tea and watched the horizon begin to lighten in the east.

Ben was impa.s.sive as the sky grew brighter, allowing them to view what lay before them.

Rani sucked in a hard gulp of air and let it out with a hiss. She clutched at his arm.

”I see them,” Ben said.

They were totally surrounded. Cars, trucks, vans, and motorcycles lined the area around the ghost town. What seemed to be hundreds of men stood quietly in a circle, facing the house from all conceivable directions.

”I've tracked you across five states, Raines,” Jake spoke through a bullhorn, his electronically magnified voice booming out of the dawn.

”Four states,” Ben calmly corrected.

Rani looked up at him. ”Please excuse him,” she said sarcastically. ”But I'm open to a deal,” Jake said.

”I can just imagine what it might be,” Ben muttered.

”Yes,” Rani said.

”You hear me, you skinny son of a b.i.t.c.h!”

Jake roared.

Rani looked Ben up and down andwitha smile, said, ”You could stand to put on a few more pounds.”

”I'm very comfortable the way I am, thank you.”

”You hear me, you a.s.shole!” Jake roared.

”Yes, I hear you, fatso!” Ben yelled. ”No deals.”

Some of Campo's men giggled and Jake frosted them silent with a hard look.

”I'm gonna skin that son of a b.i.t.c.h alive!”