Part 2 (2/2)

40.”All right, Ben. It's your show. That was good work last night.”

”We made him bleed, for sure. How are you feeling?” Cecil had undergone emergency heart surgery just a few months back.

”I'll be one hundred percent in a few weeks, Ben.”

Ben knew that was bull and so did everyone else. But they also knew that Cecil would push it to the limit unless Ben kept a tight rein on him.

”You do what the doctors tell you to do, Cec,” Ben warned. ”I need you right where you are.”

”That's ten-four, Eagle. Out.”

And Ben knew Cecil would follow orders. He might not like it, but he was a soldier's soldier. And Ben knew too, that Cecil was irritated at not being able to get into the field. But Ben needed Cecil right where he was.

To the south of Ben, Hoffman sat behind his desk looking at General Hans Brodermann. Brodermann stood before him, in full dress uniform, but not the uniform of the regular army. Brodermann was dressed all in black, with the silver death's head insignia of the old n.a.z.i SS on his collarand cap. If there was a cruder man anywhere in the world, Jesus Hoffman was not aware of it. Hans detested everything about America, for it was the American army, fifty years back, who had hanged his grandfather, who was one of Mengele's a.s.sistants at the death camps. And Hans's mother and father had never let him forget that fact. Hans, unlike Field Marshal Hoffman, had no Spanish blood in him. He was Aryan. Pure Aryan, he chose to think. And while he had many nationalities serving under his command, his personal detachment of soldiers were all Germanic ... or at least gave that appearance.

41.Hans was one of the select few who knew that once North America was taken, many now serving faithfully in Hoffman's Blacks.h.i.+rts would be disposed of. Especially the Arabic, Oriental, and Negro ... the fate of any others was negotiable.

Hans smiled at Hoffman. It was not a condescending smile, for Hans truly admired and liked the young field marshal, some fifteen or so years Hans's junior. Hans had studied Ben Raines extensively over the years, as had every officer in Hoffman's army, and knew that he and Ben were about the same age, and very nearly the same height and weight. He also admired General Raines. He detested him, but he admired him as well. ”So you have decided to pit me against General Raines, mein Field Marshal?”

”Ja, Hans,” Jesus momentarily slipped into German. ”Your SS division will spearhead the America invasion, Hans. Crush everything in your path. Bring any resistance to their knees, and strike fear in the hearts of anyone who even remotely believes in the Rebels.”

Hans clicked the heels of his polished riding boots in reply.

Hoffman stood up and walked to a huge map of the United States, secured to the wall of his trailer office. With his back to Brodermann, he thumped his fist against Texas. ”I want this place secured, Hans. I don't care if the ground is so soggy with American blood it slops under my boots. Secure it!”

Again, the click of heels.

Jesus turned, a cold look in his black eyes. ”How you do that is of no consequence to me, Hans.”

”Carte blanche, Field Marshal?”

”Exactly.”

42.”When do I leave?”

”Forty-eight hours.” He gave the n.a.z.i stiff armed salute. ”Heil Hitler!”

”Heil Hitler!” Hans shouted, then spun around and walked out of the trailer.

Ben sat silently in his chair for a long time, staring out the window, or where the window used to be. He was alone in the room and had given orders he was not to be disturbed for anything short of a nuclear strike. He doodled on sc.r.a.ps of paper, drummed his fingertips on the table, paced the room and cursed and prayed. When he made up his mind,and it was only after the most agonizing hour of his life, he stood up and called for Come and the rest of his team to come in.

”Come, do we know the frequencies of the known groups aligned with Hoffman and is it possible to jam them for any length of time?”

”Yes, sir. Those people aren't really that smart to begin with. They don't know that we've broken every code they've ever devised within a hour of their transmitting it. They could easily be jammed. For however long you wanted it.”

Buddy and Tina were in the general vicinity, and General Georgi Striganov had radioed that he was on the way in.

”I want the rest of the batt comms here ASAP,” Ben said. ”Transmit that by burst and tell them to get here fastest means possible. I will not make this decision alone.”

Four hours later, the fifteen battalion commanders, including Ben, were seated' in the large room. They had 43.all looked at and studied the clear plastic covered U.S. map on the wall. Ben had drawn a line east to west, from the Virginia coast clear over to the California coast.

Ben sat on the edge of the heavy old table, staring at his commanders.

”I will not make this decision alone, people.” He pointed to the map.

”The thirty-sixth parallel. If possible we're going to contain Hoffman's people below it. Above it will be all those who, while they might not agree with our philosophy, at least are not aligned against us.”

”A ma.s.s evacuation, Ben?” Georgi asked.

”Yes.”

”That leaves Cecil with his a.s.s hangin' out in the wind, boy,” Ike drawled.

”No, it doesn't,” Ben spoke very softly. ”For only we have the antidote to the gas our scientists perfected.”

Pat O'Shea, the Wild Irishman, as he had promptly been dubbed, whistled.

”And if the winds were right ...” he trailed off.

”Yes,” Ben said. ”Hoffman's people would die by the thousands. So the entire state of what used to be known as Louisiana will be a neutral zone. We have antidotes for every type of gas Hoffman has, and he knows it. We have nuclear weapons, and he knows it. Bet that Hoffman and his top people have studied me extensively. They know I'll use both if pushed to it.”

”And any who refuse to go north?” Jackie Malone, commander of Twelve Battalion, asked. She and Tina were the only female batt comms. Not that there weren't more females qualified, the Rebels just didn't have the personnel to field any more battalions ... yet.

”We cannot guarantee their safety, and neither can 44we guarantee that we won't shoot them on sight, mistaking them for the enemy or enemy sympathizers.”

”I like it,” West, the mercenary, said. ”It would certainly give us a wide-open field of fire, so to speak.”

The others nodded their heads in agreement. Danjou, the French Canadian and commander of Seven Battalion, said, ”The evacuation would have to be started immediately. I mean, like this evening.”

”Yes. Provided we are all in agreement on this plan. Let me see a show of hands.”

Every hand went up.

”All right, that's it. I don't know that we can contain them at the thirty-sixth parallel. I only know that we'd better give it our best shot.”

”I hate to be the one to throw cold water on this plan, father,” Buddy spoke up. All heads turned to him. ”But there is no way we're going to evacuate all innocent people out of hundreds of thousands of square miles. It is, simply put, impossible.”

”I agree,” Ben said. ”But what choice do we have, son, except to try?

Hoffman has not yet turned his mad dog loose. But it's only a matter of time before he does. General Payon says that General Hans Brodermann is a monster. Totally ruthless. He will kill anything or anybody who gets in his way. Brodermann commands a full-size division. He has more men in that one division than we do in our entire army. Payon, who by the way could not attend this meeting because he is ... ah, busy this afternoon ...”

Everybody laughed at that. They knew that Payon and his teams were hara.s.sing the h.e.l.l out of pockets of Blacks.h.i.+rts.

”... told me that Brodermann is the crudest man he 45.has ever seen. He loves torture; enjoys seeing men and women and children humiliated and degraded. This man would make Sam Hartline look like an angel.”

Ben had killed the torturer, Hartline, in hand-to-hand combat several years back.

<script>