Part 3 (2/2)

Inhabited towns either became haven for thugs and outlaws and perverts and lawlessness, or they became walled, barbed-wired, bunkered-in fortresses, with the people finally learning to pull together.

Of course, the people now did not have to contend with Big Brother Government and the mumblings of the Supreme Court interfering in their lives.

And many thought that was a blessing. Something good came out of the horror of war.

Now, there was no sign, anywhere, of factory smokestacks, no humming of machinery, no a.s.sembly lines, no commuting to work in car pools ...

... and no lawyers.

But there was silence.

Sometimes the silence, for those who knew what went on Before, was loud. Too loud. They would wander away from the safety of fortress, and never be seen again.

Women became rare prizes, to be taken and usedand then traded for a gun or a horse or a car. It was not an easy time to be a woman.

Or a child. Of either s.e.x.

It was as if law and order had never existed.

Now, there was no law-only the law one was strong enough to enforce. Despite all his efforts, the country that Ben Raines held in his dreams was slowly sliding back into a dark abyss, an abyss that many felt was too deep and too dark to even consider crawling out of.

This, then, was what Ben Raines and his Rebels faced-discounting the Russian and Sam Hartline.

”What is G.o.d, Ben?” Sylvia asked. They were sitting outside the command post as dusk softly gathered her skirts around the land, casting purple hues, creating a false illusion of peace.

”Haven't you ever read the Bible, Sylvia?”

”Yes. Sure. But I can't make any sense out of that, Ben. It's too ... well, contradictory for me. And I don't know what a lot of the words mean. Besides, if G.o.d is all-powerful, He wouldn't have let this happen. He could have stopped it, right?”

”I guess he could have. But if you're asking for my personal opinion as to why He didn't ...

I think He just got tired of it all. I think He became weary of humankind's pettiness, greediness, cruelness, and inhumanity to fellow humans. So He started over.” ”He created a flood the first time, didn't He?” ”Yes.

And said He'd never do it again. And He didn't.”

”You think G.o.d did this, don't you?”

”I think He had a mighty hand in it. He just let humankind destroy itself. There are those of us who always maintained our priorities were always wrong. I wrote about them, as writers are p.r.o.ne to do.

Didn't do any good, as far as I could tell.”

”I've read all your books. You sure wrote a bunch of them, Ben.”

”Yes, I did.”

”Some of them were pretty s.e.xy, too.”

Ben grinned. ”Sure were, Sylvia.” He hoped she was not leading up to what he thought she might be.

She was. ”Every Rebel has at least one copy of a book you wrote, Ben.”

”When they should be carrying a pocket Bible, Sylvia. My words are not chiseled in stone, babe. I wrote paperback books for the ma.s.s market.”

”You never had a book done in them stiff covers, Ben?”

He thought for a moment. By G.o.d, he couldn't remember. ”No, I never did, Sylvia. I wrote to entertain, not to change the world.”

She didn't understand that; and Ben really wasn't sure he did, either. Ben took a sip of water from his canteen and rolled the liquid around in his mouth for a moment before spitting it out on the ground.

”What's the matter?” she asked.

”I can't get the taste of those G.o.dd.a.m.ned eggs out of my mouth.”

In the gathering darkness, Ben leaned over and kissed her laughing mouth.

In his command post, General Striganov sat behind his desk, gazing at a map of the United States. He had just received intelligence that some of Raines's command had moved out in trucks, heading west. But only a part of Raines's command had left.

What was the man up to now?

It didn't make any sense to Striganov.

He had Raines heavily outnumbered as it was, so why would the man split his forces?

Curious.

Striganov sat quietly, puffing contentedly on his pipe. Georgi Striganov was a strikingly handsome man; tall and well-built, with pale blue eyes and blond-gray hair. A very intelligent man, Striganov liked Ben Raines. Of course, that would not prevent him from killing Raines when the time came. Well, perhaps like was too strong a word ... but he did admire the man. As to his intelligence, that sometimes worked against Striganov, for he thought himself to be brilliant, when he was merely very intelligent.

Why would Raines cut his forces? Why?

He rose from his chair and walked to the huge wall map, studying it more closely. He shook his head.

Possibly some of Raines's Rebels were airborne qualified, but Raines was too smart to jump in with them, for the man was about the same age as Georgi. And when one gets to fifty years of age, combat jumping was not only reckless but foolish.

And Raines had not left with the truck convoy. His deep recon people were sure of that.

So, Striganov thought, that meant Raines was going to wait awhile before launching his attack.

Good. Then he could take his time about setting up defenses; go slowly and make certain of each and every detail.

But where in the h.e.l.l was that one battalion of Rebels going and what did they hope to accomplish when they got there?

Obviously, he would not know the answer to that for some time. And he couldn't order an attack against a force that large; didn't have enough people out in the field. And another bad point was that his deep recon scouts were on foot, with no way to keep track of the truck convoy once they pa.s.sed their position.

No matter, he brushed that away. He had enough force to crush a battalion like a dry piece of toast.

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