"Oh, no. Personally, I"m pro-choice. I"ve never had anything to do with those types who advocate violence to stop abortion. We"ve got some people in our group who are opposed to abortion, but not so much they support the bombing of clinics and the killing of doctors."
"And not racist?"
"Oh, no. Not at all."
"You"re certain of all that?"
"One hundred percent certain, Ben. My group is racially mixed, and has just one goal in mind-to restore this nation to a const.i.tutional form of government." She smiled. "Along the lines of the SUSA."
They rode in silence for a few miles, pa.s.sing through one small town that appeared to be deserted. Ben questioned Lara about that.
" "A number of the smaller towns in this area are deserted, or very nearly so. There simply is nothing to keep them going ... economically speaking. Tourism is gone, and will probably remain that way for years to come. People just don"t have the money to spare."
"Osterman"s government has raised taxes?"
"Are you kidding?"
"No. I"ve been out of the country, Lara. I really don"t know what"s been happening."
"Taxes are nearly sixty percent now. And will go higher if Osterman has her way. The liberal/socialist/democrats have so d.a.m.n many programs to support."
"But the people are being taken care of from cradle to grave, right?"
Ben asked with a smile.
"That is one way of looking at it," Lara said after a few seconds pause.
"If you close one eye and have impaired vision in the other."Before Ben could respond the bright lights of a vehicle 96.illuminated the cab of the truck as a car suddenly appeared behind them, pulling in close.
"I don"t like this," Lara said.
"Let"s see what he does next," Ben suggested. "Before we do something stupid."
The driver of the car behind them cut on his red and blue warning lights.
"State cop," Lara said, disgust in her voice. "We sure didn"t get very far."
"Haven"t they been federalized up here in the USA?" Ben asked.
"Yes."
"Then they adhere to Osterman"s policies, right?"
"As far as I know. Why?"
"Then he"s dead," Ben said flatly. "There is no fence-straddling in this war. No one sits on the sidelines. You are either one hundred percent for us, or one hundred percent against us."
"That"s the way it"s going to be, Ben?"
"That"s it. That"s the way it"s got to be. You in or out?"
"I"m in," she replied without hesitation. "All the way. It"s what I"ve been telling my group for months."
"We"ll talk about the foot-draggers in your group later. Keep driving.
Let"s see what he does."
What he did was cut on his siren. The whooping and whining seemed to fill the night.
"Pull over, Lara."
"How do we play this?" she asked.
"That"s entirely up to the cop behind us."
Lara pulled over and stopped on the side of the road, leaving the motor running.
A man"s voice coming over a loudspeaker cut the night. "Get out of the truck, both of you. And keep your hands where I can see them."
97.97."When I get out, I"m going to shoot out his headlights," Ben told her.
"You get to the front of the truck, p.r.o.nto.""All right."
"We"ll get out together. That way his attention will be split. On three."
Ben counted to three, and he and Lara opened their doors and stepped out together. He dropped into a crouch and brought up the 9mm. He blew out both headlights, then shot out the warning lights. The night suddenly became a lot darker. He jumped into the ditch that ran along the shoulder of the road.
"I"m down in front," she called in a stage whisper.
"Stay there. And get ready to return his fire."
Ben shouted, "Get out of your unit! Do it if you want to live. Right now."
"You"re in a lot of trouble, mister!" the state cop shouted. His voice sounded very young; maybe twenty-two years old, at the most.
"Just a kid," Lara said.
"If he isn"t careful he isn"t going to get any older," Ben responded.
Ben was slowly working his way up the ditch and then up the slight bank, coming in behind the state police car. He stayed low, to avoid being seen in the glow of the taillights. He could see the silhouete of the policeman sitting in the front seat. Ben suddenly raised up and said, "Keep your hands on the steering wheel, buddy. Or die where you sit.
It"s all up to you."
"Don"t shoot, mister. I"m doing what you tell me to do."
"Turn off the taillights, then sit right where you are."
The cop did as ordered.
"Get back in the truck, Lara. And lead us out and down the first gravel road we come to." Ben got in the pa.s.senger side of the squad car.
98.The young cop"s eyes widened as the interior lights came on and he got a look at Ben"s battered face. "What the h.e.l.l happened to you, mister?"
" "It"s a long story. Follow the truck and don"t do anything cute. And don"t say a word until I tell you to."
Fifteen minutes later, after spending ten minutes on a winding gravel road, Lara pulled over. The cop pulled in behind her.
Laura walked back to the car. "There"s a dirt road just ahead that leads off to the right," she said. "Looks like it runs into a stand of timber."
"All right," Ben said. "Wait here for us. Drive down that road, boy," he told the cop.
"I know that road. It doesn"t go anywhere. I"ll get mired up to the axles!"
"That"s the general idea, boy."A hundred yards later, the car was sunk up to the frame in the mud.
"Strip," Ben said.
"I beg your pardon?"
"Take off your clothes. Right down to the skin. Do it!"
Ben handcuffed the naked man to the steering wheel. He then destroyed the radio with several 9mm slugs. Ben bundled up the cop"s clothing and boots and fought the door until he got it open. The car was mired up that deep.
"Man," the young cop hollered. "Are you going to leave me here? Like this?"
"That"s right."
"But this isn"t decent!"
" "You work for Osterman, and talk about decency? You"re a real comedian, aren"t you?"
Ben stepped away from the car.
"Wait! I know who you are now. You"re General Ben Raines. You d.a.m.n traitor!"
Ben paused and looked into the car. "You"re calling 99.99.me a traitor? How many freedom loving people have you arrested and stuck in reindoctrination camps?"
"It was for their own good."
"Boy, you have really been brainwashed, haven"t you? You"re just about a hopeless case."
Lara tapped on the horn, urging Ben to hurry up. "Got to go, boy."
"This is embarra.s.sing!"
"But you"re alive."
The young cop thought about that for a few seconds. "You killed all those fine officers over at the hospital, didn"t you?"
"You call that house of torture a hospital? Do you really know what goes on over there? Take a look at my face, boy. What do you think happened to it? You think I fell out of bed and landed on my head?"
"I"m sure you resisted being placed under arrest," the naked socialist/democrat insisted. "The officers were fighting to protect themselves. You certainly can"t blame them for doing that. That is a fine facility where you were being held. I knew Officer Bradford. He is ... was, a fine officer. He"ll be buried with full honors."
"Incredible," Ben muttered, and turned to start slogging through the mudback to the gravel road.
"I won"t forget this treatment, Ben Raines," the young cop hollered.
"What you"ve done to me is unforgivable. It"s ... it"s perverted. That"s what it is."
Ben shook his head and slogged on through the mud back to the road. He got in the pickup. "Let"s get the h.e.l.l out of here."
"You left him alive?"
"Sure. It"ll be hours before anyone finds him."
Lara"s eyes were full of amus.e.m.e.nt as she looked at the bundle of clothes Ben laid on the floor of the truck. "You left him naked?"
100."As the day he was born."
Lara chuckled as she headed back toward the highway. "Ben Raines on how to win friends and influence people." "He"ll have a story to tell his grandchildren." "Would you tell that story to your grandchildren?" Ben laughed. "h.e.l.l, no!"
101.
About an hour later, Lara cut off the main highway onto a secondary road. "I know where I am, Ben. Don"t worry."
"You"re driving."
She glanced down at the instrument panel. "This thing sure gets good gas mileage. The needle has barely moved."
"Yeah. I like it, too. Rides very well. But we"ve got to get rid of it soon as we can. That cop radioed in, and unless he was a complete fool he gave dispatch the license number and description."
"I was thinking about that, looking for something to steal. Haven"t seen anything yet."
"Nor have I. People must lock up their vehicles at night."
"Oh, they do. You know that car theft is no longer a felony in the USA?"
"It isn"t? What the h.e.l.l is it, then?"
"Oh, just a misdemeanor, if you"re below a certain age."
102.
William W. Johnstons Lara smiled and glanced at Ben. "It isn"t the thief"s fault, you know?"
"Oh, s.h.i.t!" Ben muttered. "Not that c.r.a.p."
" "Fraid so. It"s society"s fault, never the individual"s.""Let me guess-the coach wouldn"t let the punk play, so he vented his rage on an uncaring society by stealing."