"Three hundred meters." Corrie called it out. Again she looked at Ben.
"I can"t believe the Federal commanders are this stupid," Ben muttered.
He stood and watched the slow, steady advance of the Federal troopsacross the green and yellow-speckled meadow.
"The sun is in their eyes," Anna observed. "h.e.l.l, maybe they can"t see us."
"But they know we"re here," Beth said. "They just keep on coming.
They"re not even trying to hunt any cover. This is crazy!"
41.41."Two hundred meters," Corrie counted down.
The Federal troops broke into a slow trot and began yelling. The yells were a mixture of bravado and profanity, the profanity directed at the Rebels and the SUSA.
"That is going to make it a lot easier," Jersey said.
"d.a.m.n sure is," Beth said.
"G.o.dd.a.m.n bunch of communists," Cooper said. He was only slightly wrong in his political applications.
"One hundred and fifty meters," Corrie said nervously, again cutting her eyes to Ben.
"Almost," Ben said. "Get ready."
"We been ready," Cooper muttered. "Are we gonna invite them in for coffee?" He was careful this time to make sure Ben didn"t hear his remarks.
Ben lifted the old M-14 he had taken from the rear of the big wagon and jacked in a round. The Rebels lying close to where he was standing smiled. The old Thunder Lizard was one h.e.l.l of a weapon. On full auto it was a son of a b.i.t.c.h to hold.
"One hundred meters," Corrie said. "d.a.m.n, Boss!"
"Fire!" Ben yelled.
The meadow across the road turned into a killing field as the Rebels cut loose with everything at their disposal.
42.It was carnage. Nothing else would describe the scene in the meadow. The Federals walked right into a hot wall of death. There was no escape.
Ben kept up the nearly point-blank barrage for diree long minutes. When he finally ordered a cease-fire, the silence seemed almost audible.
Out in the meadow, only a few yards from the two-lane road, there was little movement and only a few moans of pain.
"Son of a b.i.t.c.h!" Jersey breathed, standing up and looking out at the b.l.o.o.d.y meadow.
"Small group of Federals hightailing it to the north," Beth said, looking over the scene through binoculars. "Some of them have thrownaway their weapons. Or lost them."
"Check the field for survivors," Ben ordered.
" "I don"t see how anyone could have survived that," Anna remarked.
43.43."Corrie, have you found the Federals" frequency?"
"Negative, Boss. Still looking."
"Well, get on some band and tell whoever is listening to come get what is left of their battalion. And to come under a flag of truce or they"ll be in deep s.h.i.t."
"Medics reporting a lot of badly wounded out there," a doctor told Ben a few minutes later. "You want to set up a field hospital, General?"
Ben hesitated only a few seconds. "Yes, we might as well. Let"s try to save as many as possible."
"We shoot them, then patch them up," Cooper said. "I just wonder if they"d do the same for us."
No one replied, but all who heard it had their doubts if the Federals would care if any Rebel lived or died.
"I have one of the Federals" frequencies, Boss," Corrie told Ben. "I have given them your message."
"And?"
"They say thanks, and they"re on the way. Dust-offs will be coming in very soon."
"Advise them I will shoot down any gunship I see."
"Will do." A moment later: "Message received, and they will comply."
"Good enough."
"Home guard on the horn, Boss. Says they discovered how the Federals got across our no-man"s-strip. They"ve found where the choppers have been landing just inside our territory. Looks as though they"ve been bringing in a platoon at a time."
"That clears up that little mystery. Corrie, tell the cooks to set up a tent and make a lot of coffee. We"re going to be here for quite a while."
"OK, Boss."
In less than fifteen minutes after Corrie touched base with the Federals, the sounds of a dozen big choppers reached the Rebels. They were guided in, and teams of 44William W. Johnstone doctors and medics jumped out and were escorted across the road and into the meadow, where Rebel medics and several doctors were working.
A three-star general in BDUs strolled up to Ben and saluted smartly.
"General Raines? I"m General Maxwell. Call me Max, if you will."
"OK, Max. I"m Ben."
"Thank you for your kindness in helping my people."
"No problem. I can truthfully say I wish to h.e.l.l they had stayed on their side of the line."
General Maxwell did not respond to that comment. "Is that coffee I smell?"
"Sure is. Fresh brewed. Care for a cup?"
"Love one."
Over mugs of steaming coffee, the two generals looked at one another, saying nothing.
Ben finally broke the uncomfortable silence. "Get used to heavy casualties tangling with us, Max. We"ve been doing this all over the world."
Max smiled. "It"ll change when the White House bows out of trying to run things. Not that I"m telling you anything you haven"t already deduced."
"Yes. I reached that conclusion early on. But nothing is going to change. We"re fighting for our homeland."
"We"ll see, Ben. The G.o.ds of war are fickle." He took a sip of coffee.
"Good coffee."
"Smoke if you like. In the SUSA we don"t try to run every aspect of adults" lives."
That stung the Federal general. Finally he managed a small smile. "It"s for the people"s good."
"Horses.h.i.t. It"s totalitarianism, pure and simple. In the SUSA, probably ninety-five percent of the drivers wear seat-belts. But there are no laws forcing them to do so. It"s just common sense."
Max looked out at the meadow. "Those were green 45.45.troops commanded by inexperienced officers. We know that you know there are thousands of mercenary troops waiting for the green light to move in."
"Mercenaries die just like anyone else, Max. And I know you know that I could end this in fifteen minutes if I chose to do so."
"And I know you know that we have limited nuclear capabilities.""Then let"s just blow each other into cinders and let the survivors start all over. They couldn"t possibly f.u.c.k it up any worse than the last two generations have."
General Maxwell smiled. "You"re d.a.m.n sure right about that last bit. But you won"t use nucs, and neither will we."
"Nucs aren"t the only tiling I have," Ben said.
"So you can win more or less humanely? All right. Do it. Turn loose your germ warheads. Kill hundreds or thousands of children and elderly." He shook his head. "You"d do that only as a very last resort ... if you could bring yourself to do it even then. And I have my doubts about that. No, for a while, at least, this is going to be a soldier"s war, on the ground. But we have millions more to draw from, General Raines.
Eventually, attrition will take its toll on you."
"You have it all thought out, don"t you?"
"Maybe. Just . . . maybe."
"I"ll ask you the same question I"ve asked other Federal officers-why do you-"
Maxwell held up a hand. "I know what you"re going to ask, Ben. And the answer is, because average Americans are just not smart enough to adequately look after themselves. Somebody has to do it for them. Oh, there"s much more to it, but that"s it in a nutsh.e.l.l."
Ben stared at Maxwell for a moment. The Federal had a definite twinkle in his eyes. "Bulls.h.i.t, Max!"
Maxwell laughed. "Of course it is. It"s power. That"s all 46.any restrictive form of government is-power to a select few. You make the ma.s.ses more or less content, give them plenty of milk while those at the top enjoy the cream."
"Well, I"ll be d.a.m.ned! Somebody finally told me the truth."
"And you don"t enjoy the cream, Ben? Come on! Of course you do. You want a position in government? It can be arranged. You want to command a division of crack troops. OK. It"s yours. Just toss in the towel and come on over to our side."
Ben carefully placed his mug on the camp table and stood up.
"Conversation is over, General Maxwell. I can"t say it was nice talking with you."
"Don"t be a fool. Sit back down, man, and listen to me. I"m offering you a place at the table. Relax and partake."
"I see," Ben said slowly. He sat down. "Osterman thinks she"s running the show, right? She"s a figurehead. You people are the power behind the throne."
Maxwell smiled and shrugged his shoulders. He refused to speak."You people made a deal with a gang of mercenaries. You"re getting rid of a bunch of idealistic green Federal troops who are one hundred percent behind Osterman. As soon as they"re gone, there will be nothing to stop you. But you"re forgetting those commanders who stood their troops down and refused to get mixed up in this fracas. What about them?"
"They will be dealt with. We don"t worry about them."
"What is to prevent me from going public with this information?"
"Who would believe you Ben? You rank right up there as one of the most hated men on the continent." Maxwell chuckled. "So go right on with this fight. You"re doing us a favor, really. Kill off our green troops while you suffer casualties as well. You see, there is no way for you to win.
47.47.If you"re smart, you"ll join us. Think about it. You don"t have to die needlessly. We have a place for you."
"Forget it. No way I will join you."
"It"s up to you, Ben."
"You people were setting all this up while I was in Africa. That"s why white mercenaries were so scarce over there. You people had most of them under contract... or were working on doing just that."
"Very good. But I really wish you hadn"t gotten rid of Bruno. He was doing the world a favor by getting rid of millions of n.i.g.g.e.rs. My one regret is I wish he had finished what he started. He would have if you hadn"t been so G.o.dd.a.m.n persistently successful."
"Once again, the Rebels are going to be all that stands between freedom and ..." -Ben shook his head- "... G.o.d only knows what form of government you people have in mind. I don"t even know what to call the government now in power . . . not really. It"s the worst mess I"ve ever seen."
Maxwell grinned. "It is screwed up, isn"t it? A liberal with a hard socialist bent can f.u.c.k up an anvil. But we"ll fix it once in power."
"Fix it? Fix it into what?"
"Oh, get rid of all the s.e.xual perverts, run the greasers back to Mexico, do something with the n.i.g.g.e.rs, put the ladies back into the home and the kitchen where they belong, then whip the country back into shape."
Ben shook his head. "You"re dreaming, Max. None of that is going to happen. You really will have a civil war on your hands if you try that c.r.a.p."
"We won"t try it all at once. It"ll be done gradually, over a period of time. If you"re still alive, you"ll see it happen, I promise you. Now, if you wish, go ahead, call a press conference and tell the world all I told you. I don"t care, because no one will believe you."
48William W. Johnstone Ben knew that Maxwell was telling the truth about that. No one outside of the SUSA would believe him. "No, I won"t do that. No point in it."
General Maxwell rose from the bench. "Think about what I told you. Think about my offer. It"s yours if you want it. But if you persist in making war, the offer will be withdrawn."
"You can withdraw it now. Win, lose, or draw, my answer is no."
"I"m sorry to hear that. You would have been an a.s.set." He lifted his mug and drained it. "Thanks for the coffee."
"Anytime."
Ben sat and watched the general walk back across the road, rejoining his own troops. "Interesting, but not surprising," Ben muttered. He sighed and looked down at his own coffee mug. "The second civil war," hesaid.
"Compliments of all you a.s.sholes back in the nineteen sixties, seventies, and eighties who just couldn"t keep your G.o.dd.a.m.n hands off the Const.i.tution and the Bill of Rights. You just had to screw up a good thing. I hope you"re all alive and witnessing this. And I hope you choke on it!"