Ben had his people moving within the hour.
Dan"s Scouts took the point. Ben b.i.t.c.hed about it, but he agreed to be stuck back with the tanks. Chase was bringing up the rear, with his mobile field hospital and doctors and nurses.
Buddy had radioed in that the old AF base was a mess, but he had uncovered some underground tunnels that looked very promising and had proved to be more than that. Thousands and thousands of cases of MRE"S and winter clothing encased in heavy plastic bags; just like new. M-16"s and M-60"s and ammo.
"Looks like we"re set for a winter campaign,"
Ben had told the others. "And finding those MRE"S was a G.o.dsend. They might not be the tastiest meals around, but they d.a.m.n sure beat the goop that La-mar dreamed up." "Screw you, Raines!" the doctor had told him.
"Dan is reporting that none of the little towns approaching Spokane are inhabited," Corrie told Ben. "And no sign of creepies."
"Believers," Ben corrected her with a smile.
"They"re creeps to me, General."
"Me, too," Ben admitted. "How far have the Scouts advanced?"
"To what is left of a town called Opportunity."
"Tell him to hold up there. Cooper, pa.s.s these tanks and put the pedal to the metal."
"Do what, sir?"
Ben smiled. "Sorry, Coop. You"re a little young to remember that phrase. Just get us there."
"Yes, please do that," Jersey said. "How come the worst driver in the entire Rebel Army gets to be your driver, General?"
"Just lucky, I guess, Jersey."
"You"re just jealous because I get to sit up front with the general," Cooper said with a grin, a wriggle and a bad lisp.
"You wanna trade places with me, Jersey?"
Ben said quickly, looking over his shoulder.
"h.e.l.l, no!"
Cooper got them to Opportunity in one piece and slid to a halt by Dan"s Jeep. There was nothing left of the town; every building had been gutted by fire. The only thing left standing was the road sign, and it had several bullet holes in it.
Every town they had pa.s.sed since moving across the state line had looked the same. And all other units were reporting the same thing.
"Let"s see if that Judge leveled with us," Ben said. "Beth, get a map with population figures and find every town that had a population of say, oh, seventeen thousand or more back before the war.
We"ll see if the creeps destroyed or ignored anything less than that when they settled in."
Ben studied maps while Beth got to work. It did not take her long.
"Twenty-nine, sir. Some of them with populations somewhat less than seventeen thousand -- before the war.
I"ve circled them on this map."
Ben looked at the map. "And ten to one that outlaws are working the interior of the state."
"No bet from me," Dan said, looking over Ben"s shoulder. "Big state."
"Almost sixty-seven thousand square miles. And before the Great War it had a population of four and a half million." Ben shrugged. "Well, we"ve got about six hours of daylight left and we all know we have it to do, so let"s get to it. Corrie, radio all units to begin the attack."
General Striganov"s troops knocked open a hole coming down from the north and set up his CP at the old Whitworth College complex. He did not want to penetrate in too far and get trapped, so he pulled up there and waited.
Ike punched a hole big enough to get a toehold and a route over to the Spokane International Airport and get it secured. He left it in the hands of Buddy and the Bikers and told them to start clearing a runway for the planes to land.
Cecil took his column and cut off of Highway 27 between Mica and Freeman onto a county road, coming up just south of Glenrose, about five miles east of Ike"s position.
West had come in on Highway 290 and was just north of Ben"s position, almost within shouting distance.
All units pushed off at Ben"s signal and immediately ran into heavy fire from the creepies. The Judge had told Ben that after their defeat in New York City, the Believers had better armed themselves, knowing they were in a fight to the death with Ben and his Rebels.
And the Judge had not been wrong. The Rebels found themselves slugging it out with an enemy that was just as well-armed as they were, including heavy mortars and rocket launchers.
There was no doubt in Ben"s mind that he was going to eventually take the city, but after several hours"
fighting, he knew it was going to be a slow process. The creepies were not giving up an inch of ground without it being turned b.l.o.o.d.y before they backed up.
And by the approach of dusk, the creepies had backed up d.a.m.n little.
The forces of West and Ben had advanced only to Argonne Road before they were stalled. Georgi held onto the Whitworth College complex, but only with an all-out effort from his people. Cecil had made it to the city limits and ran into a solid wall of resistance. Ike had punched through to High Drive Parkway and then was forced to back up because of a tried end-around from the creepies that threatened to cut him off.
Jerre found Ben on the floor of an old service station-turned CP, studying a map of the state. His personal team was scattered around the building, in defensive postures. She squatted down beside him.
"Grim, Ben." "Yeah. Slick move on their part, pulling the prisoners inside the cities. Limits us and pulls us down to fighting their way."
"What"s with the map?"
"If I was in the creepies" position, with help all around me, I"ll pull something sneaky."
"Such as?"
"Just a guess. But we know that the Pullman area is filled with Believers. As is Walla Walla and the Kennewick/pasco/richland area.
I"d pull reenforce-ments up from Pullman to attack Ike"s position and people up from the tri-city area to come in from the west, on the Interstate, to attack Buddy and the bikers."
"Buddy wouldn"t stand a chance."
"Yeah. And Ike would be put in one h.e.l.l of a situation."
Ben waved Corrie over to him. "Get Five and Six Battalions on the move. Five will set up along Highway One-ninety-five at this little town of Spangle, while Six will move on over to the Interstate and set up ten miles from Buddy"s position at the airport. Get them moving now.
When that is done, get all commanders on the horn."
"Double the guards," Ben told his people, scattered all around the fringes of the city. "No fires, no smoking, and maintain noise discipline. They might decide to hit us tonight. Be ready for anything.
Eagle out."
Ben and his team bedded down on the floor of the old service station, with Rebels on guard all around the outside of the building.
Ben suspected that the creepies would try a night raid, and he was on the mark with that suspicion.
He sensed someone was about to touch him and came wide awake, looking up into the eyes of Jerre.
"They"re coming, Ben," she whispered. "All sectors reporting creepies moving up."
"Get our people outside the garage inside," Ben said, pulling on and speed-lacing his boots.
"Everybody up?"
"Just Corrie and me."
"Get them up, kid."
"Coffee"s hot in the back room, Ben."
"Thanks." Ben picked up his M-14 and slipped into body armor and battle harness, then went into the back room and poured a cup of coffee that was as black as sin is purported to be and hot as h.e.l.l.
But after several sips he was wide awake.
Jerre came into the room, the only light the dim illumination from the moon through a very dirty window. She poured a cup and leaned against the counter. "Sarah slipped into this sector last night. Doctor Chase said he was getting tired of her moping around and sighing and making goo-goo eyes in the direction of Colonel Gray."
Ben chuckled softly. "They"re both smitten, that"s for sure. In a way I"m glad for them."
"In a way?"
"The battlefield is a h.e.l.l of a place for romance, Jerre. Dan is a professional; he"s not going to let thoughts of a loved one interfere with the business at hand. Sarah, though, is another story."
"They"re getting into position, General," Corrie called softly. "Two blocks in front of us.
All field commanders are urging you to fall back and get into a safer CP."
"Tell all field commanders their concern touches me deeply. I"m staying right where I am."
"I"ll get that message right out, General,"
Corrie said, laughing softly.
Both knew she would not send it.
"Gray coming in!" the call came from the darkness just as Ben got into position. "With company."
"Come on, Colonel" Cooper called.
Dan slipped in, pushing Sarah Bradford in front of him. "Sorry for the interruption, General," Dan said. "But I wanted to get Sarah to a more secure location before the creepies struck us."
"Perfectly understandable," Ben replied.
"Did I screw up?" Sarah asked, looking at Ben.
"Not really. People who are fond of each other like to be with each other. Human nature. But from here on in, I would suggest you stay with the hospital unit while we"re in a combat situation. And Sarah," he smiled at her, "that isn"t an order."
She returned the smile just as Ben"s eyes caught silent and furtive movement across the street.
"Down!" he yelled, and hurled himself against Jerre, putting both of them on the floor just as a light machine gun opened up from across the street.
Dan had done with Sarah the same as Ben with Jerre and the other Rebels had automatically hit the floor before Ben"s yell had stopped echoing around the big room.
"Corrie!" Ben shouted, above the yammer of weapons, both Rebel and creepie. "Alert all commanders that we"ve been infiltrated and watch out for the same."
Sarah cut her questioning blue eyes from Ben and Jerre back to Dan.
"Later," Dan said, and rolled away from her. He jerked his walkie-talkie from a side pouch and keyed it. "Scout leader here. Are you infiltrated?"
"That"s ten-four, Colonel," the Scout XO spoke calmly. "They"re all around us."
"I shan"t be rejoining you. I"ll stay here with the general. Take command."
"Yes, sir."
Ben had bipodded his M-14 between piled-up bags of sand and dirt dug that afternoon and laid out a line of full clips to his right. "Berets off and helmets on," he ordered. "Pa.s.s it up and down the line, Corrie. Leave chin straps loosened to prevent concussion injury."
"Yes, sir."
"Dan, get a rocket launcher and neutralize that son of a b.i.t.c.h across the street, please."
"Right, sir." Dan scrambled across the concrete floor on hands and knees and grabbed a tube and rockets. He slipped out the back.
"All units have been infiltrated, sir,"
Corrie told him. "Five and Six Battalions reporting coming under heavy mortar fire."
"They"re throwing it all at us tonight," Ben said.
"It"s going to be a long and noisy night."
The Rebels in the old service station stacked the creepies up in dead stinking piles on the street in front of them. The creepies tried an end-around and found that Ben had planned for that by setting up Claymores at the rear of the building. They tried twice from the rear and then gave that up as a very bad idea.
"Five and Six Battalions getting bloodied, but holding," Corrie reported. She listened to her headset for a moment and said, "Doctor Chase is cut off. Creepies coming out of Balfour Park have blocked the street and our people can"t bust through."
"That isn"t worth a s.h.i.t," Ben said. "Main battle tanks rolling, Corrie. Break through and secure the field hospital zone."
"Ten-four, sir."