Ben shook his head. "Then I guess there"s little doubt that it"s Bottger who"s behind the meres in South America."
Harley nodded. "It certainly fits with the evidence."
"It seems Claire Osterman has made a bargain with not one, but two devils, Perro Loco and Bruno Bottger."
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"They"re gonna be a tough team to beat, especially if they establish a strong foothold in Mexico City," Hammer said.
"I don"t see any way to prevent that," Ben said, "short of our precipitating an international incident by invading Mexico ourselves."
"Then the Mexican president is still refusing to accept our help?"
Harley asked.
"Yes. The idiot thinks his troops can hold off both Loco"s army and Bottger"s mercenaries."
"He"s a fool then," Hammer said.
"Yeah, it looks like the Americans in the U.S. aren"t the only ones to elect an imbecile for a leader."
"If you can call Mexican elections the voice of the people, as corrupt as they are," Anna said.
"Well, that"s neither here nor there. We"ve got problems of our own.
Osterman"s troops are pushing us along all of our northern borders, so we"re going to have plenty to do just to keep the wolves from our own doors without worrying too much about saving Mexico"s bacon."
"What can we do?" Harley asked.
"I"ve divided our battalions up among the various states of the SUSA; Texas, Louisiana, Kentucky, Missouri, Arkansas, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, Virginia, and North and South Carolina. In addition, I"ve sent Jackie Malone with a squad of the best of our scouts to parachute in and hara.s.s Osterman at every opportunity in her own backyard."
Harley glanced at Hammer and smiled. They"d both served under Jackie in the past, and had the utmost respect for her abilities to cause problems for those she opposed. "I"ll bet Osterman is s.h.i.tting bricks," Harley said.
Ben laughed. "I suppose so. Jackie took over an Air National Guard base in Peoria and attacked Sugar Babe"s home base last night, inflicting fairly severe damage."
"You go, girl," Beth whispered, a wide grin on her face.
"I"ve already heard that Osterman had the gall to complain 205.
205about an unwarranted attack by our forces to the United Nations this morning."
"She"s got some b.a.l.l.s," Harley said, reluctant admiration in his voice.
"And then some," Ben agreed. "Jean-Francois Chapelle, Secretary General of the UN., called Cecil Jeffreys and asked him what was going on."
"What"d Cec tell him?" Anna asked.
"Cec said he had no idea who had attacked Osterman, but that it might have been dissidents in her own Army, since the planes involved were hers."
"Did Chapelle buy that c.o.c.k-and-bull story?" Hammer asked.
"Not for a minute, but he couldn"t do much since Claire had no proof we were involved. And when Cec asked him to look into the provocative troop movements of Osterman"s, he said he"d take it under advis.e.m.e.nt."
"So, as usual, the U.N. is useless as teats on a boar hog?" Harley asked.
"Right," Ben answered. "They won"t get involved unless some Third World country goes crying to them, which isn"t going to happen any time soon.
The U.N. looks upon this as just another squabble to stay out of, letting us settle it between ourselves."
"You know, Ben, they might act differently if we tell them about this plague Bottger is going to try and unleash on the world. If it gets out of hand, it may affect many more nations that just ours," Anna said.
"That"s a thought," Ben said. "I"ll pa.s.s it along to Cec and let him run with it, though I doubt it"ll do any good. The U.N. is so used to burying its head in the sand, I don"t think anything will convince them to take a stand, until it"s all over."
"And what about us?" Harley asked.
"I want you to rest up for a few days, get a little R and R, and be ready to ship out next week."
"Where to?" Hammer asked.
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"I thought a little trip down Mexico way might be good for you, since you"re already acclimated to the climate by your stay in South America."
"Mexico? But I thought the president didn"t want us down there," Harley said.
"He doesn"t, but what he doesn"t know won"t hurt him, will it?" Ben said with a grin.
207.
Comandante Perro Loco was sitting at his breakfast table, remembering the beginnings of the war for Mexico, when Ben Raines had interfered and dashed his hopes for a quick, decisive victory just a few months ago, as he studied old field reports from his spies and commanders north of theMexican border.
Field Marshal Bruno Bottger walked in, followed by his second in command, Sergei Bergman.
"Good morning, comandante," Bottger said, evidently in a better mood this morning after a full night"s sleep.
"Buenos dias, Field Marshal," Loco replied, straightening the papers on the table next to his plate of scrambled eggs covered with hot sauce.
Bottger and Bergman took their seats and gave orders to the Mexican waiter to bring them whatever the comandante was having, along with a pot of coffee.
Then Bottger spied the papers in front of Loco. "What are you reading, Loco? Field reports?" he asked.
Loco shook his head. "No, I am just reviewing what information I have about Ben Raines and his form of government. I believe, like Cicero of the Roman Republic, to win at war, one must first know one"s enemies as well as one"s allies."
Bottger smiled, nodding. "What have you found out about Raines?"
"I have just been reading from transcripts given to one of my spies by a newspaper reporter from New York." He pa.s.sed 208.
the paper across the table to Bottger, who began to read it. The report by Robert Barnes, war correspondent for the United Press, read as follows: "As North America began to slowly pull itself out of the greatest economic and social collapse in world history, Ben Raines found himself to be the most hated man in all of America. That really didn"t come as any surprise to Ben, for right after the collapse, Ben had gathered together a small group called the Rebels-a mixture of po-litical/militia/survivalist-oriented men and women-and told them, "We"re going to rebuild. Against all odds, we"re going to carve out our own nation. And we"re going to be hated for our success."
"As it turned out, hate was not nearly a strong enough word. Ben and his Rebels first went to the Northwest and settled what would be forever known as the Tri-States, with the Tri-States form of government. The philosophy was based on personal responsibility and common sense. It soon became a hated form of government for those living outside the Tri-States, for liberals and other left-wingers don"t want to be responsible for anything they do and they don"t appear to possess any common sense.
" "Of course, that isn"t entirely true," Ben once said in one of his rarely granted interviews with the press. "But that"s the way it seems to those of us who believe that government should stay out of the lives of its citizens as much as possible."
"In the Tri-States, if you got careless and stuck yourself in the face with the business end of a screwdriver, you didn"t sue the manufacturer of the screwdriver for damages . . . you learned to be more careful in handling tools."Common sense.
"Ben Raines realized that not everyone could, or would, live under a system of law that leaned heavily on common sense and personal responsibility. From the outset he es- 209.
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timated, correctly, as it turned out, that no more than two or three out of every ten Americans could live under a Tri-States form of government.
People who came to live in the old Tri-States did not expect something for nothing ... and that was wise on their part, for they d.a.m.n sure weren"t going to get something for nothing.
"In the Tri-States, everybody who was able worked at something. No able-bodied person sat on their a.s.s and expected free handouts from the taxpayers . . . that just wasn"t going to happen. You might not like the job that would be found for you, and it would be found very quickly, but you worked it, or you got out.
"Criminals discovered almost immediately that in the Tri-States, they had very few rights. All the rights belonged to the law-abiding citizens. If a criminal got hurt during the commission of a crime, he or she could not sue for damages. If they got killed, their family could not sue for damages. And in the Tri-States, a lot of criminals got killed during the first years. The Tri-States was not a friendly place for criminals . . . and it didn"t take criminals long to discover that.
The residents of the Tri-States didn"t have a problem with drugs; the penalty for selling hard drugs was death; when caught, and after a very brief trial, the criminals had a choice, hanging or firing squad.
Consequently, very soon drug dealing in the Tri-States dropped off to zero.
"Life was so good in the Tri-States, the central government, once it got back on its feet after only a few years, couldn"t stand it and moved against the Tri-Staters. It was a terrible battle, but in the end the old Tri-States, located in the Northwest, was destroyed.
"But Ben Raines and his dream lived, and Ben gathered together the survivors of the government a.s.sault, and declared war on the government ... a dirty, nasty, hit-and-destroy-and-run type of guerrilla warfare.
"Eventually, the entire United States collapsed inward 210.
and Ben and his Rebels, now hundreds and hundreds strong, were able to move into the South and set up a new government. This time it was called the SUSA: the Southern United States of America.
"It was a struggle for a few years, and one time the SUSA was overrun by rabble from outside its borders. But the Rebels beat the attackers back and rebuilt their nation, larger and stronger and more self-sufficient than ever before.
"The Rebels are now the largest and most powerful and feared fighting force in the free world, so much so that the Secretary General of the newly reorganized United Nations met with Ben Raines and made a bargainwith him: You deal with a few trouble spots around the world, especially with Bruno Bottger and his band of n.a.z.is, and we"ll recognize the SUSA as a free and sovereign nation.
"The two men shook hands, sealing the deal, and Ben took his Rebels and sailed off to Africa."
As Bottger put the paper down, Loco said, "The report ended just as Raines was heading off to fight you, Field Marshal, in Africa, some years ago."
Bottger pursed his lips, a wry expression on his face. He glanced at Bergman, who was scowling.
"We remember the time very well, comandante," Bottger said in a low voice, as if he didn"t appreciate being reminded of his defeat at the hands of Raines.
Loco pushed a journal-type doc.u.ment across the table. "This is a journal, written by one of Raines"s team that accompanied him throughout that campaign," Loco said. "It too gives fresh insight into the way Raines"s mind works, and speaks directly toward his motivation in trying to save the world from men such as he believes we are."
Bottger thumbed through the journal, reading as he sipped his coffee.
211.
211.
"Ben poured a fresh hot mug of coffee from the thermos and shook his head and sighed, remembering all too vividly the bad days in America, before the collapse, before the terrible germ war that wiped out every government around the globe, even before the nationwide taxpayer revolt that cost hundreds of Americans their lives as hardworking and hard-pressed-by-the-government citizens protested the amount of money extorted from them every year by the government . . . and in many cases, at least in the minds of many, the money carelessly p.i.s.sed away by Congress.
"Ben sat in his tent and sipped his coffee, recalling the smooth and highly effective actions of the insidious gun-grab folks at work, until they finally got their way and all handguns (except those in the hands of selected citizens-the suck-a.s.s types) were seized by federal agents and carefully handpicked and trained members of the military.
"Ben recalled even before then, when morally the nation was sliding down into the gutter.
" "Morally we were bankrupt," Ben muttered, after taking another sip of coffee. "Many Americans were happy and content to be playing among the t.u.r.ds and the puke in the sewers."
"And Ben knew the nation was definitely morally bankrupt in the years before the Great War and the collapse. There was filth and perversion every day on the television and in the movies. The same garbage, and in many cases, much worse, could be found in cybers.p.a.ce, on the information highway called the Internet.
"Liberals and many members of the press screamed that it was freedom of speech and to interfere would be a violation of the Bill of Rights."But Ben had grave doubts about that.
"A few years before the entire world fell apart there had been a rash of schoolyard killings: kids killing kids 212.
for no apparent reason. The hysterical gun-grabbers howled that it was the availability of guns that caused the kids to kill. But Ben and millions of others who applied common sense to everyday living know that was pure horses.h.i.t: nothing but mealymouthed, out-of-touch-with-reality liberals making excuses for deviant and otherwise totally unacceptable behavior.
"Ben stirred restlessly in his camp chair as old memories came flooding back with startling clarity, vivid images of him, years back, sitting in the den of his home trying to watch television, but instead seething with anger at the TV news commentators and movie and TV personalities (all of them so left-leaning and liberal it pained them to have to give a right-hand turn signal), excusing the behavior of dope dealers, violent criminals, gang members, and degenerates . . . and especially saying the Bible was pa.s.se.
"Ben had listened to those types espouse their views that the Bible didn"t really have to be followed . . . not down to the letter. If a certain pa.s.sage of Scriptures didn"t please the reader, well, just ignore it and go on to another pa.s.sage that better suited the reader"s lifestyle.
"Ben had always wondered, often, as he recalled, what the Almighty thought about that.
"Ben was not an overly religious man, but he certainly believed in G.o.d and he did read the Bible: He carried a Bible with him in the wagon and read it often, taking a great deal of comfort in the words.
"He recalled a radio interview he"d done with a talk show host one time, just a few months before the Great War and the collapse. The interviewer was one of those who believed that only the police and the military should own guns, and no civilian should be allowed to carry a concealed weapon . . . except for certain selected individuals, that is; but he would never say who those selected people might be. But Ben knew: people who gave lots of 213.
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money to the whiny, I-want-to-run-your-life and the give-me-something-for-nothing parties. The interviewer placed the blame for many of society"s ills solely on guns . . . but never, ever on the person holding the gun.
"Ben had finally lost his temper with the left-winger and the interview turned decidedly nasty. The ratings for that show were the highest ever known.
"Ben smiled as he recalled that long-ago TV show. That had been a fun interview! He had succeeded in making the left-wing liberal p.r.i.c.k angryand the man had lost his cool. Ben had been good at doing that.
"Ben"s smile faded. Now the city where the station had been located no longer existed, except in the ashes of memory. Those wonderful people the interviewer had so staunchly defended had turned the streets into a battleground, as punk gangs fought for control . . . until the Rebels came along and killed them."
Bottger sneered as he put the journal down. "This is bulls.h.i.t, written by a woman obviously infatuated with General Raines. No one in a position of power is that naive, that altruistic," Bottger said.
Loco shrugged. "I would not be too sure, Field Marshal. I, for one, believe Ben Raines is just as he"s reported to be, a fanatic about self-reliance and loyalty. Just read what the journal says about his relationship with the president of the SUSA."
Bottger picked the journal back up and read: "Cecil Jeffreys was the president of the SUSA, the first black man elected to such a high office in America . . . and it took the separation of the nation and the men and women of the South to accomplish it.
"Cecil and Ben had been friends for many years. Cecil had left the grueling life in the field to enter politics after a heart attack nearly killed him during a campaign."
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Loco pointed at the transcript of the expedition written by Robert Barnes, war correspondent, a.s.sociated Press, and the journal written by an unnamed member of his team. "Ben Raines is part madman," Loco said, "as you can see by his antiquated beliefs in the importance of the individual, and I believe that makes him a far more formidable adversary than we have believed. I think part of his success against both of us has been that fact, that we"ve underestimated him, thought him to be more like us, when in fact he is just the opposite."
Bottger put down the lengthy article. "Ben Raines and his men are very tough," he said, "and they are apparently completely unafraid of us and our armies, a fact we must take into consideration. We can only hope that Raines"s battles with the forces of the USA will weaken him and divide his attention from us long enough for us to prevail here in Mexico."