Then it came to General Georgi Striganov.
My old friend was right. I am sick. Mentally sick. "Vasily?"
"Yes, General. I am here."
"Where will we go?"
"Canada."
"You"ve thought much on this." It was not phrased as a question.
"Yes, General. I have that."
"Vasily, is Ben Raines a G.o.d?"
"I ... I don"t know, Georgi. I rather doubt it. But I can"t be sure. Do you believe in G.o.d, Georgi?"
"I ... I think I might, Vasily. Some... form of higher power, at least."
"Truth time, Georgi?"
"Of course."
"I always have."
"I"m sick, Vasily."
"I know. But you"re not very sick. You"ve been under tremendous pressure. But you"re going to get well. We need you, Georgi. And I mean that.
Not as a scientist; you don"t know beans concerning that area. But as a leader, we need you."
Georgi managed a smile. "I suppose I have been a very large pain in the a.s.s, haven"t I, Vasily?"
The doctor returned the smile. "At times, Georgi. At times."
The two men enjoyed a rare moment of humor.
Vasily said, "I"m going to give you a shot, General. You will not remember the flight to Canada.
It"s very doubtful you will remember very much for several days. I"m going to keep you sedated. You"re going to rest, you"re going to eat, and you"re not going to worry about anything. Do I have your permission, old friend?"
"Yes." He stood up and rolled up his sleeve. "I"m ready anytime you are."
Ben had been asleep for several hours when James shook his shoulder, waking him.
"Ben. Lots of planes taking off and leaving from the IPF HQ near the coast."
Ben quickly dressed and stepped outside, walking to the makeshift radio room in a deserted motel.
He picked up the mic. Dan was on the other end.
"Where are they heading, Dan?"
"North-northeast, General. All of them taking and maintaining the same heading. My lads at the border report the course is true."
"And la.s.sies," Ben said with a smile.
"Ah, yes, sir. Must"n forget the ladies.
Your orders, sir?"
"Go back to bed and get some sleep. We"re not going to do anything this night. Continue mopping up and advancing at first light. I"ve got a hunch Striganov is bugging out for Canada. Alberta or Saskatchewan. We"ll find out soon enough, I"ll bet. Thanks, Dan. And good night."
"Good night, General."
Ben stopped on his way back to his bed. He looked toward the north. "I wonder what that G.o.dd.a.m.ned Hartline is up to?"
"h.e.l.lo, baby," Sam spoke around his grin.
"My, aren"t you a little thing. What"s your name?"
"Lisa."
"Pretty name for a pretty girl. We"re going to have fun, baby. Just you and me."
She cut her eyes to Rich. There was a smirk on his face. "You told."
He shrugged.
"Oh, don"t blame him, pretty baby.
Rich just found something he liked better than p.u.s.s.y." "The others got away," Lisa told Rich.
"Kim figured it was you who tattled. They"ll get you, Rich. They"ll get you."
"You wanna watch this, Rich?" Sam asked the boy.
"I wouldn"t miss it for the world," Rich said.
"It isn"t Rich"s fault," Ann said to the others. "He can"t stand any type of pain. And he is what he is because of his parents. I grew up with Rich. We were neighbors."
"I"m not blaming him for what he is,"
Kim said. "We have boys and girls like that among our group back in the safe territory. They fight right alongside the rest of us. Some of them have gone to their death silently. So could Rich. My hunch is he never had any pain put on him. He"s just weak all the way through. And I"ll tell you something else he is."
The others waited.
Kim finished. "He"s dead!"
Colonel Khamsin had difficulty sleeping that night. Finally, in the hours just before dawn, he kicked off his thin covering and got up. His recon teams to the west had reported a large-scale battle yesterday. And now many planes had been taking off from the Russian"s location.
What did it mean? Was the Russian leaving?
Had he been defeated? Or had Ben Raines been defeated?
It was so like Sam Hartline not to radio and inform him as to what was taking place.
When this was over and done, Khamsin felt the best thing he could do would be to kill Sam Hartline.
With that thought in mind, Colonel Khamsin returned to his bed and slept soundly.
Ben was not prepared for the sight that greeted him at the experiment station near Striganov"s offices.
He walked outside and vomited his lunch on the ground.
"Jesus G.o.d!" Ben said. "What kind of creatures are those in there?"
"A near-perfect worker breed," one of the captured IPF doctors said.
Ben looked at him.
"And if you people had not come meddling along with your high and mighty-and ill-thought-out, I might add-ideals of races being equal, we would have succeeded in perfecting the breed."
Ben resisted an impulse to shoot the b.a.s.t.a.r.d where he stood.
"Why were these few left behind?" Ben asked.
"They probably didn"t have room for them."
"Where did Striganov go?"
"I do not know, General Raines. But if I may make an educated guess? ... Thank you.
I would suggest Canada."
"Alberta, Saskatchewan?"
"Probably. It would be a fertile area where crops would grow. General Striganov hasadmitted on more than one occasion that this area was wrong; that he made a mistake coming here."
"Listen to me, whatever your name is ..."
"My name is-was "Shut your mouth!"
The Russian"s mouth clamped shut. Tightly.
He wasn"t accustomed to being spoken to in such a crude manner. He was a scientist, not some grunting soldier. But he decided he"d best kept those thoughts to himself.
This Ben Raines was a savage-looking man.
Such mean eyes!
"How many women left here are pregnant with these ... things?"
"I"ll have to examine them, sir."
"Fine. Good. You do that. And then you will abort them. Is that understood?"
"Yes, sir."
"And G.o.dd.a.m.n you, they"d better all survive.
Do you understand that?"
"Sir! As a doctor and scientist, I cannot give any guarantees as to-was Ben slapped him, first open-palmed, then a savage backhand. The man fell to the ground, moaning and holding his busted and bleeding mouth.
"Bear this in mind, then, Doctor.
For the rest of your life, and that might be very short, you are going to look after these unfortunate men and women you slimy b.a.s.t.a.r.ds and b.i.t.c.hes used as guinea pigs.
So don"t screw up, Doctor. You can"t afford it. Understood?"
"Yes, sir!"
"Move your a.s.s!"
Hartline was oblivious to the girl"s pain-filled cries and the bleeding where he had ripped her with his savage attack.
He rose from the floor where he had taken her in a maddened l.u.s.t, and looked down at her.
"You"ll see, baby," he said. "It"ll get good to you after a time."
He threw back his head and laughed. "Tell me, Lisa, baby. You still think Ben Raines is a G.o.d?"
"Yes," she moaned.
Sam picked up his belt from the dresser and began beating her nakedness.
Seated in a chair, Rich watched in wet-lipped fascination. "Hit her again, Sam!" he yelled.
"Hit her harder!"
Life is eternal; and love is immortal; and death is only a horizon; and a horizon is nothing save the limit of our sight.
Rossiter W. Raymond