Danger in the Ashes

by William W. Johnstone

  “I hope you’re right.”

  “Oh, I am, Ben. Rest assured of that.”

  Ben yawned hugely. “Guess I was tired; more so than I thought.”

  “Come on. Let’s find you a bed.”

  Ben balked at putting on the hospital gown. “I’ll sleep in my shorts.”

  “Oh, come on, Raines. Stop being such a baby!”

  Reluctantly, Ben got into the backless gown and stretched out on the bed. In two minutes, he was sleeping peacefully.

  Chase waved at a floor nurse. “Schedule Ben Raines for surgery at ten o’clock. Work on his feet. And while we’ve got him, I want to dig that old lead out of his right leg. Knock him down at six and again at eight.”

  “That’s a lot of Demerol, doctor.”

  “You don’t know Ben Raines the way I do.”

  “Yes, sir.”

  Lamar Chase walked away, to his hospital quarters. He’d get a few hours sleep. He was still chuckling as he drifted off into sleep.

  When Ben woke up at one o’clock that afternoon, both feet were bandaged and there was a bandage on his right leg.

  He lay in the hospital bed and cussed, loudly, sending nurses and orderlies running in all directions.

  Then he lay back and grinned. “The old son of a bitch did it to me again!”

  BOOK TWO

  We think our civilization near its meridian, but we are yet only at the cock-crowing and the morning star. In our barbarous society the influence of character is in its infancy.

  - Emerson

  ONE

  “I love it!” Tina yelled, when the pilots told her what Dr. Chase had done. Ike came running over and began whooping with laughter.

  “I bet you Ben is so mad he’s got every nurse and doctor in that place running for cover.”

  “Knowing Dad, he won’t be down for very long. I’ll bet you he’s back at work, in house slippers, by late this afternoon.”

  “If they give him back his clothes!” Major Broadhurst doubled over with laughter.

  Tina wiped her eyes. “Those two have been doing stuff like this ever since I can remember. Chase better watch out, or Dad will slip a whoopee cushion in his chair.”

  The platoon of Rebels just flown in with the additional supplies brought the complement to over three hundred. Rebel mechanics had been working fast and furiously on half a dozen trucks they’d found; the extra vehicles were needed because of the new platoon and all their equipment.

  The chief mechanic walked up to Ike. “Sorry, sir. But it’s going to take us at least another day to get these trucks running.”

  “Just do the best you can, Sid,” Ike told him. He turned to Tina. “Beef up your Scouts, Tina. Pick whoever you like. Then shove off. Start clearing any blockades you find around Knoxville; I’m pretty sure you’re going to find a lot of them. Get movin’, kid. We’ll see you in a couple of days.”

  Tina trotted off, shouting for her team.

  They pulled out within the hour, heading eastward . . . into the unknown.

  The pilots brought Ike up to date on the Patrice Dubois affair, and about the rednecks.

  “Ben won’t tolerate that,” Ike summed it up. “He’ll brood about it for a few days, and then he’ll take a team in and clean out that nest of rattlesnakes. Bet on it.”

  “Well, Raines!” Chase said cheerfully. “How are we feeling this afternoon?”

  “If you think I’m going to respond to that old joke, Lamar, you’re nuts. You tricked me, you old bastard.”

  “In a few days, you’ll be thanking me.” Chase thought about that for a few seconds. “Well . . . no, you won’t thank me. But you will feel better.” He tossed a chunk of lead onto Ben’s chest. “That’s what’s been causing your leg pains. I told you to let me dig that out years ago.”

  “You did the surgery? Jesus! I’ll probably never walk again!”

  “Actually, no, I didn’t do the surgery. I let a young lady do it. You haven’t met her. She’s been working up in North Carolina for the past year.” He turned and called out the door. “Dr. Allardt? Would you come in here, please.”

  Ben looked up as she walked into the room. He sure hadn’t met her! He would have remembered that.

  “Dr. Holly Allardt,” Chase said, “I believe you’ve met Ben Raines . . . informally. Ben, this is the newest addition to my staff.”

  Ben’s eyes drifted over her. From head to knees. Since that was as far as he could see from flat on his back.

  About five-five. Honey-colored hair. Blue eyes. Very fair complexion, but touched with a summer’s tan. Shapely.

  “Dr. Allardt. Welcome to camp.”

  “Thank you, general.” Her voice had a husky quality. Very sexy-sounding, Ben thought. Hell, everything about her was sexy.

  “I’ll just leave you two alone to get acquainted,” Chase said.

  “You wait just a damn minute!” Ben stopped him. “When the hell do I get out of this dump? I’ve got a lot to do.”

  “I have no idea, Raines. You’re not my patient. Ask Dr. Allardt. ’Bye, all.” He left the room.

  “We’ll keep you for twenty-four hours, general,” Holly told him. “That’s SOP. Probably discharge you at noon tomorrow.”

  Ben began bitching. Holly folded her arms under her breasts and calmly waited until he was finished cussing. “That won’t do you a bit of good, general. You’ll be discharged when I say so. The surgery was really very minor, so you should be back to full-throttle in a couple of days.”

  “Good. I’ve got a nest of crap to clean out.”

  “Violence is not always the best way in dealing with the uneducated, general.”

  “It is with this bunch of trash. They’ve had a hundred years to clean up their act. And made no progress on it.”

  It was obvious that she did not agree with him. But from the expression on her face it was clear that she also realized that he was the Supreme Commander of all Rebel forces. But Ben, loving a good debate, wasn’t about to let this one pass.

  “If you don’t agree with the Rebel philosophy, doctor, then why did you join?”

  “I didn’t join the Rebels, general. I am a doctor, practicing with this unit. I can practice better medicine here than anywhere else in the nation. And learn a lot as well.”

  “I see. And you just happened to be in North Carolina?”

  “Actually, no. I was in West Virginia. I’m from Virginia.”

  “You say that, announce it, really, like it’s supposed to impress me.”

  Her eyes flashed Danger! Ben saw it, liked it, and grinned at her.

  When she would not speak, Ben said, “First family and all that, huh?”

  “Among the first to settle there, yes.”

  “My goodness! I’m among royalty and didn’t even realize it. Do I salute or bow or what? I better salute. If I bent over, I’d be letting it all hang out.”

  “Are you deliberately trying to provoke a quarrel, general?”

  “Why not? Nothing else to do in this place.”

  “Oh, yes, there is, General Raines.”

  “What?”

  She walked to the door and turned, smiling sweetly. “Get better.” She walked out the door, closing it.

  But she smiled as she heard Ben’s laughter following her up the hall.

  Cecil pushed open the door and stepped inside the room just as Holly was rounding a corner, disappearing from view.

  “What’s so funny, Ben?”

  “Did you see that class act that just left?”

  “That’s funny?”

  “Never mind. Cec, pull all Rebel patrols out of the Stanford Community.”

  “All of them?”

  “All of them. Stop patrolling at once.”

  “All right, Ben. Would you mind telling me why you’re doing this?”

  “Hiram wants a fight.”

  Cecil looked at him. “That’s it? I’m supposed to make sense out of that?”

  “You didn’t let me finish. Give me a piece of paper and
a pencil. Thanks.” He drew a ragged circle. “This parish is roughly seven hundred square miles. One of the biggest in the state. On the west side of this circle — which represents the Stanford Community — is a series of interconnecting bayous. From about here to here. On the east side is a river. The bayou joins the river here, right down here at the bottom. The Stanford Community comprises roughly two hundred square miles. You with me?”

  “Yes. Thank you for the geography lesson, professor.”

  “You’re welcome. Now pay attention,” Ben said, chuckling.

  “I shall. You should go into the hospital more often, Ben. It improves your disposition.”

  “It isn’t the hospital, it’s the help.”

  “You’re speaking, of course, of Dr. Chase.”

  “Oh, of course, of course! Pay attention. The bayous meander throughout the area, but there are six main bridges connecting this den of abysmal heathenism with the outside world.” He looked up at Cecil and smiled.

  “You wouldn’t!”

  “Oh, yes, I would! They wish to be left alone. I am going to see that they get their chance.”

  “You’re an asshole, Raines!”

  “Oh, nay, nay, old friend. I am a wonderful person to have as a friend and ally. But I’m a motherfucker for an enemy.”

  Cecil leaned back in his chair. “Well, we got the kids out, anyway.”

  “Be damn sure that we did.”

  “I checked with some of the older children. We got them all. Half a dozen walked out of their own accord, just to join the others. What’s this going to accomplish, Ben?”

  “For one thing, it’s going to force Hiram’s hand. He’ll sit back for a couple of weeks and be content. Then somebody will have to go scrounging for a part. They won’t be able to get out. They may want to go visiting somewhere, but they won’t be able to do that. That’s going to put Hiram between that rock and the hard place.”

  “And? . . .”

  “He’s going to try to lead some people out. But when he does, he’s going to run into Rebels, patrolling outside his perimeter, and they’ll turn him back.”

  “And? . . .”

  “I’ve got to whip them all, Cec. Everyone of them. Men and women. But this way is the most bloodless. They understand force, Cec. That is the one thing a redneck does understand. Force. I’ve got to make them understand that the Rebels control every facet of their lives. I’ve got to beat them down to their knees; fighting lawlessness with lawlessness. Cec, it’s a hell of a lot better than going in there and bombing the place.”

  “Yes. I’ll give you that much. But many of them will hate you for the rest of their lives.”

  “Yes, they will, Cec. But they’ll experience one other emotion that will override that.”

  “What?”

  “Total blind fear.”

  “How much of this is personal, Ben?”

  “On a scale of one to ten, with ten being the highest?”

  “That’ll do.”

  “One. Maybe half of one. Cec, get ready for it. We’re going to be doing this all over the nation as we push our outposts in all directions. Cec, Billy Bob told me something just before he died. He said that it wasn’t right for anyone to choose to grow up dumb, knowing it, and enjoying being what they were.”

  “He was probably the best one of the lot.”

  “Yes, I think. And they killed him for it. Billy said the entire community turned out for the whipping and the tarring. Men and women.”

  “That’s disgusting!”

  “Yes. Start blowing the main bridges at dawn tomorrow. No one goes in, no one comes out.”

  Cecil nodded. “I’ll get the demo crews working on the charges now. Can I get you anything to read, Ben?”

  “How about that copy of A Gathering of Old Men you mentioned.”

  “Well, ah, it’s this way. . . .”

  Ben laughed and waved him silent. “I know, I know. You gave it to Patrice.” Ben peered closely at his friend. “It’s damned hard to tell, but I do believe you’re blushing!”

  Cecil gave him the finger and left, smiling.

  Tina and her scouts had to pick their way toward Knoxville, the Interstate being littered with rusting and broken-down vehicles of all shapes and sizes. Many had to be wrenched out of the way. And a whole lot of them, as one Rebel observed, had been deliberately placed in the roadway, and not too long ago, either.

  They were still about twenty miles from the Knoxville loop when Tina called a halt and ordered camp set up.

  The Rebels worked very quickly in securing their camp, setting up Claymores around the outer perimeters and digging machine gun pits. They could all smell trouble in the air, and the smell was of fetid, unwashed bodies. None of them had to be told what that meant.

  Buddy had halted his team’s bloody work two hours before dusk; all wanted plenty of time to bathe and eat while there was still light. For the Night People would gather around the shopping center as soon as full darkness came, chanting and humming and shouting filth at the Rebels. They hurled stones and spears and fired arrows at the shopping center. But Buddy had noticed something during the night’s barrage; something he had not mentioned to any of the others.

  Until now.

  “They’re going to try to infiltrate the complex tonight,” he told James.

  “How do you figure, Buddy?”

  “I was watching the way they operated last night. They wanted all our attention on this end. If they do the same tonight, we’ll know they’ve found a way in that we don’t know about.”

  Buddy pointed upward.

  “The roof,” James said softly. “Sure. With dust a foot deep in the other shops and stores; all the old rags of clothing and boxes and crap piled everywhere, one firebomb could destroy us all.”

  “That’s the way I think.”

  “So let’s have a little surprise waiting for them when they try it.”

  “Claymores?”

  “Oh, yeah!”

  “Have the people prepare the charges now. At dusk, get up on the roof quickly and place the Claymores. In the meantime, have teams setting up machine guns on the left side of the inside mall. When they rush us, if they rush us, they’ll be coming from the inside as well. If it works, it will make our job tomorrow ever so much easier.”

  “Yeah,” Riverson grunted. “A whole hell of lot less of them.”

  “Do you mind if I have dinner with you, General Raines?” Holly asked.

  “Not at all. I’d enjoy the company.”

  She waved a cart in and set two trays on a table. “Are you experiencing any discomfort, general?”

  “No. Just a little ache in my leg. I just took two aspirin. I’m fine.”

  He noticed she had changed out of her hospital clothes and into jeans and T-shirt. He was amused at the logo on the T-shirt.

  WOODSTOCK

  “Where in the world did you find that shirt, Holly?”

  She smiled as she placed the tray on his table and adjusted it. “In a deserted shop in Charleston. I wish I knew what it meant.”

  “Peace and love, baby.”

  She cut her eyes to him. “I beg your pardon, general?”

  “Peace and love and music . . . more or less. A big bash in Woodstock, New York.”

  “Did you attend?”

  “Hell, no!”

  She smiled at his expression. “It couldn’t have been that bad, general.”

  “It probably wasn’t. If you like the kind of music played there. I don’t. Call me Ben, please.”

  “All right, Ben. What kind of music do you like?”

  “Serious music, mostly. But I also enjoy a lot of the other types, as well.”

  “What is your objection to rock and roll?”

  “Too damn loud!”

  She laughed out loud at him. “Well, I suppose it’s all moot, now, isn’t it?”

  “Yes. And I hope it stays that way.”

  “Eat your dinner, Ben.”

  “Yes, doctor.”
/>
  They smiled at each other, eyes meeting. Something silent passed between them, invisibly touching them both.

  “My father and brother were great fans of yours, Ben.”

  “Oh?”

  “I did not share their enthusiasm.”

  He smiled at her honesty. “Well, not everyone can appreciate genius, Holly.”

  She looked up to see if he was kidding, and visibly relaxed when she saw he was. “You must know, Ben, that you are, simultaneously, the most loved and the most hated man in the world.”

  “Yes, I know.”

  “The hatred doesn’t bother you?”

  “Not really. I got used to that as a writer of many controversial novels. You should have seen some of the hate mail I received.”

  “When you were a writer, did anyone actually try to kill you?”

  “Oh, yes. Fortunately for me, they didn’t succeed.”

  “The people of the Stanford Community . . . were some of them involved in the attempts on your life?”

  “Oh, yes.”

  “You certainly have the troops to just go in there and wipe them out.”

  “Yes. But that isn’t what I want to do.” He thought about that for a moment. “That’s not true. That is what I want to do. But I’m not going to. I hope not, anyway.”

  “But if it came to that? . . .”

  “I would.”

  “You’re a strange man, Ben Raines. You’re a curious mixture of compassion and brutality. Killing does not seem to bother you.”

  “It all depends on who I’m killing. Or whom I’m killing.”

  Again, Holly noted the almost-sarcastic grin on Ben’s face. “I don’t know whether I like you, or not.”

  “Yes,” Ben said softly. “You know.”

  TWO

  When the dusk had spread itself over the land, a team of Rebels quietly slipped onto the roof of the shopping center and set up the lethal Claymores, then backed away, stringing the lead wires back.

  Since no Claymores had been produced for years, the Rebels made their own, and they were quite inventive with it, manufacturing several types of the deadly antipersonnel mine.