Ambush in the Ashes

by William W. Johnstone

  Ben laughed and clasped Georgi’s arm. “Let’s go to work, you grumpy old bear.”

  FOUR

  “We did not know who you were, General,” a civilian wearing a tattered old business suit said to Ben in perfect English. “So the people ran away and hid.”

  “Who shot at us upon landing?” Ben questioned.

  “Raiders from Rabat and Casablanca. Thieves and murderers and brigands. They control the entire coastline all the way down to Agadir. Other gangs have control of Marrakech.”

  “Why don’t they have control of this city?” Ben pressed him.

  The citizen shrugged his shoulders. “They did for years. But now,” he grimaced, “what is there to control? No food. Starving people reduced to eating rats. Disease and no hope and no help from anyone. Spain is in the midst of the worst civil war in that nation’s history. No help there. Algeria and Libya could best be described as a no-man’s land. South of Tarfaya is the same. I am told the airport at La’youn is still, for some strange reason, untouched by the hordes of gangs.”

  “Still operational?”

  “As far as I know. It is not safe to venture outside the city, General. Those who do, never return.”

  Ben talked with the man a few more minutes then told him to go get something to eat and then get in line for a check-up and some shots.

  “I have not seen a doctor in years. Merci, General, for everything.”

  Chase had been listening to the last part of the exchange and as soon as the citizen had left, he stepped up and sat down.

  “Lamar. I thought you’d be happily sticking needles in people.”

  “No joking, Ben. This is serious.”

  “What’s the matter?”

  “What isn’t? This place has more diseases than a research lab. I’ve sent out a memo to all company commanders to warn their people to avoid intercourse with the natives at all costs. I have never seen so damn many venereal diseases in all my years as a physician.”

  “AIDS?”

  “Rampant. There are bugs out there I didn’t even know existed. I’m having a fully stocked mobile research lab flown in as we speak.”

  “Whatever you want, Lamar. You’re the boss when it comes to medicine. You know I’ll back you up a hundred and ten percent.”

  “I want a directive from you warning the troops about the venereal threat on this continent.”

  “You’ve got it. I’ll draft it immediately.”

  “There is no cure for many of these strains, Ben. If they contract one of the bad ones, they’re dead, and toward the end, it’s horrible. There is no hope for them.”

  “I understand.”

  “Ben, I don’t think you do. I want you to come with me and look at something. There are a few doctors left in the city, but they’ve had no medicines for years. But they have isolated the bad cases. Come on.”

  “So you haven’t stayed inside the safe zone?”

  “Of course not. Come on.”

  Ben kept his expression bland during the short tour of the clinic, but inwardly he was badly shaken. Standing outside in the warm sunlight, he removed his surgical mask and said, “It would be far better if those people in there could be gently assisted into death.”

  “That’s being arranged as we speak, Ben,” Lamar said.

  “Good. You’re sure this virus is not airborne?”

  “Yes. My people are sure of that.” Lamar sighed. “Ben, we can help these people in the short run, but when we pull out? . . .” He shrugged his shoulders in a gesture of helplessness.

  “I’m certainly open to suggestions, Lamar.”

  “Ben . . . I don’t know the answer. Hell, we can’t even adequately feed and take care of the medical needs of the people in America.”

  “And here?”

  “Put a Band-Aid on it and hope for the best, I suppose. There really isn’t much more we can do.”

  Ben nodded his head. “I’ll get the warning out to the troops about sexual encounters with the locals.”

  “Do that, Ben. I can’t stress how important it is.”

  Back inside what was being called the safe zone, Ben was pleased to see how well-behaved the locals were, patiently standing in line to receive food, then medical attention.

  He had Beth take down the warning Chase had asked for. She would radio the ship and they would type it up and make copies for distribution among the troops.

  When that was done, Ben wandered down to the docks, his team with him. Therm and his 19 Batt were ashore, and Rebel and his 6 Batt were about to come in. Equipment was being off-loaded: HumVees first, then APC’s and tanks, followed by huge tanker trucks. Several miles from the shoreline, out of sight of land, and perhaps unfriendly eyes, huge tanker ships waited. Several others had left the SUSA days before the main convoy. They would travel around the Horn and come up on the other side of the continent and then track south, supplying those Rebels on the east side of Africa with fuel.

  Thousands of Rebels were now ashore. Ike was already swinging his 2 Batt around and getting ready to move east. Dan would follow, then West, then Georgi, as other battalions came ashore to take their place. Ben had figured that the sight of so many well-armed Rebels would take all the fight out of any guerilla group or gangs of thugs that might have resistance on their minds; Ben had figured correctly. Scouts reported that bands of armed men and women, gangs of various sizes and strengths, were leaving the city and heading south post-haste, deserting the city like rats from a sinking ship.

  Ben glanced as Therm strolled up to stand beside him. “Well, you told me you always wanted to visit Africa, Therm. Here we are.”

  “Some people maintain it’s the beginning of humankind, Ben.”

  Ben grunted his reply to that.

  Therm laughed at Ben’s expression. “I think I’d better change the subject.”

  “I think that would probably be best, Therm.”

  “Where do you want my 19 Batt?”

  “When we get cranking, I want you right in the middle of the line, between and very close to two battalions. I don’t know which ones that will be as yet. But you’re going to be getting reports from east and west, so you’ll stay busy. And take Emil with you.”

  “Somehow I knew you were going to say that.”

  “You’re the only one who can control the little con artist. And we both know that when the chips are down, Emil and that idiotic bunch of his will fight like devils.”

  “Okay, Ben. There’s some of my equipment coming in. I’ll see you around.”

  “I certainly hope so. Take care. And tell Rosebud hello.”

  Ben walked up and down the docks for a time, stop ping when Ike approached.

  “I figure three days until we get enough equipment ashore for us to start pulling out, Ben. All the battalions will be ashore by dusk, and I’ve ordered floodlights to be set up so we can unload around the clock.”

  “I know that Bruno has something of an air force. I just wonder if he might try an air attack.”

  “I doubt it, Ben. His spies back stateside will have told him we have a pretty good air defense system. Besides, that would be a long jump for his people unless they had refueling capabilities. And our satellite passovers have never shown anything even resembling that.”

  “So you think we should keep our little secret under wraps for a while longer?”

  “I do, Ben. No point in opening that package until it’s necessary.”

  “I agree. Besides, we don’t have that many.”

  “Yet,” Ike said with a smile.

  “Yeah,” Ben returned the smile. “Yet.”

  Both men left the topic at that. Neither felt comfortable discussing it openly, for only a few dozen people outside of those directly involved even knew of the project. It was probably the best kept secret of the past one hundred years. Not even Ben’s team knew.

  The men separated, Ike leaving to check on when his tanks would be off-loaded and ready to roll off the docks, Ben to just wander around.
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  Ben walked down to the slip where one of the cargo ships carrying his battalion’s big boys was docked and was pleased to see a row of main battle tanks lined up and engines rumbling. Just behind the tanks, towed howitzers were lined up, ready to be hooked up and pulled away. Ben glanced at his watch. The off-loading was running hours ahead of schedule.

  Ben walked over to a tank commander. This was a combat zone, and she did not salute. “We’re ready to roll, General. Just waiting for some fuel trucks to join us.”

  “The staging area is not yet secure,” Ben told her. “It’s being readied now. You should be rolling off the docks within the hour.”

  “Yes, sir. Looking forward to it.”

  “Radar reports nothing in the air within five hundred miles in any direction,” Corrie said, after listening to her headset.

  Ben smiled. The Israelis were standing true to their word and had stood down their air force until the offloading was complete. They would take no part in this North African campaign, unless Ben asked for their help—and that was something he had no plans to do at the present time.

  The Israelis had stabilized the mideast region for which Ben would be forever grateful.

  But the Israelis were very anxious to join Ben when he reached the northernmost lines of the territory claimed by Bruno Bottger and his Nazis. Ben smiled at that thought. It would probably have taken World War IV to keep them out of it. Mention Nazi to a Jew, and he was ready to fight.

  However, that campaign lay months in the future; no point in thinking about it now.

  Ben’s growling stomach told him he had missed lunch, and he waved to his team. “Let’s go get something to eat, gang. We’re just in the way down here.”

  * * *

  Ben stood by the side of the highway and watched as the battalions rolled out, heading east. Ike’s 2 Batt was spearheading the drive, followed by Dan’s 3 Batt, West and his 4 Batt, and Georgi and his 5 Batt. Ike had nearly two thousand miles to travel before he could turn and begin the push south.

  The column was miles long and moving slowly over very bad roads; roads that had not been maintained for years.

  When the last vehicle had passed Ben’s location and disappeared into the dust, Ben rode back into the city and up to Dr. Chase’s headquarters and into his office.

  Lamar looked up from a mass of paperwork he was wading through, bitching all the time. He threw a pencil down on the paper-littered desk and stood up. “Glad to you see, Ben. I’m about to go nuts with all this paperwork. Let’s take a walk and get some air.”

  Chase disliked paperwork almost as much as Ben did.

  Outside, Chase said, “We’ve got a handle on things here, Ben. We’re gradually beginning to see the light at the end of the tunnel.”

  “The overall condition of the city’s residents?”

  “Poor. Very poor. But there isn’t much more we can do. When we pull out, they’ll go right back to near starvation.”

  “We can’t support the world, Lamar.”

  “I know that, Ben. All we can do is prop them up and move on. How long before Ike reaches the eastern borders?”

  “Two/three weeks. That enough time for you?”

  “Plenty, for what we can do. Still no word from that Nazi bastard down south?”

  “Not a peep.”

  “Do you find that strange?”

  “Not really, Lamar. He’d be a fool to launch any sort of ground attack against us here, while we’re thousands strong. Besides, he knows our satellite passes would pick up any massive ground movement. He wants us close to his home territory, where he’ll have the advantage of knowing the terrain and keeping his people supplied. The man is an arrogant bastard, but not stupid.”

  “Supplies will be a problem for us, won’t they, Ben?”

  Ben shook his head. “Not really. There will be times when fuel might get dicey, but that’s about it. The advance teams we sent over pinpointed dozens of underground fuel depots that had never been touched. Once we get down to Bruno’s northern lines, we’ll set up positions and slug it out for a time, feeling each other out.”

  “Of course, that’s several thousand miles away,” the doctor pointed out.

  “Several thousand very difficult miles, old friend.”

  Lamar glanced at his watch. “Well, I’d best be getting back to this damnable paperwork.”

  “Tell me when your people have done all they can do with what they have, Lamar.”

  Lamar nodded. “Tell the truth, we’ve just about reached that point now. We’ve already shut down and packed up several MASH units on the outskirts of town. Planes will be coming in tomorrow with medical supplies for the push south. We’ll be ready when you are.”

  Back in his CP, Ben opened a map of Africa and looked at the outline of the continent, as he had done at least twenty times a day for weeks. He smiled, thinking: Nothing on the map has changed.

  “And not much will have changed once we’ve gone,” he muttered. “At least not for any length of time.” He closed the map and stood up. “To hell with it! We’ll do the best we can. No one can logically expect us to do more.”

  * * *

  “I’ve wished the few doctors in the city good luck and left them medicines and vaccines,” Lamar said to Ben. “I closed the last aid station yesterday afternoon. We’re ready when you are, Ben.”

  “We’ll be pulling out in one hour. Ben smiled. “But you knew that already. You just wanted an excuse to come up to the front of the column hoping I’d invite you to join the spearheaders, right?”

  “Screw you, Raines!” Then the doctor laughed. “Only half true. I did want to come up for a moment, but I have absolutely no desire to ride up here and invite somebody to put a bullet up my butt.”

  “That would take a hell of a marksman considering the size of your skinny old ass, Lamar.”

  “That’s it, Raines!” Chase said in mock affront. “I refuse to stand here and be insulted by the likes of you. Good-bye!” Lamar turned away, then paused and looked. “Take it easy up here, Ben.”

  Ben smiled at Lamar and the doctor returned to his HumVee and was gone.

  Ben walked to the big nine-passenger wagon that had been shipped over and got in just as the lead tanks were pulled out. He smiled at his team and winked at his adopted daughter, Anna. He looked at Cooper. “Okay, Coop. Let’s head south.”

  FIVE

  “What’s going to happen to those residents back there?” Jersey asked, as Cooper pulled into place in the column.

  “I don’t know, Jersey. The land around the city isn’t worth a damn for farming. But the country did have a hell of a fishing industry before the Great War. You saw the fishing fleet, rusting and rotting dockside. They’re either going to have to cope, adapt, or move.”

  “Or starve,” Cooper added.

  “That is certainly an option for those who decide to stay,” Ben agreed.

  “Not much demand for exotic carpets in the world right now,” Beth said.

  “We didn’t get to do much sightseeing,” Cooper said.

  “Personally, I didn’t want to,” Anna spoke up. “And neither did very many of the troops I spoke with.”

  “You didn’t do much wandering around either, boss,” Jersey stated.

  “No, I didn’t,” Ben admitted. “I guess I didn’t care to view what I consider to be a hopeless situation. Not any more than I had to, that is.”

  “What’s the next major city?” Cooper asked, turning his head and directing the question at Beth.

  “Rabat. Ribat al-Fath, originally. It used to be some sort of religious retreat, according to this visitor’s guide.”

  “Big city?” Corrie asked.

  “Over half a million before the Great War.”

  “Wonder how many now?” Anna asked.

  “Maybe a hundred thousand,” Ben answered her. “And fly-overs report the population is in bad shape. Then it’s Casablanca.”

  “I saw that movie one time back at Base Camp One,” Anna
said. “I enjoyed it.”

  “I think everybody loves that movie, Anna,” Ben told her.

  Beth opened a map. “Then we go to Safi and then cut across to Marrakech. Right, boss?”

  “That’s the way I’ve got it figured, Beth. Then we’ll backtrack and see what’s happening in Essaouira and then down to Agadir. We’ll follow the coastline highway all the way down to Laayoune and then cut across the Western Sahara to Bir Meghrein, in Mauritania.”

  “Faraway places with strange-sounding names,” Jersey said in a quiet voice.

  “That’s a line from an old song, Jersey,” Ben smiled the reply. “Hadn’t thought of it in years. But you’re right.”

  “They’re not going to make it, are they, boss?” Corrie asked. “The people, I mean.”

  “The strong will. The weak will die. If they’re left alone, and they probably will be, the strong will soon revert back to many of the old ways. They lived for hundreds of years in that fashion. The younger, smarter ones will leave, go to Europe or America.” Ben waved a hand. “But hell, I could be way off base in my thinking.”

  “Scouts are reporting there’s been one hell of a slaughter in the towns and villages along the way to Rabat,” Corrie said abruptly. “The gangs of punks and thugs and insurgents and what have you took the women and young girls and then killed everybody in sight before pulling out. Scouts think it started late yesterday. It’s pretty grim along the way. The carrion birds are having a feast.”

  “We’ve all seen it before,” Ben said quietly. “I’ve been expecting it. Corrie, get the flatbeds with the earth moving equipment up here. We’re going to have to scoop out some mass graves.”

  “Again,” Cooper said.

  “Yes. And I’m afraid it won’t be the last time we do it.”

  Asilah and Larache had been spared the slaughter, but the next town down the coast, Ksar el Kebir, took the full force of the outlaws’ savagery.

  “The Great Fortress,” Ben said, speaking through the mic in his gas mask. Ben and team stood just inside the first houses and shops of the old city. “That’s what this city used to be called.”