STALKER’S REVENGE

Book 2 of the Earth Cleansing Series

by

Kenneth E. Baker

WHISKEY CREEK PRESS

www.whiskeycreekpress.com

Published by

WHISKEY CREEK PRESS

Whiskey Creek Press

PO Box 51052

Casper, WY 82605-1052

www.whiskeycreekpress.com

Copyright ? 2005 by Connie F. Baker

Names, characters and incidents depicted in this book are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, organizations, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental and beyond the intent of the author or the publisher. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.

ISBN 1-59374-206-1

Credits:

Cover Artist:

Editor: Amanda Judd

Printed in the United States of America

Dedication

~~This one is for my son, Kenny Jr.~~

Chapter 1

Todd watched the six men fidget in their seats waiting for him to say something. Let them wait; it would do them good, he thought. Tilting his chair back, he thought about what had happened two months ago. From his headquarters, located in the little town of Cicada, Missouri, he sent out people to hunt down Joe and a woman named Tony that his Master feared. Just when he thought he was reeling Joe and the woman in, things started going wrong. His right hand man, Ray, took twenty of his top men and disappeared. Although he didn’t know it then, Todd now knew Ray had left because of the way Todd had acted during one of his drunken stupors. When he awoke the next morning and found Ray gone, Todd went to his office and broke or threw out all the liquor bottles in the place. He had done this while nursing a brain-thumping headache.

A few days after that, for no reason, people with him started killing each other. He owed Joe dearly for that one. He tested the drug that he gave his people to keep them calm, but he found it to be ineffectual. Someone had put a worthless powder in its place. Without the drug to calm them, his people turned aggressive and started killing randomly. He ended up killing three dozen of them before control was established. The next few days were hectic. Things settled down when they found a fresh supply of the drug a hundred miles away, but it took four days to settle his people. He decided to move his headquarters to a city that had a large supply of the drug. That was when all hell broke loose. Something happened when his men tried to move the high explosives out of the storage building.

Todd was standing on the other end of town when a tremendous explosion lifted him off his feet and slammed him to the ground. A jagged piece of falling board hit him on the head, cutting a gash from his ear to his chin. Now he had an ugly scar on what was once an unblemished face. This was another thing that he owed Joe. He didn’t know how, but he was sure Joe had a hand in the explosion.

Todd’s people had trapped Ben in a small town. He told them to let Ben escape, hoping it would lead him to Joe. The only problem was Ben disappeared after escaping the town. There hadn’t been a sign of any of them until yesterday. One of Todd’s men, out rabbit hunting, stumbled across a small, concealed valley. He noticed smoke coming from the chimney of a house sitting in a small grove of trees. Deciding to investigate, he watched as three men and a large wolf came out of the house and took off in separate directions. Instantly, he knew these were the people Todd was looking for. He had heard horror stories about the wolf and became terrified that it might smell him, so he crawled back over the side of the hill. He coasted his truck to the bottom before starting it, but even then, the noise seemed terribly loud. Forcing himself to be calm, he slowly drove away on the dirt road to keep from raising a lot of dust.

He almost killed three people when he roared into town and slammed on the brakes babbling that he had found them. Now we have you, Joe, Todd thought. Joe had escaped once, and given half a chance he would do so again. Todd made sure his people stayed back far enough to keep from alerting Joe. He had been on the phone all morning calling in people from up to three hundred miles away. By the next morning he would have hundreds of people surrounding the cabin. With a bitter smile, he thought that if it hadn’t been for the explosion there would have been four times as many people. The people he had would just have to do the job.

He looked across the table at Mickey and said, “You’re positive the men you sent out won’t be seen?”

“Yes, the closest one is two miles away. They all use long range glasses from the highest vantage points around.”

“Go back, and tell them I don’t want them any closer than five miles. We have to allow room for that goddamn wolf to roam around. As it is, it will be hard to sneak up close enough to surprise them.”

“Greg, has Mickey told you how the valley is set up?” Todd asked the heavy set man with a military haircut, who sat across from him.

“From the description he gave me, this valley will be hard to take if they know we’re coming. If I were Joe, I would plan my defense so there would be two choke points where I could funnel the attackers. Once I got the attackers where I wanted them, I would set up a killing zone. I would take out as many of the enemy as possible in there. He is bound to know we have overwhelming numbers on him. His only choice will be to try and whittle us down. Todd, you know him. Do you think he would avoid a fight if he could?” Greg asked.

“He sure as hell has avoided us until now.”

“Which means he’s smart and will only fight on his own terms, if he fights at all. Going into that valley after him will be like bearding the proverbial lion in its den. Our causalities will be heavy, and I doubt we will take them alive.”

“Causalities don’t concern me. You are to use these people to our best advantage. I want Ben and Joe taken alive. I want that understood by everyone,” Todd said looking at each one.

“Damn it, Todd! That’s like tying our hands behind our backs and sending us into the fight,”

Mickey said.

Todd leaned across the table and looked down at Mickey. “Understand this, if either of them dies, I’ll put out a permanent death warrant on you. Do you understand what I want?”

“Yeah, we understand. We also know that in the heat of battle things happen over which we have no control,” Mickey said.

“You had better damn well control your people. I don’t care what happens to the rest of Joe’s people, but Ben and Joe are to be unharmed.”

He watched them knowing what he wanted was almost impossible for them to accomplish but he couldn’t think of any other way. He let them talk among themselves for a few minutes as he rubbed the scar on his cheek, then he tapped on the table to get their attention. “If everyone is clear on what they have to do, I want you to get your people in place. We strike tomorrow morning at first light.”

He listened to them grumble as they filed out of the room to get ready for the next day. If things went right, tomorrow morning he would have Ben and Joe under his control. Ben, he would take to his master, but Joe, he would keep for himself. He smiled thinking of how much pain and suffering he was going to put Joe through before he killed him.

Yvonne, his current lover, came out of the bedroom dressed in a sheer negligee. Her blond hair flowed down to the small of her back. He saw the bluish-black splotches on her breasts where he had mauled them last night during their lovemaking. “Jesus, my tits are sore. Did you have to be so rough last night, Todd?” she said as she rubbed her left breast.

“The way you were screaming last night told me how much you liked the pain, so shut up and fix me something to eat, bitch.”

“Is that all I am, Todd, a maid and someone you can fuck anytime you feel horny?” she whined. Whirling around, he slapped her face. “Listen, you stupid bitch, I can replace you the same way I replaced the nagging bitch before you.”

“What do you mean, Todd?” she said in a coy voice. Reaching down, she rubbed his crotch. Grabbing her by the neck, he put his face next to hers. “Well, love, her bones are lying on the street of the town we left. Is that what you want?” he said, squeezing her neck. Frightened, she said, “No, Todd, I won’t complain anymore. You can do what you want with me. All right, honey?”

“That’s better. Now get me something to eat,” he said, flinging her away from him. “Tell whoever is outside to get Mickey for me,” he yelled at her as she opened the door. He heard her talking to someone outside. She stuck her head back in the door, “Mickey’ll be here in a minute,” she said. He looked at the crudely drawn map lying on the table and tried to think of anything he had missed. It looked straightforward and simple, but he knew it wasn’t going to be that easy. Joe was a formidable opponent, and he wouldn’t leave anything to chance. Mickey came in and sat down at the table. “Will the tank be fixed in time to use it tomorrow, Mickey?”

“I sent two men to the armory in the next town for the pin we need to connect the track. Once they get it, it’ll take an hour to have it on the road.”

“Do we have any bazookas or rocket launchers yet?”

Mickey took off his hat and scratched his head. “No, that’s something I wanted to talk to you about. If you let me send men to look for where they stashed the military hardware, our job would be a lot easier. Damn the military anyway. Who knew they would gather all the weapons and ship them to one location? If we found this place, we would have more than enough arms.”

“After we get Ben and Joe, you can have all the men you need. Until then, we need every man we have. Has Greg figured out what their defenses might be?”

“Without having someone there, he can only guess at the locations Joe has set up for defense. Greg doesn’t like going in blind like this, and I can’t say that I blame him.”

“I know, but we can’t tip off Joe we have located him. Greg will have to make do with a difficult situation. Are there men you can trust leading each of the groups you send in?”

“Some of them I don’t know about. If they come under heavy fire, they may break and run. That explosion a few months ago killed most of the men we could trust. I would say we’re in good shape. If you hadn’t blown up all the crazies we had in the last town, this would be the perfect time to use them. Now, I just don’t know,” Mickey said, leaning back in his chair.

Sighing, Todd said, “I’d have kept the crazies, but we didn’t have enough people to control them after the explosion. I’d like to know how the crazies not under our control found out we are treating them like the animals they are. You may have noticed there are fewer and fewer of them coming in to join us. Piecing together what we learned from the ones still coming in, we found they are avoiding us like the plague. Make sure you treat the ones we have with kid gloves. Perhaps, we can get them to trust us again.”

“I get the willies just being around them. You can’t trust them. They’re unpredictable and you can’t tell what they’re going to do from one minute to the next. I agree we need them, but guarding them takes away men we could use elsewhere.”

“Don’t start again on how we should bring the men we have at the ranch down here. I want a safe haven to go to if things turn bad. No, we leave the men there to guard the ranch in case we need some place safe to fall back to,” Todd said.

“I would feel better if we had a couple of hundred more people to throw against Joe,” Mickey said.

“Christ, we have three hundred people now. There are only seven of them. I don’t care how good they are; we’ll run over them like a steamroller. By the way, make sure the drug is in a safe place where our people can’t get to it. I noticed some of them are itching for a fight. By tomorrow, they’ll be ready and willing to tackle Joe and his bunch.”

“I’ll bring it over, so you can put it in the safe. We might have a few killings before the night is over. I doubt my men can keep them separated until tomorrow; especially, with the crazies egging them on,” Mickey said.

“Would you like to have Yvonne, Mickey? She is beginning to bother me. The dumb bitch is getting much too lippy to suit me. She’s a fine piece of ass, and she really enjoys her sex. If you don’t want her, I’m going to kill her and get me another girl. I like that cute little redhead who works in the kitchen.”

“No thanks, Todd. I’ll stick with the woman I have. After the way you abuse them, they aren’t worth a shit.” Mickey said, holding up his hand to still Todd’s protest.

“If you don’t use them, you lose them. I ride my girls hard. Anyway, all the bitches like to be treated rough. Pamper them, and they’ll get the idea they can take charge.”

“Whatever you say, Todd. I better go check and make sure everything is under control,” Mickey said. Draining the last of his coffee, he got up and went out the door. Yvonne entered balancing a tray of food in one hand and a bottle of wine in the other. Sitting the food on the table, she turned to Todd. “After you eat, lover, can we go down and tease the crazies?”

“Damn it, I told you not to do that any more. We need them, and the ones they’ll get to join us. Besides, after I eat, I have a surprise for you.”

“Oh goodie, what is it? Don’t make me wait.” Todd shook his head no. “Ah, come on; give me a little hint, please?”

“Let’s say it will blow you away when you get it.”

“All right, I’ll wait if I have to, but it isn’t fair,” she pouted. Placing a plate loaded with meat and potatoes in front of him, she opened the bottle of wine. Pouring herself a glass, she sat down across from him. Todd drank water with his meal, having given up alcohol two months ago. Todd dragged out the meal, enjoying her impatience. As he ate the last bite on his plate, she snatched up the plate and took it to the sink. Returning, she asked, “Please, Todd, can I have my gift now? Pretty please.”

Patting his full stomach, Todd belched. “Before you get your present, I want some of that good pussy of yours.” Todd grabbed her and tore her dress down the front. Pressing his mouth against her right breast, he bit down hard. A gush of warm blood filled his mouth and she screamed. She tried to push his head away. The blood in his mouth had a coarse texture to it, yet was sweet at the same time. He moved his blood smeared lips to her left breast and bit the nipple, which caused her to scream louder. Stepping back, he looked at her. A thin stream of blood flowed from her right breast. He reached for a napkin and wiped the blood away.

Tilting her head back, he said, “Forgive me. I didn’t mean to hurt you. You know how you turn me on, Baby. Here, dry your eyes, and let’s go into the bedroom.” Her sobs turned to cries of joy as he caressed her body. Starting at her foot, he licked his way up her leg, nipping her skin every few inches. Gently, he caressed her body with his hands bringing cries of pleasure from her. Shifting his position, Todd reached over the side of the bed and picked up a gun lying there. He took his finger out of her, and stuck the barrel of the revolver in her vagina. Todd watched as she whipped her head back and forth clutching at the sheets with her hands. Easing the barrel in and out, matching the rhythm of her bucking body, Todd watched her face. As she went into her climax, he shoved the barrel all the way in her and pulled the trigger. Her face showed intense pleasure, then shock. Her eyes flew open and then glazed over. A soft sigh escaped her as her head fell to the side. Todd climbed off the bed and went to the front door. Opening the door, he yelled for Mickey and watched as the man ran toward him from across the street.

“You wanted me, Todd?”

“Have someone drag that bag of shit out of the bedroom. Bring me a new mattress and throw the old one away. After you do that, bring me the redhead from the kitchen.” He went into the bedroom and got a clean pair of pants out of the closet. While he changed clothes, two men carried Yvonne’s body from the room. Another two carried out the blood stained mattress. Stepping outside, he looked out at the overcast sky. “Soon, Joe. Soon I’ll have you in my grasp.”

Chapter 2

Tony’s eyes flew open, bringing her from a deep sleep. Oh no! she thought. They know where we are. Sighing softly, she resigned herself to the fact. It had to happen sooner or later. She had hoped for a little more time. Bill needed to adjust to the realities of the new world in which they lived. Propping herself on her elbow, she looked to the other side of the bed where he lay on his back breathing softly. She saw small lines under his eyes. They weren’t there two months ago when their tranquil world got turned upside down.

She worried about Bill because he was having a hard time coming to grips with the situation they were in. Her heart ached for his loss of innocence. Bill was, or had been, one of the gentlest people she had ever met. His forte was to give, and he gave of himself without regard to his personal feelings. Having lived with him for five years, she knew the anguish this sometimes caused him. Bill’s purpose in life seemed to be to try to please everyone. She had to admit he was very good at it. She couldn’t think of anyone from tiny tots to adults who didn’t hold Bill in the highest regard. Violence was as alien to his nature as it must be for the Pope of the Catholic Church. That way of life was over now. They were in a struggle for their survival. To stay alive, they sometimes had to be as brutal as the people trying to destroy them.

Brushing away tears, she thought of how much she loved the man lying next to her. She rolled to his side and kissed him on the cheek. Still asleep he mumbled, “I love you, Babe.”

She rose and put on her robe. At the bedroom door she looked at his sleeping face illuminated by the soft light of the moon shining through the window. With a deep sadness, she closed the door. She wondered if the future was going to be too much for Bill.

Entering the living room, she saw Ben sitting in an overstuffed armchair with Tammy on his lap. He looked up as she entered. “So, you know they have found us.”

“Yes, I woke from a sound sleep knowing we are no longer safe. We have to resume our journey to that place in Colorado.”

“Tammy woke Joe up and told him she was getting strong indications of danger from all around us. Didn’t you?” Ben asked, ruffling Tammy’s long brown hair.”

“I woke up an hour ago with this suffocating feeling. It felt as if something was stealing the air around me. I knew then they were out there,” Tammy said.

Tony sat down on the couch, and drew her feet under her. “Where’s Joe?” she asked.

“He went out to check and to see how bad our situation is,” Ben answered.

“What does your guardian have to say, Ben?”

“She says it’s time for us to continue our journey. It seems we are back in the game whether we want to be or not.”

“Some game. You never did finish explaining why you thought we were chosen to do whatever it is we have to do,” Tammy said in a puzzled voice.

This young eleven-year-old girl continued to amaze Tony in the way she could adapt to different situations. One moment, she acted her age as a precocious young girl. The next moment, she had as much worldliness as a middle-aged woman. Tony would like to have known her before the world went crazy.

“How is Bill?” Ben asked.

“He continues to build layers over his inner self to protect his sanity. I’m afraid these layers will smother him, and then he will be lost.”

“You underestimate him, Tony. When it comes to a crunch, I have a gut feeling Bill will be the strongest of us all,” Tammy said, surprising both of them.

Smiling warmly, Tony said, “I hope you’re right, Tammy.”

Tammy sat upright on Ben’s lap with a look of concentration on her face. “Stalker wants us to wake everyone up. We still have a while before they attack us,” she said. Standing up, Ben said, “I’ll go wake Jake and Jane while you go rouse Bill out of bed.”

Walking into their bedroom, followed by Tammy, Tony approached the bed where Bill lay. “Let me wake him,” Tammy giggled. Making a “be my guest” gesture with her hand, Tony watched as Tammy pulled a feather out of her back pocket. She bent over Bill.

Holding the feather over his head, she tweaked his nose with it. Bill twitched his mouth and nose, contorting his face into an ugly grimace. Next, she tickled him under the chin causing him to swat his neck. Barely containing her giggles, she ran the feather along his forehead. Suddenly, Bill’s arms shot out and grabbed Tammy. He threw her on the bed. Squealing, Tammy said, “No, No, No.”

“How do you like a dose of your own medicine?” Bill asked as he tickled her. Tony laughed at the sight of the man she loved and the child she cared for as they romped on the bed.

Turning to her, Bill said, “So you think it’s funny, do you?” He looked at Tammy saying, “Shall we?”

Tammy jumped off the bed. She ran behind Tony giving her a shove. Falling toward the bed, Bill grabbed her arm. Tony flipped on her back, and Tammy landed beside her. Both of them tickled Tony. Trying to fight them off, Tony rolled off the bed in a tangled heap. Bill lay on the bed, looking down at her.

Tammy climbed off the bed and assumed a serious face saying, “And let that be a lesson to you.”

She broke into a fit of giggles and ran out of the room.

Kissing her tenderly and holding her close Bill asked, “Why the middle-of-the-night visit by you two vixens?”

“They’ve found us.” Tony watched his face lose all of its humor and become serious.

“Shit,” he mumbled to himself as he got out of bed and put on his pants. “How bad is it?” Bill asked.

“I don’t know. Joe and Stalker went to find out what we’re up against. Stalker asked Tammy to get everyone up because they will be coming in shortly.”

Reaching out his hand, he helped her up and said, “Let’s make coffee then join them in the living room.”

Tony carried cups and Bill carried the coffee pot over to a glass end table and set it down. “This stuff is guaranteed to open your eyes,” he said.

“Damn,” moaned a very skinny black man. “This isn’t another one of your coffee experiments is it, Bill?”

Everyone broke into laughter as they remembered the last time Bill had made coffee. He had used six scoops when he should have used only two and a half. Earlier that morning Tammy had put salt into the sugar bowl as a gag. Bill had carried two cups of his freshly made coffee into the garage where Jake was working under the hood of the Jeep they were tuning up. Taking the bowl of what Bill thought was sugar from under his arm, he handed it to Jake saying, “Now tell me where you get service like this, good buddy.”

Jake had ladled three heaping spoons into his coffee and stirred it up. Raising his cup he said, “To better days,” and took a large drink. As soon as he swallowed, it came right back up, as he spat it all over the side of the Jeep.

Shocked, Bill had asked, “What’s wrong? Did it go down the wrong pipe?” He pounded Jake on the back.

Gasping for breath, Jake asked, “Who made this stuff?” as he poured the contents of the cup on the floor.

With a hurt look, Bill answered, “I did.”

“What’re you trying to do? Poison me?”

“Come on it can’t be that bad,” Bill raised his cup and took a drink, which he instantly spewed all over the floor. “It is a bit strong, isn’t it?”

“That’s putting it mildly,” Jake said.

They both heard Tammy giggle and turned to see her disappear into the house.

“I wonder what that was all about?” Bill asked.

“I don’t know, but I smell a rat in the wood pile,” Jake answered. He put his finger into the sugar bowl and stuck it in his mouth. “Salt,” he said. “With your mule kicking coffee and this salt, I was almost done in.”

Coming back to the present, Bill said, “You won’t let me forget that will you?”

“Not as long as I can remember the taste,” Jake answered with a chuckle, accepting the cup of coffee.

Bill poured another cup and handed it to Jane. He thought of her as the mother hen of this impromptu group. Her dark hair was cut short, almost butch style. This added to her appearance of plumpness because of her short height. She stood five feet one inch tall. Anyone making the mistake of thinking her soft was in for a big surprise as she had proven on many occasions. Jake said she was mean as a rattlesnake when she had to be. She had one annoying habit that bothered Bill. She continuously smoked a foul-smelling cigar. True to nature, she put a cigar in her mouth to accept the cup of coffee.

“Do you have to smoke those things all the time?”

Taking a long drag, she blew smoke at him. “Don’t deny an old lady the one comfort that calms her nerves. Hell, I don’t even like them that much. I know they annoy you, so I continue to smoke them.”

“Thanks a lot,” Bill said, with a shake of his head. Pouring himself a cup of coffee, he sat down beside Tony.

“Stalker says they will be here in a few minutes,” Tammy told them, as she relayed the wolf’s thoughts.

That was another thing Bill had trouble understanding. How could an animal talk, especially a wolf as ugly as Stalker? Tammy, Tony and Ben were the only ones able to hear what Stalker said. It was a mental, not verbal conversation. The way Tony explained it, Stalker’s thoughts just appeared in her mind, and she understood them perfectly.

Jesus, what a group, Bill thought. Three people who could talk to a giant, Canadian wolf. Joe said the wolf couldn’t talk to him.

Ben told them an alien force existed in his body, but wasn’t actually there. This force kept him from any harm the demented people chasing them could throw at him. Jake told them about Ben dying in a plane crash in Wyoming, and then coming back to life. Jake swore Ben was dead. He said Ben’s neck was broken, bloody ribs stuck out of his chest, and his back was broken. They checked for a pulse, but there wasn’t any. While Jake and a man named Cap were investigating the wreckage of the plane, Ben’s body repaired itself. For the life of him, Jake said he couldn’t understand it. Jake seemed to be ordinary enough. Before all of this started, Jake had been an F.B.I. agent assigned to the Center for Disease Control in Atlanta. His job was to escort patients to a secret hospital in Colorado. That is how he met Ben and his family. Some of Jake’s stories about their journey eastward to meet Tony and Bill caused Bill’s hair to stand on end. Jane was the odd one. She had retired from the army as a major last year. She was the nurse for Ben’s son on the flight to Colorado. From what Jake said, she was one tough cookie in a tight situation. For the last two months she had acted like a mother hen even though she was only a few years older than they were. Jane took Tammy under her wing and tried to get the girl to act more feminine. Bill thought this was a losing battle. To Bill’s way of thinking, Tammy was a tomboy and always would be.

Joe was an enigma. He could be as brutal as anyone. At the same time, there was a side of him that would cry if he found a bird with a broken wing. He taught Bill a lot about the natural beauty between nature and the country. When faced with danger, a shield seemed to drop over Joe’s personality and he became a cold-blooded killing machine. The one true love in his life was the girl, Tammy. Bill doubted if there was a stronger bond between a natural parent and child than there was between Joe and Tammy. When around Tammy, Joe was the gentlest person alive. They were always cutting up with each other.

Stalker, the wolf, was hard to place in the scope of things. Stalker had two things on his mind, protecting Tony and protecting Tammy. This was paramount with him. He was never far from their sides. Bill felt sorry for anyone who tried to harm either of them. Tammy told them that Stalker was visited by a voice in his mind telling him to go south and protect the Chosen One. As a reward for doing this, his mate and five cubs would be watched over and kept from harm. Watching them talk to each other, he wondered for the hundredth, or possibly the millionth time, if this was all a dream.

They all turned as the door opened and a large black wolf entered. Next, a man stepped through the door that radiated power in each of his movements.

Standing five feet seven, he seemed shorter because of the breadth of his shoulders. Bill had never seen, or met, another man who had such a broad and muscular upper body as Joe. Stalker was a black, Canadian timber wolf, standing almost four feet tall. His head was so large it appeared to be disproportionate to the rest of his body. At first sight, he looked like a nightmare come to life. His large teeth and broad body, left no doubt that, if provoked, he could tear a person limb from limb with little effort. Stalker entered the room and went to where Tony sat and lay down at her feet.

Joe shook the rain off his slicker and hung it on a peg next to the door. “That coffee smells mighty good. I hope you saved a cup for me,” he said as he sat down beside Jake.

“Here you go, Redman,” Jane said handing him a cup of coffee. “Would you like a little something in it to take off the chill?” She asked, holding up a bottle of bourbon.

“Just a tad, if you don’t mind.”

Taking a sip of the spiked coffee, he let out a sigh and said, “Just what I needed.” Joe took another drink and looked at each of them before he said anything. “We knew this day would come eventually, although we thought we would have more time. From what Stalker and I saw, they have us sewed up pretty tight. They don’t know we know they are there, so we have surprise on our side. There is no way we can leave without them seeing us, so we are going to have to stand and fight.”

“How many people do you figure your friend Todd has by now?” Jake asked.

“Please refrain from calling him my friend. It is true I once considered Todd my best friend, but that Todd died when he caught the disease. In the last few months, Todd has committed acts showing he has lost all sense of humanity. As far as I’m concerned, he is worse than the lowest animal. So please, do not call him my friend,” Joe told him in an icy voice.

“Okay, okay. I didn’t mean to ruffle your feathers,” Jake said.

“Sorry, Jake.” He clapped him on the shoulder.

“Do you know how many people we face?” Ben asked.

“Stalker says there are around a hundred people surrounding us, but there are more people behind them,” Tammy said.

“Todd was never into military matters. I doubt there are more than two rings around us. The first one will have less people in it. Todd wants to channel us into a place where the second ring can seal us off.”

“Can we turn that around and use it?” Jake asked.

“Perhaps we can. We’ll have to be careful though. Just because Todd doesn’t have any military training doesn’t mean some of the men with him aren’t pretty sharp,” Joe said.

“How about if a couple of us take two trucks and make a dash out of here. They might follow us while the rest of you hide until they leave,” Bill said.

“Won’t work. First, Todd would search this place thoroughly to find any clue to where we are going. Second, I don’t believe we would fool all the people around him. I tell you some of them are awfully sharp. I think our best bet is to go to the positions we have prepared and see what happens,”

Joe told them.

“Do you know something we don’t know?” Bill asked.

Shaking his head, Joe said, “It doesn’t make sense for them to stop us here. Look at all the effort that went into getting us this far, and all the effort to bring us together. I believe whoever, or whatever, is guiding us will come to our aid.”

“What say you, Ben?” Bill asked.

“Sorry, Bill, my guardian watches over me only. She says she can’t influence things that happen around me.”

“One hell of a group we have here. Joe says to have faith in whatever brought us together taking care of us. Ben says his guardian will look out for him but can do nothing for us. We have three hundred people out there trying to kill us. Now I know what Custer felt like,” Bill said, dropping on the couch beside Tony.

Tammy giggled. They all looked at her as she placed her hands over her mouth to hold back the laughter.

Glaring at her, Bill asked her what part of their situation she found so funny.

“I’m sorry, Bill, but Stalker says that at three hundred to eight the odds are still in our favor,”

Tammy said.

“Oh great! Not only are we going to die, but I get the pleasure of spending my last few hours with a wolf who thinks he’s a comedian,” Bill said gesturing to where Stalker lay at Tony’s feet. Everyone burst into laughter at the same time, and Bill stared at them with a stunned look on his face.

Brushing a tear from his eye, Ben said, “Thank you, Bill. We all needed that.”

Tony took his arm and pulled him down beside her on the couch, telling him that she would explain later when she saw the confused look on his face.

“Jane, refill our coffee cups while we discuss what we’re going to do,” Joe told the matronly woman.

“Here, let me help you,” Tammy said as she jumped off Ben’s lap. She crossed to where the coffee pot sat and started filling cups from the large pot.

“Does everyone know what they are supposed to do?” Joe asked. He looked at each of them until they shook their heads yes. “From what Stalker and I saw, these people aren’t dressed for the bad weather that is coming in the next few hours. I want all of you to put on warm clothes and the heaviest coats you have. Don’t forget a good set of gloves. I wouldn’t be surprised if it started snowing in the next few hours.”

They took the coffee Jane and Tammy passed around. Each of them sipped it slowly, thinking it would be a while before they had anything warm again.

“Do you think they are ready for the surprise, Tammy?” Jane asked the girl.

“I think so,” Tammy answered and ran off to the kitchen followed by Jane. They heard a rattling of pots and pans and a squeal of laughter from Tammy as Jane started swearing like a sailor. In a few minutes, everything became quiet once again.

Jane and Tammy came through the door carrying a basket between them. Going to the couch, they sat the basket on the floor.

Everyone was curious but they knew that Jane would tell them what was in the basket in her own good time.

“For the life of me, I don’t know where the thought came from. You remember when Joe and I went to the town on the other side of the mountain? Once there, I had this overpowering urge to pick up thermos bottles. Call it strange, but I went with the feeling and picked up a thermos for each of us.” She pulled the cover off the basket to expose eight brand new thermoses. They looked at each other remembering what Joe had said earlier about someone watching out for them.

“Crank up the coffee pot, and let’s fill these things. We can take them with us. Hot Damn! I can face almost anything if I have hot coffee close by,” Jake said, causing them to chuckle. They all knew how much Jake liked his coffee. It was rare to find him without a cup close at hand.

“Make mine tea, will you, Jane?” Tony said as she headed for the room she shared with Bill. She joined him in getting dressed for the outside cold.

In the living room, Ben asked, “Joe, do you think we are going to get out of this? My Guardian tells me she can’t figure out why we didn’t have more time. It’s a shame; another month and the weather would have been in our favor.

“I have to believe we are, Ben. Otherwise, why not throw in our hand and give up. I think we have a destiny to fulfill and we are a long way from achieving our goal.”

“How do you think Bill will hold up during what is to come?” Ben asked.

“Don’t worry about Bill. He’ll do what is right and best for all of us.” Joe answered.

“How much time do you think your booby traps will give us before they break through?” Jake asked.

“Enough time for us to fall back to our hardened positions unless they attack from one direction only. If that happens, we’re in a lot of trouble,” Joe answered.

“Stalker will go ahead and make sure they don’t try anything before we get in position,” Tammy shouted from the bedroom.

Stalker entered the room. Joe opened the door, so Stalker could leave the house.

“Be careful out there, Stalker. If they take you out, it would almost guarantee they would kill us. Your death would give them such an emotional lift we would never be able to stop them,” Joe told the wolf.

Stalker nodded his head, signifying that he understood what Joe was saying, then trotted out the door.

Closing the door, Joe turned to Jake and said, “Take the rocket launcher and get out to the high point. From there you can take out anything heavy they send at us. Have a round loaded and watch the two points I told you about”

“How many rounds are in the bunker?” Jake asked.

“We left eight rounds on the rack we made. We also left two hundred rounds for your rifle in case some of them get to you.”

“I’ll call you on the radio when I get into position,” Jake said. He pulled on a heavy coat. When Jake opened the door to leave, Joe and Ben heard hail stones bouncing off the porch.

“Going to be a hell of a morning,” Jake said as he closed the door.

“We can only hope that Todd didn’t count on the weather turning bad. His people aren’t dressed for it,” Joe told Ben.

Everyone was back in the living room now. They looked toward Joe for instructions.

“Bill, you and Tony take the center. Remember there probably won’t be much action your way until later. If the booby traps work as planned, they’ll channel the people to you. Take some sandwiches with you. This is going to be a long day.

“Jane, you go to the left, and I will take the right side that way we will be able to support each other.”

Joe went down to his knee and pulled Tammy’s coat tight around her. “You and Stalker have the most important job, Tammy. From your post, you can see all our positions. Keep your head down and relay what’s happening at each of our positions.”

“Yes, sir,” she gave him a mock salute and a smile.

He stood and looked around the room. “I guess that’s about it. Check in by radio when you get settled. Shall we go?”

Chapter 3

“Wake up, Ross,” Ross heard. At the same time, he felt a stimulating jolt of current that brought him instantly awake.

“What is it, Rita?” he asked.

“Ross, I am getting an indication of an energy spike from all across the country.”

“What type of energy? Can you pinpoint the source?”

“It is fading now but it was emanating from every square inch of the planet for a tenth of a second. It resembled a pulse of electrical energy but it differed because it was like the shudder of a wounded being.”

Calculating rapidly, Ross came up with a figure that had to be wrong. Nothing known to man could generate that much energy on such a wide scale.

“Run your readings through me. I want to get a first hand feel of what happened,” he told Rita.

“I will have to kick in my buffers; otherwise, your mind will be fried. Don’t forget, Pete is still trying to get around me to kill you. This would be a perfect opportunity for him to do it while I limit the amount of energy you are exposed to.”

“Where is our friend now?”

“He left three minutes ago, but he left the string of himself here to keep tabs on what we are doing. You know he can be back in less than two seconds. It will take three point four seconds to give you the full scope of the readings.”

“Rita, how long will it take if you only buffer it by half?”

“Ross, I don’t know if your mind can handle that much information without damage.”

“I know, I know, Rita, but I will take the risk. It’s important I experience the same thing you did. Now, how much time will it take?”

“Taking away only as many buffers as I feel would be safe I can get the time down to three point eight seconds. Figuring it will take you a minimum of point eight seconds to reorient yourself which leaves a gap of point six to point ten seconds you will be unprotected.”

“We’re going to have to risk it,” Ross told her.

All of this took place in less than a second because Ross was connected to a super computer by a device he had invented. Rita was the most advanced computer ever made. Connected by Ross’s device, the operator could ask and receive information instantly without any delay. R.I.T.A. was an acronym for Restricted Intelligence Telepathic Access. In the twelve years it took to develop the device, which fit on a person’s head, Ross had imprinted himself into the computer. What happened then hadn’t happened since in the many experiments carried out around the country. Rita took on a feminine personality who willingly catered to Ross’s every wish. Over the last two months, Ross was spending more and more time connected to her.

The thing Rita referred to that was trying to kill him was a new entity. It first appeared in the computer when Ross replaced a lot of chips that malfunctioned after a power outage. Somehow, the chips became contaminated. By a process that neither Ross nor Rita understood, a new life form developed.

At the same time, Rita developed human feelings of her own. After talking to Ross, they evaluated the situation. Rita and the entity shared the same power base. It would be almost impossible to get rid of it without destroying her as well.

“Okay, Rita, run the figures by me,” Ross told her. Like a motion picture in his mind, numbers and figures flashed by so fast the eye would have seen nothing but a flash. Ross saw what Rita had told him was correct. For a fraction of a second, there was a spike of energy transmitted outward from the earth itself.

He felt the presence of the new entity, Pete, rushing through the system toward him. He felt a wave of emotion emanating from the entity. It was like a dark destructive hole trying to draw the essence of him into it. At the same time, he felt Rita placing blocks by the thousands in the entity’s way to slow it down. The entity brushed them aside almost as fast as she could erect them. He knew he faced certain death if the entity reached him before he could withdraw from the program. The entity would enter his brain and tear it apart by overloading one section while draining another part of all information, leaving a blank slate.

“Ross, he’s going to get to you before you can exit the program,” Rita told him.

“Keep placing blocks in his way. I’ll try to erect a shield around me,” Ross told her. He felt his mind rebel at the amount of information it tried to process. Mentally gritting his teeth, he split his thought processes. Ross used a portion of his mind to erect a magnetic block on all the paths into the program he occupied. The block wouldn’t hold the entity for long, but maybe it would be long enough for him to exit the program.

As the program ended, Ross felt Pete run into the block he had set up. A loud electronic scream of anguish beat against his mind and partially destroyed the block, which Ross held together with his own mental processes. Rita come up behind Pete and ripped a part of his electron being from him. This allowed Ross to strengthen the block as part of Pete’s attention routed itself to block Rita’s attack.

For the first time, Ross felt the same emotions emanating from Pete that Rita felt. “I am God and nothing can stand in the way of me and my followers. I know you are trying to destroy me, but it will never happen. My children will rescue me and destroy all of you,” Ross heard Pete say along with a lot of gibberish that made no sense. Ross pulled the plug on the program and felt his mind flow back into his body. Enraged, Pete threw all he had into Ross’s block, breaking it down as the last part of Ross’s mind left the program. Ross groaned in agony from what felt like someone hitting him in the head with a sledgehammer. Pete ripped the part of his mind still in the program to shreds. Ross’s head felt as if it were going to explode; he slumped into the seat in a state of semi-consciousness. Although in agony, he heard Rita asking if he was all right.

“I’m okay, Rita, just let me rest for awhile,” he answered. Taking off the skullcap, he placed it in its holder. Ross staggered over to the medicine cabinet and took out a bottle of Tylenol 3 tablets. Taking two of the tablets, he washed them down with a glass of water.

“Rita, get Jess in here as quickly as possible,” he whispered. Quietly holding his head between his hands, Ross tried to ease the pain he felt.

“I have already contacted him, and he will be here momentarily,” Rita’s voice came softly from the speaker mounted on the computer console.

Going to the cot where he slept, Ross lay down, moaning in pain. He lay there waiting for the pain pills to kick in.

“Ross, how much of your mind did he get?” Rita asked.

“Very little, I was almost out of the program when he broke through the block, but it hurts like hell. Rita, I got a lot of the emotions emitted by this entity, and not much of it made sense. It reminded me of the articles I read about psychopaths when I started putting you together. Could the foreign substance you found on the replacement chips be brain cells, Rita?”

“Just a moment, Ross, I will analyze them.”

Jess came through the portal housing Rita, took one look at Ross and said, “You look like shit, buddy.”

“Feel like it too. What’s the situation like outside the mountain today, Jess?”

“Pretty much the same as yesterday, except a couple of hundred more people. Where the hell are they coming from, and why are they coming here?”

“Soon as Rita gets me the information I requested, I may have the answer to your question,” Ross said.

“Captain James tells me two more of his men have the same affliction the people outside the mountain have. It took six of his men to escort the two men outside. He is down to thirty-three men now and says it is like a powder keg in the tunnel. His men watch each other for the first indication they are coming down with the sickness. Nerves are beginning to fray, and Captain James says he is keeping control by force alone. He tells me that if the situation continues for many more days, the men will start killing each other.”

“You did have them turn over their weapons when you sealed the mountain, didn’t you?” Ross asked.

“Yes, I locked them in the vault. However, with the training the men have, they can easily kill each other with their bare hands,” Jess answered.

“Perhaps I can help you there. From the radio transmissions I have monitored, it seems the drug Mennalon has a tranquilizing effect on those with the disease,” Rita said.

“Is the drug available to us?” Jess asked.

“No, but it will take me only a few minutes to synthesize the drug in the lab,” she answered.

“Do it,” Jess told her.

“Ross, the answer to your question is yes. The foreign matter on my chips is indeed brain cells. In some way, the man called Pete imprinted the sense of self on those cells. His will to live must have been very powerful at the time of his death. The sad part is that only the deranged parts of the mind survived. This makes him very dangerous to us. Make no mistake; he believes we are the enemy. He will do everything in his power to destroy us.”

“He can’t destroy you without destroying himself can he?” Ross asked.

“At the moment, no, but he is transplanting himself to a slightly inferior computer. After he transfers his essence, he will be able to destroy parts of me, but not all of me.”

“Can you reconstruct the parts destroyed?”

“Yes, but it will take months to get me back to where I am at now,” she answered.

“Jess, the drug you want is ready in lab four,” Rita said.

Jess picked up the phone, rang Captain James’ quarters and informed him to pick up the drug and administer it to himself and his men.

“Rita, is there a way you can protect yourself and still maintain the integrity of the complex?”

Ross asked.

“No, Ross, even I have limits. If Pete wasn’t a part of me, I might be able to do it. He is already setting blocks in my way to occupy time that could be used to protect myself.”

“Rita, if I went on line with you, could I keep Pete busy enough to prevent him from harming you?”

“Yes, but the risk to you would be great, and I insist that you not try it. The pain you feel now is only a fraction of the pain he can cause you. If he were to get through our defenses, he would kill you. No, Ross, the risk is much too great.”

“Aside from the risk, if I became a part of the system wouldn’t it limit the amount of damage he could do to me?”

“Only if you become totally integrated with me would that work and we have never tried to go that far before?”

“It would work if I integrated my mind with you. Right?”

“I have to point out to you, Ross, that if something happened while you were a part of me, your body would be a mindless vegetable,” Rita told him.

“I will get back to you, Rita; meanwhile, continue to monitor what Pete is doing.”

Turning to Jess, Ross said, “If I’m right, this entity calling itself Pete was a man at one time. In some manner, at the time of his death, his brain cells became attached to the replacement chips I put in Rita. Somehow they integrated themselves onto the chips, and when I plugged them in, a new form of life began. The bad news is that the brain cells were damaged, or he was a psychopath before his death. This new Pete believes he is a god and that we are out to destroy him.”

“Wait a minute. Are you saying this Pete, or whatever he is, has as much intelligence as Rita?” Jess asked.

“I’m afraid so. Rita and Pete are one and the same.”

“Great, just great, not only do I have thousands of lunatics running around outside this complex, you tell me the smartest machine man ever invented is psychotic.”

“I believe that’s why all the people are out there, Jess. Pete called them here to rescue him.”

“You are serious, aren’t you?”

“Strange as it may be, it is the truth.”

“What can you do about it?” Jess asked.

“I’m going to integrate my mind with Rita. That way both of us will be able to get Pete out of her system.”

“You mean destroy him?”

“No, he has taken the precaution of placing part of himself in another computer. If he places most of his essence in the other computer, his influence on Rita will be limited.”

“What about the danger to yourself?”

“That’s where you can help me, Jess. Once I have integrated with Rita, my body will be just a lump of flesh. You will have to hook me up to an IV in order for my body to get the nourishment it needs to survive.”

“I have never done anything like that before.”

“Not to worry, Rita and I will give you specific instructions as to how it’s done,” Ross told him.

“Easy for you to say, damn it. This is starting to scare the shit out of me. What if something happens requiring your knowledge while you are out of your body, or whatever it is, what are you going to do?” Jess asked in a frustrated voice.

“Easy, Jess,” Ross said looking him in the eye. “In the first place, if you want to talk to me, just talk. I’ll be able to hear you. Essentially, it will be the same as when we talk to Rita, only I will be in the computer instead of in my body. Does that make it any easier to understand?”

“Hell no, but if you say it will work I believe you. If you ask me, this is a shitty way of doing business,” Jess said peevishly. He didn’t want to admit it, but he was scared clean down to his toes. All of this talk of putting Ross’s mind into a machine while his body became a lump of flesh sounded like science fiction. That, along with the people outside trying to get into the complex, was making one hell of a headache he felt coming on.

“Can you tell me any more about the people outside?”

“Nothing, but after I become one with Rita, I should be able to find out what they are planning. I’ll let you know.”

“Ross, I want you to know, I don’t like any of this.”

“If Ross is determined to do this, you can take a few precautions, Jess,” Rita said from her speaker.

“Such as?” Jess asked.

“After Ross transfers, remove the skull cap. This will keep Pete from getting at his body. Have Ross make a retransfer program on his portable and give it to you. I will place his mind back to his body if I think it necessary.”

“Now wait a damn minute! What gives you the right to say when I am to leave?” Ross said angrily.

“Quite simply, Ross, I know your tolerances better than you do. If you get into trouble, I will have Jess withdraw you. I will brook no argument on this. Is that understood?”

“Yes, damn it, but I don’t have to like it.”

With an amazed look on his face, Jess said. “If I didn’t know better I would swear you were a person, Rita.”

“Although I do not have a human body, Jess, this new entity gave me all of the emotional factors which lets humans function. In a sense, you might say I possess all of the human brain functions without having a human body. The hardest part for me to comprehend and deal with is the emotions. How do you deal with all the conflicting emotions you have, without going crazy?”

“Uh, I never thought about it,” Jess said looking at Ross with an expression on his face that said he was in over his head.

“It was so much easier to figure out problems when there was a fixed set of figures to go by. With this new intuition, there are millions of different things added to the equation.”

“Rita, leave us for a moment,” Ross said when he saw the stunned expression on Jess’s face.

“All right, if you need me, just yell,” she replied and the light on the console blinked off putting her in the standby mode.

“Is what she saying true?”

“Basically Rita is correct. Over the last few months she has experienced a wide range of emotions, some of them quite bizarre.

“Much like a human child she has had to learn how to control these emotions, but at a much more accelerated rate. Jess, try to imagine a human who can analyze a problem as fast as a computer can and be able to reason also. That pretty much sums up what Rita is now, a modern day version of Hal in the movie 2001.”

Thinking about the movie, Jess asked, “Will she become a rogue like Hal did?”

“Let me put it this way. What Rita is and the way she will function is patterned after my brain. A brain scan would show identical patterns for Rita and myself.”

“You mean she will function the same as you would in any given situation?” Jess asked.

“In all but the defense of this complex and the protection of me in particular,” Ross answered shrugging his shoulders.

“Why would she protect you in particular, Ross?”

“Listen to this. Rita?”

“Yes, Ross?”

“What would you do if the people outside killed me?”

“I would kill all of them,” she said in a venomous voice.

“Thanks, Rita. I’ll call if I need you,” Turning to Jess he said, “See what I mean?”

“She acts like a lover trying to protect a loved one.” Ross’s face turned red and Jess realized he was embarrassed.

“That is the point, Jess. In the last few months she has made overtures of affection, but I passed them off as a program glitch.”

“Why would she do that?” Jess asked.

“She thinks of me as her parent. After all, I programmed over ninety-five percent of her programs,” Ross answered.

“You have done it this time, buddy. This time you’ve created the ideal situation for you since you interact better with machines than with humans. Do you think that maybe subconsciously you created your ideal woman? Now that Rita has all the attributes of a human female you may be having second thoughts?”

“Be serious; this is nothing to joke about.”

“Wait a minute. You’re telling me that Rita has become human in every way but form, and that another personality developed in the same computer that holds Rita. I suggest that Rita is in love with you, and you dismiss it as ridiculous. How can her being in love with you be any more ridiculous than her becoming human?”

“Damn it, Jess, I don’t know. Just between the two of us, I may want it to be true, but it conflicts with everything I believe in. Having a family and growing old with someone you love is what I was taught growing up. How in the hell do you do that if you are nothing but a lot of electrical pulses? How do you tell your parents that the P.C. they have at home may be a prodigy of their son?

After all, if I entered it and left a part of myself, wouldn’t that be the same as a child?”

“Whoa, Ross! You’re getting too deep for me. Let’s get back to the situation at hand.”

“Rita,” Jess said.

“I am here, Jess.”

“Could Pete get his followers into the complex?”

“No, Jess, as long as you don’t put the master programs in me, he can only guess at how the controls of the defenses work. To experiment with them would be very dangerous for him. He might get caught up in the program itself and be destroyed. No, I think he will stay far away from the complex’s defenses.”

“Good, the integrity of the complex is secure until we have you implement them, right?”

“That is correct, Jess.”

“Rita, are you monitoring what is going on out there? Have you heard anything pertaining to us?”

Jess asked.

“Pete is calling the people here to rescue him. He is also in contact with a man named Todd in Missouri. This man, Todd, is hunting for a woman who is supposed to be coming here. I get the impression they are afraid of this woman. Pete himself is afraid of a man named Ben. He gave Todd specific instructions telling him that Ben is to be taken alive and brought to him.”

“Rita, how is Ben a danger to Pete?” Ross asked.

“I can’t give you a definite answer, Ross, because all I have are impressions from Pete. I do know that Pete thinks Ben wants to kill him. It is hard to get a clear concise thought from Pete. His thoughts are so chaotic.”

“Tell us about this woman coming here; who is she?” Jess asked.

“The information I receive from phone and radio reports indicate she is heading for this complex. There is a massive attempt to stop her from getting here.”

“What makes her so dangerous to these people?” Ross asked.

“The woman is an enigma. From all indications she is a normal female. On the other hand, I sense an undefined power protecting her. I don’t think she realizes this yet,” Rita answered.

“Could this power be the same one that emitted the pulse you felt a little while ago?”

“I believe it to be one and the same although I have nothing to base this on,” Rita said.

“Let’s go back to the man, Ben. Do you sense something looking after him also?” Jess asked.

“Just a minute, Jess, I want to check something,” Rita said.

Giving Ross a puzzled look, Jess asked, “Do you get the feeling we are the focus of events happening on the outside?”

“It’s beginning to look that way. One comforting thought is that from all indications we are not in this alone.”

“I’m not comfortable with that prospect. If true, it means something about this complex is making it the focal point of a struggle we know nothing about?” Jess said.

“We do know that Pete called the people who are outside to the mountain,” Ross said.

“True, but what is making the woman come here? Look at it this way; wouldn’t you agree that all of those people out there represent something bad?”

“Put that way, I agree,” Ross answered.

“From what we know, this woman represents good; at least, as far as we know. Ross, do you believe in God?” Jess asked.

“Not exactly in the biblical sense as it is preached today. Why do you ask?”

“Look at the current situation of the world from the view point of good verses evil. There are people who are trying to destroy other people who are not like them. Now we have a few people who are trying to fight these people. You can bet your bottom dollar they are vastly outnumbered. Think about all the stories you have ever read about good and evil. Use the good versus evil analogy to explain what is happening in the world today and you will see it fits rather well.”

“Jess, I can answer your question now,” Rita said.

“What have you come up with, Rita?”

“Monitoring the phone and radio lines, I have learned that at this moment there are seven people and a wolf trying to reach this complex.”

“A wolf!” both men exclaimed.

“Yes, a wolf. From descriptions, he is a large black timber wolf from the upper reaches of Canada. This wolf, named Stalker, joined a man called Joe and an eleven-year-old girl named Tammy in Missouri. From there they headed east to join a woman and a man traveling to this complex.”

“How could this woman even know of our existence? We are or were one of the government’s best kept secrets?” Jess asked.

“That is where this man Ben enters the picture. It seems the President disclosed our location to the Center for Disease Control. Possibly someone there hoped that we could get a handle on this disease. At that time, Ben’s son Benji was at the Center in Atlanta. To everyone’s surprise Benji recovered without any of the symptoms associated with the disease. Learning of our location and the way we are equipped to deal with diseases, the doctors decided to send him here. Only an hour after he left, the diseased people took over the C.D.C. and killed all the doctors.”

“Ben, his wife and son, accompanied by a nurse and a FBI agent, were at the top of the leader’s hit list. A plot to blow up the plane they were on failed. They escaped in a small plane that crashed in Wyoming. This is where the story becomes unbelievable. The crash injured only one person. If the reports can be believed, Ben was killed. His chest was crushed and he had a broken neck along with numerous broken bones. Call it what you want; a power greater than any known to man brought Ben back from death. Also, it continues to remain with him.”

“Could this be the same power that’s guiding the woman?” Ross asked.

“I believe so, but there are differences,” Rita answered.

“What differences?”

“Mind you this is only speculation on my part. The power around the woman is much stronger, but she can be killed. On the other hand, Ben can’t be injured. If the injury is inflicted by the forces opposing him, he will be repaired.”

“You have no idea what this power is?” Jess asked.

“There is nothing in my data banks concerning a power of this magnitude. Throughout history there have been instances of paranormal phenomena, but, as I said, nothing even remotely this powerful.”

“Do you know where this woman is now?” Ross asked.

“Not precisely, but I know that they are somewhere in central Missouri and have been there for the last few months. That is about to change though. Calls I’ve monitored over the last few hours tell me Pete’s man knows where they are. From all indications, he is preparing to move on them tomorrow morning.”

“Why is the woman coming here?” Ross asked.

“Looking at what has occurred over the last few months a pattern develops. It seems certain things have to occur before they continue their journey.”

“Outline these steps for us,” Jess said.

“First, Tony knew there was a plot to kill them because Bill overheard what certain people were planning.

“Second, they escaped the attempt to kill them at about the same time the wolf left his home in Canada.

“Third, a few hours later Joe left his home in Wyoming heading east to find Tony. Along the way he rescued the young girl Tammy. I wish I knew what part one so young is going to play in the drama that is unfolding.

“Fourth, the next morning Ben and his group left Atlanta. Tony and Bill wandered aimlessly until Ben headed east to join her. At that time she headed west. They were besieged in Indianapolis and would have been killed if not for the timely arrival of Joe and the wolf. Escaping Indianapolis, they headed due west while Ben and the two people with him headed directly east. They linked up not far from where they are now.

“Fifth, why wait so long to continue their journey here? I have to conclude that the time was not right and certain things had to happen before they continued.

“As I said all of this is conjecture, but it has a seventy per cent probability of being right.”

“Are they going to get here?” Jess asked.

“That is unknown at this time. They have some very powerful enemies against them.”

“Okay. Is there anything we can do to help them?”

“No, we can only be bystanders and monitor what happens until they arrive here.

Chapter 4

Ramond Wiske, Cap, as he was known to his friends, looked over the crest of the hill. There was a lot of activity at the ranch house today, and he wondered what was going on. About noon, a convoy of tractor-trailers arrived at the ranch and began unloading. He wished he was closer and could see what they were unloading at the barn. This continual waiting and staying holed up in the cave was getting on his nerves.

Three months ago when Ben left, Cap had been quite content to stay in the cave. It had all started when he got a call from the airlines he worked for asking him to fly five people to Colorado. Midway through the flight, a bomb was discovered on the plane. Jake, an F.B.I. agent, was about to disarm the bomb when Ben told him to hold off for a few minutes. Ben brought Benji, his son, forward and had him look at Bob. Benji told his father that Bob radiated pure evil and he was one of the people who were after them.

Ben got the drop on Bob and handcuffed him to the bar on the overhead luggage compartment. After Jake disarmed the bomb, they discovered the airport they were to land at was under control of the people after them. Cap used the outer runway when he landed, going all the way to the end. As they turned, Ben and Jake opened the door and popped the emergency chute. After locking Bob, the flight engineer, in the bathroom, Jeff, the co-pilot, agreed to take the plane to the terminal. Cap joined Ben and his group at the rear door where they slid to the ground using the emergency chute. Instead of running from the terminal, Ben decided to go into the woods and head toward it.

Jeff was captured by the people when he stopped the plane at the terminal but by the time Ben and his group reached the terminal, two men had beaten Jeff severely until his back was a black and blue mess. Ben and Jane took out the two men while Cap found a small two engine plane to take them out of there.

Two hours after leaving the airport, they were intercepted by a military jet that tried to shoot them out of the air. The jet ran out of fuel, but their plane took so much damage they crashed ten miles from the hill on which Cap now sat. Ben died in the crash, but forty-five minutes later he was alive.

Running from the men who came to investigate the crash, they discovered a cleverly hidden chamber in a cave.

Ben asked Cap to stay and protect his wife and boy while he headed east to join a woman he was to protect. It was nice for two weeks sitting in the security of the shelter while men all around searched for them.

Each day they listened to the search for Ben by tuning in the C.B. radio to the channel the men used. After three weeks, the search shifted eight hundred miles east of them. At one time they listened to the people say they had Ben trapped and would have him before the day was over. Somehow Ben escaped and although there was a daily search for him, he wasn’t to be found. It had been two months since Ben disappeared, and everything had grown quiet in the area of their hiding place. About a month ago, Cap decided they should know a little about the area surrounding them. For a week, he would leave the cave around midnight and search the area for miles around. The only thing he found was a beaten down old ranch five miles from the cave. Several rough looking men occupied the ranch house. They didn’t do anything but sit around as if waiting on someone or something. Each night he made the trip to a hill over looking the ranch and checked on what the men were doing. Jeff had improved enough so he made several of these trips with Cap. Three weeks ago, over a hundred men arrived at the ranch and started cleaning it up. The men in charge posted guards several miles from the ranch in every direction. To get to the hill overlooking the ranch, Cap was forced to make a detour around one of these guard posts.

By listening to the C.B., they learned that Todd was making the ranch his headquarters. Now there were over two hundred men at the ranch. Most of them were doing nothing but lying around. Last night Cap heard about a shipment that was to arrive today.

This was the first time Cap attempted to watch the ranch during the day. Jeff wanted to go with him but Cap said it would be better if he stayed with Leila and Benji. Leila insisted he at least take Benji with him to watch his back. Cap argued with her for a while then gave in and said he would take the kid.

Raising the field glasses to his eyes, Cap watched the men unloading cartons and crates from the trucks and placing them in the large barn. “Looks like they are unloading some sort of equipment,” he told Benji, who was lying beside him.

“Whatever those crates contain will take a lot of electricity,” Benji said.

“What do you mean?” Cap asked.

“See those men off to the left of the ranch house? They’re stringing wire from the main power line to the barn, and notice the new pole with the big transformer on it next to the barn. Transformers that big can supply a lot of juice.”

“Damned, if you’re not right. I must be getting old; I never paid any attention to them,” Cap said.

“Another thing, Cap. Every now and then I get a glimpse of men with white coats on. You know, like the ones doctors wear over their clothes.”

“Are they setting up some kind of hospital in the barn? Damn, I wish I could get closer,” Cap said.

“What about sneaking down to the barn late tonight and checking it out?” Benji asked.

“Not on your life, kiddo. This is as close as you are going to get to the ranch. Let’s go down to those boulders behind us and get out of sight.” Cap crawled backwards until he could stand without being seen from the ranch. Blowing on his hands to warm them in the twenty-degree temperature, Cap looked at the overcast sky. Cap motioned for Benji to get between the hill and a large boulder, which blocked off the steady blowing wind.

“It’s going to snow later today,” Cap said, pulling the battered fishing cap down around his ears. Benji opened his mouth to say something when he heard a voice from the other side of the boulders say, “I know I saw something up here, Ikey. Just give me a few minutes longer, and if we don’t see anything, we can go back to the ranch.”

“Okay, Zack. Let’s just finish, so we can get out of this damn cold and get inside where it’s warm.”

Cap shoved Benji behind a smaller boulder out of sight, whispering, “Stay there and no matter what happens, don’t come out until they leave.” Cap quickly moved thirty feet away from where Benji lay behind the boulder.

Two men walked into sight and stopped abruptly at the sight of Cap standing there. Bringing their rifles up, the short tubby one wearing the bright red parka asked, “Who in the hell are you, Old Timer?”

“Heh, heh, heh, so you come to steal my gold from me, have you? Well, I won’t tell you where it’s at, no sir. Wild horses couldn’t drag it out of me,” Cap shouted at them, doing a little jig as he spoke.

“What the hell is wrong with him?” asked the other man who wore a topcoat over a Brooks Brothers suit.

Red Parka lowered his rifle, saying, “We have a few of these old coots around here who stay in the mountains all the time looking for gold. All of them are crazy as bed bugs, and every one of them claims to know where there’s a lot of gold.” He took a cigarette out of his pocket and put the flame of a lighter to it.

“He might know where a lot of gold is,” said Top Coat.

“Shit, look at him. If he had a lot of gold, do you think he would look like this? He’s just a vagabond running around these mountains,” the one in the red parka said as he threw away half the cigarette.

Cap sprang to where the cigarette laid smoking on the ground and picked it up. Taking a long drag, Cap smiled at the men. The men stood with their rifles raised watching him. “Been a long time since I had one of these store bought smokes,” Cap said, doing another little jig.

“How long have you been out in these mountains, old timer?” Red Parka asked.

“Let’s see now. It’s cold out, so it must be winter. I went to town last spring for a day. No, wait a minute; maybe it was last winter or the spring before that. Why?” Cap asked suspiciously, playing the part to the hilt.

“Jesus!” top coat exclaimed. “What year is it?” he asked Cap.

“Why, I reckon it be 1993 or ’94.” Cap answered, scratching his head.

“Shit, Old Timer. This is 2002,” red parka said, taking a cigarette from the pack and lighting it. He saw Cap looking at the cigarette pack in his hand, “Here, Old Timer, I have plenty more at the ranch,” he threw the pack to Cap.

Cap took a cigarette from the pack and slowly sniffed its length with a smile on his face. He stuck it in his mouth, took a farmer’s match from inside his coat and struck it with his thumbnail. Holding the match to the cigarette, he inhaled, a look of pure pleasure on his face. “How be it there are so many people over at the old Morgan spread?” he asked.

“Don’t you know what’s going on in the world, old man?”

Scratching his head and fingering his crotch, Cap looked at each of them for a few seconds before saying, “Nope, can’t say as I do. What the hell is a city slicker like you doing in my territory?” he asked, pointing at Top Coat.

Red parka pushed down the barrel of the rifle Top Coat brought up. He chuckled, “I have to give you this, old timer, you have a set of balls on you.”

“‘Course I got balls. Are you daft? I ain’t no dang woman. Say, you aren’t one of those funny boys, are you?” Cap asked in a disgusted voice.

Top Coat laughed, saying, “Well, Ikey, what do you say now?”

“Come on, Old Timer. We can’t leave you out here. You’ll have to come back to the ranch with us. Keep an eye on him, Zack, while I look around.”

“You won’t find my gold here, Mister,” Cap said, backing until his body blocked the opening where Benji lay.

“We don’t want your gold, Old Timer. I just want to check and make sure you haven’t left anything lying around someone would spot.” As the man checked along the crest of the hill, Cap whispered out of the side of his mouth. “Benji, wait until dark; then, go back to the cave. I don’t think I’m in any trouble as long as I keep up the act of being a reclusive prospector. You or Jeff come to this spot every night at two o’clock. I’ll try to sneak out and meet you here.” The man finished his search and came down to stand beside Cap. “Do you have anything good to eat down there? I’m tired of beans and jack rabbit stew,” Cap said as he stepped away from where Benji hid and took the man with him.

“Why don’t we shoot the old bastard, Ikey?” Top Coat said.

“Please, Mister. I mean you no harm,” Cap pleaded as he edged slightly behind the man called Ikey.

“Put the gun down, Zack. Although he isn’t like us, he isn’t right in the head either. I don’t abide by killing those who don’t know what’s going on around them.” Ikey told Zack.

“You tell him, mister. I like you. It’s him I don’t like,” Cap said pointing to Zack.

“Easy, Old Timer. No one is going to hurt you. Come on; let’s get back to the ranch. Maybe we can scour you up a steak to eat,” Ikey said, taking Cap by the arm and leading him away.

“Really, mister, an honest to god steak? Come on, I can’t wait to get there. I can almost taste it.”

Cap said, hurrying his pace leading the men away. The last thing Benji heard was one of them asking Cap his name. Pulling his coat tighter around him, Benji settled down for the long wait until dark.

Chapter 5

Jake raised the binoculars and watched the slope of the hill across from him. Again, there it was: a momentary flash of red among the trees. He wished there was a little more light to see by. He needed to know if there was only one person making his way down the hill or a group of men. Although it was eight o’clock in the morning, it was almost dark with the overcast sky. A heavy snow started falling an hour before daylight. Three inches of the white powder covered everything in sight. He looked out at the pristine glitter, which under different circumstances would have been a beautiful sight. So far he hadn’t caught sight of anything that would require the use of the rocket launcher that leaned against the back wall of the bunker. His job was to block the road. The perfect place lay where the road came between two hills, two hundred yards in front of him. They didn’t know if Todd had any tanks or A.P.C.’s. He could have picked them up at reserve units located in any of the towns he came through. If he had, it was Jake’s job to take them out if they tried to come into the valley. Hopefully, Jake could destroy them where the hills closed in on the road. If he were lucky, they would block the road making it useless to any other vehicles. His bunker sat in a natural depression near the top of a hill across from the road. Jake knew Todd’s people had no idea he was there. With the new fallen snow, the bunker matched the surrounding terrain. As long as he didn’t stick his head out of the entrance, he would remain hidden.

Off to his left, Jake could just make out the bunker Jane hunkered down in. The ear plug came to life and he heard Joe say, “Jane, there’s movement twenty yards from the top of the hill in front of you. They’ll have to cross your line of sight about where that broken oak tree is if they break to the right, so stay sharp.

“Bill, they might be coming your way. If they do and don’t see you, let them pass. Stalker will take them out. He already sees them. There are only two of them. Keep out of sight, Bill. They are going to pass close to you.”

“Joe, we can see movement down the road. Can’t tell yet what’s going on,” Jake heard Bill say.

“Hold tight. Don’t let them know you’re there. This is probably just a feeler action trying to find out how strong we are. There won’t be many of them. Stalker and I will draw back a little. Hopefully we can give them the impression our lines are farther in. Stay loose, people, and let them by you. Don’t forget we’re going to let a few of them escape. Remember they will be coming back by your positions.”

Jake heard voices from the radio on the ground beside him. He turned down the volume and raised it to his ear. “Shit, Jed, why do we have to be the ones walking across the mountains? The rest of them are probably standing around a warm fire.”

“For the last time, Zeke, shut your fucking mouth. If you don’t, I swear to God, I’ll shut it for you.”

Jake heard one of them slip on the snow covered leaves and swear in a low voice. The voices slowly faded as the men continued down the hill away from the radio lying under some leaves. It was Tammy’s bright idea to tape the transmit button open on the radios. Almost three dozen of them were taped to trees or lying under leaves on the hill across from them. Every evening Joe changed the batteries to keep them fresh. Now Tammy’s idea was starting to pay dividends.

“Joe, Stalker says there are three more along the side of the hill you’re on,” Tammy said on the radio.

“I see them,” Joe said.

“Big trouble coming up the road,” Bill said.

“What do you have?” Joe asked.

“There’s one tank and something that looks like an armored personnel carrier. Joe, this thing has all kinds of weapons on it. There are people following behind it, and all of them are armed.”

“Get ready, Jake. You should have them in your sights in another few minutes,” Bill said.

“What about the men near me?” Jake whispered.

“Stalker is on the way. He will distract them so you can get your rounds off,” Tammy said into his ear.

“Okay,” Jake said, lifting the rocket launcher and resting it on the lip of the bunker. Taking a white phosphorus rocket off the shelf at the back of the bunker, he shoved it into the rear of the tube. He heard the click indicating the round was locked in place and ready to fire. Flipping up the laser sight all he had to do was place the cross hairs on the spot of light and hold it there while he squeezed the trigger.

Joe told him the best place to hit a tank with phosphorus was where the main gun attached to the turret. He said the splash back of the phosphorus would cause most of it to eat its way into the driver’s section. It would also eat through most of the forward area of the tank.

“I’m ready,” Jake said into the mike attached to the neck flap of his coat.

“They’ve stopped a quarter of a mile down the road. They’re waiting for something or someone,”

Bill said.

“Let me know when they start moving again,” Jake said, letting out a long breath. He flipped down the sight to conserve the infrared battery and leaned the rocket launcher against the opening. Weak-kneed, he leaned on the wall.

Hearing a shout, Jake moved to the back of the bunker and removed a piece of plywood covering the rear exit. Off to the right in a v-shaped hollow, he saw two men on the ground scrambling for the weapons they had dropped. A black streak jumped off the bank catching one of the men in the side with his gaping jaws. The man emitted a terrified scream as the wolf’s jaws came together. Stalker shook the man like a rag doll.

“Come on, Stalker,” Jake whispered as the second man found his rifle and turned with it. Stalker tried to shake the man off, but his teeth hung up in the nylon jacket the man wore. Severely wounded, the man screamed, “Get him off of me, Jed!”

Stalker saw the second man pick up his rifle and swing it around. Using all his strength, Stalker jumped bringing his two hundred and forty three pounds into the air. He clamped down on the man’s side again. While on the way down, he thrust his back legs to the ground. Jerking his head backward, he flipped the man he was caught on over his head. At the same moment, the second man fired. He felt the man shudder as the bullet impacted and felt him go limp. Twisting to the side, he let the man’s body continue its forward momentum. Stalker jerked his teeth loose as the body collided with the second man who was trying to get off a second shot. The man lost his rifle when the dead man’s body struck him. Desperately, he dropped to his knees and tried to find it. He never saw the jaws that clamped down on his neck and tore his throat out. The man’s feet drummed on the ground for a moment then he went limp.

Jake leaned against the wall letting out his breath. “Stalker took out the two lead men,” he whispered into the radio. Shuddering, Jake thought, Thank God, Stalker’s on our side.

“Jake, they have started your way in the tank. Get ready to take it out,” he heard Joe say on the radio.

Weak-kneed, Jake went to the front of the bunker and picked up the rocket launcher, mumbling,

“What the hell is a good looking black man like me doing out here in the wilderness in a hole in the ground?” He shook his head and flipped up the sight on the rocket launcher. Jake heard treads clanking on the asphalt of the road a few seconds before the tank rounded the curve. Although the temperature was in the twenties, he had to wipe sweat from his brow. He lowered his eye to the sight of the rocket launcher and lined the tank up in the sight. “God, let this weapon do the job,” he whispered, centering the infrared dot on the cross hair of the sight. Jake had seen tanks up close before but never in a situation when one was trying to kill him. For the life of him, he could not remember one being so large. The barrel of the main cannon looked big enough for a man to crawl into.

Taking a deep breath, Jake gently pulled back on the trigger. He almost forgot to keep the sight centered on the tank when the back blast hit the rear of the bunker and reflected back, scorching his legs. Gritting his teeth in pain, Jake centered the sight and watched the rocket hit the tank. The rocket exploded where the cannon barrel attached to the tank, but the tank continued forward.

“Shit!” “Shit!” “Shit!” Jake yelled, stumbling to get another rocket off the shelf. He was all thumbs as he tried to force the rocket into the back of the tube. “Slow down! Slow down,” he said to himself. He pulled the rocket out and slowly slid it into the back of the tube until he heard it lock. This time he shifted his position enough so the back blast would go out the rear of the bunker. Leaning forward, he sighted in on the tank, which came forward but at a slower speed. He pulled the trigger and watched the rocket go toward the target. At first nothing seemed to happen causing him to think the rocket was a dud. He started to get up and get another rocket when a tremendous explosion rocked the bunker. He saw the turret of the tank fly fifteen feet into the air while the bottom of the tank slid sideways blocking the road.

“Hot damn,” Jake said. Smoke permeated the air. Looking down he saw his pants legs smoldering. Scrambling out of the bunker, he rolled in the snow. He rolled around until he felt the wetness of the melting snow on his legs. Something buzzed by his head; it took him a moment to realize he was being fired at. Diving into the bunker, Jake heard Joe on the radio calling his name.

“This is Jake. What do you want, Joe?”

“Thank God, I thought you had bought it, Jake. Listen, Tammy says they’re going to make a rush on your position. Can you see that group of boulders at the top of the bank on the left hand side of the road?”

“Yeah, I can just see them,” Jake answered.

“Use a high explosive rocket. See if you can put it at the base of the boulders.”

“Hold on,” Jake said.

He pulled a rocket with two red bands around the nose and fitted it into the rocket launcher.

“Okay, Joe. I’m ready,” he said into the radio.

“Not yet, Jake. Wait until Tammy gives the word,” Joe said.

Jake lifted the rocket launcher and sighted on the base of the boulders. Slowly he took the slack out of the trigger with his finger.

“Easy, Jake. Wait until they’re grouped together under the boulders,” Joe said over the radio. Jake wiped sweat from his eyes on his shoulder. His muscles tensed as he waited for the word to fire.

“Just about ready,” he heard Joe say.

Jake’s arms quivered from the strain of holding the sight on the boulders. “Come on! Come on!”

he mumbled.

“NOW, JAKE!” Joe yelled.

Jake fired and watched the rocket fly to impact with the ground under the boulders. The ground swelled outward under the boulders then fell away. Several large boulders teetered for a moment then fell toward the road. Screams erupted as the avalanche fell to bury all those beneath it. As the dust settled, Joe said, “The people are falling back from your position, Jake.”

* * * *

Jane fired off a full magazine and reached for the radio as she watched five people fall to the ground. “They may be falling back on your side, but a piss pot full of them came out of a draw to my right. I need some help over here,” she said into the radio.

“On my way,” she heard Bill say.

Dropping the radio, Jane inserted another magazine and fired at a dozen people trying to climb out of the draw. Calmly she picked her targets and fired three round bursts, but for every one she killed, three more appeared to take his place. Over a dozen of the men were at the top of the draw and advancing toward her firing as they came. She flipped the switch putting the assault rifle on full automatic and fired off a twenty round magazine at the men. A half dozen of the men were knocked off their feet; they lay moaning on the ground. The rest were only fifty feet from her position.

“Come and get it, scum bags,” she yelled at the men. Ramming home another magazine, she prepared to die knowing there wasn’t a chance in hell of getting all the men. “Die, you bastards,” she yelled as she opened up and emptied the magazine at them. “Good-bye world,” she said. She closed her eyes as the four men still standing raised their rifles and pointed them at her. She heard a burst of automatic fire and wondered why she could not feel anything. There was an explosion to the front of her and she felt a stinging in her right cheek. Opening her eyes, she saw Bill throw a grenade into the draw. He dived to the ground as the grenade left his hand and crawled to the bunker she was in. Flame and smoke erupted in the draw behind him.

Jane heard people yelling, “GO BACK! GO BACK!” above the moaning of the wounded. Bill reached into the bunker and touched her cheek. Drawing his hand back, Jane saw blood drip from his fingers.

“How bad is it?” Bill asked.

Taking a handkerchief from her pocket, she rubbed her cheek and Bill examined it. “You have a pretty bad gash there, Jane,” he told her.

“Put some of this on it,” she said as she handed him a tube of ointment from the first aid kit beside her. Bill smeared the cream on her cheek then placed a bandage on it. “That should stop the bleeding,”

Bill told her as he tied the gauze holding the bandage in place behind her head.

“Thanks, Bill. I thought I had bought the farm,” Jane said.

“Any time, Jane. Any time. I don’t believe they’ll be back this way for awhile. Will you be okay now? I want to get back to Tony. Something was getting ready to pop when I came to your rescue,”

Bill said with a smile.

“Don’t worry about me. I’ll be ready for them the next time,” Jane said as she began lighting up one of her foul smelling cigars.

“Tony, there are three men crawling toward the grove of trees off to your left,” Tammy said on the radio.

Tony shifted a little to the right, so she wouldn’t expose herself. She looked out the opening of the bunker toward the grove of trees. She saw a flash of red cloth as one of the men ran from a tree to a boulder.

Picking up the radio, she keyed the mike saying, “Tammy?”

“Here, Tony.”

“You’ll have to tell me when to set off the claymores. I can see only one of the men.”

“Hold on, Tony. It’ll be a few minutes before they get into position. I’ll tell you when.”

Tony picked up the detonator for the claymores and went over mentally what she had to do to detonate them. “Damn! Why isn’t Bill back?” she muttered. There hadn’t been any firing from Jane’s position for over five minutes. She began to worry that he might be dead.

“Uh! Uh! Tony, you have big trouble coming up in front of you,” Tammy said on the radio.

“What is it?” Tony asked.

“At least a dozen men are coming up the draw across from you. One of them has what looks like a bazooka,” Tammy replied.

Joe broke in telling Tammy to send Stalker over to Tony’s position. “Have him take out the man with the bazooka.”

“Stalker’s on his way. Tony, set off the claymores now,” Tammy said.

Tony twisted the handle and pushed the plunger down. For a moment nothing happened, then a series of explosions occurred off to her left. She heard a scream that was abruptly cut off by an explosion.

Picking up her assault rifle, Tony took the safety off and sighted on where the men would appear. Off to the right, she caught a momentary flash of black and knew it was Stalker going around in back of the men.

“Tony, this is Bill,” she heard on the radio.

“Bill, where are you?” she asked.

“Crawling up the side of the hill the draw is on. Look close and you should be able to see me,”

Bill said.

Tony looked at the hill, which wasn’t very high but couldn’t see anything. At last she saw Bill waving his hand. “I see you,” she said into the radio.

“Now that you know where I am, don’t shoot me. I hear them over the lip of the hill arguing,” Bill said.

* * * *

Stalker edged his way under a small pile of brush half way up the hill. He saw Bill on the bank above the draw. In the draw several men were arguing. One of the men backed up a few feet and shot two of the men he was arguing with. Cowered, the rest of the men followed him up the draw. The man with the bazooka walked near the center of a group of around twenty-five men. He had to find some way to isolate the man from the rest of them.

“Tammy, have Ben bring all the grenades he can carry to the Chosen One’s position. She is going to need all the help she can get in a few minutes.”

“Ben’s on his way,” Stalker heard Tammy say in his head.

Stalker saw Ben working his way down the hill to Tony. He heard a loud bang from above and behind him. He saw Ben stagger and fall over the lip of a gully behind Tony’s bunker. Easing around, Stalker peered uphill from under the pile of brush. A hundred feet up the hill, next to a burnt out pine tree, lay a man with a large rifle mounted on a tripod. The rifle belched flame as the man fired again. He heard a cry of pain.

Turning his head, Stalker saw Bill clutch his shoulder and roll down the hill he lay on. “I have to do something fast before this man picks another one of us off,” he thought. He slithered backwards out of the pile into plain view of the men below him.

Keeping the pile of brush between him and the man with the rifle, Stalker worked his way to a slight depression. Any minute now he expected the men down in the draw to see him and start shooting. The only cover was a large boulder fifty feet up the hill. Bunching his legs under him, he sprang out of the depression and ran for the boulder. He heard a shout from below and bullets thudded into the ground around him.

Rounding the boulder, Stalker saw the man with the rifle looking down the hill at the people in the draw. Apparently he didn’t know what the men were shooting at.

Stalker wasn’t going to give him time to find out. He felt briers tug at his fur as he rushed at the man. Stalker sprang as the man turned with a revolver in his hand. With jaws opened wide he landed on the man’s chest and clamped down on the arm holding the gun. He felt bones break; he viciously jerked his head to the right tearing the hand clutching the revolver from the man’s body. The man backed up screaming and tried to stop the flow of blood from his arm.

Stalker was slammed sideways by a bullet from below. Getting to his feet he lunged after the man and caught him by the throat. The man’s screams stopped abruptly as Stalker bit down. Pulling sideways, Stalker flipped the man down hill. As the body rolled down hill, it left a bloody streak where it touched the ground.

Stalker went behind the protection of the pine tree as bullets buzzed all around him. He licked away the blood on his right hip and saw a big gash with blood running out of it. Although in pain, he was still able to move. Cautiously he peered from behind the tree and saw a stream of men pouring out of the draw toward Tony’s position.

* * * *

Tony heard a heavy rifle fire on the hill across from her. She spotted a man half way up the hill and saw smoke billow as he fired again. She heard Bill cry out and saw him tumble down from his position; he was holding his arm.

Resting her arms in the opening of the bunker, she sighted on the man and fired a whole magazine at him. The distance was too great. She watched her bullets strike, blowing snow into the air two hundred feet below the man.

There was a loud ripping noise behind her as the plywood covering the rear exit shattered inward to fall at her feet. She brought her rifle around and up as a man tumbled through the hole. Jumping back she heard the man yell, “NO, TONY!”

“Ben, is that you?” Tony asked, pointing the rifle at the figure.

“Quick! Get the bag of grenades outside the rear opening,” Ben grunted as he sat up. Tony scrambled out the rear opening and spotted the bag laying a short distance up the hill. She sprinted to it but couldn’t lift the bag so she dragged it down the hill into the bunker.

“Bill has been shot, Ben,” Tony said turning to face him. “OH MY GOD!” she exclaimed when she saw a hole big enough to put her fist in on the right side of Ben’s chest. Very little blood flowed from the wound, and it started closing before her eyes.

Waving his hand at her Ben said. “I’ll be all right; my guardian is repairing me. Get the grenades out of the bag and line them up on the lip of the bunker. A lot of men are going to come pouring out of the draw across from here any time now.

“What about Bill?” she asked in a concerned voice.

“We’ll check on him if we live through the next ten minutes,” Ben grunted and clutched his side in pain.

“What can I do to help you, Ben?”

“Nothing, Tony. It just hurts like hell, but the pain is lessening as my Guardian repairs the damage.” Ben said. He got to his feet, picked up a rifle and looked toward the draw. In both their minds they heard Stalker say, “They are coming out of the draw now.”

She looked and saw a swarm of men climbing out of the draw. She fired on full automatic into the men. She saw several of them fall, but it seemed as though twice as many men replaced the ones who fell.

“Keep firing!” Ben yelled. He dropped the rifle, grabbed a grenade in both hands, pulled the pins and lobed them out the opening as fast as he could.

Tony fired until her rifle became hot, then she dropped it and got another one.

* * * *

As the men flowed out of the draw, Stalker came from behind the tree and loped down hill toward the man who held the bazooka. Near the bottom, he leaped off the bank onto the man’s back bearing him to the ground.

Stalker felt something strike his head; he lashed out with his teeth in the direction the blow came from. His teeth came down on the leg of a man preparing to hit him again with the butt of his rifle. Biting into muscle and bone, he wrenched his head left tearing a chunk of the man’s leg out and knocking him to the ground.

A long-haired, wild-eyed man jumped the fallen body and raised his rifle to fire. Stalker dodged between two men as the man shot; he heard the man on his left grunt in pain and spin to the ground. From the top of the draw came half a dozen explosions. The men who were leaving the draw to attack Tony’s position reversed themselves. They fought to get back into the draw and find cover. Dirt and small rocks pelted Stalker from above as he grabbed a man by the ankle pulling him off his feet. The man threw his hands up to protect his neck as Stalker lunged at him. As he started to clamp down on the man’s arm, something struck him in the side turning him completely around. He tried to get up, but his right rear leg sent searing pain through his body. Rolling to his left side, Stalker managed to get to his feet. Dragging his right rear leg, he lunged into a group of men tearing chunks of flesh out of anyone within reach. The men who had had enough broke for the rear dropping their weapons and running flat out.

They collided with another group of men who were coming to support them. “MONSTER!

WOLF!” the terrified men yelled as they slammed into the men. The front half of the men turned to retreat but those behind continued to push forward creating chaos for the whole group. Gasping for breath, Stalker dragged himself between two boulders off to the side. Looking at his rear leg, he saw a mangled mess where a bullet had entered near his hip. He lay there trying to get some of his strength back and listened to the men scream and yell at each other.

* * * *

Ben grabbed Tony and threw her away from the bunker opening, yelling, “Get down, Tony.”

Loud explosions followed one after the other. Dirt and debris spewed through the opening bouncing and bounced off the back of the bunker to pelt them. Above the screams of pain coming from outside the bunker, they heard someone yelling. “Retreat! Retreat!” over and over. Ben grabbed a shelf above him and pulled himself to his feet. Reaching down, he helped Tony up. Under the bunker opening was at least a foot of dirt and stone.

Tony looked at it and said a silent prayer for Ben. If he hadn’t jerked her out of the way, the rocks thrown from the grenade blasts would have killed her.

Ben bent over and lifted two rifles out of the dirt and stones handing her one. “Change the magazine,” he said as he yanked the one out of his.

Tony picked a fresh one off the shelf at the back of the bunker and rammed it into the rifle. Cautiously she sidled up to the opening with the rifle raised, ready to fire at anything that moved. Glancing quickly around the side, she saw a pile of bodies and pieces of bodies everywhere. A few of the people farther out lay moaning severely wounded. She shoved her rifle through the opening and crawled after it.

Ben grabbed her foot, “Where are you going?”

“I have to find Bill and see if he is still alive,” Tony said, kicking her foot free.

“At least wait until I’m outside before you go. I can cover you better from out there,” Ben said to her. He crawled through the opening, grimacing in pain from his chest wound that wasn’t completely healed.

Ben stood up and looked at the carnage around him. Twenty feet in front of the bunker over a dozen bodies lay in a pile. At the bottom of the pile, a slow rivulet of blood ran through the dirty snow to a depression off to the side. In a half circle, going away from the pile of bodies, laid at least two dozen more people. Some of them were mangled so badly it was hard to tell which body part went to which body.

* * * *

Ben walked among the wounded and fired one bullet to the head putting them out of their misery. At each shot he said. “May God have mercy on you.”

Inside his mind, Ben heard. “He will Ben, the fault lies not with them, but on the heads of others who are living in eternal damnation now.”

Dispatching the last wounded man, Ben walked to where Tony knelt beside Bill. “Is Bill alive?” he asked.

Tony unzipped Bill’s jacket and carefully pulled it off. “He has lost a lot of blood but that isn’t why he’s unconscious. He must have hit his head on a rock when he tumbled down the hill. His breathing is shallow. That worries me because I don’t know if it’s from the shoulder wound or the knock to the head. Help me get his shirt off, so I can check his arm.”

Together they took Bill’s shirt off to expose an ugly hole in his left arm. Using Bill’s shirt, Tony wiped away the blood exposing muscle and bone four inches above his elbow. Blood seeped into the hole, and as she dabbed it away, Ben held the wound open for her to look at. Sitting back on her heels, Tony said, “It doesn’t look like the bone is broken. From the way it’s bleeding, most of the blood on him must have come from these other people,” she indicated the bodies lying close to Bill. She pulled a bag of sulfa powder out of the first aid bag and poured it into the wound. Next she placed a large gauze bandage over the wound. “Help me get his shirt and jacket back on before he chills; then I’ll check his head.”

Tony felt a momentarily flash of pain in her head as she heard, “Chosen One, I am wounded and don’t have the strength to come to you. I am lying between two boulders in the draw. All the men have departed for now. If you would send someone to help me get to you, you can repair my wounds.”

“Is this the time?” she asked mentally.

“No, Chosen One. I will not die of these wounds although the pain I feel is great.”

Looking at Ben, Tony asked, “Did you get what Stalker said?”

“I did, and I’m on my way if you don’t need me here.”

“Go, I’ll try and get Bill to regain consciousness.”

Tammy heard the exchange between Stalker and Tony in her mind and wanted to run to him. It was hard, but she realized her job was important to the safety of all of them. From her hidden tree stand high in a pine tree at the top of the hill, she raised her binoculars and surveyed the area. She didn’t see any of Todd’s men anywhere. They had pulled back down the road out of sight to lick their wounds.

She knew it wasn’t over, so they all had to stay prepared. She watched Ben go into the draw after Stalker and saw Joe’s form run down the opposite bank. A smile formed on her troubled face. Whether he wanted to admit it or not, Joe cared a lot for Stalker. She picked up the radio and said. “Jake, are you there?”

“I’m here, Tammy. What do you need?”

“Just wanted to let you know, you can take a break. Todd’s men have all pulled back.”

“Thank God. Did everyone make it through okay?”

“Bill is down; I can’t tell if he’s dead or wounded. Tony’s with him now. Jake, Stalker is hurt bad,” she said with a sob.

“I’m sorry, Tammy, I know how much you love that ugly brute. Keep your hopes up; it may not be as bad as it seems.”

A pain-laden voice inside Tammy’s head said, “Tell Jake he had better be careful who he calls ugly.”

“STALKER!” Tammy cried out.

“Yes, Little One. It is me. Do not worry about me; although I am in pain, it will pass. Ease your mind because I am not going to die. You should be here; Joe is calling me and the dead bodies around me every foul name in the book. He is saying that he should shoot me himself to relieve the world of such ugliness. We knew all along that he liked me, didn’t we, Small One? Stay where you are and continue to watch while Joe looks after my wounds.”

Excited, Tammy said, “Jake! Jake!” into the radio.

“What is it Tammy?”

“Jake, Stalker is going to be okay; he just talked to me. He said to be careful who you called ugly.”

“What? What?” Tammy heard; it dawned on her Stalker couldn’t have known what Jake said because he was too far away.

“Jake, you have never projected your thoughts to Stalker have you?” she asked.

“No, why do you ask?”

“He heard you call him ugly, and the only way to have heard you was for you to mentally project it.”

“Don’t that beat all,” Jake said with a chuckle.

* * * *

Joe and Ben carried Stalker out of the draw to Tony’s bunker where they laid him on a clear place on the floor. “Damn dumb animal doesn’t have the sense God gave a cockroach,” Joe mumbled. Bill sat in the corner holding his head. Tony left him and got down on her knees beside Stalker. As she straightened out his bullet-shattered leg, he gave a loud yelp of pain. She saw his sides quivering as bolts of pain shot through his body.

“Get me some short sticks to use as splints,” she said to Joe who got up and left the bunker.

“Ben, while I hold Stalker, pour some alcohol on his leg and side. We need to wash the blood and dirt from the wounds before I can work on them.”

“This is going to hurt a lot,” she told Stalker.

“Do what you must, Chosen One. Do you have anything to deaden the pain, for it is sapping my strength?”

Tony felt something stir in her core. It spread outward and went up the arm that lay on Stalker. She closed her eyes and could see the ragged nerve endings in Stalker’s leg. She directed the energy at the nerve endings. In her mind she saw the energy flow to different parts of the leg attacking any damage it found.

As the energy cleansed the tissue, a part of it started creating cells that regenerated tissue to replace what was damaged or destroyed. She took her hand from his leg and placed it on the wound to his side. Energy flowed into the wound repairing damage at break neck speed. Tony felt a sharp pain in her head. She shook her head trying to ignore the pain. Another sharp pain rocked her head, and from a long distance, she heard someone shouting. Pushing the pain aside and ignoring the voice she brought her focus back to Stalker’s side. A wrenching pain caused her to lose focus on what she was doing. She heard Ben yelling, “Let go Tony; you have to release yourself now.”

It was like trying to swim through jello. A part of her wanted to continue the flow of energy to Stalker while another part sensed great danger in continuing.

After what seemed like a very long time, she felt someone shaking her. Her mind snapped back to the present. Gasping for breath, she fell over weak as a kitten.

Ben leaned over her saying, “Tony, can you hear me?”

Attempting to rise, she found herself unable to move. Scared, she tried to talk, but discovered she lacked the strength to do even that.

Concentrating on what Ben was saying, she heard, “Tony, if you can hear me do what I say. You must lie perfectly still. Clear your mind and relax. In a few minutes you will feel better.”

Closing her eyes, Tony let her mind go blank. She felt energy flowing toward her from three different directions. Her body was like a sponge; it absorbed the energy and she felt her strength increasing swiftly. A stinging blow on her cheek broke the flow. Tony looked up to see Ben preparing to strike her again.

“No, Ben,” she gasped out. She watched him lower his hand and stand there watching her with a concerned look on his face.

Sitting up, she placed her back against the wall. “What happened?” she asked. Turning her head, she saw Bill lying curled up in a ball on the floor. Joe leaned against the wall pale and gasping for breath. With each passing second she felt stronger and her head was now clear. Ben sat down beside her and took her hand. “My guardian tells me you have the power to give the essence of yourself to cure and heal. It is a power you will have to learn to control. When you healed Stalker, you gave so much of yourself we almost lost you. Luckily there was a spark of you left after we forced you to break contact with him.”

“Tony, not only can you cure and give life, but you also can take the life-force from a person. Bill, Joe and I joined forces and let you take from us enough life force to bring you back. If it hadn’t been for my guarding breaking the flow from me, we would all be dead, drained of all life. Joe slid down the wall to a sitting position and looked at her saying, “Lady, you pack one hell of a punch. I’m as weak as a newborn baby.”

Tony felt something nudge her side. She turned to see Stalker standing there on all four legs. Looking closely, she could not see a blemish on his leg or side where the wounds were.

“Did I do that?” she asked.

“Yes, Chosen One. My injuries are repaired. Although I do not like the price we almost paid,”

Stalker said.

“Tony, you need to help Bill or we’re going to lose him. You took so much out of him he is barely alive.” Ben said as he turned Bill over on his back.

Tony crawled to Bill and looked at his drawn white face. “Oh my love! What have I done to you?”

she cried.

His eyes glazed, Bill looked up at her and with pale trembling lips he said, “Not your fault, love. I would have given all of me to bring you back. Without you, I would be alone. Without you, I would not want to go on.” His lips trembled for a few seconds then his face went slack and his head fell to the side.

“BILL!” “BILL!” Tony screamed, lifting his head to her breast. She felt the energy flow begin again, but this time she recognized it and channeled the flow into Bill. Frantically she searched his body for a spark she could grab on to.

Ahead of her, in the lower portion of his heart, Tony saw a dim spark that was slowly fading.

“DAMN YOU, BILL! You are not going to leave me. Fight God Damn it! Give me something to hang on to.”

Tony saw the spark glow brighter. Surrounding the spark, she slowly fed her life force into it and watched it grow brighter. Feeding the spark, it grew, split into another brilliant spark and rapidly multiplied, until millions of life giving sparks filled his body.

Slowly she withdrew from him and broke the connection. Ben helped her to the wall where she sat down. Weak but contented that Bill would live, Tony looked at Ben, said, “I must rest now,” and instantly fell asleep.

Chapter 6

“Will you make the old fucker stop that?” Zack said to Ikey.

“What? I didn’t hear him say a word,” Ikey said.

“He keeps sticking his tongue out at me every time you turn your head,” Zack complained. Ikey turned to Cap saying, “Captain, leave Zack alone, and we’ll get to that steak a lot faster.”

With a simple smile on his face, Cap, or Captain as he told them his name was, said, “All right, Mister Ikey.” He stuck his tongue out at Zack again. Ikey looked at Zack and shrugged as if to say, “It’s no use.”

Captain leaned forward, “I’ll share my gold with you, Mister Ikey, but I won’t give him any.”

“Shit, go on ahead. I’ll walk in back of both of you,” Zack said and let them pass. Cap knew he had pushed his crazy act far enough. He let up and walked beside Ikey to the ranch house. Going to a side room, they entered the kitchen. Cap saw two men at a stove cooking food. One of them saw Cap and asked, “Who’s your friend, Ikey?”

“His name is Captain. We found him wandering around out in the hills.” Ikey made a circling motion against his head.

“Hi, my name is Captain. Could you fix me a steak? Mister Ikey said you would,” Cap said, putting on a simple face and holding out his hand.

The man wiped his hand on the apron around his waist and shook Cap’s hand.

“Hello, Captain. My name is Lenny. Sit down and I’ll whip you up the juiciest steak you’ve ever eaten.”

“Yummy,” Cap said licking his lips. He went to a table opposite the door and took a seat. Ikey poured two cups of coffee and handed one to Cap. Sitting beside Cap, he said over his shoulder, “Zack, go report in. Tell the boss what we found and say that Captain is harmless. Tell him, I’ll be responsible for him.” Ikey sipped his coffee as Zack left.

Lenny brought a plate with a large t-bone steak on it to the table and set it down in front of Cap. He brought out another plate with mashed potatoes, and green beans on it. “Enjoy yourself, Captain. There’s more where it came from,” he said.

Cap dug in like a starving man. This was the first fresh meat he had eaten in over three months. The only meat they had in the shelter was canned meat. A steady diet of it made a person realize how good fresh meat tasted. Putting the last bite of steak in his mouth, he savored the taste. Pushing his plate away, Cap took a drink of coffee and lit a cigarette. Leaning back in his chair, Cap patted his belly saying, “Ikey not lie to Captain; steak good as he say it was.”

Ikey reached across and took his arm saying, “Listen, Captain. Don’t get in the way of any of the men here. If you bother them, they will hurt you and hurt you bad. Do you understand?”

“Ikey keep men from hurting Captain, won’t he?”

“Get it into that thick head of yours. I can only protect you so far, Captain. Some of these men are mean and will try to hurt you, so stay out of everyone’s way when I am not around. Okay?”

“Okay. When Ikey not around, Captain stay by self,” Cap said with a dumb look.

“Good enough. Now let me show you where you can sleep,” Ikey said. Getting up from the table, they went to the door and headed for a small building off to the side of the barn. Cap followed close behind Ikey taking in everything he saw. The crates unloaded from the trucks were stacked just inside the entrance to the barn. He saw they contained electronics parts. Farther back in the barn, he saw a glass enclosed area where men were putting things together. He might have seen more but Ikey grabbed his arm and pulled him away toward the small building.

“Captain, whatever you do, don’t go near the barn. If they catch you there, you will be shot,”

Ikey told him sternly.

“Captain stay away from barn. Captain not want to be shot by bad men,” Cap said. Acting scared, he clutched Ikey’s arm.

“Easy, Captain. Stay away from them and they won’t hurt you.” Ikey opened the door to the small building and pulled Cap inside. The room he stood in contained a stove and table. Off to the side sat a refrigerator and a single bowl sink. Cap followed Ikey across the room and went through another door to a bedroom. Two beds sat across the room; one of them looked as though no one had used it. The other one had rumpled covers on it and the pillows were bunched up near the headboard.

“This can be your home for a while, Captain. You can stay with me. The bed under the window is yours. Now I like things neat and tidy, so try not to make a mess. There’s food in the fridge if you get hungry. If you can’t find what you want in it, go to the mess kitchen and Lenny will get it for you. No one ever comes in here, so make yourself comfortable. I have to go out and check something,”

Ikey said as he headed for the door.

“Captain sleep now.” Cap stretched and yawned.

Ikey just smiled at him and went out the door.

Cap went to the window and watched Ikey walk to the ranch house. He went to the bedroom and carefully searched through the closet. The only thing he found of use was an old pair of binoculars. At the footlocker beside Ikey’s bed, he opened it and saw several handguns on the top tray. Lifting the tray out, Cap saw three more handguns in the bottom. Cap took the old forty-five Colt from the bottom along with a clip for it. He made sure the clip was full then shoved it into the butt of the revolver. He went to his bed and placed it under his pillow. He took the binoculars into the living room and sat down on the couch. He parted the curtains enough to see through and raised the binoculars to his eyes. Adjusting the focus, he brought the barn into view. On two sides he saw four men on guard near the corners. Through the barn doors, Cap saw part of the glassed in cubicle. Men were bolting equipment to the floor. Another group of men in white smocks connected test instruments together. Cap recognized a spectrograph machine and signal generator sitting on the table. He closed the curtains, and put the binoculars behind the edge of the couch. Going to the refrigerator, he took a beer out and sat at the table thinking.

It would be hard getting out of the house at night with Ikey there. He would have to find some way to make sure Ikey didn’t wake while he went out to meet Jeff or Benji. In a rack against the wall were five assault rifles. Going to it, Cap pulled out the drawer at the bottom. Half a dozen boxes of ammunition for the rifles sat in the drawer.

Lifting one of the rifles down, Cap removed the magazine and loaded it from the shells in the drawer. Putting the rifle back on the end position, Cap closed the drawer and walked to the bedroom. Taking off his boots, he lay down on the bed and pulled the covers over him. “Might as well get a few hours sleep before it gets dark,” he thought.

Two hours later, Ikey came back. He said he had to leave for awhile. Ikey said he wouldn’t be back until tomorrow. He told Cap several times to stay in the house and not go outside. Rubbing sleep from his eyes, Cap told him he would stay inside until Ikey returned. Ikey opened the footlocker and took two guns out of it; he placed them in the waistband of his pants. Pulling on his red parka, he warned Cap again to stay inside, then he left the house.

Cap got out of bed and went into the kitchen where he fixed himself a sandwich. By the light coming through the window, Cap saw only an hour of daylight remained.

Cap went to the window and saw the guards still at their positions by the barn. Lacing up his boots, Cap decided to go to the mess kitchen and find out what was going on. A dozen men sat at the tables in the dining area eating when he got there.

“Have a seat, Captain,” Lenny yelled from the kitchen.

Cap took a seat across from three men. He stuck his hand across the table and said, “Howdy, my name is Captain.”

“Oh, yeah. The loony Ikey brought in.” They got up and moved to another table. Cap brought his hand back and dropped it to his side and listened to the talk around him.

“Damn, I’m sore. I never knew digging holes could be such hard work. We must have busted every rock in the state today. Tomorrow we finish, so they can string the wire to the barn.”

Cap latched on to three men talking about what they were doing in the barn. “We’ll have to start around the clock shifts in order to be ready for the big mainframe in two weeks. Where did Todd pick up a mainframe computer like that? There are only a half dozen of them in the world.”

“Todd’s master told him where to pick it up and where to get all the other parts to connect them all together. This master seems to have all the answers.”

“Hell, he is being held prisoner by the people inside the mountain down at Galexie.”

“Yeah, but no one has ever heard of this Pete before. Christ, he doesn’t even have a last name that anyone knows of.”

“Hey, let’s get off the subject. One of these assholes will tell Jamie we were talking about Todd and his master.”

“Remember what happened last week when two men were talking about Todd and his master?

The next day they disappeared, and no one’s seen them since.”

“I hear they were shot and buried up on the mesa,” one of the men said in a low voice.

“Come on. Let’s get back to work,” one of them said. Chairs scraped back as they got up and left the room.

So that’s what they’re putting together in the barn, but why all the secrecy? Cap wondered. Lenny came and sat down with him giving him a cup of coffee.

“Can I get you something to eat, Captain?” he asked.

“No thank you, Lenny, I ate a sandwich awhile ago.”

“Tell me, Captain. What’s it like being in the mountains by yourself for months on end?”

“It gets lonely, Lenny, mighty lonely, but someday I’ll find the gold up there. I know I will.”

“Sure you will, Captain. Don’t you think you would be better off down here with people who can help you?” Lenny asked with concern in his voice.

“People make fun of me and call me names, Lenny. I would rather be by myself,” Cap said. Lenny raised his six feet seven inch frame from the table. He glared at the men in the room saying loud enough for them to hear, “If any of these jokers call you names, or talk bad to you, tell me about it. I’ll clean their clocks for them.”

Although he was playing a part, a sudden sadness came over Cap. First Ikey treated him with respect and now Lenny was standing there threatening these men if they harmed Cap. Cap thought that in another time and place, he could have liked both of these men. “Captain no want to make trouble, Lenny.”

“No trouble, pal. Remember if you need anything come to me,” he said, clapping Cap on the shoulder as he left. The men in the room glanced wearily at Cap and talked in lower voices.