Chapter 27
Even though they assembled as quickly as possible it still took weeks for Kobol’s army to straggle all its various units together in a valley on the edge of Douglas’s territory.
Alec had never seen so many human beings before. He stood on the crest of the highest hill in the area, under a maple tree that was just breaking out in young fresh leaves and watched the awesome sprawl of trucks, jeeps, horses, wagons, and men.
Ron Jameson stood beside him. “That ought to be enough men to conquer the whole world,” he said.
“I don’t like having them all bunched together like this,” Alec said. “If Douglas’s people spot them, and if he’s got nuclear weapons or airplanes...”
“We’ve intercepted all his patrols,” Jameson said calmly. “And I doubt if there are any nukes or airplanes left in the world.”
“It would only take one.”
With a slight shrug, Jameson answered, “We can be ready to move in two days. I think we can keep Douglas’s patrols from finding us for that long.”
“Two days?”
Nodding, “Check. The men have moved a lot harder and faster than they wanted to, just to get here. They need time to catch their breaths, get their weapons ready, and absorb your battle orders.”
That leaves me two days to deal with Kobol, Alec thought.
“On the other hand, if we all sit still here for more than two days,” Jameson added drily, “the different packs in this glorious conglomeration will start fighting each other. There’s not an overabundance of friendship down in that valley.”
Alec nodded. “Let’s get to work.”
It was fully night, after the evening meal, before Alec was able to get to Kobol. The older man was being held under virtual arrest in one of the caves that honey-combed the valley’s hillsides.
His quarters were a small cavern whose sloping walls and roof were laced with stalactites of a thousand different hues. The only entrance was a narrow passage, barely wide enough for a man to squeeze through sideways. Alec had posted an armed guard at the outer end of the passage.
Kobol was sitting on an ancient, creaking bunk, his good leg folded under him and his head bent down as he intently wrote in rapid script on a paper he held in his lap. Alec saw that the bunk was covered with sheets of paper, all filled with his writing.
“Good evening,” Alec said.
Kobol hardly looked up. A slightly raised eyebrow was his only greeting. Then he returned to his writing. It was damp in the cave, Alec realized. It probably makes his bad leg feel like hell, he thought.
Aloud he said, “There’s something I haven’t told you.”
“Oh?” Still not looking up.
“I know where the fissionables are stored.”
The pen stopped in mid-stroke.
“I want you to head a special force to seize them before Douglas has a chance to destroy them.”
That straightened Kobol’s back. He pushed the paper off his lap and unfolded his long legs. Somehow it reminded Alec of a snake uncoiling. “You think he might sabotage them?” Kobol asked.
“It’s a possibility. He might even have them booby-trapped, or set to go off in a nuclear explosion that will take everything with it.”
Kobol frowned thoughtfully and ran a finger through his mustache.
Pulling the only chair in the enclosure next to the bunk, Alec straddled it and went on, “You know more about the fissionables than any of us. It’s a risky job, but a necessary one. Will you do it?”
Almost smiling, Kobol said, “If I do, I’ll only be in charge of a small suicide squad, while you’re leading the grand army. If I succeed, it’s under your command. If I fail, you get rid of an enemy.”
“If you fail,” Alec said, “we get rid of each other. And everyone else.”
“And the settlement dies for lack of fissionables.”
“Yes.”
“When I get back to the settlement I’ll still accuse you of treason.”
Alec let himself smile. “Won’t that be a bit difficult to prove, if you have the fissionables?”
“I’ll prove it.”
“Go ahead and try it, then.”
Kobol swayed back a little, and then seemed to tense, as if poised to strike. “If I accept this job and get the fissionables, do you promise me safe conduct back to the settlement?”
“You mean, will I have you shot after we win the battle?”
“That’s one way to phrase it.”
“You’ll be safe. We can settle our differences back at the settlement.”
“My safety for the fissionables,” Kobol mused. “It’s a deal.”
Alec nodded. Neither man offered his hand. Alec rose from the chair and started toward the passageway entrance. Halfway there he paused and turned back to Kobol.
“I haven’t asked you for a similar guarantee—that you won’t try to kill me before we get back to the settlement.”
Kobol started to reply, but Alec went on, “I don’t need your promise. I wouldn’t trust it, anyway. Just keep this in mind. If you try to kill me, I’ll kill you. Even if you’re successful, there are a dozen men who’ll chop you into bite-sized pieces afterward. Just pray that I’m not killed in battle, Martin.”
He left Kobol sitting on the bunk, looking angry.
On the morning of the third day the attack began.
It had been a hectic two days, getting the men and equipment ready, keeping Douglas’s increasingly heavier patrols from penetrating to the valley, briefing Kobol and putting together his special unit of trucks and protective garments and equipment, keeping in touch with the satellite for constant updates on the weather.
It rained the night before the attack. The troops moved out of the valley and spread to their positions, arcing across nearly half of Douglas’s defensive perimeter. They moved swiftly despite the rain, most of them on horseback, but the shock wave all on trucks and jeeps. Each unit was completely mobile, no foot soldiers. The armored trucks mounted lasers, the jeeps bore machine guns and rocket launchers. The cavalry carried everything from automatic rifles to crossbows.
