“I’m starving, but otherwise okay. Your boys had us pinned down for six hours. Never saw so many guns and lasers in my life.”
Alec sat him down at the table and ordered the guard to bring more food. He watched as Will wolfed down everything in sight and washed it down with a liter of fresh cow’s milk.
“Which village did Angela go to?” Alec asked as Will ate.
“Dunno,” Will said, his mouth bulging. “But she’ll be here. She’ll want to see Douglas, tend to him.”
Tend to him, Alec thought jealously.
“You took a lot of casualties?” he changed the subject.
Will nodded. “It was pretty heavy out there. You had us outgunned and outsmarted.”
“I’m glad you weren’t hurt.”
“So’m I!” Will said, with a laugh. But almost immediately, the laughter died away. “A lot of good men died out there today. A lot of good men.”
Alec agreed with a nod. “But at least it’s over now.”
“Over? Oh no! By golly, it’s really just beginning.”
“Begin... what do you mean?”
“Ask Douglas about it,” Will replied. “I’m surprised he hasn’t told you about it already.”
“Told me what?”
But all Will would say was, “Ask Douglas.”
“Dammit!” Alec snapped. “You know he’s under arrest for treason. Kobol wants to bring him back to the settlement and make a public exhibit out of him.”
“You won’t let them?”
“No, I won’t. But I can’t let him live, either.”
Will shrugged.
“Technically, you’re as guilty as he is,” Alec added. “You refused to return to the settlement, too. But it’s Douglas they want to punish. You won’t have to...”
“No,” Will said. There was iron in it.
Alec stared at him.
“I’m Douglas’s man. What happens to him happens to me. I’m as guilty as he is. We planned this thing together. Kill him and you’ve got to kill me, too. Or else.”
“Or else what?”
“Or else I’ll hunt you down and kill you.”
“Hell’s fire, Will! You’re talking like a medieval barbarian.”
“Maybe that’s what I am. Maybe that’s what we all are. I love you like my own son, Alec. I owe my life to you. But if you kill that man I won’t be able to rest until I’ve avenged him.”
“Jesus Christ.”
“Exactly,” said Will Russo.
It was late when Alec walked down the lonely street to Douglas’s house. Late and dark. The spring night had turned cold; the stars glittered with winter hardness. The street was deserted except for the two guards lounging near the truck parked at the cul-de-sac end of the street. All of Douglas’s troops had been disarmed and penned into a few of the big barracks buildings. No women at all had been found in the base. Tomorrow, Alec knew, the women would start returning from the outlying villages.
The guards straightened up when they recognized Alec. He saw that they had a small electric grill plugged into the truck’s generator, and they were warming themselves with it.
“Chilly night,” Alec said to them.
“Sure is.”
Inside Douglas’ house two more men were drowsing in the living room. They snapped to their feet when Alec let the front door bang shut.
“Everything quiet in here?” he asked.
“Yessir.” They were both embarrassed, even a touch fearful.
Without another word, Alec tiptoed up the steps and pushed at the door to Douglas’ room. The old man was sitting on the bed in almost exactly the same position that Alec had left him earlier. He was wearing glasses now, and reading a battered, well-thumbed book. Alec squinted at the cover but it was too worn to make out the title.
“Come on in,” Douglas said softly, barely looking up from the book. “I’ve been waiting for you.”
Alec stepped into the room and took the chair, feeling oddly nervous, edgy. As he sat down, he realized that Douglas’ voice was no longer the booming, demanding, self-assured roar it had once been. He was quieter, his voice subdued. From defeat? Alec found that hard to believe.
