"Be careful. Villar and Ashley are still in the park, and they are dangerous men."

"Since the government disarmed us and slaughtered us right after the Great War, we have been virtually defenseless. Now with the weapons you have provided, we will be all right, I am thinking.

"There are secure zones just to the east of you. If you need help, don't hesitate to call. They're good people."

The men shook hands and yet another bond was sealed, and another secure zone set up.

The Rebels began making plans to pull out. Ben called for a meeting with his commanders to test their feelings on Alaska.

"It's pretty late in the season," Ike said.

"We get caught up there, for whatever reason, and we could be in serious trouble."

"Yes," Striganov agreed, adding, "we are not adequately prepared for any type of arctic fighting. We could make it through the winter in the southern part, but without arctic gear, we would have to leave the rest of the state for another time."

"And we don't have any idea what we might be facing in the way of hostilities," Cecil said. "We do know there are people there comq a few according to our monitoring of radio signals-but whether they are friendly or unfriendly is something we don't know.

We have reason to believe they are hostile."

"We do know for certain there are no Night People there,"

West spoke. "Which brings me to this: let's make certain the lower forty-eight is as clean as we can make it before leaving it."

"I agree with that," Ben said. "Since we've learned that the ma.s.sive nuking that the government told us about never took place, there are cities still standing that we've ignored for years. We can concentrate on the Northwest comincluding the coast comforthe rest of the summer. Or for however long it takes. The Northwest takes in a lot of territory. During that time, our factories at Base can be working on gear for us to use in Alaska."

"Does that mean we will be taking our drive to rid the land of outlaws and warlords and creepies state by state?" Buddy asked.

"Yes. If that is what we decide our objective for this summer to be. Let's take a vote on it. The Northwest, people?"

All hands were raised, including Ben's. "That's settled, then. We'll cross the Bitterroot and take Idaho first. And that just might be easier said than done. We're looking at a lot of rugged country west of us." Ben spread out maps on a table and the men and women gathered around.

"Now then, communications tells me they've been picking up a lot of very jittery signals from all over Idaho. We've got some very nervous people over there hoping that we just go away. That tells me the countryside is crawling with outlaws and the cities are filled with creepies. So we're not going to make them any more nervous than they are and send them into deep hiding. I want every commander to let a few uncoded transmissions through. Let those west of us think we're pulling out and heading back to Base Camp One. What we'll really be doing is gearing up to hit Idaho as hard as we've ever hit anything. But with the addition of Five and Six Battalions, we can pretty much effectively blanket the state."

"Utah, Dad?" Tina asked.

Ben grimaced. He had been waiting for someone to ask why that state had been left alone by the Rebels. "I wondered when one of you would bring that up."

Those in power in Utah had not been receptive to the Rebel overtures of partnership.

All knew that Utah was, for the most part, clean of creepies and outlaws. It was also clean of anyone who did not subscribe to the way of thinking of the majority. And since it was known that Ben, Cecil, West, and Ike had all been employed, at one time or another, by a certain intelligence-gathering organization that had operated out of the Washington suburbs, the Rebels were not welcome in that state.

That was a longstanding and little-known feud that went back decades.

Ben slowly met the eyes of those in the room.

Cecil, Ike, and West were smiling. "They don't bother us, and they don't tolerate lawlessness in that state," Ben finally spoke. "They are and have been for some time completely self-sufficient. If they want to build a wall around themselves, that's fine with me. I can't and won't condemn someone for doing what we did in the Tri-States. Just as long as they stay inside that wall and don't interfere with us I'll leave them alone. But I will cross their borders, peacefully, whenever I feel like it. If they try to interfere with any peaceful crossing, they will be met with force."

Ben paused to pour a cup of coffee. Mug in hand, he returned to the table. "Georgi, take your people and head north. When I give the signal to jump off, drive south out of British Columbia and secure everything down to and including Coeur d'Alene and east along Interstate 90.

"Five and Six Battalions will position themselves north to south along Highway Ninety-three, from the Montana line to Shoshone.

"Cecil, you and West will drive straight across on Highway Twelve and secure everything over to and including Lewiston and Moscow.

"Ike, I want you to pull out today. Head north across British Columbia and then cut south, staying right on the Idaho line all the way down to just south of h.e.l.l's Canyon. Cut across there and start cleaning house southeast along the Interstate.

"I'll take I-Fifteen down to I-Eighty and then cut west. I'll link up with you somewhere along the line.

"Buddy, you'll split off from my columns at Poca-tello and take your Rat Teams down I-Fifteen to the Utah line. Don't cross over. Take this road at Malad City and turn west over to I-Eighty then cut north and link up with me.

"Dan, your people will split off from me at Dubois and clean house down to Shoshone. Link up with me at Twin Falls. Everybody got it?"

There were no questions.

"Ike, you give me a b.u.mp when you're in position and ready to go. On Ike's signal, we go and we go in hard. That's it, people. Let's go get ready to kick some a.s.s!"

It would be several days before Ike got into position, for nearly all of the roads he would be traveling were two lane, and it had been years since they had seen any maintenance. Georgi, on the other hand, was in position by that evening, ma.s.sing his forces just south of Creston, waiting for the signal to drive south.

Five and Six Battalion began their move south, halting just north of the Continental Divide, at the approach to Lost Trail Pa.s.s.

Cecil and West stopped on the Montana side of Lolo Pa.s.s and waited.

Ben and his contingent were the last to pull out. They halted at Monida Pa.s.s and waited for word from Ike.

Each contingent that waited on the Montana side posted sentries on the high pa.s.ses, but apparently the fake radio messages were taken in by the outlaws and the creepies, for the Rebels could spot no signs of trouble, and the radio chatter from the unfriendly side of the mountains was loose and easy.

Intelligence a.n.a.lyzed the transmissions and worked up an a.s.sessment of what lay on the other side of the Divide. Dan took the report to Ben.

"Starting from the west side of the state," Dan reported, "there is a very heavy concentration of Night People in the Caldwellstationampa/boise area."

"What does intelligence consider heavy?"

"Several thousand, at least. Possibly more, and they are heavily armed and confident. Heavily meaning .50's and rocket launchers and mortars. Between Mountain Home and Rupert, there appears to be a constant struggle going on among several gangs of outlaws, jockeying for territory and leadership. The gangs are called comand only one of them appears to have more than a modic.u.m of poet in his soul comthe b.l.o.o.d.y Bandits, the h.e.l.lraisers, and, get this, the Starlighters."

"The Starlighters!"

"Yes. Isn't that lovely." Dan waggled one eyebrow.

"They're not? . . ."

"Intelligence doesn't know and won't make a guess."

"Well, if they are gay, don't sell them short. One of the toughest men I ever knew was of that particular persuasion. That was one of the meanest men I ever knew in combat. He told me once there was only one thing he'd rather do than suck a d.i.c.k, and that was kill communists."

"Good Lord, General!"

Ben shrugged. "Just telling you what he said. Go on."

"The b.l.o.o.d.y Bandits control the area around Mountain Home comab a forty-mile stretch. The, ah . . . Starlighters control Twin Falls, about ten miles in either direction. The h.e.l.lraisers control the area around Burley and Rupert.

Pocatello and Idaho Falls is hard creepie country."

"We have our work cut out for us. How about the interior?"

"Outlaws and a lot of them. Obviously they've been pretty much in control for years. This was one of the areas that President Logan left alone after the Tri-States fell and the outlaws simply enslaved or killed off the citizens and have had their way for years."

"They've got to live on something. I would say they have enslaved many of the people and are forcing them to work on farms. And the creepies probably have human farms of their own. That appears to be how they manage to survive."

A look of disgust pa.s.sed Dan's face. "Yes.

That is their pattern."

"Up where Georgi is?"

"Outlaw country. Warlords have taken over some big ranching operations there and have some fairly substantial armies."

"Anything we can't handle?"

Dan smiled and then broke out in laughter.

"Right!" Ben said, joining him in the laughter.

Ike radioed that he was in position. Ben took note of the fact that Ike sounded very tired. And he should be; his Rebels had been pushing hard to get into position.

"Stay put for the rest of today and tonight and relax, Ike. You and your people have pushed awfully hard, day and night. Take a break. We'll shove off at 0700 hours in the morning." He turned to Buddy.

"All right, son. Get your Rat Team and take off. Penetrate for twenty miles and don't mix it up with anybody unless it's forced on you.

I want intelligence, not body counts."

"Yes, sir. On my way."

"Corrie, order the Scouts out from all units. The same orders apply to them as I just gave Buddy. I want intelligence, not heroics."

The Scouts began their incursion into what had been the state of Idaho . . . and would be again if Ben had his way; although Ben knew that the United States would never be restored to what it had been before the Great War-at least not in his lifetime. And, he often entertained this thought: perhaps it should not be as it was before.

Ben felt it should be even better for those who tried to live good, decent lives. And worse for those who chose to break the law. That was his goal.

The Scouts reported roadblocks fortified with heavy machine guns about ten miles inside the area.

Ben took the mic. "Fall back. Let's see if they'll buy a retreat. All Scouts and rec patrols fall back."

Those who now controlled Idaho and the rest of the Northwest were lawless thugs, but for the most part, their leaders were not stupid people. They knew that Malone had fallen to the forces of Ben Raines, and knew that Ben had sworn to rebuild the nation . . . under his rules. And outlaws could not exist under Rebel rules. Ben had thrown the Const.i.tution away and written his own Bill of Rights and what laws would apply to whom.

The thugs and outlaws and warlords knew they were in a fight for their survival. And their leaders realized they could not fight the Rebels separately. They had to unite and they didn't have much time left to do it.

"Raines is knockin' on the door," Larry Rafford radioed from the Coeur d'Alene area.

"We all knew this time would come, and now it's here.

If we don't stand together, we're all gonna fall."

"I don't trust your a.s.s, Larry," Ted Ashworth spoke from his headquarters in the Lewiston area. "And if you think I'm gonna hold hands with that bunch of f.a.gs down south, you're full of s.h.i.t!"

"Screw you, you obscene redneck b.i.t.c.h!"

Francis broke into the conversation from his listening post in the headquarters of the Starlighters located in the south of the state.

Ben listened as a cuss-fight broke out on the shortwave equipment.

Dan stood by Ben's side, his face expressionless, his arms folded across his chest.

"Aw, G.o.dd.a.m.n!" Red Manlovich cut in from his territory near the great primitive area of the state. "Both of you sound stupid! Larry's right . . . for once. We all got to get together in this fight if we gonna have any chance at all to whup Raines. Even if it means jo*' up with them swishes down south."

"Up yours, too!" Francis told him. "You ignorant savageff*

More cursing filled the airwaves.

A heavy, ominous voice silenced the wild cursing. "All our lives, our way of life, is threatened by Ben Raines and his army."

Ben knew that was probably a Judge from the Night P.

"And I d.a.m.n sh.o.r.e ain't gonna tie up with no G.o.dd.a.m.n cannibal!" Ted screamed.

"Silence, you fool!" the Judge said. "We have existed side by side for years, have we not?"

"Except for the time you et my brother!"

"He violated our s.p.a.ce. He knew the rules.

And you have killed our people. Can you deny that?"

"Get to the point," Larry broke in.

"If we are to survive, we must cooperate. We must share information and anything else we have. And be advised that he is listening."

"How do you know that?" Red radioed. "By applying simple logic, you lout," Francis told him.

"Go sit on a cuc.u.mber," Red replied.

"Wh.o.r.e!" Francis said.

"t.u.r.d!" Red shot back.

"Shut up! Both of you!" the Judge ordered.

"We don't have much time. Hours, if we're lucky. We've got to break up in small bands and force Raines to do the same with his Rebels. That's the only way we stand a chance of surviving."

"I ain't breakin' my people up," Red said. "And I ain't gettin' nowheres near them weenie-chewers."