So far, the Rebels had suffered no deaths among their ranks; but several had been wounded, one seriously. About thirty-fives miles inside Louisiana, scouts reported a pocket of resistance; a group of people just trying to survive and get on with the business of living. The wounded Rebel was left at the small clinic there and Colonel Gray and his company moved on westward.

Captain Nolan and his platoon were dug in, fighting what appeared to be several hundred outlaws. Nolan was not worried about being overrun by the outlaws, for they appeared to be disorganized and very undisciplined. The Rebels were occupying a half block of brick buildings in a small Central Texas town. They had plenty of food and water and ammo. But they were stuck.

"Nothing?" Cecil asked the radio operator.

"Not a thing except heavy static, sir. Nothing from General Raines, Colonel Gray, or Captain Nolan."

"Does the wall of static appear to be worsening?" Ike asked.

"Yes, sir. I can't even reach our guard towers."

"s.h.i.t!" Ike said.

"My sentiments exactly," Cecil said.

Ben repositioned the trucks Rani had hidden, this time putting all of them into the building to the side of the house.

"We may have to make a break for it," Ben explained. "We'll want the vehicles as close as possible." Ben studied the town and the surrounding terrain.

"We're in a good defensive position," he finally said.

All the supplies except for a three-day supply of food, water, and gasoline were removed from the trucks. Ben and Rani, with the bigger kids helping, began stockpiling wood, finally filling up one room of the house with fuel.

Ben left four M-16's and plenty of ammo for each upstairs, one rifle at each end of the house, another at the front and one at the back.

"I don't know why," Ben said to Rani, "but I have yet to see a warlord who had any artillery of any sort."

"It could be," Rani said with a wry grin, "that they can't find any. Probably due to the fact your Rebels took it all."

Ben returned her grin. "Now you just may have a point there, lady. We have been known to commandeer certain items necessary for survival and self-defense."

"Uh-huh."

Both felt that tiny elusive spark begin bouncing around between them. And with personalities as volatile as those of Ben and Rani, that spark was sure to ignite something. Very soon.

While Ben and Rani were cooking supper, Jordy sat with the other young people. Jordy was held in young awe by the others for being the traveling companion of Ben Raines.

Ben and Rani both noticed the kids were conversing in very low tones.

"Talking about you, Ben," she said.

"Yes. And I can just imagine what they're saying."

"They think you're a G.o.d, you know?"

"I know. I have some among my own people- adults-who believe that. I've done everything I know to do to dispel that c.r.a.p."

"You haven't seen the shrines that were built in your name?"

"No. And if I ever do, I'll tear the G.o.dd.a.m.ned things down."

"The people might shoot you if you try that."

"Not me," Ben said with a laugh. "I'm a G.o.d, haven't you heard?"

"Get serious!"

Ben did not tell her about the old man he-and many others-had seen. The man who called himself The Prophet. Rani, Ben felt, had enough to occupy her mind without that added mystery.

Unless she had already encountered the old man. If she had, though, she wasn't mentioning it.

Ben pitched his tent in a clear spot between the house and the storage shed. He left Jordy to spend the night inside the house, with the other kids.

In his blankets, before sleep touched him with a softvelvet hand, Ben reviewed the situation. There was always a chance they would not be found hiding out in the old ghost town, but those chances were slim. He guessed correctly that Jake Campo and West had teamed up with other smaller bands of outlaws and warlords and had spread out, searching for them. It might take them several weeks, but they would eventually reach the ghost town.

He turned in his blankets, listening to the wind sing around the canvas.

There wasn't a town within a hundred miles of Terlingua where he could go to find materials to make more bombs. So that was out.

Ben smiled in the darkness. It was a warrior's grim upturning of the corners of his mouth as a plan came into his mind.

Maybe he could even the odds a bit more. Yes.

He'd get on that first thing in the morning.

He closed his eyes and let sleep gently take him into that long dark slide. The face of Rani stayed with him in sleep.

Lovely.

"Both of us will have to stress the importance of staying within the area outlined," he told Rani.

They sat on the edge of the porch; there were no chairs in the ghost town. They ate cold beans and crackers and sipped hot tea.

"You have a strange mind, Ben," Rani said.

"And I suppose mine is, too. Here we sit, sipping tea and discussing how best to kill-hideously-several dozen men."

"Get used to it, Rani. Civilization as we both knew it is gone. Probably forever. From now on, for as long as we live, for as long as those kids in the house live, it will be pure survival of the strongest. Those who are best prepared-mentally and physically-will have the better chances for a long life.

The others will die. It's just that simple."

She shuddered beside him.

"Cold?"'

"No," she said. She cut her green eyes and stared at Ben. "You enjoy it, don't you, Ben?"

Ben knew what she meant. He had been asked the question many times before, by many other women he was either involved with, or about to be. "Enjoy what, Rani?"'

Shades of Jerre, Rosita, Gale, Dawn ... how many others?

"The fighting," she said simply.

"When I was a young man, Rani-not even out of my teens-back during the closing days of the Vietnam War, I, along with many other men, discovered there is a high, so to speak, to be found in combat. Yes, I suppose I do enjoy the fighting, in a perverse sort of way. I am a man of order and discipline, Rani. I have no patience with those who steal, loot, rape, molest, kill wantonly.

And, to make a contradictory statement, I will do my best to dispose of those types of people whenever I find them."

"When this is over, Ben, if we come out of this alive ..."

"We will," Ben a.s.sured her.

"... I want to join your people."

"You'd certainly be welcome, dear. You and the kids."

She again stared at the man, sitting calmly on the porch, munching on a cracker. "You're not even worried about our ... our problem, are you?"

"Worrying puts gray in the hair, dear. I have enough of that. No, Rani, all we can do is prepare for what's coming at us, then lay back and stay alert.

Chewing our fingernails won't help a bit."

"You're incredible!"

"Thank you," Ben said with a grin.

Chapter 19.

With Rani carefully mapping out each open pit Ben covered, the two of them-with Jordy, Robert, and Kathy helping-began rigging his deadly traps.

First, Ben spent two hours gathering thin poles and strips of wood, just long enough to cover the yawning holes. Then, using bits of canvas, rags, old newspapers-whatever he could find to serve the purpose- Ben covered the support poles. He then sprinkled those with a very thin layer of sand and pebbles.

When he was finished with each hole, it looked as natural as the terrain surrounding it.

"Robert, Kathy, Jordy," Ben said. "This is no-man's-land out here. It'll be up to you three to see that the other kids don't come near here. You all understand that?"'

They did.

The five of them spent the next two days gathering material for Ben to make his b.o.o.by traps. They worked from dawn to dusk, taking few breaks. When they had finished, they had covered the opening of dozens of deep shafts.

"How far do these things go down into the ground, Ben?"

Jordy asked.

"Some of them might drop for as much as a thousand feet, son," Ben told him. "Now that this is done, I've got to find and map out a bunny hole."

"A what?" Rani asked.

"No animal has just one hole to run into, Rani," Ben explained. "They'll have several more holes, escape routes, all camouflaged."

Leaving Rani to guard the kids, Ben packed a small rucksack with emergency gear and began his exploration of the terrain around the ghost town. He worked in an ever-widening circle until he found a narrow ravine running northeast from the town, toward Highway 118.

Back at the house, Ben packed up several sacks of food, water, blankets, and groundsheets. With Jordy and Robert helping, he cached those supplies and several spare weapons nearthe ravine, carefully hiding them. He then took the small truck the survivalist had buried and Rani had found, and tucked it into the ravine, with spare cans of gas in the back. The truck was brown, and dirty from road use, and it blended in with the surroundings.

With Rani walking with him, Ben showed her the location of the supplies and the truck. "See that small ridge beginning just behind the house?" he asked, pointing.

"Yes."

"If I sense the situation is turning bad,"

he said, "I want you and the kids to head out. Get the truck and head in the direction it's pointed. It'll be rough, but you should make it to Highway 118."

"Ben?..."

"Listen to me! We have no radio contact at all. None. We're in a very bad situation.

We're going to be outgunned a hundred to one. At least. I don't know where Captain Nolan and his platoon might be. But they know I'm here.

They'll fight through h.e.l.l to reach me; that's our only hope. But if and when I say Go, you and the kids go. You understand?"

She slowly nodded her head.

"All right. That's settled. And I don't expect any argument from you when I give the word."

He faced her, putting his hands on her shoulders.

"Now listen very carefully to me, Rani. Forget all vestiges of civilized behavior. They no longer apply. You cannot afford the luxury of mercy or pity for those two-legged filth coming at us. I do not take prisoners, Rani. And neither do any of my personnel." Her eyes widened at this, but she said nothing. "I have neither the time, facilities, nor inclination for attempted rehabilitation. For the most part, it didn't work back when we had a civilization, and could spend millions of taxpayer dollars f.u.c.king around with criminals, when the biggest part of them should have been put up against a wall and shot to begin with. If you ever fail to shoot, and that action results in our position being overrun, I will find the time, believe me, to put a bullet in your head."

Her summer tan paled at his words. "You ..."

she stammered. "You don't mean that!"

"The h.e.l.l I don't, honey."

"We're stuck!" a sergeant said to Captain Nolan.

"It appears that way," Nolan replied. "And it looks like it's being done deliberately."

"Our people on the roofs say we're pretty well evenly matched, person for person. I don't think they want to meet us nose on."

"I get the same impression. But we may have to force the issue. But if we do, we're going to take some losses. Those people are well placed. I think our best bet is to keep our heads down for acouple more days. See what develops.

But we're no going to set around with our thumb up our a.s.s while we wait. We command the high ground. And that's going to defeat those a.s.sholes out there. Have your mortar people start ranging in the key locations. Make G.o.dd.a.m.n sure our trucks in the alley behind us are protected at all times. When we decide to go, we're going to do it fast and hard. Take off."