"There's no back-up in him, that's for sure."

Ben lifted his binoculars and watched the outlaws begin their bugout.

T. S. Eliot came to Ben's mind. He muttered, "Not with a bang but with a whimper."

"Did you say something, Ben?" Rani asked.

"A cold coming we had of it, just the worst time of the year."

"What?"'

Ben shook his head. "Nothing. Just recalling some verse from a long time ago."

Ben again lifted his binoculars, watching the outlaws haul their a.s.ses. "Tell the kids to stand down, Rani. I think it's over."

But it was not over. Not quite. Crouching in one of the old crumbling buildings, Crazy Cowboy Vic waited, s...o...b..r dribbling down his chin. He had refused to leave with the others. He was gonna get Ben Raines, and have all of them young c.u.n.ts for hisself. And when that was done, he'd be king of the west. That's what Big Jake and Texas Red promised him when he said he was staying behind.

He didn't want them boys; just the girls.

He'd kill them boys. He shifted positions carefully and lifted his rifle.

"You know Raines is gonna put it together, don't you?" Red asked Jake. "I mean, he's gonna know we set Cowboy Vic up to kill that kid Raines has been traveling with."

"Yeah," Jake grinned. "I know it. And that's gonna make Raines so G.o.dd.a.m.n mad he'll come buckin" and a-snortin' after us, revenge in his eyes. That's what I want him to do."

"I gotta hand it to you, Jake. You got some smarts."

"Thank you," Jake said modestly.

For the fifteenth time Ben scanned the old town through binoculars. For the fifteenth time he saw nothing out of the ordinary.

Still, he hesitated in letting the kids out of the house. He had kicked over the pile of bodies around the porch, clearing the way. He could see the dust from the approaching Rebels, but something bothered him.

He lowered his binoculars when Rani came to his side.

"I don't want to stay here, Ben,"

she said. "I want to go with you when you leave. Can we send the kids back to your base camp?"

"Sure. I think that would be best. Colonel Gray and his wild bunch will be here by midnight.

I'll make arrangements with him."

"That surprised your people when you called in and told them the outlaws had pulled out, didn't it?"'

"Not really, Rani. My people have a reputation for being rough in any kind of a fight. But this isn't over. The outlaws might have monitored our radio transmissions; they might have had scouts out who saw the Rebels coming in. Either way, they found themselves in a no-win situation and pulled out. But it isn't over."

Captain Nolan and his platoon pulled in.

"Jesus, General," the captain said, eyeballing all the bodies, "you folks did a number on them, didn't you?"'

Ben gave a sergeant the map of the town, showing where the camouflaged open mine shafts were located, the trip wires, and the punji pits. The sergeant sent a team out to neutralize the traps.

The bodies of the outlaws were dumped down a mine shaft and the opening sealed.

The harnesses and the twin M-16's were taken down and stored in the back of a truck.

And the kids were finally freed from the old house overlooking the ghost town.

"General!" Captain Nolan's radio operator called. "Colonel Gray just called in. He's about two hours away."

"Thank you," Ben said. Ben longed for a hot tub of water and a long soak. The smell of gunpowder, sweat, and death clung to them all.

Jordy stood by the stone fence around the old house.

"A d.a.m.n gutsy bunch of kids, General,"

Captain Nolan said.

"They are that," Ben agreed.

Jordy thought he detected some movement in one of the old broken-down buildings in town. He looked again. Nothing. Must have been mistaken, he thought.

"You kids don't leave the immediate area," Ben cautioned them.

There it was again! Jordy thought, looking at the old building. He turned around. "Ben!" he called.

"Yes, son?"'

A rifle cracked. Jordy was flung forward, a hole in his chest.

Roaring with rage, Ben ran to the boy's side and knelt down in the gathering blood. The bullet had cut the spine, angled off, and exited out through a lung. Pink froth bubbled from the boy's mouth. "Take that son of a b.i.t.c.h alive!" Ben growled at Captain Nolan.

"Ben?" Jordy said.

"I'm right here, son."

"What's my name, Ben?"

"Jordy Raines." Ben could not keep the tears from spilling out of his eyes.

"Told you I didn't have very long to go, didn't I, Ben?"'

"Yes, you did, boy."

"But I done good, didn't I, Ben?"

"You done good, son."

"It don't hurt none, Ben. I'm just cold."

The boy closed his eyes and died.

Chapter 25.

Ben covered the boy with his jacket. He stood up, looking down at the boy he had grown to love in just a short time. Waves of emotions splashed over him.

Ben took several deep breaths, calming himself.

He turned to Captain Nolan. "Wrap the boy carefully, Captain. a.s.sign a burial detail. There is a Bible in my truck. Have someone get it for me." His words were tiny bits of chipped ice flying from his inner soul, steaming the air.

"Yes, sir. What name goes on the marker?"

"Jordy Raines. Age ten."

"Yes, sir."

Ben looked toward the knot of Rebels gathered around a small crumbling building. They had captured Cowboy Vic.

No one spoke; no one made any attempt to stop Ben as he walked to the house, got his Thompson, and walked down to the building. He stopped in front of Cowboy Vic.

"Got the little son of a b.i.t.c.h, didn't I?"

Cowboy Vic yelled. "Just like Jake and Texas Red tole me to do." s...o...b..r ran in ropy rivers from both sides of his mouth. "I knowed what they was up to all the time, Raines. Kill the kid, says they. Be sh.o.r.e to kill the kid travelin' with Raines.

Well, I done "er." He laughed in Ben's face.

Ben resisted an almost-overpowering urge to smash the b.u.t.t of the Thompson into the man's face.

He turned his head and looked at the head-frame of the structure that supported the old cable system that operated the cages into the mines.

"Hang him from that!"

Ben said, pointing. "Now!"

Ben read a pa.s.sage from the Bible, and then remembered a pa.s.sage from Pilgrim's Way.

He thought it appropriate.

"Our roll of honor is long, but it holds no n.o.bler figure. He will stand to those of us who are left as an incarnation of the spirit of the land he loved. He loved his youth, and his youth has become eternal." Ben sat alone for a time on the stone fence around the house. He watched as Colonel Gray's company of Gray's Scouts pulled in. But he did not leave his place on the fence.

Captain Nolan brought the colonel up to date.

"Filthy swine," Dan Gray said.

"To cold-bloodedly kill a child." His eyes found the dangling figure of Cowboy Vic. "Is that the b.u.g.g.e.r?"

"Yes, sir."

"The general will be wanting revenge," Dan said.

"And I don't blame him. I have to find out what's going on."

Dan walked to Ben's side.

"General."

"Dan. How's it going?"

"Very well, sir. Do I stand the men down for a rest?"

"Yes. Tell them to pitch their tents and relax.

We'll be here for a couple of days."

Dan knew what was next, but he had to ask.

"And then, sir?"'

"We are going on a search-and-destroy mission, Dan. We are going to deal with the enemy with extreme prejudice."

"We track down the warlords and outlaws and kill all the f.u.c.kers."

"Precisely."

Whom unmerciful Disaster Followed fast and followed faster.

Poe

Chapter 26.

"Your plan ain't workin' for s.h.i.t!" Jake told Texas Red. He had shaken him out of a deep sleep and jerked him out of the blankets.

"Huh?" Red asked, rubbing sleep from his eyes.

"All them d.a.m.ned Rebels is still in the town.