“At ease, Sergeant. You performed well out there tonight.”
“Thank you, Colonel. I found the mission to be exhilarating as well as incredibly frightening.”
“Well put. I have to agree with you.”
“So what do you want the men to do now, Colonel?”
“Stand down, take it easy. I don’t anticipate the enemy doing anything crazy for at least three days. They have no idea where their opposition originated or where it went.”
“Are they really that dumb?”
“No, Sergeant, they are really that paranoid. We’ll happily use that against them.”
“Works for us, Colonel. We’ll be in the main lodge.”
“Tell the bartender to give everyone a drink on my tab. Once.”
“Everyone? No matter who’s in the bar?”
“Everyone, friend or foe.”
“Class act, Colonel. Thank you.” First Sergeant Scally saluted.
Buhrman retuned the salute. “Dismissed, First Sergeant.”
The sergeant grabbed his gear and bolted through the door. The general store was no more than fifty meters from where they sat.
“You’re a real pushover, Del,” Heinrich said with a wide smile.
“Not at all, Colonel Smolst. I reward achievement and am quick to acknowledge it.”
“So why are you still here?”
“My government gave me the task of seeing the first elected government in the Alaska Republik to fruition. Until there’s a First Speaker elected and sworn in, my mission is not complete.”
“Sweet Baby Jesus, you could be here for years!”
“You say that like it’s a bad thing, Heinrich.”
Smolst laughed. “Is it? Do you like it here, Del?”
“I admit to having developed a taste for moose meat. I’ve never tasted anything better.”
“Seriously.”
“I am serious! I like moose meat. I also like the idea of helping a new republik get its shit together. This is the first mission I’ve ever had that really makes an historic difference and I want to do it right.”
“My God, you’re a visionary!”
“Screw you, Smolst. You’re much more hardened than you think I am.”
“Not really. I applaud your stance. I think you actually mean it.”
“Well, I do. I’ve been through a lot in my career and until now I really didn’t give a damn about the outcome. I just followed orders and endured. This time I actually care about what happens. I care about the people I’m working with and I care about their future. I attribute it all to my advanced age—I’m just getting soft.”
Smolst laughed from the bottom of his belly. “You’re a fraud, Del, why don’t you just admit it?”
“I will when you do.”
“I’m glad you’re on our side, Colonel Buhrman, and I’m glad you’re here.”
111
Klahotsa
“What do you mean, ‘you found nothing’?”
“One of our guys hit someone, but there was just frozen blood and no body.”
“Those sons of bitches!” Riordan shrieked. “Why don’t they fight fair?”
Everyone in Bachmann’s store remained silent.
“We’ve got a dead man and a seriously wounded man with no medical support.”
“We do have a village health aide,” Bachmann said as if mentioning an exotic flower.
“Has he treated a gunshot wound before?”
“She has treated many gunshot wounds. People hereabouts tend to hunt for their own meat and accidents happen.”
“Why the hell isn’t she here already?”
“Nobody asked her,” Bachmann said in a flat voice. “You seem to think that everyone anticipates your needs. You need to lose that illusion.”
“Get her here! Now!”
“James, would you please ask Auntie Andi if she would please come over and look at our patient?”
The man disappeared into the night.
Riordan turned his attention back to his men.
“Sergeant Dierks, how did these people escape?”
“The best guess we have is that they walked away, Major. Probably had a vehicle a few miles down the road.”
“Walked?”
“If you move faster than that you tend to frost your lungs, sir. And that will kill you within minutes.”
“So our pursuit was at a walk also?”
“We didn’t even mount a pursuit, Major. There was no point in doing so.”
“You arrived at this conclusion all by yourself?”
“No, but I take responsibility.”
“Do you know the penalty for failure in the Free—in my company?”
“Yes, sir. But I also recognize futility when I encounter same.”
“Major Riordan,” Bachmann said, “I would like to talk to you in my office.”
“I’m busy right now, sorting out a sergeant.”
“And I pay both your wages. Keep that in mind on the way to my office!”
Riordan fought the wave of rage that welled up from deep inside his soul. He wanted nothing more than to kill the arrogant bastard.
But I don’t know where he hides his money.
The rage subsided but his anger didn’t.
Riordan slammed the office door behind him. “What are you trying to do, make me look bad in front of my men?”
“Shut up, Riordan!” Bachmann snapped. “I want you to understand that I’m running this operation, not you. You obviously don’t know shit about arctic survival; your sergeant did exactly the right thing.”
“He didn’t do anything!”
“Precisely! Keep in mind we’re training killers, not soldiers; expert assassins, not mercenaries. I want these men to hit their targets and get out of the area.”
“What’s the point of killing a bunch of people if you’re not going to gain any territory?” Riordan felt baffled.
“Are there snakes where you come from?”
“Snakes? There are no snakes up here.”
“That’s where you’re wrong, Major Riordan. We have an ample supply and your men are going to render them headless.”
“Kindly tell me what the hell you are talking about, Bachmann.”
“The Dená, the Tlingits, or Kolosh, and the Eskimos are planning to create an Alaska Republik. The Russians are gone for good. Political and civic venues are in upheaval and I mean to take advantage of that to secure my future.”
“And I thought I was an optimist! Do you really believe that you and me and thirty, uh, twenty-eight guys good with weapons are going to take over an entire sub-continent?”
“If you take out the top thirty people in a small nation, that doesn’t leave much above a colonel. We can handle colonels with our second shot.”
“Do you think they’re all going to line up for you in one place?”
“Actually, I do. But first we have to figure out who is harassing us and take care of them. Probably something to do with those men your guys used for target practice. Send two of your men to track them, but each one alone and a half hour apart.”
“So we know when and where the first one dies.” Riordan allowed himself a slight smile. “You’re good at this stuff, Bachmann. You could go places.”
“I fully plan to. And if you play your cards right, you can go with me.”
112
St. Anthony Redoubt, Provisional State of Doyon, Alaska
Republik
“Lieutenant Colonel Yamato, how good to see you again,” Colonel Stephan Romanov said. “Please, sit down.”
The only thing that had changed in the colonel’s office was the absence of the Russian flag and he now wore a different uniform.
“Thank you, Colonel,” Jerry said as he eased into the chair. “I am pleased to see you here, as well as Sergeant Severin. The Alaska Republik Army needs all the good people it can get. Not to mention, you know the area well.”