“President-General Raines,” a voice called from the steps of the building. “What an honor to have you join us. My name is Mike. What can I, or we, do for you?”
Ben looked at the young man. Tall and blond and well-built and blue-eyed. His eyes picked out many more like Mike. They looked as though they could have been brothers and sisters.
“Just looking for a couple of young friends of mine,” Ben told him, his voice carrying over the now-silent crowd. The butt of the Thompson rested on his right hip. A thirty-round clip was stuck in its belly, another thirty-round clip taped to that, for fast reloading. “Judy Stratmann and Roy Jaydot. Perhaps you’ve seen them?”
Mikael smiled. He had been well-trained, and was highly intelligent. He felt he could probably convince the general he had not seen either. But what he wasn’t sure of was how many troops the general had backing him up. And any convincing would have to be done privately; to lie now-openly-in front of the American young people would destroy everything he had so carefully constructed over the past two weeks.
“Yes, of course, I’ve seen them. They are here now, studying and learning.”
“Well, then,” Ben said with a smile. “You won’t mind if I speak to them, will you?”
Mikael’s smile had not wavered. “Of course not.” He turned to a young lady and spoke quietly. He swung his gaze back to Ben as the young IPF member walked away. “They will be along presently, General.”
“Fine. Don’t let me interrupt your lecture. You must be quite a speaker to hold the attention of so many young people. My speeches used to bore a lot of them.”
Small laughter among the crowd.
Without losing his smile, which, to Ben’s way of thinking, was a cross between a smirk and being downright smart-assed, the young man said, “Perhaps, sir, with all due respect, you did not speak to them on the right topic?”
“That might well be true, young man,” Ben said sagely. “But then, perhaps it was because I didn’t tell them everything they wanted to hear.”
Some of the young people looked at one another, shaking their heads in agreement with Ben. Their accord did not go unnoticed by Mikael. I will lose some of them, he thought. Perhaps ten or fifteen percent. But no matter. The majority will still be with me.
Ben’s mind was one jump ahead of the young Russian. He said, “We’re going to be camped just down the highway. Be there for a time. Perhaps Mikael would agree to debate me sometime? Then we could all have a question and answer session. That might not only be fun, but interesting and informative.”
The bastard! Mikael silently raged. He would have to contact Base One concerning this unexpected development. “Perhaps,” he said, his voice losing some of its confidence. “I will let you know tomorrow.”
“Why not now?” Ben challenged. “Or do you have to first speak with your superiors to get their
permission? Isn’t that the case-tovarich?”
Mikael knew his face was suddenly flushed. He fought to control his temper and struggled to keep from balling his hands into fists of anger.
Before Mikael could retort, a young woman in the crowd stood up and faced him. “What did General Raines mean, Mikael? What does tovarich mean?”
Mikael’s eyes were decidedly mean as he faced the questioner.
Ben said, “It means comrade, young lady. Your nice, friendly Mikael is a Russian.”
The young woman’s face drained of blood. “Is that true, Mikael?”
The Russian shrugged his shoulders. Silently he was damning Ben Raines to the pits of hell-if that place existed, and right now he hoped it did. “There is no Russia, Denise. Most of it was destroyed by nuclear warheads back in 1988. They were sent by NATO countries, and supplied by-was
Denise shook her head impatiently. “I didn’t ask for a political lecture, Mikael.” She stood with hands on hips. “Are you a Russian?”
His bright, hard blue eyes shifted from young lady to Ben. “Yes,” he said softly, with many straining to hear. “I am.”
A young man stood up. “Well… that don’t make no difference to me. I like what Mikael and his friends are all about and what they’ve told us. I believe what they say is true. I’m sticking with them.”
About two-thirds of the young people present agreed with that. It did not surprise Ben.
Ben said, “You young men and women who have not yet made up your minds about Mikael’s …
ideology, come with me when I leave. Just walk with me to where we’re camped and talk with those with me. I promise you no pressure will be exerted upon your minds. Let’s just talk. Isn’t that what a democracy is all about?”
A mixed group of young people-a few more than Ben expected-rose and walked to where Ben stood. Denise said, “We’ll listen, General. But we’ll make no firm commitments.”
“That’s all I ask, young lady.”
Denise looked at the man. She was standing beside a true living legend and it filled her with strange, unexpected emotions. She had thought President-General Raines would be an old man. But he looked to be in his mid-forties. But he had to be older than that. Maybe, more than one person in the group thought, there is something to his being more than a mere human. There just had to be.
Roy and Judy came out of the building. Both of them appeared to have been roughed up and then hurriedly patched up.
They stopped beside Mikael. Ben called, “Mikael and his buddies hammer on you two?”
“Yes, sir,” Roy called. “And Judy was raped.”
Ben looked at her.
“I’ll be all right, sir,” she said grimly. “Much better, in fact, in about a minute.”
“What happens then?” Ben asked.
“This,” Judy said. She spun, driving her elbow into Mikael’s stomach. He doubled over, gagging. She brought her knee up into his face, smiling with satisfaction as his jaw popped like a gunshot and teeth rolled and bounced on the concrete steps. She
brought the knife edge of her hand down hard on the back of his neck, and Mikael dropped to the steps, bleeding, hurt, and out of commission for a time.
Judy stepped back and, stone-faced, drew back her right foot and kicked the Russian squarely in the balls with the toe of her heavy combat boot.
A dozen IPF members appeared on the steps, automatic weapons at combat ready.
“Now, now, boys and girls,” Colonel Gray’s voice rang from the top of the building. “We don’t want this situation to turn into a sticky wicket, now, do we?”
The IPF members looked up into the muzzles of M-16’s and AK-47’S. They heard the roar of engines racing up the broken blacktop. Jeeps swung around, .50-caliber machine guns leveled at them, the muzzles menacing.
“Holster or sling your weapons,” Ben told the IPF troops.
They did as ordered, handling the weapons gingerly.
“One more person I have to get, General,” Roy said. “Give me a minute?”
Ben nodded. “G.” He was curious as to the third person.
A number of young women had gathered around Judy, asking her questions, their distaste for this newly discovered side of the IPF very evident. And they were all curious as to how she had learned how to fight like she did, and if they could learn it.
She said they could, just join up with Raines’s Rebels-if they thought they could cut it.
Roy reappeared, a very pretty young woman with him, holding onto his hand. The young woman had
obviously been beaten. There were bruises on the side of her face and her hands were swollen from her wrists being tied too tightly.
Ben looked at the crowd of young people. “Any of you young folks want to leave with us? Don’t worry, the IPF won’t try to stop you.”
Almost half the crowd silently made up their minds to pull out.
Ben ordered a team to escort them to the edge of the campus and to arrange transportation for them. He smiled at the young woman called Denise; she seemed to be some sort of spokesperson for the young people.