General Black paused a moment longer, then nodded. “Glad to hear you say that.”
“And, let’s face it, Ike,” said Ledger leaning close, “I didn’t last this long by being Mr Rogers, you dig? It’s not a wonderful day in the neighborhood and not every motherfucker I meet is my neighbor.”
One of the guards said, “Preach.”
Black shot him a stern look but did not disagree. Instead, he gave another nod.
“What about the blue tents?” asked Ledger casually. “Women and kids?”
“They’re being protected.”
Ledger snorted. “Don’t blow smoke up my ass, man. And don’t bullshit a bullshitter. The general population’s pretty fucking small and if we’re going to rebuild then we need breeding stock. Younger they are the more seasons they have to squeeze out new Americans, am I right?”
Ike Black stopped and stared at him, a small hopeful smile playing on his lips. “Christ, you really do get it, don’t you?”
“It’s pretty black and white, Ike. It’s survival of the fittest and with humans that means survival of those people who can make the hard choices.” He clapped Tom on the shoulder. “That’s what I’ve been trying to teach my friend here. How to do what’s necessary when it’s necessary.”
Tom cleared his throat and, still using the thick accent, said, “I’m working on it.”
“General!” someone called.
They all turned and a guard with a radio headset ran up and whispered in the general’s ear for a few minutes. Black pulled him aside and they whispered back and forth for a bit before the general nodded and the guard ran off, talking into his headset as Black rejoined Ledger and Tom.
“Anything wrong?” Ledger asked.
The general shook it off, then a shrewd look came into his eyes. “Tell you what, fellows, there’s no time like the present to put your money where your mouth is.”
“Meaning what, big man?” asked Ledger.
“Red tent,” said Black. “Sometimes we pick up some troublemakers along with the dead wood. Case in point… we got a couple of real hard-cases in lockdown. Couple ex-military who I think are still fighting for truth, justice, and the American way. Old school, head-in-the-sand types.”
“Sounds inconvenient. What are you going to do with them?”
Black’s smile brightened. “Me? Nothing. But I thought it would be a great way for you fellows to make your bones. Not to offend, Joe, but talk is cheap.”
“What do you mean?” asked Tom.
Ledger laughed. “Big Ike here wants us to prove that we’re not just a couple of con artists sweet-talking our way into the good life, isn’t that right?”
“Something like that,” agreed Black.
“So,” continued Ledger, “he wants us to go into the red tent where they have those hard-cases and put them down.”
“I…” began Tom, but Ledger clapped him on the shoulder again. Hard.
“Don’t turn green, kid. Wouldn’t be the first useless cocksuckers you ever killed. Not even the first this week.”
Tom said nothing, but there was doubt in his eyes.
“The general’s right,” said Ledger. “Talk’s cheap, and man… there’s just about nothing I wouldn’t do to sleep in a real bed and not having worry about waking up with some dead asshole nibbling on my dick. If that means popping a cap in some bad guys, then booyah. I like me more than I like some assholes I don’t know. So, bottom line, it sucks to be them.”
“That,” said Black with a merry laugh, “is what I like to hear.”
“When you want this done?” asked Ledger.
“First light?”
“Fuck no,” said Ledger. “Why wait? Let’s close this deal right damn now. I’ll pop one and let Tom do the other and then you can point us in the direction of a cold beer, if any such thing still exists.”
“Will Irish whiskey do?” asked Black.
“Yeah,” said Ledger, “it will. Let’s rock.”
—19—
Top and Bunny
Though they succeeded in creating the chaos they’d wanted, and even slipped out of the cell when the guards opened it to come in and restore calm, Top and Bunny quickly found themselves surrounded by six men with rifles pointed at their heads while Major Diamond used the butt end of a rifle to slam them each in the stomach and send them to their knees, gasping for breath. They hadn’t even had enough room to react because of the constant crowd surrounding them.
“You boys just bought yourself the front of the line,” Diamond said with a sneer and nodded to the two guards.
The two prisoners were yanked to their feet as the holding pen door slammed and locked behind them, then dragged further into the cavern past cells where the white and blue banders were enjoying books, Blu-rays, furniture. Then they were shoved into a closet-sized cavern and locked in darkness.
“Fuck,” Bunny moaned. “That worked great. What now?”
“Now we wait 'til they come for us and be ready to jump them,” Top said. “Relax and recharge while you can, son.”
Bunny heard shuffling as Top slid against the stone and sat on the floor nearby and he followed suit, sighing. “We shoulda had a better plan.”
“Shut the fuck up, soldier.”
“Just saying.”
And then Bunny heard a chuckle. Top was laughing at him. “What?”
“Once an idiot, always an idiot,” Top said through laughter.
“Hey, this idiot has had your six for over twenty years, Old Man.”
“I know, it’s a fucking miracle I still have a six,” Top replied.
“Fuck you,” Bunny moaned and then grinned in the darkness, chuckling a bit himself.
Soon, they were both laughing, and that was the last thing Bunny remembered as he fell into darkness and slept restlessly against the hard, cold stone.
A bright light.
That was his next memory, as he awoke blinded and heard men talking. “Get up!” someone ordered.
“On your feet!” growled another.
Then they were being lifted and dragged out of the cavern, surrounded by armed men again.
The guards moved quickly, keeping them surrounded. Bunny only made out bits and pieces of their surroundings — a door marked ‘lab’, a few white-coated workers moving in and out, then a line of people with blue bands. They wound through a short corridor into another room past a line of white banded people waiting before a dispensary of some sort with lab-coated workers at a counter, handing out small cups of liquid or pills, he couldn’t tell which.
Then they went through thick steel doors into another cavern, passing a line of men with red wristbands like their own, waiting. They all looked tired, shifting continuously like people who’d spent too much time on their feet for an unknown purpose. Bunny could relate. What were they lined up for?
Then he and Top were shoved at the front of the line and they saw General Black approaching with a kid in a many-pocketed canvas vest and green khakis, a kid who Bunny recognized — a kid he’d seen the day before who looked a lot like their old teammate, Sam Imura.
Then he gasped, his breath frozen in his lungs as his eyes came to the man in the sleeveless fatigue shirt and sunglasses standing on the other side of the general from the kid. His hair was greyer, his face lined with age, but Bunny couldn’t believe his eyes. His knees wobbled and he fought to stay on his feet. “Captain,” he whispered.
Top stared beside him, frozen just the same. He had the same deer caught in headlights look in his eyes as he stared at the man, too.
Bunny shook his head, trying to shake off the vision. This can’t be real. Joe Ledger’s dead. He felt tears forming in the corner of his eyes. Could it really be? He’d never believed in fucking miracles, but he was looking right at one.