The one who had ordered them to stop, an officer judging by the insignia on his collar, advanced.
Gremlin snapped to attention. “Gremlin, G.R.D., serial number one-four-one-one, at your service, sir.”
“At ease,” the officer directed. He studied Blade. “I’m Lieutenant Angier. I see you have a prisoner.”
“His name is Blade, yes? From the Family, no?”
“The Family?” Lieutenant Angier repeated, impressed. “I’ve seen the file. Isn’t he one of their…” He paused, snapping his fingers. “What do they call themselves?”
“Warriors, yes?”
“Warriors! That’s it!” Lieutenant Angier leaned forward, his face inches from Blade’s. “I heard about the incident at Thief River Falls. You killed a lot of good men.”
“I hope one of them was a relative,” Blade cracked.
Angier swung the butt of his M-16, catching Blade on the chin and rocking his head.
Gremlin stepped back. “Not harm, please? Must keep intact, yes?”
“I’ll take him from here,” Angier stated gruffly.
“So sorry,” Gremlin shook his head. “Will not, yes?”
Angier, annoyed, glared at Gremlin. “My patrol was ordered to establish a monitoring post here, to capture anyone passing this point, and escort them to the Citadel. I will take this prisoner off your hands.”
“So sorry,” Gremlin insisted. “Higher orders, yes? Must personally take this one to Citadel.”
“Higher orders?” Angier challenged Gremlin. “From whom?”
Blade, recovering from the Watcher’s blow, saw a thin smile on Gremlin’s face.
“From the Doktor,” the creature said, emphasizing the last word.
Angier visibly paled and swallowed hard. “My apologies. I had no idea.
Of course, your orders supersede any I might have. Whatever the Doktor wants,” he added nervously, “the Doktor gets.”
“You’ve noticed that too, yes?” Gremlin said, grinning at Angler’s subservient reaction to the mere mention of the Doktor.
“Is there any way we might assist you?” Lieutenant Angier inquired.
“You may, yes!” Gremlin nodded at Blade. “Need rest. Will you guard prisoner while Gremlin sleep?”
“Of course,” Angier replied. “See that small building off to your right?
The brown one by the lake? It was once an enclosed dock. I’ll watch over the Warrior while you catch forty winks.”
“Thanks. Appreciate it, yes?” Gremlin sauntered toward the designated structure.
Lieutenant Angier faced his patrol. “Resume your positions. Notify me if anyone comes along the road.” He followed Gremlin.
The soldiers vanished from view.
Blade was carried through an open doorway into a well-lit boathouse.
The building was constructed partly over the water, and waves rippled against the dock and splattered water on the moorings. Whatever vessel formerly occupied the boathouse was long gone.
“You behave, yes?” Gremlin deposited his captive on wooden planks to the left of the doorway.
Blade glanced up at the creature and grinned. “You know me.”
“That’s why I said it, no?” Gremlin surveyed the boathouse. “Smells like fish, yes?”
Blade realized Gremlin was right; the building did reek of a fishy odor.
“Watch carefully, yes?” Gremlin said to Angier, then left.
Blade’s gray eyes fell on a boat hook mounted on a rack above his head.
Angier, standing in the doorway, his thumbs hooked in his webbed belt, watched Gremlin walk to a stand of trees forty yards away and disappear in the dense underbrush. “Those freaks give me the creeps!” he muttered.
“I’m sure Gremlin will be delighted to hear your description of him,” Blade remarked, chuckling.
Angier turned and pointed his M-16 at Blade’s chest. “One word from you and I’ll cut you in half. Understand?”
“Perfectly.”
“Good. Then shut your face until the freak comes back.”
“Mind if we talk?”
Angier took a step toward Blade. “Didn’t you hear me, asshole?”
“Perfectly.”
“Then shut your mouth, jerk!”
“You haven’t answered me. Mind if we talk?”
Angier raised the M-16, preparing to bash the prisoner with the rifle butt again.
“Your mother ever tell you about your nasty temper?” Blade asked, smiling broadly.
“You asked for it!” Angier tensed, about to swing the rifle.
“Look,” Blade said quickly. “You can beat my brains in, if that’s what you want. But I don’t think Gremlin or the Doktor would like it much. Why don’t we just talk?”
Angier warily lowered the M-16. “You may be right. The Doktor might not take it too kindly if I damage the merchandise.”
“So why don’t we talk?” Blade urged him, hoping at last to learn some of the answers to the questions he had.
“Why the hell should I talk to you?” Angier snapped.
“I can give you a few reasons,” Blade told him. “How long have you been here? A month or so? You must be bored to tears. I thought you might find a little conversation a welcome break in the monotony.”
Angier studied the Warrior, assessing his character. “We are bored shitless,” he admitted.
“See?” Blade grinned. “So why don’t we talk.”
Angier walked to the doorway and leaned against the frame. “I guess it can’t hurt. What do you want to talk about? The weather?” He laughed at his own joke.
“I’d rather talk about you,” Blade said. “I have a million questions…”
“I bet you do, at that,” Angier agreed. He placed the M-16 down, reclining the automatic rifle against the wall.
“Are you guys Watchers?” Blade asked.
Angier stared into Blade’s eyes. “No hard feelings over that bop on the chin?”
“No,” Blade lied. “Why should there be? I provoked you.”
“You certainly aren’t anything like your reputation,” Angier remarked.
“I have a reputation?”
“What else did you expect? Remember, four of our troops survived the firefight in Thief River Falls. I saw the report. It was included in one of our regular dispatches. Very impressive,” he commented, extending a compliment from one fighting man to another.
“I had help,” Blade reminded him.
“Ahh, yes,” Angier nodded. “The Family gunfighter and the Indian.”
“Hickok and Geronimo,” Blade clarified.
“I’d like to meet this Hickok some day,” Angier said. He rested his right hand on a holster attached to his belt above the right hip. A protective green flap covered an automatic pistol.
“No,” Blade disagreed, “I don’t think you would.”
“Is it true?” Angier asked, looking at Blade. “Did Hickok really take on all those troops with just a pair of revolvers?”
Blade nodded.
“I wish I had been there,” Angier stated wistfully. “Instead I’m assigned to this lousy post.”
“You guys must be Watchers,” Blade deduced, prying.
“Some call us that,” Angier said. “We’re known by a lot of different names.”
“But what are you really?”
Angier thoughtfully gazed at the surface of the lake. “Haven’t you figured it out by now?”
“You tell me.”
“We’re what’s left of the U.S. Army,” Angier began. “Only now we’re known as the Army of Samuel.”
“I saw some coins in Thief River Falls,” Blade interjected. “They were imprinted with the words In the Name of Samuel. Any connection?”
“Pretty shrewd, aren’t you?” Angier nodded. “Yep. Those coins were probably minted during the reign of Samuel the First. The Denver Mint put out millions of them. Now his son, Samuel the Second, is running the Government.”
“You mean to tell me your Government is headed by a king?”