Ashes - Standoff In The Ashes Part 9

everything. Then we'll see about die other prisoners."

"What about me?" Bradford moaned.

Ben shot him.

He looked at Lara. She shrugged. "I was going to do that if you didn't,Gen-Ben. That b.a.s.t.a.r.d has ruined the lives of several hundred people."

"At first he seemed like sort of a good guy."

"He always does ... did. He told me before the torture 87.87.started that if I'd go down on him he'd see to it that I didn't get sent to a reindoctrination camp. I told him I'd rather eat a live tarantula."

Ben laughed at that, but that hurt his bruised and swollen face. "They talked about putting you in with some prisoners."

"The real hardcases. Criminal types. That would have been ... unpleasant."

"I would imagine. OK. Check die others. I'll search Bradford."

"What about the other guards?"

' 'What others? I've either killed or put out of commission every guard I found."

"How many?"

"About half a dozen."

"Six more, then."

"We'll worry about them as soon as we're finished here."

Lara got nervous about that. "We could be trapped down here, Ben."

"No, we won't. There's a door at the end of the hall. I saw it. It has to lead out of here. If it's locked, we can blow it open."

Bradford had a wad of cash on him-as had all the odiers-and several government credit cards.

"These guys must have just gotten paid," Lara said, stuffing the money in her jeans pocket-which, Ben had observed, she filled out quite handsomely.

Ben hid a smile, thinking, / must be getting better. "We can use the money. It's a long way to our lines."

"That's where we're going?"

"You have a better idea? I'm certainly open to suggestions."

"The Feds scattered our militia movement." She grimaced. "Those they didn't kill or capture. And after this,"-she waved a hand at the bodies of the guards- 88.William W. Johnstone"they'll kill us on sight. The Rebel lines sound good to me."

Ben nodded his head. " OK. Get that rucksack over there on the table and put all the sidearms and spare mags in it. And their personal possessions." He looked around at the dead guards. "The boots on that guy," Ben said, pointing, "look about my size. The ones I have on are too big. Give me a minute."

"OK. You get them," Lara said quickly. "I'll stand guard. Those half a dozen others still on the loose worry me. Don't they worry you at all?"

"Not all that much," Ben said, bending down and quickly unlacing and jerking the boots off the dead man. "The Rebels are always outnumbered.

It's something we've all gotten accustomed to."

"You have no idea how inventive these people can be when it comes to torture. They were just getting started on me." She shuddered in remembrance. "To be honest, I was hoping for a quick death."

Ben was trying on the boots. They were a perfect fit with only one pair of socks. He finished lacing them and then stuffed the spare socks in his pocket. "Put that out of your mind. Concentrate on staying alive.

Let's check on those other prisoners .. . ready?"

"As I'll ever be." She picked up the rucksack.

"Let's do it, then. As the old line reads, We've miles to go."

"Who wrote that?"

"d.a.m.ned if I can remember." He grinned at her. "My tastes usually ran to, 'A bunch of the boys were whooping it up in the Malamute Saloon . ..' "

A door slammed somewhere in the lower floor.

"Company," Ben said. "Now the fun begins."

"Fun?"

"Killing Osterman's goons."

89.89."Tommy?" a voice called. "Tommy Bradford," Lara whispered. Ben smiled.

"Right here!" he called. He lifted the muzzle of his CAR.

The bootsteps drew closer.

90.The guard stuck his head into the interrogation chamber and Ben shot him in the center of the forehead. The man's M-16 clattered on the concrete floor. Ben hauled the body into the room, which now was beginning to stink of death.

"Get his rifle and spare mags," Ben told Lara. "And search him for money and keys."Seconds later, Ben and Lara stepped out into the hall. Ben locked the door behind them. "Let's find those other prisoners," he said. "And I want to find the records room of this d.a.m.n place. I'm going to destroy every file here."

"We've still got a few guards to deal with," Lara reminded him.

"I haven't forgotten them. I just make a point never to sweat the small s.h.i.+t."

She smiled at him. Her teeth were very white and even. "Do you ever get excited about anything, Ben?"

"Rarely, with one exception."

"And that is?"

91.91.Ben cut his eyes to her and grinned. "You really want me to tell you?"

She laughed and shook her head. "I think I can accurately guess."

The first cell they came to, set down a separate wing of the bas.e.m.e.nt, held two men. Ben unlocked the door and said, "I don't care what you've done to get locked in this funny farm. It's time for a fresh start. When you hear an explosion, that will be your cue to leave. If I see you before then, I'll shoot you without hesitation. Understood?"

Ben made the same little speech to every man in every cell, some of whom were in bad shape from beatings. They all understood.

"Ben Raines," one of the men whispered to his cellmate. "That's Ben Raines! Pa.s.s the word down the line."

Ben and Lara went up the stairs to the ground floor and promptly ran into two of the remaining guards. Lara finished them without changing expression.

"I just don't like those people," she said.

"Gee, I would never have guessed," Ben said. "Come on, let's finish it and get the h.e.l.l gone from here. We've got to find that records room."

They ran into no more guards during their search. When they found the records room it was filled with filing cabinets stuffed with hundreds of records on New York State individuals who did not share Madam President Oster-man's views on government. Ben spilled them all on the floor, all over the room, and set them on fire. He smashed the computers, printers, and monitors while Lara stood watch in the hall.

Ben smashed out the windows so oxygen could feed the flames and stepped out of the room, closing the door. "The fire will be contained in that room for quite a while," he said. "Let's prowl some more."

Ben found another room filled with computers. He 92destroyed them, except for a couple of laptops which he discovered contained modems. He stowed them in carrying cases along with floppies and electrical hookups. "We might be able to use these," he explained.

"We'll check them out later."

"Let's get the h.e.l.l gone from this place, Ben," Lara said nervously.

"You getting a little edgy?" Ben asked with a smile.

"d.a.m.n right I am. Those guards might have to check in with somebody every so often."

"Good point."

She sighed. "They don't call in on time, and this place is likely to be crawling with Feds."

"OK Let's see about some transportation. We'll find us a car or a pickup and then we'll get the gear I stowed by the entrance, blow those chained doors open, and we'll be gone."

Ben found an almost new, full-size pickup truck with a full tank of gas and a full reserve tank.

"Won't they know what vehicle we're in?" Lara questioned.

"They might be able to figure it out in a day or two. But not immediately."

"Why?"

"Watch."

Ben lined up the remaining vehicles and removed the gas caps. Then he tossed a grenade against the chained doors and blew them open so the freed prisoners could get gone. Then he stood back and shot holes in the gas tanks of each vehicle.

"Pull that pickup over here and get ready to get the h.e.l.l gone when I jump in. We're not going to have but a couple of seconds, at the most."

"OK, Ben," Lara said, eyeballing the two grenades Ben held, one in each hand. The pins had been pulled and he I.

93.93.was carefUlly holding the spoons down. She had already concluded that being around Ben Raines was nothing less than exciting . . . and decidedly unpredictable.

Freed prisoners began exiting the nuthouse. "Get the h.e.l.l away from the parking lot!" Ben yelled at them. "This whole d.a.m.n area is about to blow. Move, d.a.m.nit!"

The freed prisoners scattered in all directions.Ben waved at Lara. She pulled the truck alongside him and Ben opened the door. He popped the spoons and chunked the grenades under the cars; they splashed in the gathering pools of gas.

"Go!" Ben yelled.

Lara pulled away. Three seconds later the grenades blew and the entire parking lot lit up like a major volcanic eruption. The concussion waves of the explosion rocked the pickup truck. Lara hit the highway and picked up speed.

"Where the h.e.l.l are we, Lara?"

"Northeast New York State. About forty miles south of the Canadian Border. Vermont is only a few miles to the east. You want to try for Canada?"

"No. They have troubles of their own. Let's head for the Adirondacks. Do your people have food and clothing cached in there?"

"You bet we do. Everything we'll need to stay alive and make one h.e.l.l of a fight of it if we're cornered. I was going to suggest we head there."

"You're driving, Lara. You know this country. I don't. How far is it?"

"The way the roads are, plus the roads we'll have to take once we leave the hard surface highways, five or six hours at least. Probably longer.

That is, if we don't get caught. And that may be one big if."

"Not as big as you might think. By the time the Feds get everything sorted out, three or four or more hours will 94.have pa.s.sed. By then we should be close to wherever the h.e.l.l it is you're taking us."

She laughed. "Deep in the brush, Ben. This truck has four-wheel drive on demand. That's good. 'Cause we are sure going to need it."

"You know they'll come after me, in force. They won't stop looking for me. They will never stop searching for me. And anyone who helps me is subject to be hanged. You might consider telling me to hit the road."

"You've got to be kidding! I'm not about to dump you out on your own.

Listen, you can put new life into a movement that has almost been wiped out by the Feds. And believe me when I tell you that we have no informants in our bunch. We've gone as high-tech as finances will allow.

We have polygraph and PSE equipment, and everyone, everyone, gets tested occasionally, with no notice given beforehand."

"Good move. Did you find any Federal plants after the first test?"

"Unfortunately, yes, we did. We were hoping we wouldn't, but we found two."

"What did you do with them?"

"We shot them and buried their bodies deep. Then we changed meeting places, and still do every now and then.""How many people can you muster?"

"About fifty. And we're all hard-core, Ben. We can do it all, from machine guns to C-4. And we have it all. I gather you have something in mind?"

"Maybe. Just maybe. I think perhaps getting back to Rebel lines would be taking a big chance ... odds of us making it are slim, and getting slimmer, the more I think about it. I think that perhaps I might be more useful organizing local units to fight. What do you think?"

"I agree. We've got to take back our country town by town."

95.95."Lara, none of you are involved in the killing of abortion clinic doctors, are you?"