“So you wanted me to look good and well fed before the execution, is that it, Sergeant?” John said it as a joke but saw that it had misfired.
“The general follows the rules, sir, same as me, and I believe you as well. In his eyes, you are a standing officer in the American army. There will be no summary execution, sir; you will have a proper court-martial. Yes, we executed some in Richmond and Roanoke, and that was for the same kinds of crimes you faced with that Posse group. So, sir”—and his voice now took on a harsh warning edge—“do not insult General Scales in my presence, sir, by implying he would act in any way contrary to the Articles of War.”
John admired this type of loyalty and extended his hand in an offer of apology, which the sergeant, going formal, did not at first return.
“Sergeant major, I hold the general in the same respect as you do. I know I am under arrest by orders from Bluemont, not by the general’s.”
“I suggest you get some rest, sir,” the sergeant said. He drew back and offered a salute, which John formally returned.
“Thank you for your help.” He paused, continuing to hold the man’s gaze. “And my sympathies regarding your family, regarding all our families, including that of General Scales.”
There seemed to be a flash of easing down on the sergeant’s part. He nodded and turned away while John went back to his assigned quarters.
The stew was barely lukewarm. He downed it hungrily, gulped the black coffee, unrolled the sleeping bag the sergeant had provided, and, in spite of what he figured was his condemned status, he was asleep within minutes.
*
“All right, Colonel Matherson, out of that sack and on your feet.”
Momentarily confused, John sat up. How long he had been asleep he wasn’t sure. It was dark outside, Scales standing over him holding a Coleman lantern that was hissing loudly, turned up to full illumination.
John sat up, rubbing his chin, surprised with the realization that he was freshly shaved and his mouth did not feel sticky and taste rancid.
Scales set the lantern down on the table pushed to the corner of the room, pulled a chair behind it, and placed another across from him, motioning for John to sit down. “I trust Sergeant Bentley saw to your needs and treated you well.”
“A good man. You know how to pick them, sir.”
“Fine. He told me you behaved okay—no tricks—and kept to the code, not revealing anything. Sorry about lacing that coffee with whiskey. In part, it was to get you to just relax, but yeah, we both know it’s an old trick.”
“Figured that one, of course, though it was tempting. So, when does the court-martial start, or are you really transporting me up to Bluemont for trial?”
Bob sighed, leaned back in his chair, and rubbed his eyes. “You got a good eight hours of sleep, John, I’ve been at it nonstop since midnight, and it’s just past six here.”
John waited for him to continue.
“We’ve orders to pull back to Roanoke and before we leave to take down everything you have here.”
Even as he spoke, John glanced out the window and saw that several floodlights powered by a loud generator had been set up around the perimeter where the Black Hawks and Apaches were parked, crews busily at work.
“And that is it?” John said coldly. “Why?”
“Those were my orders, and don’t you dare to try to throw the line at me about ‘only following orders.’”
He knew better than to do so and raise that infamous moral argument.
“The attack we were supposed to be staging for to move on Atlanta has been put on hold. We don’t have the assets to do it.”
“Bob, if what I see parked outside is everything you’ve got, there is no way in hell you’re ever going to secure Atlanta.”
“What I was trying to tell them all along. I actually did pass up what you suggested—of course you can understand I did not peg your name to it—that we need to sit back through the rest of the winter at least, let them tough it out a while longer, and perhaps be more tractable come spring. They weren’t happy up in Bluemont with that. They tried to push it. I said it was impossible. and they just got back to me to pull back to Roanoke but to take down whatever you’ve built here first.”
“It means they’re going to do it. They’re going to pop an EMP. That’s the real reason they want you to give up what you’ve just gained.”
Bob looked over at him and said nothing.
“Anything else?” John asked.
Again silence.
“I assume I go with you.”
“Something like that.”
“It’s what I figured.”
Bob went up and looked out the window as a Black Hawk’s engine started to turn over, was revved up for a minute, and then shut down. A light snow was falling, and once out of the sleeping bag, John could feel that the temperature in the room had dropped by quite a few degrees.
“Among everything else, John, the fact that you are still alive and managed to dodge that hit squad has made life even more complex.”
“So it was Bluemont?”
Bob simply nodded.
“You suspected they would pull it; that was what you were warning me about.”
“You twisted a lot of tails up there the way you took out Fredericks and then several days later talked with the BBC about it. They had to brand you as an out-of-control terrorist.” He sighed. “And yes, I had orders to summarily execute you as a renegade. I didn’t dare to try to contact you directly with a warning. There is someone in your ranks that was infiltrated in—most likely by Fredericks, who I guess gave a GPS of your house and your routine. I was able to bullshit my way around that you had slipped by me and that trying to take you out would trigger a full-scale riot. So they decided to act on their own with, as used to be said, ‘extreme prejudice.’”
John took all that in, and there was an inward relief at last. He believed him, at least for now.
“And a huge subtext as well, John. They hit you, everyone will believe I did it, and it will trigger a regular civil war. It was a stab at me as well.” Again he sighed and looked down at the floor. “One of the final acts that is triggering what happens next.”
Bob stood, went back to his bunk, opened a briefcase, and pulled out what John recognized as an aviation map. Bob spread it out on the desk, anchored one corner with the Coleman lantern, and just stared at it for a moment. “So in your service, you never heard of Site R?”