Chapter 14
MARCH 23, EVENING
REX WAS FURIOUS. THEY’D MISSED Adrian several days before. He was sure it was Adrian; the probing of the line had been coldly calculated and carried out professionally. Rex thought, that had to be Adrian. I lost seven men—seven! All in five minutes, and not one sighting of the attackers. Bastards killed four men and ran like hell, and three more were picked off by the sniper to keep pursuit at bay. Classic, professional, perfectly executed. That was Adrian, no doubt about it. Bastard!
Frank walked up and reported, “Two scouts missing, probably deserted. We didn’t hear any shooting, no signs of bodies or even a blood trail. Probably just lit out.”
Rex yelled at Frank, “YOU IDIOT! Do you really think they deserted? Where to? Why? They’ve been captured, and by now they’re halfway back to Fort Brazos. They’ll tell everything they know, which, I’ll grant you, isn’t much, but every little bit hurts us. Damn them for being stupid. If they come back, bring them to me, but I’m not holding my breath.”
Rex turned in fury and stormed back to his tent, thinking, if Adrian didn’t know it was me coming before, he’ll know tomorrow. That rat-f*cking bastard won’t show up out here again, not without all his men. The easy capture is out, now it’s going to be me and him at some point. He’d better not get himself killed before I can get him, damn it!
Frank said from outside the tent, “Permission to enter, sir?”
“Drag your sorry ass in here.”
“Orders for tomorrow, sir?” Frank asked after ducking through the tent entry.
“Move out as usual, but double the forward scouts. They definitely know we’re coming at them. If they have enough men, they’ll hit us before we get there. Tell the men to expect ambushes, and not to try to encircle them anymore. Any useful information we would get now isn’t worth the trouble—we know as much as we need to. Fire back to kill any ambushers, take no prisoners. Is that clear?”
“Yes sir, clear as can be. I’ll pass the orders on.” Frank left the tent quickly. He could see that Rex was furious, and being near a furious Rex was like hearing ice cracking under your feet.