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the man you're lookin' for speakin'. If you want me, you're gonna have
to send better men than this, you stupid I son of a bitch."
Jersey grinned as she climbed in the other jeep and started | the motor.
"Oh, that ought to get his attention."
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"You think so?" Coop asked, starting his jeep. "I'll race [ you to the
river."
Jersey looked puzzled. "What river?"
He shrugged. "This is a jungle, Jers, there's always a river."
144 Twenty
When he was told of the loss of yet another patrol to the americanos and
of the taunting message sent by one of them over the radio, Perro Loco
flew into a rage.
He called General Juan Dominguez, the head of his forces in Belize, into
his office. "General," he said, his eyes bright with anger, "why is it
your troops are unable to capture two Americans who are lost in the jungle?"
"But comandante," Dominguez began.
Perro Loco pulled a Colt .45 pistol from his belt and stuck it against
the general's forehead. "No excuses!" he screamed. "If your men continue
to fail, I will be forced to accept your resignation, General, and I am
quite sure your family will mourn your sudden death as well."
Sweat poured from the general's forehead as he quickly nodded. "Si, mi
comandante. I will take personal charge of the search from now on."
Loco holstered his pistol and turned away, dismissing the man with a
curt wave of his hand.
Jim Strunk and Paco Valdez, sitting across the room, both breathed a
sigh of relief. They knew Dominguez was a good soldier and were glad
Loco hadn't killed him.
"Comandante," Strunk said, holding up a sheaf of papers in his hand.
"These Americans are capable fighters. I have here some journals and
articles written by a newspaperman during Ben Raines's campaign in
Africa a couple of years
145
ago. Some of the journals are said to have been written by Raines himself."
"Where did you get those?" Loco asked.
"They were in the possession of the americano sent by President
Osterman. An accompanying note from her says they are for you to read to
learn how Raines thinks, how he plans his battles." Strunk shrugged.
"They might be useful."
Loco took the papers and set them on his desk, fte walked to the corner
bar and poured himself a drink, then lit a cigar and sat down to read.
"I will see just how formidable an opponent this Ben Raines is," he
said, picking up the papers.
"The first part there is a series of articles outlining how Raines and
his Rebels came to power," Strunk said. "It was written by a war
correspondent for the United Press, Robert Barnes."
"As North America began to slowly pull itself out of the greatest
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economic and social collapse in world history, Ben Raines found himself
to be the most hated man in all of America. That really didn't come as
any surprise to Ben, for right after the collapse, Ben had gathered
together a small group called the Rebels-a mixture of
political/militia/survivalist-oriented men and women-and told them,
'We're going to rebuild. Against all odds, we're going to carve out our
own nation. And we're going to be hated for our success.'
"As it turned out, hate was not nearly a strong enough word. Ben and his
Rebels first went to the northwest and settled what would be forever
known as the Tri-States, developing the Tri-States form of government.
The philosophy was based on personal responsibility and common sense. It
soon became a hated form of government for those living outside the
Tri-States, for liberals and other left-wingers don't want to be
responsible for anything they do and they don't appear to possess any
common sense.
" 'Of course, that isn't entirely true,' Ben once said in one
146
of his rarely granted interviews with the press. 'But that's the way it
seems to those of us who believe that government should stay out of the
lives of its citizens as much as possible.'
"In the Tri-States, if you got careless and stuck yourself in the face
with the business end of a screwdriver, you didn't sue the manufacturer
of the screw driver for damages . . . You learned to be more careful in
handling tools.
"Common sense.
"Ben Raines realized that not everyone could, or would, live under a
system of law that leaned heavily on common sense and personal
responsibility. From the outset he estimated, correctly, as it turned
out, that no more than two or three out of every ten Americans could
live under a Tri-States form of government. People who came to live in
the old Tri-States did not expect something for nothing ... and that was
wise on their part, for they damn sure weren't going to get something
for nothing. [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]