The rear door to the Stryker opened and our men sprang forth and ran toward the brick school, spreading out as they exited to take up defensive positions. To my right, I saw several vehicles burning.
“Chewy, on me,” I said. I made for the open doors of the school, my assault rifle held in two hands. My feet pounded the pavement in front of the building, and I waited for a bullet, for the sound of battle. I was on a razor's edge.
A man stepped from the shadows inside, a rifle slung across his back, and his hands in the air.
“Don't shoot,” he said. I pointed the muzzle of my weapon at his chest as I neared him.
“Quickly, inside,” he said.
I was angry that MacDougal had been slain, the killing bullet very likely meant for me. We had been betrayed, and I intended to find out by whom.
The interior hallway was dim and there was the smell of wood smoke and mildew. A trashcan fire burned, lighting what was once the school's office.
“The commander is in here,” the soldier said to me. “Leave your weapon outside.”
“I don't think so,” I said. I paused then, and looked hard at the soldier. He appeared to be considering disarming me.
“We got ambushed just now,” I said. “I'm not walking in there unarmed.”
The hulking soldier relented. Beyond him in the corridor, I saw other shadowy soldiers. He turned to Chewy and extended a hand expectantly.
“Ain't gonna happen, boss,” Chewy said. There was a tense moment as the two enormous men stared at each other.
With an exasperated shake of his head, the soldier gestured at the door, then followed behind as we entered the office.
“To the right,” the soldier said.
I walked through the door to a small, windowless conference room lit with two kerosene lanterns resting on a long rectangular table. The man sitting at the head rose when we walked into the room. He was thick and burly, with almost no visible neck, and his skull was shaved clean. Bushy, dark eyebrows and a square jaw gave him an imposing visage.
“Where is MacDougal?” he asked.
“His blood is all over me,” I replied.
“You got hit?”
“Did you give the order?”
“If I'd wanted you dead, you would be,” Bender said. “Is he alive? Good man.”
“No. We got ambushed by snipers.” That he asked whether MacDougal had made it gave me a small measure of relief.
“We got it here, too,” Bender said. “Suicide attack with a truck full of explosives. We knew it wasn't you guys.”
“Who then?”
“It's the Sword of Gideon, his religious security force. They are highly trained, set apart from our military. They answer only to The Prophet.”
“Why would they attack us?”
“Because they don't want peace.”
“And you do?”
“I'm here, aren't I?”
“Why?”
“I can read the writing on the wall. I know we could hold out and hurt you if you tried to invade us. I'm also aware you've got more artillery and cavalry. We have lost.”
“So you will offer your surrender?”
“A conditional one, yes. Certain things have come to light over the last few days.”
“Such as?”
“Let's just say that there have been some philosophical differences among us here in Salt Lake. There are a lot of us who feel cheated. Gideon abandoned us, then his goons tried to kill me, to replace me. I know this because I discussed it with one of the assassins at length. He was less than forthcoming at first, but he was eventually convinced to talk.”
Bender gave me a thin smile. “I've come to believe that this war is pointless. I was for it in the beginning because I was told we were being bullied and attacked by the Alliance. Now....I'd say the idea of fighting to the death lacks appeal. To me, this fight was never about religion in the first place.”
“I think it was for your leader, though.”
“You're right, I guess. But he's gone, and I'm in charge now. I was never convinced by him in the first place. Oh, I mouthed the platitudes and I attended worship services along with everybody else. I thought he was a great leader, and that's why I followed him. He provided security and order, which after The Fall, seemed like a pretty good thing.”
“We were under the impression you were all raging lunatics,” I said. “I've met more than a few who were.”
“Well, we're not,” Bender said. “Makes the killing easier, though, doesn't it? If you think your enemy is something less. MacDougal swears that Tarantula business was Gideon.”
“Yes. He was experimenting at the Proving Ground. He used your own people against you, infected them on purpose so you would all think we were that ruthless.”
Bender grunted. “It provided motivation,” he said. “So let's get down to brass tacks. Now that we've agreed that we're not all a bunch of bloodthirsty maniacs, what does the Alliance propose?”
“An immediate cease fire,” I said. “Gather your military weapons and allow the Alliance to take them. Assault rifles, any artillery pieces you still have, military aircraft. You can keep hunting weapons and civilian aircraft. We will hold your weapons for a year while we rebuild, then you can have them back once we see stability. We'll stay out of your territory. We will not enter Salt Lake, and you can govern as you see fit. If you would like to become a part of the Alliance, you can do so after a year. We'll want an exchange of diplomats. Let our people live in Salt Lake to observe; you can send a team to Jackson. Should you choose to move north, the Alliance will provide any assistance we can. We want assurances that you will not attack again.”
“And your Governor is in agreement with these things? The rest of the Alliance? Anchorage?”
“The Alliance has given me the authority to negotiate on their behalf,” I said.
“How do we know that once we disarm, you won't roll into our city and rape and pillage?”
“You have to trust me,” I said. “If we really were about that, we wouldn't be sitting here. You would be getting pounded by artillery, and then we'd roll in anyway. The Alliance has no interest in further harm. We would much rather have a future ally who is self-sufficient than have an enemy on our borders we are forced to occupy.”
Bender chuckled. “Sounds like you've read a bit of history.”
“There's been enough killing.”
“Yes, there has. I enlisted in the Marine Corps the day after Nine-Eleven. It's interesting how that event, which seemed so significant at the time, pales in comparison to what happened since. Maybe that was the first shot though, in a war we didn't know we were fighting until it was too late.”
I had no memory of the terrorist attacks on New York and Washington, but I'd grown up in a world still dealing with the aftermath before The Fall. I knew the attacks had affected my father greatly, and probably gave him a heightened awareness later on, when it was time to get the heck out of Miami.
Bender stood then, and offered me his hand. “I'll have someone draw this up, and you can have your people do the same, but I'll take you on your word. We will stand down, as long as you do the same.”
“Fair enough,” I said. I shook his hand. Relief swept through me. “You're going to have to do something about the zealots, though.”
“I know it. I'll do everything I can to round them up. They will be dealt with.”
“Also, the Alliance will keep Dugway.”
“You can have it. That was never under my command. We will want to use Fort Williams, though.”
“Done.”
“I expect you'll be wanting to get back to Jackson,” Bender said. “We can give you a lift in a chopper if you like. Long as you let your boys know not to blow you out of the air.”
“That would be good,” I said. “There is something else that is very important.”
“What is that?”
“What do you know about the nuclear weapons Gideon was after?”
“He's been searching for months, maybe longer, I guess. Not in my wheelhouse. Why?”
I considered my reply carefully. If Bender was unaware of the existence of weapons of mass destruction, knowing Gideon had them might convince him to go back on his word, thinking that perhaps victory could be had in the end, after all. I took a tremendous gamble.
“He found them. He has a warhead.”
Field Marshall Bender arched his eyebrows and exhaled. “Bad news for everyone,” he said.
“That's an understatement. Any idea what his intentions are?”
Bender looked genuinely startled by the revelation.
“He claimed he needed a deterrent, that he wouldn't actually use the weapons if he found them.” He looked off to one side and breathed through his teeth.
“Shit.”
“What?”
“Schiller, that crazy bastard. He tore out of Williams in a Chinook with a group of his goons. I was livid because I needed the bird to transport some of our artillery. He basically hijacked it. Saul Schiller is the only person on the Earth that has ever frightened me. He is as evil as they get. Narcissistic sociopath. He took to Gideon like a tick on a hound. You find him, you'll find Gideon, and the nuke.”
I remembered Saul Schiller well, though he had claimed his name was Paul.
“We will need your help,” I said. “Interrogate his security guys. Find out where he is going.”
“Get back to Jackson,” Bender said. “He's sure to head there. He'll try to detonate the bomb right in the middle of town. He's devious, that one.” He went on to assure me that interrogations were about to begin, and he promised to be persuasive. I would soon discover he was.
We walked out of the office together.
“War's over!” Bender announced. There were cheers down the dark hallway, and they spread outside. People were shooting guns into the air in celebration.
“The hell it is,” Chewy said behind me.
“About that helicopter,” I said to Bender.