“Where do you get it?”
“It, uh, grows on the ground. You’re standing on some right now.”
Joe had grown quiet.
“How is he, Doc?”
“Classic bullet wound, but I think only fat and muscle were hit. It went straight through him. Give him a month and he’ll be good as new.”
“How are we getting our wounded back to aid stations?”
“Carrying them. Our only aid station is about half a mile behind us. We have Major Nacht and a captured mercenary by the name of Revere working on our wounded. I don’t know how they’re keeping up.”
“I’ve been busy. What are our casualty numbers?”
“Between our guys and the Dená, there’s about forty to fifty wounded back there.”
“Damn, we’d better wrap this up soon. We’ve hooked up with the Delta Dená and we’re going to hit the Russians again as soon as everyone catches their breath.”
“Colonel Coffey is going to make it, sir. You don’t have to hang around. I’ll take good care of him.”
“Thanks, Doc. This guy means a lot to me.”
Doc smiled. “Me, too, Colonel.”
Colonel Del Buhrman, feeling strangely alone, hurried back to his men.
81
Battle of Delta
The firing died down and Magda signaled to her people. Wait. She wanted to see what the Russians would do next.
“Magda, they’re waving a white flag!” Sergi Eluska shouted.
“Stay down, it might be a trick!” She peered around the boulder, knowing that if it were a trick, she would probably be dead within seconds. The Russians had proven to be excellent marksmen.
A group of Russian soldiers holding both hands in the air followed a sergeant who carried what looked like a bed sheet attached to a pole. If this was a trick, they were going to lose a lot of people in a very short time.
“They’re surrendering?” she whispered.
“They’re giving up!” she shouted to her people. “Let’s take control before they change their minds!”
The Dená rose as one, aiming their weapons at the Russians who immediately stopped moving.
“We surrender. Please don’t shoot.”
Magda couldn’t tell who yelled but she could see that all agreed with the statement.
“Sit down on the ground with your hands on your head, now!”
They complied. The white flag fell onto the dusty road.
“Who is in command of your force?”
A heavily bandaged man raised his hand.
“Two of you help him up and bring him over here.”
She was not going to expose her people to possible subterfuge. From here forward the only people who would die in this place would be Russian.
The bandaged man proved to be a senior lieutenant.
“You are the senior officer?”
“Yes,” he said crisply. “I am Lieutenant Leonid Kubitski. May I know your rank, please?”
“I am a sergeant of scouts, Dená Army.”
His eyes shifted away from her, staring over her shoulder. She turned and saw men she didn’t know completely surrounding her. She thought she had been deceived and felt a total dupe.
A man with a large moustache raised his hand.
“I don’t know who is in charge here. I’m Colonel Buhrman, of the 3rd California Parachute Infantry Regiment.” He nodded to the man at his side. “And this is Major Heinrich Smolst of the Dená Army. How can we help?”
Magda smiled. “You can wait for my father, Pelagian, who has been overseeing the evacuation of our wounded. He’ll be here in—”
“I’m here, Magda.”
He stood off to her side with a squad of six heavily armed Dená soldiers.
“Wow,” Colonel Buhrman said. “I thought our guys were the only ones who could just pop up like that.”
Pelagian smiled. “We live here, Colonel Buhrman, that helps a lot.”
“You have more at stake here than we do. Please, sir, take the surrender of these people.” Buhrman stood at attention and saluted.
82
Old Crow, Dená Republik
Gennady Ustinov watched the tall Athabascan slowly go around the crowded council meeting room and speak to every person, except Gennady.
He carefully scanned the group and decided that Hannah Weirmaker was the best person to approach; she owed him money.
“Hannah, what did that man ask you?”
“Gennady, every time I talk to you I owe you more money. Go away.”
“We can be even if you wish.”
“Even? Are you saying that if I answer your question I will owe you nothing; all my bills will vanish like my worthless husband?”
Gennady sighed. “Yes, that is my proposition.”
“If you try to back out of this later, I will cut your balls off myself!”
“My word is my bond! Your debts will be dissolved.”
She gave him a long, level look. “He wanted to know who I planned to vote for as delegate to that constitution thing. I don’t even know who wants the job in the first place.”
“You must vote for people you trust,” Gennady exclaimed. “What they write and is agreed to will frame your life forever.”
“How do I know what people really think? They just tell you whatever they think you want to hear and then go and do whatever they want.”
“Did he ask you to vote for someone?”
“Of course he did!”
Gennady stared at her and raised his left eyebrow.
“He wanted me to vote for some guy called Nathan…”
“…Roubitaux,” Gennady finished for her. “Does he think you are in his district?”
“I guess so, why else would he ask?”
“Has anyone else asked you to vote for them?”
“No. Everyone else is busy fighting somewheres, except you.”
“He’s not in your district.”
“He thinks I am.”
“What? Where is he from?”
“He says he’s from Eagle, but nobody there remembers ever seeing him before.”
“Thanks, Hannah. You have fifty rubles credit in my store as of now.”
She grinned. “I won’t forget that!”
He knew she wouldn’t; neither would he. Gennady might drive a hard bargain but he never forgot his word. He moved purposefully up to the tall Athabascan, reached out and touched his arm.
“Excuse me. Might I have a few words with you?”
The man turned with a grin that faded as soon as he saw Gennady. “What do you want?”
“Who are you?”
“Alexi Popovich, who’s asking?”
“You know who I am. You’re campaigning against me.”
“I am campaigning for Nathan Roubitaux. There’s a difference.”
“Not from where I stand. Since when is Nathan from Eagle? Nobody in the village knows him.”
“He was born there. His parents moved to Tanana when he was a baby.”
“And he hasn’t lived there since. He doesn’t live there now. How can he claim to live where he doesn’t?”
“He was born there, Gennady!”
“Can he prove that? Was his birth recorded by the priest? Does Eagle even have a priest?”
“The church in Eagle burned a few years ago,” Alexi said. “All records were destroyed.”
“That was very convenient, wasn’t it?”
“What are you insinuating, Gennady Ustinov?”
“Insinuating!” Gennady shouted. Every head in the room turned toward them. “I insinuate nothing! I accuse you of spreading false information about your candidate. And I accuse him of lying about where he was born. Nobody in Eagle or the rest of this district has ever heard of his family or any of their relatives.”