And there it was. “Apparently we are, since we hit the camp at dawn. The prisoners are waiting under guard south of town.”
From the direction this conversation had been going he expected Grimes to explode in righteous anger at that. But the man just slumped slightly in his seat, looking exhausted. “You took them prisoner, then?”
“We tried to capture them all alive, to hand over to you for judgment or to deal with ourselves if you refused to,” Matt replied, trying not to sound defensive. “We surrounded their camp and presented a display of force, then demanded they surrender and submit to arrest. They decided to attack us, and we were forced to defend ourselves. It didn’t go well for them. Those who finally did surrender are being held in custody, aside from the wounded being treated in our clinic by our doctors.”
The colonel rubbed the bridge of his nose, staring at the ground as he spoke. “You can’t take the law into your own hands, Mayor Larson. Aspen Hill isn’t an isolated town fighting against the world, it’s part of a community. Dealing with criminals is our job, and trying to do it yourself only creates problems.”
Only creates-
Matt sucked in a sharp breath, tried to control his anger, and only partially succeeded. “We contacted you yesterday after our people were killed,” he said, doing his best to keep his tone level. “We’ve been contacting you for the last nine days since Rogers sent 1,000 of his camp’s criminals and malcontents our way and created this problem in the first place. We heard nothing but silence and you sent away the people we sent to represent our side of the situation. So we did what we had to.”
The man’s face was reddening with his own anger. “You didn’t give us time to—”
“No,” Matt cut in sharply, surging to his feet. “You can’t claim a vital job, not do it, then get mad at us for having no choice but to do it ourselves. It took the deaths of over 70 people to get you to finally step in and look at a problem someone under your command created. You dropped the ball in the worst way possible, and now you’re telling us to trust you to handle things?”
Grimes sat through his rant, expression stony. When Matt finally finished the colonel abruptly stood as well. “Give me a day,” he growled. “I’ll get to the bottom of this.”
Suddenly more frustrated than angry, Matt sank back down into his seat, staring up at the man. “That would be great, but right now what this town needs is for you to do something about the displaced refugees scattered for miles in every direction, half of whom have turned to banditry. Take them back into a refugee camp, send them aid and leave them where they are but read them the Riot Act, I don’t care. Just as long as they stop attacking my town.”
“Because if they do you’ll attack them back?”
It was a petty jibe, but under the circumstances Matt was willing to let it slide. “We’ll defend ourselves. We have the right to do that, don’t we?”
“If that’s what you’re doing.” Grimes turned back to where the others waited. “Let’s hear the details from your people, as well as any eyewitnesses you have. And then I suppose we’ll have to talk to your prisoners and get their side of things.”
“If they’re inclined to tell the truth about what happened,” Matt said, following the man.
“I wasn’t born yesterday, son,” the colonel snapped. He raised his voice to address the people ahead. “Mr. Watson, Mr. Halsson, Ms. Rutledge. If I could borrow you for a day, two at most, I’d like to get your testimony as we drive, as well as make use of your familiarity with this area. I’ll probably also need to go over most of this in a more formal setting back in my camp so it can be officially recorded.”
The three glanced at Matt, who hesitated, shrugged, then nodded. They’d already sent people to Grimes and he’d treated them okay. “That’s fine with me,” Lucas said. “I welcome the chance to finally tell our side of the story.”
“I suppose Rick can take over on the radio for a day or two,” Chauncey said. He leaned down and rapped on his wooden prosthetic. “As long as I won’t have to do much walking.”
Attention settled on Deb, and she wilted slightly in fear. “I’d prefer to talk about the attack here, if you don’t mind. I don’t want to go anywhere.”
Grimes gave her a curious look. “I’ll make sure your situation is comfortable and provide for your needs while you’re assisting me. You’ll be treated well.”
Deb gave Matt a beseeching look. He stepped closer to the colonel, lowering his voice. “Ms. Rutledge has suffered some traumatic events recently. She was a blockhead prisoner.”
“Ah. I understand,” Grimes said. He genuinely seemed to: likely he’d heard more than his share of reports about the atrocities committed by the enemy. “Although I hope she knows there’s a world of difference between Gold Bloc soldiers and the servicemen and women of the United States Armed Forces.”
Matt agreed completely and was sure Deb would be safe if she went. Still, he hesitated to bring up that their recent encounters with the military had been less than favorable. “Maybe she can tell her story while we go see about the prisoners.”
“That’s fine.” Grimes turned to face him fully. “You’ll let us take them off your hands, won’t you?”
“As long as they receive justice for their crimes and are prevented from harming other innocents,” Matt agreed. Personally he was happy not to have to worry about them, especially if it meant not having to order the execution of those whose crimes demanded it. He’d been dreading that eventuality.
“You have my word on it.” Grimes politely offered an arm to Deb. “Please relate what happened to your patrol in as detailed and accurate a manner as possible, Ms. Rutledge. Your testimony, as well as that of those who confronted the accused in their camp, and Mayor Larson himself when he was shot, will be important in seeing they receive the proper punishment for their crimes.”
Deb was obviously reluctant to make physical contact with a stranger, considering she was skittish even around Trev, but she hesitantly took his arm as Matt led the way through town to where the prisoners were being held. Behind them the rest of the town’s delegation and the military convoy followed.
Aspen Hill waited with something between anticipation and dread for Grimes to come back with news, or at least send word through Lucas and Chauncey.
In spite of the ever-present threat of winter looming over them not much work was accomplished that day. Those who’d taken part in the morning attack were resting, especially those who’d been with Gutierrez watching the camp all night. There was also the sense of mourning for members of the patrol who’d died yesterday.
And, it had to be said, there was the tenseness of having four soldiers guarding the clinic in rotating shifts. They were there to keep watch on the prisoners who were too wounded to move, at least until a properly equipped medical vehicle could come pick them up. But although the soldiers were courteous when addressed and expressionless otherwise, Matt got the sense they were also there to keep any Aspen Hill citizens from getting ideas about exacting their own vengeance.
A reasonable precaution, if unnecessary.
Derek manning the radio reported that while Grimes and his staff weren’t relaying any news, the colonel was still having his people touch base with the town every few hours. Almost as if trying to make up for his previous blatant silence in the face of their pleas for help. A bit of news did trickle through, though, mostly from secondary sources.
The biggest news was that a serious upset was happening in Rogers’s camp. Apparently Grimes had been “displeased” with the conditions there and had called for resources to be relocated from another camp to aid in the immediate needs of the refugees until things could be sorted out. Matt wasn’t sure if that meant Rogers had been tossed out, hopefully with a swift kick to see him out the door, but it seemed like a good sign.