Antagonist - Childe Cycle 11 (14 page)

"Where
are
the
enemy?"
Bleys
asked.

"My
sergeant
is
out
scouting
right
now,"
the
lieutenant
said.

"Have
you
taken
many
casualties?"
Toni
asked.

"Yes,"
the
officer
said,
his
face
tightening
and
turning
a
little
pale. There
was
a
sort
of
longing
in
his
eyes
as
he
looked
at
Bleys,
as
if
he were
wishing
that
the
uncomfortable
questions
were
coming
from
a superior
officer
rather
than
a
female
civilian.
"They
took
out
the lead
armored
car
with
some
sort
of
rocket,
and
another
one
took
off the
back
half
of
the
other
troop
carrier.
Sergeant
Lemoyne
got
out of
it,
along
with
about
a
dozen
men,
a
couple
of
them
wounded. One
of
your
staff
people
got
out,
too,
but
I'm
afraid
he
ran
right
into the
sights
of
the
cone
rifles." "Oh,
no
...,"
Toni
said
softly.

"What
do
you
suggest
we
do?"
Bleys
felt
he
had
to
ask,
despite being
unsure
of
how
much
he
could
trust
this
young
officer's
judgment.

"Your
party
will
get
inside
the
armored
car
immediately,"
the lieutenant
said.
"We
can
get
some,
possibly
all,
of
the
wounded
in with
you.
We'll
have
to
take
a
chance
and
send
the
car
off
in
whatever
direction
seems
to
be
safest
in
light
of
my
sergeant's
report."

"And
the
rest
of
you?"
Toni
asked.

"That
will
depend
on
the
situation."
The
lieutenant
was
evading her
question,
Bleys
thought.
His
estimate
of
the
young
man
began to
rise
a
little.

"Meaning
you
intend
to
leave
some
of
your
force—including yourself,
I
suspect—behind,"
Toni
said
flatly.

"They
may
be
needed
to
provide
cover,"
the
lieutenant
said. "And
the
car
would
have
to
be
slowed
to
a
walking
pace
if
it
tried
to stay
with
us.
Speed
is
your
best
defense,
I
think."

"He's
right,
Toni,"
Dahno
said.
She
looked
dissatisfied,
but
had no
response.

"Sergeant
Lemoyne
is
coming
back,
sir,"
a
soldier
yelled
down from
above
the
gulley.

"In
any
case,
let's
get
you
up
to
the
car,"
the
officer
said.
As
they scrambled
out
of
the
hatch
he
directed
a
couple
of
his
men
to
help them
climb
the
gulley
side,
using
a
narrow,
less
steep,
connecting ravine.

Their
escort,
making
use
of
power
pistols
to
blast
a
series
of
shallow
steps
in
the
steeper
parts
of
the
slanting
walls,
soon
had
them
up on
the
rolling
grassy
surface
from
which
they
had
fallen.
As
Bleys, the
last
one
up,
came
over
the
edge,
he
could
see
the
smoldering wrecks
of
the
two
ruined
vehicles,
as
well
as
several
sprawled
bodies.
He
also
saw
the
lieutenant
return
a
salute
from
his
sergeant,
who turned
away
and
began
organizing
the
nearby
soldiers.

"If
you
would
all
get
in
the
armored
car,
please?"
the
lieutenant said.

"What
did
your
scouts
find?"
Bleys
asked,
ignoring
the
order
for the
moment
while
waving
Toni
and
Dahno
forward.

"The
enemy
seem
to
be
in
force
back
the
way
we
came,"
the
officer
replied.
"And
we
expect
they'll
be
looking
for
us
to
continue on
the
shortest
line
toward
protection—the
way
we
were
going,
I mean."

"That's
to
be
expected,"
Bleys
nodded.

"Yes,
sir,"
the
lieutenant
said.
"So
I'm
sending
the
armored
car on
a
perpendicular
axis
to
the
right
of
our
line
of
travel.
That
will take
you
over
the
rise
there—please
don't
look
in
that
direction."

"You
think
someone
might
be
watching
us?"
Bleys
said.

"Frankly,
I
don't,"
the
officer
said.
"But
I'd
rather
not
take chances."

Bleys
nodded,
impressed.

"Please
continue,"
he
said.

"This
area
was
fought
over
last
year,"
the
lieutenant
said.
"That was
before
I
was
activated,
but
the
sergeant
went
through
this
area during
that
campaign,
and
he
believes
there
were
some
light
fortifications
in
that
direction.
There
might
be
a
chance
of
finding
some landlines
we
can
tap
into
and
call
for
help;
and
if
nothing
else,
it might
give
us
a
place
where
those
of
us
on
foot
can
be
under
cover while
the
car
moves
on
to
send
back
help."

"All
right,
Lieutenant,"
Bleys
said.
"Tell
us
what
you
want
us to
do."

"Get
into
the
car,
please,"
the
officer
said.

"Are
you
coming
with
us?"
Bleys
said.
He
was
pretty
sure
he knew
the
answer
by
now.

"No,"
the
young
man
said.
"I'll
stay
with
my
men."

"Aren't
you
afraid
someone
might
say
you
should
have
stayed with
the
people
you
were
assigned
to
protect?"
Bleys
was
now
genuinely
curious,
intrigued
by
the
unexpected
maturity
he
was
seeing in
this
very
young
officer.

"No,"
the
man
said
now.
He
looked
at
Bleys
more
closely.
"I
don't think
you're
asking
that
to
try
to
get
me
to
go
with
you,
are
you?"
he said.

"No,"
Bleys
said,
"I'm
not."

The
young
man
nodded,
seeming
satisfied.

"We're
leaving
the
car
in
the
hands
of
its
normal
crew,"
he
said. "The
rest
of
us
are
going
to
fan
out
in
a
double
arc
to
provide
cover when
the
car
takes
off.
I'll
take
charge
on
one
side
of
the
arc, Sergeant
Lemoyne
the
other."

"I'll
leave
you
to
your
work,
then,
Lieutenant,"
Bleys
said.
He nodded,
and
turned
to
climb
into
the
armored
car.
In
the
doorway he
paused,
looking
back
at
the
young
officer,
who
was
already
moving
away.