The Rangers Are Coming (18 page)

              “Next year we are going to begin concentrating even more on martial arts training.  This is basic hand-to-hand fighting, but it’s nothing like you have ever seen before.  The human being is a lethal weapon simply by existing.”

              Arcadia rose to her feet.  “Gentlemen, we have just four years to go before the Revolution begins.  It is important that we let matters take their course as much as possible.  The support of the people is critical to our success, and we won’t have that until England starts to truly abuse the colonies.  As difficult as it will be, both in hardships, and loss of life, we cannot release the Rangers until after July 4, 1776.”

              After that, a lot is going to change.  I hope you caught the numbers that make up our Brigade.  We have successfully integrated the force.  Our blacks and Indians are treated no differently than anyone else.  We want the entire country to be like that.  We are already using our Indian soldiers to begin the process of successfully and peacefully integrating all the Native American population into our nation.  We have already done a tremendous amount of damage to the tribes who lived along the east coast.  We must not repeat that mistake as we move west.” 

              “In a year or so we will start breaking the Brigade into its special units.  One of those units will work its way west, north, and south.  We need active agents in Canada and especially Mexico.  They hate the Spanish, but we need some cohesion in the coup to throw them out and have the Mexican population want to join the United States.  The same is true for Central America all the way to the Isthmus of Panama.  We have some of our students learning Spanish and French.”

           
17

Fort Independence, Virginia

              Robby Pierce was in a reflective mood.  He closed his laptop and looked over at his roommate Willis Grant.

              “Willis, how long have we been here?”

              “Sometimes it seems like I’ve never lived anywhere else.”

              “Exactly,” said Robby.  “We came to Fort Independence in November of 1770, that was two years ago.  Does it seem like two years to you?”

              Willis put down the book he was reading and stared away for a moment, thinking about it.  “Come to think of it, I didn’t realize it had been that long.  We haven’t really been given much time to think about it.  It’s been a mad rush to finish the work every day”

              “Sure, we’ve been busy, but that’s not it.  The cadre of permanent party here has transformed us into something entirely different.  We aren’t the same people who came here.  We were just country boys who had no real idea of the world outside, I thought I was lucky to be able to read and write.  You were barely literate.  Now look at you, what book are you reading?

              “Robinson Crusoe” said Willis.

              “And what book before that?”

              “I don’t know, Paradise Lost, or one of the Shakespeare plays.”

“What’s the square root of 49?”

“It’s 7, are you giving me a quiz?

“Not at all,” said Robby, “but doesn’t it seem amazing to you that you can do these things.”

“I guess it does.  We sure do know more about just about everything, especially politics.  I was reading one of Thomas Jefferson’s papers the other day and he makes a powerful argument for why the colonies should band together and form a new country.  Before, I was just resentful of the British for the arrogant ways they treated us, now I know why they do what they do, and that it’s going to cost them everything they own in North America, the same is true for the French and the Spanish.”

“And yet, even though we’ve seen some amazing technology, they still haven’t shown us a single modern weapon.”

“Speak for yourself,” said Willis, “I think of myself as a weapon.  The advanced martial arts, Judo, Karate, and the rest of it, we’ve been taught this last year has made me feel like I could defeat any man, armed or not.”

“You are better at it than most,” said Robby, “Certainly better than me, but you still have never been able to take down the Black Ninja.”

“Nobody has,” that guy comes up with moves that are beyond belief.”

“But then he helps you up and shows you what he did.”

“That’s the way I get better.”

“You remember when we were tested and had to run a mile?  I was giving it everything I had to make it in less than 7 minutes.”

“Since you are smaller than me,” said Willis, you could always run faster.  What was your time on the ten mile run the other day?

“Just under 55 minutes.”

“See, I haven’t been able to break the 60 minute barrier.”

“And yet we both weigh a lot more than we did when we came here.”

“Well, what’s the point of all this,” asked Willis?

“We are better men, than we could ever have been in Concord,  It’s like Arcadia tells us, God has transformed our bodies, and our minds.  I trust and honor every person at the Fort.  My heart is filled with love for God, you, and all our comrades, and I believe our surrender to His will has made us what we are.”

“I would accept that as axiomatic truth.”

“See, two years ago you didn’t have a particle of an idea of what an axiom is.”

“All I know is that it’s going to take another four years to complete our training and turn us into the super army they say we’re going to be.  I can’t imagine what that’s going to mean, but I’ll say one thing.  Even though we have a wonderful life here, I would still like to go home for just a little while.”

“We both write all the time.  Your father says your training must be pretty good, because your letters are getting so much better and interesting.”

“I don’t like not being able to tell them what we’re really training for here.”

“None of us do, but all of us recognize the need for secrecy.  Also, we are making life a lot better for our families because of all the money we send home.”

“Amazing isn’t it, we just write a draft for our pay and send it home and our folks make the trip to Boston once a month to pick up the money in real silver.”

The conversation the men had that night seemed like someone was reading their mind the following morning, when the announcement came over the speaker that there would be a general assembly of the Brigade in the theatre after breakfast.  All the 3600 men and women crowded into the big assembly hall that was normally used for church every week.

General Washington walked out onto the stage, and the entire brigade immediately came to attention.  “At ease, men,” said Washington, “Please take your seats.”

“For almost all of you, you have been training here at Fort Independence for two years.  I want you to know that my staff and I are very proud of the progress you have made.  We have made scholars of you all.  You now have the equivalent of a college education.  This was necessary because of the rather advanced training that will commence at the beginning of next year.  At that time, we are going to break up the training platoons and start assigning you to the jobs you will have when the brigade takes the field  in about 42 months.  We will begin the year by supplying each of you with your personal weapons.  After you have become thoroughly proficient with these, we intend to begin training you with some of the more complicated equipment, such as the artillery pieces, and the big motorized vehicles locked up in storage for the past two years.  During the next year, many of you will be leaving Fort Independence for advanced field exercises and other missions we will explain when the time comes.  A few of you will also learn to fly the helicopters you already have seen.  There are a number of other specialized jobs we will assign, based on your skill levels in the training you have already had.”

“As of now you are already the best educated, most physically fit army in the world.  When we add the new equipment and skills, you will be invincible.”

Because of the many hours of hard work and dedication all of you have shown, we believe you deserve a break.  Beginning the first week in December and continuing through the New Year, all of you will be given a furlough, so that you can go home and see your families.”

There was a stunned silence in the hall for a few seconds and then a huge outburst of cheering and applause.  Washington let the men enjoy the moment and then held up his hands again for attention.

“I don’t need to tell you our mission to remove all European powers from North America remains the greatest secret in history.  You have all established cover stories concealing your activities over the past two years.  Make sure you stick to them and don’t take the chance of exposing your families to danger by telling them information that could be used by the enemy.

For the men whose homes are nearby, we will provide horses for you to use to get home.  For the men who have come from long distances, such as Massachusetts and other New England colonies, we will use our Chinooks to transport you to central locations from which you can make it home.  These flights will all be at night and use the whisper mode of the choppers to avoid attention.  We will have men on the ground at these locations to insure you get in and out unnoticed.”

“I’m afraid you will have to wear civilian clothes.  Our uniforms are unusual and the British have been growing more and more suspicious of anyone who seems out of place.  We will provide you with suitable clothing to match the kind of dress you came to us in.  Happily this clothing has been made specially and you will be far more comfortable than in the heavy, clothing you wore before.”

“You must avoid any confrontations with British soldiers.  Only if you or a comrade is in danger of being captured or killed, may you use lethal force, and it must be covered up completely.”

“We’ll provide you all with an extra two month’s pay for your furlough.  I’m sure you’ll find many reasons to spend it on your families for Christmas.”

“You are all to report back here, ready for hard work, on January 3
^rd
.  This furlough will likely be the last time off you will have until after our mission has been accomplished.  I don’t recommend that any of you take a wife or a husband during the holidays.”

“We still have three weeks before your furloughs begin.  We’ll spend that time with some new education and a great deal of personal combat, so don’t start letting up until you actually leave the Fort.  We are giving you this advance notice so you can write your families to expect you.”

“That’s all men, I believe you have loafed around long enough for one day.  A whistle blew and the Brigade snapped to attention.  “Dismissed,” said Washington.

After the men left the auditorium, Robby and Willis found Charlie Arthur walking slowly along with his head down.  “Hey Charlie, aren’t you excited about our furlough,” asked Robby.

“Not much.  You see, I’m an orphan, I don’t have a family to go home too, and the friends I had are not the most reputable people in Boston.”

“Guess we’re going to have to adopt you,” said Willis.  “You can come home with us and we’ll be your family."

“Really!” said Charlie, “That would be wonderful.  Thank you so much.”

“It’s the least we can do for a fellow Ranger,” said Robby.

                                   
18

Concord, Massachusetts

The Chinook was jammed full.  It let down in the same little meadow that the men had left two years before.  Robby, Willis and Charlie, jumped off the rear ramp of the hovering Chinook and so did everyone else.  The helicopter was gone in the wink of an eye.  It didn’t make enough noise to wake anyone up in the middle of the night.

Robby hitched up his pants and tucked in his shirt.  He couldn’t believe he used to wear such clothing.  At least he was wearing his boots.  It was very cold.  After all, this was winter in New England.  All three buttoned up their heavy coats and wrapped the scarfs around their necks.  They wore warm cotton head covers that could be covered with the hood of the coats, and they wore insulated gloves with chemical heat liners sewn into fabric.  They all had shoulder bags that were filled with spare clothing and personal items.  All the men had been permitted to wear their long knives and each had a canister of mace.  Willis had snuck in his garrote.

They made their way through the short forest and out to the frozen road that would take them to Concord.  “It’s about 20 miles,” said Robby.  “If we walk and jog, we can be home before sundown tonight.”

They walked briskly and jogged some and were making good time as the sun came up.  It was still cold, but the sun was warm on their faces.  As they walked along in high spirits, a couple of horsemen came into view ahead.  As they grew closer, Robby could see they were British soldiers by their red coats.  “I wonder what those soldiers are doing out here so early,” said Robby.

“Can’t be anything but trouble,” said Willis.

The horsemen grew closer and Robby thought they were going to just keep going when one of them pulled his horse to a stop and said, “What are you men doing out so early in the morning.”

“We had business in Boston and left early so we could be home before tonight,” said Robby.

“And what business was that,” snarled one of the British soldiers.  “Sneaking around for some secret meeting?”