Free Savages by James Cook

permutations.
    The golf cart stopped in front of headquarters and we all got out. Wally went ahead of us and unlocked the security door. When we were all in, he closed it, barred it, locked it, and informed the sentry to allow no one but General Jacobs and his entourage inside for the remainder of his watch. The sentry said, “Yes, Sergeant. No one but General Jacobs and the people he authorizes, Sergeant.” Wally nodded and said, “Good.” I was surprised he did not pat the kid on the head.
    We tromped up the stairs to Harlow’s office. Wally stayed outside to make sure we were not disturbed. I doubted anything short of a Tyrannosaurus with a machine gun would be capable of getting past him.
    “I hate to keep everyone waiting,” Harlow said, “But General Jacobs is on his way in. He has something very important to discuss.”
    “And what would that be?” Gabe asked. He had been around the block. Marines, CIA, the works. He did not like to be kept waiting by mid-level officers.
    “The General wants to give the briefing personally.”
    Gabe frowned, but did not push.
    A few minutes later I heard footsteps in the hall. Four sets of them. Words were exchanged between Wally and someone whose voice I did not recognize. Then the door opened and General Phillip Jacobs walked in.
    He was a tall man, very lean, standing about six-foot-four. His silver hair was cut short and he was clean-shaven. He wore fatigues and boots polished to a high sheen. There was a scar over his right eye from a piece of shrapnel that had hit him during the early days of the Outbreak. There had been a bandage over the scar the first time I had seen him, which had been on CNN, viewed from my home in Charlotte, North Carolina. He had been a colonel then, and was leading a column of National Guard troops toward Atlanta. And here I was, three years later, about to be briefed by him on a secret military assassination mission to prevent another civil war. Strange are the paths life takes us.
    “Gabriel. Eric,” he said and shook our hands in turn. “Good to see you again. I wish it were under better circumstances.”
    Gabe and I offered greetings and agreed the circumstances were less than desirable. The General acknowledged Captain Harlow, who behaved with more obeisance than I had ever seen him display. To me, the general was just a man. A powerful man, granted, but still just a man. I considered him a friend. Gabe was more reserved in his opinion, and had good reason to be. Captain Harlow, however, was looking at someone who could make or break his career with the stroke of a pen. He was being appropriately careful.
    Jacobs sat down in a chair that had been wheeled in for the purpose and looked around the room. “You’re probably wondering what all this is about,” he said. “I won’t keep you in suspense. First of all, the expedition to Kentucky was a bluff.  Our analysts at Central have long suspected that the Alliance has been staging assets well inside Union territory. Their suspicion, which I share, is that the Alliance and the ROC are planning a series of coordinated attacks at a date as yet unknown with the intention of crippling the Union’s ability to prosecute a war. I also share the suspicion that they intend to inflict massive damage to as many secure Union communities as possible. Create chaos. Much like they’ve done here at Hollow Rock.”
    “So the expedition was just a ruse to draw them out?” Gabe said. “Confirm your suspicions? Give you a little actionable data to please the suits in the Springs?”
    “Yes. I sense you disapprove.”
    “Forty-eight people are dead, General. Including three soldiers, one of them a friend of mine.”
    The general’s hard gaze softened. When he spoke, he was either genuinely regretful, or the best actor I had ever seen. “I’m sorry, Mr. Garrett. I never intended for that to happen. I knew I was taking a risk-”
    “A risk with other people’s lives,” Gabe growled.
    “Yes. And