Free Anarchy in the Ashes by William W. Johnstone Page B

road and walked back to where Lieutenant Macklin was sitting in a Jeep alone.
    â€œI say something to offend you?” he asked her.
    â€œNo, sir. Not at all.”
    â€œYou maybe don’t like my deodorant?”
    She laughed. “No, sir. It’s nothing like that. Believe me.”
    Ben didn’t believe her. He felt she was holding something back, but he decided not to push. “Finally decide I could take care of myself, eh, Mary?”
    â€œSomething like that, sir.” You’d better be able to take care of yourself, General, she thought. Because when you and Gale stop spatting and hissing at each other like a cat and dog, things are sure going to pop.
    And Mary really wasn’t all that certain how she felt about that.
    Ben nodded, not believing a word he had heard. “All right, Mary. Right now, I want you to take a team over to Westminster College. Check it out for survivors. Shouldn’t take you more than a couple of hours. We’ll wait for you here.”
    She nodded and pulled around the convoy, stopping twice to pick up people. With four in the Jeep, she headed out.
    Ben ordered his people to dismount and take a rest.
    â€œI’m surprised you would delegate that much authority to a woman, General Raines,” the voice came from behind Ben.
    â€œMs. Roth,” Ben said, turning around. “I really don’t – ”
    He cut off his sentence at the sight of her. He could hardly recognize her. She had done something to her hair, cut it maybe – something was very different. Maybe she had simply combed it, Ben thought. But he decided he’d best keep that a thought and not put it into words. For safety’s sake. His own. She wore jeans that fitted her trim figure snugly, and what looked to be a boy’s Western shirt. However, Gale would never be confused for any boy. Ben stared. She was somewhere in between pretty and beautiful.
    â€œA speechless gentile.” She tossed his words back to him with a smile. “My goodness, I believe I’ve found a first.”
    Ben ignored that. “Where’s the kid?”
    â€œWith the new people from the college. One of the young women had just lost her baby – a couple of weeks ago. She asked if she could take care of the baby. I told her that was fine with me. Baby’s probably better off with her, anyway.”
    â€œWhy would you think that?” Ben looked into her eyes. She really had beautiful eyes.
    She returned his open stare. “You really ask a lot of questions, you know that, General?”
    â€œPerhaps. Why would ... what is the child’s name, anyway?”
    â€œI haven’t the vaguest idea. I found him in Flat River when I was traveling south. Believe me, I don’t know from nothing about babies. Well, not all that much, anyway.”
    Ben sensed she was putting up a brave front, but had decided the child would be better off with someone else. “The mother who lost her baby – she still in the nursing stage?”
    â€œThat’s right.”
    â€œAnd fresh milk is hard to come by these days.”
    â€œRight.”
    â€œI see.”
    â€œI doubt it. What do you know about nursing babies? Nothing,” she answered her own question.
    He stepped closer. She stood her ground. Out came the chin.
    â€œMs. Roth, would you do me the honor of riding with me in this parade?”
    She seemed taken aback. For a very brief moment. “Why in the world would I want to ride with you?”
    â€œTo harass me, to annoy me, and to be a constant source of irritation to me.”
    â€œYou talked me into it.”

FIVE
    Westminster College was deserted except for one senile old man and several young ministers and their families who had elected to stay behind and care for the elderly man.
    Some young people had been through, Mary was told, but they had not stayed long. Seemed like nice young people, but rather distant, one young minister said. He