Free Counterattack by Sigmund Brouwer

when you’ll be back. And you offer me triple what I would expect for a couple days’ use of an airplane. That makes me worried.”
    â€œSo worried that you won’t trust a man who spent seven years with you in the same platoon?” Nate asked quietly.
    â€œI owe you my life,” Red said. “I haven’t forgotten that. Which is why I’m not going to make a call to the Combat Force goons who stopped by here yesterday asking about you.”
    â€œWhat!”
    â€œI don’t believe what they’re saying about you. And I don’t want to know the details either. But that’s the other reason I’m worried. You’re on the run. My guess is that the Combat Force is checking all your old friends, because we’re the ones you would turn to. And if you’re on the run, I can’t rent you one of the airport’s planes. Even for more than $50,000.”
    â€œYou know I can fly anything,” Nate argued, “and you’ll get the airplane back. If anything happens to it, I’ll cover the cost of the damage. You have my word on it.”
    â€œYour word is as good as gold,” Red agreed. “Everyone in the platoon knew that. But I still can’t rent you an airplane. If the Combat Force comes back and checks my records, they’ll know two things. That I didn’t call back when you showed up. And that I helped you escape. After the way they threatened me yesterday … I mean, with my husband dead, I can’t do much for my kids if I spend time in jail.”
    â€œYeah.” Nate sighed. “I heard about your husband and the car accident. I was real sorry for you. I understand. I can’t put you in that kind of position. I appreciate you sticking your neck out to tell me they’re on the lookout for us.”
    Red shrugged. “Not a big deal. You remember Skids? The skinny guy in the platoon who was lousy with directions?”
    â€œYeah.”
    â€œHe runs a car dealership on the other side of the state. Who would have guessed, huh? Makes millions, and I remember he needed help tying his laces.”
    Nate laughed. “Who would have guessed?”
    â€œAnyway,” Red continued, “he called me yesterday. Said the Combat Force had dropped in on him, too.”
    â€œNot good.”
    â€œHere’s what’s really strange,” Red added. “Remember Cannon?”
    â€œNo one forgets a platoon commander, Red. He’s a general now. One of the highest-ranking generals in the Combat Force.”
    â€œYeah,” Red returned. “Get this. Cannon showed up after the other Combat Force soldiers came around with questions. Alone. It was like he wasn’t working with his own people. Skids told me the same thing, that Cannon showed up after the others. Now does that make sense to you?”
    â€œNot much makes sense to me anymore,” Nate answered.
    â€œTell you what,” Red continued. “I’m going to give Skids a call. He owes you a favor too. I’ll ask him to tell the Combat Force you stopped by there trying to buy a car from him cheap. They’ll swarm that side of the state looking for you. You’ll have a lot easier time escaping in the other direction. It’s the least we can do for you.”
    How much good will that really do us to escape the Combat Force but still be in the van? I wondered. As Nate had told us earlier, the only chance of getting to Arizona on time was by airplane. But this was the only place Nate had a chance of getting one. And now it looked like that chance was cut off. We needed the airplane or else …
    I thought of Dad waiting in the prison cell. I thought of the countdown of passing days. I felt a sharp pain in my palms and saw that I was clenching my fists so hard in frustration that my nails cut into my skin.
    â€œSee ya, Red,” Nate said.
    â€œSee ya, Nate.”
    Nate began to open the driver’s-side door of the van, but