Ashes - Alone In The Ashes Part 37

He shook those thoughts away and returned his attention to the window.

The sound of a trap springing shut slammed through the quiet air. The horrible howling of a man with a crushed leg ripped the afternoon.

Rani came off the bunk, grabbing her rifle, coming to Ben's side.

"G.o.dd.a.m.n, Jake!" a man yelled.

"Lookee there. A d.a.m.ned cabin built into that rise."

"They're here," Rani said.

"I believe that would be an accurate statement, dear," Ben replied.

Chapter 37.

"We're gonna blow you out of there, Raines!"

Jake's voice came through the timber. "This time, we got explosives." "But first you have to get close enough to use them," Ben said to Rani.

"You hear me, Raines?"

"Yeah, I heard you, fat-a.s.s," Ben shouted.

"Don't stand out there and brag about what you're going to do-do it!"

Jake flushed. He turned to his men and said, "Charge the f.u.c.kin' house. Stay in the timber; it leads all the way up there." He turned to Texas Red's men. "You boys lay down a covering fire.

Now go!"

Jake and Texas Red had indeed brought several cases of grenades with them. But grenades are useful only if one gets close enough to throw them.

And what none of the outlaws knew was that Ike had stashed several crates of deadly Claymore mines in the cave behind the cabin-and Ben had brought enough wire to battery-activate them from the house.

That smile was on Ben's lips once more as he sat behind the shuttered window, looking through a peephole, the detonator box in his hand. The shadowy figures of the outlaws flitted from tree to tree, approaching the cabin.

Ben pushed the switch activating the THIS SIDE TOWARD ENEMY mines. The TSTE warning had always amused Ben.

The Claymores were not amusing to the outlaws. Before the reverberating sounds of the explosions had died away, the mangled bodies of half a dozen outlaws lay on the ground. Ben hit the second switch, and Jake was almost out of personnel.

"Jake!" an outlaw slid to a stop in the snowy, muddy ground. "Them's Claymores. I remember them from "Nam. He's got 'em all over the d.a.m.n place. Think about this situation, Jake. We can't win. You know how Raines plans things out. The guy's like a screwin" computer or something. He don't miss nothing. You know?"

"Get to the point, Jimmy." But Jake knew what the point was. He'd already thought about it.

"We can't win, Jake. Look at that d.a.m.n place. No way we could burn them out, even if we could get close enough to do it. It's built into the hill. Raines has probably got food in there to last for months. The guys is afraid to go on, afraid to do nothing "cept go back exactly the way we come. Raines has them traps everywhere.

I-was Texas Red's insane yelling startled them all.

The outlaw jumped to his feet, a grenade in each hand. He had pulled the pins and was holding the spoons down. "Cowards!" Red screamed. "You're all cowards. Ever d.a.m.n one of you. "I'll take Raines out.

Me!

People will talk about me around campfires for centuries to come."

"Son of a b.i.t.c.h is crazy," one of Red's ownmen muttered.

"I heard that," a buddy said. "I'm gettin"

the h.e.l.l outta here. You comin'?"

"Right behind you, partner."

And two more were gone, slipping quietly away, unnoticed.

Texas Red charged the cabin, yelling and cursing as he ducked from tree to tree. He took his last step in this life and stepped into a bear trap, the jaws clamping shut, dropping him to the ground, his left leg crushed.

He fell hard, his hands under him, and for a moment was stunned. Then the pain hit him, the grenades forgotten. They were under his chest, the spoons gone.

"I hate your guts, Raines!" Texas Red squalled. "I hate you so bad I-was Two grenades exploded within a millisecond of each other, the blasts shredding the outlaw, flinging bits and pieces of him all around the timber. The blast tore his crushed leg free of the jaws, tearing it off at the knee. All that remained of Texas Red was part of a leg and one boot, still trapped in the jaws.

"Jesus Christ!" an outlaw said. "That's it for me, boys. I'm gonna go be a farmer or something."

Jake sat behind a thick tree and watched and listened to the men leave, running for their lives. After a time, he knew, without looking around him, he was alone.

Ben looked at what was left of Texas Red, and the remains of him, splattered all over the ground.

Parts of him hung from low branches. "That's two for Jordy," Ben called.

"That's what it's all about, ain't it, Raines?"

Jake called, still hidden behind the tree.

"All these men dead, just for one lousy punk-a.s.s kid. You're crazy, Raines. You know that?

Crazy!"

"Jordy was worth more than the whole bag of you filth," Ben called.

"You're probably right," Jake muttered, not loud enough for Ben to hear. He shouted, "Just you and me, now, Raines. How's it gonna be?"

"Call it," Ben said.

"I'll think about it some, Raines. You and the broad ain't going nowhere long as I'm out here."

Ben said nothing to that.

"You was a writer, wasn't you, Raines?"

Jake yelled.

"That's right."

"Yeah. I read some of them. You wrote pretty good adventure stuff. I used to be a school teacher. Did you know that?"'

"A school teacher?" Rani said to Ben.

"I didn't know that, Jake," Ben said, raising his voice. "What'd you teach?"

"I was a coach."

"That figures," Ben muttered. He didn't know whether to believe the outlaw or not. He decidedCampo was lying. "You're stalling, Campo!"

"Sure, I am, Raines," came the almost-cheerful reply. "h.e.l.l, n.o.body wants to die."

"But everybody wants to go to Heaven," Ben said with his grin still locked in place.

Jake laughed at that. "You believe in all that s.h.i.+t, Raines?"

"I believe in a higher power, yes." Ben looked up at the sky, checking the sun. It would be dark in about an hour. He wanted this over with before dark.

"I don't believe in G.o.d, Raines. Too many different versions of it around for me to accept.

Catholics believe one thing, Jews believe another. Islam, Hindu. h.e.l.l, even the Indians believed in a Higher Power. Too much dogma bouncing around for this ol" boy, Raines."

h.e.l.l, Ben thought. Maybe the guy had been a school teacher.

"So what do you believe in, Jake?" Ben reached for his Thompson.

"Myself, Raines. And maybe you," he added, almost reluctantly.

"Me?"

"Yeah. Maybe there is something to all those stories. I don't know. I do know this: You don't behave like a normal man. No normal man would even think of taking on a hundred and fifty men.

Much less winning."

"His speech has improved," Rani observed.

"Yes," Ben agreed. "So?" he called.

"You're not going to fight me fair, are you, Raines?"

"Not likely."

Jake once more laughed. "Yeah. I d.a.m.n sure believe that."

"Get on with it, Campo," Ben said, growing tired of the dialogue.

"OK," Jake said. "One more thing, Raines.

You believe G.o.ds are fair?"

"What do you mean, fair?"

"Well, not possessing dishonesty or injustice.

Behaving in a proper manner."

Ben's eyes grew cold. He knew then what Jake was going to do. And Jake-all three hundred pounds of him-was going to be in for a very ugly surprise.

"Not always, Jake."

"But you do, Raines. You do."

"I do what, Campo?"

"I read about you, Raines, when you was fronting the Tri-States. You're a man of honor, andorder, and discipline, right?"

"To a certain degree, Jake."

Jake laughed. "Yeah, you are, Ben. That's why I'm going to win this fight. I just figured it out, boy."

But Ben was one step ahead of the outlaw.

"You see, Raines." Jake stood up and stepped away from the protection of the tree. He unbuckled his web belt and let it fall to the ground. "I'm unarmed. And you won't shoot an unarmed man. Not Ben Raines. Ben Raines has too much macho pride in him to do that."

Jake stepped closer, into the very small clearing in front of the cabin.

Ben moved to the door and opened it, stepping out onto the small porch.

"Oh, you disappoint me, Ben," Jake said, his eyes on Ben's Thompson.

Ben laid the Thompson on the porch and stepped onto the ground.

Jake laughed. "I'm gonna tear your f.u.c.kin'

head off, Raines." He lifted his big fists.

"Just you and me, boy. A stand-up, duke-it-out, fistfight. Just you and me."

He moved closer to Ben. A hard glint of victory was s.h.i.+ning in his eyes. He spat on the muddy, snowy ground and shuffled his booted feet in some semblance of a prize fighter.

Ben lifted his fists and stepped closer.