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"Hank!" Valentine called.
"Captain!" Hank sobbed, sinking to his knees.
"Raintree," Valentine called over his shoulder to one of the medics. "Help me here. It's the boy."
Valentine went to his knees and hugged Hank. The boy was a sniveling mess.
"Sir, my folks are running. Decided to run and tell the others about y'all. I din't know about it. Mister M'Daw tried to stop him and Pa stuck him."
Good God. We're dead.
"Where's he gone?"
"They want to turn you in. Did I do right?"
Valentine couldn't tell a boy that turning in his parents was the right thing to do, no matter the circumstances. Even as his mind regained its equilibrium, he grew angry with himself for not just telling the Smalls the whole truth. They knew he was lying. They'd just misinterpreted his lies.
"If you thought it was right, it was right. This is important, Hank; do you know where they were headed?"
Hank rubbed his eyes and climbed a mound of concrete to get a better view. He held a reinforcing rod and pointed.
Please don't let it be the Kurian Tower , Valentine prayed.
"That building."
Valentine followed Hank's finger. He was pointing at Xray-Tango's headquarters.
"Raintree, get Hank and M'Daw to the first aid tent. Do what you can for both of them."
Valentine had learned to run and think in his years with the Wolves. He ran to his tent, grabbed his gunbelt, and stuck his fighting claws in the cargo pockets in his pants. He took up the flash-bangs and his bolo knife, putting the first in his pocket and the second on his belt. What else, what else? He grabbed a few pieces of wax-paper-wrapped gum from the little box of luxuries beside his bed.
As he pulled his tunic back on, Ahn-Kha, Post, Styachowski, Nail and assorted faces gathered outside his tent, all in various states of undress.
"What's going on, sir?" Post, a flare gun in his hand, asked as he emerged.
"We've set a new record for things going wrong in an operation. It's started to fail thirty-six hours before the jump-off hour. Our masquerade is over."
"Miracle it lasted as long as it did," Nail said.
"No miracle," Narcisse said, appearing from the darkness. "Magic of the right hand."
Valentine took the gun and a satchel of flares from Post. "We're going to start Boxcars in thirty minutes; you all are going to be occupied. First thing is to get everyone up and ready. Don't go yet. I've got to run down a renegade. I'm taking Ahn-Kha. If you see a red flare from Xray-Tango's headquarters, we're aborting; head west into the mountains and do your best. A green flare from the Kurian Tower means commence Boxcars. Just hit whatever you can as soon as you can. Nail, your team has farthest to go, get your team to Alpha and I'll catch up. I've got to go confuse the issue. Post, get the pikes and stabbing spears, and the spare guns; I hope we'll need them. Make sure Ahn-Kha's platoon gets to the ferry. Styachowski, set up operational HQ at Alpha. You're in charge. Remember, red, run; green, go."
"Make it a go, sir, I've been running for near a year now," Hanson said.
"You're the best hope of the Ozark Free Territory. Act like it." Valentine gave them all a salute. "Ahn-Kha, let's go. Good luck, everyone."
The Golden One slung Valentine's old PPD-Ahn-Kha had made a few hundred Mauser reloads for it by hand- and trotted into the darkness.
"By now Smalls has had time to tell his story," Valentine said as they ran together, Ahn-Kha moving at his Grog canter using both hands and feet. "Xray-Tango's been woken up. Will they come for me or call an alert?"
"They'll ask Smalls more questions."
"Hope I can get there before Xray-Tango makes any decisions."
Ahn-Kha slipped the red flare into the gun as they approached the old bank. "My David, let's just fire this. We can get away clean into the hills. Much better off than when we walked up to the Ruins. We'll still cause them trouble in the mountains."
"Old horse," Valentine said, sticking a piece of chewing gum in his mouth. "I want them mad as hornets. I want Solon so peeved that he won't rest until I'm hanging from a gallows. I don't want to just be a distraction; I want to be an obsession. Put a green flare in. I'll be out in a couple of minutes."
