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"Yes, sir," Valentine said.
She placed her palm over an area covering Western Kentucky, the southern arrow tip of Illinois, southeastern Missouri, and a corner of Tennessee.
"Whoever controls these waterways has the Ohio, the Tennessee, the Missouri, and most importantly, the Mississippi."
"I see, sir," Valentine said.
"It reminds me of something Shelby Foote said about Gettysburg," Lambert said. "Gettysburg was at a nexus of roads, so when the Army of Northern Virginia and the Army of the Potomac were chasing around up through Maryland and into Pennsylvania, Gettysburg turned into a place where both armies could concentrate quickly. He called it a spiderweb or something."
Valentine was a bit of a Civil War buff as well and vaguely remembered that quote, and nodded.
"Back in de Tocqueville's day, in the early days of rail, there was some contention over whether river or rail traffic would win out. Rail won, of course, but there's still a lot to be said for barges."
Valentine, who'd learned his service in the hard school of foot-soldiering with the Wolves, couldn't agree more. In his days with the Coastal Marines, while serving in the Kurian Order working his way into a slot in the Thunderbolt, had marveled at how easily tonnage could be moved by water.
"What Southern Command should do is put all its efforts into controlling the river between Arkansas and here," Lambert said.
"Against the River Patrol, sir?" Valentine asked.
"It would be a matter of choking off a few big bases of theirs. Vicksburg to the south, and the one on the Tennessee-Kentucky Border, and the Iowa fortress. We've got the Ohio choked off here. Now we've got the boats to contest the Ohio, and the mouth of the Tennessee. Maybe even all the way to the Mississippi."
"For now, sir," Valentine said. "They'll get sick of us at some point. I'm not sure I like our chances for holding them off without a lot more support from Southern Command. With Martinez in charge-"
Lambert held up her hand. "I envy you in a way, Valentine."
"Excuse me, sir?"
"Your career. It's dead, just not buried. Gives you a great deal of leeway. You're a free man. You can say what you like."
"Sorry, sir, if I've been too free with my opinions."
"Don't worry about it, Valentine. I'd rather have you letting off steam to me in here than in front of the men. I'm not in a position to stop you."
Like her uniform, Lambert rarely showed anything other than her usual efficient mind-set. Valentine wasn't sure how to handle a colonel suddenly turned prosaic. "Odd thing to say about someone in uniform, sir. You can order me to hopscotch to your door and back, bad leg and all."
"In return you can bleat, 'Up yours, L-a-a-a-mbert,' the way they used to in elementary school. Not a heck of a lot I can threaten you with in return, except maybe to kick you off base."
"With great freedom goes great responsibility. Or that's how it should work," Valentine said.
"Didn't some movie character say that?" Lambert asked.
"I think that might have been Spider-Man," Valentine said. "Frankly, sir, I'm not used to hearing you talk this way."
She nibbled at one of the asparagus spears, stood up and started to pace her office. "The Respite Point raid has me hoping again. Those boats might give us some real mobility. I'd like that freedom. I feel trapped in this headquarters, sometimes." She ran a finger across a heavy wooden mantel. "Even if it is a comfortable prison."
"You're the base commander, sir. The KZ types or people who aren't in the service might think you're the freest one here, since you're at the top of the rank table, but most know better. If I could give you one piece of advice-it's okay to dig your heels in when you're right and upchannel to HQ is wrong. You're here and they're not."
"Now you're being philosophical. That's a recipe for not getting anything done at all. Better go back out and get the music going."
"Yes, sir."
"Make sure not too much liquor is being smuggled into the party."
"Of course, sir."
He headed for the back entrance. The musicians were assembling on the back patio in the lights.
Valentine looked out into the darkened fields at the big tents in the athletic field, lit up like New Year's was celebrating Christmas's birthday. The barbecues glowed warm and the smells-Valentine's nose could smell food farther off than he could smell blood-were warm and inviting.
