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friend.”
    “Isn’t he surrounded by mercenaries?”
    “So I’ve heard.”
    “But how—”
    “I’ll see you when I get back, Frank. Please stay safe.”
    “You too, Wayne.”
    Cassidy crawled back into the battered utility and started the engine. Then, with a wave, he swayed off down the road stretching north into the heart of Russian Amerika.

7
    57 miles south of Delta
    “ Majeur! We have sighting of Russian military.” Captain René Flérs exclaimed through the window of the command car, jerking Timothy Riordan out of a deep sleep.
    After waiting ten beats for his heart to slow, Riordan squinted his eyes and stared at his executive officer. “Are they actually attacking us, René?”
    “ Non! Perish the very thought. They know nothing of our presence.”
    “Then you should have carefully touched my shoulder and spoke in softer tones,” he said softly. Then he screamed, “I nearly crapped myself when you startled me! Ten days of busting ass on the road takes it out of a man!”
    “My apologies, Majeur Riordan,” Flérs said as he cringed. “I was merely attempting to notify you in the most expeditious manner at my command.”
    Riordan sat up and glanced around. “Don’t worry about it, this time. So what’s the situation?”
    “Corporal N’go and Private Kyle report they have made visual contact of a small group of Russian Army vehicles and soldiers. They are at the junction where the road turns north again.”
    “Small, how small?”
    “Two tanks, six armored personnel carriers and three trucks. No more than forty Russians.”
    “Good work, René!” Riordan jumped to his feet and adjusted his uniform. Squaring his beret he flashed René a quick smile.
    “We’re going to come out of this better than we are going in.”
    René smiled.

8
    58 miles south of Delta
    Jerry fought his mixed emotions. He was in a combat situation among people he didn’t know, and had no idea of their viewpoint on anything other than killing Russians.
    He felt an increasing attraction to Magda. Sure, he had always appreciated a good-looking woman and would vie with his buddies for their favors. Even the engagement to Andrea had been more lark than not and the sex had been awesome at first.
    Somehow this was different. But was that due to the fact that she knew more about the current situation than he did, and he needed to prove dominance or something? This sudden change in the situation didn’t give him pause but it certainly put a new twist on things.
    She was a very strong-willed person, physically brave, obviously intelligent, and would probably kill him if she thought it necessary.
    “This is the kind of girl my mother would like,” Jerry muttered, remembering how much his traditional mother had disliked Andrea.
    Ahead of him, Magda stopped and peered back over her shoulder. “Shut up,” she hissed. “This is Russian territory.”
    Jerry gave her a crisp salute and forgot Andrea. Watching Magda’s body move under the moosehide was much more interesting.
    All of his gear had been returned and he kept a weather eye on the compass embedded in the hilt of his survival knife. Even though she weaved around rock fields and brush too dense to penetrate, Magda maintained a bearing of NNW. Without the compass, Jerry knew he would have been lost within a half hour, even if he knew where he was going.
    Bodecia had been generous with her three-hour guess. The two dogs fanned out on either side of the trail, never barking nor chasing the small animals spooked by their proximity.
    They crossed a crude road indented with the passing of tracked vehicles. Tanks or armored personnel carriers, Jerry decided , or both . After moving out of sight of the road he reached out and touched her arm.
    She wheeled and the muzzle of her machine pistol pointed at his stomach. “What?”
    “Aim that somewhere else, if you don’t mind. I’m on your side, remember?”
    The muzzle dropped to her side. “Why did you stop me?”
    “How