Read Ambush in the Ashes for Free Online

stood up. “To hell with it! We’ll do the best we can. No one can logically expect us to do more.”
     
    38
     
    “I’ve wished the few doctors in the city good luck and left them medicines and vaccines,” Lamar said to Ben. “I closed the last aid station yesterday afternoon. We’re ready when you are, Ben.”
    “We’ll be pulling out in one hour. Ben smiled. “But you knew that already. You just wanted an excuse to come up to the front of the column hoping I’d invite you to join the spearheaders, right?”
    “Screw you, Raines!” Then the doctor laughed. “Only half true. I did want to come up for a moment, but I have absolutely no desire to ride up here and invite somebody to put a bullet up my butt.”
    “That would take a hell of a marksman considering the size of your skinny old ass, Lamar.”
    “That’s it, Raines!” Chase said in mock affront. “I refuse to stand here and be insulted by die likes of you. Good-bye!” Lamar turned away, then paused and looked. “Take it easy up here, Ben.”
    Ben smiled at Lamar and the doctor returned to his HumVee and was gone.
    Ben walked to the big nine-passenger wagon that had been shipped over and got in just as the lead tanks were pulled out. He smiled at his team and winked at his adopted daughter, Anna. He looked at Cooper. “Okay, Coop. Let’s head soudi.”

39 Five
    “What’s going to happen to those residents back there?” Jersey asked, as Cooper pulled into place in the column.
    “I don’t know, Jersey. The land around the city isn’t worth a damn for farming. But the country did have a hell of a fishing industry before the Great War. You saw the fishing fleet, rusting and rotting dockside. They’re either going to have to cope, adapt, or move.”
    “Or starve,” Cooper added.
    “That is certainly an option for those who decide to stay,” Ben agreed.
    “Not much demand for exotic carpets in the world right now,” Beth said.
    “We didn’t get to do much sightseeing,” Cooper said.
    “Personally, I didn’t want to,” Anna spoke up. “And neidier did very many of the troops I spoke widi.”
    “You didn’t do much wandering around either, boss,” Jersey stated.
    “No, I didn’t,” Ben admitted. “I guess I didn’t care to view what I consider to be a hopeless situation. Not any more than I had to, that is.”
    “What’s the next major city?” Cooper asked, turning his head and directing the question at Beth.
    “Rabat. Ribat al-Fath, originally. It used to be some
     
    40
     
    sort of religious retreat, according to this visitor’s guide.”
    “Big city?” Corrie asked.
    “Over half a million before the Great War.”
    “Wonder how many now?” Anna asked.
    “Maybe a hundred thousand,” Ben answered her. “And flyovers report the population is in bad shape. Then it’s Casablanca.”
    “I saw that movie one time back at Base Camp One,” Anna said. “I enjoyed it.”
    “I think everybody loves that movie, Anna,” Ben told her.
    Beth opened a map. “Then we go to Safi and then cut across to Marrakech. Right, boss?”
    “That’s the way I’ve got it figured, Beth. Then we’ll backtrack and see what’s happening in Essaouira and then down to Agadir. We’ll follow the coastline highway all the way down to Laayoune and then cut across the Western Sahara to Bir Meghrein, in Mauritania.”
    “Faraway places with strange-sounding names,” Jersey said in a quiet voice.
    “That’s a line from an old song, Jersey,” Ben smiled the reply. “Hadn’t thought of it in years. But you’re right.”
    “They’re not going to make it, are they, boss?” Corrie asked. “The people, I mean.”
    “The strong will. The weak will die. If they’re left alone, and they probably will be, the strong will soon revert back to many of the old ways. They lived for hundreds of years in that fashion. The younger, smarter ones will leave, go to Europe or America.” Ben waved a hand. “But hell, I could be way off base in my