Eric Flint - Time spike

Leave aside everything else. That wonderful young man has kept me from having nightmares for the rest of my life." Her eyes gleamed wetly in the firelight, and her next words came in a whisper. "I thought I'd never be able to forgive myself. For the way we left her behind." That caused a moment's silence. "Me neither," said Casey quietly. "Or me," added Barbara Ray. "Yeah, I agree," said Frank. "It's a moot point.

Period. It just is." He looked over at the couple under the blanket, then looked away when he saw the blanket was moving in… interesting ways. The funny thing was, he was pretty sure that if anyone under there was putting up any resistance, it was Cook and not Brown. He'd been her guardian for so long he was probably struggling to let go of it-and she was gleeful that she was finally free of her wraps. Edwards wasn't going to give up that easily.

"Fine," he said, almost snarling the word. "What do we do about the rest of the cons? Dammit, those men aredangerous. Kidd's an out-and-out cold-blooded killer." "Kidd…" said Lylah, as if she were musing over a strange word. "Isn't he the one with the three kids wrapped around his neck?" Edwards glared at her. One of the other guards spoke up. That was Renfrew Smith, who'd been working at the prison longer than any of them. He was related to Frank, although the relationship was distant. Some sort of second cousin. Maybe even third cousin. Frank never had been able to figure out the difference. "Just let it go, Edwards. They're not threatening anybody. And I never had any trouble with Boomer's people anyway." Renfrew gave the other guard a sharp glance. "Neither did you, for that matter." "Frankly," said Casey, "I'm a little relieved to have them here. Between Kidd's gun and those matchlocks they've got, I figure we don't have to worry as much about predators." Edwards looked mulish. Frank was coming to the conclusion he didn't much like the man. And he was remembering something Captain Blacklock had said to him, shortly after he was hired. Frank, we are guards. Our job is to protect society from these men, and protect them from each other. We are not juries. We are not judges. Just prison guards. And, believe me, that's a hard enough job as it is, without trying to play God in the bargain. He'd thought it was good advice at the time. Now, he was sure of it. "Drop it, Edwards," he commanded. "When Captain Blacklock gets back-or if Joe Schuler's in good enough shape-they can make any final decisions. For now, we're just going to accept the situation as it stands. They're here, and at least for the moment we're on the same side." *** A little later that evening, Frank decided he'd better follow his own instructions. He went over to Kidd and squatted next to him. "I'm only asking because I need to know what we've got in case predators come around. What I mean is-" "Two rounds," said Kidd. He put an arm around one of the Indian girls, who was cuddled against his chest and half-asleep. "I had to use the rest to take care of the Spaniards who had 'em." The fact that the news Kidd only had two rounds left worried Frank instead of relieving him was as good a sign as any that the world had definitely changed. Again. He eased himself out of the squat into a comfortable sitting position. "Tell me what happened. It sounds like one hell of story." Sure enough, it was.

Frank got the whole story, too, starting from the prison rebellion where Boomer got killed. Finding Elaine in the basement, the confrontation with Bostic, the escape, the whole works. After Kidd finished, they didn't talk for a while. Then Frank asked, "What are you going to do with the kids?" "Adopt 'em, I guess. Don't think I got much choice. It's either that or shoot 'em-and, like I said, I only got two rounds left. Count 'em. Three kids. I might have the heart to shoot all of them, but I couldn't possibly pick which ones." After another silent moment, he added, "That was a joke, Nickerson." Frank nodded sagely. He'd been pretty sure it was a joke. Kidd's scary grin flashed in the campfire light. "And I'd have to pick two to keep alive, anyway. Seeing as how I always double-tap my targets." There was another silent moment. "That was a joke, Nickerson." "I knew that."

Chapter 45 The first person Marie saw when she came upon the Cherokee village was the prison's newest nurse, Jenny Radford. Marie caught her breath at the familiar sight of the woman. Jenny was sitting outside a big, very long log cabin checking a dressing wrapped around an old man's forearm. Marie Keehn looked around for the others, for Rod Hulbert and Andy Blacklock. They were the ones she needed to talk to. But after a moment, she realized the village seemed half-deserted. All she could see were women, children and old men.

There being nothing else to do, she start trudging toward Jenny. The nurse saw her coming and her jaw dropped, then, hastily finishing with the old man's dressing, she rose and hurried to meet Marie. "Dear God, Marie, you look awful. What happened?" "Long story. Where's Rod?

Where's Andy?" "They left two days ago. With Chief Watkins and his men. They went to find the Spaniards and… Well. Deal with them."

"Oh… hell." Marie felt suddenly dizzy. Only a quick grasp by Jenny kept her from falling down. "You need to get some rest, girl.

Right now." "No." Marie tried to push her away, but she felt as weak as kitten. "Got to tell somebody…" That was as far as she got.

The dizziness just seemed to suck her down. Rod Hulbert woke her up the next morning. Once she realized who was hugging her tightly, she hugged back. Some small part of her brain, gauging the light coming in through the open door of a log cabin, realized that it must be close to noon. She'd slept almost around the clock. "Lemme up, Rod," she mumbled. "Need some water." "What are youdoing here?" he asked, getting up and moving toward a table in the corner. There was some kind of tall, narrow basket there. Cherokee-made, she assumed. But when Rod picked it up and brought it back, she realized it was a water container. She was too thirsty at the moment to try to figure out how somebody could make what looked like a reed basket waterproof. But that same small part of her brain made a note to find out. However it was done, it'd be a handy thing to know. After she got her fill and handed back the water pitcher, she wiped her mouth. "Get Andy. I need to talk to both of you." "I'm here," came Andy's voice. Marie turned her head and saw the captain standing in the doorway. Where Rod's expression was a mix of happiness to see her and confusion, Blacklock's face was simply tight with concern. "There's all hell to pay, guys." She glanced at Rod. "You were right, thinking that Terry Collins was up to no good. But it was way worse than anyone could have imagined. He cut some kind of deal with Adrian Luff. Between the two of them, they engineered a mass breakout of the cells." "Oh, shit, " snarled Hulbert. Blacklock, as usual, kept his self-control. From the expression on his face, you might think he was just considering a serious problem with his car engine. "How bad?" he asked. "As bad as it gets. A complete takeover of the prison." "Complete?" She nodded.

"Fuck!" Rod rose and started pacing, his face bright red. "Fuck!" He ran his left hand through his hair; his right hand was balled into a fist. "How many are dead?" Andy asked, his tone still level and even.

"Well, that's the good news. Nobody got killed that I know of-except Collins. I blew that shithead's brains out myself. I caught him trying to rape Casey Fisher in the infirmary. Then I was able to get his keys and let the rest of the guards out of C-block, where Luff was holding them." Rod stopped pacing. "You did? That's my girl!" His momentary glee almost made Marie laugh. But she didn't, because she had to pass on the next bit of news. "That Iknow of, guys." She took a deep breath. "Elaine Brown's probably dead. We had to leave her behind when the rest of us got out. Her injury was too bad for her to move. She was going to try to find a hiding place somewhere in the prison." "A hiding place. With over two thousand convicts running loose."