The General's President (1988) by John Dalmas

Author:John Dalmas [Dalmas, John]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Science Fiction, General, Fiction
ISBN: 9780671653842
Google: KnDLAAAACAAJ
Publisher: Baen Books
Published: 1988-02-14T05:00:00+00:00

TWENTY-SEVEN

Mark heard a car and hurried to the living room window to look out into the frosty dusk. Rafe's. He drove up faster than usual, hit brakes and light switch, and skidded to a stop. The door popped open, Rafe jumped out, it slammed, and he started for the house at a trot.

"Is it Rafe, Mark?" Tris called from the kitchen.

Shit man! Mark felt a thrill run through him. Rafe's contact must have the stuff!

Rafe took the porch steps at a bound and burst in, grinning hugely. "He's got it!" he shouted. "He called me and he's got it! The suitcase from Allah! We can pick it up tomorrow, or tonight if we want!"

He closed the door behind him then. Phil and Tris came in from the kitchen, Mary a step behind, all talking excitedly. "The suitcase from Allah!" said Tris, and turned to her husband. "See! I said it was an Arab."

"That's a figure of speech," Mark said. "I'll bet it's not an Arab. The Arabs like revenge too much not to carry it out themselves. It's probably KGB."

Raphael Dietrich laughed. "I'll never tell." He sobered then, just a little. "We've got to decide some things now. You want to eat first or what?"

"Talk, Rafe," Mary said. "I'm too excited to eat."

"Yeah!" Phil and Tris said the word together.

An unexpected chill ran through Mark: this was it. Tomorrow—the day after at the latest—they'd be dropping the world's third atom bomb. "I'll go with that," he said. "Talk first, eat later."

They took seats, Tris and Phil leaning forward on the old sofa, Mary and Mark in overstuffeds, Rafe sitting backward on a wooden chair. "Okay," Rafe said. "It's a long drive. If you want to drop it tomorrow, we need to go get it tonight. I know where the place is, so Mark and I can go together in the pickup and trade driving. The two of us will load the thing. If we leave right after supper, we can be back by one or two in the morning.

"Or we can drive there tomorrow; whichever you want. You're the ones been so anxious."

He looked at Mark. Mark felt like he had to take a crap. "Let's do it tonight," Mark said. And get it over with. They turned to Phil and Tris. Phil's face was suddenly very sober; Tris was looking at him questioningly.

"Shit!" Phil said. "Tonight, I guess. I tell you what; just now I got the wim-wams."

Rafe laughed again. "You and me both, Phil baby, you and me both. They'll go away though when we see that nice mushroom cloud, and know that the boom is the death knell of nuclear power in the United States. If not the whole world."

"Yeah!" Phil said. The word carried no enthusiasm.

"So we'll bring the stuff here. Then Mark and me can get a few hours sleep before we take you guys and go load it in the plane. We ought to load it about the time it's first getting light out. There probably won't be anyone around the field that time of day to wonder what we're loading.

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