Chapter 370

I watched closely until the men doing the clanking turned the corner. The little group I had hoped to see, would have been different people all together. They weren't who I wanted, but they were obviously press. The four men were all humping large packs, no doubt filled with TV shit.

Two of them carried different versions of the AK47. There's were closer to the version a traditional Russian block soldier would have been issued. Nothing fancy just a deadly weapon in the hands of someone trained in its use.

I stepped from the jungle onto the trail with the Chopped down AK47 pointed more or less in their direction. "Hello Deacon, what the hell brings you here?" I asked. I am sure the disappointment showed in my voice.

"Nice to see you too. I couldn't let you have all the fun again," he said with a very weak smile. "I brought General Adair in to give you a hand."

"General, so you are the expert?" I asked.

"That depends on who you ask. Some of the people we know, would say I can learn more from you." He said like a true gentleman.

"I do hope you are wrong, I have never had to defend anything bigger than a boat," I said honestly.

"Then we probably should get busy," he suggested.

Once we were inside the Monastery he began putting people to work. The Chief Monk was much better about giving him free rein than he would have been giving me any control at all. Some people just didn't trust women. There were times, when I didn't blame them at all.

We had at the most a few hours to build defenses and everyone knew it. Adair set them to digging holes at the edge of the jungle and then filling the holes with Punji stakes and anti personnel mines. He probably only had a couple of dozen of them so they were more to make the Government Troops nervous, than anything else.

While everyone was busy preparing for the coming dance, I sat in one of the dining halls drinking coffee and being disappointed. Yes I had hoped for the Irishman, but I should have known better. The operation I found myself involved with was not a Swamp Thing operation. It was instead a Pig Shit operation. I might have to answer to the Deacon for my last rebellion before this one was over.

The Deacon would have been one of my favorites from the farm, with his 'kill them all, then let God sort them out' attitude, if he was a little less autocratic. Even with that, I heard that he stood his ground in the defense of his agents. That might well have been a novelty in a bureaucratic environment. I expected I would know a lot more about the man in a week.

I wasn't sure how much he knew about me. Supposedly, my true self was known only to the creator, and a couple of others who worked on the project. Of course someone in field operations had to know. Who that was might prove to be an issue one day, but it didn't seem to be just yet.

Everyone, at the moment, just seemed to think I was some kind of super agent. Why wouldn't they? No one had any information, or even a frame of reference for what I really was. Hell, even since I was a child, I was never quite sure what I was either.

"Maxine, let's talk," The Deacon suggested.

"No problem, but what do you want to talk about?" I asked.

"I talked to Williams, you guys have this organized really well. Adair brings some unconventional shit to the table, but you have the defenses set up just the way the book would suggest."

"Well it wasn't hard. This is your typical Alamo scenario," I suggested. "If we can keep the air strikes and the Artillery barrages at a minimum, we can hold out a while." I suggested.

"Well we have some new toys, we have been dying to try out." he said actually smiling at me.

"Well I do hope they are effective or that you have a nuclear option," I admitted.

"Let's say we have a back door plan and another Vietnam era bit of history up our sleeve." The Deacon said. "All the old junk is still out there and surplus. Best of all it can not be traced back to anyone, let alone us."

"So you are talking my 'run out the back door plan' but with a RPB instead of fight my way across the border," I said.

"Oh I'm sure we will have to fight our way out, but it will just be on the river instead of in the jungle. I so much prefer that," he said.

"Well, I have to admit that you did bring something to the dance," I suggested.

"Too bad you are a drunk," he said. "They told me not to bring any booze with me because you were a lush."

"Well you can't have everything. Lush or slut which would you prefer," I asked.

"Yeah, I hear the sex addict programs are really not any fun at all," he said.

"I never thought of being a slut as a problem needing a 12 step program," I said.

"Nor did I. In some circles it is an advantage, I hear," he replied seriously.

"Except for the people who what to save me, I never found a downside," I admitted.

"Hey you two, we have one sniper rifle unassigned. Do you have any ideas?" Simon Jerrod asked.

"Have Williams give it to his best shot and then have them stay together. He can continue teaching him as this shit unfolds," I suggested.

"That's exactly the right thing to do," The Deacon said. "So do they have all those mines we brought in planted?"

"We have them planted and that Adair is really something," he said.

"How so," The Deacon asked.

"We planted the twenty he had, but then we dug a hundred holes and covered them over. If the government troops, try to dig up everything they see disturbed, they are going to be nothing but targets for out snipers. All they will get for their bodies are empty holes. I told him I thought it was brilliant and he said to me. 'Son, it's all about killing people, and that is hardly a skill of which I am proud.'"