Alaska Republik-ARC by Stoney Compton Read Free Book Online

asked in a normal voice.
    “University of California at Bakersfield. Majored in history.”
    “California history?”
    “North American history, I think it’s fascinating.”
    “From what I’ve heard and read it seems very jumbled up, all those nations at each other’s throats, alliances against alliances yet often on the same side in a larger war.”
    “Where did you attend university?” he said with a laugh.
    “Two years at Metropolitan College in St. Nicholas and I took my bachelor’s from Simon Frasier in British Canada with double majors in philosophy and biology.”
    “Why are you living like this if you don’t have to?” he blurted.
    “Because I want to, maybe?” She gave him a long, level look over her shoulder before continuing on down the trail. “I’ve been teaching Dená children at Delta. There is no higher calling than teacher.”
    “How old are you?”
    She chuckled softly without looking back. “One never asks a lady her age. Didn’t they teach you that in school?”
    “No,” He laughed. “But my mother tried.”
    “And how old are you?”
    “Twenty-eight last August. I’ve been in the RCAF for almost four years.”
    “How much longer are you obligated to serve?”
    “Two more years and a few weeks, if I decide to get out.”
    “Why would you stay in the military. Do you like being told what to do?”
    “I like the feeling that I’m contributing to my country and getting to fly planes at the same time.” He felt nettled but tried not to show it. “I think we all owe our country something.”
    “So why not teach?”
    He laughed again. “Not even the military tells you what to do as completely as do public school administrators. Or hadn’t you noticed?”
    “Good riposte. I give you points. I left my position in January.”
    “Why?”
    “Bloody administrators, that’s why. Let’s just say we didn’t agree on curriculum.”
    Jerry remained silent for a few hundred yards. The more he learned of her, the more attraction he felt. He decided she had to be at least twenty-four.
    “So, is there a boyfriend or fiancé waiting for you back in Delta?”
    “Not really.”
    He nearly asked what that meant before deciding he didn’t want to know. Not yet, anyway. The next four questions that popped into his head were instantly rejected.
    Throughout their trek he watched everything they passed, trying to remember landmarks in the event he had to retrace the route alone.
    Well, if I can just find the trail .
    Magda suddenly stopped and hunkered down into a crouch. The dogs vanished into the trees. Jerry instantly moved off the trail and into the brush before stopping.
    “What?” he said in a hiss.
    She held her hand up for silence and then moved. And disappeared. Try as he might, he could not see where she went. He heard a voice.
    “But we have an armored column advancing from St. Nicholas, Major. How can you insist we need your Freekorps, especially at such an exorbitant price?”
    Educated Russian, Jerry decided. Freekorps?
    “We’re all veterans of armed conflict, Captain. We know what we’re doing and how to do it as expediently as possible. You tell us what objective you want taken and we have it for you in three days or give you fifteen percent off.”
    Jerry couldn’t place the accent—Europe, maybe. He had heard the term “Freekorps” before, in OCS; the major was a mercenary.
    “What would be the price of taking Chena Redoubt?”
    Major Mercenary’s laugh lacked humor. “We are a company, not a brigade. But we could do it in a month for five thousand British pounds.”
    The Russian captain laughed with great amusement. “Hell, for that much I would conquer it!”
    “No discretionary funds, I take it?”
    “Nothing like that. Besides, Californians have deployed troops and antiaircraft batteries throughout the area. Is suddenly whole new war.”
    “Yes, I know. And you’re losing.”
    “We have suffered setbacks, yes. But not losing, no.”
    “As you wish.