"William W Johnstone - Ashes 16 - Vengance in the Ashes (txt)" - читать интересную книгу автора (Johnstone William W)

"Because we got lax," Jerry James said. Jerry was the leader of one of
the largest gangs in the island chain. Jerry James was not his real
name, but then, most of the outlaws had long since dropped their real
names. "Me and Books here has been talking."

Books Houseman, so called because of his love of reading, stood up. Like
Jerry, he ramrodded a large gang and was looked upon for guidance
because of his extremely high intelligence. Books was also one of the
most vicious gang leaders operating anywhere in the islands. His
ruthlessness more than made up for his small size. "What it comes down
to is this," Books said. "And you all better realize it. We are in a
fight for survival. Unlike our counterparts

18 on the mainland, we have no place to run. We either win, or we die.
There is no middle ground. So, we've got to be smarter than Ben Raines.
There is no way we can stand and slug it out with the Rebels. While we
have many more personnel, they've got us outgunned. They're organized,
well-trained, and very highly motivated. We, sadly enough, are no more
than rabble. But rabble helped defeat Burgundy in France, and we can do
the same here. But we've got to plan carefully, and we've got to have
one overall commander of all forces. You leaders think about that for a
few minutes; talk it over. Then we'll continue this meeting."

Rabble was an apt choice of words. But it wasn't quite strong enough.
Slick Bowers looked across the large room at Susie Loo, who was sitting
next to Vic Keeler. Susie ran a gang that was very nearly as large as
his own and about twice as vicious. Vic was a pirate who enjoyed
torturing his captives. He was very inventive. Mac Mackenzie sat alone,
his back to a wall. Mac was stone crazy and just about as predictable as
a Tasmanian devil. But his gang was large and he ran it with an iron
fist. Leo Jones sat quietly smoking a hand-rolled cigarette. Leo was
just about as smart as Books, but with a lot more common sense. Larry
Perkins stood, leaning against a wall. He had a strange expression on
his face, and Slick thought he knew what it was all about. Larry was
facing reality. They all knew that the Rebels had never been whipped.
The gangs had the finest of radio equipment and had spent years
monitoring the movement of the Rebels.

John Dodge said, "So let's talk. Hell, we're wasting time." John ran a
cattle ranch on Kauai and had about two hundred men working for him, not
counting the slaves. Every gang leader and most of

19 those in the various gangs had slaves. They were worked until they
could no longer work, then they were given to the Believers, the
cannibalistic Night People, those whom the Rebels called Creepies.

Kip Burdette said, "I'm with Books. I think he's our man. Me and my boys
will take orders from Books." Kip was a slaver whose ships roamed all
over the Pacific, buying and selling human beings.