Read Online Atlanta Extreme by Randy Wayne White - Free Book Online

no fan of communism, but I’m smart enough to know that any man who lops off heads and decorates his camp with them can’t be much better.”
    â€œYou said that you would not judge him too quickly.”
    Hawker nodded. “That’s right.”
    â€œYou must stay with us at least a week.”
    â€œI will stay with you for however long it takes me to make up my mind. I keep thinking about what Curtis’s people are doing back in the States. I have heard that his men in Georgia are torturing people, blackmailing people, to get enough money to run this little army of yours. For a time I didn’t think it was true. Now I’m not so sure. I’m going to ask Curtis outright if it is true. He might be nuts, but I think he’s so convinced in his righteousness that he’ll tell me the truth. And, if it is true, I’m going back to the States to stop them.”
    The woman stood up. “It will be that simple?” she said, a touch of sarcasm in her voice.
    â€œStopping people is what I do best, Lieutenant.”
    â€œBut you forget one thing, James.”
    â€œWhat’s that?”
    Turning to go, the woman said over her shoulder, “You forget that you cannot leave until we say that you can go.”

eight
    Curtis led a band of fifty men and a few women out into the jungle in the late afternoon.
    Hawker had tried to blend into the group, but Curtis insisted that the vigilante travel on horseback at the head of the column so that the two of them could talk.
    â€œYou see,” Curtis said, pointing at the bruised thunderheads forming above the high canopy of jungle, “that is our cover. In guerrilla warfare a force must take advantage of all the disadvantages nature offers. In a rain forest we try to attack under the cover of rain. The government forces don’t like rain. They are soft and spoiled by comforts. The rain wrinkles their nice dry clothes. It gets into their boots and gives them blisters when they march.” The American laughed gaily. “But my men love the rain. It cloaks our noise, and it is a natural camouflage. A security guard can’t see much when there is rain dripping into his eyes.”
    Overhead, the black clouds swirled like smoke in the tops of the great trees. There was a blinding flash of light, a boom that shook the earth, and then the rain began to fall.
    Hawker had never seen such rain. It fell out of the trees not in individual drops but in a deluge, a river of water pouring off the huge jungle leaves.
    To talk now, Curtis practically had to shout. “The government forces are looking for our camp,” he said. “We have covered the trail, laid false trails, but even so, ultimately they will find it.”
    â€œThen why don’t you wait in ambush?” Hawker called back.
    â€œBecause that is what they expect us to do. Certainly that is what they would do. But you see, James, the key to our success is the unexpected. All modesty aside, I must tell you that they have no military leader who possesses my background, my knowledge of practical warfare. That is why we are beating them. Beating them damn badly, I might add. I have used all the important elements of guerrilla warfare: surprise, mobility, and terror. Yes, terror is an important factor in this kind of war. I will admit that in my first year here I was reluctant to take the necessary steps. For instance, I saw the enemy as only the men trained and employed as government troops. It took me a little while to realize that our enemy was anyone—absolutely anyone —in this country who did not pick up arms and follow me. That was the key; that change in my thinking is what has produced all of our success. For me, fighting was really more of a complex seventeenth-century duel between two honorable gentlemen. The British made the same mistake during our own revolution, the Marines almost made it against the Japanese during the Second World War, and our