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hand again.” They all laughed. “I heard you near got
     yourself bitten to death.” The colonel grinned. “A heroic way to go.”
    “Recruit?” Stone asked between bites. “I didn’t know I’d volunteered.”
    “Oh, all able-bodied men are strongly suggested to join the NAA. Why, it’s an honor to serve under General Patton III. Only
     one man in five can even meet the standards he’s set. Besides, I would think you’d want to join up with the only official
     U.S. force trying to establish law and order in America. Help us create a future. If you’ve been out there, you’ve surely
     seen what it’s like.”
    “Maybe he’s on the wrong side,” a colonel said, a reddish scar running along the side of his face from ear to chin. He stared
     at Stone like he wouldn’t have minded shooting him dead on the spot. “I mean, he
is
a biker. And from what I’ve seen, bikers are scum. Why, we’ve already taken out nearly a hundred of the bastards.”
    The others stared at Stone to see how he would respond to the insult.
    “Just because I ride a motorcycle,” Stone answered, letting his fork drop to the side of his bowl, “doesn’t mean I’m a murderer.
     It seems a little absurd to judge a man by his mode of transportation.” Several of the faces grinned. Theyweren’t all against him. “As to what side I’m on. That’s hard to say. I’m still not sure exactly what side all of you are
     supposed to represent. So it’s a little hard to judge myself, as you apparently find it so easy to do.”
    “The amount of armaments you carry on that motorcycle,” the scar-faced colonel went on, spitting out every word like they
     were curses, “make it appear that you’re capable of wreaking heavy destruction. Just what have you been using them for?”
    Stone didn’t like the third degree, but he wasn’t in a position to do what he felt like, which was to slam a fist into the
     son-of-a-bitch’s face. “Look mister,” he said, talking slow and cold, “I’ve just been trying to survive, that’s all. I’ve
     been battling the same assholes that you have. Just traveling around this part of the country is like being in a full-scale
     war. What would you have me do—carry a little white flag and give out flowers to everyone who tries to kill me?”
    The colonel’s face flushed and the jagged scar on his face seemed to turn three shades redder, virtually throbbing like a
     thing alive. His mouth twitched a few times and then he rose, addressing the rest of the table.
    “Well, you can all stay here if you want, but as for myself I won’t eat with scum like this. This biker”—he said the word
     with a most insulting inflection—“has no place sitting at a table with honorable men, or even being inside our walls. He sullies
     the very honor of our army.” With that he threw his napkin to the table with a dramatic flourish and walked quickly away.
     Stone stared after him, his own heart beating fast. It might not have been the greatest thing after all to have been rescued
     by these guys.
    “Sorry about that,” the major across from him spoke up. “Colonel Matheson is a little quick to jump to conclusions.My own philosophy is, don’t judge a man until you’ve seen him on the battlefield.” He looked at Stone expectantly.
    “Right,” Stone answered, lapping up his food with quick angry strokes. “Nor the character of a man by the number of wheels
     beneath his ass.”

CHAPTER
Eight
    “M ATHESON’S NOT really a bad sort,” the major who seemed somewhat friendly said. “He’s with I&CE, Intelligence and Counter-Espionage,
     so he’s always on the alert for saboteurs and troublemakers. Sees them coming out of the woodwork sometimes. But it’s his
     job, that’s all.”
    “I’m surprised that anyone would even attempt to mess around in here,” Stone said, sopping up the last of his gravy with a
     thick slice of excellent homebaked rye bread. “You guys look like you’re ready for World