Chapter Fifteen
February 3 Camp
Back at the camp, Dane was squatting by the fire holding a cup of coffee in his hands. Zabronski ambled up to the fire and Dane looked up at him, “Tielson needs relieved, go take his place on guard duty.”
“No.”
Dane froze and softly said, ‘What did you say?”
“I said no. Someone else can take my shift, I’m not feeling good,” and he grinned insolently at Dane.
As Dane rose slowly to his feet, his mouth went dry. The Russian had chosen an excellent time to challenge his authority; the captain was gone; Tielson, whom Dane knew would have backed him, was away on guard duty; he could expect no help from Webster; and Fredericks was awed by the big man. Dane looked the other man over. He was the biggest man that Dane had ever faced down before; he was about six feet tall and around 220 pounds. He had given Dane an out to back down, but Dane instantly rejected it; if he accepted that flimsy excuse, he would not be able to command any of the men again.
Dane felt that feeling coming up from deep inside him, that determination that he would never give up, that he would never surrender, that he would keep fighting to his dying breath, and with it came that other feeling, the one that frightened him to the core of his being: that rage, that killing rage, that he was afraid that if it ever completely escaped the iron hold that was on it, he would kill, and kill, and keep on killing until there was no one left alive around him.
Zabronski’s sneer left his face as he saw the corporal’s face change. He saw his face harden and a savage look come over it, and he saw green flecks in the other man’s eyes start to glow and burn and whirl. As Dane glided towards him, Zabronski felt a wave of deadly menace emanate from the smaller man that seemed to strike him like a blow, and he inadvertently backed up a step from the force of it. Dane came up close to him and glared at him, trying by force of will alone to make the bigger man obey him, “You will obey my orders, and you will go on guard duty now!”
Fredericks and Webster watched the contest of wills going on. Zabronski hesitated, started to turn away, then planted his left foot, and with a speed remarkable in such a big man, swung a huge fist at the corporal. Zabronski knew the power behind that blow and when it landed on the other man’s chin, the fight would be over; either he would be knocked unconscious or knocked to the ground, and Zabronski knew what to do with an opponent on the ground.
He missed.
With blinding speed Dane ducked under the blow, and with the blazing quickness of a striking cobra he smashed two powerful blows into his midsection. The first started a grunt from the big man; the second knocked the wind out of him. Dane spun and kicked the back of the knee of Zabronshki’s planted foot, and as it buckled and the big man started going down, Dane smashed a karate chop into his throat. Zabronski hit the ground on his hands and knees, gagging. The fight had lasted maybe three seconds.
The onlookers gaped at the speed and savagery of the onslaught, and as Zabronski tried to suck air back into his lungs, he felt fear of a man for the first time since he was sixteen. He had never been put to the ground so fast and so easily in his life, and he had never seen anyone as fast as this corporal. The power in those blows shocked him. As he struggled to his feet, he saw the other man looking just as determined and just as deadly as before.
“Now, get on guard duty,” Dane ordered, fire coming from his green eyes.
Zabronski bent over and picked up his rifle. For a second he toyed with an idea, but one look at the figure before him and he knew, without a shadow of a doubt, he would never get the round off, and then he would die. He walked up the hill with black hatred in his heart.
As the Russian walked away, Dane could feel the adrenalin leaving him, and as usual felt shaken. He half squatted, half fell, back down by the fire and picked up his coffee cup. To the others it looked like he was unaffected by what had just happened, and they looked at him with even more awe.
It wasn’t very many minutes later that Dane remembered that he had promised to pray for Angelique, and he felt an urgent, pressing, need to pray now. He got on his knees, “Oh Lord, I don’t know what is going on right now, but I beg of you to protect her, give her wisdom if she needs to make a decision, or what she needs to do.” He poured out his heart to God, and after a few minutes the need left him, for a while anyway.
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