The Last Infidel (19 page)

Cody recognized the soldiers, and he hurried out the meet them.  The man on the back of the four wheeler turned; and Cody recognized David, who quickly jumped off the back of the four wheeler.

David turned to his right and waved, and several other four wheelers, eight in all, came speeding up the road.  Then he ran to meet Cody, and he said, “Reconnaissance unit working out of Tullahoma.  Our guys told me you were gonna do it, but I didn’t think you’d be able to pull it off!”

“Did everybody get away?” Cody asked.  “Lisa and her group?”

“You can ask Lisa,” David said, pointing to the lead four wheeler just pulling up.  “What about Tracy – I heard she stayed behind.  She and Vernon.”

Cody shook his head.

“Dang,” David said.  “I’m sorry, Cody.  But you just have to know that the payoff is---”

Lisa removed her helmet and came running, jumping into Cody’s arms with nearly enough force to knock him down.  She hugged him as tight as she could, kissing his dirty face over and over again.

Cody held her tight; and he smiled.

“I was worried – I mean, I was really, really worried that you wouldn’t make it out of here!” Lisa said with tears of joy in her face.

“Without you, I wouldn’t have,” Cody said.  “Over these last two years – you wouldn’t have guessed it – but you’ve kept me alive.  I don’t know what I would’ve done had it not been for---”

“Well, I’ll be a holy moly SOB!” a soldier on one of the four wheelers said, pointing across the road.  “Will you look at that!”

Clouds were moving out of the west, dark and deep, and a cool breeze, as sudden as lightning, swept the street.  The cloud of smoke and dust sitting over the site of the mosque began to drift away, hurriedly, driven along by the wind.  And through the light colored haze, little by little, almost as if some child was carefully unwrapping a box to reveal the gift inside, a dark object began to appear.  Every eye watched.

“Vernon’s cross,” David said.

Cody shook his head slowly and reflectively. “No, David.  That cross belongs to all of us – and we to it.  If only we would all---”

“Mount up,” one of the soldiers yelled.  “We’re moving out – heading south.  This fight has only just started!”

One of the soldiers gave up his four wheeler to Cody and Lisa.  He doubled up with someone else.

Cody sat down on the four wheeler, and Lisa jumped on behind him.  She put her arms around him tightly and squeezed him again, excited to be with him.

“What’s next for us?” Lisa asked. “I mean, for you and me?”

Cody smiled and turned so Lisa could see his face.  “Freedom,” he said, nodding up at the cross.  “The real kind.”  He kissed Lisa, and she kissed him back.  He put the four wheeler into gear, took one last look around, and took a deep breath. “Lighten the darkness!”

And he and Lisa sped away.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Thank for reading Spikes Donovan’s
The Last Infidel
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