Parchman, стр. 14

‘You really believe everything Rose has told you?’ Logan said changingthe subject.

‘Yes tia, I do. I felt a gift in her. She has a knowledge that comes fromsomewhere before all this happened. She knows things about allof us,’said Mendez. ‘She talked about your Tallulah. She said she is strong. Rosealso said that she has a very important decision to make. A decision thatinvolves your life directly. I only met Tallulah briefly, but I knowwhatever decision she makes I am sure itis the right one.’

‘I hope you are right,’ replied Logan.CHAPTER SEVEN

Next morning the boys awoke to the sound of prisoners tidying up themess from the celebrations the night before.

Xander had fully embraced the tequila on offer and looked at his new bestfriend asleep next to him. A mustachioed man with a skull mask paintedon the back of his bald head sloped down onto Xander shoulder and hecautiously pushed the man away with a finger.

Scott and Seth were feeling sick from the overindulgence of food they hadeaten, and Jay was nowhere to be seen. His last known whereabouts hadbeen as a result of eating too much spicy food. Logan and Max lookeddown at the boys despairingly.

‘Crack commando unit,’ Logan smiled.

‘Today could be the day. We might not walk away from this one,’ saidMax.

‘Today is as good a day as any,’ he replied.

Professor Brittle walked around the corner and acknowledged the twomen. ‘They don’t do things by half. I’ve never seen anyone take down apiñata the way Xander did, and on Jose’s shoulders no less,’ he chuckledpointing to the man next to Xander. Xander quickly shuffled away fromthe sleeping man.

Mendez joined them looking as if he had slept like a baby. ‘Buenos dias.I have had confirmation from our men outside the prison that the army ison its way. Maybe two hours out and around five hundred men.’

‘Five hundred?’ said Logan ‘How many do you have?’

‘Significantly less,’ said the Professor.

‘Mmm, three hundred, give or take,’ Mendez estimated.

‘Are they ready?’ Max interrupted looking at Jose who was still fastasleep.

‘Ha-ha! They will be amigo, they will be,’ said Mendez and as if on cue a siren started to wail, and bodies started lifting off the floor and moving outof the canteen.

Jay came towards them looking very pale ‘What does inmundo mean?’ hesaid to Logan. ‘I think I’ve lost about two stone after eating that chili lastnight’.

‘You don’t want to know,’ said Scott joining them along with his brother.‘Sowhat happens next Logan?’

‘That depends very much on what the Commander General has to say,’said Logan.‘But to be honestI don’t think he’s coming here to talk, andMendez isn’t about to give up his home either, so I think we prepare forthe worst-case scenario. All-out war.’

‘We’re outnumbered Logan and I can’t imagine the weaponry that Mendezhas is going to make a dent in the CommanderGeneral’s armory’, saidMax. ‘It’s not too late to walk away.’

‘Have you ever walked away from a fight you thought you might lose?’said Logan.

‘That’s not the point. These are boys. They don’t belong here.’

‘These boys travelled across the country and took down a government,’said Seth. ‘And we’re stood right here. You have something to say you sayit to all of us. Logan doesn’t speak for us. We make our own choices.Something that we all did last time out and will do again,’ he looked toLogan for approval.

‘He’s right,’ said Logan. ‘It’s not my choice,it’s theirs. If we don’t stayand fight then we may not have friends and family to go back to and wecertainly won’t be able to look them in the eye when we do. I’m stayingand fighting.’

‘Point taken,’ said Max. ‘What do we know about the CommanderGeneral?’

‘Apart from the fact he’s an out and out psycho?’ said Xander.‘No, I mean deeper than that. If we need to get inside his head, then weneed to think back about what we actually know about him and what wecan expect,’ said Max. ‘He’s got a plan, but does that plan have a get outclause for him. Is he all or nothing or has he built some kind of escape intohis planif everything goes wrong?’

‘I’ll take that one,’ said Logan. ‘He’s a warrior. He doesn’t play to loseand although his plan back at the basedidn’t go exactly to plan he will seethat as a win. He’s coming here for the prison and everything in it. Thereis no plan B for him. He will die before giving up his position to us. Thisman was willing to sacrifice half of the population on the off chance it maybuy him a few more years on this planet. There’s no surrender here for himand quite honestly I don’t think losing has even entered his head. He plansto kill every last person in this prison.’

Max didn’t look surprised at this. ‘You’re right Logan. I thought this maybe the case. I’ve known him many years and we’ve butted heads on morethan one occasions over his ethics. The problem with thinking you’vealready won something is that the other side have nothing to lose or in thiscase they have so much to lose that it gives them the edge. On the flip sideI tend to agree with Xander on this one. He is a psychopath and willing tosacrifice everything, no matter the cost to everyone else.’

‘How do you fight someone like that?’ said Scott.

‘You dig deep,’ replied Max. ‘You take all that pain and suffering. Youtake everything you love. You take that anger and instead of bottling it upyou let it out. This isn’t going to be about tactics for us. It’s going to beabout putting everything on the line and just going for it. People are goingto die. No doubt about that. But you all have the strength and courage todo everything you can to stop this man. I for one believe it can be done.’

‘Whoa,’ said Logan. ‘I think you