Remember The Alamo (39 page)

"In light of this new intelligence, the United States is withdrawing its support of the Mexican military operation in San
Antonio. Since the United States will abide by the Alamo
treaty as it was originally written, I am now declaring that the
Alamo and the adjacent plaza are now once again under
American control and have been since midnight last night. Therefore, any actions taken by the Mexican military in San
Antonio are now unauthorized and illegal, and I have ordered
our forces from Fort Sam Houston to proceed to the Alamo
and escort General Salgado and his troops out of our country.

"I know this is a big step. I know it may be an unpopular
one with some of our friends around the world. But the unavoidable conclusion that can be drawn from this new intelligence is that the Mexican government was duped by
extremist elements within its own military, and those extremists are in all likelihood allied with Islamic terrorists and a
vicious drug gang, making all their actions highly suspicious. America will protect itself from such attacks. Make no
mistake about that. America will protect itself.

"And today, we're going to start by protecting the Alamo."

Dave stepped outside as the chaos in the plaza parted for
an instant and revealed the man stumbling toward him. He
recognized General Salgado from the news broadcasts they
had seen inside the Alamo. The general's men were scattering, not even trying to fight back anymore as the American
citizens routed them. Dave didn't know where all those folks
had come from, but he was sure they had saved the Alamo.
Another few minutes and the mission would have fallen.

"General!" Dave shouted over the tumult.

Salgado heard him and stopped short, clawing at a holstered pistol at his waist. Dave let him pull the gun. Wildeyed, Salgado cursed in Spanish and triggered a couple of
shots that splattered on the flagstones in front of Dave. The
gun was rising for a better shot when Dave leveled his own
pistol, drew a bead, and said, "Adios, General."

He pulled the trigger.

Salgado was thrown backward by the slug that smashed into
his forehead. His arms and legs flew wide, and he skidded across the flagstones when he landed, finally coming to rest at
the base of the cenotaph immortalizing the heroes of the first
Battle of the Alamo.

Dave lowered the gun and looked at the general's body for
a second, then turned and walked back into the Alamo.

Behind him, jeeps and trucks roared down the street and
came to a halt in front of the plaza. American GIs piled out
of them and started mopping up. The shooting stopped in a
hurry once the troops moved in.

"This just in from Mexico City the Mexican government
has issued a statement deploring the actions taken this morning in San Antonio by General Augusto Salgado. President
Guzman said that Salgado exceeded his orders and did so because of his ties to criminals, extremists, and foreign terrorists. Guzman promised a full and honest investigation into
this matter and pledged the continuing cooperation and
friendship that Mexico has always demonstrated toward the
United States. In that spirit of cooperation and friendship,
Guzman added, Mexico will withdraw any claims that it
might make on the Alamo, relinquishing control of the area
immediately to the American forces already there on the
scene.

"Guzman also expressed sympathy for all the tragic loss
of life caused by this incident."

Stark was kneeling next to Mahone's body when Dave
found them. He looked up and shook his head, indicating that
Mahone hadn't made it. Only a few yards had separated the
site of their battle from the one Dave had been fighting, but
in the confusion he hadn't seen any of what had happened. He was glad to see that while Stark was bloody and battered,
the big man didn't seem to be seriously injured.

"Got mighty lucky," Stark said as he straightened. "What
happened out there?"

"Looked like half the population of San Antonio tore into
Salgado and his troops," Dave said. "It wasn't that many, of
course, but Salgado was outnumbered and sure as hell outfought ""

Stark smiled. "Yeah, when Texans finally get worked up
enough to lose their temper, they can raise a pretty good
ruckus"

American troops were pouring into the Alamo now, securing the scene and taking the few remaining Mexican soldiers
into custody. Some of Salgado's men had gotten away, but they
would be rounded up later-unless, of course, they decided to
stay in Texas and make new lives for themselves here.

Dave and Stark found Dieter and Billy Romo near the
smashed-in rear doors. Dieter was wounded, but Billy had an
arm around him, supporting him as Dieter drew a jacket over
the face of Mike Belkowicz. Belko had been hit numerous
times.

"He told me he was ... dying of cancer," Dieter said. "I
guess he wanted to ... go out fighting. I would have died,
too ... if Billy hadn't helped me ""

The young man didn't seem to have a scratch on him. He
grinned and said, "Hey, I was just lucky to be in the right
place at the right time, man. Glad I could help. You got a
little girl, don't you?"

Dieter nodded. "Yes. Yes, I do ""

"Well, she needs her daddy, so let's go find a medic and
get you some help, dude. You got some holes in you need
patchin' up"

Dave and Stark moved on to the office, stepping over the
pile of dead Mexican soldiers in front of the doorway. They found Phil Cody slumped in the chair behind the desk, shot
at least a dozen times. On the floor beside him, her head resting against Phil's leg, was Evelyn Harlow.

Both of them were smiling in death.

Dave felt a tightness pressing on his chest as he looked at
his old friend. "Rest well, Phil," he said softly.

"I expect with that lady beside him, he will," Stark said.

Colonel Cumberland found Dave and Stark as the two
men wearily made their way back toward the front of the
Alamo. He recognized them from the photos of them that
had been on the news reports during the siege, and after introducing himself, he said, "You boys may not know it yet,
but you're heroes. The whole country's behind you now, especially since it came out that Salgado was tied in not only
with the Reconquistadores and the Garcia-Lopez cartel, but
also with a big-shot Islamic terrorist."

Dave gave a little shake of his head, finding it difficult to
absorb all that information. He said, "I thought the president
claimed that we were the terrorists."

Cumberland grinned. "She 'bout broke her neck doing
an about-face on that one this morning. You fellas better
watch out. You're liable to get invited to the White House"

Stark shook his head. "I hate to say it, but I think I might
have to turn down that invitation. And I damn sure don't
want to hear any talk about us being heroes. We're not
heroes. We're just ordinary folks who had to stand up for
what was right, because the people who should have been
doing that wouldn't."

"Talk like that won't make you any friends in Washington," Cumberland warned.

"Don't want any friends in Washington," Stark said. "I've
already got all I need in Texas"

Cumberland nodded, then jerked a thumb toward the
broken-down doors. "I think there's somebody waiting for
you outside, Rodriguez. A lady who had something to do
with what happened here this morning."

Dave's heart started to pound harder. He said, "Thanks,
Colonel," and hurried toward the entrance. As he stepped out
he saw hundreds of people crowding into Alamo Plaza, but
despite the crowd, his eyes went instantly to Constance, who
stood in the forefront of the group with a hopeful smile on
her face. He started toward her, stumbling a little at first, but
then his stride grew stronger.

As he stepped past the Texas flag that still stood there,
hanging from the sword that had been wedged defiantly between the flagstones, Dave hoped that people would not be
so quick to forget the lesson of this old chapel and its valiant
defenders as they had been the first time around.

He hoped that this time, America truly would . . .
remember the Alamo.

Then he had his wife in his arms again and was content to
think of nothing else.