Previously on Jake Hammer:  Armed with powerful rockets provided by Lockheed, Jake succeeded in destroying the enemy’s heavily-armored tanks.  Then, out of nowhere, the Blue Wolf returned to engage him in a furious air battle!  Jake used all of his tactical tricks, but to no avail.  Finally, he played the only card left in his hand.  Performing a wing-over above the cloud deck, Jake swooped in on the slower-climbing Blue Wolf and shot him down with a blast of cannon fire.  Now,

 

     Jake did not follow the doomed plane back through the clouds, instead turning immediately to land back at his base.  Agent Compton and Miguel both rushed out of the hangar as soon as they heard the plane land.  Jake had barely stepped off the final rung of the cockpit ladder when they both mobbed him, Compton pounding him on the back and Miguel hugging him with his powerful arms.  After Jake finally managed to disentangle himself, Compton spoke up.  “Jake, that was unbelievable!  You saved California today!”

     “Thanks Tom, but our work isn’t done.  I saw where they are massing their reserves.  They’re going to attack immediately; we have to inform the overall command.”

     “Let’s go.  I have security clearance that will let me take you to the commanding General at any time.”

     They climbed into Compton’s sedan.  He gunned it and took off full bore to the field headquarters of the commanding general.  “It’s General Charles Clement, Jake.  Do you know him?”

     Jake laughed. “Old Tooth’n’Nail?  Yeah, I know him.  Still leading from the front it sounds like.”  Compton barely nodded.  He was driving like a man in a getaway car, barely slowing down to get through security, waving his credentials out the window and cursing the soldiers who made an attempt to stop him.  He slammed on the brakes in front of the field headquarters, which was nothing more than a large tent staked out in the hilly terrain.  He and Jake hopped out immediately and made their way to the tent’s entrance.  Somehow Jake was not surprised to see a nearby orderly holding the reins of Penny’s black stallion, Racer.  So he was ready when Penny appeared out of nowhere and rushed into his arms outside the General’s tent.

     “Jake!  I heard about the Blue Wolf!  I’m so glad you are alive!”  She squeezed him almost as tightly as Miguel had.  Finally releasing him, she continued, “What’s next?  I know I can help.”  Jake noticed that Penny was wearing her twin ivory-handled Colt 45s.

     “Penny, we’re almost on the front lines.  You need to go home.  If Rex ever found out I let you stay, and you got hurt, he would never forgive me.”

     “My father knows exactly where I am.  He couldn’t stop me and neither can you.” She stuck out her chin defiantly.  Jake saw it was no use trying to dissuade her.  With a gesture he reluctantly invited her into the briefing.

     Inside the dimly lit tent, General Clement pointed at a large map showing the positions of all the American units.  He explained to the officers present that he had a crucial set of orders that had to be delivered to a battalion guarding the flank of the counterattack.  A counterattack that was now possible, thanks to the work of Captain Hammer, who had just entered the tent.  General Clement pointed to the unit’s remote location on the map.  The problem was the unit was not very accessible; there were no roads to speak of, and the undulating terrain made radio reception impossible.  Penny, the only woman in the briefing, suddenly stood up.  “I know right where that is!  And I can get there on my horse faster than any of you!”

     General Clement narrowed his eyes at this egregious breach of military protocol.  "Meet me outside immediately,” he said.  “Captain Hammer, as you were the one who permitted this woman entrance to a secure briefing, would you accompany us please?”  Outside the tent, Clement held up a manila envelope and spoke directly to Penny who was standing beside him.  “These are official orders of the California National Guard.  I cannot permit them to be transmitted by a civilian, even in these extreme circumstances.  I could be court-martialed.”

     “I understand General,” Penny responded, “But, could I just see the orders for a minute?”   She cocked her head and sidled up to him, beaming the General one of her most devastating smiles.

     “Well, no harm in that I suppose.”  He handed her the envelope and turned to Jake who was standing in front of him.  “Surely, Captain Hammer, you can appreciate my position here.  This job is simply too dangerous to be entrusted to a girl on horseback, and surely, you too Miss Whoever-you-are, can understand that.”  He turned back to Penny.

     But Penny had already taken off running!  She jumped onto Racer’s back, grabbed the reins out of the orderly’s hands and whipped the huge horse into a frenzy, accelerating faster than any car possibly could, his powerful hooves churning up a dust cloud.  Jake saw that she was headed due East, directly to the location of the threatened unit, but on a path that would take her across a stretch of open ground too close to the fighting.

     “Penny! Penny! Not that way!” Jake called out as loudly as he could.

     But it was too late!  A single shot rang out and Racer jerked his head back suddenly.  Jake saw Penny whisper something into Racer’s ear.  Then in one fluid motion she slung herself below the horse’s neck, blazing away with one of her revolvers at a sniper only 100 yards away who had incautiously stood up after he fired.  Jake saw each spasm of the enemy soldier as the slugs hit him, his arms flung back and his weapon falling before he crumpled limply to the ground.  Penny regained her seat on the saddle as Racer galloped into the shelter of a nearby twisting arroyo.  Then, before she was out of sight, she had the audacity to turn around in the saddle and give Jake and the General a perfect military salute!  The dumbfounded General turned from the spectacle he had just witnessed and looked at Jake.

     “Well,” Jake deadpanned, “The girl can shoot, you have to give her that.”