After the War: Military Dystopian Thriller (Friends of my Enemy Book 2)

by Autumn M. Birt

  Byran chuckled. “You could come with us ...”

  Derrick steered Byran up the steps, Byran catching the glimmer of a foolish smile on his friend’s face. It was the start of a great day.

  Arinna appeared half an hour later as Byran listened to a presentation on restoring more wind turbines.

  “Everything all right?” he asked as she joined him. “You were gone longer than I expected. I started wondering if there were something else amiss after last night.”

  “Nothing Captain Vries can’t handle. Actually, I wanted to check who was attending. There are a few people I need to speak to,” Arinna answered as they walked a line of displays outlining reconstruction ideas.

  “Are they here?”

  “No, unfortunately. I will have to make a trip to the continent,” Arinna replied. Byran gave her a blank look, startled to think she would be planning such a journey to speak to someone. “Did you forget what you came to tell me?” she asked, amused at his lack of response.

  The accusation against her came flooding back. “Yes. Yes, I did,” Byran answered. “You’ll go soon?” He was torn between wanting her to stay and needing to know the rumor and potential threat to her would go no further.

  “Yes, this needs to be dealt with. I would have done it today, but for the promise to come here with you,” Arinna said. Byran loved her answer. “So which of these projects have you gotten yourself involved in?”

  Byran navigated the sprawling conference, touring projects spread across the continent. He’d expected Arinna’s presence to either not be noticed or be ignored. It was neither. She was recognized and frequently stopped to hear passionate pitches on reconstruction or needs. A few caught her attention enough that he wondered if it had been his idea to attend or hers.

  Free of the crowds a moment, he shook his head at her bright-eyed surveillance of the main conference hall and its tables of presentations. “I thought you were going to ask for the grid layout on how they were restoring power to Paris,” he said to her.

  “Do you think he had one?” she teased in answer. She looked at him a bit more closely. “You are surprised I’m enjoying this, aren’t you?”

  “No, not that you are enjoying it. But that they would pitch their ideas so much to you.”

  Arinna snorted. “I’m in charge of the most manpower and the most high tech equipment possibly remaining on the planet. They know that,” Arinna said, nodding toward the roomful of people. “Of course, they want to win my backing.”

  “Why aren’t you more involved in the restoration efforts then?” Byran asked. Arinna froze for the blink of an eye before turning to smile at him.

  “We do what we can while guarding the borders. Episodes like last night show the Guard will be needed for a while yet. The more successful and stable Europe grows, the more the Guard needs to be watchful of what is outside of it.” Arinna’s attention was claimed by the room again. “It has to be after lunch time, isn’t it?” Her sky blue eyes fell solidly on him.

  “I think you’re right,” he answered.

  Somehow they just didn’t make it back to the conference that afternoon. Lunch turned into a walk around Kendal, which led to a stop at a café. It felt natural as if the time when they’d had similar days while both worked for their respective embassies had been months before. Not years and not separated by war ... and marriage and children. And death. Though Byran often forgot about Michael, just as he had when Arinna and he had pretended to date for her to gain access and information around Madrid. The biggest change was that now she did not remind Byran of her husband either when he stood too close or touched her arm.

  When they finally returned to the meeting hall, it was to find Derrick conversing with an older woman just inside the entrance. She left as they approached, Derrick turning to find Byran and Arinna walking toward him.

  “Oh good, I was just going to look for you. I was starting to think you’d left the conference after all,” Derrick said.

  “Oh no, we’ve been here all day,” Byran answered, earning a sharp glance from Derrick. Derrick made no response as they walked outside to find their horses.

  Arinna was quiet as they made their way out of the city and its busy streets. The road opened to the countryside of the lakes and forest, the afternoon light bringing warmth of the coming summer.

  “You must be tired,” Byran said as they left the last of their fellow travelers behind.

  “Yes,” she replied. “I would invite you both to dine with me in Rhiol though I do not think I will be good company tonight. But if you don’t mind me falling asleep at the table, you are more than welcome.”

  Derrick snorted a laugh. “Another night then?”

  “I promise. I would be most pleased with the company,” she answered.

  “When will you leave for the continent?” Byran asked, catching a quick glance from Derrick. “Arinna said there were a few people she needed to speak to about ... matters.”

  “Yes, that explains the need succinctly,” Derrick replied, rolling his eyes.

  “Probably tomorrow unless Captain Vries has news,” Arinna answered with an amused look.

  “That is too bad. I’d hoped you’d attend the duchess’ ball in three days,” Byran answered. “I’d forgotten about it until I saw you speaking to her when we met you at the front door, Derrick.”

  “Oh yes, I do have an invitation to that. I should be back before then.”

  “But, to sail to the continent alone takes days and then inland ...”

  Arinna laughed, drying his words though she tried not to interrupt him. “Do you think I went to a battle last night by sailboat?” she finally asked. Byran blushed.

  “I hadn’t thought,” he admitted.

  “I’ll be back in a day,” she replied waving her hand.

  “So it is more than horses that you keep in your stable?” Derrick asked.

  “A bit,” she answered with a grin.

  “I know it isn’t appropriate, but would you attend the ball with me?” Byran asked.

  Derrick answered before Arinna managed to frame a response. “It isn’t appropriate,” he hissed at Byran. The glare in his dark blue eyes reminded Byran of his wife, someone he seemed to forget as easily as he used to forget Arinna’s now deceased husband. Byran looked away, wondering how far his friend would take to following what felt like Victorian traditions of modesty. Derrick sighed.

  “But I do not have a date and would be honored if you would allow me to escort you,” Derrick said to Arinna. Byran would have believed his horse had disappeared from under his saddle. “It will, unfortunately, put you very much in Byran’s company for the evening, but under properly chaperoned supervision.”

  Arinna failed to keep a straight face. “You aren’t afraid that I will ruin your reputation, my lord earl? Between the dinner the other night, today, and now a ball?”

  Derrick’s eye held a gleam as he replied, “I’ve risked worse for Byran. Considering my fiancée is absent, it isn’t so ... unorthodox of a solution.”

  “No, it isn’t. And thank you, I do accept.”

  Byran remembered to breathe. “Will I see you before that?” he asked, mind still numb over what Derrick would do to cover for him.

  “You really are pushing your luck today, aren’t you?” Derrick asked.

  “I ride every morning I’m at Rhiol. It is a good workout for Raven here,” she said patting the neck of her dark grey stallion. “Come join me if you like. Any morning while you are in Kesmere. Both of you,” she added with a glance at Derrick.

  “I’d be honored,” Derrick replied.

  “Tomorrow morning, then?” Byran asked, thoughts racing ahead to other reasons he could find himself in Rhiol early in the morning. She gave him a look that told him she hazarded what he was thinking, then shook her head.

  “I’ll see you in the morning,” she answered, her tone neutral.

  Byran searched for something to say, but before he managed, Derrick bumped his horse into Byra
n’s. Catching Byran’s attention, Derrick gave Byran a glare reminiscent of years before, one that warned he’d gone far enough and anything more was insane. Byran let the apologies, explanations, and hopes go.

  A quiet buzz sounded before they found their pace and conversation again. Arinna’s horse rolled his eyes at the noise. She patted him before turning to Byran and Derrick.

  “I’m sorry to leave you before we reach the bridge, but this is business I must attend to,” Arinna said. “Until the morning, my lords.”

  She turned her horse and cantered off without waiting for a reply, jumping a low stonewall to cut across a pasture toward Rhiol. Byran stared after her a moment.

  “She is in charge of the Guard, and there was an incident of some sort last night, what do you expect?” Derrick asked Byran as he continued onward.

  “Hugs and kisses?” Byran replied with a grin. Derrick shook his head.

  Chapter 9

  THE LADY GREY

  REMINDERS

  “It must have been planned for months. This level of resources and strategy on the part of the FLF is ...”

  “Troubling,” Arinna finished for Jared, looking over the pages of reports and surveillance he and Kehm, their Chief Communications Officer, had assembled. “They planned the offensive well. I’m surprised we won.”

  “I’m always surprised when we win,” Jared said with a grimace. Arinna flashed him an amused glance.

  “You haven’t shared this with MOTHER yet?” she asked.

  “Nah, hadn’t gotten that far,” Jared said with a grin.

  Arinna snorted. “Let me guess, they’ve been asking for days.”

  “Maybe a few,” Jared admitted. “I can take it over this afternoon. It will be fun to deliver it while their lord and ladyships have tea.”

  “That’s alright. I’ll present it to them. That’s part of why I’m here.”

  “The other part being that they were trying to frame you for a coup attempt? Because I’m sure you had other ... things you could be spending your time on.”

  “Yes,” Arinna answered, purposefully ignoring Jared for a moment as she looked through the report. When she finally glanced at him, he looked like he believed she meant a better use of her time. She couldn’t suppress her grin any longer. “Idiot,” she said, hitting him with the sheaf of papers.

  “Well, what am I supposed to think, my lady? You’ve never had so much as a boyfriend in the last six years.”

  “And you think I’m going to start with a married man?” Arinna snorted, the amusement fading.

  “Not like we can marry while we’re Guard.”

  “How are your not-quite-wife and kids? You really need to take leave and spend some real time with them.”

  “Sure. Let the FLF know I’m busy for a few weeks and to stop bothering us, will you?”

  “Right after I talk to MOTHER, K?” Arinna paused, looking back at the maps in her hand.

  “What is it?” Jared asked her.

  “Something doesn’t sit right. It was a lot of effort. They’ve never spent so much time rigging a trap like this before.”

  “Desperate?”

  “That much in resources? I’m a little nervous they are doing so well.”

  Jared didn’t answer. He frowned and looked out the narrow window of his office. “Great, things are getting worse again with the FLF, and MOTHER is trying to get rid of you. Just great.”

  “Why do you think I came over to the continent? I can’t fight the FLF and MOTHER at the same time. We need to end this nonsense now.”

  “There is something more. I ordered Lieutenants Assad and Faronelli to give us a report on the status of their troops, numbers, and equipment.”

  Arinna froze with new fears. “You can’t be serious? You are worried about how many troops we can field?”

  Jared shrugged, not appearing as worried as he’d made her feel. “Did you expect we’d still be fighting three years after they officially declared the war over? You aren’t in the field much, and me only slightly more. I thought it was time we checked. You should be happy. Your cover regarding working with Gerschtein to tally the cost of the war gave me the idea.”

  “Fantastic. That makes me feel much more reassured.”

  Jared smirked, his somber mood disappearing as he asked, “So how did your date with Baron Vasquez and the Earl of Kesmere go?”

  Arinna took the bait, knowing full well she couldn’t grow tired of the war yet. It wasn’t over. “Very well, actually. I learned some useful information at the conference.”

  “Useful information, great. I would think the goal was a second date!”

  “Well, he invited me to a ball. Does that count?”

  “Really? Which one was that, the earl or the baron?” Jared asked.

  Arinna grinned at the sheer stupidity of the conversation. “The earl actually. Though the baron asked first. But as you pointed out, he is married. I have enough trouble with MOTHER; I don’t need that scandal as well.”

  “Might be a bit more fun than staged coups! You still think Minister Eldridge is trying to get to you through his son?”

  “You don’t?” Jared shrugged at her question. Arinna ran her fingers through her short hair. “I don’t know either. We went riding this morning, Derrick, Byran, and I. I thought if I spent more time with Derrick, he’d slip or ask questions that I know his father would want answers to.”

  “Like all the things you don’t tell MOTHER?” Jared said. “And he didn’t say anything?”

  “No, he seemed ... nice,” Arinna said, a little disgusted. “I almost think he is trying to be decent for Byran’s sake.”

  “No hidden agendas? How boring. Must not take after his father then. Though that explains why you said you’d be coming to base this afternoon when I called yesterday. I couldn’t figure out why you wouldn’t come immediately if it were important enough to come at all. You’ll have to let me know when your dates are so I don’t call at a bad time.”

  Despite knowing Jared was teasing, Arinna blushed. Her personal life, having a personal life, was not a realm she was used to thinking about. “Enough distractions, Captain, don’t you have a war to finish?”

  Jared rolled to his feet. “I’ll be in the command center if your meeting with MOTHER goes a little off.”

  Arinna snorted as she followed him out of the room, taking the report with her. “You really know how to inspire.”

  MOTHER didn’t officially exist, at least not anymore. Created as the Ministry Operations Targeting Holistic Emergency Response, their role had been to hold together Europe after the simultaneous attacks on each government destroyed the ruling bodies of Europe. That day had nearly crumbled Europe, granting an instant victory to the Freedom Liberation Front. But enough important and determined figures survived. MOTHER formed out of the most influential.

  They crafted the combined parliament that officially ruled Europe now, calling on the other surviving senators like Byran to serve and guide Europe forward. And when new members of parliament were needed after a death and a lack of a family member that the seat could pass to, MOTHER selected a replacement. Someone who would follow what MOTHER wanted.

  Arinna didn’t ask what that was. Ever since her break from Minister Eldridge, whom she’d worked for as the liaison between the Guard and MOTHER, she spoke to the seven members of MOTHER only when needed. The coup someone in MOTHER was trying to frame her for had already happened. Only she hadn’t taken over the government; she’d taken control of the armed forces. Her husband had been captain, the highest leadership position of the combined armed forces known as the Grey Guard, before Jared Vries. When Captain Michael Prescot had died above Kiev, Arinna had taken the military decisions away from MOTHER’s incompetent hands. It had been too late to save her husband, but not too late to save Europe.

  Because of it, the Guard had managed to drive the FLF out of Europe just when MOTHER had been ready to cave and surrender. MOTHER hated her as much as they needed her. The truce be
tween Arinna and MOTHER was uneasy at best, and now someone wanted to tip the balance, just when the FLF was trying new strategies. The timing was perfect.

  The seven members of MOTHER kept offices in the parliament building built from the remains of Smetana Hall in Prague. They hid in plain site as senior advisors. They were a cabinet of non-elected statesmen for a Prime Minister, who had been killed in the war and hadn’t been replaced. At least not yet. With parliament on summer recess so the members could attend to family and estates, MOTHER was easy enough to track down.

  When Arinna arrived at the closed door to the small conference room from where they schemed, she didn’t even bother to knock.

  “Good lord, announce yourself! We could have had you shot,” Sabana Pavia Casilla snapped.

  “With what? You would never allow a soldier in here, and the guards at the door know I just walked in,” Arinna answered.

  David Eldridge took a slow breath, easing himself into a semi-standing position as he glanced at his compatriots. The three men and three women seated around the table gave him their attention. “I believe Ms. Prescot is here to update us on the incident that happened in the Russian wasteland that we’ve been waiting to hear about. I hardly think you should be surprised, Sabana, that she would join us.”

  Eldridge always acted as Arinna’s advocate, at least in front of her. It annoyed her as much as the sound of a name that felt as foreign to her as her life before the war. She’d hated it when the Guard had begun to call her Lady Grey. But it was true. She belonged to the Grey Guard more than she did to the name she’d taken when she’d married Michael. Did widows get to drop names that no longer fit?

  “It must be important if you brought it here yourself,” Count Renault le Marc said. His breath wheezed as he finished. Suave and powerful, Arinna had once thought nothing would bring le Marc to heel, especially after he tied himself to Eldridge by betrothing his heir and daughter to Eldridge’s son. But age looked to be winning.

  “It is. Plus there is another matter that needs to be discussed,” Arinna said, dropping her stack of papers on the desk. Miralda Gerschtein shifted in her chair, but that didn’t prove guilt so much as indicated she was aware of the breach that had begun in her office of finance.