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

by Autumn M. Birt

  CAPTAIN JARED VRIES

  CONFESSIONS

  “Derrick here and armed. Have you gone mad, Captain, or do you wish me dead?”

  “If he is a threat to you, then you are more out of practice than I feared,” Jared argued back though teasing in the hope of winning Arinna over. It wasn’t working.“I thought you were beginning to trust him?”

  “Somewhat. You would make light of this, knowing who he is? Who his father is?”

  “He is more than his father’s son,” Jared asserted.

  Arinna stared at him, steel in her blue eyes. “Are you certain of that? Certain enough to risk my life or to risk him seeing all of this? It will be difficult to hide a war from him if he stands in its secondary command center.”

  Jared’s gaze bored into the floor at his feet. He trusted his instincts.“I am certain, but I’ll talk to him to make sure he knows the limits of what he can say.”

  Arinna exhaled the laugh Jared had been trying to win. “Hedging your bets?”

  “This will work out for the best. You will see.”

  “You have never failed me before, Captain. I doubt you’ll start now,” Arinna replied, running a tired hand through her short curls. “I suppose it is no worse than any other rumor of Gerschtein’s that I’ve fallen into all summer.”

  “He lives next door. I’m certain we can keep this quiet at least.” Arinna snorted at Jared’s comment.

  There were days that Jared thought being Captain of the Guard and fighting a war Europe no longer knew existed was too much for him. Then he glimpsed Arinna, who felt the same way and had to smile in public at the same time. At least she spared him that.

  “Baron Vasquez is not quite what I expected,” he told her.

  “Hmmm ... do you mean you liked him more or less?” Arinna asked.

  They’d left an hour after Jared’s arrival, giving Jared a bit of time to reassure himself Derrick was the man he remembered: a good soldier and solid friend. The side benefit of meeting Byran as well had been highly unexpected.

  “I wouldn’t have guessed you’d like someone ... non-military?” Jared replied, realizing his teasing was actually an accurate statement as he said it. “His wife and children are lovely, though.”

  “Yes, I actually like Isabella,” Arinna said with a frown. She didn’t share the thought that spawned the expression though Jared could guess some of it. “And it is almost as much fun watching him deal with his children as it is you with yours.”

  “I think he was surprised that I had kids,” Jared said.

  “Because he thought you were married,” Arinna said flatly. Jared jerked at the realization that ran on the heels of what she’d said. He looked at her intently, but she ignored him. That she and Byran’s relationship ran that deep wasn’t something he’d expected or that she’d let on. “And seriously, everyone is surprised you have children. If it were any other woman than Maureen, I’d worry the war would be exposed, or she’d be demanding blackmail. She should be Prime Minister the way she handles everything.”

  “Don’t ever tell her that,” Jared warned, sending Arinna laughing. The wicked glint in her eye was not reassuring.

  “Enough, we’ve put whatever brought you here off too long. I’m hoping there is at least some good news to go along with it? Did you find our leaks?”

  “Leak. Yes, just one. A younger recruit, one that joined up since the war ended and is part of the Defensive force in Europe under Lieutenant O’Dell. He has a friend in Command that said a little too much on occasion. Apparently some of our soldiers forget that one branch of the Guard is not supposed to know about the other. The boy didn’t understand what he was shooting his mouth off about.”

  “Since he was probably rather young during the war and missed his chance to play hero and has been told the war is over, he probably had no idea what he was going on about,” Arinna said with a sigh.

  “Yeah, that about sums it up.” Jared felt the weight of the impossibilities he had to live and work within.

  “What did you do to him?” Arinna asked, amused again.

  “He’ll be defending some crop fields on the outer edges of Norway for a bit,” Jared replied, slightly envious of the young man. Guarding farm fields really didn’t sound too bad a job most days. “And Command staff are under strict discipline until they remember what they see and hear is not to leave the building.”

  “Well, that is one problem dealt with. So I will call it good news. What else?”

  “A twofold one,” Jared said, leaning against a console. “A few of the FLF prisoners are actually talking.”

  Arinna straightened. “That is new. These are the ones from the fake base?”

  “Yes. You won’t like what they have to say. Though I don’t think you’ll be surprised, MOTHER might be. But if half of what they are saying is true, we still have a fight ahead of us.”

  “What they’ve had to say is as bad as that?”

  “I went to ask myself when I heard two were talking. We’ll need to verify the information, which we’ll be able to do when Kehm gets the last of the satellites scanning this week. But from their stories, the FLF have control over most of the remaining arable land and resources in Asia as well as three potential cities.”

  “They could be lying,” Arinna said, crossing her arms.

  “Yeah, but considering they were begging to be allowed to immigrate and were crying just to be told they wouldn’t be shipped back to the FLF work camps, which is the punishment for failed soldiers by the way, I’m not disbelieving them. They seemed to think Europe was a mecca of peace and freedom. I think they might be right.”

  Arinna was quiet a moment. “Work camps?” she finally asked.

  “Like what we saw in Central America: resource extraction and farming with poor living conditions.”

  “And the goods go?”

  “One of the three cities. Crystal City is one, Irkrist the other and, Zuànshi the third. They are where the elite leaders of the FLF live in luxury,” Jared told her.

  “Oh, I want to go there,” Arinna said, eyes glinting.

  “We’ll find them. These soldiers have never seen any, but they say Irkrist is north and west, like what you thought. The others, they were not sure about.”

  Arinna was pacing again. “This week?” she asked. Jared nodded, knowing she meant the satellites. “Did they know anything of North America or the work camps over there?”

  “Not much. Rumors of rumors mostly,” Jared said with a frown. “They didn’t seem to know much about who they worked for as it is. They mostly monitored the work camps. They were sent to build and man the fake base three months ago.”

  “That is something, but not much. They seem to know about as much as the Defensive Guard,” she said. “Anything else?” she asked.

  “You are expecting more?”

  She huffed a laugh. “You know I am. The next test results are due. Tell me you have them.”

  Jared grinned. “I do. It worked. The shield held in testing.”

  Arinna’s smile matched his. “Finally. I knew we’d figure it out eventually. And it was a full-scale test?” Jared nodded. “I want it installed on my dactyl. The power cells should be strong enough to handle generating the shield for a short time.”

  Jared shook his head. “A few successful tests doesn’t mean the technology is ready for deployment.”

  “Don’t give me that, Jared. This is what we’ve been trying to recreate that crazy phenomenon for. If we’d—” Arinna stopped, swallowing her thoughts as she looked away. A breath later, she continued though her eyes shone with moisture. “We need this for our planes and the transports. Then we can also protect ground troops.”

  There was no way he could argue with her on that.

  “That just leaves MOTHER. Well Miralda more specifically,” Jared said.

  “Has she contacted you again?”

  “Nothing specific. Just assurances that MOTHER supports me and pleased that I am the one bringing in reports
, which has been lovely by the way.”

  Arinna smirked. “I’m sure. It has been a lovely break. Kehm hasn’t turned up anything on his surveillance of her?” Jared shook his head. Arinna sighed. “Either she is bluffing us and this whole spring has been chance or she is more clever than I thought.”

  Jared watched her muse for a moment. “Eldridge had no insight when you spoke to him?”

  “Nothing helpful. Admittedly I hardly told him everything. And you’ve seen nothing to indicate a move by MOTHER if they are actually behind this?”

  “It is as you said, MOTHER seems divided, split between Gerschtein and Eldridge. But I’ve only spoken to them briefly, and I don’t trust any of them.”

  “Nor I. If I did, I might have told Eldridge more and might be willing to trust his son,” Arinna said with a pointed look.

  Jared didn’t mind the need to stay in Rhiol in order to arrange a time to speak to Derrick. It was almost a vacation, something he hadn’t really had in eight years, to be out in the countryside. Even within Rhiol there was no obvious sign of the war unless you went into its depths. The next day he joined Arinna on a morning ride, trying to calm instincts misfiring and loving that there was no reason to be jumpy. The mist was mist, not gun smoke. A rustling was due to a startled squirrel. Finally pausing on a ridge to a view of still lakes under a dawn sky, he regarded the quiet farms and cottages.

  “I used to feel bad that you had to fight and pretend not to, but not anymore. Not when you get this too.”

  “Good. Then I shall invite you to the next ball. Have you learned to dance yet?”

  Jared snorted at her teasing tone. “What the earl hasn’t asked you yet?” he shot back.

  “The only thing I’m going to talk to you about Derrick is to ask if you’ve spoken to him yet,” she warned.

  “Fine. Let’s swing by so I can set up a time.”

  For a fairly simple request, finding a time Derrick was free turned out not to be easy. A promised outing with Byran and his family had Derrick tied up for the day. While Jared appreciated the peace of the countryside, he was anxious to return to base. Pretending to not be at war felt like a treacherous pastime that led to not taking the distant fighting serious enough. Like MOTHER was doing.

  Jared rode to Kesmere alone that evening, Derrick meeting him at the front door. Unlike the day before, Derrick’s hair was rumpled and shirt unbuttoned at the collar. He looked tired and not so much like the aristocrat that had hosted the afternoon gathering. Jared felt much more relaxed.

  “Long day?” Jared asked.

  “I’m not used to kids,” Derrick admitted with a chagrined smile as he led Jared toward the back of the house, which was quiet in the way a house could be when tired children, and exhausted parents, had found their bed.

  “I don’t think there is any getting used to them. Or maybe you do just about the time they become teenagers,” Jared replied.

  Derrick snorted as he closed the door to a small study lined with books and holding a desk along with two chairs set near a small fireplace. “We’ll have privacy in here. Everyone else is asleep,” Derrick told Jared. “Drink?”

  “No,” Jared replied, turning on his heel to take in the room out of habit. Memorizing exits had become a hobby.

  “So you are on duty then,” Derrick said, waving Jared to a chair. Jared paused in the act of sitting, tossing Derrick a glance before relaxing back. “Arinna is the same way. It is a good judge of her mood.”

  Jared laughed. “I never noticed that. Probably because we don’t keep alcohol in Command. I’ll have to rethink that,” he said with a grin.

  “I’ll give you a bottle to take back,” Derrick offered. He paused, sipping from the glass he’d poured himself. “Well Captain, you asked to see me?”

  “And you can’t guess why?” Jared asked, unable to curtail a desire to draw out information even when the person sitting across from him was a friend.

  Derrick shrugged. “Oh, it could be anything from the contacts Arinna challenged me to develop to reminiscing about the war. Though since you asked for privacy and are not drinking, I’m guessing not the latter.”

  “Actually, it is about my suggestion to have you practice sword fighting with Arinna that I made the other day.”

  “That requires a private meeting? I figured if you were serious, she and I would meet either here or in Rhiol. It has a good courtyard.”

  “It isn’t that easy. This is not mere sport ... and it is best to keep it out of anyone’s notice,” Jared said.

  Derrick frowned. “What kind of offer is this?”

  “To practice sword fighting with the Lady Grey. You are the best swordsman I know, and since the war I’ve met many who picked up a sword and called themselves that. But she is here in Rhiol more than in Command, and she needs to stay ready.” Jared cut off his sentence before he said more. Derrick watched him as if waiting for the information Jared held back.

  “She was injured earlier this spring during a fight,” Derrick stated.

  Now they were getting into territory that would piss Arinna off. “You noticed that? I wasn’t sure if you were friends then.”

  “We weren’t. Well, she was a friend of Byran’s. I’d just learned that. He noticed she was injured. She didn’t say where or how.”

  “Nor will I.”

  “But wherever or however it was, you are worried she is not practicing enough away from Command.”

  “You could phrase it that way,” Jared hedged.

  “And simply the act of possibly practicing sword fighting with her is enough to require a private meeting to warn me to what? Maintain secrecy?” Derrick asked.

  This wasn’t going as well as Jared had hoped.“You have no idea how tenuous her situation is,” Jared snapped at his former brother-in-arms.

  “Tenuous? She is your commander, the leader of the armed forces. I hardly see that as a fragile position,” Derrick shot back.

  Jared looked away from Derrick’s irritated glare. Perhaps Arinna was right to worry because the look in Derrick’s eye matched one Eldridge had given him less than a month before. He pushed the thought and memory aside. He trusted Derrick, and whether Arinna admitted it or not, this was something she needed.

  Derrick’s expression was more serious than hot headed when Jared turned back to him.“Yes, but she isn’t an officer. She has never been officially recognized as the commander. I am. She leads because we choose to follow her.”

  “That doesn’t seem so uncertain to me. Rather I’ve heard some people say the opposite; it is rather worrisome.”

  Anger flashed through Jared before he could control it. He rose to his feet and paced to the two windows set behind the desk, staring at the dark world without taking note of it.

  “Is that what you think?” Jared asked, watching Derrick’s expression in the reflection.

  Derrick’s jaw flexed, but his eyes lost the accusing glare. He ran a hand through his mussed hair. “No, not really. I barely know her, but she is not at all what I expected.”

  Jared turned back to face Derrick.“You know politics are involved as well as I do. The Guard supports her, but there are always younger soldiers who think they know better, or older who would rather follow rules and die. There were enough of those during the war. And I don’t think I need to mention some members of parliament to you.”

  “No, you don’t need to remind me of parliament ... or those who manipulate parliament. I know too well that they are a nest of ill will. Tell me, Captain, what is it you want?”

  Derrick looked worn out and like he very much just didn’t want to be used in someone else’s game. The day of refuge in Rhiol settled around Jared with a snap. Kesmere, a place away from Eldridge’s games, away from the Guard, just away. Now Jared understood and could appreciate what he was asking of Derrick.

  “What happens and what you see in Rhiol is not to go beyond its walls. I’m putting my trust in you. I know you deserve it.”

  Derrick met Jared’s gaze f
or a long moment. “That is all?” Jared nodded. “Yes, I promise.” Derrick looked away, but if anything his expression was more troubled than before. Jared waited, knowing truth came to the surface best in silence.

  “I want this, Jared, Captain,” Derrick began. “I ... nearly contacted you during the war. Lieutenant Averys was just waiting for my word. But I knew my father would never let me re-enlist. I’ve regretted that I never tried to rejoin every day since the war ended. I know there is more going on than the Lady Grey says. I swear I won’t ask, and I will tell no one. You can trust me, Captain. I belong to the Guard.”

  Jared held out a hand, which Derrick rose to take. “Come to Rhiol tomorrow afternoon. It’s good to have you back, Sergeant.”

  Chapter 25

  SECRETARY DAVID ELDRIDGE

  NEW MOTIVATIONS

  David Eldridge read over the letter in his hands once more. Even after three days, he couldn’t read the beautiful handwriting without a rush of anger. There seemed to be a lot of things Ms. Prescot hadn’t been telling him of late. That she was having an affair with his son, at least by all public signs, wasn’t one he appreciated hearing from a stranger. Not that the rumor would have been one he’d ever wanted to hear. It had at least managed to finally make David contact Danielle for the discussion her father had asked David to have with the young woman.

  Danielle breezed into David’s study with almost the same amount of familiarity as her father, Renault. She’d even outpaced the maid who had been sent to escort her through the house. There was quite a lot that David needed to speak to Danielle about. All seemed to involve propriety or at least the appearance of it.

  The maid arrived red-cheeked where she paused at the door. “Bring tea, Clara, and please close the door,” David instructed.

  Danielle remained standing in the center of the room until the door clicked closed. She sauntered over to David, her long raincoat slipping open to reveal a slip of a dark dress. Ignoring the letter David still held in his hand, Danielle leaned over to brush her lips across his, lingering in a tease of anticipation.

  “Is the man you are seeing that Renault knows about me or is there another?” David asked.