“As soon as possible,” Jared said. “It is a long journey, especially before winter.”
“Not that you’ll tell us how far or why?” Derrick said, his tone more teasing than annoyed.
“No,” Arinna replied, not in the least bothered.
“And I should head back. Maureen will be awake by now,” Jared said, standing. “I brought you a few things,” he added with an amused look at Arinna that clearly said he thought she must have been running around Kesmere wearing very little.
Arinna hadn’t been back to Rhiol since the night of the ball five days before. Which actually worked quite well as Jared had taken up residence there along with Maureen and their three children as plans for the wedding only two weeks away moved forward in hurried, and much anticipated, motion. Isabella and Kehm Racée, the Chief Communications Officer of the Guard, had spent more time in Rhiol than Arinna the last few days.
“I will be over later,” Arinna said as Jared gathered his riding coat. She found it odd to see him dressed formally rather than military garb. But he was planning a wedding, not a war. Though that waited for them too. Jared cocked his head at her declaration. “Unless you left our lieutenants some rather grueling homework, we have other problems to attend to. Unfortunately, I don’t think they’ll wait for a few weeks. Have you decided on a honeymoon yet?”
“We can’t decide if we’d rather a vacation with or without the kids. So no, we haven’t picked a spot. At this rate, we’ll stay in Rhiol.”
“That sounds suitable,” Derrick said. “I like the current arrangement,” he added in defense as Arinna sent him a wry look.
“Not that I think getting ideas from the lieutenants is a bad idea, but you’re right. We need to look things over,” Jared answered seriously. “When do you want to meet?”
“After they are done with you for the day as far as the wedding planning, probably after lunch.”
Jared nodded his head toward the house. Arinna needed no further hint. She rose to her feet as well, brushing Derrick’s lips with a kiss before following after Jared.
Jared remained silent until they were out of earshot. “I like the idea of getting other opinions. Invite your boyfriend along, just tell him it isn’t a date.”
“You’re serious?” Arinna asked. Jared met her gaze. “He isn’t Guard.”
“I could swear him in, and promote him. He’s smart. I think he could help. It isn’t like I’m suggesting we include him in all discussions. Just the ones where we’re including the other lieutenants.”
“Beyond the fact I really like him, and thoroughly dislike the idea of breaking up with him since there is that whole not dating subordinates thing—a rule of much longer standing than the no marriage during active duty the Guard honored, I will agree he could help. And goodness knows his father couldn’t hate me more than he does now, I imagine.”
Jared’s speculative glance carried beyond her to where Derrick sat with Byran and Isabella. “You’re not actually in the Guard, you know,” Jared reminded her.
“That is a technicality, and you know it,” Arinna snapped. As true as what Jared said was, it was skirting a fine line, and it felt wrong. She slid her fingers through her short curls, pulling at the tips in frustration. There was only one answer, and Arinna knew it.
“I can’t make this decision for him,” Arinna told Jared. “You’re right. He is a good soldier, he is clever, and we have that in very short supply. I will agree he can join us, but you are making the offer to him.”
When they gathered in Arinna’s office in Rhiol later that afternoon, Jared laid out his offer and expectations to Derrick. It would be a quick reintegration to the Guard with a promotion to lieutenant when he was up to speed. Derrick listened attentively, sitting on the edge of his chair. Not an emotion crossed his face, but Arinna did not doubt what his choice would be. She had no idea what it would mean for their relationship.
She did her best not to have an opinion, or at least not appear to. But the offer made her nervous. When Jared finished, she had to force herself to meet Derrick’s gaze without flinching and revealing her unease.
Derrick’s silence held weight, but it only lasted a moment. “No,” he answered firmly.
Jared looked more surprised than Arinna felt. “Why the hell not?” Jared asked.
“I don’t want you to think I don’t want this. I really do, and have for years. But I’ve been thinking. There is no way you are going to send some kid with no training out into the wasteland to wherever someone who speaks fluent Russian or Mandarin is heading and expect them to survive. You need someone who is trained, but who won’t arouse suspicions to go with him ... and fund him if this is to look like an honest mission to find lost family. You don’t need me in the Guard. You need me to go on this mission.”
Arinna sat back in her chair with a whuff. Jared gave her a look that nearly set her laughing. Jared hadn’t seen Derrick’s leap in logic or planning either. They’d given him so little to go on.
“We’ve been dating—publicly for over a month by rumor. That will be known,” Arinna warned. “You have connections to the Guard and are a member of parliament.”
“You fought with the Guard in the war,” Jared pointed out.
“Some connections are inevitable,” Derrick said with a shrug. “We’ll have to risk the rumor of the relationship. It’s been long enough since I was in the Guard, and I didn’t go by my title then. No one knew me as the Earl of Kesmere. As for parliament, I’ve been an inactive member for years. I’m wealthy enough to fund a trip like this. We’ve officially been at peace for enough time to make such a journey feasible. And if you want to send someone out through the wasteland, you know they’ll need help to survive.”
“Shit,” Jared said, leaning against a bookcase from where he sat on Arinna’s desk.
Derrick was serious. She could see it. And that was when Arinna knew she loved him, even if what lay ahead, if he took this mission, took all the air from her so she couldn’t find breath to tell him.
She swallowed hard, pushing herself into strategizing to tamp down emotions. “This would help. The ideal time to leave will be right after the wedding, which means we need to start the arrangements now.”
“And we still need to find whoever I am to escort,” Derrick answered.
“Am I now the only one worried about what your father will do when he catches wind of this?” Jared asked, glancing between Arinna and Derrick.
Derrick waved away the worry. “I’m not speaking to him now. For all he knows, I’m on a boat to Africa. After sending Danielle back to her father and hearing about Arinna and me, I doubt he’ll want to speak to me anyway. It will buy us some time before he notices I am gone.”
“Do you even speak Russian or Mandarin?” Jared asked.
“No,” Derrick said with a laugh. “Not more than a few words. That’s why this will work. You need me to get our guy there and then fade into the background to lose suspicion. It will make sense he, or she, and I will be friends. Then I will be able to send you the information he gives me. You get the advantage of someone trained along with the innocence of someone with a good story to distract them. The ‘them’ I’m assuming is the FLF?”
Arinna did laugh then. Jared shook his head. “You said he was clever,” Arinna pointed out to Jared. “I don’t think we can argue with that logic. It’s the best option we have if we want to pull this off this fall.”
“We’ll have to start planning this,” Jared said, pinching the bridge of his nose. “Routes and getting him set up with equipment.”
“I’ll arrange it,” Derrick said. “If this is supposed to look like a mission to find lost family, I don’t think military supplies and a planned route are going to cut it. The less I know about where I’m heading and what is going on here, the better.” He paused after he said that, gaze jumping to Arinna’s. Derrick knew the risk; she saw in that glance, and he didn’t want to know too much if he ended up in the wrong situation.
“Then I think the next step is finding the person you are escorting,” Arinna said. “And we do need to set you up with some communications equipment. Don’t plan too much yet. It would look odd to find you’d scouted around for old maps of Russia before having someone to take.”
Derrick nodded. “I’ll see you back in Kesmere?” he asked.
“In a few hours. There are things here to go over,” Arinna answered. Derrick hesitated at the door, making her wonder if he regretted part of his decision. At the very least, she’d be able to ask him that later. They had the next two weeks together. Anything more was difficult to guarantee.
“His father will discover this eventually,” Jared said, arms crossed.
“I know. Hopefully, not too soon, though we should develop a way to deal with him when he does find out,” Arinna said. Jared gave her a calculated look. “Not that way!”
“I wasn’t thinking anything dire,” Jared said in defense. “How do you really feel about this?”
“Not thrilled,” she admitted. “But he is right. From what you’ve told me of his fighting in Voltzcrag and what I’ve seen when we’ve sparred, he has the skills. And except for him and I, the cover is nearly perfect.”
“I would think his father being secretly in control of Europe even less of an asset,” Jared pointed out.
“True, but one that is equally verifiable as having a rift. Derrick will be able to manufacture a story with enough truth to explain his connection. Honestly, the ties might help him. He is connected enough that if the FLF doesn’t shoot him on sight, they may want to keep him around to see what they can learn from him.”
“That’s a pleasant thought,” Jared said with a sigh. “We should use it to recruit whoever goes with him.”
Arinna threw a book at him. “Hopefully, our second addition is someone familiar to Derrick; though if it is someone Byran could have introduced him to that would work as well. The story is solid.”
“Well, I’m glad that’s fallen into place. Now if we can find enough troops to protect Europe, we’ll be having a good day.”
They spent the next hour going over troop numbers and equipment. The equipment list was short, but potent between the dactyls and the transport planes. Soldiers were a scarcer commodity.
“We have the troops stationed in Europe that are purely defense,” Kieren said over the video link. “They are trained, even if they don’t know about the war outside of Europe. We could transfer them to the active force.”
“It’s a valid suggestion,” Jared replied.
“They have families, which I’m sure they’ll share the information with,” Arinna pointed out. “That many people can’t simply disappear into the Guard without being noticed. But it is a good point. We have more trained soldiers. Increase their training exercises and recruitment.”
“So we have them if we need them,” Jared said with a smile.
“What about increasing current numbers if we are going to track the FLF to their base?” Farrak asked.
Arinna felt a twinge of guilt. Keeping Crystal City and the mission Derrick was about to undertake a secret from her lieutenants was against her instincts. But she couldn’t risk the information getting out, and the summer had proven secrets could leak even from within the Guard.
“We’ll have to keep working on that,” Arinna said. “Until then, we’ll keep the Guard on Europe’s borders. If the FLF want to cause problems, let them spend their resources to come to us for a bit.”
“Aren’t we going to check out the farms that Kehm found?” Gabriella argued. “We should be running recons over there.”
“We have the satellites to continue gathering information, and to keep looking for their base,” Jared said, his voice taking on an edge. “We’ve been fighting for nine years. I think we can take a break.”
“You look tired,” Arinna told Jared as they signed off the video call with Command.
“I’m preparing for a wedding while plotting to infiltrate an enemy we’ve known nothing about for a decade.”
“Good point. I think you need a drink,” Arinna said, steering Jared toward the kitchen.
Unlike at any point since she’d moved to Rhiol, the kitchen—really the entire manor, appeared lived in. The kitchen was filled with herbs and flowers, a dash of flour stretched across a counter while the smell of baking bread permeated the air. Sevrin, Jared’s eldest, raced through the room, banging the door as he dashed outside.
“Easy,” Jared called after his son.
“I like Rhiol like this. I should let you and Maureen have it, and I’ll move back to Prague,” Arinna said to him.
“Don’t tempt her,” Jared said. He was quiet for a moment. “Maybe when the war is really over. It would drive me mad to be so far from Command. I don’t know how you stand it.”
“I found a few perks,” Arinna said as she pulled out two beers.
The kitchen door opened again. When Arinna glanced up, Derrick stood in the doorway, his eyes bright.
“I thought you’d gone back to Kesmere,” Arinna said, startled.
“I only got halfway before I thought of someone you must meet,” he said, a slow grin spreading across his face.
Chapter 3
SECRETARY DAVID ELDRIDGE
THE NEXT PHASE
David looked at the printed aerial images a few bribes, and quite a few threats had bought him. The pictures were small, portions blurred by either the copy or the printing. It didn’t matter. What they showed elated him.
Small fields of green dotted the brown grassland. Roads were visible, ones that looked to have tire tracks and not merely the pathways of carriages. Roads, farmland, ditches that looked to be for irrigation, even a few buildings that could be like the work camps Arinna had reported being found in central America: it meant the Guard was closer to finding the FLF. As Miralda Gerschtein continued to whittle away Arinna’s support, David meant to be ready when she was finally gone.
The one problem in Miralda’s plan was that she threatened to weaken the forces that protected Europe. Not that Arinna herself would be a loss. The days she had truly been needed were gone. But though Miralda chipped away at the public image, and goodness knows what else that lifted Arinna to a heroine, she did little to damage the reputation and loyalty the Guard had of their unauthorized leader. When Arinna fell, the armed forces would stumble as well. Europe would be left open to attack. David would ensure he was there to prevent that.
He just needed to find a way to contact the FLF.
David checked the coordinates listed on the bottom of the image. Half an hour later, he’d managed to find a map that corresponded. The farms were in central India, which made sense considering the last outpost the Guard had taken down had been along the northwestern border. The location ruled out visiting the FLF directly, assuming the main base was somewhere nearby unless he gained access to a plane. And that certainly would be a difficult feat to accomplish and not have the Guard notice.
He was mulling over potential long-range communication methods when the maid knocked.
“Sir, Danielle le Marc is here to see you.”
David paused, surprised and annoyed at the same time. He’d told her never to come back. That she had meant things were either going very well and there was a wedding to arrange, or things had gone very bad.
“Is Derrick with her?” David asked.
“Not that I saw, sir.”
David frowned. He guessed things were going poorly then or the girl had given up. “Show her in,” he directed, shuffling the maps and photos off of his desk and into a drawer. He didn’t need word getting back to Derrick or Danielle’s father.
There was stiffness in Danielle’s gate as she entered, breezing by the maid with chin tilted upwards. It was a far sight from the poised and sensual gate she’d had the last time she’d visited his study. David waited until the door closed, and Danielle was seated before addressing her.
“I hope that you are here to deliver an announcement,” David
said.
“I am,” Danielle said, producing a letter from her coat pocket. She dropped a square invitation on his desk.
To his surprise, David’s hands trembled when he picked it up. That it was a wedding invitation, or at least one to a very formal party, was apparent in the crisp and very heavy white paper. After the last few years of minimum communication with Derrick, David never thought the engagement or his plans for his son would stick. So when he read the names of Maureen Simone and Captain Jared Vries, it took David longer than it should have to recognize whose wedding announcement he held.
“This is impossible,” David hissed. “It is fake.”
“No. I was in attendance at the ball where the wedding was announced. It is being held at the Lady Grey’s estate,” Danielle said, picking fuzz from the sleeve of her coat.
“There is a rule against this! The Guard cannot marry. The Captain of the Guard cannot bloody marry.” David rose to his feet, shouting the last.
“I don’t think they care about your rules,” she said. “Just as your son does not care about the engagement you forced him into. He threw me out of Kesmere.”
David stared at her. The stiffness suffusing her was brittle anger. Whatever had come to pass had insulted Danielle to her core. The years of sleeping with her gave him that much knowledge of the woman. As much as David wanted to yell or pick up the phone to call Arinna and demand to know what she thought she was doing, or even to call Derrick—if David thought his son would answer for once, but now was not the moment.
“Tell me what happened and what you learned,” he said to Danielle.
Danielle talked through dinner, telling David of her time in Kesmere with Byran and Isabella present in the estate.
“Did you see the Lady Grey? Is Derrick in contact with her?” David demanded.
“Not that I saw. I didn’t see her at all until the last night at the ball when she was there with Captain Vries,” Danielle said, looking away.
“When she made the announcement?”
After the War: Military Dystopian Thriller (Friends of my Enemy Book 2) Page 29
