The Heart of War: Book Seven of the What's Left of My World Series

by C. A. Rudolph

  “I’m sorry to bother everyone, but Bryan and I need some help…we can’t find Emily anywhere. We’ve looked all over, and it’s been hours since we’ve seen her. We really could use some help looking for her. Has anyone seen her? Please, please, if you have, let us know! We’re really worried.”

  Peter backed away and shared a look of concern with his wife. “Emily missing? And those two watch her like a hawk; that can’t be good.”

  “It isn’t,” Amy said, finishing her drink and setting the glass down. “We should help them out. Warm up the truck. I’ll get Liam up and get the boys ready.”

  “What about the bottle?” Peter asked, dismay in his eyes. “And our date?”

  “Shelved for now,” Amy said, touching his chin. “We’ll pick up right where we left off when we get back.”

  Chapter 15

  A balmier-than-usual warm front had moved in and overtaken the valley, doing away with roughly every trace of frosty wrath that winter had dispensed. Spring was right around the corner, and above average regional temperatures thawed ice and melted snow, converting subdued solids and semisolids into crisp, animated liquid. Waters coursed from mountain tributaries into the valley; wet-weather becks and storm drains became streams; flowing creeks transformed into rivers. Trout Run had become a boisterous, raging torrent and was today nearing its twenty-year-flood stage.

  Lauren Russell stood atop the wooden bridge spanning its banks behind her home, watching as the murky foam raged mere inches beneath her feet, carrying with it a profusion of debris downstream. She knelt and laced her running shoes, took a seat, and reached for her toes, marveling at Trout Run’s display of power. Extreme forces of nature had always piqued her interest. They were deserving of both fear and respect, for very few things in the known universe possessed the power to overcome that which nature chose to heave. The only tool capable of coming close to pacifying nature of which Lauren understood was time. And time was one of nature’s own innumerable offspring.

  Fully stretched, she sloughed through countless muddy portions of driveway, accelerating into a warm-up sprint, and soon galloped her way onto Trout Run Road. She set her sights north and settled into her run, soon locating a familiar stride, one that would carry her from this end of the valley to the other, back, and anywhere else she chose to go afterward. Some days, she ran no more than a mile, and others, she exceeded three. Last Wednesday, when the air was still wintry, Lauren had gone ten miles without realizing until she’d done the math.

  In the weeks since her father’s return home, Lauren’s routine had fluctuated. She’d initially spent much of her time catching up with him, informing him of all that had happened while he’d been away, and helping him recall a number of events he’d misremembered. She’d wanted to spend all the time in the world with him, but Lauren knew it wasn’t fair to monopolize him like that, as she wasn’t the only person who had missed him and who needed him.

  Her sister Grace loved her father immensely and had missed him a great deal but had gotten over her sentimentalities in a matter of days, similarly to how she got over most things. It was just one of Grace’s many quirks. It was Michelle who necessitated time with her husband to rekindle a marriage and reacquaint herself with a love affair she had all but given up on.

  So, on the days her mother and father spent together, Lauren had been obliged to locate other chores to pursue. And with the valley’s security not being one of them, she’d gone about educating herself, picking up where she had left off as best she could from high school, since the collapse had prevented her from finishing. When she wasn’t reading, writing, or tuning her mathematics skills, she focused on physical education. Exercise had always kept her mood out of the clouds. It did a reasonable job of keeping her mind occupied, but try as she might, she could not prevent herself from thinking of John.

  Lauren often found herself considering the manner in which she had hurt him, how he had returned the favor, and dwelled on the fact that they were no longer together. Some days, she even hated herself for it, and thoughts of losing what they had worked so hard to keep drove her to the point of madness. She’d tried jotting her thoughts on paper in the form of a journal, but that didn’t seem to help matters. She tried writing notes to John, explaining how she felt and how sorry she was for everything. She’d even folded them up, stacked them, and kept them in her back pocket, intent upon hand delivering them someday, but had yet to gather up enough gumption to do so.

  The valley was a small community of people. John had been avoiding Lauren ever since their final conversation, and she recognized why. There were days when it didn’t bother her much; then there were days like today when she seemingly had no other choice than to pour all her emotions into her run, allow the external pains of overexertion to supersede the internal, and pray that she not injure herself.

  As she cleared the turn and started along the straightaway, Lauren spotted a slender figure wearing all black headed in her direction. As the figure grew closer, she recognized who it was. Jade had evidently decided to go on a run as well this morning. And as the two women passed each other, she threw up a hand and smiled at Lauren.

  Lauren waved back but held her smile. Jade was an acquaintance, much about her remained a mystery still, and of late, Lauren couldn’t help noticing that Jade seemed to be an adjunct to her almost everywhere she went.

  Jade’s arrival here had been nothing short of a surprise. The woman’s affection for Lauren’s father was considerable and had been easy as pie for Lauren to decipher, even at first contact. Lauren had confronted Jade about it, and to date, Jade hadn’t so much as overstepped, gotten in the way, or altered the family balance, proving thus far that she could be taken at her word. Still, Lauren wasn’t done figuring her out yet, and it seemed, in similar fashion, that Jade was attempting something of the same.

  Approaching the northern barricade, Lauren threw a waving hand up at two members of Dave Graham’s unit standing guard alongside a JLTV, recognizing one of them as Will Sharp. She smiled at him and noticed he was smoking a cigarette, most likely from one of the packs she had provided.

  Will called to her to come near and take a break, but Lauren thoughtfully dismissed him. She turned on the ball of her foot and began running in the other direction. It wasn’t long before she found Jade stretching and taking a breather along the route.

  Lauren slowed and gradually came to a stop to run in place a few feet away. “Morning. I never knew you were a runner.”

  “I never knew I was either,” Jade mused. “Sorry, kidding. I get that a lot. Truth is, I’ve been doing some form of the cardio thing for most of my life. It does a body good, you know?”

  “I do. I’ve been hooked since elementary school.” Lauren pulled a knee to her chest. “Well, enjoy. It’s a perfect day to run. See you around.”

  “Hey, Lauren, hang on a second,” said Jade, rising fully. “There’s plenty of road and only two of us, why don’t we run together?”

  Lauren hesitated, seeming skeptical. “Sure—just be forewarned. I keep a pretty swift pace.”

  “Is that your way of dissuading me?” Jade asked, smirking, her brows knitting. “Or saying you don’t think I can keep up?”

  “I didn’t say that.”

  “You didn’t have to. Look, Lauren…if you don’t want to run with me, just say so. It’s not a big deal.”

  “That’s not it at all,” Lauren stated. “I’m a solo runner, always have been. And I prefer to keep a pace that can sometimes be…strenuous.”

  “Strenuous I can handle,” said Jade. “How about this, we try running together. You worry about your pace, and I’ll worry about mine. If it works out, great. If not, no hard feelings.”

  “Suit yourself.” Lauren agreed to Jade’s terms, and the two women started off at a meager jog. They trotted side by side, remaining evenly matched for a distance, but it wasn’t long before the jog became a sprint. Lauren soon poured on the speed and was impressed with Jade’s ability to keep up.
Until now, no one in the valley could match her stride, and Jade seemed to have zero problems doing so.

  Jade had put on her game face today, but on the inside after a mile at this pace, she was struggling. She considered herself athletic, was slightly less than twice Lauren’s age, but her bones and muscles were nowhere near as puerile. She’d lived a longer life, had more time to do damage to herself, and she could feel those things now.

  Lauren increased speed in intervals. Her stride looked effortless, and Jade tried with everything to make hers look the same, but she felt every stretch, every pull, every bone-jarring heel strike, every gram of lactic acid building in her muscles, and resolutely fought against them all. There was no way she was going to let the younger woman outdo her.

  In opposition, Lauren Russell had no intention whatsoever of allowing Jade to show her up.

  And the race was on.

  Both women galloped with every bit of tenacity they possessed, harder and harder against each other’s pace, each trying desperately to beat one another, both exerting themselves into an adrenaline-fueled frenzy. It lasted for several miles until the duo reached the end of their ropes and yielded to fatigue, skidding to a stop in unison below the gravel entrance to St. James Church.

  Lauren keeled over at the hips, her chest expanding and contracting in heavy, rapid movements, her hands falling to her knees for support. Fighting for each breath, her mouth felt as dry as the Sahara. Shin splints were starting to take hold, and she could feel a tinge of pain in her previously injured ankle, but she steeled herself. She wasn’t about to let on to any of it.

  Jade was hunched over as well, mainly to catch her breath, but the position also opportunely hid her distress. The pain she was feeling began at her heels, extended through her hamstrings, and shot all the way through to her forearms. She must’ve been clenching her fists during the run without even knowing.

  “Jade,” Lauren panted, “why…are you doing this?”

  “Why am I doing what?”

  “This.” Lauren gestured with a hand. “Trying so hard…it isn’t necessary, really.”

  “Okay, first off,” Jade barked between breaths, feeling confronted, “I wasn’t trying hard. And, if I felt like it, I could…outrun you any day of the week.”

  “I genuinely doubt that,” Lauren shot back crossly, “but that isn’t what I meant.”

  “Then kindly clarify, if you would, please.”

  “Gladly.” Lauren inhaled deeply. “It just seems like ever since that day at the range when we…connected, you’ve been making it a point to be wherever I am…like you’re looking for some way to get close to me or you’re trying to figure me out. If it’s inadvertent, I apologize for assuming or even bringing it up, but it doesn’t feel that way, especially after today…and after this.”

  “Wow,” Jade wheezed, “you really are your father’s daughter, aren’t you? No word filter whatsoever, same as him.” A pause. “If you’re implying that I’m stalking you, fret not, young one. Not once in my life have I ever been a nuisance or a busybody. I’m a private person and I respect privacy. If I’m around when you are, it’s not…fully intentional. I just…” She trailed off, hand to her throbbing chest, candor on the edge of her tongue. “Dammit, Lauren, I don’t know anyone here…and no one knows me. I don’t know where I fit in or if…I ever will. But I’m trying. Christ…I’ve been beating my brains out trying so hard, I haven’t gotten anywhere, and I have no idea as to why. In my time here, the only person with whom I’ve come remotely close to relating is you. And you…you’re like some enigmatic, sharper, way prettier rendering of me with the same determination and attitude—half my damn age.” A pause. “I’m still the new girl; no one knows me or trusts me or seems interested in deviating from that. And it hasn’t been easy to accept, but it’s the hand I was dealt. I’ve just been…lonely, that’s all. Just lonely. But don’t worry, I won’t bother you anymore. I’ll keep my distance if that’s what you want.”

  Lauren looked to the sky, sighed, and plopped down on the road, bearing in mind the shitty way she was going about this. She’d been bestowed a bout of lonesomeness of her own, and now, she felt like a heel. “No, that isn’t what I want. I’m sorry, Jade, this is all coming out wrong. I was just trying to get to the bottom of something I didn’t understand. After you got here and we talked, I resolved to give you the benefit of the doubt, and I’m not doing it. Believe me, I know what being lonely feels like. I’m sorry for what I said.”

  Jade regarded her younger counterpart a moment while catching her breath. “Apology accepted.” She hesitated. “I don’t presume to know what happened between you and your boyfriend, and it’s none of my business. Relationships can be…tough sometimes, but you don’t strike me as the type who lets other people get the better of you. I’m confident you’ll manage.”

  “Yeah.”

  Jade turned away, debating the difference between what she was willing to divulge versus how little she had to lose. “The isolation I’m feeling…it’s an unfamiliar one for me. It stems from something else entirely…something a little more…out of bounds.”

  “What does that mean?” Lauren asked.

  “It’s personal,” Jade said. “You have to keep it to yourself, every bit of it.”

  “You have my word.”

  Jade regarded her, then looked away, not knowing where to begin. “This isn’t easy to admit, especially to you. I…I miss talking to your dad.”

  “Jesus,” Lauren blurted. “You were right. That is out of bounds.”

  “Just hear me out, please. It’s not as straightforward as it sounds.”

  Lauren didn’t say anything.

  Jade exhaled loudly. “Before we got here, he was the only person I ever talked to, I mean really talked to, and I guess, in a lot of ways, I considered your dad my best friend. I never really had one of those before until he came around. I never wanted one, either, but he wouldn’t take no for an answer. The son of a bitch made me talk to him. No matter how hard or how many times I pushed him away, he just kept coming at me, refusing to let me clam up. It was so strange; I found the more I talked and opened up to him, the more I liked doing it and looked forward to the next opportunity.

  “At first I was reluctant, but I ended up telling him literally everything about me…things about my past…things I never told anyone else before,” Jade continued. “He never once judged me, not one damn time, and there’s a lot about me begging to be picked apart. Before his accident, there wasn’t much about me he didn’t know.” She sighed. “It’s completely different now. I can’t have those conversations with him anymore, and it’s…bothersome. He’s home now, back where he belongs with you and with Grace and your mother, where he should be. And that leaves no room for me. It’s left me hanging, and I’m having a tough time with it…guess I never saw this coming.”

  Lauren folded her arms and tilted her head, still holding back from saying anything.

  The sound of an approaching ATV caught the women’s attention. They rotated north, spotting a blonde woman, wearing a flowing antique white sundress, riding toward them on a muddied, red Polaris ATV, her incredibly long matted hair whipping around wildly in the breeze. They moved out of the way to allow her to pass, only to have her stop between them and shut off her engine.

  The woman was middle-aged with wrinkled, sun-bleached skin. She was barefoot, and her feet bore calluses, indicating either a deficiency of footwear or a preference for being so. “Hi there, have y’all seen my girls?” she asked in a delightful Appalachian drawl, appearing both frantic and earnest.

  Lauren thought the woman looked familiar but was having trouble placing her. “I’m sorry, who are you?”

  “Oh, don’t be sorry, it’s my fault for not tellin’ yins. I’m Amber…Amber Brady. Not sure we ever met before; I don’t leave the farmstead much too often. My girls are Allison, Alli for short, and Annabelle; we like to call her Annie. Haven’t seen ’em for the better part of the day. We expect they’s
missin’. Me and Nicky, Bobby Jo and Austin been lookin’ all over for ’em but can’t find ’em anywheres. Sure y’all ain’t seen ’em?”

  Lauren felt silly in that instant. The woman’s looks and accent alone should’ve been a dead giveaway. She was the late Bo Brady’s widow, making her Austin Brady’s mother, though she failed to see the family resemblance. She’d only met the woman once, and it had been in passing, directly prior to the Marauders MC’s invasion of the valley and subsequent extinction. Amber and her three daughters were amongst those who had gathered inside Fred’s gun cave for refuge.

  “What do your girls look like?” asked Jade. “If you give us a description, we’ll keep an eye out for them.”

  Amber Brady used her forearm to toss the weight of her hair across her shoulder, then held her hand out to indicate how tall the girls were. “They both about yea big, and they both wearin’ dresses sort of like the one I got on. And they both got sandy blond hair like mine but not as long. I don’t have no pictures, never took any, never had no camera for doin’ that. Please, if you do see ’em or find ’em, snatch ’em up and bring their pretty faces home to me.” She regarded Lauren. “Y’all happen to know where we live?”

  Lauren sent her a reassuring smile. “We do. Not far from the bridge at the north end of the valley. I…know Austin.” She finished awkwardly, readying herself to expound further about knowing the woman’s late husband but decided against it. It didn’t seem appropriate, having witnessed his murder firsthand. “I’m Lauren, by the way. And this is Jade.”

  “Nice to meet you. And nice to meet you too, Jade. Sorry, can’t stay longer. Got to find my girls. I’ll tell Austin you said hi, Lauren.” She then started the ATV’s engine and sped off.

  Lauren watched her disappear in a cloud of gravel dust. “I wonder what that’s all about.”

  “Uncertain,” Jade said. “How often do kids go missing around here?”