by Angela White
Every head swiveled as Neil and Marc stopped by the flickering bonfire.
Neil’s frown was harsh. “Says who?”
Guards murmured in surprise at the direct challenge, and the three dozen men chose that moment to get a better view.
Kenn tossed his butt into the fire. “The rules. He’s not one of us.”
“Yet,” Neil stated firmly.
Kenn said nothing, just waited for Adrian.
Everyone except the trooper was surprised when Adrian only shrugged.
“You don’t need me for this.”
His bored tone made Kenn flush.
“The rule is no unauthorized personnel. Marc’s authorized.”
“By who? You?” Kenn demanded.
“Adrian. The rules he made before you came still exist. The contest winner gets the title, no toilet crew while he’s the champ, and he’s offered a place with the new rookies.” Neil’s voice sharpened. “He’s going to be one of us, whether you want it or not.”
“I’ve never heard that.” Kenn’s voice was as cold as the wind, but inside, he was burning.
“We have the crews mostly covered now. Back then, we needed warm bodies on posts any way we could get them. Once they were shown the fort and evaluated, they were put to use. All of them are still Eagles. We don’t use some of the old rules, but we still need good men. That much hasn’t changed.”
There was no note of accusation in his tone, but Neil’s countenance overflowed with contempt.
Kenn hated him for it, knowing he had lost again. “He hasn’t been evaluated.”
Neil blew out a frustrated breath at having to drive in his point. He enjoyed drilling people. He didn’t like being cruel. “He’s as good as Kyle and his team. You just don’t want anyone to know. Give him a test. He’ll pass.”
“Not right now,” Adrian interrupted, admiring Neil’s ambush. “We’re busy. Marc stays. Let’s get going.”
Kenn snapped his mouth shut on another complaint, and every man waiting to be tested suddenly hoped desperately not to draw his name for the Cage.
“Who has inside?”
Doug motioned at Adrian’s question, swollen nose starting to fade into deep shades of purple and green. “Me. Kyle traded.”
“Good. Pick your first sacrifices.”
The big man pointed at waiting guards, and Marc stayed with Neil, taking a minute to do as the cop had asked–gather information.
The tent behind them was gigantic, shut on three sides. The outside area was lit by lanterns and the bonfire, as was the smaller tent to their left. Marc saw efficient organization and no boredom or signs that these men were being forced. There was only a strong determination to succeed that he recognized from the green recruits on the base and from himself, as well. These men wanted to be here.
“There’s a reason we’re here.” Adrian’s voice got everyone’s attention. “There’s a reason we made it this far when so many of those we left behind did not. There’s a reason we were spared.”
Aware he would have Marc’s ear for the next thirty seconds, Adrian used it as much as he could.
“It wasn’t luck or coincidence or even skill that brought us here. It was fate. We were meant to carry on, chosen to save our country.” He met Marc’s eye before glancing at his men. “More are coming. We’re not complete, probably not even by half yet. Together we’ll be strong enough to start over, to keep America and some of her people alive.”
Adrian paused to scan them. “Now, if that’s too much for you, or you don’t want to think about the future, don’t care, then you shouldn’t be here. Doubts are normal, but they don’t belong in my army. When you’re done, want out, it’s okay, with no fights or bad reputation. These are things that I tell the rookies during their first tests. You’ll hear it repeatedly as you pass through the levels because I need you to believe in it as much as I do or this won’t succeed.”
Adrian gave Doug a gesture. “They’re all yours. Be gentle. It’s their first time.”
The other men laughed as ten nervous guards followed Doug into the privacy of the tent.
“I’m out here for a while, and then we’ll go in.”
Marc nodded at Neil’s words, watching a large black hat be passed around the remaining males. Each one drew a slip of paper from it, followed by groans or grins.
Marc hung back as Neil joined Kyle and Kenn by the smaller tent that sported a number of banners, an American flag, and a simple name: The Cage.
“Trainers.” Adrian held out another black hat to Kenn, who drew a paper and passed the hat to Kyle. Neil also drew a slip from that one..
“I have…number one,” Kenn growled for drama.
Kenn snickered at Kevin. The rookie had just gone green.
“I’ve got Kenn too. Shit.”
“I’ve got Neil.” Seth, full of arrogance and unintentional disrespect, called, “You’ll take it easy on me ‘cause we’re buddies, right? You scratch mine, and I’ll do yours?”
“Maybe, if you blow me first,” Neil taunted. “I’ll only give special treatment to my bitch!”
There was loud, mocking laughter from the listening men, and Seth’s amusement faded, hearing the tone that said Neil wasn’t kidding. “I thought we were friends.”
Neil took off his gun belt. “We are–the best–but here and now, that means shit. I’m what stands between you and Level Three status. I won’t just give it to you or anyone else.”
Neil finished his warning as Kevin and Kenn entered the cage.
“What we’re doing here matters, Neil; I know that. I was running off at the mouth,” Seth tried to apologize.
Neil’s frown didn’t change. “Yes, you were.”
He left Seth off balance and unsure what to expect.
Marc saw Adrian’s glance of approval and understood that here in Fort Haven, it was all about the lessons.
“This is simple. My dog tags are in a corner of the tent. Return them to me, and you pass. The limit is ten minutes.”
Kevin’s fight was almost an exact copy of Seth’s first test, and Marc, too, felt that moment when the cab driver realized he wanted this bad enough to keep going despite the pain and the odds.
When Kevin’s bloody hand finally held up the metal tag, Adrian was there to take them, and Marc joined in the cheer, connected to them in spite of himself.
“Time?”
Kyle had the clipboard and stopwatch, and he glanced up from writing. “I forgot to hit the button. Do it again.”
Kenn spun toward the tent, and Kevin’s face fell, making men laugh.
“Four minutes, fifteen seconds. No record.”
“Pass. Go to Doug. Next match.”
10
True to his word, Neil had no mercy on his friend.
Marc was impressed with Neil’s command of his body, as he smoothly blocked, tripped, and kicked. When Seth finally got mad and started to really fight, Adrian gave Neil a subtle signal.
“Where’s our friendship now?” Neil questioned snidely.
Seth shrugged, dripping sweat as they circled. “Rules are rules. I’ll follow ‘em.”
Neil crooked an insulting middle finger, “Come on, then!”
Seth came in low, sidestepping at the last minute to avoid the trooper’s swing, and he landed two hard fists to Neil’s gut that had him retreating.
Neil recovered fast and delivered a roundhouse kick that knocked Seth to his knees.
“Do it again! Do it right!” he shouted.
When Seth tried to, Neil got him in the shoulder with a knee.
Seth’s reflexes kept him in the battle, sweeping with his own leg.
Neil used Seth’s momentum to slam him to the ground. “Get up! Be an Eagle!”
Seth was on his feet a second later, and his angry swing made Neil grunt.
Seth hesitated to hit his friend again, though, and Neil’s uppercut was brutal. It sent Seth back to the ground. “Never hesitate! Don’t you want this?”
The cops we
re both bloody and drenched in sweat, but Neil didn’t even sound winded. Third in command and definitely on that dangerous people list, Marc confirmed for his mental files. Neil was also a lot more than what he appeared to be.
It took Seth almost the full ten minutes, though Marc was sure Neil could have held him longer.
Everyone except Kenn was glad to witness the two men sharing grins when it was over, instead of harsh words.
“Pass. Go to Doug,” Adrian instructed. “Kyle’s next. If you drew his number, hold it up and he’ll pick one of you. If you just came from inside, pick a number out of the hat and get ready.”
Kyle indicated the larger of the two men who had his number, giving the stocky rookie a menacing stare as Neil returned, bottle of water in hand.
“This should be interesting,” Neil said. “Kyle and Adrian suspect he’s gay and want to expose it to the Eagles.”
“How, by beating it out of him?”
Neil snorted unhappily, took a long drink as Seth ducked inside the tent. “It’s not funny how some of the worst shit never changes, always seems to have a place, but here, it does. If you can’t fight, this is definitely the wrong career choice. Better if he finds that out now.”
“It sounds like the same old shit.” Marc’s voice was low, telling Neil he hadn’t forgotten where they were, but his tone was offended.
“Try it from another angle and it might help you to understand,” Neil suggested. “What happens in the future, when we settle down? Do the problems go away or start up again?”
“It gets right into what it was, but it’ll take time for that to happen,” Marc predicted. “There’s no need to handle it now.”
“Adrian’s vision of our new world does not include the problems of the past,” Neil pointed out the difference. “He’s tackling all of them at the start, trying to plan and eliminate the threats to our survival. This is one of them.”
Marc could feel himself getting angry. “How did the gays cause the end of the world?” The things these people told themselves!
“The same way the wars that we were fighting did, the same way immigration and economic threats did. Smoke to blind us, and it succeeded. No one knew what the government was doing for those years before it all fell down. We were too busy being part of the problem and killing each other over the scraps from their table. And it was the same around the world. We let the war happen because we let our differences divide us.”
Adrian heard, and he stopped a frown at Neil’s limited understanding of the master plan on this issue. Only Kyle knew the truth, that eventually, both women and homosexuals would be a part of his army. There was only one way for either of those things to happen–a representative would have to step up and carry the heavy duty of being the first.
Adrian moved toward the cage, giving Kyle a negative motion when the mobster would have enlightened the talking men. Like with Angela’s gifts, homosexuals in his army had to be handled one stage at a time. First, was exposure. After that, was reaction and possible recovery from the lie, with the benefit of respect for not quitting. If Ray got that far, more could come of it.
“But beating them? What comes next, banishment?” Marc was struggling to keep the conversation private. “How will that fix a future problem?”
Neil ignored the sarcasm. “It won’t fix it, but it will eliminate it from this group. And not by bad methods, either. Ray volunteered to be an Eagle. He wasn’t singled out, and if he honestly thinks he can be one of us, the truth has to always be the truth.”
“Why not talk to him?”
“Because he already lied by pretending otherwise. He leers at women, says he has a thing for Becky. It’s gone too far for a simple conversation. He’s hiding.”
“And the camp agrees with Adrian handling it this way?”
“The camp doesn’t know there are homosexuals here!” Neil was horrified. “If they knew, they’d kill them, and Adrian wouldn’t be able to stop it. That was a part of the old world, and these sheep will turn into wolves at the sight of it.”
Marc let that sink in. Adrian was trying to protect them?
No. Adrian was one of the wolves watching for the old world too. He just didn’t want his sheep to turn into a lynch mob and maybe lose leadership.
“Why not tell them to leave when you find out? Why go through all this?”
Neil let out a disappointed grunt. “You’re so quick on the pick-up that I forgot you’re a rookie. Look around, Marc. What does Adrian’s leadership scream, more loudly than anything else?”
Marc clearly wasn’t sure what to say, but Neil waited, certain the Wolfman would get it. They all did.
Struggling, wanting to understand how they could all be okay with such horrid reasoning, Marc pushed past his anger to think about the Safe Haven he’d distinguish but hadn’t wanted to acknowledge.
“Light…hope…he cares about them.”
“Not just about the ones already here, all life. You’ll recognize it in time,” Neil said. “Even those we turn away, he misses.”
“He wants them to stay,” Marc realized.
“More than that. He hopes for their differences to be admitted to and conquered.” Neil understood more than Adrian or Kyle thought he did, but Neil didn’t think it would ever happen, and he’d given Marc that view first.
Neil signaled toward the cage, where Ray and Kyle had started their challenge. “That one, however, probably won’t. He’s lied too many times. For anyone to be accepted in Adrian’s army, that’s the number one thing you never do to the boss. We won’t forgive it.”
Both of them were thinking of Kenn now, and they turned to view the match.
11
Eight minutes later, Kyle hadn’t taken a single hit, and the rookie was on the ground, bleeding and gasping for air. The dog tags were still in the far corner.
“Get up!” Kyle ordered. “Get up or get out!”
Ray struggled to his feet, and gestured angrily, all pretenses gone with the pain and blood, as the trainers had known it would be.
“I belong here too!”
“Prove it. Be a man!”
Ray came in too low, letting his anger at the insult drive him, and Kyle used it to throw him back to the ground. He smirked in satisfaction when the rookie let out a cry that was much too feminine.
Marc detected Adrian’s signal, and when Ray got up, swinging wildly, Kyle let the hits land, and the football coach darted for the tags.
Metal now in hand, Ray’s fists clenched when he realized he had to get by Kyle again in order to give them to Adrian.
“Don’t hesitate. I’m just a man,” Kyle coached, surprised the bleeding rookie hadn’t given up yet.
“Yeah, one who loathes me.”
Kyle shrugged. “It doesn’t matter. All of our enemies will hate you. Your belief in yourself has to overpower that fear. If you can’t control your need to hide or beg for mercy, you won’t survive here, and neither will any of the others who think we don’t know about them.”
Ray started to lie again and Kyle got angry. “Why don’t you quit, leave? Take your friends with you!”
Ray’s eyes glazed over with fury as he advanced. “You keep them out of this!” He drove his head into Kyle’s gut, bringing them both to the ground.
As the buzzer sounded, Adrian was there to take the tags that the panting rookie held up.
“Stand up.”
They both did, Kyle moving toward where Kenn stood.
Adrian gestured at the rookie. “Pass.”
Ray stared at him in disbelief, his breathing rough. Blood dripped from numerous cuts and small gashes. “What?”
Adrian’s voice softened. “You’ll pay a higher price for it than my other men.”
“Because I’m gay.”
“Because you’re not really one of us yet.”
The rookie’s face fell at the words, and Marc listened closely, thinking everyone felt this urge to serve the blond. Was it in the air? The food?
“T
he war came and blew it all away. We’ve started over. You’re still lurking in the past, not sure which way to go,” Adrian exposed his shame. “People know the difference, they feel it. You’ll work twice as hard as any man will in my army, and you may still never get the peace and acceptance you long for. Be sure, Ray.”
Adrian’s gaze shifted briefly to Kenn’s unreadable countenance. “You can survive here while continuing the old ways. A lot of things that are discreet will be tolerated, but unless you change, you’ll never be an Eagle.”
Ray’s voice was icy. “You mean go straight.”
“Change is different for every man in my army,” Adrian said. “The only wrong choice is lying about it. The truth always shows up at some point.”
He turned back to the men. “See Doug. Next matchup in the Cage is Kenn. If you just came out, draw a number from the hat.”
An hour later, Marc and an exhausted Neil entered the big tent, the pungent smell of hay filling their noses.
Doug held up a lantern. “We’ll match for a few days.”
The two men gave Marc a pointed stare, and he understood it was another way they would be able to help. Conversations over black eyes wouldn’t be about just him and Kenn now.
“The small hay room is an improvising test. The men have a certain amount of time to make something from what’s there, usually a sort of communications device. The cubicles are much the same, but each Level’s goals are harder.”
Neil pointed things out as Doug went by, supervising.
“Do you use your own list of ideas or what Adrian and Kenn provide?” Marc asked, watching Seth’s fingers fly over a nice 9mm that his blindfold kept him from viewing as he did it.
“Both. For Doug, who served, it’s okay to invent his own.”
Neil gave him a glance that said Marc, too, would use his own experience when he got this far. “The big hay room is memory, alertness, and thinking. They may have to stare at doors and use the clues on them to find someone or something. Another level might be asked to view people or things, and then be hit with questions when they come out, like what color were his socks, which window had curtains, or even which one had the hidden grenade. The higher the level, the harder the questions are. Each member of the team must pass six of seven parts. If two or more fail, none of them advances, and they all repeat the course with the next group. Adrian’s goal is to have all the camp’s men in training by the time we settle somewhere for the winter.”
