by Angela White
“She’s finally running out of things to throw at us, maybe.” Kenn offered.
“She’s only used her energy store,” Adrian corrected the impression that nature had a limited arsenal. “This is the growing season. She’ll rest through the fall. And come winter...”
Nearly everyone began working on it mentally, and Angela leaned toward Marc, smiling.
Marc knew what she was doing and let her. He was no longer above using her manipulations to get what he wanted. In fact...
Marc flashed a wild leer. “I’ll be up.”
Angela flushed furiously, head dropping to hide her pleasure. She really did need to thank Adrian for releasing that tiger.
Adrian studied the small line outside the hair cutting canvas and spotted Lee on duty outside the smelly tent. Adrian gave that tired man a hard look. It was obvious that Lee still wanted Candy. Why hadn’t he pulled her in yet?
He’s making it clear where his loyalties are, Angela sent. When he thinks she understands that, he will.
Satisfied, Adrian stood up. “Be ready an hour after mess.”
Angela didn’t waste the time. She pressed a fast kiss to Marc’s cheek and went to their tent to gather her gear. After that, she would pick her girls and they would spend an hour or two working out before the run. Rookie nerves were nothing to be taken lightly.
Before she made it to the couples’ area, Angela had a surprising pair of footsteps on her heels. She paused outside the flap, studying them.
Jennifer didn’t bother to stand up straighter, the way Leslie was doing, but she did make sure to maintain eye contact. The chances of her being allowed to go were slim, but she wanted Angela to know she was capable of some duties now.
“Consider it noted. And no. After.”
Jennifer left without the disappointment the others would have felt. Unlike most of them, she knew she wasn’t ready.
Angela studied Leslie and her fat lip for a long moment, still not liking her much. “Can you be trusted?”
Leslie frowned. “With which secret?”
Angela snorted. No denying that. “All of them.”
Leslie hesitated, thinking her own skin didn’t have the same glow as Angela, but at least she wasn’t showing any gray yet. “I assume that’s part of the job.”
Angela couldn’t bring herself to accept the answer. “Next time, maybe.”
Leslie’s shoulders drooped. “I’m not sure what I’m doing wrong with you.”
“That makes two of us,” Angela admitted. “We’ll both work on it.”
Leslie nodded, moving away, and Angela ducked into the tent before anyone else could spot her. She required a minute to decide who she needed to take. The rescue team was set to go into the city tomorrow, but she had to have the most serious of her team tonight–the ones who were already capable of killing. There was only darkness when she searched, and she had little doubt that Adrian knew trouble was coming, too.
3
“You got all that covered?”
Marc slid the envelope into his coat pocket. “The Eagles will help me through it, I’d guess.”
Adrian leaned back, mental shield at full strength. Marc was in no mood for accidentally discovering anything.
“Home by dawn?” Marc queried curtly.
Adrian didn’t answer, mentally adjusting. When it came to Angela, the wolfman was sharp.
Marc pushed the chair back, and stood up. He didn’t shout or accuse, or even speak at all. He only glowered in hatred.
Adrian let out a harsh sigh. “I should have known better than to keep you out of the loop.”
Marc folded his arms over his chest instead of lunging. “Tell me.”
“The number of people watching has increased each night. They’re building up their numbers in plain sight while we clear the road to the kids. They’re ready to attack, and I plan to use the chaos to slip underground and find my son. I need her along for that.”
“Your what?!”
Adrian waited, letting it sink in. Marc was incredibly smart. He’d likely get it all.
Marc dropped heavily back into the chair as the pieces began to fall in place. So many lies! And none of that mattered to him now.
Marc locked eyes with their leader. “What if you can only save one of them?”
Adrian let the lie spill with no guilt, “I’ve already left him for dead. He’ll expect it.”
And the truth? He loved them both, though it was something Marc would never be strong enough to hear. Adrian wouldn’t abandon one or the other, but he would trade his life for either.
“She’s alone in Kyle’s tent. I have her doing make-work to settle her nerves. She needs to be fed before we go.”
Marc’s pulse leapt eagerly, but his anger didn’t fade.
Adrian dropped his jealous gaze back to the notebook. “She needs as much as you can shove in there. When we get to the kids, she’ll drain herself to ease their misery.”
Marc headed for the flap. That was Angie–give it all away and keep nothing for herself. And, as usual, that would put her in danger.
“You’ll stand watch?” Marc asked, not turning around and throat-punching Adrian like that inner voice suggested.
“Yes.” Adrian stood up as the flap closed, gut burning.
He was hours away from the end of a six month leadership that couldn’t compare to anything else he’d ever done in his life. A few hundred minutes from losing it all.
Adrian was fighting panic-laced depression, and Marc needed to be very careful with personal challenges, even ones only made with his eyes. Adrian now understood how Kyle felt about Jennifer.
If I’m damned anyway...
4
Marc ducked into the next tent, watching Jennifer openly take a place on guard duty with Kyle. Charlie’s words came to him, but after letting it go so long, Marc wasn’t sure Kyle would welcome a gesture of friendship.
Marc sat down quietly, always a little amazed at the things Angela could do–and this time, he was a touch bitter, as well. If not for her gifts, he might be going with Adrian and coming home to her.
His scent floated to Angela, that deep musk she craved. Her lids flew open.
“Sorry. Didn’t mean to startle you.”
“You didn’t,” she stated, locking gazes with Adrian over his shoulder as the blond took up a post just inside the noisy flap. Was that jealousy? His relief source must not be that good, she thought.
“He sent me to feed you.”
Everything flooded in a guilty mess, and Angela stiffened, embarrassed. “I’m fine on my own.”
They both heard Adrian’s snort.
Marc rested his arms on the wooden table. “Take what you need, and use it to keep a shield around yourself. I know that you can.”
“All right, Marc.” She gave in without more arguing, understanding how hard it was for him to let her go at all. Angela slid her hand into his, ignoring his intake of breath and her own racing pulse. “Close your eyes.”
“Not on your life!” Marc retorted.
Angela rolled her own before closing them.
Marc’s fingers wanted to caress her skin, but he kept still as the wind picked up, blowing her dark hair around. The world shifted suddenly, and he was forced to close his lids as the drowning sensation began to wash over him.
The force increased, and she tightened her grip, drawing. Neither saw the bright blue sparks around their hands.
Adrian did, expression layered in mental agony. He hadn’t thought Marc was like them, but that bonding blue said otherwise. What else hadn’t he noticed about Angela’s wolfman?
Angela pulled her hand free–it had become a caress on her part. When she opened her eyes, Marc was staring at her with concern.
“It’s enough?”
His energy was coursing through her body like lightning and she grinned. “I’m full up.”
She glanced over his shoulder at Adrian, who still stood in the doorway, and back. “Did he ask you to keep an eye on
Jennifer?”
“No.”
“He’s worried about her giving birth while Kyle’s gone.”
“I’ll take care of it.”
Marc’s concern for her flared hotly, and Angela gave him what he needed. “I’m coming back, Brady. On my own feet this time.”
“You’ve seen it?”
“Yes.” Angela was glad she didn’t have to lie. “Two days, maybe a little longer, and I’ll be here.”
Marc let himself breathe, leaning forward to press his mouth to hers. They’d shared a much more private goodbye this morning in their new tent.
“Miss you already,” he whispered against her lips.
Angela smirked. “You still smell like me.”
Marc groaned in desire, but knew not to follow it with a crude remark. Having her spread open before him like a buffet had been amazing. And extremely frustrating.
Angela laughed. “Go get our boy, will ya? I want a few minutes with him before I leave.”
“He’ll find you after his shift at the mess. He’s helping Li Sing.”
“Okay.”
Marc waited for Adrian to move out of his way before getting close. “You’ll look after her?”
“If she needs it,” Adrian stated evenly, locking down on everything.
Marc forced himself to walk away, going to the next tent. He needed a workout.
“Who goes?” Adrian asked, staying back. He knew what it was like to be so full of energy and have nothing to do but wait for it to be needed.
“No one,” Angela said firmly. “They’re not ready.”
Adrian approved the choice. It was the one he would have made, but he wouldn’t have overruled her. Team leaders had to be given support, even when they made the wrong decision. If she’d chosen to bring them along, he would have let them do a safe shift and had them escorted back.
Angela was high on Marc. She hadn’t had so much of his energy since they’d made Charlie and need was smoldering. She kept her head down until Adrian was gone and then went to the training tent, where Marc had just started to work out.
She didn’t say anything–didn’t need to.
Marc took it in, grinning in surprised happiness. Her face was full of flaming need.
“Now?” he asked.
“I’ve got half an hour.”
Marc started to grab a towel and follow her to their tent, but she slipped into the small hay room, waving her shadows to stand watch.
For just an instant, Marc lost the mood and gained a flash of Adrian that chilled him. She’d chosen a relief source.
That’s you, jackass, the inner man reminded bluntly. Get in there!
Marc had also chosen his, eased it into need and desire with a gentle touch, and his reward was almost at hand. In a half hour, they would both be pleased. When she came back from Little Rock, he intended to be satisfied.
The mood flared back, bright enough to burn, and Marc dropped his coat in the doorway. “Close those beautiful eyes, baby, and lean against the wall.”
Adrian continued on his rounds, pushing back the bitterness. She was happy. That was what mattered.
Adrian neared the vet setup, approving of the new animals. With the constant additions, the area resembled a small zoo now. Pens and corrals, and crates sat in carefully thought out correlation to form a winding circle, with Chris’s tent and metal table in the center.
Across the deserted two-lane street and through the moldy, surviving fields of wheat, the only building in sight was a weather-beaten nursing home. Adrian had sent a team to explore it as soon as they’d arrived. With the care facility sporting that kicked-in door they all now took as a clear sign that the draft had come through here, he had expected only a few boxes of supplies. Instead, he now had a new group of sheep. The entire third floor of the brick nursing home had survived–twenty eight more hungry souls who were instantly bonded to Safe Haven’s leader.
They hadn’t planned to come out of their barricaded level until all their food was gone, it was how they’d survived the looting after the war. When the Eagles had come through, thinking it was abandoned, the residents had tried to fight for their remaining rations. They’d quickly been persuaded to come along, but not before Kevin had earned a nasty cane mark across his arm and a new respect for the elderly.
“Oh, Marc!”
Angela’s passion-laced voice echoed through the trees.
Adrian’s stomach tightened, fists clenching. I have to get over this!
5
At dusk, the mission team rolled out.
Angela had been thrilled to be cleared for the run, but the sight of where they were going took that feeling away. In fact, there was a complete sense of doom riding the thick air over the Little Rock skyline. The clouds hung in an ugly gray that was the shade of old concrete, perfectly matching the color of the rubble below.
Adrian picked up the mike. “Radio silence, by 9.”
Angela automatically switched to channel 18.
Adrian started the engine, slid his sunglasses on, and got them moving.
As the mission team cleared the trees, Angela began to study the destruction with the powerful binoculars Adrian kept behind his seat. She could still hear that awful moan from the recording in her mind as she concentrated.
“We have movement behind the brown trailer,” Kenn reported on their private channel.
Adrian keyed the mike once to show he’d heard, but said nothing. He switched on the second CB system and put it on the channel where they’d first heard the kids.
As they neared the crumbled city, the mission team was reminded of how these scenes always appeared so unrealistic in cheap films. Except, with the windows down they could smell the bodies. Most were only skeletons, flesh gone to predators, and the team could hear the hordes of flies that circled and stopped, circled and stopped. This was no movie set.
The grass was dead too, replaced with thick mud from the water rising through and over the land. It should have drained, but a cluster of ships had been washed upriver by Hurricane Amanda, forming a thick blockade with the wreckage. As a result, the river had been backing up into nearly every city and town along it’s banks. It probably would only have taken a few hours, and a little dynamite to clear, but no one knew about it and few would have been able to do the job now. The war had changed everything.
“They think they’re ready,” Angela stated slowly, reading their enemy. “And they only expect to take one person from this city. The others they’re hunting are for fun or bait.”
“Who?”
“You.” Angela’s fog lifted and left worry. “Everyone in this dead city is on the watch for Adrian Mitchel Sr. All sightings will be reported. They’ve been well paid.”
“Who gave the order?”
“A Major, but I don’t have a name yet.”
“Garret,” Adrian muttered scornfully. “We end it this time.”
Angela didn’t ask what the sneering man in Adrian’s mind had done, instead concentrating on finding a weakness.
“He doesn’t have many,” Adrian shared reluctantly. “The only one I was able to use was how he’ll sometimes underestimate his prey. He’ll have the bases covered, and he’ll act fast. Don’t hesitate if you get the chance.”
Angela didn’t say anything, but inside, she was eager to be useful.
6
Three hours later, they had gotten 140 foot into the city and reached the street that Adrian had known was there. Obviously, this had been done after the war. The piles were too orderly to be random, but it wasn’t encouraging that there were no other signs of rebuilding. Likely, it had been someone trying to flee or someone determined to get in to find family.
“Gentlemen, start your engines!” Adrian encouraged them cheerfully, as if announcing the start of a race.
It drew tired snickers from the team, who understood they would be crawling along. There were cars in the way, along with buses, parts of buildings, and they could already make out the first place they w
ould have to get the Cats out to clear. Part of a school was lying across most of the street, making a corner of bricks.
“Something up?” Adrian asked as they began to roll. He didn’t like how quiet she’d been.
“I can’t get just one thought from the blur,” Angela complained. “There are more people here than we thought, a lot more.”
“Can you get them to come out?”
Her uneasy glance made his stomach shift.
“Even if I could get one, I’m not sure how to convince them they’ll be safe.”
“Yes, you are,” Adrian intoned. “Say it.”
Angela scowled deeply at not being allowed to lie. “We have to do it again. We have to eliminate these men.”
“Yes.” He waited for her to protest.
She didn’t.
Adrian was proud of her.
This would probably be the last time a mission would have only male teams. Within the next month, Adrian expected to have the rest of Angela’s rookies, minus Jennifer, out here toiling for the dream. Angela wasn’t a level Four yet, but she would lead them to glory. Of that, Adrian had no doubt. His private lessons with her, combined with the attention she was receiving from Marc and nearly every senior Eagle, would take care of that.
Adrian thought of the special training he’d been doing with her, the leadership lessons she’d soaked up like a sponge. The mental warning that he had to have a successor was one that had driven him to put those things in place so soon, and only for her, where he hadn’t for any of the others. She wasn’t as experienced, but she valued life more than any of his men, and that was something he couldn’t duplicate. He’d created an army of killers to protect his camp. Then, he’d chosen a pure soul to lead them. It was the perfect setup.
By 10 pm, they had made it more than a mile in, Adrian leading them through the destruction that was unlike anywhere else they’d been. Not a single building stood, most appearing as if the ground had been lifted up to spill them violently off their foundations.
Mile after mile of heartbreaking sights littered the view in every direction, every dark intersection they came to. Those were only identifiable by the lack of concrete cinders. Even with the medical salve under their noses, the stench was awful. The worst of it was around the corner from the grocery store they’d cleared. A truck full of Christmas fruitcakes was rotting, and the sickly sweet mildew gave many Eagles a flash of the carnage at the rest stop. They also had to drive over cracks, sometimes putting metal plates down to drive across.
