by Angela White
Tonya’s tone held a genuine note of reckoning. “Because when my man comes, you’ll be bones in the stones. It doesn’t have to be that way.”
Tonya had been ordered to get captured during the battle that Kendle was supposed to start. And the island woman had, taking on a team of five soldiers in hand-to-hand combat with only her knife. She’d killed three of them while Tonya and Grace had dispatched the other two with rifle shots. That noise had brought the main squad of soldiers, exactly as Angela had predicted.
“Do you guys have anything to eat? The baby’s hungry again.”
The men almost whimpered this time.
“She’s carrying the Ghost’s kid!”
“Oh, shit!”
Crackers and water were tossed her way.
Tonya munched contentedly. She was almost enjoying herself now.
The driver suspected the problems they were delivering into Donner’s last standing camp, but the lure of escaping with his life was enough to convince him to agree.
“Okay. We’ll dart you, drop you in the cell and go.” Corporal James hesitated, and then forced himself to continue. Once he made a deal, he stuck to it. “Do you need anything?”
The others were staring at the driver as if he was crazy, but Tonya was thankful. She hadn’t quite believed Angela’s note that it would go this way.
“Yes, actually, there is. What’s your name? I’ll need it to make sure my boss spares you.”
Tonya got their names and ranks, secured a weapon she didn’t think she would need, and ended up with four new pals–all from the terror instilled by the mere mention of the Ghost. Angela would be proud.
4
Not long after Tonya made her deal, Kendle stumbled across the small team of Eagles who had been told to wait there, but not why. Kendle was grateful to Angela even while hating her.
“Hey!”
The men turned her way as Kendle ran to Marc’s side, spewing her anger before she was even close to him.
“That bitch set us up! Who the hell does she think she is?!”
Cynthia, tired and ready for it to end, stuck her foot out and tripped the island woman.
Kendle went down in surprise, smacking into the ground hard enough to stun her. As she struggled to breathe normally, Cynthia leaned down into Kendle’s face.
“Shut. Up.”
Kendle thought about fighting, but the reporter’s rage was just as great as her own. It was easy to recognize a bloodlust that hadn’t gotten its fill.
“Okay,” Kendle croaked. “But tell Kenny they have Tonya. She gave herself up to save me.”
Marc knelt down to hear the details that were now being spoken instead of screamed.
Cynthia let Daryl lead her to a sentry position.
“What did she say? Exact words,” Marc prompted, aware of how Kendle was looking at him.
Kendle replayed it in her mind, trying not to miss anything while breathing in Marc’s comforting presence. It was hard telling where they would send her after this.
“What are your orders?”
Kendle frowned. “To rescue Tonya. But I can’t do that alone.”
Marc turned to wave Kenn down from guard duty, bracing for a bad reaction from the Marine. Kenn hadn’t wanted Tonya to be involved at all and he would be angry, with every right to be as far as Marc was concerned.
“She wanted me to tell him,” Kendle stated as Cynthia kept glaring at her, anxious to be out of the reporter’s line of sight. If that challenge didn’t ease, Kendle would be forced to do something about it and she’d promised Angela to complete her mission before losing control.
Kenn stomped down the hill, dread in his heart and rage in his mind. He knew from the looks on their faces that something was wrong. The only reason Marc would ever be staring at him with sympathy was if Tonya were involved.
“Where is she?”
Kendle went to Kenn and told him what had happened, including Angela’s orders and Tonya’s words. Kenn didn’t speak until she was finished and Kendle wondered if the rage sickness had already made it to the US before she landed, like Carol and Marsha had insisted. These Safe Haven people were always pissed off.
Kenn looked at Marc, then west, toward the camp they’d reconned and skirted around on the way here. He glanced down at the gun in his hand, not sure how it had gotten there.
“Kenn, we’ll get our weapons, make a plan–”
Kenn slid his gun into the holster and went west. He didn’t speak, didn’t act angry, but Marc felt the blind rage and sighed heavily. “Whoever has my next orders had better give them to me now.”
Kenn, only a bit away, took a paper from his pocket and held it up.
Marc shook his head at Angela’s cruelty. He ran to catch up and snatch the waving paper from Kenn’s grip.
You and Kenn only. The others have jobs to do.
“That bitch!” Marc swore.
“I know, right?” Kendle muttered, coming to his side.
“I have to go now,” Cynthia called from behind them. “Who has orders for my escorts?”
Marc stopped and tossed an envelope to Cynthia, and then hurried to catch up with Kenn again, forgetting about Kendle.
Hurt, the island woman turned into the trees and disappeared, not waiting for any more orders. She would do what she wanted to from here on out.
Daryl and Kevin read their orders as Cynthia stared after Kendle.
“I’m being sent with her,” Kevin stated slowly, realizing Angela had known what would happen between him and Cynthia. She was splitting them up.
“I’m your escort to Angela,” Daryl stated evenly, trying not to make Kevin feel worse.
“Be careful,” Cynthia said and Kevin returned the sentiment with a feeling of almost relief. Maybe it was better this way. He hadn’t been sure he was strong enough for a woman like her. After seeing her in action, he knew he wasn’t.
Kevin caught up to Kendle without saying anything and the island woman grunted, “What?”
“I’m supposed to stay with you. Where are you going?”
“Back to camp,” Kendle answered, but dug her next envelope out moodily. “No matter what this says.”
Kevin read it aloud with a frown. “Until you tell the truth about what happened, Safe Haven has no place for you. Our deal is off.”
Kendle screamed in outrage at the betrayal.
Kevin kept his distance as the island woman spun around and began punching the nearest tree.
Kevin saw fresh blood roll down her arm and noticed her wounds. While she beat on the tree, he got out his medical kit and set things up. She would calm down at some point and he would try to convince her to tell him whatever it was Angela wanted him to know. Kevin was sure she’d sent him for a specific reason, but after losing Cynthia, he wasn’t sure he wanted to do this. His thirst for adventure was waning.
5
Billy and Jax, aware of each other, ran together as they followed Samantha to her next location before dawn. They’d already scouted it themselves after she marked it, and had no trouble keeping up with her but still staying out of sight. What they hadn’t counted on was her also being aware of them.
After Tonya and Kendle left, Sam had spent the morning on the move, picking off small teams of soldiers when the opportunity arose. Sam spun around, rifle lowered, but ready in case she was wrong about who was tailing her.
“Come on out.”
Jax and Billy emerged with slight smiles and faces that held no mockery, only respect.
“Very good,” Billy praised, thinking Neil and Jeremy were lucky to be sharing her. Unlike a lot of their members, Billy understood the urges to go against the norm.
The trio settled down together behind the blanket of trees that was Sam’s next location. She held out her sheet and both men chuckled.
Keep your escorts company until your target arrives.
Sam grinned, liking the feel of being an equal more than she could express to even herself.
“How long?” Jax asked, thin
king of snoozing.
“Fifteen minutes or less,” Samantha stated, reading the rest of her orders. She stowed it in her kit, and nervously got up to explore the weapon already perched above them in the tree line.
Sam hadn’t seen who delivered this one, but she was again aware of how intelligent Angela was. She’d provided a secondary weapon in case Sam had lost hers in the first attack, which she hadn’t.
“Man, I wanna be her when I grow up,” Sam stated wistfully, climbing the tree.
When her escorts saw what was waiting, they laughed again, understanding the feeling. Adrian had been good, but Angela was better.
Neither man noticed the false cheer or the distraction technique that had been used on them. Samantha was good at following orders, especially those she agreed with. If these brave men knew what she was about to do, they would drug her and drag her straight to Neil and Jeremy.
6
Donner’s order for the men to push in a hundred miles a week was being followed and then some. These men had heard the rumors of the Ghost being on the outer rings of this invasion, harassing Donner, and they hurried toward their goal in the center, hoping to reach Safe Haven before Marc caught up to them. It flushed these unsuspecting men directly into the second and third rings of Angela’s trap, where they wouldn’t be able to call for reinforcements at all.
Donner had planned to use field phones too, but Angela’s mines and detcord were buried in the only places where teams of men could make camp with heavy gear. All forms of communication, other than smoke and mirrors, or mental, would be gone between teams until the soldiers could replace the lines. By then, it would be too late to matter. Donner and his men would already be too deep into her rings to withdraw.
Zack’s team watched from atop the cliff as the squad of soldiers below them began packing up to start the day’s trek. Zack waited until the sentries were also inside the damage path and hit the button on the box in his hand.
The flat area below them immediately exploded. The detcord running under the feet of the soldiers left little chance for escape.
Zack and his team waited for the dust to clear before going down to strip the area of whatever remained. Another chore on their list was done.
Chapter Eighteen
What Ghosts May Come
1
“Who is that?”
Every soldier on the base had heard rumors of the Ghost being alive by now, but the sight of him striding through the blasted gates behind another glowing-eyed devil was enough to send weaker soldiers fleeing without firing a single shot.
“It’s the Ghost!”
“Get out! Get out!”
“He’s here!”
“Kill him!”
The base alarm began to blare, but it was drown out by the rear gate exploding in two loud pops that sent bodies and debris flying.
Kenn and Marc strode through the smoke, throwing grenades and firing with intent. The nearest soldiers fled as they recognized the Ghost.
Kenn didn’t care that they were fleeing, only that they were a threat and he fired from the hip like Adrian had taught him. He took a savage pleasure in the headshots and splattering gore.
He heard Marc behind him, taking care of the soldiers trying to come in from the rear, but he didn’t turn and help. He knew where Tonya would be, where anyone being interrogated would be on a temporary base like this one, and he moved that way without pausing as shadows scattered in front of him.
“Look out!”
Kenn threw the grenades together, causing two large blasts that cleared the path. He used his last one to blow open the rickety door, dissolving the front of the main building.
“That’s the main alarm!”
In the center of the base, Tonya felt the entire structure shudder as looked at her captors with genuine sympathy. “You don’t want to be in this room when he finds me.
It was easy to see that she was right when another round of explosions came, followed by awful screams of men dying. Her guards fled the room, not bothering to shut the door.
Tonya, hands bound in front of her, picked up the Twinkie that one of the soldiers had been teasing her with and tore into it as if she was starving.
Marc guarded the halls as Kenn stepped into the room with Tonya, who was busy swallowing a last bite and grinning happily.
Kenn growled, but the relief at her being unhurt allowed him to start waking from his rage daze. Crashing, he dropped down into the chair across from her and leaned back. “Whenever you’re ready, dear.”
Tonya flushed at the sarcasm, but quickly climbed into his lap and kissed his cheeks until he hugged her tightly in annoyance.
“Thank you for coming for me.”
“You are mine, right?” he stated, but not with the possessive tones that he’d used on Angela. He didn’t feel that way anymore.
Tonya smiled. “Yeah. Thanks for that, too.” She snuggled into his arms, stomach quieted a bit as a sense of safety swarmed her with weariness. “You feel good.”
Kenn grunted, becoming aware of her physical state when he lifted her into his arms and stood. “Is this what you’re gonna be like? Cause I can’t take this shit, woman.”
Tonya smiled against his sweaty neck and didn’t make any promises that she couldn’t keep.
Marc led the way out of the nearly deserted base, unable to keep from feeling proud of their talents as he swept the destruction that they’d rained down upon this place in mere minutes. Whatever Angela’s reasons for this attack had been, she had accomplished an important feat here and for the first time, Marc had an honest hope that they might win.
2
Donner’s convoy turned to the only alternate route as the explosions echoed across the mountains. There was no way to be sure that it was their recon teams dying, but Donner knew.
He directed his driver go to his next chosen den, a small, one floor office complex that had once sold cabin rentals to tourists. His driver sped across the rocky road, trying to get under cover.
Samantha waved four fingers in the air to indicate how many teams were in this squad and then she took aim. Angela wanted Donner pushed continuously.
Samantha hit the tree in front of the convoy instead of the first jeep. Despite wanting to disobey, she had chosen to trust her leader. She had been able to stay ahead of Donner because of the stops he’d made and the routes Angela had chosen. Donner’s vehicles couldn’t go where she could and it was costing him.
Samantha fired her rifle with glee, hitting mirrors and trimming shoulders as her escorts did the same from the tree above her, per their orders. Billy, on the new rifle, was in heaven.
“There!”
Samantha acted as if she hadn’t noticed the soldiers coming up on her right.
Her guards noticed them too late, view blocked by her body and large tree branches.
Samantha waved her panicking guards into hiding and raised her hands as the soldiers spotted her and began shouting orders.
She dropped to her side with her hands out in front of her.
The first thing each soldier noticed about her was the glaring red and white maternity shirt that claimed to love both boys and girls. The second thing they noticed was her glowing red eyes.
“What the hell?!”
Samantha smiled politely, swallowing her sudden case of nerves. “Can I speak with your boss, please? I’d like to register a lengthy complaint.”
“Get up!”
Samantha let them jerk her up by the arm and cuff her, not answering their demands, but obeying every order. The voice inside was saying these men were on the edge, not to provoke them even by accident.
“Donner wants anyone we catch,” the team leader stated. “Take her to a jeep while we clear the area.”
“No clearing,” a higher ranked soldier belayed the command. “You heard the explosions. Entire damn mountain might be rigged. Move out.”
A minute later, Samantha was being marched down the small incline and it was hard to keep th
e satisfaction from her face.
Billy and Jax were on the move the instant the soldiers were out of sight, headed for the center of their zone to contact their teams for a rescue mission. They had no other envelopes. They flew through the paths and over the stone, not stopping or talking until they were both at their limit and had to slow down. The mountain around them was alive with the noises of life and death, but few of them drew notice from the two worried men.
Neither of them said what they were both thinking, but it was obvious what they had to do when their contact van finally came into sight.
The two tense sentries sitting on top of the van stood up in concern.
“Together?” Jax asked, stumbling a bit as Neil jumped from the roof and flew toward them.
“Yes. Start talking before he reaches us and we may actually survive.”
3
“I’m not in a good mood,” Samantha warned as Donner came into the small room and closed the door. “Neither are my sons.”
She’d been shoved into a jeep, but they’d only traveled a few minutes before reaching this office complex.
Donner took that in with delight. “And they have a father who will be arriving shortly?”
“Yeah,” Sam said evenly. “Let’s go with that.”
Donner was prepared for lies and deceit, or even attempts at sympathy, considering the quick admission of pregnancy, but when she began to control the environment, forcing wind from nothing, he was unable to halt his interest. Few descendants had physical gifts. Mental abilities were common.
Sam let go, and the air dropped, the papers on the desk stilling. She wasn’t an alpha and couldn’t get into Donner’s mind as long as he kept his walls up, but he would have little trouble reading hers. Not that it mattered. She didn’t know Angela’s final plan. No one did.
Donner moved into the opposite chair. “More?”
Samantha indulged him by bringing every object into the air from the desktop and throwing it against the door he’d come in by.
