The Life After War Collection

by Angela White

  Out of ammo, Kenn ducked a swing to lift the soldier into the air. He tossed the shouting man into two soldiers grabbing Tonya’s arm and the trio went down together.

  Kenn landed on the pile and shoved his knife through two eyes hurriedly before they had a chance to do the same.

  Kenn jerked Tonya to her feet. He shoved her after Marc, who wasn’t stopping for anything.

  Kenn grunted as pain sliced into his arm and he ran faster, almost dragging her along.

  Tonya was trying to keep up, but amid the chaos, she was lost. She wanted to help, to fight, but panic was telling her she had no business here.

  Tonya spotted Becky walking calmly through the rubble, waving her hands to deflect bullets and grenades, and quickly looked down, not wanting to witness anymore. She would pretend she hadn’t seen that. It was too much to accept right now. Or maybe ever.

  Marc reached the door, arm drawing back to threaten.

  The Private tipped his cover. “Damn, Marc. I thought I was gonna hafta to do this alone.”

  Marc didn’t spare time for the grin, just looked at the door.

  Seth quickly opened it. As Marc vanished inside the dark lounge, Seth was a clear target. A nearby soldier fired at him in betrayed rage.

  Neil shoved Seth, hard enough to knock him into the wall and then over the railing. The slug plunged into the wall where Seth’s head had been.

  Almost to them now, Becky beamed. “Guess we’re even now, Neil.”

  Seth picked himself up and followed the others into the complex, glad they’d finally chosen to attack. He’d felt Eagles out there last night, but hadn’t been able to contact them without drawing attention from the twitchy soldiers. He’d been ready to trigger the fight himself to keep from hearing Adrian scream anymore. Donner’s torture had been continuous until a few hours ago. Whatever Donner wanted, Adrian hadn’t wanted to give it to him.

  That was proven further when they entered the bottom cells and found the room where Adrian had been held. His bloody Eagle jacket in the corner was collected by Kenn.

  “He ran!”

  Marc’s anger echoed through the complex. The heartbreak underneath it was crushing.

  “Donner ran. You coward!”

  The fighters began stripping the facility, waiting for Marc to choose their next course. Except for Kenn. He knew what Marc would do from here.

  Kenn motioned Tonya toward a dark hallway. “Come on.”

  Tonya went curiously, relieved no one had mentioned her lack of fighting skills yet. “What are we doing?”

  “Looking for a…” Kenn grunted, forced to use arm strength to turn the handle and force the door open.

  Tonya shined her light into what was obviously a tunnel made for a subway car of some sort.

  “Go get Marc,” Kenn ordered. “And then go to camp. I’ll meet you there.”

  Tonya didn’t like being ordered around, but she knew he was right. She would only distract him from helping Marc.

  Tonya ran a hand over Kenn’s filthy hair and he sighed, tugging her close for the hug she seemed to want. “Jeez, woman.”

  Tonya chuckled and then went to tell Marc they’d found the hole Donner had gone into.

  7

  Marc looked down at the wolf, who had stayed on the outer edges of the battle to pick off the wounded soldiers rather than to come down into the tunnels. The wolf didn’t like the underworld, but he’d been sitting by the door when Marc came out.

  Can you track her, like you did with me?

  Dog whined, head lowering. Yes.

  Marc understood the wolf’s reluctance. Being underground was like a cell.

  Will you find her? Look after her until I can get there?

  Dog moved through the door without saying anything else. Marc needed him. He would conquer his revulsion to do his part.

  Marc waved at Seth. “Burn it all after we’re gone.”

  “You got it,” Seth vowed, arm around Becky’s shoulders.

  “Kenn’s been trimmed,” Tonya said, jerking the medical kit from her belt.

  “We leave in ten minutes,” Marc ordered. “Wounded will head for home. Everyone else, get set.”

  Seth understood he was supposed to return to Safe Haven after covering their trail into the tunnels, but he had no interest in being in camp unless Becky was there.

  “I’m going with Marc,” Becky said quietly.

  Seth sighed. “I figured. Kenn?”

  The Marine grunted, more at Tonya’s rough handling than the request. “She’ll cover it. I’m going along to bring the other one home.”

  Marc growled, storming inside, but didn’t override the order. Adrian would be brought in alive to stand trial and hopefully hang.

  8

  “There’s a call coming in,” Trey said, reading the instrument panel of the gently swaying train car. They were in the front two, using the rear for storage of their prisoners.

  “The bunker finally noticed we’re rolling,” Donner stated, “Put it through to the rear car.”

  Trey hit the buttons, telling the person to hold, and Donner moved carefully though the small train to get to Angela and Adrian. He turned activated the screen on the wall and flipped the light switch.

  The face that appeared on the screen was young. It was something of a surprise to Donner, who had only dealt with leaders his own age.

  “I’m Benjamin Harker, President of these United States.”

  “You already know who I am,” Donner stated, evaluating his boss.

  “Yes, I do!” Benjamin smiled thinly at the sight of Angela handcuffed to a cot, appearing to sleep peacefully. Adrian was hanging by his arms in the corner of the railcar. “Double standard?”

  “Yes,” Donner snorted, moving to block the man’s view of both prisoners. “Well?”

  Benjamin stared back impassively. “You gave away your location. This is a courtesy call before we shut you down.”

  “I wanted you to find me,” Donner refuted. “And you can’t blow up these tunnels without hurting your own escape plans, so don’t try to bluff me, young man. She already did and my patience is thin.

  Benjamin was insulted. It came through in the darkening skin, the narrowing eyes and thinning lips. He slowly poured himself a drink before responding, “You’re absolutely right, Major. There’s no need to lie to each other. Tell me what you want.”

  “Time for it to work.”

  “Then the call was successful?”

  “Unknown. You felt it on your instruments?”

  “Of course. We know of any mass use of power or force on American soil. The sensors miss nothing.”

  “Give me time with her to learn what’s coming from it, what we can do to gain control of it!”

  Benjamin stared at the Major, one of the few that remained in the entire country. “Perhaps we can make a deal, Major Donner. Continue to your chosen destination. I will be in touch.”

  “Wait.”

  “Yes?” Benjamin’s voice was a warning all by itself.

  Donner began to understand that the young man might also be hard. That could be useful. “What about Mitchel? I’ve gotten nothing from him.”

  Benjamin considered. “We’ve been very upset with Mr. Mitchel since the war. I think its past time that he…retired. Don’t you?”

  Donner chuckled. “Yes, sir.”

  “Good. Alpha bunker out.”

  Donner frowned. He had begun to hate that name. Despite what he wanted and all that he could gain, dealing with alphas was hard. Donner felt he was getting too old to continue this line of work. But with a baby who could do things, a retirement in the south with a few men didn’t sound bad. As long as nothing came from the call, anyway. Donner had known when he started this madness all those decades ago that he might not be able to handle whatever came from the contact. He’d accepted that he would likely be killed for the evil in his soul, but still hadn’t been able to stop himself. Now that his goal had been reached, Donner was confident that there would b
e a response.

  He looked over at Adrian’s pale, unconscious form. As soon as they were settled, he would spend some time alone with Adrian and get the answers he needed for himself and the angry little bunker man. All he had to do was threaten Angela’s life. Adrian would do whatever he was told. It was the way Alpha pairing worked. Donner knew how to take advantage of it. Once he got the information, or assured himself that Adrian didn’t know, he would slit the blond man’s throat and leave his body on these dark, dank tracks for his precious Eagles to find.

  If they made it this far. The refueling hub they’d left was filled with soldiers. When Benjamin had said he sent a team, he hadn’t been kidding. Thirty heavily armed mercenaries were now in these tunnels, setting traps and watching for anyone who didn’t belong. Benjamin had told him the team came from a small site in the east that was dying. The bunker leader had appeared glad to have a reason to use those who hadn’t starved. Benjamin had told them the Safe Haven rescue party was carrying a stock of food and that was all it had taken to get the desperate soldiers to agree. It was that way in all of the remaining bunkers. No one wanted to be sent out into hell unless it was for food. Then, there were too many volunteers to use.

  There was only one other facility within a hundred miles of here. The Eagles wouldn’t be able to miss it. His advantage was that it would only take Donner three hours to get there. It would take the rescue party ten. He had the only train in this area. Not many elites had been expected to come from Georgia, Donner assumed. The four train cars were sparsely supplied and would hold forty people, at most. Donner only had half that number of men along, making it an almost comfortable ride that rolled through the tunnels in near silence. The government had spared no taxpayer expense on this private conveyance.

  Donner went to the main car, missing Angela’s lids opening, the smile coming to her lips.

  “Benjamin, is it?” she murmured, busy trying to track his exact location. Once she had that, she could lock onto the new President and then find him wherever he was. Her powers had grown again, though Donner would never get the chance to explore them. As soon as the bunker called again to confirm or deny the deal, she would strike.

  Chapter Twenty-Six

  Under the Bus

  1

  “What is this place?” Marc asked.

  “It’s a refueling hub. They’ve got one like this outside the western bunkers.” Ivan was walking next to him, giving details when Marc asked for them.

  The building had come into view slowly, lit by dim bulbs that flickered in reluctant duty. The platform of the small hub was dank in places and held an odor they all recognized.

  “Someone’s been getting sick.”

  “Too many chemicals,” Ivan muttered. “See how yellow it is? All drugs and no food.”

  Those words were met with Marc trying to avoid the ugly pictures of Angela being starved and drugged while she was dragged through this newest hell.

  “Doors to topside from here?”

  “Negative.”

  “Closest access point?”

  “Ten miles, due west.”

  “Great,” Marc muttered. That meant any number of soldiers could be waiting for them.

  As he had the thought and held up a hand to stop his group, the sound of gunfire filled the tunnel.

  Marc couldn’t see much once the lights overhead were shot out. He heard the hiss of flares being tossed as Ivan lit up the target zone. Marc followed it with a heavy layer of gunfire that allowed the rest of his fighters to take cover around the edge of the curve before the hub.

  “Move in!”

  The order came from the enemy.

  Marc tossed his grenades into the tunnel in a useless attempt to stop the flood of mercenaries coming their way. Donner’s trap was more than Marc had bargained for. The feeling that gave him was as close to fear as he came when it concerned fighting and Marc let the demon out as he rushed forward to meet death.

  He ducked, slicing in the smoky dimness and felt blood splatter his arms. He spun and slicked, stabbing behind him. He kicked out to knock men off their feet.

  Marc’s Colts had one full load left and he used them now, taking out five of the stunned men who had no idea what was coming after them in the darkness as the flares burnt out.

  A vicious growl echoed as Dog joined the fight, able to see perfectly. He clamped down on a man’s neck, squeezing until it burst in his mouth. He hadn’t been able to track the soldiers through the muck so he’d come back to his master.

  “Marc!”

  Kendle’s shout drew his attention to the flood of soldiers chasing his team, shooting at them.

  Marc did the only thing he could think of. He shouted. “I’m the Ghost! Catch me if you can!”

  He didn’t wait to see if they would. The shouts and stomping boots that said they knew the bounty for him was huge.

  Marc fled toward the hub, hoping his team would come up behind the men to trap them.

  At his heels, Dog lunged for another unprotected throat as the soldiers caught up and gunfire echoed again.

  Missing the wolf, but not Marc, the gunfire trailed off as the pair vanished into the single door of the small refueling station.

  “Move in!” one of the soldiers commanded from the doorway.

  Dog was there to leap up and bite down on his face. More gunfire finished the soldier’s gruesome death as Dog darted after his master.

  Less than a dozen mercs were left as they entered the dark control room in a quick line, trying to stay together.

  Behind them, Marc’s team rushed up and piled in, leaving no room for anything except hand-to-hand combat in the darkness.

  Men grunted, women screamed, knives slashed, and blood covered the floor, leaking out onto the tracks.

  “Get out! Its gonna blow!”

  The warning came from Marc.

  Eagles fled the room right before it exploded, providing more light than they needed.

  The explosion rushed down the tunnel, catching good and bad alike. The smell of charring flesh filled the air.

  Marc struggled to stand up, blown against the wall as he tried to get all of his team out. He still wasn’t sure he had, but he didn’t observe any soldiers stumbling around. He’d had them all over him in a far corner when he’d pulled the pin and ducked, crawling his way out of the main blast zone.

  Above them, a jagged hole had been blasted into the roof. Marc sucked in the fresh air gratefully, clearing his head. When he thought he could walk, he searched the area for any of his team who had survived, aware of a small cave-in happening behind them. Donner’s ambush hadn’t killed him, but it had come close.

  Marc’s hand slid down to cover the bloody bullet hole in his arm as he counted bodies and survivors.

  “Spread out, search for people and ammunition,” Marc instructed. “And be careful.”

  His voice sounded like he’d swallowed a chain. Marc pulled his shirt up over his face to avoid the smoke, then tied his bandana around his arm.

  “Over here!” Quinn shouted.

  They dug the rubble out quickly, piling it nearby to find the bodies of Ivan, Red Stone, and three soldiers who’d insisted on following Marc into the earth.

  “The tunnel’s blocked,” Quinn said too loudly, making himself wince. His bleeding ears didn’t want to work right.

  Dog brushed up against Shawn and the Eagle patted the wolf comfortingly, glad the animal had escaped.

  “Are we stopped?” Quinn asked, not sure how they would track an underground train without being able to follow the tracks.

  “Maybe we can help with that.”

  The new voice was welcome. Marc nodded, and then groaned at the pain. “How about throwing down a rope first?”

  Neil hurried to get them all out of the ground. He’d witnessed the explosion from his high perch and rolled down to find a gaping hole strewn with crimson splatters. He’d known that was where Marc would be.

  Marc sat on Neil’s passenger seat while
the rest of Neil’s men tended to the injuries. They also handed them much-needed mags.

  “So what’s this idea?” Marc asked.

  Jeremy leaned over the seat and handed Marc his laptop. “We broke the code.”

  Marc stared at the waiting screen and broke into harsh laughter that ended in a coughing fit.

  Neil exchanged glances with Jeremy that said they understood. While Samantha had been missing, they would have driven themselves and anyone around them into the ground during a quest to rescue her. Marc would do the same.

  2

  Adrian wasn’t doing well.

  Awareness slowly came to his mind, along with pain, weakness, and worry. His health hadn’t been the best before this. The neglect and abuse were taking its toll.

  Angela was in charge of this run. She would make the call on when they’d taken enough abuse in order to achieve their goals, but Adrian wasn’t as confident of his own outcome as he’d once been. Angela had sworn him to trade his life for Charlie. He had assumed that meant he would remain alive. He had no illusions about her leaving Marc. That bond was unbreakable.

  “I should know,” Adrian croaked, not hearing himself through the ruptured eardrum that was causing nausea and dizziness. He hoped Angela planned to trigger their trap soon, or he wouldn’t be around to witness the result. Even now, his heart was giving odd palpitations that warned of a coming episode that he had no medication for.

  “Easy,” Angela soothed from across the car. She’d been sneaking him bits of her food and water when she could, but it wasn’t enough. Another full day like this might see him dead and he knew it.

  Will you kill him to achieve your goal? the witch asked curiously.

  If I have to, Angela answered reluctantly. But I won’t.

  She sent that to Adrian, along with what little energy she could spare, wanting…

  Angela slammed her lids shut as Donner came into the car, followed by Trey.

  “Looks like she’s still out.”

  “What about him?”

  Adrian groaned, hoping to avoid the usual punch to the ribs to wake him.