by Angela White
The noises of clinks and thuds echoed across the mall, along with their voices and laughter. It made the soldiers nervous and David was forced to say something. If he didn’t, his men would.
“We’re making too much noise,” David informed Samantha. “And our time is up.”
Before she could protest, David picked up her kit and slung it over his shoulder. “Lead us out.”
Samantha stood there for a brief moment, considering weapons, and then she spun toward the door, gesturing to her team.
The women followed her while casting resentful glowers at the men and David swallowed an apology. The blonde was cool and he didn’t want her pissed. He’d already heard stories about her temper.
Samantha stormed down the stone stairs, hating the fact that he’d been right on both counts. He didn’t have to handle me like that.
“Hey, can I talk to you for a minute?”
Samantha paused on the bottom step, not sure if she would accept his apology or not. She certainly felt she was owed one.
“We have orders to get you to Safe Haven’s gate by dark. I should have told you that when you suggested coming in here.”
“Orders from who?” Samantha asked in a dangerously cold tone.
“Our boss. He said you’re needed at home.”
“You should have told me!” Sam accused angrily, taking off. “I owe you!”
“Damn,” David breathed, taking off after her. “That’s not what I wanted to hear.”
“She means it, too,” Cynthia tossed over her shoulder as she flew by to take Samantha’s right.
“Great,” David grumbled, letting himself and his men once again be the filling in the sandwich. “Now they’ll never let me in.”
“You’re living with our enemy,” Candy told him as Samantha increased her pace and a sense of urgency filled the air. “We weren’t going to let you in anyway.”
Before he could reply to that bombshell, David stumbled and fell. Half of his men stopped to wait for him and the rest of the group kept running.
“Stay with the women!” David grunted through the pain. Something was sticking through his leg. He could see both ends of it, and was almost certain it was a dart of some kind.
Dart?
Fuzzy, David tried to focus. Did someone shoot me?
“Look out!”
“No!”
“Open fire!”
David heard the chaos from a foggy distance and couldn’t stop his lids from shutting. Help!
3
“We came from Atlanta,” Brittani told them while everyone was enjoying the burgers the Eagles had prepared on their personal stoves.
Each Eagle had made two sandwiches from their kits and shared with one of the strangers. Li Sing had told Marc of having a custom like this when new people came to his restaurant and Marc had adapted it. Besides showing there was nothing wrong with the food, it also gave the Eagles a new layer of training. They hardly ever had to use the gear in their kits and that had to change. Marc had spent the time guiding the team through assembling the Emberlit stoves, lighting them, and then cooking the meat. Marc had enjoyed the demonstration and the group of men and women had watched in interest and hunger. They’d been cooking over open fires too, but they didn’t have the gear that the Eagles did.
“Atlanta?” Marc finally responded, after swallowing. “That had to be ugly.”
“It was. My dad and I grabbed the few people we knew we could trust and came out here to our family cabin.”
Marc peered around the neat home, approving. “Nice handmade radio there. You do that?”
Brittani motioned to the wide man she’d been orally sparring with earlier. “Gus. He usually runs the radio, but when we found out we had Safe Haven people here, I decided to make contact.”
“Wise,” Marc said. “And you’ve been here the whole time, listening on the radio to the fighting?”
“Yes.” Brittani didn’t shy away from Marc’s slightly accusing tone. “We’re inner city people. We don’t know how to fight and I don’t how to train them anymore than I already have.”
“You didn’t want them to be sacrificed in someone else’s war.” Marc read her guilty thoughts. “We won’t hold that against you. A lot of good people didn’t come and fight with us.”
“I didn’t know you,” Brittani stated evenly. “And I’ll kill for these people. It didn’t seem like a good time to bring them around.”
“It ain’t now, either, girl,” Gus said in a quick rush.
Brittani’s cold frown gave Marc pause and he observed her intently as she pinned Gus with a nasty glare.
“What did you say, Boy?”
Gus realized he’d tripped a switch and said, “Nothin’.”
“Nothing!” Brittani cried angrily. “We’ve spent hours and hours on it every day and you still sound like some ignorant fuck!”
Gus flushed and Marc grimaced, but he approved of the lesson. In fact, he had hopes that Angela would create a language class soon to help with those already in Safe Haven. Understanding what someone from across the country was saying got hard sometimes.
Sighing, Brittani put a hand on Gus’s big wrist. “I don’t want them to be mean to you.”
Gus smiled a bit. “I know. I’m sorry I embarrass you.”
“Embarrassed,” Brittani repeated automatically. “If you leave off the ‘e d’, then it means you always embarrass me and that’s not true.”
Gus repeated, “Embarrassed.”
“Very good.”
“A teacher!” Marc exclaimed happily. “You taught English?”
“English, and some history–even the parts I hate,” she answered. “You have a school?”
“We have a tent that we call a school,” Marc replied happily. These people would be a wonderful addition to Safe Haven. Smart, willing to learn, and hard workers. Perfect.
“Thank you,” Brittani stated. “For me being able to come to the same conclusion about you.”
Marc held out a hand. “Welcome to Safe Haven refugee camp.”
Brittani shook it gratefully. “It’s an honor. And, a relief. I’m not a strong enough leader for this new world.”
Marc didn’t agree, but didn’t allow himself to consider where this feisty woman might end up after Angela’s evaluations.
“Get us packed up,” Marc told Joseph. He started to ask Shane if he needed to do anything here before they left, and found the Eagle gone. Marc sent his grid out and found that Eagle behind the little house. He immediately liked what he saw in Shane’s hands and directed the conversation to the topic at hand.
“Can we send trucks for you tomorrow or is that too soon?”
“Can’t come soon enough,” one of the older women in a rocking chair muttered. “Then she can make those grandbabies she promised.”
“Oh, mother!” Brittani groaned in embarrassment. “Why do you do that to me? I hate kids.”
The men all snickered and the old woman flashed a toothless grin at them, indicating she enjoyed her daughter’s distress.
“Tomorrow is great for the trucks,” Brittani told Marc, still casting hard glares at her mother. “We’ll try to be ready on time.”
“We’ll stay and help if you like,” Shane volunteered from the doorway. “Least we can do for your help.”
“Fine by me,” Brittani stated. “Objections?”
There weren’t any and Marc said, “I’ve got no problem with that.”
He stood up. “My team will head out now. Call if anything changes.”
Brittani and Gus walked them out while the others finished eating, and Marc noticed that the woman stayed very close to the large man. Bodyguard or husband, Marc wasn’t sure, but he did know that anyone who tried to hurt Brittani would have to go through that mountain first.
“Yes, they will,” Gus answered the thought, dark profile alive with intelligence Marc hadn’t suspected.
Marc laughed with them. “She really got me on this trip.”
�
�She’s your wife?” Gus asked, viewing Angela through Marc’s glare of adoration.
Marc wasn’t sure how Angela would want him to answer at first and then it was as if her voice was in his mind, saying, Of course, you say yes. I’ve been yours since we were kids.
“Wife, soul mate, boss. She’s everything.”
Gus smiled down at Brittani. “Yeah, they get to you that way.”
Blushing, she nuzzled his hand in comfort and then pointed toward the house. “Go make sure your brother doesn’t open that cooler yet.”
When they were alone, Marc stepped over to her so that his men couldn’t hear them either, sensing she wanted a quick, private moment.
Brittani leaned toward Marc. “Gus wants to be an Eagle–already. If that happens, tell your boss I’ll cause so much trouble that she’ll have riots. He isn’t leaving my side.”
“Why can’t he?” Marc needed to know. “His size and gifts would make him an incredible addition to any team.”
“Because he’s not all there,” Brittani explained. “He’s like a teenager right now. In a few years, maybe he’ll even be an adult, but not if he has to go out and fight. Killing someone will destroy him. He’s that pure. I’ve kept him from being corrupted for the last nine months. You have to do the same.”
Marc could feel her dangerous rage flickering in weakening control. “I’ll tell her about Gus’s mentality. The rest of that, you’ll tell her yourself.”
“Deal.” She chuckled easily. “Still friends?”
Cute and playful. Marc suddenly suspected Gus would have competition for her love whether he wanted it or not.
“No, he won’t,” Brittani corrected. “I love Gus. He worships me. I’d never disturb that for a quick roll in the hay.”
Marc liked her more after hearing that and he held out a hand again. “Until I see you again, watch your six.”
Marc and his team pulled away with waves and a good feeling about the people. Shane and his team certainly liked them and Marc wondered if Brittani knew that Shane was interested in her. Marc had noticed the vibes, but knowing Shane had replanted a wild rose near the back porch for her had clarified it. Shane was unhappy that Nancy still hadn’t joined the Eagles and Brittani obviously would. Marc wondered if Shane knew how desperate he seemed and then decided the man did. It’s why he was trying to find a woman and settle down, so he could feel at peace again.
Good luck with that, Marc thought.
4
Billy took them straight toward camp, stopping only when Marc told him to. Their one short break was at the place where Marc had put his alarms down and he was uneasy as he surveyed the location from the passenger seat. He didn’t go rushing into a possible trap, but he was very curious as to what had happened to his alarms.
“You want me to do it?” Billy asked, not wanting Marc to leave the van at all. The hinky feeling had invaded the minute they got here.
“Yes,” Marc answered, surprising everyone that he would let a man face danger in his place. When Marc got out too, normalcy returned and the pair approached Marc’s alarm with extreme caution.
“You’ve been a driver for years, right?” Marc asked as they spotted a branch over his alarm.
“Two decades,” Billy replied. “I raced cars as a child.”
“What do you make of the tire tracks next to us?”
Billy spotted the very faint trail in the mud and knelt down to examine it.
“I’d guess it was a bike, something light, and there was one person. Maybe a day ago.”
“Keep going,” Marc encouraged, trying to pick up any lingering trail of the person on his mental grid.
“Light on fuel and water…headed southwest, toward Safe Haven.” Billy surveyed the surroundings. “The road’s way over there. Why would anyone ride over here?”
“Bingo,” Marc approved, enjoying his role as teacher. “No one would have known this was here, unless they were watching us.”
“Like right now?” Billy asked, getting a stronger wave of that hinky feeling.
“Maybe,” Marc answered, standing up. “Maybe not. If it’s one person, they have to sleep sometime. We won’t count on that.”
Marc bent down nearby and pulled a rock up. “I left a camera. It was Kendle’s idea. She felt a disturbance in the force while I laid the discs and I used my horse as cover to put it down.” Marc slid the small black camera into his pocket. “It had enough battery life and room for about 18 hours, but it might tell us who doesn’t want these alarms up.”
“Any persons of interest?” Billy asked and they went to the van.
“All the usual, but few motives. Watch your six out here on runs. We may have a lurker.”
“Lurker?” Billy questioned as they climbed inside. “Never heard of that.”
“You saw a lurker?” Jax asked worriedly.
“No,” Marc replied. “But I feel him.”
“Not good, man,” Jax groaned, scanning the stone and weed landscape.
“What the hell is a lurker?” Billy demanded.
Quinn spoke up from the rear seat, “A lurker is a crazy. They’ve been alone too long and gone nuts, but not in the pathetic way. They’re deadly. They wait for you to sleep and slit your throat.”
“To steal your stuff?” Billy tried to clarify. He had no trouble imagining a long-bearded psycho running around the cliffs in camo with a hatchet.
“They hunt people,” Marc informed the confused driver. “The old world technology and progress labeled them predators and serial killers, but these guys are almost worse. They stalk you for days or weeks, and then snatch you and carve you up while you scream. My unit handled a few of these for a security firm we moonlighted with. They like blood and they’re very territorial. Safe Haven might have landed right in a lurker grid.”
“Does the boss know yet?” Billy asked, thinking she would really ground the command people now.
“Not yet, but I want to view this footage first,” Marc stated, taking the chip from the camera and sliding it into the fully charged camera that he’d brought along for this reason. He’d already planned to stop here before Angela sent him. He hadn’t needed the reminder from her, but it was her sense of fairness. If the Eagles saw that she even stayed on his ass, they would adjust to it better. “In a few minutes, we’ll know for sure and have a report to give her when we hit the gates.”
Respect for Marc went up, but Billy wondered if the man knew it was because he had reminded them of Adrian. Both men were a wealth of knowledge and ingenuity. They were also both lethal when riled and Billy pitied the lurker, if there was one. Marc sounded a bit nervous about the possible threat and that meant he wouldn’t stop until it was eliminated.
5
“You went off-mission. And then left a member of your team behind?” Marc asked incredulously. Samantha’s jeep had been flying toward Safe Haven when they hit the road to home and Marc had waved her over.
“Yes,” Sam admitted. “We have to get help!”
“I am the help, Samantha,” Marc stated, turning to Justin.
Justin didn’t care about the blame and he told the truth. “David was shot through the ankle and he fell. We didn’t witness what happened after that. He told us to stay with the women.”
Marc grunted, motioning toward the jeep. “Take me there.”
The trio of vehicles–a van, a jeep, and a small truck, flew over the cleared road and then took Marc all the way to the place where David had fallen. In the darkness, they hadn’t seen anyone else, but arrows had been flying hard and fast.
“Stay in the van,” Marc ordered as they arrived. “Billy, with me.”
“Same bike,” Billy stated as soon as the neared the bloody tracks. “And it’s heavy. The lurker has our man.”
“He’s not our man,” Marc stated, considering his options. “He’s from Adrian’s group.”
“Does that matter?” Billy asked, not liking the idea of leaving anyone to be carved up.
“No, but I’m thin
king a trap would be better than a hunting party.”
“Oh, shit!” Billy exclaimed.
“What?”
“I had a bad thought. What if our lurker is a descendant?”
Marc led them toward the van. “I never assumed otherwise. And, I think he’s military. Not many people would have known how to disable my alarm. An average person would have destroyed it.”
“Was it a trap for us?” Billy asked. “Leaving the camera intact?”
Marc hadn’t let anyone in the van watch the video, and none of them had felt comfortable asking him about it until now.
“I don’t know, but there’s a message for Angela on the video.”
“Why her?”
“She’s the boss. Sometimes, that’s all it takes.”
6
David couldn’t take his hands away from his waist.
It was an odd way to wake up–not being able to rub his face–and he opened his lids slowly against the glare he sensed.
Everything was blurry and upside down, and he realized he was hanging from a tree by his ankles. Pain lanced through various parts of his body and then centered in his leg. It continued to grow until he began to groan.
“Hold still!” a rough voice snapped.
David tried to discern who it was but the pain increased again and he screamed as the blackness took him.
“You hear that?” Billy asked, covered in goosebumps.
“They aren’t far,” Marc muttered, using his grid but uncovering little. “We’ll come back and track it down. You in?”
“You know it,” Billy replied.
Fed up with being ignored, Samantha snapped, “We’re coming too!”
“We’ll see what the boss has to say about that,” Marc replied coolly. “But I suggest not using that tone with her.”
Samantha flushed and slumped in the seat. This was all her fault and she wasn’t going to be able to go along and try to make it right.
“Is it about your honor or the missing man?” Marc asked suddenly, pinning her through the mirror with a hard glare. “’Cause it matters.”
“Honor,” Samantha lied. “He’s one of Adrian’s men. How could I trust him enough to care if he lives or dies?”
