by Angela White
Angela delivered a nod evenly, and then went down the final stairs into the gloomy under-cave that they were outfitting. Boxes and crates littered the rough ground, along with cords, lamps, and bags of soil. Angela was sorry to walk by the unopened supplies. There was a chance they would stay this way.
“Part of the stairway fell!” Kenn called over the radio. “We need the engineering crew!”
Static interlaced the transmission as Angela went further into the ground. A bit more and she would be out of range of the radios.
“We’re on the way,” Ozzie answered.
In the background, Angela could hear running men and knew Theo was also listening from the medical bay. He was probably cursing the injury that was keeping him from being there too. He might even try to get below, now that the doctor had casted his leg. Theo had refused the surgery and the morphine drip. He’d also told Candy not to visit him anymore, that he felt like he was leading her on when he didn’t intend to get serious. Candy had left the medical bay in anger, but Angela hadn’t scanned Candy’s thoughts any further than that. She already had too many threads to keep track of alone.
Angela reached the garden site, not bothering to use the few lights they had rigged down here. She could discern a single lantern glowing and knew that’s where she was supposed to go.
The rocky ground under her feet swayed for a moment, and Angela realized Marc already had the power equipment running.
“Good,” she muttered, stepping around a large gap in the ground to enter the vast cave they’d chosen for gardening and composting. “Right on time.”
“Yes, you are,” a female voice answered immediately. “Welcome to your last hours.”
Two people came toward her from the shadows of the tunnel that led from the garden area and went further into the mountain.
“Hello, Tara. Jayson.” Angela smiled coolly at the waiting pair, ignoring the gun. “Lovely afternoon for dying, isn’t it?”
A bit surprised at her response, neither of them spoke.
Angela held her wrists out, reciting her line, “You’ll want to bind me, right?”
Tara nudged Jay forward, not taking her attention from the woman she hated. “Do it!”
“I made other plans.” He stepped forward, placing his gun to Angela’s head.
“Stop!” Tara demanded, grabbing his arm. “Vlad’s waiting. I want her taken up the mountain.”
“Sorry, but you’re not the boss anymore,” Jay said, glaring madly at Angela. He shrugged off Tara’s hand. “She killed my father. I’m going to kill her.”
Tara realized he wasn’t going to be swayed. She shrugged, thinking that as long as Angela died, it would be enough. Vlad wanted her for bait, but they could always lure Mitchel in with her body. “Fine. Use the suppressor so we have more time to get away. They might not hear the shot over all that equipment.”
“I did good, right?” Jay gushed, thinking of the training area on the first level, where people were hopefully dying. “Right?”
Tara nodded in annoyance. “It was perfect.”
Jay beamed at the praised, cocking the gun. “This is for my–”
“Uggggggggggg!”
A guttural moan came from the other dark tunnel behind them, sending chills over everyone–including Angela. It didn’t sound human.
Jay spun around to face the unknown, but before the gun light could illuminate the source of the noise, something ran toward him.
“Hey, what is that?”
Tara leapt out of the way as a thin shadow lunged from the dark tunnel and tackled Jay. She didn’t wait to discover what it was. Tara hurried over to Angela and jerked on her arm. “Come with me.”
Angela rose docilely as Tara’s gift shoved into her mind again.
Jay and his unknown attacker rolled on the ground, struggling and grunting as they fought for control of his gun. Jay’s strength allowed him to shove the shadow off and pull the trigger as she leapt again.
She?
Jay watched the woman fall to the rocks in shock. “Who the hell are you?”
The noise of the shot drew instant notice from the nervous sentry that Angela had passed on her way here. Radios crackled with panic.
“All hands!” Wade shouted. “Shot fired on level four!”
“Who has the boss?” Marc demanded.
“No guard right now!” Greg radioed.
“Does anyone have eyes on the boss?”
“Angela, answer your radio!”
The calls continued as Jay marched over to Tara.
“Where were you going?” he snarled, jerking Angela away.
Starting to panic as the radios call became clearer, Tara pinned Jay with angrily glowing orbs. “Stay here.”
Jay stilled, obviously trying to fight Tara’s control, but she shoved down on him harshly.
“Stay here. Tell them you threw her body into a hole. You didn’t see me at all. I’m with the rest of the herd!”
Tara left him standing there with a dazed expression, pushing her gun into Angela’s spine. Tara had been practiced her gifts on guards and the camp alike. She now had twice the range, even while controlling more than one person at a time. Jay’s father would have been proud.
“Turn on that belt light and start hiking,” Tara ordered, shoved Angela again as she dominated her thoughts. “Make it a fast trot.”
Angela did, profile a copy of Jay’s blank façade.
5
Marc dropped down the emergency rope to the forth level, rushing toward the awful moans. His gift was strong, breaking through the rocks and stone, but Angela wasn’t on it. The only way that was possible, was if she were dead. Marc refused to accept that as he ran to where he’d last had her on his grid. She’d blinked off while he was rushing toward her.
Marc shinned his light, motioning for Kenn to get the lanterns lit.
He spotted a body and ran that way. “Angie?”
“Uggg!”
Marc was grateful to discover that the fallen woman wasn’t Angie, but he had no idea who she was. He knelt down. “Gunshot.”
Marc recognized the casing nearby and said, “One of ours. Get a guard on her. Take her to the medical bay.”
He followed the signs of the fight backward as the men with him obeyed. He quickly found Angela’s pocket alarm and followed her boot prints into the dark tunnel without hesitation.
Behind him, Kenn took charge. “Top two teams here now, go with him. Everyone else, get us secured. The new procedures we’ve been studying are what you should be doing. Zack has Point.”
The Eagles were glad to have something specific to do and the rattles of paper came as the unused plans were taken from their kits. There hadn’t been time to practice securing the cave and the disorganized mess would keep all of them busy.
The camp had panicked, but the guards were happy to find out that meant getting weapons and hunkering down in the living quarters. The herd hadn’t been told what to do this time and it was nice to know that the sheep no longer deserved that title. Safe Haven had learned hard lessons.
“Hope we’re not about to get another one,” Kenn muttered, leading a group of Eagles to secure the stock of weapons. Much like when Angela had been taken by Donner, Kenn had a very bad feeling.
6
Marc shined his light, following three sets of footprints. He recognized one in relief. Angela was walking on her own, proof that she was alive.
“I killed her.”
Marc froze.
Ahead of him, Jayson was standing in the center of the dank, widening tunnel with a flashlight in his hand. Marc hadn’t noticed him until Jayson flipped it on, and he still didn’t have the man on his mental grid even though they were only standing a few feet apart.
“I threw her body down a hole.”
Thanks to the angle of Jayson’s light, Marc could see the drop off behind the man and the lack of tracks continuing around it.
“She didn’t suffer long.”
Marc didn’t pi
ck up the dazed tone. All he heard were the words.
When he snapped, the men behind him didn’t interfere. Jay deserved whatever Marc handed out.
Marc slid his gun under Jay’s throat, not noticing that the man wasn’t fighting back. “You will suffer.”
Marc fired, trimming Jay’s ear.
Marc also didn’t notice the man’s screams or the loud report of the gunshot in the cavern. Angela’s body tumbling through the void and crunching on the rocks below was repeating in his mind. The gap behind Jay was over a hundred foot deep.
Allan and Brandon exchanged uneasy looks as Marc fired again, trimming another body part. They understood and agreed with his judgement, but the need to grieve for Angela was hitting them in thick waves that pulled sympathy instead of hatred.
Get some rope, Allan told Brandon in hand code. He was sure they would be sent down to retrieve the body.
Hatred came as Jayson began to cry uncontrollably.
“Please don’t! Please.”
“Did she beg you?” Marc demanded, firing again.
As Jayson’s screams rang out repeatedly, reality sank in. Angela was dead. They had lost their very gifted leader.
7
“Who is that?” Theo demanded as a team came into the medical bay carrying a bleeding female. He recognized the sound of her moans. He’d been listening to that noise in the cave for weeks, and blaming it on a ghost. He was relieved to discover it had been a person.
“Marc found her at the scene,” Donald answered, cuffing the woman to the cot as the doctor hurried over to examine her.
“What scene?” Theo asked in concern. There was only one person not accounted for right now, as far as he could tell from listening to his radio.
“Angela’s missing and this woman might know what happened.”
Theo studied the filthy female, unable to discern her race, true hair color, or anything else. It was hard to believe that she was the person Jennifer had shown him mentally. This woman was covered in blood and dust, and a thick layer of grime that Theo thought would take more than soap to remove. She also had a gunshot wound in her arm. The doctor was trying to stem the flow and be certain the slug had gone through, but the woman wouldn’t be still. Her hands flew up and down, making her cuffs clink loudly.
“Quit that!” the doctor snapped tiredly, trying to unbutton her shirt to get to the injury. He’d been treating refugees all day.
“Uggg Ug!”
Theo’s mouth dropped open as he studied her. “That’s a code!”
“Sign language!” Zack exclaimed. He’d also escorted the woman here, hoping she would tell them where Angela was. “Does anyone know it well enough to translate?”
“I do,” Mandy responded, coming over to kneel down by the woman. The pregnant college girl flashed a hand gesture and everyone felt the wounded woman’s joy at being understood.
Mandy tried to keep up as the woman gestured frantically. “The angry lady took her…into the cave…and left the angry man…to take the blame.”
“What angry woman?” Zack demanded.
Mandy signed his question.
When the deaf female answered, Mandy cursed. “Son of a…” She signed again while everyone waited in fear and frustrated impatience.
The ghost female shook her head.
“She says the woman with the little girl who hums all the time took Angela,” Mandy told them. “They were alone.”
Chills went through the cold canvas again. There was one child who hummed in Safe Haven so much that every adult was tired of hearing it.
“Missy.” Zack gasped. “Tara!”
“Get on the radio!” Theo thundered. “Find Tara!”
8
“I found her in the mess, at one of the tables,” Shawn said, carrying Missy through the flap that Hilda held open. “She’s been darted. I can barely feel her breathing!”
The doctor hurried to the new patient, with Hilda and Peggy on is heels. Shawn stayed with them, holding the little girl’s hand in comfort.
“Has anyone told Marc?” Kenn asked. He’d stopped by to verify things were good here before he went to his next stops–the front and rear gates.
Everyone exchanged horrified glances.
“We were too busy trying to figure out what happened,” Theo groaned.
“I’ll go,” Donald volunteered.
As he left, Kenn knelt down in front of the little girl who was having trouble keeping her lids open even though the doctor was using smelling salts.
“Missy?”
“Huh?”
“Missy, can you tell us where your mommy is?”
“Uh…”
“Missy!” Kenn snapped, sorry when she flinched. “Where did your mother go?”
Missy cringed from the tone, causing Shawn to glare at Kenn.
Kenn ignored him, leaning in. “Where is your mommy?”
Missy focused blearily and shouted, “Tara is not my mommy!”
Kenn and the others gaped in shock as Missy began to cry.
“She killed my mommy. She’s the major’s wife.”
“Major Donner?” Kenn gasped, reeling.
Missy nodded, falling back under the drugs. She managed to slide onto a cot before her eyes shut. “She’s very mad at my friend Angie.”
Panic filled the tent and people ran to find Marc.
9
Unable to get through the din, Adrian listened to the radio calls with fury and fear fighting for room in his guts. Very little information was coming out, and because of the bubble and his banishment, Adrian couldn’t pick up any details that might allow him to help. There were no guards on the gate to pull thoughts from and the screaming refugees were still there to keep him from going over to yell across. He hadn’t seen Kenn or Cynthia yet and there was no way Marc would answer him right now, even if he could reach the wolfman. There was only one other thing he could try.
Adrian concentrated, searching for the door that he and Angela had opened together. It had remained after their connection was broken, but it had been locked each time he’d tried to access it. Please. She’s in danger. I know it.
There wasn’t a reply, but Adrian could feel someone or something on the other side, listening to him.
I’ll make whatever deal you want. Just tell me where she is!
Death comes to us all, a slobbering voice whispered through the door. She is no different.
Adrian shuddered. Please!
No. The voice laughed cruelly. But only because you have nothing I want!
The door refused to budge as he pounded on it and Adrian spun toward the gate in fury. Before he could reach the ledge and start clearing a path, he felt a dangerously cold draft go over him. It lingered, surrounding him with the sweet scent of vanilla. A second later, his radio crackled.
“All teams to the forth level!”
Adrian knew instantly that was the wrong call. He glanced upward, toward the snowy peak where he had seen Quinn a few hours ago. This felt familiar…
My notebook! It’s my plan!
It all snapped into place and Adrian took off running for the path that Quinn had used, mentally shouting for Marc to go up, not down.
10
“Do it now!”
“She’s almost here. Be quiet.”
Shivering, Angela heard the voices and realized they’d already arrived at Vlad’s campsite. The hike up the mountain had been grueling because of the pace. She and Tara were both out of breath, but the gun in her back had remained a constant.
“I heard something.”
“It’s me!” Tara called, shoving Angela into the light from the small fire that Vlad had going in the entrance of his small cave. “With the prize.”
“She’s not the prize!” Vlad spat, but without anger. Angela would bring him Adrian. All he had to do was make her scream.
“You have her under control?” Vlad asked, coming over to them in his thick coat.
“Of course. Easy as pie,” Tara bragged, fin
ally lowering her weapon. She’d taken it from Wade and Angela had gone right by him without noticing he was absent his firearm. Some leader, Tara thought. She’d already removed all of Angela’s defenses.
Vlad grabbed Angela’s unresisting arm and dragged her to the entrance. He took her out into the icy storm, pointing toward Safe Haven. The view was amazing.
“Watch this!” Vlad hit the button on a small box that he’d taken from his pocket. For almost a minute, nothing happened.
Angela’s eyes watered, exposed skin stinging from the cold.
“There it goes!” Vlad shouted happily.
The explosion was small–so small that barely any sound of it traveled up to them through the storm, but the sight of it was mesmerizing. Right below their ledge, part of the mountain was sliding off.
Vlad watched Angela instead of the destruction as the layers of snow and ice were blown free. The avalanche would bury Safe Haven. He waited eagerly for her screams.
Angela waited, praying she timed it correctly. As the avalanche gained strength, picking up more and more of the snow and rock it was sliding by, it went faster. Adrian’s notebook had told her how to do this, but the actual moment was always different. As the wall of icy death passed the halfway mark that she’d had Quinn light with a campfire, Angela screamed, “Now!”
Seconds later, the wall of snow shifted, blown off Vlad’s path by the explosive charges that Quinn had set. The avalanche thundered down a new route, straight for the stunned refugees who were staring up at the mountain in a daze of fear and fury. Around the gate, Eagles ran for their cave, shouting warnings.
“Thank you,” Angela said, smiling in relief as the snow crashed through the gate, but left the rest of her camp untouched. It buried most of refugees as they tried to flee. “Thank you.”
“No!” Vlad screamed.
“Kill her!” Tara cried out, realizing Angela had only pretended to be under her control. She knew what came next.
Enraged, Vlad spun toward Angela. “Did you see this coming too?”
Before Angela could bring up her shield, he punched her in the stomach.
11
Adrian ran faster through the wind and snow, feeling Angela’s pain. Now that she was outside Safe Haven’s perimeter, he had no limits again and her agony was awful. He didn’t know what had happened, but he increased his speed as the sense of urgency smothered him. Whatever it was, she needed help and he wasn’t there. Had she’d tried to enact his plan alone? Where was Marc? Where were the Eagles?
