by Angela White
2
David had Adrian’s plate and mug ready when he returned from finding Angela. Adrian ate all of it, relishing the taste and smells. He didn’t let his worry interrupt his appetite. When Marc got things under control, he would care for Angela. Until then, Kevin and the others would care for her. Right now, Adrian needed to care for himself. Later, when they all figured out that only his light could heal her, things would be as they had before his secrets had destroyed so much trust.
“Not fast enough,” Adrian murmured to himself. Angela had implied that he had weeks. How was he supposed to prove his worthiness and earn forgiveness from everyone in just a few weeks?
Stomach full, Adrian lit a smoke and sipped his sweet, hot tea, not hating the tunnel as much. Down here, he could think.
“Is she okay?”
Adrian belched. “She’s surviving, like the rest of us. A lot going on up there.”
“You hear how she handled the call?”
“Just like I taught her.”
“Was she really a rookie when she came to Safe Haven?”
“A level one. Marc had been teaching her on their way to us.”
“So their story is true? Childhood sweethearts?”
“So they say,” Adrian grumbled. He didn’t let himself lie, though it hurt. “Seems to fit. You could fry eggs on the heat between them.”
“Must be nice to feel something like that for someone,” David commented, washing Adrian’s bowl before refilling his mug from his thermos. Li had also insisted that he make his own tea to carry.
“Were you married?” Adrian inquired politely, tossing the soldier a smoke from his pack.
“No. Never found the right girl or she never found me.”
“Isn’t this the part where someone says there’s still time?” Adrian joked. He understood loneliness too well.
David chuckled, finished with the cleanup. He dug out his bedroll, placing it across the fire from Adrian. He knew the former boss was expecting an explanation of some sort, but all he said was, “Wake me in a few hours for my turn.”
It hadn’t been lost on David that Adrian wasn’t just relegated to living down here. He was a live, terrifying dog that Safe Haven needed. David was honored to help. He often wished he’d been with them from the beginning and then he, too, would feel as though he belonged here, that he deserved to be a part of this amazing group.
Adrian sympathized. The soldiers would have taken longer to adjust even if he had still been in charge, but David had the same craving as Kenn when he’d first come. This man also wanted to prove he was valuable. David would make a great right or left hand for a smaller group. He didn’t deserve to be saddled with a disgraced leader. He was worthy of more.
Adrian froze as a moment of premonition overwhelmed his senses. He still hadn’t learned to control it. The moments were too rare to allow practicing.
The tunnel morphed into a western town that Adrian had never been to. The swinging doors, muddy streets, tolling church bell, and horses suggested the old west, but the sky was lit with an unnatural backdrop that he couldn’t mistake. He quickly spotted other signs that implied it was after the war, like the use of modern lanterns and tents. The hand-stitched clothing of modern fabrics also confirmed it as a post-war date.
The vision grew clearer. Adrian saw an empty blacksmith’s hut that gleamed in pristine care through the mud and the muck. In the window of the hut, a reflection sparked, showing a group of fighters. Their leader, recognized instantly, was studied with the love that a father held for his only daughter.
“Alexa.”
David glanced over to find Adrian’s eyes open but rolled back into their sockets. It was more than odd.
“My sweet girl! I knew you were alive.” Adrian blinked as the vision vanished, forced to replay it in his mind as he scoured for details. He hadn’t had word on his daughter in a decade, until today. The vision with Sally had been quick, but this second premonition was detailed.
“You okay?” David asked, rising up on one arm. “I’ll make a run if you need something.”
“I don’t suppose you know how to shoe horses?” Adrian asked vaguely.
“I do,” the soldier answered, remembering his days as a rodeo cowboy. “Loading them can be a bitch. Shoeing is easy in comparison.”
Adrian felt the magic of fate all around them as he said, “If I told you there was another me out there, one who isn’t broken and needs you, would you believe?”
“Maybe,” David answered, sitting up. Adrian clearly needed to talk.
“What if it took years of waiting?”
David frowned. “I’d need proof of some kind, but yes, I’d probably want to know if it was true. There doesn’t seem to be a place for me here.”
Adrian smiled. “What type of proof can I offer?”
3
Seth spotted Becky’s prone form as they departed the shelter of the cold corridor, heart pounding in dread. They’d been traveling for an hour since finding the kids. Before he could rush forward, Jennifer pointed to the glint of metal in the distance.
“Get down!” Becky hissed, waving at them.
Seth collapsed in relief, joining the others on the icy, rocky ground.
Becky, busy watching the Mexican army surround the bottom of this section in the fading afternoon light, didn’t respond to Seth crawling up to clutch her as if she’d been gone for days.
Becky shrugged him off. “We’ve got trouble.”
Seth and the others quickly realized the guerillas were coming straight toward them.
“They know about this tunnel somehow,” Becky whispered angrily. “We’ve got to close it.”
“And quietly,” Kyle concurred. “If we call it in, they’ll rush up right now. A lot of our citizens will get hurt.”
“Fallback,” Jennifer ordered, motioning to their men in the rear.
Jennifer waved to Kyle, asking, Do you have anything on you?
She sent an image that made Kyle shake his head regretfully and respond, No, but I will from now on.
Jennifer studied their surroundings as they entered the cavern, staying in the shadows to watch the army.
“We’ll shoot it, make the entrance fall,” Greg suggested. “Or a grenade?”
“What if they know about the other tunnel we still have open?” Ben asked, ducking as the men got closer.
The Eagles reacted by getting out of sight.
“Yeah, there could be another group coming up to that passage right now!” Greg protested. “We have to call Marc.”
Kyle made the choice after a quick evaluation. “We’ll move further up and contact Marc. Let them get in the tunnels a bit.”
“Then we set off the emergency charges?” Greg guessed. They’d had all this set up for the top, where it neared their actual camp. No one had wanted to have to dig out the entire mountain when it was time to leave.
“That’ll seal us off completely,” Becky protested.
“Yes, that’s what Angela wants,” Jennifer murmured quietly. “The fallout is coming. She thinks we’ll be safe if we’re buried under the earth.”
“She might be right,” Greg agreed.
Kyle motioned them to go up the corridor. “Come on.”
“I can’t. I’m sorry.” Becky darted out of the cave.
Seth turned to Kyle for help, but the mobster shook his head. “She made her choice. Make yours.”
Seth followed Becky. Both of them vanished into the shadows.
When no shouts of discovery came, Kyle and Jennifer followed their plan.
“We’ll use all three launchers,” Kyle instructed. Special Forces teams now carried bigger gear for moments like this one. Angela had added to their arsenal and Marc had insisted that they bring it.
“Aim for the cracks and gaps. Theo said those are weak spots,” Jennifer called, jogging up the tunnel. Except for Kyle and the three guys doing the launching, the teams would keep traveling. They needed to be out of the way of the blast, but
there was also a chance that this passage could collapse and kill them all where the last one hadn’t. Everything was a risk.
Jennifer heard the sound of the launchers firing and keyed the radio on her belt. “Incoming! Check the tunnels! Incom–”
4
“Check the tunnels! Incom–”
Adrian and David leapt up, grabbing for weapons at the broken transmission. They staggered to the entrance that came from the bottom of this passage, not waiting for orders.
“You see anything?” David whispered, turning his radio down as it went crazy with voices.
Adrian squinted into the darkness. “No…but I feel something.”
“All teams to stations!” their radios blared with Tonya’s angry voice. “This is not a drill. We have intruders! All teams to stations!”
A blast of bright red light flew through the darkness.
“Down!” Adrian lunged toward David, taking them both to the hard ground.
The blast of energy sailed over their heads and slammed into the stone, splintering stone chips in a dangerous shower.
“Blow it!” Marc commanded over the radio. He had just reached the top of the shaft and sent the kids to the medical bay for a checkup when Jennifer’s warning came.
“Hit the button!” Adrian shouted, firing.
David scrambled toward the box that Theo and Kenn had rigged, dodging bullets and bright flashes meant to kill them.
Adrian spun, knocking David out of the path of another energy blast. He bounced off a wall, spinning again to avoid a small hail of bullets. It put him right next to the box. He dropped down on top of it, bringing up his shield. “Get in here!”
David crawled, returning fire, until he was touching Adrian’s leg. The shield immediately enlarged to include him.
David stared in fascination.
Adrian hit the button.
The cave below them imploded in a series of thundering explosions, shaking the stone to send showers of dust and dirt through the lower passages. The mountain groaned in agony.
The Mexicans who hadn’t been buried kept coming through the corridor, reaching them despite good shooting. It forced Adrian and David to retreat to the ladder. There were too many guerillas to continue fighting.
“Hurry!” David lunged through to the next floor and began pulling the rope. Adrian, halfway up, grunted at pain in his leg, but still managed to help yank the ladder as he hit the stone. They got it up right as the Mexicans reached the hole, firing through and into the rock around it.
Both men cowered from the barrage, hearing nothing but the ringing of guns and slugs pinging off cold stone.
“Get back,” Marc called loudly from behind them, running hard to get here. He knew hearing was difficult when you’d just had your ears overloaded.
Adrian and David rolled out of the way of the advancing Eagles who were carrying vials.
As he realized what they were doing, Adrian scowled. He didn’t approve of taking hostages, but wisely didn’t interfere. He was glad to be up here and not still down there.
Marc deftly tossed two vials through the hole, ducking gunfire and flying metal.
Two more Eagles ran forward to do the same. Glass shattering and coughing replaced the gunfire and screams.
Marc and his team retreated to wait, scanning the areas around them in case anyone had already gotten through. On the top level, Greg and Daryl were doing the same if it was needed. Marc didn’t think it was. Greg had been out laboring on the gate all day. He would have spotted anyone climbing the mountain.
The knockout gas worked quickly. In less than a minute, the loudest noise below them was the shifting of the mountain as it settled and the soft groans and thuds from bodies hitting the ground.
Marc gestured the Eagles forward. “Keep dosing them with it until they’re all out or they surrender. If it kills them, so be it.”
Billy snapped a salute that hurt Adrian as much as it made him proud. He’d overlooked the driver. Marc hadn’t.
The radio lit up with a barrage of furious Mexican words that only a handful of dwellers in Safe Haven were able to decipher. The Mexican leader was clearly furious that both his attempts to infiltrate the mountain in broad daylight had failed.
Marc waited for a clear pause and then addressed the man over his belt radio. “I now have an undetermined number of your assassins. Another undetermined amount have been buried alive. Leave these lands and I will release your men, unharmed, after we dig them out. Refuse and I’ll let them die right where they are.”
Marc went to the other site, where Kyle and Jennifer had last been heard from. He didn’t spare a glance for Adrian or David, who now had to be given a place within the camp. All of their gear was below.
“You will pay for this!” his radio echoed.
“Willingly,” Marc growled, climbing to the upper level. “No one fucks with Safe Haven while I’m in charge, little man. You’ll learn that.”
Despite the first revulsion, Marc was quickly adjusting to the plan for the Mexicans. They’d proven that they couldn’t be trusted by trying to infiltrate as soon as they arrived. Guerillas had been sneaking into place before that first verbal exchange or they wouldn’t have been up to Adrian’s sewer site so fast. Mikel was another snake; something Marc had no remorse over killing. It was why he’d become a Marine. Some people needed to die. That was even truer now.
Adrian was impressed with Marc’s mindset. It showed that the man was coming to the important realizations faster than he or Angela had estimated. It was encouraging. While he was earning his way back into the herd’s good graces and Angela was healing, Safe Haven would be taken care of by someone who was a fierce defender of right and wrong. Marc’s time would be short, productive.
The need to document it came. Adrian contemplated his notebooks and valuables, now within reach of gassed enemy hands. That won’t do.
“I’m going down,” Adrian announced. He glanced at David, ignoring the surprise of the Eagles who had been posted here. “You got me?”
“You know it,” David answered. “Been too quiet for me, Boss.”
The other Eagles, the ones who had trained with Adrian and lost faith, felt his absence keenly at that second. Those had been their moments, their emotions and words coming through in every run and trial together. Adrian had found new Eagles, but they didn’t have a new Adrian.
Adrian knelt by the smoky hole. “I’m coming down. You shoot me, you’ll die.”
Adrian didn’t wait for anyone to stop him. He dropped through the ten-foot hole, landing on bodies.
David fearlessly followed him down.
The Eagles, bound by orders, crowded around and tried to watch.
Adrian chuckled as he took in the scene. The vials of gas had succeeded. Nothing was moving. “They’re all out.”
Adrian and David quickly gathered their things and then took all the weapons from the captives on the way through the tunnel that now looked as though this part of the mountain had collapsed. It took a little while, enough for both of them to become nervous about the Mexicans recovering. This fresh gas wasn’t concentrated, so it didn’t last. When you were stuck inside a mountain, with few vents, poison gas was more than dangerous. It had to be used carefully in low doses.
Adrian tied his kit and the bags of weapons to one end of his rope as David tossed the other end of it to the waiting Eagles that were now in agreement with the action. Having the enemy disarmed while unconscious was brilliant.
Drawn to one of the collapsed forms, Adrian carefully hefted the short man over his shoulder and went to the hole to be pulled up.
As the Eagles got his double weight to their level, they took the prisoner from him so that he could help David up.
Groans and mutters came a few seconds later.
Billy hurried forward to drop another vial of gas. After the crash, there was silence again.
Adrian motioned toward the man he’d brought up. “I’d get your new enforcer on him ASAP. If he wake
s up before she gets here, shoot him. Too much power for you guys to handle alone.”
The Eagles took the warning seriously, dispatching two men to take the prisoner to the brig while another went to get Jennifer. The rest guarded the hole.
Glad of his choice, Adrian claimed a nearby corner and put his sleeping bag down. He was beyond tired.
David took the first watch over him, impressed. Adrian might be in disgrace, but he was still a genius. All survivors needed people like that. David reflected on their conversation, of the agreement that he’d given after hearing the details. If it were a hoax, he would be left behind when Safe Haven got on their boat. If it was true, he would have the chance to serve a pure descendant who was worthy of his devotion. It was a hard choice, but in the end, he’d had to acquiesce. All David wanted was to belong with a good leader, to serve someone worthy, and in his opinion, those here were already corrupted. He’d come to the light too late.
5
“Kyle!” Jennifer crawled through the rubble and smoke, crawling toward where he should have been. The tunnel was groaning and shifting around them, dropping more rocks and dirt through the darkness.
“Check in!” Kyle ordered. The grit sealed up his throat and he coughed in a series of painful hacks.
The sound of his voice sent relief through Jennifer.
A light flashed on as the team counted off.
“We’re here,” Morgan forced out roughly at the end of the count, wiping his face. They were all coughing, covered in dark dirt and glowing particles.
“What is that?” Jennifer asked, pointing to a glint on one wall.
Kyle and the others edged forward to check it out.
“Looks like…gold.”
Jennifer chuckled, coughed. “We struck gold?”
The teams cheered even though they didn’t have a use for wealth now. The old world mentality would never completely be erased from those who’d lived in it.
“We’ll have uses for it, I think,” Barry offered as they headed to the main camp. There was no sound from the Mexicans on the other section of the new wall created by stone and debris. The cave-in had been perfect, only they’d been too close. The rush of debris and dirt had slammed into all of them, knocking them off their feet and surrounded them in a smothering whirlwind of dust and dirt.
