by Angela White
“Lights went out over there,” Tommy told them, still observing from the flap.
“What’s going on?” Rita asked worriedly, burping one baby while the other slept soundly near her leg.
“Shh…” Kendle concentrated, trying to make them all dim.
Conner, realizing what she was doing, added his power to hers. A brief blue glow went over the cave and then everything went dark.
“Shh…easy,” Kendle soothed. “That’s us. Be still.”
The team waited in stiff silence, unable to see anything in the chilly cave.
Kendle heard it first. Conner tensed as he too picked out the vibrations.
“What is it?” the boy asked, afraid to dig and give away their location.
“Trucks,” Kendle whispered. “A lot of trucks…”
The UN convoy rolled into the dead valley in force, crushing bones under their wheels as they forged their own road through the former Mexican camp. The lead vehicles stopped at the bottom of the hill where the gaping hole in the side of the mountain was obvious.
The convoy was so long that the ends kept moving forward long after Dirce, in the lead, brought his vehicle to a halt. The trucks and tanks rolled through streets and yards without consideration for what stood in their way, UN logo flashing brightly in warning of who they were.
Kendle winced as a bullhorn began to echo through the darkness.
“Come out with your hands up. We have you surrounded!”
Why does that sound like a cheesy line from an old movie? Kendle wondered, listening for a response.
“I repeat, come out with your hands up. You are being detained.”
“Detained?” she murmured, working through it…“Detained?”
“Dirce,” Rita breathed, clutching the babies. “He’s here.”
Kendle grunted in acceptance of what had to happen next. She let go of the dim mode for a brief instant so that she could view where everyone was. “If anyone moves, they might die. Please don’t even breathe if you can help it.” Before they could question, she blanketed them in darkness again. “Dirce has been here for hours. He saw us come out. That’s why he’s moving in now.”
“He sent people up here?”
Kendle set the book near her feet, wishing she’d been able to use the information in it, but this was going to happen faster than Angela had anticipated.
“What should I do?” Conner asked, coming to her. He could discern everyone’s heat signature like his dad had once said he could do. Conner had used it to survive in the Little Rock sewers.
“When I start firing, you do the same and don’t stop until they’re dead or someone from our side tells you to.”
“What kind of firing? I don’t have any mags left.”
“We’ll be using magic, Conner,” she told him grimly. “We have to kill these roaches, right now, before Safe Haven surrenders to save us. Dirce is telling them he’ll blow up this cave with his tank.”
“Can he reach up here?” Ramer inquired in horror.
“I think so,” Tommy confirmed, not even trying to see through the haze of darkness that Kendle had cast over them. “What should we do?”
“Just don’t move,” she repeated. “We’ll go out and you’ll be able to see again, but if you move, you’ll screw me up.”
“We won’t,” Tommy promised. He was used to working like this with Angela. He was also too drained to get upset. He couldn’t wait to sleep without this stress on his mind and heart.
Kendle and Conner went to the flap, zipping jackets.
As they stepped from the cave, the lights came on for everyone. They stayed frozen, listening intently…
“Get in there!”
Kendle was shoved into the cave by three tall men in black and tan uniforms with weapons that the team would have recognized from the market if the lanterns had been lit.
Kendle dropped to her knees as she was shoved, hands coming up.
“Stop! Be still!”
Kendle snatched the knife from her boot and threw it at the UN soldier who was leaning down to pick up the baby. He fell on top of the bundle, causing it to cry.
Rita flew toward them, ignoring the shouts of the team.
“No!”
“Don’t move!”
Rita grunted heavily, also falling on top of the kids as Kendle’s knife sank into her chest.
Kendle threw again, her last blade sticking in the man’s throat. She and Tommy grabbed the third soldier before he could draw his gun. That was a serious disadvantage when it came to climbing up a mountain. He had needed both hands free and hadn’t bothered to draw until now.
Kendle swung them toward the flap, not giving Tommy a chance to protest as she shoved outside and heaved the struggling soldier toward the edge.
Tommy helped her.
Together, they pushed him off.
The man’s screams echoed down to Dirce, who glanced up at them with his goggles. “Figures.”
He climbed from the tank, not wanting to hurt his ears when it fired. “Line it up. Blast her out of there.”
“What about my grandbabies?” Jerry asked. He and Dirce had been commanded by the secretary-general to collect them.
Dirce paused. He’d forgotten he had sent the team up there to get the brats. “Fine. Aim at the other side. Blow her friends and family out of there.”
Jerry grinned eagerly as he went to tell the tank driver. He loved watching things explode.
“They’re firing on Safe Haven!” Tommy shouted. “We have to stop them!”
It was too late. The tank fired, blasting directly into the gaping hole.
The mountain thundered, shaking, sliding, and exploding.
The team watched in horror as a chunk of the mountain slid down to bury the new exit. A huge dust wave coated the scene, hiding it from view.
Dirce was pelted with rocks and debris that he didn’t flinch from the way his men did. He keyed the mike on the radio that his man held out. “This is the UN. We are here to liberate your children and reeducate your population. Surrender now or we will fire again.”
The team listened to the demands in horror and anger. It was unbelievable that this was happening.
“We will not spare you if you resist!” the bullhorn blared with Dirce’s heavy accent. “Come out now, if you can.”
“Here we go,” Kendle warned, feeling bad about Rita. She knelt by the body. “We should stay in for this part, maybe behind that ledge,” she suggested, helping Carl retrieve the startled children. Everyone crammed into the rear of the cave, hoping it was out of range.
“Are we still supposed to be the heroes?” Conner asked.
“I don’t believe that’s the plan now,” Kendle stated. “I screwed it up by letting Dirce know we were here. She had to switch plans.”
“She?” Ben asked. “You mean Angela?”
“Of course,” Kendle replied, handing the baby boy to Carl. “She picked our gear. She knew we’d be trapped up here and need the equipment and book on rappelling so we could get down.
“But we have the path we came down to get here,” Tommy reminded her.
“I’m not sure we will after this is all over,” Kendle told them. “I think the shooting has just started.”
“So what do we do now?” Ben inquired tonelessly. He was pissed. “Sit here and wait to be shot at?”
“I couldn’t view beyond this point,” Kendle told them. “I say we stick with our previous orders to stay here and be quiet.”
“Yes,” Tommy agreed. “If Safe Haven knew this was coming, they weren’t near the entrance when he fired. Dirce can blow up that cliff all he wants. He won’t reach them.”
“He can reach us,” Ramer pointed out. “Maybe we should leave while we can.”
The radio that had gone silent clicked a few times and then went dead again.
Kendle exchanged glances with the team. “That means an hour, right?”
“Yes,” Tommy confirmed. “Be ready in one hour.”
Kendle sank down to rest, leaning against the cold wall. “The conclusion, of course. One hour from now, all hell will break loose again.” She closed her eyes. “That’s when we’ll find out who lived and who didn’t.”
“Will we survive the fight?” Scott asked quietly, taking the spot by her.
Kendle shrugged, leaning her head back. “That has not been revealed.”
End of Book 7
What would you like to do now?
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Author Note
Reader: How can you leave it there?!
Writer: Before you use the pitchforks on me, please know I intend to travel back in time a little for book ten and show you what happened in that mountain. You’ll get a little of that in the excerpt that follows this note.
Reader: So Safe Haven does survive the quake?
Writer: That has not been revealed.
Reader: When do we get book 10?!
Writer: As soon as I can. Hopefully this year. If not, for sure in 2018. I’ve averaged one of these 800 page monsters every year (roughly) since I started publishing the series. It takes a long time to layer these things in, but mostly, I have to have the correct mood when I type or it won’t turn out right. That can be a real challenge some days.
That’s all from me for now, wonderful Readers and Eagles. I’m off to work on the final novel in the Bachelor Battles trilogy. I hope to have it out during summer, with an Alexa’s Travels release in the fall. And for winter? That has not been revealed yet.
Have a wonderful week, world, and watch your six.
Angela White
Thank you Jeff, Jeanne, Jan, Angie, Tracie, Shawndra and all the other wonderful people who took the time to help me with this book. I don’t know what I’d do without you all!
Dearly Departed
1
“We will have the witch!”
Many of Mikel’s men cheered. The rest were dead or screaming.
Inside the mountain, the screams began to fade into groans and tears…and then silence.
“Why is it so quiet now?” Tracy asked tearfully as she and Charlie stayed beneath the cushion of the clothes.
“The smoke,” he muttered, feet digging them downward. He was still trying to reach the bottom. This ledge had broken off and slid, but he didn’t know how far or if they had landed flat. For all he knew, they were on another ledge or even sideways.
“We have to help them!” Tracy cried, but she didn’t resist when he pulled her lower.
Around them, the laundry was moving.
Natoli stayed on Tracy’s right as the clever teenager took them through the maze of laundry and stone. His men surrounded the couple, as he’d instructed them to do before they’d rejoined Safe Haven under the ground. Marc had told him of his fears for the future, of the deaths and lives that had been promised. Natoli had vowed to protect Marc’s heart so that the warrior could fight for all people. Now, Natoli was fulfilling his vow.
Charlie was glad they weren’t alone. He was in the lead for the first time and it was terrifying.
His foot hit something hard and Charlie stopped, hands fumbling in the darkness for the light on his belt. He tried not to think about everything that might be on top of them or how hard it was to breathe down here. They had survived the quake. That had been his only goal when he’d brought them to the laundry area. Now, he had to keep them alive in the aftermath.
Around them, other people were coming to the same realizations. Through the shifting stone and darkness, broken survivors began to emerge.
Deleted Scene #1
“Let me speak to the witch,” Adrian demanded, surprising them both.
Angela shrugged. The witch had plenty of heat for him.
Adrian braced and asked, “Will you go away, so we can talk in private?”
“Yes.” Angela didn’t blink, making him wonder if she’d been expecting it.
“No,” she answered wearily. “But there’s nothing she can do, either. I’m being punished. It’s what I deserve.”
“Chauncey’s wrong!” Adrian snapped, trying anger. “Why are you letting him trick you?”
Angela didn’t respond. She curled into a ball in the witch’s dank cell as the mental barrier closed.
Adrian stared at the crimson orbs now glowering resentfully, not positive where to begin. He couldn’t care less about her whining or her accusations. He needed information.
The witch knew he wanted to help her host, but the rage at his betrayal was too great to ignore. She forced herself to settle for glaring. It was the best she could do.
“I can’t give her what she asked for,” Adrian stated, choosing to be quick and blunt. “Marc will never agree to try.”
“He might now,” the witch conceded grudgingly. “If you asked him the right way.”
“He’ll say it’s too dangerous for her. He won’t do it.”
“But you will, right?” the demon accused hatefully.
“To bring her around? You bet your tight, sexy ass.”
“That won’t work on me!” the witch blazed, sending out a fire blast that Adrian merely caught and tossed back, knowing Angela couldn’t spare the energy.
“Yes, it will and that’s why you’re pissed. You still want me.”
The witch lunged forward, putting her demon face inches from his. “Slam you!”
Adrian kissed her, but not in the fiery passion that they’d shared before. He placed a loving kiss on her scaly lips. “I am sorry.”
The witch jerked as if stung, returning to her place in Angela’s mind. “Bastard.”
“Always.” Adrian waited for a moment, and then asked, “Will it kill her this time?”
“Ask the true question,” the witch intoned. She also wanted the answer, but on some things, she wasn’t allowed to search without permission.
“Is the doctor right? Will it kill her to have another baby?”
“With the right care, miracles are possible,” the witch answered, peering through the foggy barrier to the future. She studied the carvings and the elemental formations that spiraled toward Angela’s demise. All souls had the same curve at the end that was supposed to slingshot them into a repetition of their previous lives. When the person finally achieved their goals, the curve straightened out, supposedly, leading them home to the Maker. The witch had never witnessed that phenomenon.
“What do you mean by the right care?”
“Get her and the herd out of here. These mountains are cursed.”
“Because of the refugees she eliminated or the radiation clouds that are coming?”
“Because this is the flow point for all the evil,” the witch tried to explain. “Your jet…swim? It carries more than rain. All the negative feelings it picks up are deposited here. Bet you didn’t know that when you sent the herd to this rocky burial ground.”
“No, I didn’t,” Adrian admitted. “Before I understood that we have to leave, I thought the mountains would be good for us.”
“And when you realized the number of catastrophes that would converge here?”
Adrian sighed heavily. �
��I decided it was perfect. It would force the herd to understand that we have to leave our homeland.”
“You made that choice without knowing how awful it would be.”
“Yes…but I wouldn’t change that choice, even if I could. We have to go.”
“You’ve been on that trip since it all happened,” the witch guessed. “because you saw something else. What did you witness that convinced you to sacrifice your children?”
Adrian winced, but didn’t deny it. He studied the beautiful face with the demon’s fire lighting it. “It’s not what I saw. It’s what I know. Biological agents were released during the war. I hoped being in the stone would protect us, but it took too long to get here. I took too long.”
“Agents?”
“It was important that the population wasn’t smart enough to immediately rebuild,” Adrian revealed in revulsion. “If the survivors were busy fighting with themselves and everyone they came into contact with, rebuilding efforts would fall apart. In case that wasn’t enough, biological warfare was chosen to infect massive numbers. Remember all the medical commercials with effects that included dementia, suicide, or violence? That data came from clinical testing of chemicals on unsuspecting populations–many times as a new medication. The tiny things they cure are actually the side effects of the weapon.”
“You were part of this?”
“I reached my limit during the Gulf War, when we were sent in to test these things on any troops we encountered–theirs or ours. I’d had enough when I got lost after a run and found an entire village that had been murdered. I recognized the cause of death because I was infecting people with weaker doses of it.”
“You’re a carrier of disease!”
“No.” Adrian shook his head. “We used dispersing devices. The government was testing ways to kill off the human population. We wanted to have descendants in control openly.”
“Because advanced societies will never accept magic,” the witch muttered. “See magic, get the fire.”
