Too Long a Soldier (Kingdom Key Book 3)

by TylerRose.

  “That’s right. So ‘fess up,” she said, blinking as a bottle appeared in Tyler’s hand. “You need to be teachin’ me that trick.”

  Tyler smiled, sitting down and sitting back with the big baby girl lying on her chest to drink it down and be comforted by the presence that had imprinted on her that day.

  Jerome told Anita what was coming and when, that Tyler was going to port people to Safe Haven on that day. Maybe hundreds of them.

  “I want you to take the baby and go visit Uncle Joe in South Carolina,” Meechi told her. “Go on the sixteenth and don’t come back ‘til I tell you it’s safe.”

  “Like hell I will. You outta your head, boy. I’m not going anywhere. You gonna need me to coordinate all those people and the kitchen. You forget I was in the Army? I was in command of the base Mess for five years ‘fore I got pregnant with your sister and they discharged me. I know how to feed three hundred people three times a day. Where’s your written inventory?”

  “Uhhhhhh…”

  She shook her head. “First thing in the morning we’ll go take inventory. We’ll take from the improvements account and get what else I think we need. Do you have children, Tyler?”

  “No.”

  “I have never known that child to hold onto someone like that.”

  “I’m just glad she’s safe and loved. It killed me to have to leave her. I couldn’t even pick her up or I’d contaminate evidence.”

  “Well, it’s ‘cause you din’t that they arrested her boyfriend. The last person to touch her was him, when he put her in the playpen and gave her a bottle. They got his fingerprints off the bottle, the rim of the pen, and the diaper, which was clean because she takes the things off within two minutes of being put on.”

  Tyler nodded. “I ain’t been able to think of anything else since it happened.”

  “Well, you feel free to come visit whenever you want. We knew there had to be a guardian angel. First time I know of getting to meet one. You Auntie Tyler now. You will always be part of this family.”

  “That make you my brother?” Tyler teased Meechi.

  “Now you bein’ gross,” he tossed back at her.

  “Why don’t we let the ladies talk,” Jerome cut in for an easy exit.

  They went back to the apartment and sparked up a fat one.

  “You know Gable was with her,” Jerome opened. “He’s pretty freaked out about it. He can’t go with her again. He’s just not built for the kind of hell she walks through.”

  “You want me to? That what all this is about?”

  “If you would,” Jerome nodded.

  “J…man…we been brothers too long for you to even have to ask. I owe Tyler huge for what she done. You call and I’ll be ready in five minutes. Don’t matter what it is or where we goin’.”

  “I appreciate that. You’re the only one I trust to have my woman’s back.”

  “Speaking of women. I’m taking Roc to Pickle Road tonight.”

  “Why don’t you bring her here?”

  “She’s too easily embarrassed if someone sees her. I think it’s cute, but she really gets self-conscious,” Meechie smiled.

  “You can come to her bed too.”

  “She won’t do that either. Trust me, this is best for now. Eventually she’ll get over herself. It’s all too new for her right now. She’s so fine, she can have it all her way.”

  Jerome chuckled. “Gotcha. I know that feeling very well. Tyler teach her something?”

  “Shit, dude! Tyler done taught her a bunch of things. You one lucky fuckin’ dog if she does half of ‘em in a blow.”

  “Dammit,” Jerome groused.

  “What?”

  “I don’t have her do that.”

  Demitrius stared at him with blank eyes. “You shittin’ me.”

  “I don’t care how good she is at it. I can’t explain my reasons,” Jerome said.

  “If I’s you, I’d be on my knees beggin’ the woman. If she can teach that good, the original has got to blow a man’s mind.”

  “Yeah, well. I’ll let you know if we ever get there. She ain’t talkin’ much, but Tyler expects to die fighting the invasion.”

  Quiet knocking on the door and Meechi answered to let her in.

  “What weapons did you get?” she asked when the door was closed behind her.

  “We have rocket and grenade launchers, machine guns, sniper rifles. Half a million rounds of armor piercing or exploding bullets,” Meechi said.

  “Good. I want you to give everything to the Droghers and Knaves. Everything except sniper rifles and small arms.”

  “Why?” Meechi demanded hotly.

  “This place is called Safe Haven. That is exactly what it must be. If the Foot Soldiers or Rhutvak realize there is serious firepower coming from this building, it becomes a target and they will smash it. That ruins everything we’re trying to do here. If you use small firearms and only in preventing them from approaching, you are strictly defensive and not much interest until the initial fight is done. By then, we’ve either won or lost. If we’ve won, you’re safe. If we’ve lost, it no longer matters.”

  “She’s right, D. The last thing we need is for this building to become a target,” Jerome put in. “I’ll buy the shit off you so you ain’t lost anything.”

  Not happy about it, Demitrius shifted in his seat.

  “Protect your own but don’t get involved in the heavy fire,” Tyler warned. “You’ll keep your residents, and others, alive to fight another day.”

  He pointed at her. “It’s a pain in the ass you bein’ telepathic. You know which buttons to push.”

  She only smiled.

  “Alright,” he agreed. “You come with a van and I’ll turn over what I got.”

  “No need. Take me to it. And your store room with all the other stuff in it.”

  Down to the basement they went, to the locked room only he had a key to.

  Standing over the stacks of boxes, Tyler let out that long, low hiss of breath. The pile vanished and she turned to the cots standing on end against a wall. One hand reaching for it and the other reaching toward the wall behind her and an exact duplicate appeared. Then the blankets, the pile of toilet paper, diapers and wipes, the bags of socks and boxes of laundry soap. The cans of food, boxes of batteries. She replicated everything in triplicate to fill the room on all four sides. In her hand was a slip of paper and she turned it over to him.

  “Multiply by four. This is your inventory.”

  She ported away.

  “She gets a little touchy, don’ she?” Meechi said.

  “She’s got a right to be, man. Thanks for lettin’ her see the baby. At least that’s one less thing on her mind.”

  “What about your mind? ‘If every other fails,’ that means you. Don’t it,” Meechi said more than asked.

  “She was being polite. She tells as much as she can but there’s things she can’t say yet.”

  “Wow. You must love her. You would not be that patient and understanding with any other chick you’ve known.”

  “Every other chick was more concerned with what color to paint their nails or dye their hair. My woman is trying to prevent the end of life as we know it. She can be as cranky as she wants. Not gonna bother me none. People just need to stay out of her way. I won’t be stopping her if she goes off on them.”

  Meechi walked him to the door. “Tell Roc I’ll be there as planned.”

  He took the paper to his mother, then took her down to see the room. Anita at once recruited five of the most trusted men to get to work moving laundry soap to the closet of the laundry room and then reorganizing the piles into a more logical shopping store in the room next door. Clothes and supplies separated by male, female, and baby. Then general supplies like toothbrushes and soap. She had the room shaped up before supper. Next day they laid out cots in the ballroom and locked the door. No one would be allowed in to see what was there.

  But no one asked anyway.

  Tyler stood with Nails
and Jerome in the basement of the warehouse just outside of the downtown area, looking at the weaponry. First the men Nails brought sorted weapons into like piles, then ordinance into like stacks.

  She did with it exactly what she had done with the supplies at Safe Haven. But more. When the three walls had their duplicated piles and stacks, she teleported them to the bunker beneath Nails’ garage. Then she filled the walls again and sent them to the basement under Dicer’s bike shop. She created enough to give every man a rocket launcher or a machine gun. Then she tripled up on ammunition.

  “Have your men take the weapons with them to their hotel rooms on the 17th,” she said. “Don’t have them drive in on the day. They might get stuck in traffic and be late to the party.”

  He only nodded. Odin had already booked and paid for every room in every hotel in the downtown area, from February 17th until February 20th for just that reason.

  “I expect men to be four to a room,” she said. “The night before, after the dinner, we will come here and I’ll send four machine guns and a rocket launcher to every room for them to learn and make ready. I’m going to take a nap now.”

  She ported to her room. Nails looked at the stack of original weapons, then around the empty space.

  “I imagine all that effort is very tiring.”

  “Very,” Jerome replied as they left the warehouse. “She’ll sleep for a couple hours and be much better for supper tonight.”

  “I’ll trust your word. Talk to you in a few days,” Nails said by way of goodbye.

  Into their respective vehicles and they all went their separate directions.

  Chapter Twenty

  The closer February 18thgot, the shorter their tempers and the less Tyler was home. She worked Thursday through Sunday and planted seeds in every person who worked downtown or lived on the East Side or in Oregon. She spent hours sitting in Woodville Mall, watching people and planting more seeds. She spent many nights in Jerome’s silence. They both pulled back from sex play, simply being close and comfortable. Star and Gable, however, humped like there was no tomorrow.

  Roc spent much time with Demitrius. Landra Ahr said nothing about it. He was too busy working on the new armor to care what she was doing. He had only a few days left to finish calibrating and testing. He would not let anyone see it, hoping the changes Tyler was affecting would also cause him not to be destroyed.

  They worked diligently to set up as many cots in the basement as they could safely fit. Made up with pillow and blanket and then she duplicated the pillows and blankets on them. The small pantry room behind was set up like a little store to make finding what was needed quick and easy.

  Gable went up to start supper, Jerome behind him to have a meeting with Warren. Tony had left first to mind the gym. Roc went to shower before supper. Alone, looking at the field of beds neatly lined up, Identical with their drab green blanket and white pillows. Waiting for…

  Armageddon.

  Her breath caught in her throat, then a great inward gasp of a sob. Just days away. She could see people, frightened and confused. Every bed was full. Hot, hard tears of building stresses and tensions needing to be purged. So close. They were so close to finally seeing it through.

  “Is my tool belt in here?” Starbird came in unexpectedly from the elevator access room.

  Tyler clammed up and shut down, stopping the emotional outburst. “Over there,” she pointed.

  Star shut the door. “What is it, Ty?”

  “Nothing. I’m fine,” she replied, going for the stairs.

  She stopped short as Star stepped directly in front of her.

  “Don’t lie to me. The walls may be soundproof but I can feel your energy. I know when you cry and you have been much more often. You put yourself under a lot of strain.”

  “It cannot be helped.”

  “The stress, no. But you don’t have to cry alone.”

  Tyler’s face went blanker than blank. “Yes, I do.” She ported to her room.

  After the Iron Knavesgig that Friday, Nails showed her the box of magnetic grenades.

  “It automatically activates a three second timer when it latches onto the target and shoots its load directionally, toward what it is attached to,” he explained.

  “Very nice,” she nodded, feeling its weight in her hand. “How many you got?”

  “I have ten thousand.”

  She just looked at him and he shrugged.

  “Leave a box here next to your bed that morning.”

  “Why?”

  “For me. I can’t be hauling it around. I’ll bring one to me when I need it.” She turned to walk away and he captured her wrist.

  “Wait. I want to talk some more.”

  “I don’t. Let go of me.”

  “Tyler, please. What’s wrong? You are not yourself.”

  She glared at him with eyes only he would recognize. Her inner entity showing herself through eyes gone pitch black.

  “I got an alien murderer bearing down on us and a team of seven to fight them with, most of which will die within the first two minutes. I may have to let them die. I got an army of maybe five thousand men to face thirty thousand foot soldiers and ten thousand flying machines. For starters. I have people on all sides wanting me to talk when talking is the last thing I want to do. I want all of you to leave me the fuck alone!”

  She yanked her arm from him and stalked away with her fury. She ported to Chen’s.

  Chen saw her arrive and walk through the late class, heading for the living quarters to the rear. He finished class as usual, not rushing his students out, and found her curled up on the sofa. As expected.

  “What has happened that you need your father instead of your lover?” he asked, sitting on the floor at her head.

  “I’m just stressin’ and don’t want to stress him more than he already is. I’m feeling the enormity of what I’m doing. I feel Adamantine. The closer he gets, the more intensely I feel the black void that is him. Forty one hours away.”

  “Your patience is astounding,” he commented, knowing better than anyone else in the galaxy how hard she was working to keep control.

  “I don’t feel patient inside. I’m going insane with it all,” she said.

  “Yes, but you project a calm exterior to your team. A team that is largely not telepathic and wouldn’t know the difference. That is what a leader does. Your team needs you to be present.”

  “I’ll go in a bit. I just need to calm myself before I can be with people again.”

  He kissed her forehead. “I’ll make some tea.”

  A decaf vanilla flavored tea that would soothe frayed nerves. She went home in time to make supper. A delicious meal of pasta, lettuce salad tossed with a variety of fruits, and bread with chopped garlic cloves baked into it. The meal was lovely but no one much felt like talking. Dishes finished, no one really could decide what to watch.

  “I have an idea,” Tyler said, and went down to the video store for something not on her list.

  She brought up Spaceballs.

  “You’re shittin’ me, right?” Jerome said, seeing the title.

  “Trust me.”

  She was right. The movie was so ludicrous, especially given their extended wait for their own space-type battle, that they were laughing off the tension. She followed it up with Scavenger Hunt and a pot of popcorn. Demitrius arrived as they were starting the movie.

  “Oh yeah. Arnold,” Tyler remembered. “He’s gonna be Governor of California.”

  “What? No fucking way,” Jerome denied.

  “Way, man. Don’t have to be born here to be Governor. Just President.”

  “Really? Interesting,” Roc said.

  “Think about it. Many of the first statesmen of these here United States weren’t born here,” she reminded Roc. “They were born in England. If they’d made it so you had to be born here, then they could not have held office either.”

  “Oh. Okay, that makes sense.”

  Many more laughs and the pending ba
ttle was temporarily forgotten.

  “You stayin’ over, man?” Jerome asked Demitrius when the movie ended.

  “If you don’t mind.”

  “Not at all. I’m going to lock down the property.”

  I’ll go with you.”

  They checked the doors downstairs, the deck and roof access.

  “Landra, arm the system. We’re all in,” he said into his new wrist communicator/watch Landra had designed specifically for him, to run off the staff power energy he exuded.

  “Her room is the one on the right,” Jerome pointed at the female end of the hall, and went down the steps. He met Tyler on the lowest landing and pulled her gently to himself. “That was real nice, what you did.”

  “I have my moments,” she smiled softly.

  “Come to bed.”

  “I’m tired. It’s been a long day.”

  “Me too. Come to bed.”

  The expression in his eyes…unmistakable. He was not going to allow refusals or excuses. Not tonight. She went with him, enjoyed being naked and comfortable in their warmth under the blanket, and nearly said yes as he ramped up the intensity to a new level. They had their goodbye tonight, in case the worst should happen. Tomorrow would be all business and they would be detached professionals getting a job done.

  When they woke, there were 24 hours until the battle would begin. They spent the day making sure everything was as ready as it could be. He had to make her sit down and eat dinner.

  “I’ll be back shortly,” she said after supper.

  She ported with Landra Ahr to that warehouse full of weapons and men who couldn’t get room in the downtown hotels. Five thousand had been planned for. Eight thousand had shown up. She replicated blankets and mattresses to be sure they had enough for the night. Then she went to the piles of weapons, Nails and Dicer beside her with physical print outs of the floors for each hotel.

  The men worked together to grab up items and brought five machine guns and two rocket launchers and then ammo for both and placed them in front of her. Two mile radius walkie-talkies had been added to the cache by Nails. He’d bought two packages. She replicated them for the four men.