by Angela White
He received glowers for his interference, his very presence.
Angela let them go, enjoying it when Donner finally tired of the stress and delay he was causing, and turned to talk to Trey. Neither of them was okay with waiting in the middle of the enemy camp like this, but they hadn’t expected the big bunker to intervene. The bunker had the power for this moment, but once Donner was out of here and on his own ground again, that would change.
4
“I need you to deliver my final words,” Angela told Neil and Shawn. “If you don’t, the war will restart. Only this time, we’ll all be bombed to keep us from releasing the virus. The rest of the people across the country will survive if the government can limit the blast radius and they know it. They’re trying very hard to find a way to do that right now.”
“What do you need?” Shawn asked, willing to trust her after all the positive results and so few losses on their side.
“I need you to escort me out to Donner, then go code Raven.”
“Who has the honor?” Neil asked, trying to pay attention. Jeremy had a place outside the chopper to protect Samantha if something went wrong and the trooper wasn’t going to argue giving Angela up for Sam. He felt awful about it, but in that moment, there was no choice for him.
“I forgive you for that, Neil,” Angela said softly. “I forgive all acts of self-preservation and command that you do the same for the others.”
Angela handed her notebook to Cynthia. “No one but you, ever, for any reason. Read the last page first.”
Cynthia put it with her own and fastened her shirt over it, then her coat. “Be careful.”
Angela continued to the flap without responding, but her grief was strong enough to let her control slip for an instant. She sent out a blast of power that rose into the sky and revealed the deathly shroud around them that had once been a bubble of protection.
As Angela stepped onto the chopper, the bubble popped like a child’s delight and splattered the entire zone with sadness. Rain fell from the sky in a sudden downpour, mud sliding as weakened ground under it gave.
“Marc is gonna fuck us up,” Shawn commented as Samantha and Becky were shoved from the chopper that immediately began to take off.
“Yeah. Should we–”
“No. We’ll do what Angela wanted. She has a plan and I think this was all a part of it. Have you ever seen her be taken so easily in anything?”
Greg shook his head, finding a bit of hope in that. Even if she were giving up to save them all, she still would have fought to stay with them. Angela loved them.
“It was,” Cynthia said, reading the last page instead of watching her boss leaving.
There are exceptions to every rule, even mine, and vengeance will be Marc’s this time. Remember those two things and take control of this mob right now or you’ll lose them. Then give it to Marc and keep him on my line.
It was brief, right to the point. Cynthia felt horror as she stared at the jerky script. Angela’s writing look terrified.
Cynthia looked up to witness Angela staring at them with tears streaming down her face and turned to Daryl, unable to watch. She buried her head against his chest, wishing for this nightmare to be over.
Daryl held her close and kept an eye out for the only person who mattered now. They had their freedom if the government was to be believed, but the cost was so high that it might destroy them anyway. “What have we allowed?”
Cynthia sucked in her anguish and wiped away the signs of it, but it wasn’t easy. “Get our men back on the fence. Angela expected Donner to break his word.”
“But Donner isn’t controlling things now,” Neil protested. He wanted this to be over.
“He is on this site!” Cynthia snapped, mirroring Angela’s annoyed tones when her common-sense orders weren’t obeyed fast enough. “If he cuts the radio with the bunker and takes charge of those men, we’re dead. The soldiers outside these fences are pissed about their losses, tired and hungry, and there’s a dangerous mountain to go down before they can do anything about those needs. Get on it!”
Few of them had thought about that and Cynthia found herself alone with Shawn and Greg as her first order was carried out. It was amazing, awful, addictive. How had Angela given this up?
Survivors across the country had been listening to the epic battles playing out in Georgia. When the chopper rose into the air this time, it was immediately tracked. As news spread, calls began to flood in from refugees using any means of communication that they could find.
Daryl wrote it down as fast as he could, trying to catch every word. He made a rookie help.
“Why?” Shane whined. “We only need the last known location.”
“Just one, huh?” Daryl snorted, taking a moment to make sure his writing was legible. “Marc should be strolling in here any minute. I plan to tell him I did something productive while I waited. You go stand around and tell jokes.”
Paling, Shane quickly began helping to copy down the locations and messages, also making sure his print was neat.
5
Donner stared at his prize with loathing. Because of Angela’s bluff, he had to be a government boy again for a while.
“When did you go rogue?”
Angela laughed, a harsh sound that Marc wouldn’t have liked. “Little Rock.”
“I heard the reports. Also the rumors of the drained corpse. It’s part of the reason I was sent out. The government knew if one of your group had gone bad, others would follow.”
“And if we weren’t on their payroll, we were a threat,” Angela finished. “I know how it works. I planned the whole thing, remember?”
Donner still wasn’t sure he believed that. “Then why are you here now?”
Angela looked out the window of the chopper, able to discern lines of Safe Haven people leaving the battlefield. “For them. You’ve got me. Why would you need sheep?”
“Agreed,” Donner said, understanding some of why she was so wanted. “That strength is rare. They’ll want you to hunt.”
Angela didn’t take her eyes from the scene below, celebrating even as she mourned. “Is your name on their list?”
Donner knew he should be scared. He’d witnessed her power, but he could only feel excited by the challenge. He leaned over to grab her by the jacket, pulling her forward until their faces were inches apart. “Did you know the alpha can force you to do whatever he wants?”
Donner leered down the front of her shirt “Anything.”
Angela’s eyes went fire red as the witch leapt forward. “Yes, we did!”
Donner screamed in pain as the witch shoved into his mind, but he was used to such battles. The syringe plunged into Angela’s neck from his free hand. He’d been prepared.
Angela sobbed as the drugs hit, not fighting as she had the last time. “You could toss me out now. Take a body back. All the same to them.”
Her lashes shut.
Donner frowned at the feeling of utter need and desolation that flooded his mind. How had she gotten in there at all? He didn’t have a weak spot for females, barely even cared for rape, which was the only type of sex he allowed himself. It prevented bonds from forming.
Angela forced her lids open to beg once more, “You’d be doing me a kindness. Please.”
Donner recognized the broken spirit of a corrupt descendant–he’d been one himself a very long time ago–and smothered a curse as she fell forward into his lap.
He hefted her onto the seat next to him, trying to ignore her smell, her allure. He wanted the powerful offspring she carried, not her. After the birth, she would be dropped to the government, who would be told she had become ill, causing the delay that resulted in her being the only survivor. He would keep the children for his future protection, the government would have what they’d sent him for, and her little group of merry men wouldn’t ever know what had happened to her or Adrian. It was almost perfect.
Donner looked at Trey. “Send them in.”
Trey hit the r
adio with a leer. “Move in, men! Take them down!”
And that’s why it all had to be this way, Angela thought, unable to move as the drugs coursed through her veins in painful beats. Marc was about to arrive. He would only want to come and save her, but she’d left clear instructions and he would need to end this last fight quickly. Her team would help him, and if fate were kind, it would all end tonight. At least for her people. Their new lives could begin come morning. Her own life, well…
There was only darkness when she searched.
Angela fled toward it eagerly.
6
“Where is she?!”
Marc’s fury lashed out, bringing men to their knees.
He stormed through the center of the shocked soldiers blocking the damaged gate. Most of those stunned men retreated in fear. The others froze.
“The Ghost!”
“Get out of here!”
“Where is she?!” Marc screamed, fire blazing behind his eyes. “Where is my baby?!”
Marc now understood Jennifer’s rage and vowed to help her as soon as he’d spilled blood.
The soldiers were scattering from in front of the base, but not leaving, and Marc used his fury to blow the remaining piece of the burning barrier open.
The chaos inside didn’t calm him down. Parts of the fence had failed and an obviously savage battle had just taken place. Men were still bleeding and screaming as smoke rolled across the site.
Marc saw the Safe Haven side had won and stormed toward the bloody command tent where a dozen quivering masses of wounds and guilt were huddled.
“Where is Angie?!” he roared.
Greg waved a bloody hand toward the enemy. “Donner took her.”
Marc drew back to deliver a vicious hit and spun out instead. He didn’t have time for vengeance. He had to find Angie.
“She gave herself up,” Greg groaned, trying to keep his guts inside his stomach. The gas grenades the soldiers were using were almost debilitating. “She saved us…all.”
Greg collapsed.
Marc turned to scan the chaos. He’d spent a lot of years in situations like this one, but he’d never felt so much panic. Angie and his child were everything.
“Dad!”
Charlie and Tracy, both splattered in the same gore that he was, rounded the rubble, shoving kits at him. Charlie had arrived during the thick of the fighting and remained unnoticed as he slipped through one of the fence gaps. He’d found Tracy fighting with the others and fallen in with people to win or die.
“Get her back.”
Marc snatched the kits that Tracy held out and was gone before either of them could say anything else.
Charlie hugged Tracy close, grateful they were now free, but terrified that he wouldn’t see his mom or dad again.
Standing by the smoldering gate, Cynthia held out the paper, not making eye contact.
Marc snatched it, reading as he went.
Make sure they’re all safe before you come for me. Or don’t bother to come for me at all.
Outside the gate, a line of soldiers was lingering, still thinking of trying to claim the rewards on some of the people inside. They watched Marc nervously, waiting for him to cross the smoldering threshold they’d blown open as he arrived.
Marc growled at the soldiers, furious and beyond patience. “Surrender now, while you can!”
It was a moment where Marc wasn’t sure how it would go. He flashed a demon’s red eyes at them as Dog came to his side.
I see every one of you, he sent out mentally, causing men to wince. No mercy.
David, in the front and sure to die first, took a slow step forward. “You’ll let us leave?”
“You’ll be POWs that I’ll trade for my wife and child. Or you’ll become Safe Haven members. No one else lives passed today.”
“What if we want to go our own way?” David asked. He’d gotten free during the chaos, but he hadn’t fought, only gotten to the correct side of the battle line. “Most of us were forced to come here.”
Marc saw men waiting for a solution they could live with and realized Angie had been right again. With the need for blood crying in protest, he gave them a way to live. “Fine. Get out of the state, immediately. Soldiers found here in two days will be shot on sight.”
That was enough for David. He carefully lowered his weapon, placed it on the ground. “I don’t want to die fighting my countrymen. I’m done.”
And with that, David left, calmly pushing through the shocked soldiers who’d followed him this far.
Marc still didn’t think that was enough, but the other frontline fighters started lying down or holstering their weapons and leaving.
Marc sent the news in anger. It worked, Angie. We’re free. Now kill him and come home!
Silence…
Angie!
7
“Can someone help us for a moment?”
Marc and Cynthia, in the middle of organizing transportation off the mountain for their wounded, turned around to rip heads off at the interruption.
Neither of them spoke for a moment as they took in the four people standing at the gate.
The two women were tall and lean, with bronze skin and glowing red eyes. The men were paler than anyone in Safe Haven and taller, towering over even Marc and Kenn.
The activities taking place slowly came to a halt as a team of Eagles joined Marc.
“There is no need,” the shortest woman stated with a friendly tone. “We were called here by the alphas.”
Marc understood only a little of that He scanned their minds for trouble. At least, he tried.
“You are too new,” the woman explained. “In time you may be able to read our thoughts. Your gifts are still growing. We have reached our full potential.”
“Why are you here?” Cynthia asked, not liking the way the woman was gawking at Marc or Kenn.
“We are answering a call for help.” Dari repeated. “Much has happened here. We are too late?”
Cynthia nodded as Marc resumed the loading, letting her handle it. Cynthia was in charge here. Marc agreed with it. The only thing he cared about was getting these people settled with the rest of the camp.
“They took Angela and Adrian. She gave herself up to let us live.”
Dari considered it for a moment, scanning, noting how many of their kind were here. “Then we should offer our protections. When you leave on the hunting trip, we shall be your escorts.”
Marc, listening, wanted to deny them out of pride and wariness, but Cynthia’s words stopped him.
“We’ll take your help and be glad of it. Welcome to Safe Haven Refugee Camp. May it become your home.”
Those were Angela’s words to use and Marc suddenly didn’t care if the entire planet joined their camp or if Angela shared the power of it with even Adrian. He just wanted her back.
8
“Are we set?”
Marc’s growl didn’t invite extra information.
Kenn hurried to nod. “On your mark, Marc.”
Unamused, Marc strode through the shattered gate and started down the mountain.
Some frowning, some happy, the fighters followed, trying to keep their stomachs under control as they went by the drying carnage. All of them were ready for it to be over. As they passed wounded soldiers, quick strikes of mercy were given.
The soldiers who’d gone down the mountain in the last two hours hadn’t all fled. Marc led his people by these few groups without speaking or even looking at them. It wasn’t required. His reputation had grown larger than Safe Haven’s had. These tired, regrouping soldiers wanted no part of a fresh battle with him.
Marc was only vaguely aware of the thoughts, of the fear and the respect, or even the small group of soldiers who began to follow them down, watching their six. When he made camp, Marc expected those men to ask to join Safe Haven, but that would be someone else’s decision, as he wouldn’t be staying there without his heart.
“Update me,” Marc ordered, needing the distr
action.
Kenn opened his notebook while Quinn did the same on Marc’s left. “We have four missing people. Everyone else is either accounted for or dead.”
Kenn didn’t have much sympathy for those and it showed in his tone.
Marc thought of punishing him, but realized the Marine had been punished, when Tonya was taken. He’d never seen Kenn do that for a woman.
“How many did we lose?”
Quinn had those numbers. He consulted the book as they walked. “Um, forty Mexican, twenty-two Indian, fifteen Eagles.”
“And how many of theirs?” he asked, already doing the math.
“We estimated five hundred before this final battle. Has to be well over eight now.”
Marc was more than satisfied with that. “We outnumber them. Pass it around.”
Quinn made a note to do that. Knowing they were the only power in their county now would go a long way in getting people to stay together.
“We won’t have trouble with that,” Marc stated, scanning the new descendants who were still walking with them, listening to the awful tales. “We won and with lost less than she promised them. They’ll wait for her.”
“And you, right?” Quinn asked. He’d loved Marc being in charge.
Marc shrugged. “They’re scared of me. Without Angie here to balance, some may leave.”
“Do we send out search parties for our missing?”
“Not yet,” Marc answered. “Give them time to get off this mountain and find us.”
“What if they’re in trouble?”
“I’d hear them.”
Quinn didn’t say more. There was no denying that Marc was powerful, but Quinn still wanted to know that Kendle was safe. He’d found himself thinking about her far too much on this run.
Marc didn’t tell him that Kendle and Kevin were trailing the camp right now, waiting until they were settled for the night to rejoin. Kendle knew Marc wouldn’t want to see her and be reminded that the one he really wanted wasn’t here. Marc appreciated it.
As for Seth, Marc suspected his run wasn’t over yet. That had been almost confirmed when Becky had told him not to go looking for Seth, that he was fine where he was. Becky’s thoughts had been of Angela.
