Liberty's Hope (Perseverance Book 2)

by Amanda Washington

  “He would have killed you,” Boom observed, trying to be reassuring, but his words just irritated me for some reason.

  “I know.” I shrugged and stuffed the gun back into its holster. “But that doesn’t change anything.”

  Boom looked up at the sky and I got the feeling he prayed. Probably for me, since I clearly needed it. After a moment his attention returned to me. “Do you know what the motto of the Green Berets is, Libby?”

  Thrown off by his question, I shook my head no.

  “De oppresso liber. To liberate the oppressed. With that as our objective, Connor and I trained. Not because we chased glory, fame or riches, but because we believed in the mission.”

  Boom looked away, and his eyes unfocused as he smiled. “Connor was a… resourceful and determined leader. It was my honor to serve our country beside him.”

  We sat in silence for a moment while Boom seemed lost in memories. Finally I asked, “What happened?”

  Boom shook himself out of his trance and asked, “What do you mean?”

  “Well, you stayed in the Army and he didn’t. Why not?”

  “That is not my story to tell,” Boom replied. “But I can tell that you’re not a killer, and that’s okay, Libby. De oppresso liber doesn’t always come through weapons. Often we liberate through negotiations, making people understand the value of their freedom and encouraging them to fight for it. Our world already has more than enough killers. Maybe it’s time for something different.”

  “I think you’re right,” I said.

  He smiled. “Of course I’m right. In fact, I have need of your very different set of skills right now.”

  CHAPTER FOUR

  Connor

  AN UNNATURAL CREAKING sound caught Connor’s attention as he came to a break in the giant evergreens. He paused at the tree line and motioned for the soldiers behind him to do the same. Approximately a hundred and fifty feet in front of them stood a two story wooden barn. Empty corrals surrounded the barn and one of the wide double doors creaked back and forth in the breeze, providing the sound he’d heard. The barn doors continued to creak, giving the place an eerie, not-quite-abandoned feel.

  The tracks the crew had been following continued to bend knee-high grass, leading to a single lane dirt road that skirted the barn and continued on. Connor circled around the tree line, remaining hidden as he inched forward to get a better view.

  About two hundred feet on the other side of the barn sat a ranch-style farm house with a detached garage and shed. The dirt road curved in front of the house, then circled back to connect with itself and lead out through a narrow gap in the trees. Connor rejoined his team to report his findings.

  “The tracks end at the road,” he said. “There’s a house to the west, and I’m betting if we follow this road to the east it will take us back to the highway.”

  “If I could get to the road, I could most likely tell you which way they went,” Stein said.

  Since it was a dirt road, determining direction wouldn’t be difficult. Connor nodded and Stein crept forward to investigate.

  “Soseki,” Connor motioned the soldier over. “You and Teran, go with Stein. We’ll cover you.”

  Soseki nodded and, with Teran on his heels, followed Stein. Teran held his assault rifle away from his body, like he was terrified of the weapon.

  Connor stopped the green soldier and repositioned his hands. “This way. Keep your hands here and here, and be ready to fire.” Connor nodded as Teran did what he was told. “There. Doesn’t that feel more natural?”

  “Yes, First Sergeant,” Teran thanked him before scurrying off to catch up to Soseki and Stein.

  On alert beside Connor, Tyler Noke and Vincent Magee scanned the tree line. Connor raised his own weapon and kept his eyes on his three soldiers on the road.

  Stein, Soseki, and Teran returned and informed Connor that the tracks led to the house.

  “Alright.” Connor adjusted his grip on his weapon. “Noke, Boom said you’d be able to find your way back to the camp.”

  Noke nodded. “Yes, First Sergeant.”

  “Good. Our directive was to gather intel on their camp. But, since this obviously isn’t their camp, we’re going to go find out who’s home. Could be a trap.” Probably was a trap, but there was a slim chance it was someone looking for the Army’s help. “I need you to wait here and watch as we enter. If anyone shows up or anything happens to us while we’re in there, do not engage. Instead, I need you to hightail it back to the camp and report whatever you see to Boom. Understood?”

  “Yes, First Sergeant.” Noke saluted.

  The rest of the team crept out of the trees and skulked down the road without incident. They paused when they reached the house, and Stein crouched to study the ground again.

  “They split up,” Stein declared. “Two went in the house, two continued on.”

  The flicker of a curtain caught Connor’s eye. He looked at the front window in time to see the outline of a person before the curtain closed.

  Leveling his assault rifle at the window, he projected his voice. “There’s only two of you and five of us. We all know how this is going to end. Let’s make it easy. Come out with your hands up, and no one will get hurt.”

  No reply.

  Not that he expected one, necessarily, but it would be nice if something could go easy, just once, but no such luck. He motioned for Soseki to take Teran and Magee and circle around to the back door. Soseki nodded and the three disappeared around the corner.

  Turning his attention back to the window with the flickering curtain, Connor projected his voice once more. “We’re soldiers with the US Army. We’re aiding survivors, and we’d like to help you. Just come out with your hands up so we can see that you’re not hostile. We can offer protection and food.”

  He waited for a response, but only silence answered.

  “We can offer proof of our goodwill, and orders showing that we’re with the Army. We don’t want to hurt anyone. Just open the door so we can talk,” Connor shouted.

  Still no response.

  “Alright,” Connor told Stein. “We do this the hard way.”

  After giving Soseki’s team a few more moments to get into position, he motioned Stein to the door and leveled his assault rifle to protect him.

  Stein smashed into the wooden door and it flung open. Stein ducked low and Connor covered high as they rushed into the living room. A wide-eyed young boy stood in the center of the room with his hands raised. Soseki’s team busted through the back door. As Connor kept his weapon leveled at the boy, the rest of the team split up into groups of two and searched the house.

  Connor stared down the kid. “We knocked. Why didn’t you answer?” He barked.

  “First bedroom, clear!” Soseki shouted.

  The boy’s shabby black hair slipped forward, covering his face. He glared at Connor and pushed it back behind his ears.

  “Empty your pockets, slowly,” Connor commanded.

  The boy scowled at him. “Or what? You’ll shoot me?”

  “Nope. But I will treat you like a hostile detainee.” Connor lunged at the kid and grabbed his arm. He spun the boy around and toward him, until the kid’s back pressed against Connor’s chest and Connor had the kid’s arm bent behind his back. “I said empty your pockets.”

  The boy didn’t move.

  Connor started pulling the kid’s arm upward.

  “Ouch! Okay, stop and I will.” The boy pulled a small switchblade out of his left pocket and tossed on the floor.

  “Give the knife a little kick to get it out of your range,” Connor said.

  The boy barely nudged it with his foot.

  Connor frowned. “You’re making it really difficult to like you. Now pull your pockets inside out.”

  The boy didn’t move. Connor wanted to shake the defiant attitude out of him. Instead, he calmly pulled up on the boy’s arm again until the boy cried out in pain.

  “I don’t think you understand the situatio
n here,” Connor told the kid. “So, let me tell you how this works. You do what you’re told, or I’m going to have to hurt you. Got it?”

  The boy nodded. With his one free hand he awkwardly turned his pockets inside out.

  Relieved, Connor thanked him for complying.

  “We didn’t find anyone,” Soseki reported as he stepped into the living room, followed by the rest of the team.

  Teran whistled. “This here’s just a pup. Can we keep him, First Sergeant?”

  The boy bared his teeth at Teran.

  “On second thought, he might be rabid.” Teran replied.

  “That’s okay. I have a rabies shot back at the camp,” Magee replied with a wink. “We’ll fix him right up.”

  Connor released his hold on the boy and stepped back. He turned the kid to face him, and haunted eyes exposed secrets of a rough past. Dry, cracked lips told of dehydration, and scrawny legs and gangly arms spoke of starvation. His jeans and a t-shirt were both so dirty their original colors were a mystery, and the hole worn through the top of his right shoe was big enough to show his lack of socks.

  Connor relaxed his stance, trying to appear less threatening. “Who’s here with you?”

  The boy dropped his gaze to the ground and didn’t respond.

  Soseki moved in on the kid. He pivoted left, and then in one swift move, effortlessly pulled the boy into a full nelson.

  “Answer the First Sergeant,” Soseki commanded, his mouth right beside the kid’s ear.

  The boy didn’t reply Soseki squeezed the kid’s arms harder until he cried out for Soseki to stop. Soseki didn’t let up.

  “I’m waiting for you to talk.” Soseki squeezed harder still.

  “Okay, okay stop. I’ll talk.”

  Finally, Soseki loosened his hold.

  With a scowl the boy answered, “I’m alone, alright? Now let go of me.”

  “Oh, really?” Connor challenged.

  The living room was the only room left for the team to search. He glanced around, searching for possible hiding place. A sofa, two recliners, a modest thirty-six television atop a small wooden stand, and a large wooden coffee table furnished the room. Connor leaned to the left, trying to see if the coffee table could hide a person.

  “Uh, yeah,” the kid said. Though he kept his scowl in place, his feet shifted.

  Curiosity steeped, Connor crept around the boy and toward the doors hiding a storage area in the center of the table. Although it wouldn’t be comfortable, a child could fit in the space.

  “Right.” Connor motioned toward the table, drawing his weapon. Soseki and Stein swept forward, one on each side. Once they stood ready, Connor nodded. Each man grabbed a hold of the door closest to them and swung them open. Then they aimed into the small space.

  “Don’t shoot,” said a female voice from inside the coffee table.

  “You’re alone, huh?” Connor asked the boy.

  The kid shrugged.

  Connor turned his attention back to the table and ordered, “Come out. Slowly.”

  Short, slender legs kicked, wiggled, and slid out of the compact space. When she finally stood, she looked slightly older than the boy—maybe fifteen—with wavy, dark hair that fell just below her collarbone, elongating her thin face.

  Soseki moved in to search the girl as Connor asked the kids who they were.

  The boy stayed silent, but the girl seemed all too willing to talk.

  “I’m Kylee,” she replied. “The idiot you’re harassing is my brother, Braden.”

  “I’m the idiot?” the boy fired back. “I told you they’d find you in the coffee table.”

  “Yeah, well at least I hid.”

  “A lot of good it did you. These guys are with the Army. They can’t hurt us. They gave their word.”

  Connor shook his head. “Who gave their word? I promised nothing…”

  Three shots rang out and the living room window shattered. Connor grabbed Braden’s wrist and pulled the boy away from the window and to the floor. They ducked behind a recliner as Soseki covered Kylee and the rest of the soldiers went prone.

  Connor used the armrest of the chair to level his gun and returned fire. Then he paused to address Braden, who cowered behind the chair.

  “Is this who told you we couldn’t hurt you?” he asked the boy.

  Braden looked away.

  “They’re shooting blindly into a building that they know you’re in.” Connor fought the urge to shake the kid into reality. “Do you really think they care if you live or not? Tell me how many there are and we might be able to keep you alive.”

  Braden still didn’t answer.

  “He’s right,” Kylee said, popping out from behind a second recliner. “I told you we couldn’t trust them.”

  “Trust who?” Connor asked. “The Progression? Who are you and what the heck are you doing with the Progression?”

  “Kye, don’t!” the boy shouted.

  “Yeah, ‘cause your plan worked so great, right?” She turned to face Connor again. “They put us in here to get your attention. Said to keep you here for a while and provide a distraction.”

  Keep us? Distraction?

  Connor’s chest tightened with understanding.

  Away from the camp.

  He saw the horror he felt echoed on the faces of the men around him. With his team gone, the camp held fifteen people, one of whom was Connor’s twelve year old daughter.

  Teran aimed his gun at Braden’s head.

  “No, wait!” Kylee pleaded.

  Stein turned his gun on the girl.

  “They have our mom.” She stifled a sob. “We had to. They promised to release her if we helped them.”

  Tears began to stream down her face. “Please don’t hurt us. We didn’t have a choice.”

  The Progression was the enemy; a brutal army, confined by no laws and no morals. Ruthless in their recruiting, heartless in the atrocities they committed to get what they wanted. Braden and Kylee were just more naïve kids they had manipulated into doing their bidding.

  Connor hesitated. “How many of them are there?” he asked Kylee.

  “Four,” she replied. “Two stayed on the road, two were already in the house. They left through the back.”

  More gunfire sprayed the front of the house. A whooshing sound preceded the shattering of glass. Then fire engulfed the couch.

  “A molotov cocktail?” Teran asked. “You have gotta be kidding me.”

  “At least it’s not a grenade,” Noke replied.

  Connor nodded in agreement, thankful the Army had stolen or exploded most of the Progression’s arsenal during the raid that rescued Connor, Liberty, and Ashley from their clutches. Smoke rapidly filled the living room, forcing them out of the room.

  “Time to go,” Connor said, pulling Braden to his feet. “If you run, I will shoot you. Got it?”

  “Don’t do anything stupid, Brae,” Kylee told her brother.

  “Soseki, take the girl out the back,” Connor said. “Teran and Stein, you go with him. Make for the tree line, we’ll cover you.”

  Soseki nodded and grabbed Kylee by the wrist. He pulled her to her feet and the two headed for the back door with Teran and Stein on their heels.

  “Stay,” Connor told Braden. Braden nodded and huddled behind the chair as Connor knelt and returned fire out the front window.

  Shots came from the back of the house, announcing that it was time to move.

  Connor stood and turned toward Braden. “Keep up or die,” he told the kid.

  Braden nodded, looking adequately cowed. “Wait, don’t I get a gun or something?” he asked.

  “So you can shoot me in the back?” Connor asked. Then he added a curt, “Nope. Just stay alive.”

  Knowing they were desperately needed back at the camp, Connor reloaded his assault rifle as they headed for the back door. He opened the door and rushed into the chaos.

  CHAPTER FIVE

  Liberty

  MY TALK WITH Boom had given me a l
ot to think about, as well as a task to get to. Feeling encouraged and useful for a change, I stepped out of the main tent and scanned the camp. Jeff’s tent was to the east, toward the outside of the camp. As I approached, I could hear him talking to Ashley. Not wanting to interrupt their training session, I sneaked up on them and crouched down, eavesdropping.

  They practiced on the other side of the tent with their backs toward me. Ashley had secured her long, dark hair in a ponytail. She wore jeans that drifted above her ankles and a white t-shirt that barely reached her waistband. When she turned, I caught a glimpse of her pale stomach. Her clothes had fit her perfectly when we left Olympia—almost a month ago—but she seemed to be in the middle of some sort of crazy growth spurt that had gained her at least two inches in the past few weeks. Since Connor and I were first-time guardians, we had no idea whether or not this was normal, and hoped to find her larger clothes before she busted out of hers like the Incredible Hulk.

  Her normally soft, sweet face was all hard lines and business as she held out her arm in front of her, and asked, “Like this?”

  “Sort of,” Jeff replied. “But you gotta bend your elbow. You can’t lock it up like that.” Jeff kept his dark hair short, carried weapons like they were an extension of his arms, and had a jaw chiseled from a childhood without smiles. Wearing camouflage pants, a tight blank tank top, and looking deadly, he looked like the lead in an action movie.

  “But then it feels funny and I can’t swing it right,” Ashley complained.

  “Yes you can. Bend it slightly. Your elbow shouldn’t be turned completely in.” Jeff sounded exasperated, like he’d explained this same thing to her millions of times. He grabbed Ashley’s elbow and tried to rotate it, but she’d locked her arm and it wasn’t budging.

  “Relax,” Jeff ordered.

  “I am relaxed.”

  “No, you’re not! Your arm is completely stiff. If you’re not going to listen and do what I say, I can’t teach this to you.” He released her and scratched his head.

  Ashley stood in an awkward-looking stance, all elbows and knees with absolutely zero grace. Her back stiffened. “I can learn anything, and I will learn this. You promised you’d teach me, so stop trying to get out of it. When are you going to show me the fun stuff, like kicks and punches?”