by Angela White
“True. You need an undertaker. The slavers are coming this way.”
She swiveled toward Adrian, ignoring the Eagles waiting for her to disappoint him so they could return to the way things had been before she came. “From the tracks, I’d say you’ll experience all kinds of hell before you die.”
Angela spun a finger in the air, voice brutal. “They said they don’t need us. Draft a burial crew, mark the spot on the map, and let’s go.”
To their credit, each of the surprised Eagles responded immediately, Kyle even taking his notebook out to record her orders.
Angela advanced toward the vehicles, delivering the final blow. “Keep the supplies. The burial crew will pick up what’s left when they take care of your remains.”
“Wait, please.”
Angela casually held up a hand and the men stopped, Adrian staying alert. The moment of truth was nearing. Around them, shadowy forms edged closer.
“We’ll let you check out Sister Sarah.” The teenager lowered the gun, shoulders slumping. “She needs help.”
Still tuning out everything else, Angela started the bonds of honesty. “If it’s bad, there’s not much I can do here. Once I determine what she needs, we’ll take her, even without your say so.”
She waited for the teenager to choose, the entire team still poised to leave.
The weary girl nodded once. “You can’t be as bad as what she’s already been through.”
“We’re the future, Beth–yours and theirs.”
Not responding to the instant mistrust at the personal knowledge, Angela entered the sweltering barn with Adrian and Kyle on her heels. Adrian’s herd, when it was trained, would be incomparable to even the armed forces of ancient history. Refugees had been straggling into Safe Haven since she’d joined, but these mental map pickups he’d chosen were special.
“Where is she?”
“In the corner, by the heater.”
The seven nuns living in the barn shrank from them, but didn’t run, and Adrian was encouraged as he swept the warm living quarters. Safe Haven needed what these strong women had to offer. There was a single bed for warmth, a small stove, oddly shaped with vents that ran underground to hide the smoke, and a homemade distillery. The last pickup Angela had done blood work on was three airline stewardesses, who’d survived a crash by squeezing themselves between stacks of luggage, creating a rubber-like shield. Those women were builders, designers in their spare time, and the future would see them used well. Now, these nuns were possibly inventors. The mental map locations he’d memorized had been the right ones and he had Angela to thank for them.
As soon as Angela spotted the woman wrapped in blankets in the corner, she proceeded that way with a grimace. “She needs John. I’m no surgeon.”
Ignoring the nervous mutters coming from the six nuns and the shotgun-wielding teenager, Adrian gestured to Kyle. “Get us a litter.”
Kyle went outside, but before Adrian could take a post at her unprotected back, Angela knelt down and opened her doctor’s bag. “No threat to me. Assist.”
Trusting her judgment, Adrian did as he was told. Holding, handing, following simple instructions, they both felt the tension in the hot room ease a bit at another sign she was genuine.
“What’s her name?”
“Missa.”
“Missa? Missa, can you hear me?”
Angela gave the feverish Indian woman an injection, but didn’t even try to peel up the blood-crusted blankets. She wasn’t surprised when there was no response to her voice or the needle.
“How long has she been like this?” Angela demanded curtly.
Adrian could feel her anger, her need to stop it from happening to the rest of them. It matched his.
It was the old woman who answered, “Been two days now. They caught us gatherin’ wood and chased me off. When I snuck back, they’d all been at her.”
Angela used her penlight to check the dark-skinned woman’s pupils. “Any fresh blood?”
“Not today.”
“She been awake at all since it happened?”
“Only while I was draggin’ her. She cried.”
Angela stood up, removing her gloves. “She has internal injuries that need more care than I give her here.”
Angela’s gaze swung around the cluttered room. “You can visit her and she can leave as soon as she’s able, but we’d rather help all of you.”
She pointed at the unconscious woman. “That never happens at Safe Haven because we’ll kill the man who does it.”
Angela strode toward the door, so furious she was almost shaking. “Make your choice and do it fast. My men are eager to be with their families.”
Leaving them staring at each other, Angela and Adrian stepped out into the wonderfully cool air. She waved Kyle over; glad the stretcher was padded with blankets. “Try not to jar her any more than you have to.”
The mobster was glad for his training, since shock had him speechless. He waved Chris and Daryl over to help.
“We’ve made our choice.” The pregnant teenager was staring at Angela’s white coat. “We’ll go, but we leave when we want to.”
“Agreed. “ Angela motioned Kyle in. “The men can bring heavier things out for you after we load Missa.”
Angela took a step closer to the girl who had the shotgun still clutched in a tight grip, barrel now pointed down. “You can listen to your baby’s heartbeat while they do it.”
Angela held out her stethoscope and the teenager’s smile was huge. Beth rushed to share the joy with her packing family, tool of life in one hand, instrument of death in the other.
“Perfectly done.”
Adrian’s whisper drenched her in pride and Angela felt the last of that outsider shell shatter at his feet. Like the rest of those under his care, there wasn’t anything their leader asked of her now that she wouldn’t try to give him for more of this feeling.
Neil’s team loaded the nuns in one vehicle and their belongings into another, talking calmly with the jumpy women. More observant people might have realized Adrian was important by the way the rest of the sentries stayed so close to him, but Angela’s show had been convincing enough to make them think she was also Safe Haven’s leader. It was that weight that tipped the choice for the nuns. Missa was nearly dead now; she didn’t have to suffer anymore as far as they were concerned. But for the future, to think a woman could lead these hard men, meant there was a new chance to be taken.
When Angela sent this to Adrian, he gave her a gesture his men couldn’t mistake, and said, “Right now, you are.”
“Of this mission, not the camp,” she clarified.
Adrian said nothing, aware that at least two of his men had heard. Big changes were coming.
Angela felt the ring to his unspoken words.
Of it all.
“That’s not what I wa–”
“Are you sure?” Adrian cut her off. “Don’t refuse destiny. Sometimes, you only get one knock.”
He rounded the driver’s side of the vehicle and the air suddenly went cold, plunging the Eagles into instant alertness.
Angela blanched as a wave of panic swept over her.
Your gun! the Witch ordered sharply.
“Boss, watch out!” Kyle’s hand dropped for the Glock, already knowing he couldn’t make it from where he stood.
Bang!
The single shot seemed to echo forever.
All of them, except Adrian, spun to discover where it had come from.
Adrian surveyed the dead rattlesnake by his tire, listening to its mutated tails twitch. The attempts on his life would increase now.
The Eagles around them stilled, waiting to discover if she would be treated the same as one of the men. When they saved someone’s life, he gave out a free pass on something or offered a rank they’d been shooting for. What would he give Angela?
“You have one request.”
Angela calmly holstered. “I’ve already asked it.”
Adrian’s tone rem
ained neutral, but his expression was intense. “Why do you want to be an Eagle in my army?”
Heart in her throat, she gave him the answer she’d kept from Marc. “Because without it, a woman can’t lead in this new world, can’t train the others.”
“You’ll learn my ways, follow them?”
“I’ll live by them until I’m dead,” she vowed passionately.
“Then I accept you.”
“And you’ll train me to the best of your ability, no matter your personal feelings or limits?” she challenged.
“With everything that I am.”
Lightning flashed and Adrian felt the magic rising up around them to form a future that finally included hope.
“Let’s go.”
His call was short, a leader back in command, and Angela followed him gratefully. He was right. She was different, and because of the witch, more equipped to do the things he needed. The life he’s offering me!
Angela lit a smoke and rested her head against the seat, considering. The witch had been right there, waiting to help tonight, but she hadn’t needed it, thanks to the psychological games she’d played for so many years with Kenn, and as a doctor. Had she forgotten anything? Was there anything she could have done better? If Adrian had been bitten, would she have been able to save him?
She observed the dark, corn-filled landscape through the window, but didn’t really see the mold-covered stalks. Her mind kept clips of his death running and she was glad for the first time to be without Marc by her side. He wouldn’t understand or like this fast bond between her and Safe Haven’s very capable leader. He wouldn’t care for what had happened tonight either.
Angela sighed. If it had been up to Marc, she would have missed this feeling. He hated the idea of her joining the Eagles and bitterness would come next. After that, he’d stay angry all the time until she gave in or he left. Marc would deny her this way of atoning, but because of her, these women had been spared death and there was no way she would withdraw now. Parts of it had been ugly, but the rest of it was salvation to her tortured soul.
Speeding them up, Adrian handed out a bit of extra praise, unable to wait for her to speak. “You were amazing for not being trained. They’ll come around faster now.”
She raised a brow. “You’re happy, not for the shot, but for proving myself to them?”
“Grateful for your aim, too, don’t doubt it, but yes. Now the Eagles will genuinely accept you.”
Angela knew he wasn’t assuming too much. She was already sensing different thoughts from those with them. Word would spread and there would be more friendship gestures. Like he was hoping, she realized.
“Did you set this up? Did you know about the snake?”
Adrian didn’t think of lying. “Yes. This mission played out in my dreams last night.”
She was quiet for a minute as she ran through what that meant, and then asked, “Were there any differences?”
He held out his pack of smokes when she crumbled her empty one. “It was daytime. I couldn’t hit it from that angle. Woke up at the gunshot.”
Her voice was as angry as shocked. “Then why walk by it? You could have been killed!”
His answer was one she didn’t expect.
“I never try to change what I foresee, only prepare or adjust for the consequences.”
“What?” She frowned. “Karma?”
“Destiny. If I was meant to die and escaped it, death would come later and not take just me, but anyone in the way… My people.”
“And you’d rather it be you.”
Adrian swept the darkness before answering and she heard the worry lurking behind his words.
“Knowing, even if it’s bad, is a comfort. You can change your actions and words, and try to make up for the past, but you cannot avoid the future.”
4
“Maybe she knew and…set it up?”
Riding Point in front of Adrian’s truck, Neil’s voice held none of the usual suspicious razors bent on finding a reason. He was too busy being glad of her aim to put any real heart into it.
“Do you think so?” Kyle responded, opening his window so his cigar smoke wouldn’t annoy the cop.
“No. I was watching at her, trying to figure out what he’d warned her of. She was panicked at first.”
“What about him? He’s pushing this female Eagle thing real hard with the boys right now. Good show for ‘em.”
The trooper didn’t bother with the normal reproach. It wasn’t required with Kyle. He and the mobster understood what Adrian was. Some of it was harsh, but all of it was useful.
“Maybe.”
“He does usually come to me or Chris for that.” Kyle gently swung it the other way. He didn’t need convincing anymore and Adrian knew he would sway Neil.
“He’s trying to convince us too, this time,” Neil pointed out.
“It’s not like with Kenn,” Kyle stated. “There’s no stink of something being wrong.”
“There is to the camp.”
“That’s ‘cause she can’t do…her things around them. They realize she’s hiding something.”
Kyle steered them firmly toward the bright lights now beckoning in the distance. “Even if it was a setup, did you catch that shot? Around the corner of a bumper! Seth might have made that, but no one lower. She’ll be hell on the records.”
Neil was saved a response by the radio lighting up and they listened to the transmission.
“You are entering an American Military Refugee camp. Identify yourself immediately!”
Matt’s voice sounded older than the 15 he’d just turned, but not by much.
“Purple Mountains.”
Adrian’s voice in contrast was a hard, raspy rock that was timeless.
“Welcome home, Eagle One.”
The team leaders were silent as they rolled without headlights through the side paths, to the rear of camp.
As they gathered their gear, Neil said what they were both thinking. “I owe her an apology.”
“Yep. You will still be begging long after I’m in the clear.”
Neil snorted, grinning at the half joke, half warning. “I was a little rough.”
“Not near what Kenn’s gonna be like with her in the levels. Can you imagine that cage match?”
“No, and neither can the others. If there was a way around that, most of the men probably wouldn’t be so against it.”
“They’ll have help in that feeling.”
Neil sighed unhappily, sliding his hat up. “From both of her men. Marc won’t like this either.”
“Can you talk to him, tell him how good she might be, and how much Adrian needs it?”
Neil shrugged. “Not if we have to do all this in secret. Marc hates liars. It would be easier if we can talk about it.”
Kyle opened his door to a tense Billy. “I’ll mention it to the boss. We need freedom on this one. Adrian wants it and if she’s good enough…”
Neil’s voice was regretful. “Yeah, I almost choked when she said she can do what we do, but now…”
“Now?” Kyle pushed gently.
Neil grunted, forced to accept the truth. “Maybe she can.”
5
Seth met Adrian as he put it in park.
Adrian rolled the window down as he gathered his things, sure it was about Kenn or Marc.
“Kenn switched off Point and both of them have been asking. She covered her absence, but they sent the boy in to check her tent.”
“She’s been in the quarantine zone, helping prepare for new arrivals,” Adrian instructed.
Seth’s curious gaze went over the dark clothes beneath her white coat and those beautiful, battle-glazed eyes.
“John’s already in the QZ. Send him out?”
“No. Tell him to prep for surgery, internal bleeding.” Angela interrupted impatiently. Why should their wounded woman have to wait because of two men with bad attitudes?
Adrian motioned to the surprised man. “Code Raven for check-in.”<
br />
Seth moved toward Angela’s door, opening his notebook expectantly, and she gaped Adrian in surprise. “What?”
When he ignored her and strode to Kyle, both she and Seth stared with open mouths. He wasn’t even going to listen and make sure she got it right?
Angela shook her head at a searching glance from Seth. “I don’t know either, but it’s what he wants, so let’s get it done.”
She drew in a lungful of air. “There are seven females, plus one injured woman who may not live through the surgery. Split ‘em between two tents and give them access to showers, a hot meal, and clean clothes. John will be busy for a while, so I’ll handle Adrian and the Eagles first.”
She paused, able to feel the raw emotions of the two men waiting on the other side of the caution tape. Kenn and Marc were standing a few feet apart, waiting with hard profiles for her to give Seth the instructions.
“Let the women know this group is terrified of men. Have them send in the Den Mother and someone to run errands, Becky maybe. If she makes a mess on one of the nuns, they’ll only forgive her for it.”
Angela rotated toward the tape, where four shadows now waited. “And have him check it. Feels like I forgot something.”
Angela stopped a few feet away from the tape as Seth followed her orders and went straight to Adrian.
“John’s needed, so I’ll be staying here until he’s free.”
Kenn studied her coldly, picking out details. “Don’t let her lie, Brady. She went.”
Kenn faded into the shadows. He couldn’t control himself if he stayed.
Angela waited coolly.
Charlie spoke up, “I wanted to know you were okay.”
“I’m fine. Helping out.”
The boy faded into the darkness, followed by Dog and she greeted Marc with a raised brow. “What?”
Marc read the fresh knowledge of life and death on her. “I wouldn’t have told you no.”
“I didn’t know I needed to ask.”
Angela left, ending the fight before it could start.
Marc let her go, understanding she was wound up. From her tones and Adrian’s expression, she’d done well. Marc wasn’t surprised. She really would have made a good Marine. Now, Adrian was giving her the chance to be one and Marc had little doubt she’d take it.
