Fall of Houston Series | Book 5 | No Man's Land

by Payne, T. L.

  Stephens lowered her head and swallowed hard. She didn’t need him to tell her that. She’d spent months trying to get this mission underway to try to save some of those lives. That it had taken this long broke her heart as much as it pissed her off. Of course, the military had been focused on fighting the Chinese and stopping them from overrunning the country, but in the meantime, those who resisted Dempsey were perishing while he grew stronger.

  “Let’s pray that Harding is still alive and willing to help us,” Stephens said.

  “We need to get to Missouri and find out.”

  Stephens raised her eyebrows. “We?”

  Brad smiled, displaying his perfect shiny white teeth. “Missouri is on the way to Illinois.”

  Brad was scheduled to lead a team into the heart of Dempsey’s territory. President Latham wanted numbers. He wanted to know how many prisoners they were holding and how many military forces they had guarding them. Waltrip believed freeing those prisoners in forced labor camps held the key to toppling Dempsey’s kingdom. He might be right, but what kind of conditions would they find them in? Would they be malnourished and sick? Would they require more assistance than they gave? Stephens gave a sideways glance at Brad Smith. For all his faults—and there were many—he was still the right man for this job.

  “You gonna miss me?” he asked.

  She threw her head back and guffawed.

  Brad’s expression didn’t change. He was so full of himself. His confidence was once one of the things that had attracted her to him, but his charms didn’t work on her any longer. Not after learning he’d been cheating on her with multiple women. She’d heard that he’d given her engagement ring to his baby momma. Whatever!

  Four

  Savanah

  Texarkana Refugee Center

  Texarkana, Texas

  Event + Nine Months

  “Mom, Jason’s home!” Karson yelled from the doorway of their shelter. Kylie jumped out of bed and Savanah had to lunge to catch her. “Back to bed, little lady. Doctor’s orders, remember?” You’re contagious.”

  “But, Mommy,” the six-year-old whined.

  “You don’t want to give Jason your cold, do you?” Savanah said, placing her back into bed and tucking the covers in tight.

  “But I don’t feel sick anymore.”

  Savanah hurried to the door. It had been three months since she’d seen her husband, Jason. With him being away, training with the military at Little Rock, Arkansas, it had seemed like the longest months of her life.

  “You can’t come out of this room until the doctors say you can.”

  “That’s not fair.”

  “I’ll have Karson go see if Doc Sandman will drop by this afternoon. Maybe he’ll give you a release since you’re no longer running a fever.”

  “Can you send him now?”

  Savanah nodded. “Stay put. I’ll have Jason say hi from the doorway.”

  “Okay.” Kylie smiled.

  Savanah shut the door and turned the lock. She wasn’t taking chances. She knew her daughter too well.

  “Honey, I’m home,” Jason shouted from just outside the shelter. He threw open the door and rushed inside. Savanah rushed into his arms, almost giddy to see him.

  “I am so glad you’re here.” She’d almost said home, but this place wasn’t their home. It was far from anything resembling a home. It wasn’t that she was totally ungrateful for the life-sustaining food and protection that the FEMA shelter provided her and her family, but those things came with a price, and they’d had to give up a lot of their freedom to remain there.

  They shared a long, passionate kiss, oblivious to the discomfort of Karson at witnessing the display of affection. Savanah heard the door shut. Karson had stepped outside.

  “How long do you get to stay this time?” she asked.

  “A week,” Jason said, running a hand down her back and pulling her tighter. “Maybe we can get Gabby or someone to watch the kids and…”

  “Gabby’s on house arrest,” Savanah said.

  “House arrest? For what?”

  “She tried to unionize the kitchen staff.”

  Jason chuckled. “I bet their supervisor didn’t appreciate that much.”

  “No. No, he did not. He reported her as a subversive.”

  “Subversive?”

  “It seems that disrupting order is a crime these days.”

  “How long is she stuck at home?” Jason asked, his smile fading.

  “Until they find a place for her in Houston or Dallas. They don’t want her anywhere near Austin or President Latham at the new capitol,” Savanah said, leading Jason over to a grouping of lawn chairs in the corner of the space. It had taken two months for them to get enough chairs for everyone in her family to sit together. Lawn chairs were somehow a high-demand item in the refugee center.

  “She’s going to go crazy being locked up inside like that,” Jason said.

  “I’m afraid they will move her someplace just to get rid of her. She’s not even allowed visitors, except for family. Troy and Tank are deployed so that means Gabby only has me.”

  “At least we’ll have a babysitter.”

  Savanah shook her head. “Nope. They aren’t allowing her to see the kids either.”

  “Why? That doesn’t make any sense? Are they afraid she might lead the rebellion with children?”

  “Something like that. Something about her poisonous ideas corrupting them at a critical time in their development.”

  Jason wrinkled his forehead. “Someone actually said that?”

  “Don’t get me started. They refused to allow me to appeal the decision and threatened to take the kids from me if I continued to push the issue. They hinted that I shouldn’t even visit Gabby and implied that I was being watched too.”

  Jason tilted his head to one side and narrowed his gaze. “Watched? You haven’t gone to any of those meetings again, have you?”

  Savanah sighed heavily.

  “Have you?”

  “No! Mac and Jeremy left the shelter. The rest of them are meeting outside the fence. I wouldn’t leave the kids alone like that.”

  “Good!” Jason leaned back in the chair and took her hand. “Listen, I know you’re unhappy here. You never wanted to leave your homestead in the first place, and this place is far from perfect, but just give it a little more time. Will and I have been talking. We’re planning to do some scouting next time we go out on patrol. We’ve seen a few areas we think might make a suitable place to set up a new homestead, once the military gets the area secured, that is.”

  “How long will that take? I thought they were using all their resources to get Houston, Dallas, and Austin secured?”

  “We’ve been working on securing around Little Rock. There are a few spots near enough there that we might be able to move you all—and we might be allowed to come home more often if we move closer to base.”

  “That would be amazing.” She leaned forward in her lawn chair and kissed him. Jason ran his hand down her arm and took her hand. They stood and were just about to retreat to their room when the door flew open.

  “Jason!” Keegan squealed as he bounded inside. Jane’s eyes grew wide and her lips parted. “Oh, I’m sorry. I didn’t know you were home, Jason.” Jane grinned. “I can take him to the park—if you need some time.”

  “I want you to take me to the park, Jason,” Keegan said.

  Jason sat him on the floor and took his hand. “Okay, let’s go then.”

  Savanah smiled. She loved that her four-year-old son finally had a father that would take him to the park. She was so blessed to have someone who loved her children as his own. There were so many single mothers in the facility who were struggling to care for their children and keep up with the work demands required of them.

  “You come too, Mommy,” Keegan said.

  “I can’t, little man. I can’t leave Kylie.”

  “Can’t Jane stay with her,” he whined.

  “No. We wouldn’t
want Jane to get sick. It wouldn’t be good for the baby.”

  Jane wasn’t due to deliver her baby for another month. They were all hoping that Luca would be back from his assignment with the team working in Dallas in time for the delivery. Jane had put in a request to be allowed to be among the first refugees settled there so she could be close to her husband and have him there when their first child was born but hadn’t heard anything on the request. Savanah wasn’t sure where all the feedback and request cards went. They had them all over the facility, but as far as she knew, no one ever received a response back from anyone.

  “They haven’t released her from quarantine yet?” Jane asked.

  “No. I’m still supposed to be wearing the hazmat suit when I go in to see her,” Savanah said.

  “Hazmat? Quarantine?” Jason asked.

  “Kylie had a cold. The medical team freaked and said she couldn’t leave her room. They dropped off a bunch of masks and gowns and said the rest of the kids couldn’t go in there. That was a week ago. I’ve tried to get them to come out and examine her so she can be released from quarantine, but they haven’t come yet.”

  “Poor baby,” he said, heading toward her room.

  “Don’t!” Savanah shouted. “Don’t go in there. You’ll get into trouble. I don’t want them to put us all under house arrest.”

  Jason stopped and turned back. “It’s really that bad around here now?”

  “That new director is an asshole,” Jane said.

  “New director?” Jason asked returning to Savanah’s side. “What happened to Phillips?”

  “He got promoted to some cushy job in Austin working with the president.”

  “And this new guy thinks the way to get himself promoted is to undo all the good things his predecessor put in place?” Jason asked.

  Jane rubbed her expanding abdomen. “It seems so.”

  “So he’s the one who cracked down on Gabby?” Jason asked.

  “Her and anyone else who dares to question his orders,” Savanah said, using air quotes around the words.

  “Luca said they’re preparing to close down the shelter, so his tenure here is likely going to be a short one.”

  “It could take months to completely close this place. They haven’t trained enough police officers to secure the cities. There’s a shortage of people, due to the needs of the military, for personnel taking priority over civilian jobs,” Jason said.

  “I’m not moving to Houston or Dallas. There’s no way it’s safe there. I don’t care how much they screen people before sending them there,” Savanah said.

  “I don’t think they would send everyone there and close the shelter if they couldn’t provide security for the cities,” Jane said.

  “I’m not raising my kids in the city where they’d be reliant solely on the government for their survival. They need to be able to defend themselves, hunt for food, and find water.”

  “But they’ll have all that provided for them,” Jane said.

  “Until they don’t. What if this new government fails? What if the Chinese invade again?”

  Jane looked dumbfounded. “I understand where you’re coming from. I do. Luca and I had dreamed of raising our children off-grid and away from societal influences, but things have changed. I’d rather my child not starve to death.”

  Savanah raised and lowered her eyebrows and tossed her braid over her right shoulder. “Then you better teach her to hunt, gather, and fight to keep her food.”

  Five

  Will

  Texarkana Refugee Center

  Texarkana, Texas

  Event + Nine Months

  “You guys decent?” a familiar voice called from the door to Will and Isabella inside the shelter.

  “Are we decent?” Isabella asked, pulling a white terry cloth robe around her. Will groaned. He and Isabella had only been married for a little over two months, most of which had been spent training with the military. They’d barely had any time alone together, except for stolen moments between road marches and weapons training. This one-week furlough before their return to Little Rock was important to both of them.

  Will pulled on a pair of shorts, grabbed a T-shirt, and headed for the door of the octagon-shaped, soft-sided shelter his family called home. He hated to use the term “home.” Any way you put it, it was still a tent in the middle of a sea of tents used to house families at the Texarkana Refugee Center. But he was grateful for it. The single men still slept on the ground under flimsy tents. His shelter was luxurious in comparison. Soon, he was told, all the refugees would be moved to the cities where the power had been restored. But clean up and providing security had hampered the government’s efforts. Who was to say when refugees would be relocated.

  “I thought you went to Fort Hood,” Will said, opening the door.

  “I was. Now I’m back,” Stephens said.

  “What’s up?”

  “I can’t just call on you two without you thinking something’s amiss?” Her smile seemed forced.

  Will slid his shirt down over his head and pulled it over his chest. His clothes fit a little better each day. The food at the shelter wasn’t great, but it was filling and these days that was all that mattered. Everyone was putting on weight—even Savanah, who no longer felt the need to starve herself in order to provide her four children enough to eat.

  “You don’t do small talk, Stephens. What’s happened?”

  Stephen’s smile faded. She looked past Will into the shelter. “Is Isabella around?”

  Will stepped back and held his hand out gesturing for Stephens to step inside. As she did, her gaze perused the small sitting area just outside the two small bedrooms.

  “Is Cayden home?”

  “No. He’s in school,” Will said.

  Stephens bobbed her head in acknowledgment.

  “Stephens, I’d say it’s good to see you, but I have a feeling I’m not going to like the news you’ve brought us,” Isabella said, stepping from the bedroom she shared with Will.

  “I’m sorry to crash your honeymoon. This couldn’t wait.”

  “What is it?” Isabella asked, motioning for Stephens to take a seat in one of the folding chairs flanking the small round table where they ate their meals. They weren’t supposed to take food from the dining hall, but they’d rather eat alone, as a family. It was difficult to have a conversation at a table of strangers, and the noise volume in the large dining tent made it hard to hear without shouting. Mealtime was about the only time they had with Cayden. He volunteered on one of the clean up crews in addition to his job in the kitchen. Will was quite proud of his son. He was a hard worker who never complained.

  Stephens exhaled slowly as she lowered herself onto the chair. Will could tell she was not her normal, confident, and in-control self. She was nervous. He’d never seen her like this. He found it unsettling.

  “As you know, Pete and Tank’s teams were sent north a few weeks ago—”

  “Are they dead?” Isabella interrupted.

  Stephens looked to Will. “We don’t know yet. All we know is they failed to check in.”

  “How long?” Will asked, his voice flat.

  “Two days. It could be weather-related or—”

  “Or they got caught,” Isabella spat.

  “We won’t know anything until Charlie Team reaches them.”

  “How soon will that be?” Will asked. A pit had formed in his stomach. Pete and Tank had volunteered for the mission and the military had been eager to have them due to their prior military training. He knew they were tough and could handle themselves in difficult situations, but infiltrating Dempsey’s transportation unit was risky. One mistake and they would be caught and interrogated. Something everyone trained for when they were assigned missions in the north country.

  “A week,” Stephens replied.

  Will closed his eyes. He’d need to tell Savanah that their cousin, Tank, and friend Pete were in trouble. Worse yet, he’d have to tell Tank’s sister, Gabby, and Pe
te’s family. Gabby, Tank, and others from the casino back in Vincent had only just arrived at the shelter one month ago. They’d barely settled in before Tank lit out with Alpha Team on the intelligence-gathering mission. Their job was to find out where Dempsey’s work camps were and how many prisoners he held. They were to travel west, by Humvee, across Arkansas to the Mississippi River, then north to St. Louis. From there they would have been on foot while making their way deep into Illinois and General Dempsey’s territory. Other teams ventured into Iowa, Nebraska, and Wisconsin mapping the extent of his reach and control.

  Isabella slid her hand into his. Their eyes met briefly before Will looked away. He shook his head.

  “Charlie Team will be at the extraction point in three days. If they aren’t there, they’ll travel to the camp just outside Jacksonville, Illinois, and attempt to make contact. Let’s not give up hope yet,” Stephens said, standing and pushing her chair back.

  Isabella stood and opened her arms to give Stephens a hug. “Thanks for coming to tell us yourself.”

  “I didn’t want Smith doing it,” she said.

  Will thought he saw Isabella shiver at the mention of the CIA analyst, Brad Smith.

  “Thank you,” Isabella replied. “Thanks for sparing us that unpleasantness.”

  Will was still unsure what had transpired that had caused Isabella’s visceral reaction to the man. He’d asked, but Isabella only said she disliked him and refused to provide a reason. From what he’d seen around the Little Rock military base where they’d all been the previous month, Brad Smith had a way with women. Just not Isabella and Stephens for some reason.

  “Let Savanah and Pete’s family know we’re doing all we can to get to them,” Stephens said as she approached the door.

  “Thanks, Stephens. Let me know as soon as you hear anything?” Will said, nodding.

  “Sure thing,” Stephens said, pushing open the door.

  “And you guys should be ready to move out. We might all be called back to Little Rock sooner than planned.”