“He said I was a hypocrite for criticizing the MPs and CNA for not taking the offensive with Wardens and only defending when here I am doing my own thing and expecting someone else to deal with the war. He said it with fewer words, but the meaning was still there. It’s been keeping me up at night and making me crazy. Oliver was right. I don’t want to keep doing nothing.”
Miles chuckled and passed a hand through his hair. “Sometimes the twelve-year-old insight is so plain and simple it’s brilliant. Before you can think about the CNA, though, you’d have to get the Brigands to agree to that. There are decades of distrust between you guys and the CNA.”
“The Bangor MPs don’t conduct Brigand raids like Jace says they did in Portland. Why?”
Miles shook his head. “I haven’t been here two weeks yet, but the CNA here is much more tolerant of Brigands. They certainly like visiting Aunt Hattie’s and the other brothels. I’m told the pubs offer a range of food and drink that we don’t have in the barracks. Both sides mostly respect the territories. Since the men who attacked the two women and children are being dealt with by Brigands, we haven’t even needed to get involved.”
Dani nodded. Of the remaining two men, one had been captured and jailed. The other one hadn’t been caught yet, but the community was on the lookout. In fact, the whole town had come together to go after the attackers. Dani hadn’t ever seen Brigands work together like that. She figured Miles had played a part in keeping the MPs out of the mess.
Aunt Hattie was one of Bangor’s leaders—unofficial, but she had a tremendous amount of power in the town. Dani wanted to talk to her about formally uniting the Brigands, see if she thought it was possible. If so, next task was tackling the subject of partnering with the CNA.
“Thanks, Miles. Can you keep me posted about the CNA brass coming?”
He retrieved a small, flat device from his shirt pocket about one inch wide and three inches long. He slid the top of the device so it opened, doubling its size. He pushed a series of buttons on the lower half, and the screen went black for a moment before turning back on. “We use these on the base and during maneuvers for communication. It’s the latest model. You can type or just talk into the thing. It holds a charge forever, but the screen also has a solar charging ability if the reserve is low.” He continued to manipulate buttons on it as he talked. “I’ve rooted the device so it’s no longer synced with the CNA comm system. You’ll be able to use it and stay off their grid.” Miles passed the comm unit to her. “It’s easy to use. You’ll figure it out. I’ll request a new one when I am back on base and tell them I lost this one. I’ll send you a message later today so we can stay in touch.”
“Thank you.”
“Since I took this one offline, and it was linked directly to me, I need to return to the base before anyone comes looking for me.” He cleared his throat. “Oliver! Time to go!”
Oliver and Brody ran back to join them.
“He doesn’t fetch, but he’s starting to understand,” the boy said.
Dani smiled. “Great! Thanks for trying to teach him.”
“Take care, Dani,” Miles said.
She watched them leave before turning to head back toward downtown. She almost slapped her forehead when she realized she’d forgotten to ask him about Xan. She was so curious to know what he’d done to piss Miles off. Still shaking her head, she slipped her new comm device into her pocket and decided to find Jace. He was the last person she needed for her plan to work.
CHAPTER
23
Late afternoon began to turn into evening as Dani walked north on the old road near the river. The water flowed out toward the bay, and a bald eagle soared above. She always enjoyed spotting eagles or ospreys patrolling the waterway. Her attention diverted to the sound of an approaching vehicle. Only the wealthiest Brigands owned cars or trucks, and with gasoline so limited, few were ever driven. There were solar cars too, of course, but powering them was an issue, as the charging equipment deteriorated over time. Repairs were ghastly expensive due to the scarcity of replacement parts, even used ones. The most successful business people in Bangor were brothel/pub owners, lumberjacks and jills, and mechanics.
Dani stepped off the road as the car crept over the battered asphalt toward her. She smiled when she recognized the driver.
“These roads are shit, but it sure beats walking,” Hattie said, slowing to a stop beside her. “You’re still a bit gimpy on that ankle. Want a ride back to Jace’s?”
“Back? You were already there?”
Hattie gave Dani a wink and a grin. “Your brother is doing just fine for a man in his seventies.”
Dani smiled politely, though the thought of her brother having sex with Aunt Hattie made her cringe. Jace and Hattie shared a semblance of a relationship, but Dani could live without the mental image of them in bed together. “I’m fine to walk the rest of the way. Thank you for the offer.”
“Suit yourself. I must be getting back. Work beckons as the sun goes down. Oh, and thanks for the solar panel, honey, but you will have to come by to put the damn thing together for me. I know that wasn’t part of the deal; I’ll feed you and the mutt well as payment.”
“Yeah, I’ll swing by.”
“Good. I’ll tell Mary you’re coming,” Hattie said with a wink. She removed her foot from the brake and rolled the car forward, maneuvering around the worst of the holes and buckles in the road.
Dani continued her walk to the small home she had shared with Jace until just a few days ago. When she arrived, she stood outside for a moment and watched him move around inside. He scooped food from a pot into a bowl and eased his arthritic body into a chair at the table. He poured a dollop of liquid from a bottle on the table into his bowl—a bottle the same size as the one Hattie had given her the night at the brothel. She was glad her brother had something to ease the pain. She considered leaving and coming back tomorrow, but she needed to end the battle between them. She made Brody wait a few feet from the house before she approached the door and knocked.
The chair scraped against the floor for a second, and Dani heard Jace’s footsteps as he came to the door. He smiled as he opened it, but his smile faded upon seeing her.
“Sorry, I’m not Hattie,” Dani said.
“Where’s the dog?”
“Around back.”
Jace grunted and, leaving the door open, returned to the table. Dani figured the fact that he hadn’t slammed the door on her meant his temper had also cooled. She entered and closed the door.
“Hungry? There’s a little stew left in the pot.”
Dani recognized the smell as Hattie’s recipe; she appreciated the older woman’s efforts to take care of Jace. “I’ll eat later.” She removed her pack and pulled two smaller sacks from it. She placed the sacks next to the pot before sitting in the remaining chair at the table.
Jace ate in silence, and Dani glanced around the room. She’d tended to keep the house tidier when she was there. Now that he was living alone, Jace had a mix of clothing and tools in various places of his room. His bed linens were also in disarray; Dani turned her eyes from the sight. She didn’t need the reminder of her brother’s extra activities with Hattie.
“Ever think of moving closer to town?” she asked.
“Why would I do that? Too many people.” Jace set his spoon aside and brought the bowl to his lips. He slurped the remaining stew until it was gone. He placed the bowl back on the table and leaned back in his chair. “Why are you here, Dani?”
“I wanted to apologize for being angry with you the other day. I never thanked you for coming to Aunt Hattie’s to help me with Oliver.”
“You thanked Gavin by moving in with him.”
Dani’s temper began to flare, and she pinched her lips closed so she wouldn’t blurt anything back at him. She didn’t need a fight; she needed his help, again.
“I’m not living with him, Jace. Near him, yes, but not with him,” she said once she’d suppressed enough of her irritation t
o speak almost nicely.
“Food in those sacks?” he asked with a nod toward the sacks she’d left near the pot.
“Stuff foraged from the forest and fields, plus a little jerky and bread.”
“So.” Jace narrowed his eyes. “You come here bringing food and apologizing. You even remain polite when I jab you about Gavin. What do you want?”
He had intentionally tried to provoke her, and he knew she was up to something. “You can be a real prick, brother.”
“Uh-huh. What do you want?”
She was tempted to stall. This is what I came here for, she reminded herself. She took a breath. “I want to end this war, Jace.”
He leaned forward in his chair. “War? The one between us? You don’t care—”
“No, Jace. No, no,” she said, ending his rant before he could get going. “The war.”
Jace flinched at her response. He shook his head. “You want to end the war? What exactly does that mean?”
“I’m not signing up with the CNA, so stop freaking out. But what if we—meaning the Brigands—joined forces with the CNA against the Wardens? Not as MPs, but as allies?”
Jace blinked several times without speaking. When he opened his mouth, Dani expected him to say something, but instead he erupted with laughter.
She rolled her eyes. Normally this would be when she’d become so annoyed with him that she’d leave, but she remained planted in her chair.
His laughter subsided when she stayed. “You’re not serious.”
Dani stared back at him.
“No, Dani, you cannot be serious.”
“Brigands combined with the Commonwealth are 80 percent of the population. We have the numbers to crush the Wardens and their attempts to take over Earth.”
“The Wardens have all the tech. They blow the CNA to bits every time they attack.”
“Yes! That’s my point. The Wardens are always the ones to start a fight. What if the CNA and Brigands did it instead?”
Jace shook his head. “The CNA never attacks first.”
“And they get their asses kicked almost every time they only defend. They survive, but they get the shit kicked out of them for it. If we join and attack first, the Wardens will never see it coming, precisely because it’s never been done before.”
Jace remained silent. Dani took that to mean he was in some form of agreement with her.
“Jace, forget the war for a moment. Biologically speaking, we, Echoes, have the potential to be immortal. The human numbers are still higher than the Echoes’, but we’ll ultimately outlive them. Used to be uncommon to cross paths with an Echo, right? That’s what you told me when I was little. That’s not the case anymore. When the humans die, that’s it. They’re gone. In time, especially with this war killing everyone off, the Echoes will be the only ones left. And the Wardens are only interested in taking Echoes, which means we’ll always be hunted until we’re all caught or dead.”
Jace folded his arms across his chest.
I fucking hate when he does that. She again pushed her irritation aside. “Oliver, Miles, and Hattie, along with every other human friend we have, will die. They’ll all die, Jace. I can’t live with myself if I do nothing and let that happen.”
He unfolded his arms and scratched at his beard. “You’ve lost your mind.”
“Be honest, Jace. I have never had a mind. Damn thing keeps resetting on me.”
Jace’s frown slowly transformed into a wry chuckle at her joke. “Okay, I’ll bite. How do you plan on ending the war?”
“We need to bring the Brigands together. Stop operating independently of each other. If we can unite the Brigands, we can fight alongside the CNA.”
“You mean join the CNA?”
“No. The Brigand army becomes its own entity. We partner with the Commonwealth.”
“And you will lead this Brigand army?”
“Gavin will.”
Jace erupted again with laughter. “So he’s brainwashed you into thinking this is not only possible but is a good idea too?”
“I convinced him.”
Her brother’s laughter ended in a startled cough.
“We’ve always avoided the war, or tried to, but by avoiding it, we’ve made it worse, Jace.”
“The Brigands partner with the CNA, and then what? Team scavenger hunts?”
“We retake Maine from the Wardens.”
Jace’s mouth dropped open, and his face paled. This was the second time in the span of days Dani had thought she might see her brother die of fright.
CHAPTER
24
When Dani had approached Aunt Hattie about her idea and the older woman hadn’t come after her with her ax or thrown her out the door, Dani had assumed that was a good sign. Then Hattie had declared that she would call the council together for Dani to present her proposal. Dani had almost puked at this revelation.
She tended to skulk in the shadows; all of a sudden, she was expected to stand before Bangor’s leadership? Dani had hoped Hattie would take the idea to them, but she should have known she wouldn’t be that lucky.
The council’s response had left Dani disheartened. Some had agreed that the Brigands should organize to help the CNA, but several council members had lashed her with flat refusals and insults, and the rest of the council had refused to commit either way.
Dani sat on the floor in a back room of the brothel surrounded by wiring, pieces of a solar panel, and a battery. Her frustration carried over into her work, and she yelped and dropped the pliers when she pinched her finger with them. Brody’s head came up at the sudden noise but dropped back to the floor. His rounded belly, full of food from Mary, was making him lazier than ever. He resumed snoring seconds later. Dani envied the dog’s ability to sleep so soundly.
“You okay?” Gavin asked as he entered.
Brody opened his eyes, thumped his tail against the floor a couple of times, and closed his eyes again.
“Yeah.” Dani examined her sore finger and rubbed the bruised skin with her index finger.
“I’ve seen you put these things together in no time, but you’ve barely started and you’ve been in here for hours.”
“Are you stalking me?”
“Nah. Mary told me you were having a bad day and hiding in here.”
Dani frowned. She wanted to say she wasn’t hiding, but that’s exactly what she was doing.
“Still beating yourself up over the council presentation?”
“I thought it would go better than it did.”
“You made a great case for partnering with the Commonwealth, and an even better argument for uniting the Brigands. No one could have done better, Dani.”
“You should see the sneers I get when I walk down the street now. I feel like even more of an outcast than before.”
“Just wait until they find out you’re an Echo too.”
“Shut up!” Dani hissed. She leaned around him to make sure no one was near the door. Reassured that it was empty, she punched him in the arm.
Gavin, unaffected by her assault, chuckled and stood. “You’re not an outcast. Build your panel sometime today, will you? I’ll see you tonight. I have something to show you.”
Brody’s tail thumped against the floor again when Gavin stopped to pet him for a moment before leaving.
Dani was used to scavenging alone; she enjoyed her independence. This was the first time she’d felt lonely. What was she thinking, trying to unite two enemies that had hated each other for decades? Her attempt to unite just one of the groups had already failed.
She brushed away the tear that escaped her eye, annoyed by her show of emotion.
“You really are having a bad day,” Mary said as she entered the room carrying two mugs. She handed a mug to Dani before carefully kneeling in her simple blue linen dress. “Quite the shit storm during the council meeting the other night. Lots of stressed-out councilmen and women drowning themselves in alcohol and other activities when it was over. Also lots of talk of uniting
the Brigands to form a partnership with the CNA.”
Dani grunted and sniffed her mug. Ale. She loved ale. “I can’t pay for this.”
“It’s on me. I think a partnership is a great idea. To the end of the war.” Mary lifted her mug.
Dani tapped her mug against Mary’s, desperate for the wish to come true. “To the end of the war.” She took a sip of the ale and coughed. “What’s in here?” she asked before taking another drink.
After swallowing her sip, Mary grinned. “Ale with a shot of courage.”
Dani nodded. “I like it.” The mixture burned her mouth and throat, left a soothing warmth behind that she enjoyed.
“Thought you might, but you’ll want to slow down at bit before it catches up to you.” Mary shifted from her knees to her rump and took another drink. “I heard your proposal caused quite the ruckus at the meeting.”
“That’s me, the stirrer of shit,” Dani said with a giggle. She didn’t know what was in the mug other than ale, but it had to be Hattie’s elixir or something similar. She took another gulp, but a smaller one this time.
Mary smiled. “How is Oliver?”
“He’s fine. I saw him and Miles, his father, the other day.”
Dani’s face was impossibly warm, but she wasn’t sweating. Ale would help cool her off, right? She took another sip.
“Don’t drink that so quickly, Dani.”
“Uh-huh.” Dani’s eyes remained fixed on the liquid in her mug.
“Miles is handsome,” Mary said.
“Uh-huh.”
“Gavin is too.”
“Yep.”
“Planning to sleep with either, or both, of them?”
“Nah.”
Mary’s eyebrows went up. “I think you should reconsider that decision.”
Dani laughed and shook her head. She felt like she was swimming though she was sitting on the floor, and her mug was almost empty now. Her eyes only left the bottom of her mug when Mary leaned in close and kissed her.
Dani was stunned by the act, but didn’t pull away from Mary. Instead, she kissed her more deeply, until she tasted the lingering flavor of ale in Mary’s mouth. Finally, she ended the kiss—just as a wave of dizziness arrived. She touched the side of her head and winced.
Echoes of War Page 13
