Echoes of War

by Cheryl Campbell

  “Yeah,” Mary said.

  “When do you two go home?”

  “I should be back there in another week. The CNA was so impressed we retook Portland, they’ve flooded the area with troops to help us keep it. We don’t need to keep all the volunteers down here.”

  “And you?” Dani looked at Gavin. “You’re also back in a week?”

  He shook his head.

  “I’m glad you’re awake,” Mary said, backing away. “I’ll tell Miles.”

  Dani frowned at Gavin when Mary darted out the door. “Why did she leave like that? What’s going on?”

  “I’m not going back to Bangor, Dani.”

  “Why not?” “I’m taking a post with Houston to help advise the Commonwealth.”

  “Why?”

  “They need the help.”

  “Bullshit.” Dani gripped the sides of the pod to pull herself up. More blinking lights and beeps protested her movement; she ignored them, but couldn’t ignore the pain in her side. She grunted with the effort of sitting up. She batted Gavin’s hand away, though, when he tried to help. “You’re lying. Why?”

  He stalled for a moment before answering. “You. I’m not returning to Bangor because of you.”

  “What?”

  “The first night we were together, do you remember the questions you asked me?”

  Dani shook her head.

  “You asked if we were allowed to sleep together since I was a superior officer of sorts.”

  “Oh. Yeah, I remember some of that. You said it was okay.”

  “I lied, but I couldn’t wait anymore. I love you, more than I want to admit, and it compromised my ability to lead my team. I bent the rules and put people at risk to keep you alive. We were taking heavy fire from the Warden cluster grenades, and I delayed the air strike to give Mary and Miles more time to help you. Those troop deaths are on me.”

  Dani shook her head. “You can’t—”

  “When you’re healed, will you rejoin the volunteers?” he asked.

  “Yes.”

  “I figured you would. That’s why I’m taking the post with Houston. I can’t lead troops when you’re among them. I can’t make the right decisions when your life is at stake.”

  Dani leaned back in the bed, wishing the complaining pod would stop freaking out every time she moved. “You’ve already made your decision?”

  Gavin nodded.

  “So the shit you said in the sewer before you died was a lie too.”

  “No. I wanted to spend my life with you as a physically younger man. But once the battle really started, my decisions were compromised because I needed you to survive. I gave you orders so you’d back off, but you kept pressing the attack.”

  She wiped the tears away as her heartache shifted to anger. “You were wrong to think that you could order me to stop.”

  “I know. You’re the best fighter I’ve ever seen—better than me, because you fight for the right reasons. We would’ve bombed the place and killed those kids without knowing we were killing them until it was too late. You saved generations by saving those Echoes.”

  Gavin reached for her hand, and she pulled it away. She didn’t want to be placated with niceties. Not when he was ripping her heart out. “You say the fault is yours for the lives lost because you altered orders to keep me alive, but ultimately, you’re blaming me for everything you did wrong. It’s my fault you made poor decisions that got others killed. Do you have any idea how fucked up that is?”

  “Dani—”

  “Get out.”

  “I’ve hurt you, and I’m sorry.”

  “Get. Out.”

  “When you go home, move into my place if you want,” he said. “It’s yours.”

  She turned her head away. Seconds later, she heard him leave the room.

  Once he was gone, she tried to hold back the pain and anger, but the tears still slid down her face. She took a deep breath to calm herself and grimaced at the sharp pain the movement created in her chest. The coffin-pod beeped at her again, and she slammed her fist into the blinking lights—which only made it alarm more.

  Hospital staff came into the room to check her.

  “Turn this damn thing off,” she snapped at them.

  Mary rushed into the room just then and shooed the staff away. “I wasn’t gone that long,” she said. “Yet in those fifteen minutes you lose your shit and make your side start bleeding again. What the hell happened?”

  Dani filled her in on her exchange with Gavin.

  “He told me he was taking an assignment with Houston, but he didn’t say why. He’s blaming you? That asshole. I’ll fucking kill him. Permanently!” Mary turned to leave the room, as if to go find him.

  Dani caught her friend’s arm. “He isn’t changing his mind. He wants to run away; let him.”

  “He’s still a dick.”

  “I agree.” Dani sighed. Her body felt heavy and tired.

  “Are you sure I can’t kill him?”

  Dani offered her friend a tired smile. “How is Miles?”

  “Thrilled you’re awake. I left to come back here when they took him for more treatment. I’ll make sure they put you near each other on the transport.”

  “Thank you. What happened after the Warden shot me in the chest?”

  Mary told her of the subsequent events, and Dani peppered her with more questions. Everything Mary said confirmed Gavin’s side of the story. He had held the air strike, as he said. While Dani was glad to be alive and not ten years old, it was true: Gavin had risked and sacrificed many lives by putting hers first.

  “Where’s Brody?”

  “Javi is keeping him here for clearing all the buildings around the base. The field hospital wouldn’t let him in, but I’m serving as his new handler. He’ll come home with me.”

  “You’re not keeping my dog.”

  Mary laughed. “I’ll give him back—temporarily, at least.”

  “You and Oliver are trying to steal my dog. I know you are.” Dani smiled, but her eyelids seemed impossibly heavy.

  “You need to rest. I have to run out, but I’ll be back before you leave. Next time you wake up, take a look around before you lose your mind. It’s not a coffin.”

  “Got it. Thanks, Mary.”

  When Dani was loaded onto the transport plane the next day, Miles sat up on his stretcher and smiled. His entire left leg was wrapped in a swath of healing patches that constantly blinked beneath the blanket over his lower half. The medical crew secured Dani’s pod to the plane’s deck before leaving her to load the rest of the wounded.

  “You looked like shit the last time I saw you,” Miles said.

  “So I’ve heard. My coffin does a decent job bringing people back from near death.”

  They talked for the duration of the short flight from Portland to Bangor. Whenever Gavin’s name came up, Dani steered the conversation away from him. She wasn’t ready to feel all the emotions that threatened to spill out every time she thought of him.

  CHAPTER

  50

  Miles helped Dani into the passenger side of the MP Jeep. After a week in the hospital back in Bangor, she’d finally been released.

  “Oliver made me promise to tell you that he’ll visit this afternoon when he’s out of school,” Miles said.

  She nodded.

  February’s weather was continuing on from January’s bitter cold trend, and Dani was glad to get out of the biting wind and into the warm Jeep. A light snow fell outside; she watched the falling flakes land on the windshield and melt.

  “It’s okay to tell him to go away if you need to rest,” Miles said.

  Dani smiled. “He hasn’t listened when I’ve told him that before.”

  “Wish I could blame that on his mother.” Miles closed her door and limped around the vehicle to climb into the driver’s seat. He used his hands to adjust the position of his left leg, still partially immobilized by CNA medical tech.

  “There. That’s better,” he said once he had
his leg in a comfortable position. “I only have a few more days in this thing, and the limp should be gone by the end of next week.”

  “Are you sure you can drive with that thing on?”

  “Sure. I can still move my knee. Warm enough?”

  “You don’t have to coddle me, Miles. I won’t break.”

  “I know.” He started driving. “I planned to roll past Hattie’s and let you jump out so I didn’t need to stop. Bloody cold out today, and I want to stay warm.” He glanced at her with a grin.

  Dani laughed.

  “Hattie had your things moved into a back room in the brothel, away from the noise of evening business activities. She said she refuses to let you hang out in the shed while you heal.”

  Dani didn’t protest. The shed gave her flashbacks of life with Miles, and she had memories of Gavin there too. She was fine with the move.

  Miles slowed the Jeep. “You’re not arguing about the change. Are you feeling okay?”

  “If you take me back to the hospital, I’ll give you a permanent limp.”

  He chuckled and sped up again. “I figured you’d want your own space instead of a room at Hattie’s. Will you move back into the place you shared with Jace once Gavin is back?”

  “He’s not coming back.” She gazed out the window at the snow.

  “Sure he is. Mary and Brody come home tomorrow. Gavin won’t stay gone too much longer.”

  “He left, Miles. He’s not coming back.”

  Miles remained silent until they arrived at Hattie’s. He pulled up to the house and brought the Jeep to a halt, then turned in his seat to face Dani. “He ended things with you?”

  Dani finally met his eyes and nodded.

  “When?”

  “The day before we flew back here.”

  “You didn’t say anything.”

  “What was I supposed to say? ‘Glad to see you’re still alive, Miles. Oh, by the way, Gavin blames me for his poor decision making and getting people killed, so he bailed. Have a nice flight.’”

  “Wait. Is that true about him blaming you?”

  Dani nodded.

  Miles took a deep breath and shifted in his seat. He stared ahead for a few minutes while they sat in silence.

  “I’ve never wanted to murder anyone before now,” he said.

  “You sound like Mary.” Dani chuckled. “I stopped her from going after him. I think she would’ve killed him.”

  “I’m sorry he hurt you. Look, I know you’re going to say you’re fine, but you cared for him. He’s wrong to blame you for his issues. Don’t believe whatever bullshit he told you is your fault. He’s wrong.”

  “I know, and thank you.” She truly appreciated Miles’s support.

  “What if he does come back?”

  “He can kiss my ass.”

  “Good!” He smiled. “Let’s get you inside.”

  Dani’s new room had a heater, three lamps, a desk and chair, and another comfy chair by one of the lamps next to a wall that had been turned into a bookshelf. She also had her own small bathroom, attached to the bedroom.

  Hattie came in as she was surveying the space.

  “I can’t afford this,” Dani said.

  Hattie waved her hand, dismissing the remark. “Family doesn’t pay. How are you feeling? I didn’t want to go to the hospital to hover over you—plus, I don’t have warm, fuzzy feelings for the place where Jace died.”

  “I’m much better, thank you. Still working out some stiffness. What do you mean family doesn’t pay?”

  “Exactly what it means, Dani. Sit.”

  Dani moved to the soft chair near the books. She patted the soft armrests and slid her palms over the fabric, tracing the patterns on it.

  Hattie pulled the wooden chair away from the desk, turned it, and sat facing Dani. “That’s a great chair,” she said. “Thought you would like it.”

  “I’ve never felt anything so soft.”

  “There are plenty of books to keep you occupied until you’re back up and running again.”

  Dani turned her head upward and followed the neatly lined up rows of books on the shelves, which ran from the floor to the ceiling. She wasn’t sure what to say.

  “Are we done with the chitchat?” Hattie asked.

  Dani’s eyes left the books. “Yeah.”

  “Good. Chitchat is a pain in the ass.” She folded her hands in her lap. “I sit on the council now. No more behind-the-scenes and pulling-strings bullshit.”

  “That’s great news!”

  Hattie shrugged. “Took a few folks a while to get over themselves and what type of business I run. Turns out when you own enough weapons and explosives to protect the city from a Warden invasion, they suddenly don’t give a shit what you do for work.” She cackled. “Anyway, Houston said Gavin is now part of the CNA, and she’s using him for ‘sensitive’ assignments. That tells me the two of you are over.”

  “Never could keep secrets from you,” Dani said.

  Hattie nodded. “Miles.”

  “What about him?”

  “He’s a good man.”

  “Hattie, are you really giving me dating advice?”

  “Jace approved of him. Well, actually, Jace hated his fucking guts for a long time, but after Miles took the blame for killing that idiot Xander, he changed his mind.”

  “Yeah. Jace told me he thought Miles was decent not long after that—which, coming from him, was high praise.”

  “He admitted to me that he’d misjudged Miles and wished he hadn’t given you such a hard time about dating him in your prior life. Jace said if you and Miles got back together, he wouldn’t interfere.”

  “Oh.” Dani wasn’t expecting that for an answer.

  “Miles still loves you. Any moron can see that.”

  “I know.”

  “It’s your life. Do what you want, but don’t wait around too long. Jace and I could have had more time together, but we waited. It’s the only decision I’ve ever regretted.” Hattie stood and walked to the door. Before she walked out, she paused. “A few hundred years ago, Maine used to hold their elections earlier than the rest of the states. The politicians used to say that the way Maine voted would determine how the other states would vote. ‘As Maine goes, so goes the nation’ was the saying. It wasn’t always accurate, but I think the saying has new meaning now.”

  Dani shook her head. “I don’t understand.”

  “For decades, we—Brigands and Commonwealths—have cowered under the Wardens’ might. With this attack, we proved that not only do the Wardens bleed, they can be beaten. Maine is now out of the Wardens’ hands, and other states and nations have seen and heard what a few hundred volunteers started with the help of only one CNA battalion. Less than two thousand people joined together to push the Wardens out of our state. The Brigand council believes in a new saying: ‘As Maine goes, so goes the world.’”

  “I don’t know, Hattie. The world? That’s a big leap.”

  “You’ll see.”

  “How do you know so much about history? Are you the one who knew about this saying from centuries ago?”

  “We all have our secrets, don’t we?” Hattie winked. “You created a shit storm in Portland, Dani. Jace would be proud. Well done, honey.”

  Dani stared at the closed door for a while after Hattie left. She hoped she was right.

  CHAPTER

  51

  Rowan tried to contain his disdain for the vice regent as he stood before her. She held a tremendous amount of power over the eastern portion of North America, but she wielded it with too much caution. She could order the immediate destruction of Maine and turn the state into a pile of ash, but here, sitting in her comfortable office in Boston, she sipped her tea and finished reading the report on Portland’s loss to the CNA with zero visible reaction. Rowan resisted the urge to glance at Curtis, who stood beside him.

  “This is a thorough accounting of the events of and leading up to eleven January,” the vice regent said. “You believed Bangor
to be such a severe threat that you left Portland in a snow storm to attack it earlier than your orders stated.”

  “That is correct,” Rowan said.

  “We had no such detail of massive weapon stores in our intel from that region. Some weapons, yes, but not massive by any means.”

  Rowan’s lies came easy to him. “We had spies in Bangor giving us different information.”

  “Who were these spies?”

  “We did not maintain records regarding those informants out of a desire to protect their identities,” Rowan said.

  “Where are your informants now?”

  “One was killed months before the January attack. The remaining two have since gone missing.” More lies. But the vice regent was incompetent, and he was confident that the report he and Curtis had compiled would clear them of any charges of mishandling Portland resources. Curtis had included some falsified documentation—what he called “creative elaboration”—in the report that only the most detailed individual would detect, and even then only if they cared to perform hours of research. The Boston VR was lazy, so they were safe.

  I hope you choke on that tea, Rowan thought.

  “But Brigands and CNA troops were already in position at your base when you decided to leave, correct?”

  “They used the sewers to move without detection,” Rowan said. “You have the reports for the last six months from my troops. We conducted sweeps throughout the city multiple times a day, Vice Regent. Nothing regarding spy movements in the sewers was recorded.”

  “Did your troops lie?”

  “I fear their sweeps were not as thorough as their reports indicated. Also in the records are accounts of my personal rounds; I assure you they were thorough in every respect, but I could not inspect every manhole and sewer pipe in the city.”

  The vice regent set the report aside.

  “Ma’am, Bangor is still a threat. Please give me troops to take into Maine so we can retake Portland and eliminate Bangor.”

  “No. You’ve lost enough of our troops, Rowan. The CNA and Brigands have a solid hold on Portland now. Seems the clever Lieutenant Colonel Houston got her own revenge for you taking Portland from her years ago. Despite this embarrassment, you won’t be formally charged for failing to hold the city. However, you will not be reassigned to another overseer position. Consider it an unofficial demotion. You are reassigned to Boston as part of R&D.”