by Stasia Black
He burst out the front door and on to the lawn, depositing the boy beside Rafe and his sister. Then he spun on his heel and headed back for the house and Shay.
Except right before he got to the door, a flaming chunk of ceiling crashed down in front of the entryway.
“No!” he shouted, instinctively raising an arm to shield himself.
He dropped it the next second, running as close as he dared to see if Charlie was even still standing.
And what he saw was an image that would stay with him for the rest of his life.
Charlie was running up the stairs.
Through the flames.
Through the flames.
Jonas’s heart stopped. Literally stopped, he would have sworn.
Shay ran to Charlie at the top of the stairs and it was like it had been choreographed. Like they were dancers.
He swept her up, one arm under her back and the other underneath her legs, at the same time he pivoted and started down the stairs.
Again. Through. The. Flames.
Like Shadrack, Meshack, and Abendigo.
It was a fucking miracle.
But whereas time had seemed to slow to an otherworldly pace while the whole thing happened, suddenly Charlie was back at the bottom of the stairs again and everything sped back up. Way the hell back up.
The door. The front door was blocked. Shay was finally downstairs but what were they going to—
But Charlie’s momentum didn’t once slow. He just kept running. Straight toward the large bay window off to the left of the door. The floor was marble there so the flames hadn’t completely covered it yet.
Jonas felt his eyes widen and he held out an arm as Charlie barreled forward.
Right at the last second, Charlie turned and hurled himself back first towards the window. He and Shay crashed through in an explosion of smoke and glass and fire.
Chapter 39
SHAY
“But he’ll be okay?” Shay asked Dr. Kapoor, hovering over where Charlie was laid out on the exam table in the clinic.
Her voice was hoarse from all the smoke she’d inhaled and right after she asked the question, Gabriel urged her to put her oxygen mask back on. She did, but only so she could focus on Dr. Kapoor’s answer.
The last few hours had been some of the worst in her life.
Gabriel settled his arm back around her. Rafe stood on her other side with Nicky asleep in his arms and Jonas hovered at her back. Matthew had been attached at her hip until he’d finally gotten too tired and fallen asleep on a clinic cot they’d set up at the other side of the room, an oxygen mask secured over his face too.
“His boots protected his feet from the worst of it,” Dr. Kapoor said, standing on the other side of Charlie’s bed. “But his legs…” the doctor shook his head. “He has second degree burns on his thighs and third degree burns on parts of his calves, especially his left leg.”
Shay looked down at Charlie’s legs that were wrapped in gauze and felt the millionth tear roll down her cheek today.
She’d been ready to die up there. As soon as she got Matthew to safety, it didn’t matter.
All she’d ever wanted was for her children to be safe. She’d always been willing to sacrifice her life.
But then Charlie was running up the stairs—through the fire—for her.
She thought he was an angel.
She thought he’d died in the fire on the roof and come back as an angel sent from God to rescue Matthew. And then her.
She shook her head as she looked down at Charlie. Amazing, astonishing, foolish man. The doctor had sedated him, thank God. After he had thrown himself through the window, shielding her the whole time, he started screaming in pain.
They’d rolled around on the ground some after going through the window, so they weren’t on fire. At first she thought it was glass in his back causing him so much pain. It took her and Jonas and Rafe far too long to figure out it was his jeans.
She wouldn’t understand fully until later. He’d jumped into the pool—that’s how he’d gotten off the roof with Nicky.
So he was drenched when he’d run into the house. That had been both a good and bad thing. The wet clothes meant he didn’t catch fire when he ran up the stairs for Shay. But water conducted heat even better than air. It turned the water in his jeans to steam and it started cooking him while—
She shuddered just thinking about it.
He’d started screaming about his legs and finally they’d pulled his steaming jeans off. His legs were already red and blistering and oh God, it was so horrible.
Jonas and Rafe hefted him in the back of the truck and they raced back to where to where they’d left the plane… but it was gone.
Shay suspected Jason himself had taken it. Henry had obviously tipped him off that they were coming and he’d no doubt been watching for their arrival. Maybe Jason was the reason Henry had even had access to such a fancy plane in the first place. It might have been part of their plan all along—for Henry to get the plane to Jason so he could fly it back to Fort Worth.
Anyway, there was no choice but to drive the two hours back to Jacob’s Well, Charlie crying out in pain every time they hit a bump or pothole until finally, mercifully, he’d passed out.
When they’d gotten home, the town was surrounded by soldiers, but not Jason’s. They were the troops President Goddard had sent from the capitol before he was assassinated. Sent to guard against an attack that never came. Meanwhile reports came in that Jason’s forces were overwhelming the capitol and that he was hours away from taking it over completely.
“But yes,” Dr. Kapoor continued, “with the proper medical attention and penicillin tea in case of any infection, there’s a good chance of recovery.”
“A good chance?” Shay looked toward the doctor sharply. “What does that mean?”
The doctor sighed. “Some of his burns have gone completely through the epidermis all the way through to the tissue underneath. I can’t say it won’t be a painful process of recovery. And he’ll have scars for the rest of his life.”
“He’ll wear them with honor,” Rafe said from beside her but Shay just shook her head repeatedly back and forth.
“I don’t give a shit about any of that,” Shay said, running her hands through Charlie’s unkempt hair. “I’m already honored more than words can say just to be his wife.” Then she turned to look at Rafe and Jonas. “Yours too.”
She couldn’t stop her tears. It felt like she’d been crying for hours. Days. Just when she didn’t think she had any tears left, still more came.
After everything that happened with Jason, Henry, and then Charlie, and then finally having Nicky and Matthew back in her arms—God it was just too much for one day.
And it wasn’t over. She knew that in the back of her mind but literally could not handle thinking about it. So for the moment, she was pushing all thoughts of Jason and what was happening at the capitol aside.
“Come on,” Gabriel said quietly. “You’re exhausted. You need to rest. All of you.”
Shay shook her head. She had to stay with Charlie. She had to—
“What good are you to him if he wakes up just to find you looking dead on your feet?” Gabriel said softly. “You know he’d be upset and worried about you.”
Shay sighed and sank against Gabriel. God, she hated it, but he was right. She was dead on her feet. After dropping her head to his chest, she couldn’t imagine lifting it. Ever again. In fact, now that she thought about it, every part of her body felt like it was strapped with hundred-pound weights.
When the guys led her to a cot beside Matthew’s to lay down, she was asleep within moments.
Chapter 40
GABRIEL
Nix and Audrey sat at the dining room table, the morning after they’d gotten back from the Travisville mission. Audrey and the rest of her clan had made their way back to Jacob’s Well once they realized it wasn’t Travis’s true target.
Gabriel looked around at the tired
, worried faces of his own clan. Minus Charlie, who was resting in bed in the downstairs bedroom.
And of course, Henry.
Gabriel felt the familiar waves of fury and grief even at the thought of him. How could he have done that to them. To Shay?
“Other than small skirmishes,” Nix said, commanding all their attention,” Colonel Travis has taken over the capitol. He’s pretending he’s the President now.”
Rafe scoffed, shoving back from the table and standing up. “It’s more than pretending. How do you think Goddard became president? There wasn’t a fucking vote. He had control of the biggest army at the time. Now Travis does. How many troops does he have now? Fifty thousand?” He looked to Nix. “Sixty?”
“Sixty-five.”
“Shit,” Rafe said, dragging his hand through his hair.
“It’s only a matter of time before he comes back for Central Texas South and Jacob’s Well,” Shay said.
Gabriel swallowed.
All of them had been thinking it. She just had the balls to say it out loud.
“And after what we did to him—after what I did to him…” She shook her head and looked around the table. “None of us will be safe when he does.”
Gabriel noticed Jonas’s hand shaking as he reached to take a sip of water from his glass. Damn, this whole thing had them on edge.
“I’m surprised he hasn’t already sent planes,” Nix said. “Most of the bombers not taken out by the EMP were destroyed in the War for Independence against the Southern States Alliance. But there were still a few left.”
Shay gasped and Gabriel reached for her hand.
“Graham’s been watching the satellite feed,” Audrey hurried to say, “and he hasn’t seen any movement of their air force.”
“Yet,” Nix said grimly. “We don’t know what’s stopped or delayed them. But Travis will be eager to fix whatever the problem is, especially with ten thousand of General Preston’s Elite Guard on the loose in our territory.”
“Elite Guard?” Shay asked. “Is that different from the regular Army?”
Rafe huffed. “Are they diff—” He shook his head. “One Elite Guard is worth five normal soldiers. They’re the New Republic’s version of Navy Seals. The toughest of the tough.”
Fat lot of good that did them, Gabriel thought. “But now they’re just making us more of a target”
Nix nodded. “That’s why they’re decamping to the hills as we speak.”
“And us?” Jonas asked, eyes on Shay. “How do we stay safe?”
“We run,” Shay said, looking around at all of them, eyes finally settling on Nix. “It’s the only way.”
Again, Nix just nodded. He’d already decided on a course of action before even coming over, Gabriel could tell. This was an announcement, not a discussion.
But Gabriel didn’t see any other way. “Where?” he asked. There was no point beating around the bush. He had no doubt Nix had already worked that part out, too.
Nix nodded to Audrey and she pulled out a map from a knapsack she had slung across her chest. She laid it out on the dining room table and they all poured over it.
“Well, we have several different options. Scrapper teams have scouted all of our territory and most of Central Texas North.” He pointed out the territories on the map. “So no doubt that’s where Travis will expect us to go.”
Rafe’s brow was knit in concentration. “What if we went here?” He pointed to the oval area highlighted in orange around and to the northwest of Austin.”
“Are you crazy?” Jonas said. “That’s the fallout zone. We’d get radiation poisoning.”
But Rafe was shaking his head. “It’s been eight years. The bomb was an air-burst bomb so it was only the top ground soil that was affected. Think about it. People moved back to Nagasaki and Hiroshima a few years after the bombs. We had to read up on this shit at the Air Force Academy. After eight years, most of Austin should be safe now.”
“Should,” Nix said with a dark glare. “I’m not willing to gamble my wife’s life on a should.”
Rafe looked like he was about to open his mouth again but Nix cut him off.
“Or my baby’s.”
Gabriel felt his eyes widen as he looked down to Audrey’s stomach.
“Oh my gosh,” Shay exclaimed, a hand going to her mouth. “Audrey, it finally happened.”
Audrey smiled, but it was wobbly. “I wish I was bringing them into a more peaceful world.”
Rafe nodded but continued. “I guess that makes sense for you guys, but that doesn’t mean our clan can’t—”
“Rafe,” Shay said, putting a hand on his arm.
Rafe stopped, looking over at her. “What?”
“We’re in the same situation.”
Good Lord. Was she saying—
Rafe’s eyebrows furrowed. “What do you—?”
“You’re pregnant?” Gabriel choked, shoving his chair back and running around the table before falling to his knees at her feet. He kissed her stomach and then bowed his head against it. “But I thought— Didn’t you say you took a birth control shot before you ever came?”
When he finally looked up at Shay, she seemed stunned. “Y-yes, but it must have been over ten years old and who knew where Jason got it from. It could have just been saline solution for all we knew.”
Then she whispered, “But I don’t understand, Gabriel.” A pained look crossed her face. “You know you can’t be the father.”
But Gabriel just shook his head. “I’ll be a father in all the ways that matter.” He grinned at her. They were going to have a baby!
He got to his feet and pulled her with him until he had her gathered in his arms, then he spun her in a circle. “We’re having a baby!”
She giggled and shrieked and Gabriel had never heard a more wonderful sound in the world. Rafe had gotten up too and he hugged Shay while she was still in Gabriel’s arms. Jonas just sat at the table looking pale and a little shell-shocked.
Gabriel almost laughed. Everyone reacted differently to the news of impending fatherhood, he guessed.
Gabriel kissed Shay on the forehead and vowed right then and there that no matter what terrible shit was happening in the world around them and no matter how difficult the months in front of them would be, he would do everything possible to cherish and pamper his beautiful, precious wife.
And then, still holding her close, Gabriel turned back to Nix. “So where are we going?”
Nix moved his finger on the map from Jacob’s Well down south and west.
“But that’s—” Jonas sputtered, finally looking like he’d started breathing again.
“It’s San Antonio Territory.”
Rafe just stared at Nix like he was crazy. “But we got good intel that said San Antonio was taken over by the Black Skulls. Who just happen to be Colonel Travis’s closest allies. And you want us to go over the border into their territory?”
“Exactly. While they’re busy trying to root us out in Central Texas South and North—”
“We’ll be hiding right under their noses,” Shay finished for Nix.
He nodded. “Exactly.”
“But where?” Rafe asked. “That far south isn’t even still in the hill country? It’s just flat. Where could we hide that Travis wouldn’t see us with sat imaging?”
Nix just got a big smile at that—which to be honest, with his giant face scar, looked more menacing than anything else.
“We got a lead on a place. Audrey, why don’t you tell them. You’ve been there before.”
All eyes turned to Audrey. “Well,” she said, clearing her throat. “You remember field trips? In school? Did any of ya’ll ever take one to Natural Bridge Caverns?”
***
The next night they loaded up several vans—their clan, Nix’s, and several others Nix thought Travis would target if and when he came to town—and headed south.
Other clan families planned to evacuate as well, but no one other than Nix knew where to.
&nb
sp; The plan was to wait it out until they had a better plan. Travis had to have a weak spot. They just needed to find it. And drum up support for their cause in the meantime.
They drove several hours south on back roads and unloaded when they got to the neutral zone between Central Texas South and San Antonio Territory, then their drivers hauled ass back to Jacob’s Well so they wouldn’t be leaving any vehicles behind as a giant red flag of where they’d gone.
The next part of the trip—five miles—had to be made on foot, at night. This had been hardest on the kids, but Matthew and Tim had been great, making a game of it for their younger siblings. They hid out and slept during the day, sticking to paths Nix was familiar with from his Scrapper days.
They spent several days that way, slowly and carefully moving their way toward the caves. They’d finally gotten there in the dead of night about a week ago.
Charlie and Rafe met them at the cave. That was the riskiest part of the entire plan. Rafe had posed as a smuggler from Hell’s Hollow. He’d been driving an ancient white van right down I-35 straight into San Antonio with Charlie in the back.
Along with a shit-ton of Jonas’s best bud.
When he was stopped at the border by three night highway patrolmen, Rafe said he had a special delivery for Bautista himself—the head of the Black Skulls MC.
One of the patrolman had lazily drawn his weapon on Rafe, but he had no idea he was dealing with a former Airman turned New Republic Elite Guard.
Even one-handed, Rafe was able to disarm the guard, taser him, and shot the other two at the back of the fan full of tranqs from a gun he’d borrowed from Nix.
Then he unloaded a fair quantity of the marijuana, figuring the patrolmen would be less likely to kick up a fuss and notify everyone in the damn territory if they suddenly found themselves with a fortune in green leaf. After all, if they never told anyone about the mysterious stranger in the white van, then they never had to declare or relinquish all that weed.
After all, what harm could it be to just let one man into the territory?
Since then, they’d all been settling in at the cave. It was the biggest cave in Texas with over two hundred caverns, some of which were huge.
