"I'll be right back," the young woman replied and slipped into the house.
"Would you like to come in and rest?" The older woman offered.
"Thank you, but we are in training." Lawton told her.
"Well I am so glad you stopped by. I don't get out much now because of my health but I am originally from Old Connecticut. Because of you Rebel soldiers, I was reunited with my daughter and granddaughter who had been taken to a Selection in Old Maine - I never thought I'd see them again." Tears fell from the old woman's eyes. "Thank you both so much." She kissed Lawton's cheek, then Connors.
The younger woman came back with two jugs. "Take them please and drink in good health."
Lawton answered. "May your kindness be returned.”
Lawton and Connor walked away.
"Poison?" Connor asked with a cocked eyebrow as they got further from the door.
Lawton laughed and exchanged her jug with his and guzzled. "We have almost no crime here. We are all working toward peace, mutual respect, and freedom. Do you know what freedom tastes like, Connor?"
He didn't answer. He just drank from the water jug. He had no fucking idea what freedom tasted like.
Connor didn't sleep well. His dreams held him hostage. He and Emily were living in one of the small subway tunnel homes. They were happy, safe, and confident. Then the Sovereignty soldier came. Emily started to cry. He tried to reassure her he would make everything okay, but the soldiers ripped her from his arms and they were herded into separate directions.
Noah woke with a scream on his lips. His eyes adjusted. He was on the cot in Lawton's apartment. He laid in the dark, staring up toward the ceiling until morning.
Chapter 4
Day 4
Lawton, Connor, Webb, and thirty other soldiers - mainly commanders and officers - pored over the plans for the ops they would carry out in five days.
There was the potential for a lot of loss, Connor thought, but also the strong possibility of a victory. The Northeast Division would ride by night into the Midwest Territories and join forces with the Midwest Division. They had already reclaimed several Selections there and the civilians were safeguarded in the underground subway tunnels of Old Chicago - just as they were here in Old Manhattan. The plan was to finish breaking the Sov hold on the six remaining heavily guarded and fortified Selections that controlled the meat raising animals for the Sov. If the Rebels pulled it off, they would take control of the entire Midwest Territory.
Connor's mind went to his orders - to assassinate Lawton in the thick of the confusion. Even with Webb setting her up to take a traitor's fall, the Sovereignty wasn't convinced she couldn't talk her way out of it. No, his officials had decided, it was better for her to die. Connor was to radio Sovereignty officials with the location of MRH, and the Northeast underground facilities.
When Connor tuned back in, Webb was going on about camaraderie, sacrifice, and victory. Connor had the urge to knock out Webb's jaw.
Lawton watched Connor's expression for any hint of humanity. She was sorely disappointed. And Webb wouldn't shut the fuck up! They had their orders, did they really have to sit here and be served Webb's shit on toast?
When they were finally dismissed, Lawton and Connor walked through the tunnel.
"It's lunchtime, but I'm not hungry."
"I'm not either." Connor replied.
"Guess too much shit spoils the appetite," Lawton quipped. "Let's go shoot. Today, I'll imagine its Webb."
"Why are you being nice to me now?" Connor snapped.
"Nice? No. Civil, may be. I hate your fucking guts… but I wanted you to know what defines the Rebellion and the Territories. You have a right to know whom you are going to murder and displace." She said.
"If this is what you think I'm doing here, then why don't you just kill me yourself - and get it over with?" Connor challenged.
"Yeah… then I'm still the bad guy. See, the Rebel officials think you're the greatest thing since Christmas… with your knowledge of the Sov and it's home base we'll be able to toss ole Kain right off his throne. You're the Messiah to these people Connor. Your defection and intel could tilt the entire war in our favor. Might even put an end to the fighting. But you see…" Lawton leaned in close to Connor's ear. "I'm not fooled. I know you're the devil." She pulled back and put her pointer finger to her lips and breathed, "Shh."
The rest of the day was full: they sparred hand to hand with other soldiers, practiced at the shooting range, and ran simulated ops with laser tag guns.
After dinner at the chow hall and showers they were both physically and emotionally exhausted. The morning would usher in day three and both wondered what the outcome would be.
Chapter 5
Day 3
They stopped at Smithy's Bot Shop - or Tech Central - and checked out a bot.
"What is that thing?"
"Artificial intelligence - it goes ahead of the soldiers through the debris and scans for explosives. There is still crap on the outside from the last asshole who took power."
"I thought we couldn't go outside,"
"Yeah, well some of us have to patrol, thus the camouflage and the bot," Lawton was sarcastic.
"This is what Kain and the Sovereignty’s legacy leaves behind, Connor - ruin and desolation."
They ran through concrete dust that swirled in the sun's rays. Their boots crushed the remnants of a once vibrant and powerful civilization. Both of them were angry and pushed the other one to run faster.
With no warning, Lawton stopped fast and grabbed Connor by the shoulders of his shirt, smashed down on his instep with her boot and threw him to the ground. Connor hadn't expected the assault. He came down hard on the concrete and asphalt.
"What the hell was that?" Connor's voice raised in adrenaline and surprise.
"WHAT KIND OF MAN ARE YOU, CONNOR?" Lawton yelled at the top of her lungs. Rachel couldn't take one more moment of pretend. "ANSWER THE QUESTION! WE HAVE THREE DAYS! I don't have time to beat around the bush with you… GOD DAMN IT!"
"I DON'T KNOW!" Connor shouted back from on the ground.
"HOW CAN'T YOU FUCKING KNOW?"
"DO YOU THINK I HAVE CHOICES, LAWTON? I've got no fucking choices!" Connor spat, stood back up and turned away from her.
"Everybody has choices!"
"I don't! I never have!" He stared over the broken world.
Realization spread over her like cold ghostly fingers clawing at her senses. "Who do they have?"
Connor stayed silent.
"Your parents?"
"My father was killed revolting. He had tried to stop the soldiers from separating our family. Sovereignty Defenders killed them in front of us to show their power. The Sovereignty is thicker than blood, to be obeyed before parents, and to be loved above all else." Connor recited the Sovereignty philosophy. "My mom is gone now, too. "If I don't carry through with this assignment… I have a sister. She's nine years old."
Lawton was an orphan. She had lost both her parents to a battle when she was very young. She had no siblings. No real reference for loving someone. She knew she loved people, but she had never loved any one intimately. She wondered what you might be willing to go through and to sacrifice for someone that you intimately loved.
"We have to finish the patrol and circle back now."
Connor nodded.
The bot had just hovered there next to them the entire time. Waiting until they started jogging again. They were silent for quite sometime when Lawton finally asked, "Have you ever seen the ocean?"
"No Lawton, I've never seen the ocean." He felt angry and conflicted and he certainly didn't want to have any more conversations.
"I've seen old pictures in books… and Old New York harbor, but that's not the same," Lawton wrinkled her nose at the thought. "I have heard it is so immense you can't see to the other side - it stretches all the way to a far off continent. I want to sail across it, like people used to before the wars… maybe the rest of the world doesn't look so bad."
> "Maybe it does," Connor added.
"Then we fix it." Lawton spoke determinedly.
Connor stopped in his tracks. Breathing heavily he stared at her, "Fix it? Who the hell do you think you are?"
"I am Rachel Lawton - Rebel soldier and humanitarian." Sweat dripped down her forehead.
"I'm Noah Connor - and I lived in the fucked up real world."
"What if one person cared enough to create a change - to make a difference? What if two people cared enough and joined forces?" Lawton watched for his response.
Connor straightened his hat with his dirty fingers and gazed up into the open sky.
After a minute, Lawton exclaimed, "Let's get back to base. I know what we are going to do today."
Great, Connor groaned inwardly.
By the time they got back and signed in the Bot it was 2 p.m. They made their way to the chow hall and ate quietly. When Lawton was finished, she brought her tray up to the line and asked the food worker for a bag of ice. She carried the bag back to the table.
"What's the ice for?"
"You'll see." Lawton smiled.
Connor didn't trust the smile. At least when she was angry, he knew where he stood
Rachel stepped into the hot water pulsing through the showerhead and thought about her next move. When she finished getting clean, she dried off, slipped into her bedroom and called out, "It's all yours."
The shower was still wet and warm from Lawton. He stood under the spray and considered the bar of soap in the tray. The same bar of soap she had just used. He worked hard to shut the idea out of his head as he lathered himself, but it was easier said then done. He finished quickly and dried off.
"No clothes!" He huffed looking around the tiny bathroom. "Of course I forgot my clothes!"
He wrapped a towel around his waist and hoped Lawton was still in her room.
Nope. Of course she wasn't. She was standing next to the small kitchen table setting up two short glasses. A small bowl of ice sat in the center of the table along with the bottle of amber colored liquid she drank the other night and a tall silver can. Music was playing.
As for Lawton, she was wearing a silk emerald green dress held by thin straps over her shoulders. The dress stopped just above her knees and as she moved the light caught the fabric and shimmered over it like sun on water. Her auburn brown hair was combed loose and draped past her shoulders.
She sensed his presence and turned to face him. "Hi," she said pleasantly. Lawton's eyes descended from his wet tousled hair and his lightly scuffed face, down his bare chest to the towel.
"I… I forgot my clothes." Connor forced himself into action, grabbed his clothes and got back to the bathroom.
She had a guest coming. He'd get dressed and leave. He pulled on the cargo pants and simple white t-shirt, and rubbed the towel through his hair.
He stood silently and motionless as he listened to the music she played. The Sovereignty only permitted sanctioned classical pieces done by the Sovereignty Life Orchestra. This definitely wasn't on the Sovereignty’s list of acceptable listening. The sounds were hard edged but flowing, and a vocalist used words to convey a message. It rhymed like the poets words they weren't allowed to read unless under specific monitoring. This song sounded… sad or expectant.
"Give me something to believe… I need something more, to keep on breathing for,"
Connor wondered what it would be like to have a beautiful woman like Rachel Lawton dress that way for him.
He hung his wet towel to dry and quickly burst from the bathroom. He startled Lawton who was still recovering from his presence in the simple towel. It should have been no big deal. Here in the Territories, people didn't freak out over nudity. Modesty wasn't an issue. So why had the sight of Connor in nothing but a towel heat the temperature of her blood?
"Hey," Connor said as he walked fast through the small room. "I'll take a walk to give you some privacy."
"Why would you leave? This is for us." Lawton continued. "I figure it's like an 'end of the world as we know it' party. We won't be able to drink tomorrow, we'll be too busy readying for the op - and of course you can't go on an op hung over."
Connor didn't move a muscle. He still didn't quite understand.
"Here," she said taking his arm. "You sit here." She guided him into the chair. He sat and noticed his arm tingled where her touch had been.
"This is not Sovereignty issued auditory enjoyment." He said a bit dazed.
Lawton laughed! "No! Hell no, it's not!" She laughed again and Connor felt his face break into a genuine smile.
Lawton saw that the smile almost reached his eyes.
"All of their music worships the Sov as if it were a deity. This player belonged to my great grandfather. I was able to power it through an old model computer. Each song is a poem set to music. This band is called Bravery. Shh! I love this part, listen." She mused.
Lawton had no idea just how closely Connor was paying attention.
"Does the song have a name?"
"Mm-hmm, Believe."
Connor nodded then got a whiff of the powerful drink Lawton had just poured over the ice in his glass. "Wow, what is that stuff?"
"Relaxation juice."
His next smile was automatic and he wondered where it came from. "Relaxation juice?"
"Yep." She hitched her dress up enough to reveal her moon white thigh and the blade that was strapped around it.
Connor cocked an eyebrow at her. She was sexy as all hell - her stance, her posture. She unsheathed the knife and brought it into the tall can on the table.
"Fruit punch from the old days. This cost me a good barter." With that Lawton poured a generous portion of it into Connor's glass then into her own before returning the blade to its sheath and sitting in the seat at the table next to his.
"You're going to share it… with me?" He couldn't understand her, not at all.
"I figured it out Connor. We're both fucked no matter what we do. And I'm not spending my last days on earth angry or crying." She baffled him further.
"They don't allow…" Connor began.
"Yeah, I know. You're a big guy, you'll be able to handle it - just go easy. Not too much at once or it'll make you sick as hell. Now," Lawton continued. "An old custom is to cheer or make a toast - you know say something important or meaningful."
"I don't know what to say." Connor had always been very confident, but Lawton completely undid him.
"Well… 'To the end of the world' is depressing as fuck." Lawton said thinking out loud.
"How about the name of that song from Bravery?" Connor suggested.
"Believe?" Lawton was surprised at his thoughtfulness.
Connor nodded, "Believe."
"I like it." Lawton lifted her glass and Connor followed her lead.
"Believe," they both said in unison and Lawton tapped her glass onto Connor's and they each took a long pull.
"Holy shit!" He exclaimed. "It's like liquid fire!"
Lawton started laughing and despite the pang of guilt that squeezed at his guts, Connor laughed too. He took another drink from his glass.
His laughter made Lawton's anger mellow. She saw him in a different way - a scared little boy - playing soldier to keep his sister alive.
Connor knew Lawton was the most beautiful woman he had ever seen or known. She thought and fought like a warrior, played with children, said whatever the hell she felt, and was just as stunning when she was angry and full of fury as she was when she was laughing. Oh, and her body… but he knew if he ever attempted to reach out and touch her, she would flutter away on the wind like a butterfly.
"Let's play truth or dare."
Connor almost choked on his drink. "Okay,"
"Full disclosure, Connor." She warned.
"What does that mean in the game?"
"It means whatever is asked has to be answered truthfully - no holds barred. And anything we are dared to do - we have to do."
Damn she was cocky… He thought admiringly.
>
"I'll go first. I'll go easy on you this round." She teased.
"How old are you?" Lawton started with a truth.
"Twenty-two,"
"See, that wasn't so bad. You're turn."
"How old are you?" He asked.
"Twenty. What were your parent's names?"
"Phillip and Glenna." He smiled at their memory. "They were good people. They really took care of us. What are your parents names?"
Lawton took a few gulps of her drink before answering, "I don't know. They died in a Rebel - Sov skirmish when I was a few months old."
"Did you live with relatives?" Connor hoped her answer would be yes.
"Hey! No questions out of turn," she scolded playfully.
Connor cringed. Unless she had a near kin as an orphan, she would have been passed around from house to house with no family or home of her own.
Lawton read his expression. "Okay, yes, I was a passed orphan - next topic. What is your favorite season?"
He looked into her eyes and took a deep breath. "Winter," he finally answered. "When the snow falls and everything looks clean. "What's your favorite color?"
"Blue," Lawton said. "What's your favorite color?"
Connor stared at her dress, "Green."
Lawton bit her bottom lip. "Off game - how do you like your drink?"
"It's really good."
"Are you ready for another?"
"Do you want me to be?"
She nodded.
He downed the content until the leftover ice was all that remained and handed his glass to her.
Damn he is handsome! Lawton thought as they kept their eye contact stable with the passing of the glass. He had the bluest eyes - clear like a cloudless day. His body was chiseled - muscular and lean.
"You'll need more for the dares," she said and refilled his drink. She freshened her own and asked, "Truth - how old were you when you enlisted in the Sov?"
"I didn't." He took a pull from the glass. "I was taken from my grandparents when I was fourteen."
That was what Lawton wanted to hear. Maybe he hated Kain as much as she did. Or… she reminded himself - he could have become dedicated, sometimes Sov Defenders did. They were so brainwashed they believed all the bull shit about the Sov that was shoved down their throats.
Enemy Lines Page 3