by A. R. Shaw
Chuck’s crazy brown eyes softened a half second later and he swirled the handle down and around his finger, relinquishing the gun to Kent.
He took the weapon from Chuck’s outstretched hand and realized though Chuck stared right at him, he shook with the effort of squeezing the life out of the welder.
Kent said, “Stop that. Let him go.”
“You have to say thank you first,” Chuck said.
“Thank. you.”
The welder dropped to the ground in front of Chuck.
“What in the hell is going on in here?” Sloane said, staring at the three of them, pointing her Glock to the ground and confused as to whom to aim at. “Are you Chuck?” she asked suddenly, bringing the Glock up to point at Chuck.
Chuck said nothing and raised his eyebrows and his free hand.
“Sloane. Sloane, don’t shoot,” Kent said.
“Is. He. Chuck?” she said pointedly, clearly pissed off now.
“It’s complicated,” Kent said.
The welder raised his hand to speak and both Chuck and Kent looked down at him.
“He’s Chuck?” Sloane asked, now pointing the gun at the welder.
Chuck ever so slightly nudged his head toward the red-headed man before him.
“Stop that,” Kent said to Chuck and then turned to Sloane. “Let me explain after I get this mess cleared up. Everything’s fine. I bet the girls were scared as hell when they heard the gunshot. Can you go and let them know everything’s all right?”
“I need a welder,” Sloane said.
“I’m a welder.”
Kent turned to the two men. One man couldn’t speak yet. The other was Chuck.
65
Sloane
By the end of the day, Sloane had her welder. Actually, she had two welders. One of them was Chuck. She had no idea what the red-headed man’s name was, and she didn’t care. Both of them had a lot of work to do and she’d have more for them after that. If she could keep them busy enough, perhaps they’d stop trying to kill each other.
“Can we go now?” Mae asked.
“Yes,” she said and after giving directions to the remaining workers, she and the rest of her family went home.
It was dark by then. No one said much. She still wasn’t clear on what happened at the coffee shop that afternoon but there was no time to lose on the building projects.
“Why are we bringing that man with us?” Wren asked, pointing her thumb out the back window.
“Because everyone’s trying to kill him,” Kent said.
“And we need him,” Sloane said.
“So that’s Chuck, huh?” Mae said.
“Yep,” was the last thing that Kent said on the subject.
Sloane chuckled, looking over at Kent in the pale moonlight. “That’s going to swell up,” she said, pointing to his left eye.
“Yes, it is,” Kent said, blowing out a frustrated breath. “The things I do for you guys…and Chuck.”
Sloane shook her head with a smile. She looked out the dark passenger side window. There was peril ahead. She knew it. She could not avoid it. She could not save her family by complacency. She could no longer hide them from this world. She had to prepare them for it instead. Which also meant she had to prepare a community for them. No one survived alone for long. That was a hard lesson learned over time, but one she could no longer deny.
66
Wren
Two weeks later
* * *
Wandering through the darkened house at night was a risky endeavor and one she knew she should avoid but Wren couldn’t sleep. She had to see the moonlight. Signs of winter were coming and the winds were relentless; they would help mask her trip down the rickety landmine stairs.
As she pulled the covers away from her legs, she quickly slipped on her wool socks and glanced at the bed that her younger sisters shared. Mae often hogged one side so much, she couldn’t even see Nicole in the dim light.
Slipping her feet into boots she kept beside her bed, Wren pulled her coat on and headed to the door on tiptoes. Getting past the garage-cum-apartment that Chuck and Jason now shared was always a problem too. Jason caught her a few times, but he only smiled as she walked by and along the path to the beach. There was just something about wandering around on the shoreline at night that she longed for. No one but her. She found peace there.
Closing the door behind her gently, she walked into the living room, but a sound caught her attention.
At first, she couldn’t believe her ears. Someone was in there. Rounding the corner to the living room, she peeked around quickly as her hand froze over the gun at her waist.
“And then you follow Hemlock all the way to Haystack Lane,” Nicole whispered in a barely audible tone.
“Nicole!” Wren said, and the girl immediately jumped up from the chair and pulled away the headphones.
“Who are you…who are you giving our location to?”
Tears welled immediately. She shuddered under Wren’s glare. “I can’t. I can’t tell you,” she cried.
In a voice heedless of sleeping ones, Wren said, “You have to tell me. And you have to tell me now. You’re getting us all killed.”
“I can’t. I can’t tell,” Nicole repeated. “I promised.”
“What’s going on?” Sloane and Kent said as they rushed into the room.
Pointing at Nicole, Wren said, “She’s talking to someone. She’s giving them directions how to get to our house. Right now. I just heard her.”
“Nicole. Who were you talking to?” Sloane began.
“I promised. I can’t tell anyone.”
Wren’s mind suddenly flashed on all the times she saw Nicole whispering or listening to something with the earphones on.
“Wait a minute,” Wren said, her voice getting louder. “She’s been talking to someone on the radio for a while now. And she just practically gave them our address.”
Sloane knelt down to Nicole. “Honey, I don’t care who you promised. You have to tell me this very instant who you were talking to. It’s that important.”
“She made me promise not to tell anyone.”
“She? Who made you promise?” Sloane said and Wren could tell her mother was doing her best to remain calm.
Nicole shook her head.
“Was this a lady? Have you ever met her?”
“No,” Nicole said.
Suddenly they heard boots running up the steps.
“It’s all right,” Kent said as Chuck and Jason barged in the door.
“We heard a commotion,” Chuck said as Kent raised his hand to quiet him.
“Nicole, you have to tell me and have to tell me now,” Sloane began.
Then Mae appeared at the edge of the room. “I know who it is,” Mae said.
Everyone turned to Mae expectantly.
“It’s that missing girl. Nicole’s been guiding her here for weeks. She has a radio.”
“What?” Sloane said.
“Boyd’s little sister. The one that’s missing. Elsa, right?” Mae said and pointed her question to Nicole.
“How’d you know?” Nicole said.
“I heard you talking to her. I heard you mention her brother. She asked you for help. I thought I’d let you have this,” Mae said.
“Oh no! Mae, why didn’t you say something?” Sloane said.
“Because she sits here all day helping us with communications and it seemed harmless.”
Sloane stood then and the hair on the back of Wren’s neck stood straight up. She had a bad feeling about this.
“Everyone grab your gear, this is an emergency,” Sloane said, and she picked Nicole up in her arms.
“Why?” Mae asked. “What’s wrong with Nicole having a friend on the radio?”
“Because it’s not a friend. It might be Boyd’s missing sister, but she’s not alone. What seven-year-old with no prior training can operate a radio remotely on her own? No…this is a Trojan horse. Let’s go. Everyone, now. It might already be too lat
e.”
67
Sloane
One month later
* * *
“I’m telling you, we’re dead. We need to run now,” Chuck argued in a whisper.
“Will you get him out of my face?” Sloane said. She’d had enough of Chuck. “Put him to work. Get him busy,” she said to Kent.
“He’s just concerned. We all are. It’s just like when you’re seven months pregnant and you suddenly realize you have to give birth to a beach ball.”
She looked at Kent screwy. “Yeah, I know how that is. We have all the littles safely hidden away. We have to be here to see how it plays out. If he can’t handle the pressure, you need to move him.”
“Sloane, I know. He’s a damn good shot though. He just gets nervous right before the battle.”
Deep breath, Sloane told herself. “Keep everyone quiet. They know what to do. There will be no battle if this works right.”
“I don’t know how in the hell you think this is going to work,” Chuck whispered loudly. “This is the most effed up plan I’ve ever heard of.”
Blowing out a breath, Sloane quoted Sun Tzu. “Appear weak when you are strong, and strong when you are weak.”
And that’s when she looked through the binoculars after hearing the coming convoy approach the large metal gate on the entrance of Hemlock Street.
The welds on the gate would hold. They’d made sure of that, but the gate was unlocked and opened by a few feet. That was part of the ploy.
A metallic screech of a rifle barrel slid against the edge of the gate, opening it even more.
Sloane watched as the first set of armed intruders came in, commando style, each pointing in a different direction. One even rolled on the ground before rising again and aimed wildly.
The town, for all appearances was deserted, sans the old man with the bent back in the middle of Hemlock, sweeping the street near the market.
Afterword
It doesn’t end there…
download Book 3 - Dawn of Deception, Unbeaten, from you favorite online retailer.
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The author welcomes any comments, feedback, or questions at [email protected].
Acknowledgments
The second book in this series came at the end of a rather dark time in my life. No work of fiction completes itself without several helpful hands…besides the author’s.
For this novel, I’d like to thank my editor, Dr. Vonda for her clear and concise editing, Nikki Brackett my proofreader, my trusty BETA reader, Michael Havelka and Hristo Argirov Kovatliev for his mad skills in cover art design. Without them, my work would remain unpolished, languishing away in a dark desk drawer.
Personally, I’d like to thank Tony for listening to my crazy ideas and guiding me when I’m stuck, my son for his creative opinions, and my cat Henry (we rescued each other).
About the Author
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A. R. Shaw is the bestselling author of the Graham’s Resolution and Surrender the Sun series. She served in the United States Air Force Reserves as a Communications Radio Operator and then attended college as a mother of four. She’s always written in what little off time she could manage but didn’t start publishing her works until 2013.
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Now when she isn’t writing or spending time with family she enjoys, running, biking and traveling. She conquered the Spartan Sprint Race recently and lives in Ohio with her loyal tabby cat, Henry, and a house full of books.
Also by A. R. Shaw
Graham’s Resolution
The China Pandemic
The Cascade Preppers
The Last Infidels
The Malefic Nation
The Bitter Earth
Graham’s Resolution Boxset, Books 1-4
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Surrender the Sun
Bishop’s Honor
Sanctuary
Point of No Return
Surrender the Sun Boxset, Books 1-3
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Dawn of Deception
Unbound
Undone
Unbeaten
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The French Wardrobe