by Kyle West
“You think you can do better?” Raine shouted. “Try! Try leading for yourself and see just how easy it is!”
“I’m just telling you how it is, brother. You’ve changed ever since that girl came.” Ohlan looked at Raine sideways. “It’s good you saved her, don’t get me wrong. But you treat her like she’s your own.” Ohlan then turned, and Raine met his eyes, as much as he resented Ohlan right now. To Raine’s surprise, Ohlan seemed serious. “That girl isn’t your daughter, Raine. She isn’t Adrienne.”
Raine pushed Ohlan. “You say this, right now? That girl is as good as mine, and you leave her out of it! This is between me and you.”
“I say it because no one else will tell you. I’m making my choice, Raine. I’m making my choice to tell you that you shouldn’t listen to a little girl on how to run things. She put that idea in your head, didn’t she? When you’d go so soft? How many died because of that softness?” Ohlan gestured to the ruins, to the dead bodies. “Death is the harvest of softness.”
“I’m not soft, Ohlan. That’s where you’re wrong.”
“I’m just telling you what men are saying. And after tonight, who knows? Maybe some will think they’re better off elsewhere.”
“If you got something to tell me, then say it straight, Ohlan. For once in your life.”
Ohlan looked at him sideways, a slight smile on his lips, which was quickly erased. “They’re saying we’re fighting a losing war. They’re saying you’ve gone soft letting the slaves free. They’re saying we can’t make it here anymore.”
“There isn’t anywhere else for them to go to,” Raine said.
“That’s where you’re wrong,” Ohlan said. “With enough organization, a small force could survive outside the ruins. I know L.A. is the real prize. But it’s a prize Carin has already won. He has the numbers and he has the will.”
Raine didn’t like what he was hearing. He wondered if this so-called dissension Ohlan was referring to could be true, or if it was another one of Ohlan’s games. A game that toed the line of treason.
“You listen here,” Raine said, stepping closer. “As long as you’re here, within these walls, there’ll be no talk of that. Were you anybody other than my brother right now, this conversation would go a lot differently.”
Raine didn’t have to elaborate that thought. He ran the Angels like he would run any army.
Treason was a crime deserving of death.
Raine pressed his advantage. “You signed on for this, Ohlan. There is nothing more dishonorable or reviling than a man who breaks his sacred word, to a brother no less. I trust you because I have no choice. If you walk out on me, you’re leaving me to the wolves. And you know what? That’s something I could see you doing.”
Raine waited for Ohlan to respond with some pithy remark or comeback. He didn’t.
“Do you believe in God, Ohlan?”
Ohlan shook his head.
“You believe our father is watching you, then? Do you believe the possibility even exists?”
Slowly, Ohlan nodded.
“Imagine him watching you, then. Don’t do this for me. Don’t do it for you. Do it for your father, whom you love.”
Ohlan nodded, but Raine couldn’t even know was going on behind the icy surface, in the cold, dark deep of Ohlan’s heart and mind.
“Try, Ohlan. Fight with everything you’ve got. If you don’t, we’re not going to make it. You have a choice, as every man does. If you do well, if you make the right choice, you are giving life. The opposite . . .”
It was a while, but finally, Ohlan nodded. “You’re right. I know you’re right.” Ohlan smiled, but it was forced.
“Your choice, Ohlan. It’s always your choice.”
Chapter 19
TWO MONTHS AFTER THE attack, Angel Command was unrecognizable. The walls had been rebuilt, but beyond that, everything was still in drastic need of repair. They’d hurt the Reapers far more than Raine had initially thought. There hadn’t been so much as a skirmish since the siege. Maybe the Reapers were still licking their wounds, or maybe they were wary of more explosives.
Of course, there weren’t any more explosives, but Raine needed Carin to believe there was. Though the siege ended in victory for the Angels, the result of the battle might as well have been a defeat. The Angels had lost influence on the South Side, and several other minor gangs had already pledged fealty to Carin, who now styled himself King of L.A.
As far as Raine was concerned, L.A. had no king, and if Carin truly wanted the title, he’d have to earn it over Raine’s dead body.
“RAINE?”
Raine looked up from the tabletop he’d been staring at. He hadn’t been looking at the council table, of course. Rather, he had been thinking. Thinking far harder than he ever had in his life.
“Repeat what you said please, Dan.”
Dan nodded, his stoic face betraying no emotion. “A messenger came from the north. Carin has called a meeting between all the gangs.”
It could only mean one thing. “He wants to negotiate a peace, then.” Raine drummed his thick fingers on the table. “I won’t go.”
Several of council members murmured at that, only stopping when Raine looked up, focusing his eyes on each one in turn. Darlene Sanders. Dan Green. Eddie Melo. His eyes instinctively went to Isabel Robles’ empty chair, before eyeing his brother, Ohlan.
There were several other people Raine had appointed. Kevin Klein, for one, who was now Chief Archivist, whose duty was to gather knowledge and records for the Angels to consult.
Terrance Shaw and Adam Miles were both present today, each of them being Ohlan’s man through and through.
“Black hasn’t won yet,” Raine said. “He’s ready to sign the peace when he hasn’t even won the war.”
At this, Ohlan smirked. It was as if his younger brother were saying that the Reapers had won in everything but name. Raine noticed that Shaw, Miles, and Melo were looking at Ohlan for direction.
I don’t like that, Raine thought. “You have something to say, Ohlan?”
Ohlan nodded. “We’ve lost our ability to fight. We don’t have any more explosives, a fact which is sure to leak at some point.”
Raine didn’t like that, either. It was to admit that there were spies in his camp running their mouths to the Reapers. So far, he had no indication the Reapers had learned anything about their lack of explosives. But Raine was a realist and knew that it was just a matter of time. He’d not only shown his ace, but he’d used it.
Ohlan continued. “We don’t have the manpower for a long-term war, and Black knows it. We’re running low on bullets. It might not be today, but should we refuse to negotiate with him, it’ll mean worse for us down the road.”
Several of the men nodded at that. Raine stared hard at Ohlan, angry, but not surprised. Ohlan was trying to paint himself as the realist, but Raine knew that Carin Black’s peace might be even worse than war.
“If we go,” Ohlan continued, “we may be able to secure a more favorable deal while we’re still standing on our feet and coming off an important victory.” Ohlan turned his cold, blue eyes on his brother. “It’s a little harder to negotiate when your face is in the mud. If we take another fight, one we lose, our position will be much weaker at the table.”
“He hasn’t won,” Raine said. “And the next person who suggests surrender will be kicked off this council.”
“Isn’t that a bit premature, Raine?” Ohlan asked, rising to the challenge. He’d grown bold. Raine watched as Dan stared daggers at him. “I understand that you don’t want to admit some things. It’s painful. Isn’t the best choice the one that brings the least pain to all? Think of the little ones, brother.”
By little ones, Raine had all but said Makara. Raine put that out of his mind. “We’ll never surrender. I know these streets better than Carin or the Reapers ever will. If he wants to be king of California, let him test that claim. Here, south of the 105.”
Dan nodded at that, and several others see
med to be of a similar mind. Not everyone here was biting the hand that fed them.
“South L.A. is a maze,” Raine said, continuing. “No outsider knows it like us. Even we get lost here sometimes. The streets aren’t what they used to be, and we’ll make them even easier to get lost in.”
“They know where we are, now,” Darlene said. “They still control most of the stuff south of I-10. Our base is dangerously close to their front lines.”
“We’ve got plenty of bases,” Raine said. “Plenty of space in our territory. We’ll keep Angel Command as HQ for now. But it’s time to think of moving our operations further south.”
Several of the men fidgeted at that. Ohlan blinked, clearly thrown off, and then frowned. For once, he had nothing to say, and Raine could see Ohlan’s mind working, wondering why he hadn’t seen this coming.
“We’re harder to take over than my brother is suggesting, and Black knows that,” Raine said. “It’s easier for Carin to make us think we lost than to actually take us over. He’ll lose a lot of men trying and waste a lot of bullets.” Raine looked at Ohlan, who was openly scowling now. “You want to know why? Carin Black has his own enemies. It’s not just us who hate the Reapers. True, we are his most powerful rival. Even now. But there are more gangs just waiting for their chance to jump him the moment he’s weak or overextended. Sure, he has hundreds of lives to spend if he really wants to take us over. I say let him. As soon as he tries, we make it hell for him. Let him weaken himself, and if he does, guess what? There’s the Krakens down by Long Beach. There’s the Vultures up north, who Black couldn’t get out of their mountains. There’s the Hill Alliance, along with Last Town, Riverside, and Victorville.”
“What’s your point?” Ohlan asked.
“My point is, sure, the Reapers are top dog. For now. But the thing about top dogs is, they don’t stay on top for long, especially when they make the other dogs mad. If anything, I welcome another attack.”
“What do you propose, then?” Ohlan asked grudgingly. He was realizing that he had lost.
“We wait. We stall him. We make Black think we’re actually taking him seriously about making peace.” Raine smiled. “We’re not, of course. We do all we can to make him think we’re staying here when we’re really moving. We consolidate ourselves below the 105. We make alliances. Next time he attacks, he’ll find out he’s made the worst mistake of his life. I’ll never forget what happened two months back. I’ve been turning it over in my mind ever since. I may work slow, but I work hard. Black is brash. But I’m careful. And so long as I have the time, we can beat Black at his own game.”
But do you have the time? The question was uncomfortable as it was unwelcome. But, Raine realized, the thought didn’t matter. He had won the council back, and his brother had sunk into a sullen silence that he didn’t even bother masking. Raine watched Ohlan closely, wondering if his brother was playing devil’s advocate because that was his style, or if he truly believed the Angels should make peace. Again, Raine couldn’t penetrate the icy surface of his eyes.
Did his brother want the Angels for himself? Would Melo, Shaw, and Miles back him up if it came to that? It was hard to imagine Ohlan being so bold. He preferred working from the shadows. In some ways, his brother had more power than him in that respect.
Raine realized it was possible that his home court wasn’t safe anymore. Perhaps Dan had been right, after all.
He’d have to be careful. Very careful.
Chapter 20
MAKARA WATCHED AS THE last of the trucks were loaded, signifying the end of another chapter of her life.
She had lived at Angel Command for about three years. The place had been the source of a lot of memories, both good and bad. The good ones had been good, and the bad ones had been . . . well, terrible. Makara wouldn’t miss it much. Just the people who had once lived there, many now dead.
Even if it had been a few months since the attack, the building would always bear its scars. The exterior wall of the former office building had never been fully repaired. Only the wall had been built back up, and not even to its former strength. There was no point in building up what was going to be abandoned, anyway.
Raine and the Angels had found a new, better place. Almost no one knew where it was until the very day of the move; only Raine’s inner circle, anyway. He hadn’t even told her about it, and half an hour after the announcement, dozens upon dozens of trucks showed up in the night, spiriting away all the important articles in the Angels’ archives, leaving the least important things behind. Such was the importance of keeping the new location secret, since an entire gang on the move was a prime target for the Reapers.
Angel scouts reported the way clear. The Reapers were involved in a turf war with the Hills Alliance, making this the perfect time to move. While they were busy killing each other, the Angels would be busy moving. Within their new home, they could lick their wounds and live to fight another day.
“We should get on the truck,” Samuel said. “This is the last of them.”
He was watching the line of vehicles idling outside the main gate beyond the wall. All they were waiting on was the order to get moving.
Makara nodded, then stood up to follow her brother. He had gotten tall. His height and broad shoulders made him look several years older than fifteen. Besides that, he was smart. Most of it was self-learning, and he devoured new books almost as soon as they entered the archives, and he remembered almost everything in them, too. He gravitated toward anything that had to do with science, and would speak for hours with Dr. Luken, one of the scientists who had survived the horrors of Bunker One’s fall three years back.
Makara only wished she had some talent of her own. So far, the only thing she seemed to be good at was getting into trouble.
She and her brother hopped in the bed of a truck and the other stragglers piled on after them.
A few minutes later, the vehicles rolled down the dark, broken streets. They passed decrepit towers and crumbling walls for half an hour, twisting and turning at random intersections. Makara tried to keep track of where they were going, but before long, they were well out of range of anywhere she had been. She had snuck out of Angel Command many times before, but she had never gotten this far.
Makara fell asleep, lulled by the whine of the truck’s hydrogen-fueled engine. Before she knew it, she was being shaken awake by her brother.
“We’re here.”
The truck made a final turn, and they were going underground, dropping below the streets.
They were in what appeared to be a parking garage. There was a mass of people milling about between crates and vehicles, and only a small number of Angels controlling the chaos. Some of the people were exiting through a pair of doors, apparently leading into the building the parking garage was connected to.
“It’s awful,” Makara said.
Samuel chuckled. “It’s not so bad. Being underground is much safer than being above ground.”
Makara didn’t doubt that, but she would miss not being able to go outside as easily as in the old base.
“Let’s check out the inside,” Samuel said. “This is just the entrance, after all.”
Samuel hopped down from the bed of the truck. Makara followed him through the crowd, until they joined the stream of people entering through the glass doors. It was packed, but by the time they made it inside, Makara was surprised to find herself in a vast, cavernous space. Three balconies ran in a line while staircases connected all the various levels. There were little alcoves along the balconies, where people were already congregating. Plenty of sun flooded through the top of the building through skylights. All seemed to be in good condition. Raine might have repaired some of this place ahead of time, because nothing could look this intact after the madness of the Chaos Years.
“A shopping mall,” Samuel said.
“A what?”
“A mall. Where people shopped.”
“Yeah, I know that. It’s just so . . . big. Almost as
big as Bunker One.”
“There were a lot of people back then,” Samuel said, striding forward.
Makara wondered where he was going, until she realized he was joining a line.
“We’ll get our room assignments here,” Samuel said.
“Will we still be with Raine?” Makara asked.
“I don’t know,” Samuel said. “Maybe.”
Assuming they were, Makara thought that this place might not be so bad after all.
Chapter 21
DESPITE MAKARA’S FIRST impressions, she was beginning to like the mall more than the old office building. For one, there was more room, and secondly, there were lots of places to explore.
The mall was bigger than any building she had ever been in, not including Bunker One. There were entire worlds here, and enough room to house hundreds of people. She could wander through it for hours – not just the main concourses, but all the various stores, some of which were buildings in their own right. One of these department stores had staircases and five different levels, filled with empty racks, broken display cases, and shattered tiles. This one of Makara’s favorite places to go, and the fact that the lights hadn’t been restored to most of the departments just made exploration even more tantalizing. Even after a couple of months of living here, there were always new nooks, corners, and secrets to find.
This department store, which seemed to be called Macy’s, was where Makara headed now. It was dark inside, but Makara had excellent night vision – so long as she kept the lights from the main atrium at her back, she could find her way out. And if not, she had a box of matches she’d pilfered. Matches weren’t something to be wasted, and she’d get in trouble if she were caught using them without permission. But, one or two should be enough to find her way back in case the improbable happened. Even Makara could get lost sometimes.
She made her way to the top level, where it was almost pitch black. Only the reddish light coming from the atrium two floors below provided illumination. Makara waited until her eyes were fully adjusted, and could make out vague outlines of countertops, racks, and debris.