by Angela White
“Why?” Marc asked ruefully as he scanned the crowded mess. No Angie. “Haven’t we pissed everyone off yet?”
He met cold stares and threatening glares as his gaze traveled the brightly lit dining area, and he swallowed a sigh. Winning the contest meant little to these hardened survivors now that they were off the field.
“Almost everyone. We’ll attend the bonfire party for a few minutes, and then we’ll spend some time in the far south corner of camp. That should get the last of ‘em.”
Marc had begun to frown as he spotted Rick in line, a few places behind Samantha. That was another problem Adrian had. Marc understood there wasn’t any proof, but he didn’t agree with the saying about keeping your enemies close.
“The south end, isn’t that area off limits to me?”
Neil shrugged, glad Marc had paid attention to the map and rules he’d been given yesterday. Neil met Adrian’s stare across the crowded, noisy mess. “You need to be a part of everything he’s got going on here. Your first day with us will be the one we remember clearest. We’ll hang at the bonfire and then go observe the rookies taking their Level Test.”
Marc swept the perimeter and found guards searching him with speculative expressions.
Marc nodded to them, and as if on cue, the men all faded into the shadows at the same time, vanishing without a response. What the hell was that?
“You include the beer and joint in there somewhere?”
Neil laughed. “Right after we’re done here. Hurry up, will ya? I need a buzz.”
Marc chuckled and let Seth draw him into a conversation about the wolf at their feet. Seth’s welcoming wave when they had arrived had caused Kenn to grit his teeth and pass the mess instead of joining Adrian’s raucous center table.
The picnic table Neil and Marc were at was a double, and they were surrounded by the men they’d played soccer with and against. In the seats next to them were the females from the gun class, Samantha now sandwiched in the middle and looking like Marc still felt–a bit uncomfortable.
There was a lot of flirting between the two tables, and Marc saw little Becky’s gaze go to Neil repeatedly. Something about the note, he thought, and couldn’t stop himself from scanning again for black hair and blue eyes.
“She’s not coming.” Kyle sat on the bench by Neil, his back to their table as he studied the one he had just left–Adrian’s. “She’s with the vet. Said there’s a lot to be done.”
Marc heard the approval, the admiration. “Let me guess. Kenn said she couldn’t, so she stayed all day to prove that she could?”
Kyle’s lips twitching as he scanned the sentries, doing a fast check-in. Clear. “That’s the story. I’m sure it’s true to a point, but really, I think she’s avoiding him.”
Marc sighed. That was his Angie. She wouldn’t rock the boat unless she had to.
“Congrats by the way. You’ve made it to the top of his list.” Kyle assessed the new man ruthlessly. This was Angela’s chosen mate, if he was reading things right. Was Marc worthy of her, of that honor?
“What list?” Marc asked.
“Kenn’s death list,” Neil explained. “When he snaps, we’ll all know it.”
Kyle slapped the trooper on the shoulder playfully, and Marc understood they were good friends.
“Neil here made it to second after today, and Seth has third locked up, so at least you’re in good company.”
There was laughter as Kyle moved toward the line for a refill, and it drew more attention to how well the new man was fitting in despite Kenn’s complaints and warnings.
5
Adrian was pleased. It had been a good day. Marc had made real progress, Angela had shown she wasn’t afraid of labor, and his people had come through another change together. They had realized his choice for second-in-command had some serious flaws. Now, it was up to Kenn to prove he could control the things that had broken him in the old world. He would either accept that Marc and Angela would have a place here together, or endanger his own.
Lingering over a third cup of coffee as the mess emptied out and the camp went about their nightly rituals, Adrian was glad when it was only the cleaning crew left. Quiet minutes to think were hard to come by some days.
Adrian hated it that Kenn hadn’t come to the table, but it was great that Marc was handling himself so well. That man now had friends in high places, and Adrian couldn’t help but ask himself if maybe it wasn’t too late to remove…
No. He stopped himself. There was no way that Marc would ever give him the total commitment that Kenn already did. The Marine was born to be his right hand; Adrian had to believe that. When Angela made her choice and Kenn dealt with it, things would settle down. Until then, there was plenty of work for all of them.
Cold air spun through the mess, carrying a thick chill. Adrian was suddenly exhausted, but there was still a bonfire party, a Level test, a poker game, and rounds. He sighed, draining the last dregs of cool coffee from his mug. Then, there was the gleam in Neil’s eyes that warned he wasn’t done getting Marc noticed yet. A small smirk playing about his lips, Adrian opened his notebook and searched for anything he might have missed.
6
“Tell me more about how things work here,” Marc prompted as they headed for Neil’s tent, both keeping a subtle eye out for Kenn and Zack in the shadows.
The camp wasn’t settled by any means, was a flurry of activity as they got ready for the night, but it was also calm, routine, and comfortable in the cool air.
“What would you like answered first?” Neil asked, curious as to what was at the top of Marc’s need-to-know list.
“How often do you travel, where are you going, and who decides what?”
“We’re usually on the road three or four days a week, sometimes more. We have camp meetings every month to pick where we search next. As for the decisions, that’s all Adrian. Where he leads, we’ll follow.”
Marc nodded. That, he got. “When are you on the road again?”
“We’ll be moving out at nine am, day after next to collect food supplies that one of the scouting missions found.”
Marc kept his voice low. “Is it a secret, where you’re going? Is that why you avoided my question?”
Neil wanted to celebrate. Kenn had a lot more competition than he knew, and not just for Angie. The man was beyond sharp. Marc was the edge of a well-tended razor. Definitely a better match for Adrian’s right.
“It’s more unknown than secret,” Neil said. “We search, we vote, we search some more.”
“But…”
Neil frowned. “We don’t know. He hasn’t made a final choice.”
Marc realized Neil was uneasy about that. Did Adrian know?
“You guys have been searching for what? A safe place to start rebuilding since…February?” Marc asked, trying to give the file in his mind a creation date.
Neil finished his Mountain Dew and hooked it neatly into one of the two flaming cans they were passing. “Kyle and I have been with Adrian since almost the beginning. Doug came in January, Seth the first week in February. We’ve been searching the whole time. We average a month in each state, picking up supplies and survivors. We’ve come to trust Adrian’s instincts as much as you do Angela’s. If he says we go on, we do.”
Marc’s scowled. It bothered him that people were already noticing her strangeness. How would he ever protect her here if things went bad?
Neil felt his new friend’s sudden worry. “She’s safe. Adrian is very careful with the females, and he hasn’t picked a final destination yet because we haven’t found one that he thinks we can live in. It’s only one of the things he has us watching for. Adrian is building a future for us where one doesn’t exist, but he can’t do it alone. He needs strong help who will support him even when the unpopular choices are made.”
“You mean like going into the caves.”
Neil blinked. There was that razor again.
“Yes. He loathes the idea the same as the rest of these men,
but there will be winter this year, whether it comes in August or January. If we can’t find a place and get it ready, we won’t make it until spring, no matter how well he cares for us. The first winter will be hard, probably longer than we’re used to. We have to prepare, and he’s teaching us as fast as he can, but there are still nights he doesn’t sleep. Can’t, I think. He wanders, thinks, and hunts.”
Marc didn’t meet Neil’s eye as they stopped by his dark tent. “I can help. I have ideas. Things I’ve noticed since I came in.” He paused, reluctant. “Should I give them to Kenn and keep proving I can follow the chain of command?”
Neil motioned him to follow as he ducked inside and flipped on the dome light. “Give it to Kenn if it’s small shit you can’t believe he missed. Otherwise, always Adrian. Have a seat.”
Neil’s tent was a copy of their fearless leader’s, but for some reason Marc was glad to discover jeans on the floor and papers scattered about. Adrian’s perfectly neat canvas made him think of a library, and that bothered him, especially the lined-up change. Who would spend the time doing it when money was no good now?
“Why not give them to you?”
Neil handed him a dripping beer from the cooler and a paper towel. “Because I’m not trying to climb those ranks. I can’t fill Kenn’s shoes, and Adrian knows it. I suspect you could, though.”
Marc shook his head, and Neil waved it off. “You don’t now, but that’s because your mind’s already taken. Our understanding came quicker. The things we loved the way you love Angie were gone, and he was exactly what we needed, always full of hope to balance our grief. Once he helps you find happiness, the need to repay him, to serve him, will overwhelm you the same as it did the rest of us.”
7
Kenn had ditched his pals and spent mess in his tent, breaking in the new punching bag he’d put up but hadn’t used yet. He didn’t bother with the gloves or tape, though he had both in his duffel bag. Kenn cast fast, furious shadows on the canvas walls as he let out the humiliation, anger, and guilt.
If only I hadn’t hit her!
That’s what had his own people turning on him. He shouldn’t have corrected her physically, no matter how much she needed it. His old temperament fought with the new man he was becoming and when Kenn finally headed for the showers, his breathing was hard and he was dripping sweat.
Kenn saw the two new tents up on the women’s side, one of them directly across from where Marc’s had been set up, and fresh rage churned into his gut. People would suspect she had done it because she was scared. Would they be right? Was she? Then how could she keep resisting? She had avoided him for the two days she’d been here, and even now, the whispers around him were awful. The waves were sloshing over the sides of his rocking boat.
Kenn sighed, handling friends and those who wanted to offer condolences and support, ignoring the questions and hard stares. He had roughly five days before Angela confirmed what everyone was thinking. Five days to keep it all from blowing up.
How? What would it take to keep her mouth shut and get her to return to his side?
Nothing, his mind insisted flatly. She might not tell them, but in return, you’d have to give her Brady.
Kenn flinched at even the thought, letting the cool water beat on him. He couldn’t do that.
His icy heart spoke up. Lie. Tell her that she’s free and try to win her back. Use her boy. She owes you. The voice was ruthless. Release her and then beg her not to split up the only family you have. Don’t actually say she owes you for keeping Charlie alive, but think it so that she’ll hear.
Kenn’s mind kept talking, and he began to feel better, putting the words together. He could do that. He’d been playing roles all his life. While he wore her down, he would keep Brady busy with nasty chores designed to at least make him complain and be known as a whiner. Kenn would hope that it would run Marc off too, but deep down, he knew it wouldn’t. The only one who could get the wife-stealer to leave was Adrian, and that wasn’t happening.
Kenn sighed, drying off. He would help with the Level tests like he always did, and then he’d spend a couple of hours on schedules and wait for Angela to hit the showers or bathrooms, which he would be able to observe from a dim corner of the mess. She would expect him to be on duty again, like last night.
First, he would suck it up and do rounds, along with anything else he could think of to earn points. Adrian was also a wild card, as well as an ace in this deck, and he would have to be careful not to make the boss think about giving his place to Neil or Brady. Both men were definite rivals as far as Kenn was concerned, and while he was glad there would be only one of them for the next two hours, he was still dreading observing them together in Adrian’s tent for the poker game that he wasn’t entirely sure he had been invited to.
8
“This might get ugly. More men will support Kenn right now, but Adrian has the final say,” Neil had to add a warning. It was only fair. “There’s always a chance he’ll side with Kenn.”
“Shouldn’t you ask him first?”
The two men stood in the darkest shadows behind the row of semis that hid Adrian’s fort.
“He likely already knows. He doesn’t miss much.”
Marc was unable to keep from comparing all this tension to the nights spent happily around the campfire, alone with the only woman he’d ever loved. “We don’t have to keep doing it. I’ve been a loner all my life. Why should now be any different?”
Neil rounded on him with a tight voice. “Because of the war! Why else? Our country needs us.”
Neil studied him, trying to find the right words. “Don’t you feel that sense of duty anymore? The one that kept you in the Marines for so long?”
Marc didn’t answer. He couldn’t lie and say he felt nothing.
“You stayed for the highs and the adventure, but mostly because you believed you were making a difference in the world, that you mattered. You can have that here, but its better because Adrian is worthy of that kind of respect and loyalty.”
Marc still said nothing, not wanting to argue with his new friend.
Neil sighed. “It comes down to how badly you want a chance with her.”
That got Marc’s full attention. “I don’t understand how swearing myself to someone I don’t know or trust will give me a chance with Angie.”
“But I do. Would it help to know that she has? Sworn to him, I mean. She’s already been…looking.”
Marc wanted to be surprised but couldn’t be. “This is what she’s always longed for. If she’s using it, then she’s foreseen something, and has no doubts. I can recognize that an abusive man is in a high place of authority here.”
Neil gestured. “That’s Kenn. Doubt him, like the rest of Adrian’s circle, but never Adrian himself. He would give his life for any of us. Kenn hid it well. Adrian will take care of it, but in his own time and way.”
“I’ll try, I will, and I appreciate what you’re doing for me,” Marc conceded. “God knows I need it, but if she chooses him, I don’t know how long I’ll stay. You may be doing all this for nothing.”
“You’d leave behind the love of your life and your son?”
Instead of the lie that sprang to his lips, Marc let the survivor inside handle it like any other hostile situation. “That means Adrian knows. Does Kenn?”
Neil was impressed with Marc’s reaction and pleased with himself for figuring it out. He hadn’t been completely sure. Kenn and Charlie really did look alike. “Negative, and not one of us would ever tell him.”
That remark caused Marc to frown. “Us?”
“Adrian’s circle. Kenn’s the only one who hasn’t put it together.”
Marc spent a moment considering and then said, “The Marine I know would have suspected it by now. My bet is that he does, but he thinks it will tip the camp in my favor. He’s acting like he doesn’t, so it won’t come out.”
Neil’s mouth was hanging open, and he shut it with a snap. Hadn’t he often thought there might be
devious things going on inside Kenn’s mind? The way he was always “accidentally” in the right place to earn points with Adrian or the camp.
“You know him better…does he have that much self-control? Shouldn’t he have at least confronted you or her about it?”
Marc scowled, wondering if maybe that had been the rage behind the slaps on the way here. “Maybe he has. You should ask her, so we’ll both know.”
Neil repeated his earlier question. “Would you really leave?”
“Yes. I’d rather die than be here for that.”
Neil wasn’t sure he believed the man, but wasn’t sure he didn’t either. “I’ll still take my chances, and in return for all my hard work, I’d ask that you not talk about anything you discover tonight and that you try to read between the lines until you decide what kind of a future you want. Two days is hardly enough time to know.”
“I agree, and thank you. On my own, today would have been ugly.”
“It’s not over,” Neil warned. “Kenn will put up a fight the second he sees you here, but just so you know, Adrian won’t let him back-shoot you. neither will I.”
Marc snorted. “You didn’t like Kenn on first sight, did you?”
“Nope. I know a problem when I smell one.” The Level Five Eagle waved a hand. “Welcome to Fort Haven.”
9
Kenn was enduring all the remarks by pretending Seth had won. The ball of anger that had been festering was mostly gone now that he had a plan of action. He didn’t expect Angela to give in quickly, not with all the support she had here, but he had things left to try. Kenn wasn’t sure if he could start over. However, it was significant that he was even considering it, and his heart thumped painfully in denial when both of his rivals came from the trees and into the training area.
The two men were laughing and talking as if they’d been friends for years instead of a day.
Probably about me, Kenn thought. It was yet another slap in the face for Neil to bring him here, and Kenn cautioned himself to be careful. Adrian was also here. He couldn’t lose control. He could put up a fight though, and he would. “He’s not allowed to be here.”