by Angela White
“Rescue missions are chaos. Care has to be taken,” Neil added tonelessly.
She responded the same way. “And it has to be made a priority, thus the harsh rule. Got it.”
They exchanged a look at her casual acceptance, not certain she understood the gravity of what it meant.
“An Eagle found guilty of murder, accident or otherwise, isn’t tossed out of Adrian’s army or banished. They’re executed, by Adrian himself,” Neil clarified.
“It ever happen?” she demanded of Kyle, trusting him not to lie.
“Not on my watch.”
“Would he?”
“Yes,” Kyle answered immediately.
Angela let that sink in, not sure that their impressions were correct. That sense of life having great value to Adrian was hard to miss. Maybe he did these things anyway and dealt with the pain afterwards? That, she could believe.
Neil took a quick sip of water and when Kyle made a motion, Neil pushed the button on the mike. “Discussion questions?”
There was silence and the lesson resumed.
“In a hostage situation, we do not negotiate. We will not meet demands or even talk about them honestly. We do not allow the enemy time to think. Quick and hard plans work best.”
Angela listened to the rest of the lesson in rapt silence, absorbing as much as she could. She would have been just as interested in the conversation going on between the three Eagles in the black truck ahead of them.
7
“What if they come during the night?”
“I expect them to, or in the wake of a storm,” Marc answered. “Too many stories going around to ignore their pattern of attack. They’ve met no challenge so far doing it that way. They won’t change what works.”
“How do we guide the sheep to the trucks?” Seth asked.
“Red, white, and blue lights,” Jeremy answered from the backseat. “Adrian will love that.”
Wrapped in a heavy blanket because of the windows being down to clear the smoke, Seth was busy taking notes. He hadn’t adjusted to the cold weather yet, despite spending all winter in it. “I can rig that up. Can you connect it to the wrist alarms?”
“Yeah, but it would be more dependable if Kenn did it,” Marc answered as they slowed to make a turn.
“Only way that’ll happen is if Adrian tells him to. He won’t listen to anyone else,” Seth stated.
Marc shrugged. “If Kenn won’t, I can. It just won’t be as solid. He’s better at that shit than I am.” He lit a smoke, hating it that some of these plans rested on Kenn being forced to cooperate.
“What about the maps?” Jeremy asked.
Marc was glad for the reminder. “Neil says he has that covered. Kyle and I will look them over when he’s done and adjust where we need to. Who gets to make her driving schedule?”
“Kenn does those.”
Marc motioned. “Add that to the list.” He sighed. “There’s no way we’ll be done by morning with all this.”
“Adrian will distract them so we can keep working,” Seth soothed. “Don’t sweat it.”
Marc allowed himself to be drawn back into the plans. They had to get these things set up before the slavers or the remaining twin came. He wouldn’t rest until it was done.
Marc scanned the dim sky above them. Not that there would be much of that if those clouds meant the storm Angela had warned of.
His gaze went to the lead rig, wondering what those two were talking about–Rick or the weather.
8
“Have you always been able to predict the weather with your gift?” Adrian steered the conversation to a more personal level.
Samantha opened her mouth to lie and gave honesty instead. “Yes. Used to freak my parents out at first, but it helped them, so they learned to accept it.”
“And the rest of your family?”
Samantha was facing the dusty window, where the burnt frames of buses, cars, and bodies littered the road. “My cousin stopped coming around right after I told her a tornado was coming for them and then her roof blew off.”
“You saved her with a forbidden call?”
Samantha shut her lids as they rolled by a farmhouse with an obscenity on the porch that she didn’t want to view later. “She never came to our home after that. Ever.”
Adrian was quiet for a minute, letting her deal with the grief of the past. Sometimes those ghosts didn’t want to let go, no matter how hard you tried to escape.
“I learned to shut up or push my information off on data from my parent’s lab so I could keep friends, but none of them were close. I think they knew that deep down there was something…wrong with me.”
“Wrong? You think of your gifts that way?”
“I saved Milton’s life so he could sabotage us into the end of the world,” she admitted shamefully. “I can’t feel any other way.”
She missed the reaction to his father’s name and Adrian was quick to skip the conversation along. “You are not responsible for this new world, Samantha. Surely you know that?”
She didn’t say anything and he frowned. “Samantha?”
“If I’d left it alone, he would have died.” Her expression said she was lost and searching for which way to go.
“And then the next president would have caused the end. This was in the works long before your warning.”
“I want to believe that, but it’s too easy.”
“I know it to be true. It sickens me that he was spared that day, but it wasn’t your choice to make. It was fate’s and she’s a tough bitch to understand.”
Samantha snorted, smiling wryly. “No argument there.”
Needing to give her something to ease the worry lurking in her tones and body language, Adrian switched subjects. “You’ve made good progress already, in the gun class.”
Samantha’s mind flew to Neil. “I like it.”
“I have a couple of other things you could work on, while you listen.”
“Sure. What?” Samantha knew he didn’t want to talk about the past anymore, neither did she, but she was unprepared for his distraction.
“I think you’d be a good hunter. If you pass the first level in the gun class, you can go.”
Her first instinct was to say no, but the waking heart told her he’d hit his mark. “I’ll keep that in mind.”
Adrian hid a grin at her stubborn refusal to show interest in anything. She’s definitely a female, he thought. Now, where did I put that pry bar?
“I’d also like to have you supervise the new garden.”
That got her full attention. How had he known she liked to play in the dirt?
“Sounds fine.”
“Good. I’ll set it up.”
Yeah, I’ll bet you will, Samantha thought. She knew she could trust him, but that genius could just as easily be used for evil. If he ever became corrupt, it would be the same old shit starting up again.
Bright light winked at them from the rear of the convoy, drawing her attention. She would bet some of that old world pettiness was being planned in the last truck. What she wouldn’t give to be a fly in Kenn’s ugly green bronco.
9
“You want me to pick a fight or something?” Zack’s voice was low even though he and Kenn were alone in the truck. “Plant something dangerous next time to get him thrown out?”
Kenn flipped on the heat. I’ve gotten soft during my time here, he thought. On missions, he never used to notice the cold.
“Sure, and while you’re at it, slap her a few times, right in front of Adrian.”
The truck driver snickered meanly, loving the idea after having her pull a gun on him, and the two men let that roll around for a minute, enjoying the images.
With most of the top Eagles in the QZ for a full day, Kenn and Zack would be busy and in charge, the way they both preferred it. Sometime after they made camp, Angie and the others would be out and then the issues would restart, but without Kyle, Neil, and Seth, very few of the lower level men had the balls to stand up
to Kenn. As a result, he and Zack had been able to work on plans of their own.
“You got her driving schedule sorted out?”
“It’s in the glove box, along with yours and mine for the next two weeks. Keep her busy,” Kenn ordered, spotting Lee, one of Zack’s men, glaring toward Angela’s Blazer. Good. At least the trucker had them in line, unlike his sons.
Zack got the sheets of paper out. “No problem. Someone needs to shovel the dog shit and dig the new latrine holes.”
Kenn chuckled, knowing Adrian wouldn’t let it happen, but wishing it just the same. “You talk to your boys yet? Make it clear Charlie’s off limits in this.”
Zack shrugged. “If the wolf isn’t with him, I can’t make any promises. Your boy pissed mine off and they hold a grudge.”
Kenn wasn’t as worried about it as he had been before. “Yeah, getting your ass kicked by someone younger and smaller will do that.”
Zack frowned, but didn’t answer and Kenn continued, confident he’d made his point.
“You have the surprise waiting for Brady?”
“All tucked into his bedroll, even as we speak.”
“Good. It won’t drive him out, but it’ll keep him unhappy.”
Zack let his mouth fly. “Hard to get laid when you’re busy being punished. He’ll have to leave her alone for a while once we set him up to attack you.”
It was only the truth of their plan, but to hear it spoken so openly, made Kenn wince at how wrong it sounded. He switched them to the next item.
“And his pet?”
This time, Zack scowled. “No takers. None of my team will do it, even for more privileges or a rank jump.”
“Damn. Keep working on it.”
“I could–”
“No, you can’t. It has to give the impression of an accident. Adrian will know if we kill the wolf.”
10
All of the important conversations came to a grinding halt as the convoy reached Rapid Valley.
The refugees stared in horror at what remained of the buried tourist town. A recent slide had sent waves of the debris-laden glop straight through most of the small neighborhood. The mud was across the streets in thick layers that Safe Haven had little hope of driving through. In the near distance, the small town peered at them from mud-slicked hills and garbage-covered valleys that used to be rooftops and windows.
“Convoy halt. Kenn, find us a turn-around.”
“Copy.”
“He should keep going. Turning around is a bad idea.” Angela’s words were low. She didn’t expect Neil to believe her.
“It’ll take us hours to clear the road,” Neil stated, frowning when Kyle immediately took the maps from the kit at his feet. “We’ll lose a lot of time.”
“Better time than lives,” Kyle stated, thinking about the slavers who were catching up to them.
Neil frowned. “If there’s a problem here.”
Angela didn’t want to wait for them to argue it out and alert Adrian, but she didn’t want Kenn or Marc to hear a mental call. She watched the door open on Adrian’s rig, understanding what would do it quicker. “He’s not safe here. None of us are.”
“And what do you suggest?” Neil demanded, terrified of the next thing Adrian would ask of him where she was concerned. To get Adrian’s vote for the Eagles, each man had to pass a private lesson that only Neil taught and he had no idea how he would be able to do it for a woman. “Don’t go back, can’t go forward.”
“Go Around.”
“Around.”
She and Kyle spoke at the same time.
Neil let out an annoyed sigh, picking up the mike. “Three to base.”
Adrian ducked into the truck and Angela closed her lids, trying to estimate exactly where it would happen at. “Faster would be good, guys.”
“Go ahead.”
“We’d like to suggest going around instead.”
There was silence for a minute as Adrian considered what that meant. Around was venturing off the beaten path to the south and into the Dakota wilderness. No way of knowing what waited to be found.
“We do know what’s behind us, though,” he muttered, ignoring Samantha for the moment. “Death.”
Adrian pushed the button on the mike. “Agreed. Five minute stop, full guard and then we’re on the road.”
“You have a lot of faith in them,” Samantha stated.
Adrian didn’t tell her that the message was from Angela. “Yes, I do.”
“And if they’re wrong?”
Adrian surveyed her with a teacher’s patient gaze. “Sometimes they are. It’s part of learning how things work now. Without risks, it means nothing.”
“And it creates bonds that draw these people closer to you and what you want.”
“What I need, Samantha. Only what I need to keep them alive and free.”
Her gaze went over the mud-covered town. “Will you do any searching for survivors?”
“No,” Adrian denied. Angela would have mentioned it if she felt any life still here. “If there’s anyone left, they’ll hear us and follow. We can’t stay out in the open and wait for the next slide.”
Adrian nodded to Daryl as he went by the truck on his first sweep, but his words were for Sam. “You should probably go ride with Hilda and the others now. It might get rough up here.”
Disappointed, her shoulders slumped. Her time being useful to him was over until the storm came.
“Samantha?”
She looked over as she opened the door and her breath caught at his inviting expression.
“Why don’t you sit with us for mess?”
“I’d love to.” Flustered by her response, she quickly left.
Adrian waited until Samantha was out of hearing distance before closing his lids, concentrating. On his line, they would only hear each other. He would teach Angela to do the same. Which way is it coming from?
Northeast. Something’s happening there. Not sure what.
Her answer was quick and Adrian could feel her impatience with the stop. The slavers?
Maybe. There’s a clear sense of danger.
Adrian swept the people getting out of the cars now that the Eagles had given the okay. There’s always plenty of that. Watch your six.
You know it.
11
Minutes after Adrian directed the convoy south, she had them stopping again.
It’s coming. Hold on here.
“Convoy, halt.”
Adrian didn’t answer further. Like the rest of the refugees, he was staring in surprise at the enormous herd of deer crossing the valley below. At least a thousand of the grass-loving creatures were slowly venturing through the area and most of the camp observed happily, lifting younger children to their shoulders for a better view.
“Well, she said big,” Adrian murmured. There wasn’t a sense of danger yet, but if she’d been right about one, she was right about the other as well. He pushed the button on the mike. “No shooting. If they stampede, we’ll lose half our vehicles and people will get hurt. Let them go by. We’ll wait.”
It was something that would have raised brows in the old world, giving wild animals the right of way, but Adrian had no wish to draw more fire from nature than they were already under just for being alive. They could roll through with the trucks first, shooting and crushing until the others scattered, or they could wait fifteen minutes for the herd to go by. It was moving south and would be past them shortly.
That thought made him uneasy. It was spring. Shouldn’t they be migrating north?
Yes, unless something was bad there, too. And what would make so many deer band together? Herds were never more than a few hundred at most. This was as if every deer in the state was migrating southward and had joined up along the way.
“Like us,” he muttered, picking up the map as Daryl went by again. How far south could they go?
“Four to base. There’s something moving in from the north. Sounds…big.”
Every head craned that
way, hands reaching for guns.
Mike still in hand, Adrian stepped onto the foot rail of his truck for a better view. She’d tell him if they needed to move, right? Unable to take the chance, he questioned. “Should we roll, do you think?”
It was very unlike him, to ask openly over the radio, and each Eagle listening knew it had something to do with Angela.
“Negative, Boss,” Kyle responded. “We’re 5-by right here.”
North of Rapid Valley, a dam had burst, sending shocks into the ground that rushed out ahead of the debris wall. Already blocked with garbage blown there by the war, the riverbed overflowed and a huge mud wave was sent into the valley below. The slide thundered down the hillside like a rocket, cutting down fully-grown trees and tearing houses away from their foundations in its fury. As it got close to the convoy, the sounds grew louder.
The deer in the valley below heard the rumbling, ears tilting up in fear, noses scenting the rank air and then the entire herd stampeded…right toward Safe Haven.
An instant behind their panicked reaction, the wall of muddy water poured into the valley without mercy. The running herbivores had nowhere to go. The front of the stampede disappeared under the brown weight in seconds and more liquid death crashed down the hills. It cut off any hope the animals had for retreat and half the chaotic herd vanished as the hillside ran brown.
“Stand your ground!” Adrian ordered, heart squeezing painfully as the roaring sound magnified until his ears hurt. If she were wrong, the entire camp would be lost.
“What’s he doing?” Neil demanded, horrified that Adrian would risk them all this way.
“His job,” Angela stated coldly. The Blazer rattled harshly around them. “Saving their lives.”
“And you’re sure?”
Angela didn’t respond over the roar of the debris barreling toward them. She’d already given her answer to the man who mattered.
Two hundred yards from the stunned convoy, the mud found the path of the valley and turned away from them.
Adrian rested his head against the seat, waiting for the pain to fade from his arm and chest. The risks he took were never assumed lightly and he wasn’t sure how many more like that his heart would survive.