by Angela White
“Oohh.” She shifted, wincing as she searched for a spot that didn't put pressure on her shoulders. The one-legged pushups were the hardest on her weak arms. The Eagles had warned her she was doing too much and she'd assumed there would be soreness, but this... This was hell. Her thighs, shoulders, arms, and sides were foreign invaders intent on making her cry and every movement was torture. It had taken only an hour to achieve. How long would it last?
“I don't know. You sure? He didn't send us.”
“Yes.”
Voices outside the steam tent made Angela’s heart thump and her fingers slid to the gun at her side. Covered by her towel, it was a comfort she went nowhere without. When the two Eagles ducked inside, wearing only shorts, her eyes narrowed in a warning that they couldn't miss, finger tightening on the trigger.
Slightly breathless from the sight of her cut-offs and half top, both men recognized the clear desire to be left alone, and took chairs that were next to each other, but not her.
“Uugg.”
Seth's grunt had Angela hiding a smirk. He had claimed he was past that level, too hard to be made sore.
The men settled into the chairs, steam flowing from the rocks in neat, soothing waves, and Angela shut her lids. If it had been anyone else, she probably would have left, but these two took shifts guarding her. She had nothing to fear from them. It was time she believed that.
“The others are coming.”
Her eyes flew open. The tension that came into her body had her trying to hide the discomfort.
“Seth and I will stay as long as you do.”
Kyle's words sent reason into her scared mind. Eagles didn’t run. “Okay.”
Both males had thought she would leave. The amount of skin she had showing was enough to make a man think bad thoughts and the two Eagles tried to keep their minds from it, not wanting her to know. They would never hurt her in that way, but that didn’t mean the occasional image wasn’t enjoyed when it was flashed. Adrian had sent her in here to loosen up and then sent the men in behind her without a warning to toughen her up. It was another lesson.
“Isn't everything with him a training session?” she muttered as more voices echoed.
Kyle had to respond, “Yes.”
Angela shifted again, unable to stifle a short moan. “Ohh... Good. I need it.”
“Did you see that hit?” The voices were right outside the flap now.
“Amazing.”
“I’ve never seen a girl punch that hard.”
“Woman.” There was good-natured laughter.
“You got that right. Marc's a lucky man.”
The males began ducking into the steam tent, each of them freezing at the sight of Angela laid back, nearly naked, and dripping sweat. Men bumped into each other and then became still, unwilling to turn away.
Kyle and Seth got up and took the chairs that flanked hers. It told the others she had protection, even in here, and testosterone flooded the tent at the clear challenge.
“Stop it!” Angela hissed. “I'm so fucking sore my hair hurts. All I want is to burn some of it off. Sit down or go away!”
Her orders (and that's what they were) brought sanity to the men and they did as they were told. Seth and Kyle kept their seats on either side of her, just in case.
After a few minutes, small conversations were going, men ignoring her as best they could. Except for the uncomfortable feeling of having eyes crawling along her exposed flesh, Angela now felt little fear despite being mostly naked and surrounded by men who were the same. Her outburst had calmed her nerves. These were Adrian's soldiers. They would learn to be okay with each other.
6
Kenn was searching the camp. After finding the training tent nearly empty, he'd started at the QZ and followed her trail. The steam tent was the only place he hadn’t tried yet, and with every stop his fury had grown.
“He’s coming.”
Angela's words caused immediate tension.
“He discovered a secret, I think. I'll handle it.” She quickly looked around at them. “Can you guys pretend I don't need your help? It’ll give me an edge I’m hoping to use.”
There were understanding nods at the tactic. Psychology had been one of their recent lessons with Adrian and all of them were eager for the practice, but more than that, they wanted her free to make her own choices and facing her demons was the only way she would get that.
Kenn ducked into the sweat tent...
His gaze went immediately to the rounded body splayed out provocatively between Seth and Kyle. Angela was in here. With all these men. Alone. In a skimpy outfit that might as well have been her bra and underwear.
Heat began to fill his vision. The bra and underwear would have covered more.
Rage took over and his military mind started sorting it out. When he acted, they others would lunge for him. How could he handle them all and live long enough to end her?
Angela observed the dangerous Marine through narrowed slits, pretending she hadn't noticed him yet.
When she didn't respond to his menacing stare, they all felt his anger grow.
The Eagles were giving Kenn warning glares, telling him she was welcome here, and Marc’s words came to him again.
“…your mother and I…”
“You whore!” he muttered in hurt surprise at the wound, drawing harsh glares, but when he headed for her, none of the Eagles reacted, and it threw him off a bit. They had to know he was ready to kill. Why weren't they protecting her? Surely, they didn't think she could handle herself?
“Get up and get the fuck out of here!” he growled. The menacing tone had always cowed her in the past.
Angela shook her head. “You get out.”
Fury broke over Kenn in an insurmountable wave and the Marine finally snapped, lunging down to grab her by the neck.
Ready, Angela thrust her gun under his chin as his grip tightened around her throat.
“A little more and I'll pull this trigger,” she croaked out.
Kenn was burning as he struggled to control his urge to squeeze, to keep what he'd earned. “That’s his son. I'll fucking kill you!”
“Not if I kill you first!” she managed.
The Eagles around them faded, trying to pick the best ways to kill him without hitting her and none of them saw Adrian enter the tent.
Adrian slid closer, picking it from their minds. She'd wanted to handle it. Can she?
Kenn’s grip slowly loosened and Angela’s reckless side was smothered by the need to show him what now waited for him. “You have disgraced the Corps and I'll do my best to get you banished for it!”
Her icy words sank into Kenn’s brain, cutting through the haze, as she'd known they would.
“Isn't that what you told Marc? Pick carefully. Everything you are hangs in the balance. Your place, your future,” she sneered despite the awkward position. “Not to mention, your life.”
Kenn's hand was letting go before she finished talking, but Angela didn't remove the gun, instead neatly following him the rest of the way up.
That drew admiring nods. She learned fast. They’d only shown her that a few hours ago.
“I could pull this trigger right now and none of these men would stand on your side at my trial. I'd be exonerated.”
She was gratified to discern an edge of wariness entering Kenn’s expression. “If I want you banished, they'll do it right now and maybe, just maybe, leave your body on the side of this road.”
“No maybe about it.” Adrian’s voice was harder than any of them were used to.
She felt Kenn’s internal flinch and the tension grew as Angela's own anger rose up to lick her with flames of revenge. She wanted him to pay. Do I want him dead?
No, but she did want him to ease off. “The next time I pull this gun on you, I'm using it.”
She let her finger tighten a bit further, feeling the hammer sliding, and shook her head before he could react. “I wouldn't. The witch is running this show and she loathes you. Ev
en if I die, she won't.”
Kenn froze, stopping his fingers from going for his gun, and Angela stared at him. What would it take?
“I don't want to kill you, Kenn.” She slowly lowered the weapon, sank into the chair. “But I will.”
She showed only a relaxed, confident posture, and the now dread-filled Marine spun around to find Adrian's condemning countenance by the flap.
“You are confined to quarters until the vote or we'll escort you from camp right now!”
Kenn shouldered his way through the elated Eagles, beginning to realize it was all over. “I’ll be there!”
Doug’s huge form appeared outside and fell in behind Kenn without being told, while Adrian issued orders.
“Notify the moral board and get more men on his tent. Someone round up Tonya too, and put her on ice until it’s over.”
“Wait.” Angela’s protest was ignored by the men as they began to leave, eager to spread the story. “Something’s happening.”
Adrian caught it through the chaos and started to say something to her, but his words were lost in the sudden roar sweeping over Safe Haven from the west.
Twelve hours before, Yellowstone had ejected an enormous geyser of smoke as the plates below shifted. The earthquake spread across the Midwest like a bomb blast, the Wyoming hotspot shaking every inch of dirt for five hundred miles in every direction. It lasted more than a minute, sending a black cloud of ash high into the western sky.
The rumbling died down slowly, gradually lessening into stillness, and lava levels inside the no-longer-dormant volcano rose into the cracks and crevices along the surface. The land around the caldera was now swelled, as if preparing for birth.
As a result, a chain reaction of moving plates and tremors spread across the globe and reached Safe Haven right as Kenn’s true character was revealed.
The tremor was strong enough to throw all of them to the ground and Adrian clumsily helped Angela to her feet while he tried to clear the distortion from his ears. Outside their swaying tent were screams, and Adrian hurried toward them, using his hands to give new orders. The Kenn disaster would have to wait behind this one.
Angela stepped out into one of the apocalyptic landscapes that she and Brady had come through on the way here, and stopped in horror. The neat and orderly refugee camp had been replaced with running chaos. Tents were down, some burning, vehicles wrecked, people and animals streaming through the debris. There were damaged cars, a telephone pole lying across the center bonfire pool, and Angela stared in dismay. How would Adrian ever get this back to normal?
Adrian knew speech was still useless and he gently pushed Angie back inside the lopsided tent. He waved Jeremy and Seth over with a short motion and the Eagles followed her in. She would be guarded and he would take care of his camp.
“rin..!”
Adrian could only understand part of Billy’s words and he shook his head, signaling. Can’t hear…
The driver made a fast motion that Adrian understood clearly and responded to in kind.
People trapped.
Show me.
The two men hurried toward the parking area, Adrian making people pay attention by hitting the air horn they all had on their belts since the bird attack in Utah. He strode through the calming refugees, the silence not a hindrance. Thanks to the training they’d been given, his army could communicate in half a dozen different ways.
Get someone in the kids’ campers. Do a visual check-in with the perimeter guards. Put the fires out.
The vehicle was trapped partially in a crevice that had opened up directly underneath, and tried to swallow it. Mitch was still slumped inside the crushed Com truck, along with the shadow of someone else they knew wasn’t Matt. That boy, with Charlie at his side and looking better, was currently trying to climb down to his dad.
Get those kids outta there!
Adrian studied it for a moment, ignoring the boy’s protests as he considered the things that could go wrong. When he thought he had it covered, he directed the restlessly waiting people now gathered nearby.
The Eagles came through a few minutes later, carting a quickly made pulley-system, and the crowd let out a cheer. Adrian would save them. They had faith.
Around the rest of the camp, people were still in panic, shock bringing old terrors to light, but on the ground near the men’s tents, one person wasn’t moving at all.
Large and dotted with blood, it was almost half an hour before Doug was found and taken to John.
7
Shivering at the fresh bite to the wind, Tonya slid between the trees near the vet area, staying hidden. Where was Kenn? He’d come this way after hitting Doug…
Her hand flashed out to grab the next big shadow running by and she knew to stay low, expecting him to swing on her. “It’s me!”
Kenn stopped the punch, registering her voice, and it spun him off his feet and into the side of a large tree.
Damn quake! Damn good shot from Doug too, before he’d managed to use the nose breaker and escape.
“Get over here!” Tonya pulled him behind the largest tent and shoved his kit into his hands. “The black work truck behind the vet tent has keys in the ignition. You’re good for a week.”
Kenn stared in surprise, checking in for an instant of sanity. “Why would you do that? They’ll banish you.”
The whore no longer held glints of greed in her depths, only misery. She didn’t want him to go. “You should run now, before they find Doug.”
Kenn raised a cold hand to her soft cheek, let himself feel some of the loss that was waiting. He would mourn later, after his new mission was over. He ran a rough thumb down her cheek, marking her with a deep red line from his nail.
It didn’t bleed, but it was close, and Tonya held still, willing enough to take anything he wanted to give.
“Can’t prove it,” she whispered sadly. “It’s his favorite tactic.”
Kenn dropped his hand, reminded of everything he’d thrown away. For a second in time, he wanted to ask Tonya to come along, but the answer wasn’t in question.
“Don’t wait for me.”
Her lip quivered. “No, I won’t.”
Her sadness was overwhelming and Kenn yanked her forward for a last brutal kiss. He would miss her. That, he hadn’t counted on.
Tonya forced her arms away and she sank to the ground as he swiveled toward the black truck he could discern from where they were. She was helping him escape, but she couldn’t watch him leave. It would hurt too much.
8
An hour after Adrian had them relocate camp away from the huge crevices, Neil found Samantha at the mess and slid onto the bench across from her. “I can’t make it tonight.”
Samantha hid her disappointment. “That was an earthquake, Neil. I understand.”
She winced at how loud her voice was. The quake had things distorted and it was strange to be back in even a small part of that silent world she’d first traveled through. She’d relaxed here more than she had thought was possible.
“Another time?” Neil was shocked to hear himself offer it, but after how strong Angela had been in the face of Kenn’s breakdown, the trooper suddenly wanted that for this quiet female.
“I might have an hour in the morning, day after tomorrow, but it’s extremely early.”
Sensing he meant it, Samantha smiled and kept her gaze away from the golden skin of his arms. “I run light anyway.”
Neil grinned at the familiar expression, noticing her quick glance toward where Rick sat, three tables over.
What was that? It hadn’t been anything good, the trooper was certain. If she was still watching the man, there was bound to be trouble. Trouble I won’t let her be hurt by, again, Neil thought.
“Five thirty? Same place?”
“Sure. Should I cover?”
Neil hadn’t thought about it and he didn’t now, either. “No. Females are allowed. This is part of your evaluation.”
That had Samantha frowning, but she di
dn’t tell him no. Maybe a little Eagle training was what she needed. Along with some privacy. The mood was uneasy, like people waiting for the other shoe to fall and squash out the small lives they’d been able to rebuild for themselves. Sam thought they were right to be concerned. Adrian and his Eagles were good, but in the chaos, there would be no way they could protect everyone.
9
Night fell with a menacing suddenness that none of the sentries liked. The sky went from dim green hues to barely even there; it went black and they lit extra cans. The camp was still up long after an awkward evening mess where Lee and Zack had finally noticed Kenn’s absence and began asking questions. By the time the camp finally settled in their tents to mutter, all the levels knew of Kenn’s snap and escape. The only good news was Doug’s fast recovery from being knocked unconscious.
Adrian put Zack’s team (the only one he thought might join the Marine) on duty over the intended target. Then he put two other teams in the shadows to make sure they did their jobs. Most of Zack’s men were still on Kenn’s side and Adrian hoped making them spend some time with Angela would help. They were the last holdouts to her being accepted, other than a last man on Seth’s team, but Jeff had already shown signs of changing. Zack was the one they needed to convert and Adrian had serious doubts that it could be done.
“If it can, I will.” Angela soothed from her over-protected tent.
Adrian didn’t answer, busy concentrating on where Kenn would be and what he would be thinking. All around him, Eagles were wondering the same.
“Where is he?”
“No one knows. Tonya swears she hasn’t seen him and he’s not in camp. We’ve searched it.”
“We gotta find him before he gets to her.”
“You won’t.”
Neil and Kyle found Marc sitting on the bumper of the mangled Com truck. Mitch and Rick had both been rescued from the hole and were okay, except for everyone wanting to know what Samantha’s ex had been doing with their radioman.