The Life After War Collection

by Angela White

  Paul and Jax stayed with Marc, but Kendle vanished into the fog, mind spinning. There wasn’t enough time or men to dig a pit, and a gas attack would still give them a chance to call for help…

  Kendle went toward the edge of their wide perimeter, ignoring the tension of the lookouts and the fighters.

  Atolius followed the odd woman silently, nodding to those she passed, those who were also protecting her when she traveled their camp areas. As the Ghost’s woman, she would be cared for if anything happened to him. Since it was clear that she didn’t need caring for now, other than protection from possible assassins, Atolius wasn’t sure why he was with her. Kendle was also odd, like Marc, and that meant her words were as important. She might even be followed if anything happened to Marc, but Atolius wasn’t searching for a bond with a future leader, either. He just felt like he needed to be close.

  Kendle didn’t care one way or the other, though she was getting their thoughts easily enough. She was in this for blood and Marc had just asked for a plan to spill a lot of it. She not only wanted to give it to him, she wanted to be in the thick of it.

  Kendle waited by the perimeter as the fog slowly began to dissipate. The first area to clear was the small, cool creek that ran the length of their perimeter. It also crossed under 40. If they took out that section of road, the soldiers would be forced to walk across the barely moving creek, where they would be vulnerable from assassins in the tall weeds on either side.

  “And I know what we can do, don’t I?” Kendle muttered.

  Atolius didn’t doubt it any more than their protection did. The hum of raw power was still vibrating through their minds. He carefully took her arm and headed for Marc.

  12

  It was taking too long.

  They’d already spent two long hours trying to bring the bridge down in a way that made it look natural. They couldn’t use dynamite or anything else that would echo to the enemy. They were forced to use coordinated vehicle and manual labor that caused injuries and made Marc drain himself to heal them. The advantage was in the sounds that this method did create. Collapsing concrete support beams breaking into chunks sounded like normal noises in this new world. Everything was falling apart.

  The bridge itself hadn’t come down yet, but there were only two thick beams holding it in place. Gaping cracks and fissures ran through these supports, and the bridge itself from their efforts, telling Marc it wouldn’t take much more.

  Marc waved at the team to proceed.

  Everyone grunted or groaned, straining on the thick coils of rope. Marc had refused to use their vehicles for this part of it, not about to bury men alive, but he was almost sure it would still leave the ropes to be found.

  Crackkk!

  The bridge swayed dangerously as the men pulled harder, encouraged by new splits in the beams.

  “That’s it! Snap the ropes!” Marc ordered, yanking.

  The ropes began untwisting themselves, but not in time. The bridge shattered down the side and collapsed onto the thick beams, bringing it all down in chunks. The ropes were lost.

  Dust coated the area and coughing began.

  “Covers up!” Marc shouted from under his own wet bandana. “Glasses on!”

  13

  “Is it set?”

  “Yes.”

  Marc went to where Kendle was waiting at the edge of their camp. Her growing attachment was a concern for Paul and Jax, but they didn’t understand.

  Will Angela? the demon questioned.

  Marc wasn’t sure. Considering the link between her and Adrian, maybe she would be glad.

  Kendle could feel Marc’s unhappiness, but didn’t know what to do for him. He wasn’t like Luke, wasn’t hot for her. Careful conversations were the best she could do most nights. She’d never met anyone as closed-off as Marc.

  “I’m sorry for that,” he stated.

  Kendle slid her arm around his waist. “It’s okay. That’s not what we were brought together for.”

  Marc wasn’t sure about that and didn’t say anything. He also didn’t pull away from her comfortable embrace. He needed these men to think she was his woman, but more, he needed the human touch. Most of the men riding with him only made contact in a moment of quick courage, like they were brushing the skin of a revered elder. Some days, it sent his ego through the clouds. Other days, it made his stomach boil. Those were the days that he was forced to accept the truth. Adrian’s job was also awful and lonely. It was harder to resent the blond man for desiring the same thing that he was.

  “You could call her.”

  Marc was used to Kendle’s intuition, but not her compassion. That was an emotion she didn’t display much of.

  “No.”

  “Why not? The soldiers know where she is, and where you are.”

  Marc sighed, telling her the same line he’d used on Jax yesterday. “She’s already a target. If people hear how much I…need her, she’ll never be able to sleep alone or even take a shower in private. I won’t do that to her. She values privacy.”

  Kendle thought he was lying, but didn’t call him on it.

  “Are you ready for tomorrow?” he distracted.

  Kendle grimaced. “Wish it was now.”

  Marc agreed, only for different reasons. “One more day here.”

  Kendle didn’t care about the location, only the goals and the people. “Then tomorrow needs to be bloody. I can’t be stuck inside a base with all these men and not kill anything.”

  Marc chuckled, thinking she and Angela would probably have made great friends and teammates if not for him.

  “Come on. Let’s get some coffee and go over the layout.”

  Kendle went willingly, trying not to feel abandoned when he let go of her. Marc was a fixed point that she kept in her sights as often as she could.

  Marc spent the next hour boring her with details instead of giving her the workout she needed. He was on the edge himself and wasn’t sure of his own control. Kendle liked to draw blood and after being careful, he would need a release that wasn’t available until they sprang the trap. Marc wasn’t about to blow early. They’d spent three days planning this last attack. He expected to lose route 40 over the next few days, maybe even tomorrow, but the massive attack come lunch would hopefully slow the troops. Marc needed time to blow bridges and overpasses as they retreated. Little Rock base was where most of the rebels would go next, though some would return to their own camps to protect their people. More would go to Safe Haven to help defend them and get Marc’s other plans rolling. For a few of those, Angela would need all the time he could give her to get them ready.

  “Call coming in.”

  Marc detoured to their communications bike, to their control man.

  “Ghost camp, Alpha. Come in, Alpha.”

  “We hear you.”

  “Five by nine, out of eight and six.”

  The radioman gawked at Marc in confusion as he flipped the dial to channel 43 instead of explaining. “You got me.”

  “Got a numbers update for you and some good news,” Quinn’s happy voice bounced off the barren landscape.

  Marc clicked the mic and Quinn knew to go ahead.

  “We are now eight times what you left behind. I repeat, we are by eight!”

  “That’s the good news, right?” Marc joked.

  “Actually, no. The good news came from a rider delivering hardware. Safe Haven has company–the good kind.”

  Marc felt his worry ease a bit. “Thank you.”

  “Anytime, Boss. Instructions or messages?”

  There was a hopeful pause on that last part…Marc sensed Angela had told them to find out if he had anything for her.

  “No.”

  “Copy. Out.”

  Marc gave Atolius a nod of respect–it had been his idea–then moved toward his tent. When he held out a hand to Kendle, men approved. They liked Marc and Kendle together. It was a good match to those who were viewing it from the outside.

  14

  “Sh
oot him!”

  The soldiers fired obediently, missing the cloaked figure leaping across the roofs of homes and businesses, even sheds and barns when he had to.

  “Again!”

  “Fire!”

  The shadow leapt in time to avoid the hit behind him, but the explosion in front sent the Ghost between the brick buildings and out of sight.

  “Get him!”

  Two forward teams ran in that direction.

  The team leaders behind them disapproved of the order. Didn’t command understand that those two teams would return with only half their men and even those would be wounded? The Ghost was lethal.

  The soldiers listened for more sounds of fighting as they continued their march to Little Rock AFB. Command wanted it secured in short order and the battalion was almost out of time on their deadline. The Ghost had slowed them down, but now, they were shoving through the last five hundred miles to get inside some sort of protection. Being picked off was bad for morale.

  Kablamm!

  An explosion lit up the south side of the city, confirming the thoughts of the team leaders. No one from those two platoons would come back. If command kept sacrificing fighters like this, there wouldn’t be many alive when the welcoming air strips came into sight.

  “Keep marching!”

  The order was met with grumbling, but no real resistance. All of the soldiers wanted to be undercover. Not stopping until they got there now sounded good.

  “Ahhh!”

  More men fell on their flank, screams echoing up, and terror took over. The front half of the battalion began to run. Behind them, the delay of being attacked with firebombs put another small amount of distance between these two groups.

  Marc used it to join them as if he were a part of their group. He got the Shadow Riders into their proper places in the rear of the first platoons, aware of the men who swept their stolen clothes and decided they weren’t a threat.

  When Marc opened fire, the other riders did the same.

  Before the teams ahead could run and help, Marc and his men were already out of sight. They were alone as they stomped down the stairs and vanished into the sewer.

  15

  “He’s a Ghost. You can’t kill him.”

  The General put his gun to the Indian captive’s temple and pulled the trigger.

  The body slumped to the bloody dirt and the General tossed an arm around the Major’s shoulders, hot gun hanging over his cheek in a threat.

  “I want him brought in, and I don’t care what you have to do to accomplish that.”

  Francis laughed despite the danger he was in. “Do it yourself. The bullet is easier.”

  The General grimaced at the refusal.

  Francis tensed under him. “Do not underestimate me. We will die together.”

  The tension and fighting in command was as bad as it was among the ranks. The General was forced to step back, but he didn’t put the 9mm away.

  “If you can’t give me the Ghost, why did Command send you out here?”

  Major John Francis had arrived late yesterday and been observing silently. Now, he leered toward the forty new bodies the Ghost had given them. “His woman is capable of doing that without firing a single bullet. I didn’t come for the Ghost. I came for the Raven.”

  “I have doubts about us making it to Georgia, Francis. Not without more men.”

  The Major sneered, “You would need a miracle, but I don’t mean to go to her. She will come to us.”

  “And how will that work?”

  Francis gestured to the radio they were keeping on the rebel channels. “We’ve heard her. We have the stories from people who were there. She’ll come for her Ghost.”

  “But that leaves the same problem!” the General protested. “We can’t catch him.”

  Francis spit towards the General’s freshly shined boots. “You clearly can’t.”

  The general saw it coming too late.

  “Ugg!”

  The knife was calmly retrieved from the dying man’s chest, the gun in the dirt and out of reach.

  “No vest,” Francis commented, cleaning his blade on the General’s shocked, paling cheek. “Big mistake. I’ll take it from here. You’re now relieved.”

  Chapter Twenty

  Black Ice and Sink Holes

  August 2nd

  Walnut Grove, Alabama

  1

  For the first time in months, they were camped near a town and the feel was ugly.

  Walnut grove, Alabama had been average, with a normal population for the area, but it wasn’t anything now. Doors kicked in, frames of charred buildings and trailers, cemeteries looted and bones laying in disrespect. Even the roads the clearing crew had prepared were slimy and dark, like it never stopped raining here long enough to dry. The sky above matched with an ominous shade of green that kept Samantha on edge.

  Angela had brought them here intentionally after Theo called it in. Her camp needed to be reminded of how deeply the war had hurt them all and camping out of sight of those horrors wasn’t going to be the norm anymore. The truth would be something they had to stand on from here and it began with what had happened. The camps around hers were uneasy being out in the open, but she knew it would work on them, as well. By the time they left here, anger and the burning desire for revenge would flood every patriot in their convoy.

  “We have to talk.”

  Angela tried to shut him down, sensing what was coming. “The camp’s fine right now.”

  “That’s not what I want.”

  Killing time until evening mess, Angela didn’t look up from the schedules she was going over in the lea of her tent. When he waited for her to respond, Angela wondered how far Adrian would go to keep from retaking the reins.

  “Have a seat. That hip’s gotta hurt after all the hours you’ve put in on it.”

  Adrian joined her with a grimace and waited for her to finish.

  Angela dragged it out, not wanting to have this conversation.

  “Angela.”

  “No.”

  “Angela.” More persistent now.

  “No, Adrian. I don’t want this. I never have.”

  “You’re sure?”

  She finally met his eye and gave a bark of bitterness that didn’t surprise him. He knew the range of emotions that leadership brought.

  “Yes.”

  “But?”

  Her gaze went to the schedules. “But I don’t know where I belong now. And you know that. It’s why I didn’t insist while Kenn was at the medical center.”

  Adrian’s heart broke at her lost tone and he took the opening without hesitation. “You belong by my side.”

  Angela stared, stunned he would say it aloud.

  Angela sat back, witch whispering, mind racing. He was letting her in, now, when she had no defense. What did she feel?

  When she finally spoke, Adrian wasn’t sure if he should brace or duck.

  “I waited my entire life to be able to love Marc, dreamed of how perfect it would be.” She glanced over the, her, peacefully surviving camp. “I still do.”

  “But.”

  “But I’m drawn to you and it’s easy to understand why. Look at what you’ve given me, given all the people here, how you gave of yourself to build this!”

  She refused to lie even as the guilt spoke up. “I could have been blinded by it, if you were bad.”

  “I am evil, Angie,” Adrian refuted, sending a small spark with the variation. He had to keep it light, though. It was one of those things that he would only be able to use openly once she was his. When that happened, he would whisper it in her ear every night as she exploded in his arms.

  Angela sighed at the tremor of longing that his use of that name produced. “No worse than the rest of us. We may be kindred’s, but I love Marc. I’d never do what Samantha is.”

  Adrian lit a smoke with a deceptive casualness that hid his pain. Only his mind said that it mattered, that he would continue to wait. “I’ll take back over soon.
”

  Adrian studied her for signs of reluctance and found only relief.

  “How will you handle it?”

  Adrian shrugged. “That’s up to you. Publicly is best, so they don’t think I’m pushing you out.”

  “They’ll just be glad you’re in charge again,” she denied.

  “Don’t underestimate all you’ve done for them, Angela. When I’m banished, it’s you they’ll vote in as my replacement.”

  Adrian grit his teeth in frustration as she moved toward the main camp without responding. What could he say to make her understand that they belonged together? He’d never met someone he respected more, wanted more, felt more for, and it hurt and angered him that she couldn’t accept it. When would she realize that he was the only one who would be able to make her happy?

  Adrian sighed. Only after Marc’s death and he wasn’t even allowed to hope for that.

  Doors open wide between them, he left her with the ugly thought.

  Angela found no comfort in his prediction. She’d have to do this again. When the camp found out, she would be the one to hold Safe Haven together. How did she prepare for that?

  “We think you should be leading anyway–the camp females.”

  Those words rang in Angela’s mind. Had Tonya really felt that way or had she just been trying to make the team? Peggy and Hilda clearly agreed, but what did the camp and Eagles think?

  Angela found her shadow in the darkness, met Kyle’s curious gaze. “Ready to go back to being his top Eagle again?”

  “It’s what I was promised, what we agreed to.”

  The mobster’s tone was emotionless.

  Angela glanced at him coolly. “So the last weeks of being my right hand were just a part of your duties?”

  Kyle snorted, not about to challenge her over a lie that didn’t matter between them. “I wanted to tell him no, to go against him right then,” Kyle confided lowly. “The same as you did.”

  Angela blew out a sigh. “But he didn’t recognize it. He thinks I can’t wait to give it up, when I…”

  She changed the words. “I don’t know exactly what happens to us now. I’m not sure where we fit.”