by Angela White
“She sold you out,” Marc agreed happily. “And not on your surrender terms, either. Gotta admire that.”
“I do!” Adrian snarled. “My son, for yours. Was that the deal?”
“I had no say in that,” Marc stated. “But it’s better if Conner isn’t with us, either. He’s like you.”
“Yes, he is,” Adrian said. “And he heard that. He’ll come for both of you.”
“No, he won’t,” Marc said, using his bandana to gag his enemy. “He’ll spend his life trying to rescue you. I know how this bond works now, remember?”
Adrian was forced to shut up as Marc jerked the bandana tight. He began pelting Angela with mental protests.
“Yeah, she said you’d do that,” Marc grunted.
Shane handed him two items.
Marc quickly tipped the bottle into the handkerchief and slapped it over Adrian’s face until the grunting, fighting man sagged in his iron grip.
The Eagles thought about lending a hand, but it was Adrian and Marc didn’t need the help, so they gawked in surprise instead.
“Get the jeep,” Marc ordered, looking around to find that Sebastian had already done it and was pulling up.
Marc lifted Adrian’s heavy body over his shoulder to drop him into the backseat. He then slid cuffs around Adrian’s wrist and pulled out the dart gun that Angela had provided through Kyle. The chloroform wouldn’t hold their kind for very long.
Marc shot Adrian in the neck, loving the feel and wishing it were for real. He motioned to the curious Eagle in the driver’s seat. “Get him to our base camp. Angie will handle him from there.”
The jeep took off as Marc went to Kenn, who should be waking soon. Unlike with Adrian, Kenn’s exposure had been minimal. Marc nudged the Marine with his boot. “You up yet?”
Kenn groaned.
Marc settled down across from him to wait. When Kenn woke, they would have a short talk. Kenn would make a choice and then they would go together on the next parts of their mission or he would spend a few minutes burying the body. Either way, Marc didn’t care. The worst of this war was about to begin. He didn’t have time for forgiveness right now, only justice and vengeance.
5
“You’ll go in my place, to negotiate,” Donner stated as Philips came into the room and closed the door. “Now that we have Mitchel’s son, it’s time to meet them.”
“Me? What am I negotiating for?”
“Adrian and the woman, the one in charge. Kill the rest of the descendants after those two are secured.”
Philips stilled. “What did you say?”
“Kill them all.” The Major gave his lackey a sharp glower. “Do you have a problem with that?”
You’ve earned your name, the lackey thought, but he knew better than to give any answer except for the expected one. “Of course not, sir. I’ll pass it down.”
Donner studied the man with cold glare before lighting his pipe. When the silence thickened to uncomfortable, the Major pointed to a photo on the folding desk. Everything they were using right now had come with them. The descendants hadn’t left anything usable at the other base. “She is the only one we don’t kill if things go south. Bring her in alive at all costs.”
Philips glanced at the old photo, recognizing a birth scene at a hospital. “How long have you been watching that one?”
Donner snorted. “Decades. We were waiting for her powers to reach full range.”
“And they have?”
Donner laughed, a short, miserable bark that belied the anger inside. “The destruction of the base and the soldiers was man-built and delivered. She’s the equivalent of ten scenes like that.”
“Then why not kill her, too?” Philips asked, aghast. “She might be able to hurt us.”
“We’ve come for her. The others are a handful of relics, including Mitchel. She’s the future.”
“What’s so special about her?”
“Our spies tell us she’s pregnant,” Donner said. “The offspring of two descendants is rare, but combine it with the most powerful mother and father that we’ve discovered in a hundred years and you can understand why the scientists are screaming for us to bring her in now.”
“You mean you had a choice to get her sooner and didn’t?”
“Yes. We wanted to see what she would become, what she could do. It’s been fun.”
“Fun? She’s killed hundreds of us with her orders! Thousands soon! She should be eliminated before she brings that power to our front door.”
“You think so?”
“Yes.”
“Then it’s a good thing I’m in charge. Get out. I have plans to make.”
Philips slipped to the door and exited with a nasty glare thrown carefully over a hunched shoulder. He wasn’t anyone important and hadn’t been before the war either. His life didn’t matter, only some pregnant whore’s did. That stung.
“Is he the right man to send?” Louis asked cautiously from near the window of the small foldout room.
Donner handed him a sheet of paper. “Get the boys rolling as soon as the chopper is in the air. And cut the radio again.”
“Sure. We attackin’ under negotiations?”
“And putting pieces into place,” Donner answered. “I want one hundred, ten-man teams sent out. Tell them to kill anything that moves. Oh, and get us packed for a bug-out. She knows where I am. We’ll switch base locations.”
Louis didn’t argue. He’d never seen Donner lose an advantage before and he stared curiously.
Donner returned the look. “They’re descendants. It’s not supposed to be like picking someone up for speeding.”
“Then it’s normal? You losing the edge like that?”
Donner, already tiring of the questions, turned toward the back room. “Let’s make sure. Wake the girl.”
Louis went in a hurry. He’d been thinking about it all day. Taking her clothes hadn’t done the trick and neither had beating her, but Louis had noted her reaction when she’d thought Donner was going to rape her. That was the trick to bring that witch right out and make up for his earlier mistake.
“Want me to get her set for you?” Louis asked, trying hard to be toneless.
“Yes. I’ll be there in a few minutes. I want to check on the son and be sure he’s still out. Reports we’ve collected say some descendants are nearly immune to the drugs and wake quickly.”
Louis didn’t hear the last part. He was already on his way to the crate. Donner would give him five minutes, but Louis planned to be finished in three. He’d take it easy on her though, and swear not to do it again if she cooperated. If she refused, he would become…insistent.
“Louis?”
Louis stopped, freezing. “Yeah, boss?”
“Wait for me to bring the boy in to watch your…fun. It’ll be more effective that way.”
“You got it!” Louis spun into the room with one hand already opening his belt.
He drew up at the sight of the open crate and the naked girl in front of it holding a gun.
He opened his mouth to shout.
Jennifer pulled the trigger.
As he fell, she began to cackle wildly. “Oh, boss man!”
Donner stopped as soon as he heard the single shot, immediately forming a different plan. As clear as it was, he had no doubt where it had come from. Either the girl was loose or her protector had come. Probably both.
Donner drew his gun as he stepped into the room where they had Mitchel’s son stashed. When she came for him, Donner would grab her.
“Hiya, Major!”
The cheerful voice was unexpected despite what Donner had told his men about some of them being immune to their drugs. The Major ducked too late. The dart plunged into his neck and the gun went to his temple.
“Well played, kid,” Donner taunted. “But I’m immune.”
Surprised by the same thing that had given him the advantage, Conner had no defense against the nasty gut punch that nearly knocked him out.
Donner
slammed his weight down on the dazed boy and got him cuffed and gagged. He stood up, turning around in time to find the door swinging open and the barrel of a gun entering the room.
Jennifer raked her knife across the last drunken man’s throat without blinking and then moved to the next room. She’d found the officer’s quarters. She was taking out as many of them as she could before the full alarm was called. If she were caught, she would be beaten, raped, and killed before Donner could rescue her. It was an amazing feeling as she stabbed into the next throat with a huge grin on her bloody face. The soldiers were taking advantage of the lack of supervision and drinking even on their shifts. As a result, there were passed out and hung-over men scattered everywhere. Easy targets.
The final room was a shower setup. She stepped inside and closed the door as happy male voices echoed out of the portable locker room she was advancing towards.
“Remember,” Jennifer told herself lowly. “Packing first, invisible threats second, everyone else last.”
Jennifer put her knife in her mouth and raised the gun. She checked to be sure it was fully loaded, safety off, and that the mag in her other hand was turned in the right direction.
Then she went inside.
6
The gunshots from the opposite end of the compound told Donner that his visitor was friendly. He gave the door a vicious kick. “Get in here!”
Philips came in with a pale face. “What the hell’s going on?”
Donner snarled his rage as he lifted Conner and dropped him across Philips’s shoulder. “Follow me. If he dies or escapes, shoot yourself before I can.”
As the two men took off running toward their parking area, Philips understood that the Major was fleeing. He didn’t argue. There were reports of men in the trees behind the base, but the screams were coming from inside their portable walls.
Gunfire cracked out again, to the south this time.
Donner got them flying toward the gate. As they rammed through it, Conner woke up and started to struggle, but it was too late. The jeep vanished into the thick woods.
Behind them, the small base camp was alive with screams. Donner had only kept three dozen men for protection. Jennifer killed them herself, stalking through the camp that hadn’t even been warned of the breach. Silent and still naked, the moment of surprise during each encounter allowed her success where it would have taken a dozen men who wouldn’t have all survived.
7
On the perimeter of the now flaming camp, two groups of Eagles waited for the signal. Their inside man was supposed to give a shout or a whistle when they were ready for help, but it didn’t come.
“Should we keep waiting?” Zack asked, listening to the screams and gunfire that was now sporadic.
Based on helping to load the van before they left, Jeff had a good idea who was inside. “Not safe right now. We had a long march here. Let’s sit outside the front gate so we’re in clear view.”
“You’re kidding right?”
More screams came from inside the building they were behind and Seth waved his men out, agreeing. “No, he’s right. That’s ours in there causing all that noise. If they see shadows outside, they may assume we’re the enemy as well.”
Point taken, all of the men moved toward the front gate in a quick, nervous clip even though they weren’t supposed to be out in the open.
The front gate was already wide, with two bodies sprawled in front of it face down. Puddles of blood and red footsteps were haunting sights through the blowing grit. It looked like three of the smaller foldouts were on fire and Zack pointed toward a rear shed. “That’s where we were.”
They all swept the shadows for movement, and were rewarded with the sight of Jennifer, naked except for a blood coat, stepping from the farthest door. She spotted them right away and placed a finger to her lips. She then pointed down at the small porch she was standing on.
Under the porch, a single soldier was cowering, trying not to make any noise. The Eagles could see him shivering in fear.
Zack thought of interfering.
Jeff sensed it. He put a hand on the higher ranked man’s arm. “Please, don’t do that.”
Horrified, they watched Jennifer stalk the hiding soldier, herding him to the side of the wood that was weaker, with gaping cracks. When she slithered over the railing to keep him from preparing for her coming attack, Zack turned away. “I can’t watch this.”
Seth and Jeff weren’t about to look away with all their men to witness it. They both narrowed in on Jennifer as she leapt at the soldier who’d thought she was gone.
Seth was the only one of them surprised when Jennifer went for the throat, teeth clamping down with a delighted growl that twisted stomachs.
She was already covered in crimson and it rained down her now like a hose being sprayed. She moaned in delight as the soldier shuddered in her grip and tried to scream through his ripped out throat.
Seth spun away and puked.
Jeff raised his gun a bit, unsure if they were all in danger.
Jennifer glared at them, orbs glowing vivid crimson.
All the men felt scolded for their revulsion when she put her nose in the air and disappeared back inside the main building.
Chapter Twelve
Go for the Throat
1
Kyle came to a stop in front of the burning base, unconcerned with being in the open when he saw the large group of Eagles clustered there. He opened the door and stepped from the empty vehicle, glad of the sleep Marc had insisted he be left alone to get. He’d exited the Indian village feeling almost alive again.
Zack met him. “We’re waiting for one more.”
Kyle looked at his watch and clipboard. “We’re already ten minutes behind.”
Zack looked toward the burning base. “I know, but we’re waiting for one more.”
“Who?” Kyle assumed their mission had gotten rough and their one man was likely dead.
Zack didn’t want to say. It was in his stony face and averted eyes.
“Come on, man,” Kyle joked lightly. “You’re acting like its Jenn–”
Zack pointed.
Kyle’s mouth dropped open as the smoke near the gate parted to reveal Jennifer coming through the smoky debris. “Are you kidding me?!”
Jennifer flashed an evil glare that told Kyle his sweet girl wasn’t in control. His blood began to boil.
“She did this?”
“Had it going before we got here and never called for help,” Zack answered, noticing there was gore between her toes and then wishing he hadn’t.
“She didn’t need any help,” Jeff snorted. He’d now had time to wonder if Crista was out here somewhere, doing these crazy things, and found he didn’t like it. Usually, he was happy she that was also an Eagle, but not for this.
Instead of the revulsion that Angela had worried over, there was admiration on nearly every other face. Those who didn’t admire it were only upset that their chance for glory had been stolen. It was the senior members who understood what the cost could be in the end.
“Okay, people. Time to open our next envelope.”
Jennifer held out a hand toward Kyle.
He placed the ‘spy’ labeled envelope in her bloody hand angrily.
Jennifer’s witch cackled cruelly as she turned toward Seth. “Major Donner is traveling east. He has Conner. Tell whomever you should and let’s get rolling. We’re behind.”
“Wouldn’t be if you’d shared,” Zack muttered, trying to break the tension.
Jennifer laughed, a hard sound very much unlike what they were used to.
“Sorry. Got greedy. I will next time.”
Kyle stared in horror as Jennifer went behind a stand of trees to wash and change, while the Eagles laughed and offered encouragement. What had Angela done? Was she letting all the descendants out this way? Didn’t she know how dangerous that was? How hard it would be to settle them down?
“What’s your role?” Seth asked Kyle, not sure who w
as in charge with their top Eagle here.
Kyle ripped open his envelope and read it aloud. “I’m driving you all to the nearest camp. Jennifer will stay with you.”
Everyone waited for Kyle to argue, but he was stronger than he was being given credit for. The mobster stomped onto the van. “Let’s go.”
The men climbed into the van, cramming in to fit. It left the small stool by Kyle for Jennifer. She settled onto it with her legs spread, her kit between them.
Kyle grimaced. This wasn’t what he wanted.
“But it is what I want,” Jennifer stated, looking at him through her witch’s hot eyes. “I need this Reece. We’ll talk about you and me later.”
Kyle angrily got the van moving. When Jennifer placed a hand on his in comfort, he shrugged it off.
She wanted to let him sulk, confident that he would come around. Having a woman who could fight had to be better than one who was a burden, right? But Jennifer also didn’t like being ignored. When she was doing it to Kyle, there were times that it was almost fun. Now that she was on the other end of it, the frustration was disheartening. Was this what he felt like when she did it? Did he care this much?
Why do I care? she asked herself. He cheated, and I only used him to become an Eagle so that I can protect my daughter. He’ll hurt me in the end.
But when the van hit a bump and their legs brushed, Kyle glanced down at her with a naked need that she welcomed. Talking to Becky about her and Seth had helped, but mostly, it was Kyle who was swaying her. He never pushed, never crossed any line she wouldn’t accept, and he asked for nothing in return, except for her presence in his life. Jennifer wanted a moment like that now, something to help both of them get through this, but she wasn’t sure how to do it. If she were too open, he would think she wanted to be physical. If she didn’t do anything, this sullen silence would continue.
Jennifer spotted a rough patch in the road and let the bump carry her instead of bracing against it as she had been. It tossed her against Kyle, who caught her automatically.
As he swung her gently back toward her place, Jennifer held onto his arm.