by Angela White
Candy saw his fast glance toward Kendle, who was conversing with Marc. The fondness in his expression told Candy he wouldn’t be doing that anymore. “What if I want to spend time with him?”
“That’s not up to me, but I’d guess Angela will be glad you’re finding some happiness. If, you’re willing. If he’s put some spell on you, she’ll order his death.”
“I’m not under a spell.”
“Are you sure? You’ve done a complete flip since I left.” Tommy had to point it out. “You might be.”
“How would you know?”
“I wouldn’t, but the boss would. Talk to her.”
“She’s busy right now.”
“Unless you’re in danger, let it go for a few days until things settle down.”
“And so I can be sure it’s what I want?”
“Of course. I’d hate to get the order to eliminate him. I kinda like the boy.” Tommy left, nodding to her sentry again.
Candy let him go, mind full of confusion. So do I, but I don’t know how it happened. Maybe I am under a spell.
Do you want me to leave you alone? I will try if you tell me to.
Conner’s voice in her mind brought a level of peace that Candy couldn’t fight. Just don’t hurt me, kid. I’m defenseless right now.
Conner appeared in the entrance of the tunnel, but he didn’t look at her. I’ll be around when you need me and gone when you don’t.
It sounds perfect. What’s the catch?
There isn’t one. I want you to be happy. If that’s without me, I accept it. Conner looked over with all his emotions hidden under a cool layer of adult control. It’s all up to you now.
Candy’s cheeks were hot and her body was alive. Even without seeing his expression, she could feel his desires, his obsession. Instead of fear, it gave her hope.
Candy turned away, not wanting to be caught staring. Welcome home, Conner.
Conner grinned. That was worth more to him than even the respect of Angela and her army.
Chapter Thirty
The Cold Hand of Fate
1
Theo found Angela on the top level, caring for the twins. Both babies had needed a diaper change, judging from the smell.
“We’re about to slap a lock on the door, but it’s not going to hold long. The Mountaineers will have to reinforce it. We want a few of them to come watch us now, so they’ll know how.”
“I doubt that any of them except Jimmy will agree to go down there, but you have my permission to try.” She glanced up. “How long?”
Theo sighed, exhausted from all the climbing with his aching leg. “Hours, maybe.”
Angela sighed. “Do the best you can.”
“Incoming.” Ivan was at the entrance to the weapons room, screening everyone who wanted to get near Angela.
“We may not need the door at all, Theo. Hang around a minute, will you?”
“Trouble?” Theo drew his gun, waving at Debra to get away from them.
“That depends. If they fire and Jimmy’s group rushes us like they’re considering, we won’t need a door. I’ll kill them all and leave this cursed ground wide open.”
Jeff started to get up from his napping spot, but Ivan delivered a fast glare and warning. “I don’t know you. Don’t draw your gun or I’ll consider you a threat to the boss.”
Jeff held up a hand to indicate he wasn’t a problem, but he stayed ready to help if the cocky soldier got his ass handed to him.
“Let us in there!”
“We’ll fire this place up. Move!”
Theo and Ivan tensed, ready to kill at those words.
A small group of battered, desperate refugees shoved into the passage, only stopping because Ivan pointed his gun at them.
“We want to talk to her!”
“She has to let us stay!”
“We haven’t done anything wrong!”
“You entered our home without permission, but you didn’t do anything wrong?” Ivan signaled toward the ladder. “The bottom tunnel is open. Get out of here.”
A large guy with two females cowering behind him lifted a hand. “We want your boss. Move aside!”
Ivan glanced at Angela. “Dead or alive?”
Angela sighed, feeling Jimmy gain control of his group. “He’ll ask, I’ll answer, you’ll shoot.”
“Got it.” Ivan slid his finger onto the trigger. “Ask your question.”
The big man paused as Eagles surrounded him and his family. “Hey! We’re not a threat. The threat is outside. We’re dying!”
Angela placed the twins next to each other and covered them with the blankets Marc had left up here from their bed. She stood up with tired movements that declared her patience at an end. “Where were you during the fight?”
The refugee frowned. “Uh, out of your way!”
“So you’ve been out there the entire time, but didn’t help even though we were trapped in here like rats being tested?”
“Um, no. I mean, we all wanted to…”
“Liar!” Angela lashed out brutally, inhaling as she condemned him. “You helped our enemies. You celebrated when the quake came.”
Ivan didn’t need to hear more. As Angela took the man’s life force, Ivan and the Eagles gunned down his unarmed family. Though it was two men and an older woman, and not children, all of the Eagles felt the chore deep in the guts, but they didn’t hesitate. The time for second chances was gone.
2
Adrian and Marc both rotated toward the cave. Angela’s pain was fresh.
Marc scowled. “What is it?”
Adrian didn’t want Marc to know how connected he and Angela were, but their truce didn’t allow for lies or even evasions. “She hates to kill. It tears her apart. She’s too hurt by all of this to hide it from me.”
“We’re still teamed.” Marc frowned as he realized Adrian would always be connected in ways that he couldn’t.
“That’s not true.” Adrian resumed their walk of the perimeter. Trek through the snowpocalypse, he amended. “You share a unique bond with her. When your powers merge for the first time, it might create the soul mate connection.”
“The what?”
“Where do you think the legends about soul mates came from?”
Marc considered that. “Like with twins?”
“Yes. They share the same brain functions during tests in the lab, especially during emotional moments. They also experience each other’s pain if they share enough. It creates a neuro-bridge.”
“How is that possible?” Marc’s tone rose into near panic as his mind tried to adjust. “How is any of this possible?”
Adrian didn’t stop walking. He’d spotted a survivor lurking behind a cluster of boulders. “How is life possible? A big bang? Where did the material in the bang come from? Where did the empty space it filled come from? A God? Where did the God come from? Spores? Random? It all had to be created and that, my hesitant friend, implies some type of power beyond rational understanding for us mere specks in the universe.”
Marc was stunned for a second. He’d never considered that angle. “We’re not meant to understand?”
“Actually, I’ve always believed that when we can, it means we’re ready to go home.”
Marc paused for Adrian to fire into the skull of the bleeding soldier who was crawling away with only one leg. “And until then, we have to obey?”
“That’s where the problem lies with our kind. We have gifts, but we’re not supposed to use them for anything other than good. Taking a life, for any reason, is forbidden, but we want to survive, so we kill in self-defense and corrupt ourselves a little more each time.”
Marc thought of all the evil he’d eliminated from the world since becoming a Marine. “I can’t regret the deaths. It prevented those bastards from becoming big enough to abuse on a mass scale.”
“I feel the same way, but it doesn’t change our rules.”
“Will it help us in the end?”
Adrian shrugged. “Some o
f us hope so. Angela believes it will at least pardon her fighters, but I don’t. We’re damned. That’s the price heroes often pay.”
Marc didn’t want to discuss it anymore, but he refused to hide from his fears. “What about the kids?”
Adrian was impressed that Marc had jumped over concerns for himself so fast. “There’s a limit. What they’ve done to stay alive will be judged. They can’t escape that. In some cases, forgiveness will come because they didn’t know it was wrong or they didn’t know what would happen. Nothing they’ve done as a part of Safe Haven would damn them.”
“How do you know so much about us?”
Adrian had forgotten that Marc had been out fighting the government while he made the call that had expose his shame and history to the world. “I was raised in the government labs.”
“I thought you worked for them, hunting our kind.”
“I did. But I was born in a lab and spent most of my childhood in one or another between escapes.” Adrian sighed, unable to ignore that old, haunting pain. “Then they took something that I loved and everything changed. I wanted to kill, to hunt.” Adrian started to say more and stopped. “Are you good for a bit?”
Marc turned toward the path. “I’ll check the transportation progress.”
Adrian felt the cold hand of fate slide across his neck. He spun around. “Duck!”
Marc hit the snow as a bullet was fired. It went over his shoulder and slammed into the teenage girl about to jump down from the cliff and stab him with a butcher knife.
Angela’s gratitude swarmed over Adrian.
Adrian arched, unprepared for the open blast that was magnified by their bond. Groaning, his hands clenched into fists and his knees trembled.
Across the valley, Eagles stared in confusion and amusement. A few of the sentries had witnessed it all, but they hadn’t been close enough or fast enough to help.
Marc was only a little jealous as he observed. He grinned at Adrian’s expression. “Do you need to check your shorts?”
Adrian shuddered, trying to recover. “I think so, yeah.”
Marc stepped over the body. “You know where I’ll be.”
Adrian didn’t respond. He was still trying to breathe.
3
“Get ready for the bugout.” Kenn’s voice echoed through the levels. “All islanders will be at the exit at dawn. Bring what you can carry. I repeat. We leave at dawn.”
Kenn and Tonya marched through the corridor, making sure everyone knew where to be and when. They were also walking each passage to verify that no one was hiding. They didn’t know how many refugees had made it in before Dirce’s shot closed the tunnel.
Tonya stayed close to Kenn, her gun in hand. She was the unexpected wildcard for any lurkers. Kenn hadn’t liked the order, but he hadn’t been able to argue that she was safest by his side.
As Kenn and Tonya walked the cave, people understood what they were doing and got out of the way. Most of those were already dressed for the weather and on their way out, carrying small pouches and bags. More civilians huddled in corners and crevices to make plans. Some of them would stick together, but Kenn believed that most would abandon their group as soon as they departed.
The sound of the cave with the passage open created a roar that was magnified. People flinched at coughs and nose blowing, at loud chatter and shouts. Tonya assumed that the avalanche was responsible for the new sounds in the cave. Everything was coated in a thick layer of snow, ice, and rock, except for the open tunnel on the bottom. It had also changed the draft.
“The bugout starts at dawn. Be at the exit, with your possessions. All members of this mountain are welcome with Safe Haven.”
Tonya held in a snort. None of Jimmy’s people would defect. The fight they hadn’t participated in had scared them, as had Angela’s fast reaction to the refugees who had barged their way through with weapons and threats. Jimmy’s group was all on the bottom level now, crammed into the tarp area to defend themselves against the evil descendants. It was pathetic.
Kenn heard voices and signaled her into the shadows.
Tonya got ready to kill for her man.
“The bugout starts at dawn…” Kenn walked down the dim passage, not recognizing the voices. “Be at the…” He slid into the open, pointing his gun. “Come out of there!”
Tonya gasped at the condition of the three kids who came from the shadows, lowering her gun.
Kenn didn’t take a chance. These were outside refugees. “Put your hands up.”
The trio did as instructed, shirts lifting to reveal rib bones and bloated bellies.
“Please.” The smallest girl tried to smile. “We need help.”
Kenn waved the gun toward the ladder. “Go to the top.”
Tonya hoped Angela would let the kids stay.
Kenn gestured for Tonya to go between them, splitting the group up so he could examine their behavior.
By the time they made it to the top floor, kids weak and gasping for air, Kenn had made his choice. He scooped up the smallest girl, ignoring her surprised cry. When she sagged against him in relief, Kenn patted her little back.
He bumped Angela’s door open without a warning and sat the child onto her feet. “We’re keeping these.”
Angela smiled at the scared kids. “His name is Kenn. You’ll owe him.”
All of them turned to Kenn with adoring gazes that implied his family was also going to be bigger than he’d expected.
Tonya snickered at his expression, not unhappy with it. She could practice on these before her own came.
“Stay and help?”
Tonya was glad of Angela’s offer. “He’d rather that I did anyway.”
Satisfied, Kenn went to the exit.
Tiny feet followed him.
Realizing it was the kids, Kenn pointed at Tonya. “She’ll help you get settled.”
Tonya gathered the kids, spotting what Kenn hadn’t. “You’re descendants. Come sit down. We’ll get you something to eat while you hear the rules and promise to always follow them, okay?”
Kenn stepped out and closed the door, glowering at Ivan. “Guard this cubby with your life or you won’t have one.”
Ivan stared at the Marine, frowning. The menace of these Safe Haven men was impressive. I can’t wait to be like that!
4
“There goes another group.” Shawn directed Marc’s attention to the tunnel entrance.
They observed as David and a few of the others came out onto the battlefield in full gear and proceeded west. David was bundled up so thick that as soon as he left the grey stone of the mountain and stepped onto the snow and ice, he almost disappeared. Everything he was wearing blended in perfectly as he broke away from the others to go northwest.
“I’m sorry to see him leave.” Adrian joined the two men by their vehicles.
Marc assumed that Adrian and David had become friends, so he wasn’t surprised by the response. “Was he a good guy?”
Adrian rotated to sweep in another direction, making sure that no one else was sneaking up on them. “He’s a killer.”
In the middle of looting a body, Marc snorted. “Who isn’t, these days?”
Adrian thought about elaborating, but realized they would have plenty of time to discuss things like that in the future. From the dreams he’d had, Adrian knew that David would survive, as would Billy. Both men had a hard road in front of them, but their destinies were entwined with Safe Haven in so many ways that the bond could never be broken.
“Does Angela want them to go now?”
Marc shrugged at Shawn’s question. “If she didn’t, we would have already gotten a message to stop them.” Marc headed toward the entrance, finished with the check-in and complete walk through of the battlefield. It had taken five hours. “Spread the word. We shut down in thirty minutes. No exceptions.”
“What about transportation?”
“No exceptions. Find a way to hide them.”
“A few of us are willing to camp
in the vehicles overnight.”
Marc considered Shawn’s offer. “Fine, but you choose the crew and you’re in charge of them.”
Thrilled to be useful again, Shawn hurried off.
Marc reached the entrance as another small group was coming out. He recognized Joseph, Missa, and the small group of nuns who had been with Sister Sarah. Marc stepped aside, making a rude gesture. “It’s open. You can run away and hide now.”
The entire group hurried by with ugly glances and no words of gratitude or warnings. It was clear that they couldn’t wait to forget descendants had ever existed.
Marc tried hard not to resent them, but failed. He couldn’t resist a last parting shot. “How many of you would be alive if not for magic?”
The group took off running without a response to Marc’s glowing red orbs. He had no interest in arguing and he wasn’t trying to change their minds. He just wanted to remind them that they owed their lives to Angela.
Marc paused near the garbage can that one of the sentries had dragged down and set on fire, grateful for the warmth on his frozen fingers. He lingered around the can, making contact with the guards and listening to the few people still coming into the cave. It was the fighters now, happy they had gotten their share of loot and kills.
“It’s so sad, man. All of them would have been welcome here.”
“I bet the boss isn’t doing well. She hates killing.”
I’m still not sure why I don’t believe that. Marc kept listening.
“A lot of people think she gets hot from killing.”
“Do you?!”
“No, man, take it easy. I’m just saying, a lot of people didn’t like it. They believed she did.”
“They’re wrong and you should tell them that. Life is valuable to us.”
“But she killed so many!”
“She did what she had to, to make sure we survived. Everyone is jealous of magic and repulsed by death, but remember that if she wasn’t a ruthless bitch, we would all be in government bunkers right now.”
Marc let the men go by without adding anything to the conversation. The guard had summed it up.