by Angela White
Adrian felt her nervousness return. Normally, they waited til he was ready, but the blond wanted her to relax and he stopped, waving one of them over. “What’s up, Matt?”
The gawky teenager flushed with pleasure at being chosen first. “Dad said to ask you if I can relieve him for an hour.”
Adrian pretended to be studying the teen with a suspicious eye. “You pass Kenn’s new radio test?”
The pimple-faced boy nodded proudly, standing up straighter in the light breeze. “Yes, Sir! Yesterday.”
The blond grinned. “Great. Tell Mitch I said take two hours.”
Matt’s face lit up and he was gone a second later, clumsy run hard to watch.
Adrian spent the next five minutes standing in the wind, making choices and easily pleasing his people while getting what he needed from them. When they were gone, he gave her a knowing look. “That better?”
She didn’t like to play mind games, but the old Angela took control, smiling coolly. “Set up like a king, and maybe these peasants don’t even know it.”
Adrian shook his head, watching the beautiful, purple sparks in the depths of her crystal eyes. “They know it. It’s their doing.”
Angela frowned and looked away, not even considering calling his bluff on the lie, but she knew one when she heard it. There was no way he’d left something as serious as his approval and power to chance. That thought sent her back to Kenn’s introduction, and she frowned, but wasn't sure why. Someone had to be in charge, right?
People were staring openly now, not quite whispering anymore. Angela assumed Adrian was giving her the long tour, but as more and more eyes watched them, she was forced to consider that he probably wasn’t the one who usually gave it either. He was telling them that he thought her important, and she was surprised to feel honored by it. She really had changed.
“They don’t mean to be rude. They’re just trying to figure out if you’re one of the good guys and why you’re with me.”
She met his eye. “That’s why, right? So you can find out?”
Adrian shook his head, holding her stare. “No. I was sure the second our eyes met. I just need time to convince you of it.”
Angela smiled, and Adrian steered her toward three long, white semis parked in a tight half circle, seeing by her nod that she approved of the multi-colored lanterns and Disney-character decals. There was a play area in this closed-in space, a jungle gym, swings and slides.
She also noticed the guard, something she didn’t think she wouldn’t have, if not for her time with Brady. The armed man was stationary between two of the rolling homes, and she felt his alert eyes on her, assessing. The attention paid to detail here was astounding after the last 1,400 miles of chaos and horror, but it was that sense of safety, of being protected, that was pulling at Angela. Here, she wouldn’t have to kill anyone. Except maybe Kenn, she amended.
“We try to always have two sitters available at all times. It’s important for parents to be able to come and go.”
“Do you have a lot of kids?”
The disappointment was clear in his tone. “No. Only a dozen, and we have so many people who lost children that we had to create a test for them to pass to even be considered as a sitter or live-in.”
He saw her look and explained as he tapped twice on the door and stepped in. “Live-ins do just that. They live here with the kids and help them adjust. Foster parents now. Peggy’s the sitter today. She’s everyone’s favorite.”
4
Angela instantly liked the older redhead, thinking it made a lot of sense to do things this way. “You’re very organized,” she said as they came back out, and he nodded, heading them toward the east side of camp.
“These people work hard. You will too, but it’s all worth it.”
Thinking she could use a pit stop, Angela wondered unhappily why Brady was so pissed. She could feel his anger from here, assumed someone's words (she hoped it was only words) had struck a nerve, but didn’t call to him, didn’t offer comfort. Marc would land on his feet, and while they were falling, he knew how to take care of himself. Hadn’t he taught her?
They stopped at the back side of the now empty Mess, near a large row of trucks with pictures of American cities on them. Adrian hit a button on a small black box attached to his belt that she hadn’t noticed. “Eagle Four to the refer trucks.”
“Copy.”
Angela grinned, pleasantly surprised. “You grow reefer?”
Adrian laughed, thinking that one small look of happiness could steal a man’s mind, make him obsessed to see it again and again. “Refrigerated. We butcher our own meat.”
“A girl can always hope.”
Angela was smiling, but Adrian caught the small note of seriousness in her words, understood it was a question of his leadership. Did he sweat the small stuff? He immediately opened his cigarette pack and held out a thick, neatly rolled joint, blue eyes almost glowing. “If I can, you’ll have it. You’ll be happy here.”
He nodded at her surprised expression. “Freedom with a capital F. Fire it up.”
Adrian turned to greet a guard with black hair and full lips under a light, gray-and-black streaked mustache who Angela hadn’t seen coming. Sporting a shiny Glock on his hip, the guard had a distinctly Italian face with large, bushy eyebrows and deeply tanned, hairy skin, but it was also in his expressive, deep-set blue eyes and clean-shaven jaw line. It screamed Mob.
“Have the perimeter guards checked in?”
Kyle nodded, unable to stop a very quick look at the black-haired woman with the cut on her lip who was nervously lighting a joint. Nice .357 on her hip. Great body. Stunning eyes. Kenn’s woman? “Yeah. They’re all where they should be for a change.”
Adrian grinned, watching the mobster's reaction to her. “What about the weapons truck?”
Kyle frowned, catching a whiff of vanilla that distracted, tempted. “Ammo missing again. Just finished talkin’ to everyone who had a shift last night. No one saw squat.”
“Figures.”
Adrian turned to Angela. “Puff-puff give, Bogart.”
Surprised, she let out a sexy chuckle that made both men very aware they were single.
Adrian inhaled deeply, passed it back to her as Kyle nodded a curious, “Hello.” Adrian hardly ever smoked pot with his men, and never in public. She was more than just Kenn’s wife.
“This is Angie, our new doctor. This is Kyle Reece. He’s usually in charge of our highest level of guards.”
Adrian watched closely as his Seer held out a slender hand, and they both noticed she had calluses, the sign of someone not afraid to work. “Today he’s in charge of all the men.”
Kyle froze as the temperature of the wind dropped to ice, giving him a deep chill that made his grip tighten for just a brief instant as they shook.
Angela was in deep, seeing his automatic acceptance that she was different, like Adrian. The voices in her mind began to whisper of a sense of honor in this man that ran deeper than even the leader here might know. Angela forced the Witch to let go, thinking control now would be a challenge with so many good men in one place.
“Ma’am.”
“Angie.”
Her voice was low, sensual, and Kyle felt his pulse triple as he watched the haze clear from her hungry eyes.
Almost instantly, nervousness and fear replaced it, and she took a step back, color in her cheeks. “I’m sorry.”
Kyle reacted before Adrian could, drawn to her. “Don’t be. I’m Kyle. Reece if you like. You need anything, want anything, I can take care of it.”
Angela’s face flamed at the Italian passion in the tone and she dropped her eyes. “Thanks.”
She inhaled hard (from the joint this time) and closed her eyes as Kyle turned back to Adrian, trying very hard to act normal.
What the hell had just happened? Had he declared loyalty and attraction to a complete stranger? “The kid’s on the air.”
The mobster frowned at himself, voice not quite stead
y. Yes, he had and he would stand by it. He didn’t know her, but he knew he wanted her. “He’s a natural, too.”
Adrian smiled, eyes going to Angela with a question flickering in them. “Talent usually runs in the blood.”
Angela tensed for only a split second, but Adrian saw because he’d been looking, and there was that sense of pieces falling into place again. The one he needed most was finally here, and things would start moving faster now - he could feel it. Adrian handed her the roach without looking, and as their fingers touched, he felt her start to pull back and then stop herself, facing her fears.
“Base to Eagle.”
Two radios crackled, full of static, and Angela did jump this time, hating it that she felt awkward again, but the voices were telling her that Kyle would be important to her in the not-so-distant future. That was just about the last thing she needed.
“Eagle, here.”
“Jeremy’s back with three new trucks. No people.”
The voice was calm, confident and sounded much older than the teenage kid she’d seen. Angela saw Adrian look at the mobster.
“You got it?”
Kyle nodded, keying his mic and watching a rare sunbeam light up the long, dark braid swaying in the breeze. She was like a model from a magazine. “Four, on the way.”
“Copy.”
The guard was quickly gone after a very casual nod to Angela, and the preoccupied look on Adrian’s face kept her quiet as they headed toward a row of port-o-lets.
“These are for everyone. The ones by the QZ and kid’s area are off-limits. The campers are men’s and women’s, showers only for now. Time limit is five minutes, but we don’t monitor that too closely.”
5
Angela hurried, not wanting to keep him waiting. When she came back out of the smelly camper and didn’t see him, she watched the camp, steadily growing more uncomfortable with all the eyes observing her every move and expression. Didn’t they have anything better to do?
Starting to get a bit irritated, she turned her back and read the laminated sign on the side panel of the bathroom.
Safe Haven Rules of Conduct and Penalties
1.) Abuse (Mental, physical, and verbal) is forbidden here. Punishable by banishment.
2.) Fighting, property damage, and violence for any reason but self-defense is not allowed. Punishable by hard labor or banishment.
3.) Sexual Assault is a capital offense! Punishable by death, or branding and banishment. Jury vote required.
4.) Killing for any reason other than self-defense is a capital offense! Punishable by death. Jury vote/ Guardian can overrule.
5.) Child abuse is a capital offense! Jury vote. Guardian will almost always overrule any decision but death.
6.) Rape is a death sentence. There is no reason or excuse. It can only be overruled by a unanimous camp vote, which includes the victim.
7.) Treason/ Mutiny. When more than half of the camp agrees, a new leader will be voted in.
Mind still on the wisdom of adding that last one, Angela heard Adrian come up behind her and pointed at one of the detailed maps next to the rules list. “What’s the off-limits area?”
“It’s another training site.”
She found the answer a bit evasive compared to the openness he’d been giving her questions so far, but said nothing.
“You ready?”
She fell in on his right as they moved through the people, and she found she could easily read them without using the Witch. They were wondering why a new (Kenn’s) woman hadn’t been put in the QZ, and while she didn’t feel any hostility or resentment about it, word was clearly flying that Adrian had broken his own rules.
“What happens if someone refuses the tests you have your doctor run?”
It was an astute question, and the leader gave her an openly curious look. “What do you think?”
She frowned. “You send them on their way?”
Adrian nodded and then hurried to explain his reasoning, something else that was pout of the norm for him. He didn’t want her to be upset. “With supplies, and only after trying to change their minds. I hate to turn anyone away, but an epidemic right now would overwhelm us. There’s no way we could handle it.”
“Has anyone refused?”
“No. It’s the red cross symbol that draws most people in.”
“We heard you all the way back in eastern Nebraska. It’s great, what you’re doing. No one else is.”
Adrian met her eye. “I want to do more. I want to search for survivors and give them all a chance to rebuild what was stolen from them. You could be a big part of that.”
Angela sighed, wishing she could see the future clearly instead of the foggy, distorted glimpses she sometimes got. She did know one thing, and she told him with regret in her tone.
“Kenny won’t like it.” He hadn’t cooled off, and she dreaded facing him.
Adrian frowned at the fear in her eyes. There would be trouble over her, no doubt about that, but she was one of his (the one he already wished Fate had sent him first), and he needed her. “The women here are free, more now than they were before the War.”
Angela shrugged. “Them, not me. He’s very… determined.”
She had said it quietly, and his frown grew. “Yes, he is, and we need that side of him, but you’ve done fine on your own. If you have problems with him, I want you to come and talk to me.”
“He hates it when I talk to his friends.”
The submissive answer gave Adrian a curl of anger, thinking that while Kenn probably wasn’t responsible for all of it (life had a way of beating a woman down and using her up), he was the reason for it now. Adrian was suddenly furious with the Marine for the first time since he’d come here. “I am not his friend! I am the Guardian of this refugee camp and you are now a member. He has to follow the rules.”
He looked at her pointedly. “Just be careful. I’ll do what I have to…remove who I’m forced to, if it will mean we survive.”
Angela was very aware that Brady would be the one asked to leave. That couldn’t happen. It was a deal-breaker, and she let the blond know with two simple sentences. “Thank you for giving Marc a chance despite what it looks like, and everything Kenn will say. I’m not sure I would stay at all without him here.”
Adrian snorted, thinking Kenn had already lost her, he just didn’t know it yet. “Don’t thank me. He’ll have a hard time of it until people decide whether he’s a gentleman helping a lady or a fox in the hen house.”
“It’s not like that. We’re friends.”
“Yes. How close?”
Angela couldn’t force herself to lie, not to him.
When she looked away, face red, Adrian added, “I’ve been around you for a short time, and already I know this will cause trouble.”
He saw the fire flash in her eyes as she turned back, and felt his heart leap as her place in his camp was revealed. It was bigger than just (!) the magic he’d asked for. She was a fighter, the female warrior he’d only dreamed of, and hope suddenly began to breathe life into his deepest plans. Immense and endless, they began to grow. She was still battling her chains, but she was winning, and he would finish what Brady had obviously started. He would set her free.
“Then give me my boy and we’ll go!”
Adrian was surprised to feel a small chill at the coldness of her tone, even as he nodded at the disbelief. Damn, she had a strong heart! A fighter’s heart.
“Go to the medical tent and fill out a paper John has. I’ll get your son.” His own tone was just as chilly, and Adrian was glad to see unhappiness in her face, but he turned away with an unsure heart. What if she left? Would he go after her and beg?
“Wait.”
He stopped but didn’t turn, and when she put a light hand on his arm, electricity sparked. He felt her flinch before she quickly let go.
“Please, don’t make us leave.”
Adrian turned, hating it that he’d upset her.
“I’m sorry,” she sa
id.
He was sorry, too. “I never said you weren’t worth all the hassle, but you are free to go whenever you want. You need to understand that.”
Angela, eyes on the dusty ground, answered in a cool tone which made him frown. “Thanks for the lesson.”
Aware he’d hurt her somehow, the sarcastic words made him blow out a breath of frustration, not sure how to handle her.
Angela felt that new, stronger female respond in a way that surprised and pleased her. “As a woman first. Always.”
That snapped his eyes to hers, and her soft smile lit up a dark place in his heart.
“And then as… someone who hasn’t agreed to stay and play these games with you yet.”
It was the second time she’d called him on that, reminding him that she did not intend to grovel for a spot near him like the rest of his herd, and he grinned. “This will be a good place for you. I’m sure of it.”
Angela had to smile back, thinking he was a great-looking man when he was happy.
“Come on. We’re attracting a little too much attention.”
That made her smile fade as she followed him to the west corner, but she was relieved when the main camp and all the eyes were out of sight between truck-trailers and the trees they were parked under. She could still hear the babble of many voices though, and then a noise she dreaded. Gunshots rang out, and her hand flew down, impressing Adrian with how fast she had her holster open.
“Just target practice,” he said, shaking his head at a guard who had started to move their way. “There’s a contest tomorrow, so that will be an all-day sound. Usually there’s a class with more words and less shooting.”
Angela was glad of his calm tone and comforting presence but didn’t ask questions, not wanting to draw more attention to her gun than she already had. If there was a class, then there was a test to pass to carry one and she would have to fight him on giving hers up, even temporarily. Since Versailles, the .357 was never out of reach, even when she was with Brady. It was a lesson she’d learned well.
The parking area was neatly crammed with a small lake of cars, trucks, jeeps, vans, and bikes, almost all sporting tattered American flags. The hoods were up on many of them. She saw a guard leaning under the front of a long, brown wagon and recognized him from the QZ. The former State Trooper was every cop who had pulled her over, from his suspicious green eyes, to the brow line on his forehead that refused to grow his brown curls any longer. Even the Beretta, slung high on his hip, was familiar, and she gave him a restrained nod, staying back.