That thought made him feel worse. It was unfair of them to deny her the chance that Adrian had given them, and Brady suddenly wanted to see her succeed as much as he wanted her to forget the idea. He hated the thought of her being refused anything she truly wanted, and it was clear that this was top on her list right now, even above his feelings.
“Not fair,” he muttered, ashamed. Their time was in the future if they had one and he had no right to expect her to sit quietly and wait. Being a Marine had been the highlight of his life most years and she wanted the same comforts.
“And strength,” he stated to himself, drawing attention from passing men that he ignored. “In case they come for her and we can’t protect this camp.”
“You think so, too?”
Marc wasn’t surprised to see Adrian just outside the perimeter, behind the Qz. “Yes. She’ll turn herself over to save her son and these people. Never doubt it.”
“I don’t.”
“That’s why she’s agreeing to this.”
Adrian didn’t tell him that wasn’t the only reason. Deep down, the Wolfman already knew it was more. “It won’t come to that. Those are not my reasons.”
Marc’s eyes hardened. “I know yours, too, but I don’t agree with all the secrecy. You’re lying to them too much.”
To his surprise, Adrian agreed. “I know.”
The Leader paused to light a smoke in the thick breeze. “But until they’re stronger, this is the way it has to be. When they’re ready, honesty will come from all of us.”
The blond slipped back into the shadows with those words and Marc frowned. What did that mean?
Tired and stressed, he moved toward one of the empty tents with his kit, thinking it would still be a while before the doctors had everyone cleared. Seth was on her heels, the wolf was out there watching over Charlie, and Marc intended to get a couple extra hours of sleep. Hell, maybe he’d stay in the Qz until morning and be saved the trouble of putting his tent back up in camp later.
Trying to let go of his thoughts for a while, Marc tossed his kit into the corner and followed it down. One quick tug had it open and him laying on it, not bothering with his boots or a light. It felt good to stretch… Marc’s hand brushed something stiff under the thick padding and he was up an instant later.
He snapped on the penlight around his neck and yanked the top layer back. There was a slip of paper and something dark swaying with the breeze he’d created. Uneasy, he bent down and picked them both up as he re-holstered.
The wind howled against the tent, pushing the cold draft through and the scent of vanilla teased his nose. He relaxed, thinking Angie had slipped him a note like a school kid. He inhaled deeply of the lock of hair, its softness and ebony color marking who it belonged to, and he turned the small photo over eagerly, wondering what she’d left for him to see.
Marc gasped, body clenching in hurt. The photo was one he recognized instantly from his time on base, and fury began to pound in his head at the graphic image of Kenn and Angie in bed together. Showing only her upper body, it was enough to tell she had ropes around her wrists.
Marc felt the rage filling his head, but didn’t try to pull it back. Kenn had flashed this photo around, making cracks and snide remarks about how he owned the woman in the picture. To realize that had been Angie was more than Marc could take and he turned toward the flap. Kenn would pay for every word, Brady vowed, stepping from the tent with eager feet. Where was that cruel bastard?
Kenn was waiting on the other side of the yellow tape, full of triumph, as their glares met across the distance. “Boo-ya!” He celebrated silently as he braced himself to take what Brady was about to dish out, aware of not only camp members who would see it, but also Adrian, who was talking with the guards on the Qz. Perfect.
Angela stepped from the camper with wet hair and hurriedly thrown on clothes, finding Marc’s furious form already moving toward Kenn. She ran hard, but it wasn’t fast enough to stop the effects of Kenn’s surprise.
Picture now wadded inside his clenched fist, Marc’s mind only registered his target, and he didn’t stop to duck under the tape as he swung.
Kenn hit the ground, grunting, and held himself still as Marc swung again. This hit sent blood flying from his mouth and so did the next.
Beyond reason, Brady used his fists steadily on the Marine, fury only growing when Kenn didn’t fight back. That’s how Angie felt! his pride shouted and he swung again.
Kenn waited for someone to pull Marc off, allowing himself to be hit repeatedly.
Thud!
His head snapped to the side, blood spraying, and then Marc was shoving the photo into his mouth, sitting on his chest to hold him down.
“Eat that you worthless fuck! Isn’t so easy when your victim hits back, is it!”
Kenn was struggling now, but Marc’s rage made him stronger as he shoved the wadded image deeper.
“Fucking coward!”
Marc was grabbed from behind and torn away, slung into the dirt by Doug’s huge arms.
“Stop it!” Angie’s voice barely registered.
Marc lunged back toward Kenn the instant he hit his feet. “I’ll kill you!”
Kenn saw the Eagles were now standing between them and rolled over, coughing.
The photo he’d torn from his mouth drifted in the scuffle and Neil casually put his boot over it.
“Stop it!” Doug’s rough shake had Marc drawing back.
The Irishman gave him another jerk. “Snap out of it, grunt!”
He sounded so much like a superior officer that Marc was able to regain some control - until he turned to see Kenn’s smirking grin and then he was lunging again.
“What did you do?” Kyle demanded of Kenn, he and Seth using their bodies to keep Marc back.
“Nothing. I was just standing here and he attacked me!”
“You lying bastard!” Marc exclaimed, struggling harder.
Neil retrieved the photo while everyone was distracted.
“I’ll rip your heart out!”
“That’s enough, Marine.” Adrian stepped in front of the Wolfman, words cold. “Stand down!”
Jarred out of his rage at the tone, Marc was startled at the hostility. Why was the blond pissed at him?
“You need to work off some steam. Go help Chris.”
Realizing the mess he’d been provoked into creating, Marc wrenched away from the strong arms holding him back and moved toward the vet area.
Angela watched him go with worry lurking in her heart. They were pushing him too hard. If Kenn wasn’t careful, Brady would kill him.
Satisfied he’d done the best he could, Kenn picked himself up, subtly hunting around for the photo.
“What did you do to him?” Angela demanded.
The Marine sneered. “I told you, nothing.” Assuming the wind had blown it away, he turned toward the larger camp, wiping at his bloody face.
“He’s not safe to have here if this is how he acts. I didn’t say one word to him today.”
The Eagles sent a disapproving glare after his retreating back.
“He did something,” Kyle stated.
Neil nodded, the photo tucked safely in his pocket. “Yeah, he set him up to get in trouble and got away with it. We can’t let that happen twice.”
7
Adrian’s last stop of the night was Kyle and Neil, who were standing watch over the far corner of the Qz while they waited to be cleared. Adrian approached them from the rear, listening hard.
“That’s the worst thing he could have done, though. Didn’t he know Kenn was trying to get him in trouble?”
“Check this out and tell me you’d have done different.”
Kyle’s quick intake of breath was part lust and part anger. “That son of a bitch! Those are ropes!”
“Exactly, but we can’t show this or it’ll help seal it with the camp, that she’s Kenn’s. Or get him banished and hurt Adrian’s plans.”
“Burn it.”
“I wil
l… Did you hear that?”
“… a patrol going by.”
“I’m telling you…”
Kyle waved a hand. “It’s Adrian.”
The blond stepped from the shadows, grinning. “I still remember the first time I did that. Both of you nearly shot me.”
Kyle grinned back, but Neil closed his mouth, now feeling on the outside after everything that had happened today.
“One of the rookies still might, Boss,” Kyle joked, eyes taking a fast sweep to ensure everything was okay.
Adrian didn’t say anything about what he’d overheard. “I’d like to talk to you guys.”
Guilty, Neil opened his mouth, “I’m sorry, I am.”
Adrian pinned him with a hard look, while continuing as if he hadn’t been interrupted. “I need honest impressions on what value she might add to my army and that means yours too, Neil.”
The jab hit well and the Trooper dropped his head, ashamed. “I didn’t mean to hurt her.”
“Answer my question and we’ll handle the other shit later,” Adrian snapped, very tired. “We’re wasting time with your emotions.”
Kyle winced at the slap, but it seemed to wake Neil from the self-pity haze he’d been wearing all evening.
“Her… power speaks for itself. I’d vote for it on that reason alone…” Neil sighed, realizing he believed what he was saying. “And she’s good on some things. She likes it as much as we do - the fighting anyway. She’d probably be easy to teach.”
“No one expects this to be smooth at first. Ease up on her and yourself. If it all falls, I seriously doubt either of you will be the cause of it.” Adrian turned to Kyle expectantly.
“She’s got my vote, did after the airport kids, but today seals the deal. We mighta lost half the camp if she hadn’t stopped us.”
“The slide was east of us, not west,” Neil pointed out, not seeing what they meant. Kyle was the only one Adrian had told about the mental map. They’d marked the places together.
Kyle ignored him. “She’s a Level Two fighter right now and a Level Four, or maybe even Five with a gun. That sounds like the start of a good Eagle with the right personal training.”
Adrian took a sheet of paper from his pocket and gave it to Kyle. “Check those lessons over and tell me what you think.” Adrian’s voice lowered. “You and Neil only for a while.”
“You think he’ll come around enough to do it?” The Mobster asked, not worried that his friend could hear them.
“Absolutely. Neil is one of the good guys. He needs to accept that he can trust her with our lives. When he does, he’ll be her biggest defender. After the wolf, of course.”
All three men laughed at that, the tension broken, and the light of Safe Haven’s boundaries began to glow with powerful magic.
Their bonds circled the camp and started weaving a golden net of invisible protection over them. Weakened by anger and strengthened by love, the glimmering strands crisscrossed through the night, creating a bubble only a few of them could see, but all of them could feel in one way or another. Six of Safe Haven’s guardians had gathered and their power was strong.
8
“The problem is fuel.”
José’s voice was annoyed. “They have to drive the tank in some places, to crush a path through.”
Cesar slammed his scarred fist onto the hood of the muddy gold convertible, knocking his bottle to the dirt. “They must move faster!”
José reluctantly lowered his eyes. One day soon, this camp would be his and maybe sooner than Cesar may suspect, if he didn’t find a fresh batch of women to ease the restlessness of their men. “I will tell them.”
Careful not to let the wind rip it from his fingers, the younger Mexican handed Cesar a dirty baggie with slips of paper inside. “Rick’s message.”
Cesar read through the sheets quickly, glowering at the warnings he read. The white man was telling him to wait, but Cesar had no intentions of doing that. The tank team was on their way and in a few days, Safe Haven would belong to him!
The Slaver looked over the remnants of the refugee camp, despising the signs he saw of rebuilding and strength. These people were organized, powerful. He had to stop them now.
“No whiskey. Tell them that as well.”
Groans met this order, but no one protested despite Cesar rolling them by a town yesterday that clearly had survivors. They hadn’t taken a town in over a week and the Guerillas were unhappy. Not nearly as much as Cesar, though. The stocky Slaver was in a foul mood today and they knew better than to cross him.
One of his whores had managed to get his gun and kill herself. Normally, he wouldn’t have cared, but this one had been pregnant with the first of his many bastards and he took it as a bad omen for his plans to seed America with his descendants. Timed with the defiance of these patriotic refugees, the only answer seemed to be killing them all.
Chapter Three
April 7th, 2013
Pitcairn Island
1
“I still think this is a bad idea.”
Luke’s voice was stern. “It might weaken your system to do so much, too soon.”
Kendle ran a red hand through her short black spikes. “It’s been four days since I’ve even sneezed!” She smiled innocently at him. “Can I come out and play now?”
Luke chuckled. “We’re going, under protest.”
Kendle was glad. Her minor cold had come on suddenly and LJ had made her stay in bed, wanting to be sure she didn’t have a relapse. If she didn’t get back outside for a while, she’d suffocate.
“I’m fine, really.”
“The second you start showing signs, I’m picking you up and bringing you back here.”
The movie star’s grin widened. “You know there’s only one way to make sure I stay in bed, right?”
Magic sparked between them and the former pilot laughed. “I thought about that, too, but we need provisions.”
“Yeah, like razors,” she muttered, thinking of the jungle on her legs. No way she was letting LJ get anywhere near her until she could shave.
“You got your jacket?”
This time, she couldn’t stop a slight sharpness to her tone. “Yes. I also have extra socks and water. Can we go now?”
Luke sighed, feeling her impatience. He was always impressed with her ability to do what she needed to without railing against fate. The woman he’d watched on TV before the War was a risk-taker, not afraid of any danger, and it had to bother her that she now had limits.
“Yes. Let me lock things up.”
That had her brow puckering. They’d only recently begun to lock the cabin when they went somewhere. It was a result of two women on the island going missing. All the evidence pointed to them being abducted from their bedrooms, and the townspeople were up in arms. There had already been two searches, both of which Luke had locked her in for and joined, but no signs of the women or their attackers had been found. It was causing changes on this small island that even the end of the world hadn’t.
Kendle turned toward the jungle, not wanting Luke to see what she was thinking about again. The people here refused to believe there had been a War, despite all the signs. She and Luke had made a second trip to town yesterday, and left without any supplies after getting into an argument with two other patrons in Baxter’s. The men had overheard her comment about the sunsets, comparing them to the shots of the sky after a nuclear detonation, and it hadn’t taken much from there to spark the fuse. Admit it or not, the people here were worried that whatever had happened might find its way to this tropical paradise and denial was how they were handling it.
“And sarcasm,” she muttered, flushing at the memory of their words. She’d never been called a whore so clearly to her face and it was still stinging. Even seeing Luke knock the snob on his ass didn’t help. He’d gotten her back on the bike and out of sight before the tears came and she’d let them run down his back, unable to do more than hang on. As LJ sped them furiously home, she had been sur
e that would be the last time they went to town for supplies. Whatever they needed from here, they’d make or go see the crazy woman for.
“Ready?”
Kendle shifted her pack more firmly onto her shoulders. “I’m right behind ya.”
Instead of moving toward the jungle, Luke stopped by her and held out a thin cord of strong rope. “Around your waist.”
Kendle did it without argument, handing him the ends back so he could tie it the way he wanted. She knew she should have thought of it, tied was the only way she’d ever let her crew travel through a jungle, but the time before seemed so far away most days that she often forgot who she’d been.
Luke dropped into the soft grass at her jean-clad legs, hoping this wasn’t as bad an idea as it suddenly felt like. His hands snaked around her, tugging the ropes into place.
When he stood up, so close and warm, Kendle leaned in to place a soft kiss on his jaw. “Thank you.”
He let the worry out a little, gruff tone covering his response to her action. “Stay close.”
Kendle watched him move back and tie the other end of the rope around his own waist, leaving them about four foot of space. She laughed, “Like I could get far in this setup.”
Luke didn’t grin back. If not for them being out of so much, he’d put his foot down and stay here. This was a two day trek and funny things were happening on the island. Besides the missing women and fruitless searches, there were also rumors of townspeople seeing non-residents in the jungle that fled when spotted. There had also been two people who swore they had heard boat engines over the last week.
He and Kendle had only been in town for a little while, but there had been more of the residents there at one time than Luke had ever seen. Each of the small rooms the shopkeepers sometimes rented out were full of their neighbors who lived in the more isolated areas. Bad times had found their way to Pitcairn Island after all, he thought.
Luke set an easy pace and for a while, there were only the sounds of the island around them. Kendle let her mind wander. She was still so grateful to be on land that it was common to find her staring at the sand or trees for long minutes. Being surrounded by nature was a sedative to her nerves that increased when they continued to get further from the roar of the ocean. She was looking forward to the liquid death not being the first thing she heard upon waking for once and her steps were light. She’d survived and she wasn’t alone. It was still enough to make her happy and she followed contentedly, enjoying the sights and smells.
Adrian's Eagles: Book Four (Life After War) Page 8