by Angela White
Charlie lifted his hand, wanting to feel her skin.
“Excuse me.”
They both spun from the powerful moment to find the new boy–Conner–leaning against the door.
“You done? I gotta piss.”
Flushing scarlet, Tracy hurriedly ducked under Charlie’s arm and fled the camper, forgetting her cleaning supplies.
Conner limped toward the stall and Charlie went to help the wounded teenager, trying not to be angry about the interruption.
At least he had finally let Tracy know where he was going with things. And she hadn’t exactly said no. He’d had to let her in a little to reach her. Sometimes that was hard to do here. So many of the refugees had ugly, greedy minds that hurt him. It was a relief to discover that Tracy wasn’t corrupt. Her concern was for hurting the dream
Or you, his demon offered. She doesn’t want you risking your neck for her.
“Too late for that,” Charlie murmured, waiting for Conner to finish.
“She’s hot. Yours?”
Conner’s question was blunt, curious, and friendly. Charlie didn’t pick up any disapproval. It made him careless.
“Before the year is out, she will be.”
Conner took in the determined fire and recognized the common soul. Charlie was like him…was Adrian his father?
Charlie didn’t correct the thought, but he did bring up a thick wall. He now had secrets that he would defend, harshly if provoked.
3
Angela flushed as she came from the tent. “How long have you been waiting?”
“Just got here.” Kyle chuckled at what was clearly a lie.
“Uh-huh.”
Kyle snickered. “Maybe I should be later tomorrow?”
“By an hour!” Marc called from inside the tent.
Angela and Kyle laughed as they began walking.
Kyle handed her a paper. “Nearest spring and places for supply pick-ups along the way. The water from the hot spring is thermal. Do we still have to clean it even though it’s sterile?”
“Yes. Some of that water is roughly 4,000 years old. We’re not taking any chances with it. Who knows what nature might have cooked up down there? Try to collect from areas that are covered with green boxes. They were used as protection from debris and other contaminants.” The page went into her pocket. “What else?”
“Did a spot count. Our thief is back.”
Angela’s mind went to Danny, who she’d helped to expose. “Another one?”
“Yes. We caught Danny red-handed, but Adrian was sure there was a second thief,” Kyle said. “We didn’t catch anyone else.”
Angela stored that. “I’ll handle it. Next?”
“Seth’s on Point, as per Marc’s instructions, off at lunch.” He paused, flipping pages. “Radio’s been quiet, but there were campfires in the distance last night. Zack checked it out, says they’ll probably all come by today. More sheep, not shepherds, that he saw... We’re good here for a few more days, unless that creek goes up. It’s cleared and netted. No one has duty over it, but we’ll go by it on rounds.”
“Any signs of life?”
“No, but it was dark. Might have overlooked things like that.”
Angela slowed, noting the long lines. “Got a little more room. Keep going.”
Kyle referred to the next page. “Questions from Conner on what all he’s allowed to do and Jennifer wants to know when she gets to help.”
Angela thought of what she’d seen. “Conner, I’ll handle myself. Tell Jennifer: when she’s not weeks away from getting by the danger date. Tell her we need those babies more than we need a hand.”
Kyle had told her the same thing, but Jenny was worried about losing her place.
“Who is Li’s assistant today?”
Kyle moaned in mock annoyance. “I forgot to give him one, so he drafted his own. Tonya.”
“That explains the lines.”
“Yeah. We’re keeping an eye on her.”
Angela was noticed by those around them. She plastered a welcoming expression on, scanning the herd. She found worry, restlessness, boredom and suspicion everywhere, but little anger or hostility as she got into line and was surrounded.
“How’s Adrian?”
“When’s he comin’?”
“Why did he put you in charge?”
Angela tried to keep her patience. “Hello. I’ve missed you, too. Yes, I’m fine and it’s nice to be back.”
Her gentle reminder was ignored.
“Come on!”
“Quit stalling.”
Angela scowled, piercing those closest with a cool glare. “Adrian’s fine–recovering. He and John will decide when he’s able to return, and that’s a question you’ll have to ask Adrian. Now can I eat here or should I go back to the QZ mess?”
They returned to their seats, leery and confused. They wanted answers, but she could only deliver them when it was time, when instinct said to. Right now, it said to set requirements on the respect they showed her.
Angela walked through the full mess to the center table…her heart clenched for an instant. The wooden table was covered in good wishes from the entire camp, even the benches.
Angela was still reading them when Tracy sat down across from her.
“It was Leslie’s idea,” Tracy stated, wanting credit to go where it was due.
Angela traced the swirls and lines with an absent finger, deep in thought. Tracy’s next words snapped her into the present place and time.
“Will you look…for me?”
Angela, relying heavily on manipulations to keep control, understood the benefits from Tracy’s side, but she also saw them from her own.
“Why don’t you ask Charlie?”
Tracy didn’t look up from swirling her spoon through instant potatoes. “Because you can make him stay away from me, if you find bad things. I can’t do that.”
“Why not?” Angela was already sure of the answer.
Tracy’s cheeks flushed and her voice lowered to an embarrassed mutter. “He got in my head.”
“And?” Angela prompted, tone cold. She’d known it was coming.
“And he said he’ll come for me–openly–the day he makes a team.”
Angela took that in, surprised. “Marc told him at least a year.”
“I know, but in a year, if he keeps wearing me down…” Tracy sighed, miserably defensive. “I won’t be able to say no. If it’s not gonna work, you have to keep him out. I can’t do it now.”
Angela leaned closer, voice growing pointed. “Do you honestly think it will take Charlie a full year to make a team?”
Tracy paled as she understood. “Before he’s fifteen?”
Angela wanted to comfort, but she wasn’t quite capable. She got as close to unbiased as she could.
“I doubt the camp would kick up much fuss. Charlie appears to be able to do whatever he wants in this camp–like he’s Adrian’s…”
Angela stopped herself from saying the rest.
Tracy missed the pause in her sweep of the camp.
When she lingered over Angela’s shoulder, there was no doubt it meant trouble.
Ignoring the arriving people who called greetings or came toward her, Angela stood up, now fixed on the two men sitting alone with Jennifer. They had their backs to the center table, had missed the sudden silence that allowed everyone to hear their cruel words.
“Should have thrown you in a creek.”
“Just a problem we’ll have to get rid of later.”
“We don’t want your kind here.”
Angela’s pace quickened. If Kyle heard that…
“Damn.”
Angela heard Marc’s steps behind her. His mild curse made her brace for the noise that was coming. Kyle obviously had heard them.
The mobster flew by them an instant later.
Tucker and Anderson saw him coming–or maybe felt it. Both men hurried to defend themselves, but it was already too late. Kyle’s fists rained down like thick pis
tons, firing until blood began to drip.
Those closest scattered, but it was contained to a rear corner. Kyle’s swift, vicious hits kept the men trapped.
Marc waited for Angela to stop him…and waited.
Daryl finally got Kyle’s attention. “Jennifer’s bleeding.”
Kyle shoved Tucker’s half-conscious frame away, spitting at him, “You’re out of the Eagles! You show up for a meeting and I’ll put you down on the spot!”
Marc was still waiting for Angela to stop this, to take charge…and finally realized that she wasn’t going to. It was a camp lesson. Her first.
Kyle carefully picked Jennifer up and stepped lightly. His face, terrifying seconds before, was no concerned and loving. The instant flip was powerful. The camp never saw Kyle when he was at his most dangerous or his most vulnerable. This was a reminder that there was a reason he was their top Eagle.
As he went by, Angela noticed Daryl giving Crone, a member of their team, a nasty glare and stored it. After handing out punishments to Seth and Kyle, Daryl and his team had become looked to by the camp as enforcers of a sort. Just like her predecessor had, Angela was encouraging it. She knew Daryl was currently spying on Crone, who he thought was spending too much time with one of the young girls from Cesar’s camp.
Angela turned to the two bloody men who were slowly picking themselves up.
“Go spend some time with Doug. He has chores.”
Tucker and Anderson were in no shape to argue.
As they limped off without even basic medical care, Angela hit her button. “Send a clean-up crew to the main mess. Code Two.”
Code Two meant it had to be disinfected. Angela helped the Eagles carry the soiled tables and benches out of the mess. The clean-up crew would spread sawdust over the blood splatters and then work on the tables. Within a short time, the mess would be restored. They were getting good at cleaning up after themselves.
Angela turned to Kyle and Jennifer, and caught the brief look that he exchanged with Tracy. In the quick glance, Angela read concern for Jennifer, but also a bond between him and Tracy that shouldn’t have been there. She wasn’t the only one who noticed.
Wrapped over his arm, head on his big shoulder, Jennifer also saw the look and instantly added up the clues.
“You lied to me!”
Already leaving sporadic drips, blood began to roll over Kyle’s arm and fall to the dirt in ominous splatters.
“Where’s he going with no punishment?”
“Why is he allowed to beat people?”
“Teacher’s pet,” someone promptly supplied.
The disorder around them rang in Angela’s mind and despair came for the first time. If they couldn’t understand that Anderson and Tucker had deserved what they got, how would she ever get them to fight for her?
“These people don’t stand a chance against the government,” she muttered. “I need more weapons.”
Kevin grunted agreement as they went to help the Eagles settle things down.
A group of men eating close by exchanged pointed looks. Each of the five men were Eagles, but none of them had been noticed yet. They’d bonded during teamwork and had been trying to come up with an idea that would give them some glory while doing something big for the camp.
“Weapons,” Theo repeated quietly, dropping his eyes to the lunch that they were nearly finished with. “I might have built a few things like that in my time.” He raised a brow, including the others. “Anyone else?”
All of them raised a subtle finger. Engineers were notorious weapons examiners. Some loved them and some hated them, but everyone wanted to know how they worked.
Theo returned to his beef Manhattan. “Anyone want to meet in my tent after evening mess for cards? Closed game.”
The time was narrowed down and the five Eagles faded back into obscurity, but the sense that their purpose had just been revealed was clear.
4
Charlie took Conner to Adrian, calling a quiet greeting to John and Anne.
“How is he?”
“I’ll live,” Adrian croaked.
The boys each took a side of the bed as John left Jennifer’s cot to inspect Conner’s wound. The pregnant girl was sedated. Kyle was in the chair at her side, looking broken.
Charlie shot a quick thought down to Adrian while everyone was distracted.
Conner thinks you’ve fathered other children since him, that I’m yours.
I wish you were. Adrian slammed the wall down too late.
Charlie’s face darkened. “She doesn’t!”
Adrian’s pain was almost tangible. I know. It’s always ‘my Brady’.
Charlie withered under his idol’s sarcastic misery. “I’m sorry.”
Adrian held out a hand. “So am I, son. You’ll help me stay out?”
Charlie slowly took Adrian’s hand. His anger, most of it anyway, came from remembering how he’d once wished for Adrian to be his dad.
You have to leave them alone. It will destroy Safe Haven.
“I’d never hurt my sheep...” Adrian’s body relaxed as sleep claimed him again.
“I believe in you.” Charlie patted his hand, understanding the drugs were in control of Adrian’s mind right now.
Conner turned to find Charlie bent low in concern, hand gripping Adrian’s.
He promised! He wasn’t supposed to have more kids!
Conner straightened, rage pulsing. “Did he kill your mother, too?”
Charlie gently covered Adrian up. “Almost. He used her for bait to draw out the slavers. It saved the whole camp and turned her into someone I don’t know most days.”
Conner tried to sneer, but the pain of losing his mom made him sympathetic to the misery he read in Charlie’s mind. He settled for warning, “Watch out. Once he’s in her head, she’s lost.”
Charlie understood that’s why Adrian had said stay out, not away. The more time he spent with her mentally, the stronger the bond would become.
Charlie flashed a surprised grin at Conner. “You don’t know it, but you just helped me out, big time. I may even owe you for it.”
Charlie left without explaining that if he spent mental time with Tracy, she would want him. It always worked that way with their kind. Hadn’t Adrian himself said so during one of their private talks?
Yes. Charlie pulled up the correct memory file.
“They don’t even have to like us for the bonds to start. Be careful who you choose to ensnare. You may not be able to get rid of them.”
Charlie’s pace quickened. He knew exactly what to do now. He did owe Conner. Maybe they could even be friends or something once Conner was placed in the Jr. Eagles. He couldn’t hang out with Conner until that happened. An unproven friend didn’t factor into Charlie’s plans.
5
“The bleeding stopped, but it’s only a matter of time. No way she’ll make it to September.”
Angela had been fairly sure, but still hoping to be wrong. If nothing changed, the twins would be here before the government.
“And Adrian?” she forced herself to ask.
“He’ll live,” John responded.
Angela had been waiting to hear John say it before letting herself believe. She hadn’t been sure, either. His wounds had become infected so fast that it was a miracle.
“When will he…”
“A while,” John snapped. He’d already heard the question too many times to pretend he had any patience left. “At least two weeks.”
Angela understood John was protecting his patient, but these people needed Adrian at the helm as soon as possible. “Any chance of half that? He won’t want to lie around, and we’ll pump him full of energy.”
John wasn’t ready to deny it could happen. “I’d be surprised.”
Angela had to let it go at that. “Two weeks, huh?” She sighed, staring at Adrian’s medication-calmed face. Want to or not, she could tell how weak he was, how the infection had drained him.
“Fine. I’ll adjust for two
weeks instead of one. How soon can he travel?”
“Five days for camp travel.”
“Too long,” Angela denied, adjusting her plans on the fly. “Have him ready in three.”
She didn’t stay to hear the arguments that she already knew. They were on a deadline. She couldn’t afford the extra days here. That one delay might cost them in the end, and she wasn’t taking the chance. Jennifer and Adrian’s health would be covered as best they could. The rest was up to fate.
“Good girl,” Adrian muttered, now surfacing in quick, blurry moments.
John scowled, but didn’t scold. She was Safe Haven’s leader. The camp came first. Adrian had trained her well, and John hated him a little for it. The gentle Angela who had joined them in South Dakota wasn’t coming back.
6
Refusing to dwell on morbid thoughts, Angela went to the little mess. She didn’t need to call Kevin over when he saw her quick stride. He appeared at her hip with his notebook out before she could hit the button on her radio.
Angela settled at the center table as Li Sing hurried over with hot tea. She thanked him, and waited until he was out of earshot to start handing out instructions.
“Adrian needs the magic users. They’ll each have five minutes, every day for the next three. Tell them I said he’s empty. It’s been a while since Adrian was forced to draw. He’s usually surrounded, and they’ll need to insist.”
Confused, Kevin noted it for later. “How do I…”
“Talk to Kenn and Kyle first. They’re tight these days for some reason that I should probably be worried over.”
Kevin didn’t like that. “I’ll look into that, too.”
Angela didn’t tell him no. That part of Kevin’s new job–spying and rumor-gathering–was what would keep a leader abreast of coming trouble.
“I want Leslie on the QZ today. Give her a senior man who won’t be a distraction. She has to know how to work these kids.”
Angela observed Peggy and Hilda walking by on the other side of the tape, and Anne coming from inside the QZ toward them. The trio stopped, talking casually at first, but the conversation apparently took an interesting turn because all three females lowered their voices and went toward a less traveled section of the circular path that wound through camp.