by Angela White
Marc winced.
“Surprised me, too,” Adrian admitted when Marc didn’t respond, yet again. “She wants the baby enough to risk corruption.”
“Risk?” Marc asked. “It doesn’t mean she already is?”
“No. She chose bad people. No different than the variety of killers she’s got laboring for her now.”
“Variety?” Marc knew of two.
“She has five active right now, with three in reserve while they recover or age. As long as everyone sticks to their assigned chores, it could create a beautiful environment when enough of the assholes are gone.”
“And if even one of those people goes off-grid?”
“It’s not her killers that we have to watch out for,” Adrian stated gravely. “They’ve just gotten a taste of that freedom and they won’t risk it yet.”
“But Angie might, right?” Marc guessed.
“Yes. Taking a life force is different from taking a life. It corrupts the soul to take a pure force.”
“And the consuming thing she told me about?”
“That’s a myth,” Adrian informed him promptly. “Jack and his crew were animals who enjoyed acting that way. They also liked using the stories of their cannibalism to scare their targets. Made them easier to corner.”
Adrian’s words matched what Marc’s demon had told him, and he continued with the questions that worried voice hadn’t had any answers to. “Did you predict all of this? Is that what’s in your notebooks?”
“Yes.”
“And you’ve seen a lot more, all the way to the island and back?”
“Not back,” Adrian stated wistfully.
“Are you with us on the island?”
Adrian didn’t want to answer that and said, “It’s up to you, in the end.”
“Obviously I agree. Why?”
Adrian sighed. “Do you really want to do this now?”
“No, but it’s too late to shoot Kendle before she can heal you,” Marc growled, barely remembering to do it quietly. “Tell me.”
“Because what I told you was the truth. She needs more than you can give her. I’ve saved her life. So have you. And it’s not over, Marc, not by a long shot. It’ll take both of us to keep her alive.”
“Did it heal her enough to have the baby?”
“It healed her completely,” Adrian answered, adjusting the scope on his rifle to narrow in on Billy, who appeared to have fallen asleep while waiting for them to return. “Your daughter will be more beautiful than her mother.”
Marc didn’t like the feeling of bonding that was coming, but before he could break that mood with a snide remark, Adrian cleared his throat.
“David is a good man. Thank you for this, even though it was a cover.”
“Don’t confuse me with yourself,” Marc said. “I thought he and his men should have been allowed in and I know she refused them so you wouldn’t be alone.”
“Yes. She has hopes of reforming me.”
“Impossible!” Marc spat.
Adrian didn’t take the bait. Reform was easy. Following through on it was much harder. He would have to have a damn good reason to change and the one thing that could bring it about was forbidden to him and always would be.
“Not when I die,” Marc ground out, unable to leave it alone. Not knowing when and how was eating at him.
“I won’t do it when the time comes,” Adrian spouted angrily. “So tell her to make other plans. I’d kill you as fast as you would me.”
Marc didn’t know what they’d seen and it was frustrating, but he was forced to let it go as a shadow below them moved.
“Here we go,” Adrian whispered, aiming.
“Take him alive,” Marc ordered. “I at least want David’s body to take back if we’re too late to save him.”
“No worries,” Adrian bragged lightly. “The flea’s ass is in my crosshairs.”
The shadow approached the truck with a crossbow in one hand and a large knife in the other.
“Take the shot.”
Adrian fired.
The loud report echoed across the mountains and the shadow by Billy’s window dropped to the ground. Billy, following orders, remained in the truck.
“You’re up,” Marc told Adrian. “Go take one for the team.”
Adrian grimaced. “You got it, Mary.”
Marc recognized the nervous response. Adrian hadn’t been the one doing the dirty work for a long time.
Adrian approached the vehicle carefully and quickly, hoping Marc was covering his back and not aiming at it. He hurried to the fallen man and used his foot to roll him over.
He gestured to Billy, who flipped on the headlights for illumination. As the lights came on, another shot fired.
Adrian slumped against the hood, gasping at the pain. A double vest had stopped the slug from entering his shoulder, but the impact was still enough to stun him. He let the sensation take him to his knees and then to then ground, listening as he tried to forget that he’d been shot.
The body next to him immediately rose up, coming over to take his weapon and point it at Billy. Marc had been right to suspect this.
“I know you can hear me,” the man declared emotionlessly. “Stand up.”
Adrian did, not needing to fake the reaction. The blood wasn’t there, though, and the lurker realized it too late. Adrian swung with full strength and knocked him out with a hit to the temple before he could spin the gun and fire.
Another bullet slammed into Adrian, hitting flesh this time and he fell to the ground, rolling under the truck for protection.
Silence fell and the Eagles waited with ragged breathing for their shooter to come closer.
Inside the truck, Billy stayed down, listening in amazement as Adrian and Marc handled a pair of serial killers.
Marc waited patiently for the second man to show, very surprised there were two of them. It was rare.
The sound of a bike came and then Marc had it in his sight. He pulled the trigger gently and hit the rear tire of the Yamaha.
The bike skidded sideways and then slammed into the ground, flipping the rider into the air. It came down in a bed of weeds, not hard enough to have killed the rider, and Marc hurried down the hill as he unslung his rifle and drew his Colt.
The rider struggled to stand as Marc neared, and he stopped so they couldn’t reach him with a lunge. “Take the helmet off.”
The rider faced Marc and slowly pulled off the protective gear. “You won’t find them.”
Long brown hair streamed down and Marc realized this was more than rare. It was unheard of. “Husband and wife?”
The woman glanced at the still form on the ground near where Adrian was crawling out from under the truck. “Acquaintance, with common goals.”
“And what would that be?” Marc asked, scanning for weapons and not lowering his.
“To get you out here,” the woman answered, smiling insanely. “Hello, Der Ghost. We’ve been waiting for you.”
“There are more?” Billy asked from the window he’d lowered. Marc had told him not to leave the truck, at all, and he wasn’t going to.
The sound of bikes echoed and Marc said, “Three more. You’re not lurkers.”
The woman flashed black teeth and madness. “No. We’re from Benjamin.”
“He died in the bunker,” Marc stated, going cold at the memories. “Nice try.”
“We were sent before your bitch infiltrated the bunker,” the woman revealed as the bikes came down the same hill where Marc and Adrian had been hiding. “She succeeded, but so will we.”
“Why?” Adrian asked, wrapping a bandana around his bleeding arm. “There’s no one left alive to reward you.”
“Oh, we’ll have a reward,” the woman replied, motioning to her team with no fear of Marc’s guns. “We captured the Ghost and a Mitchel. All the rebels you’ve denied entrance will flock to us. In a few months, we’ll also take over your Safe Haven.”
“You think it’s that easy, huh? We’re
gonna go quietly?” Marc asked coolly at the bravado.
“You will or I’ll tell them to kill the man I’ve got stashed.”
Billy’s weapon appeared in the window. “Now?”
“Fire!” Marc shouted, diving toward the woman.
Billy aimed his weapon at the coming bikes and the three men didn’t have a chance to do the same as blood splattered and bikes crashed into each other from a carefully taken shot through the tire of the lead rider.
Marc held the woman, glad he didn’t sense any power in her. “It’s over. You lose.”
Instead of the anger or begging he’d expected, the woman cackled wildly.
“You gave the code with that action. Your man will be dead in half an hour.”
“Fuck!” Adrian grunted. “How many of these assholes are there?”
“More than a dozen,” the woman cackled. “You screwed up!”
Marc punched her in the face, knocking her out. He hadn’t counted on that many people hunting together.
“Get her home,” Marc ordered, dragging her heavy body to the truck. “Adrian and I have things to do and people to kill.”
Adrian immediately checked his weapon and waited for orders.
Marc stared around them, not hearing or seeing anything. He flipped on his gun light and headed in the most likely direction. He hadn’t planned to hunt in the dark, but maybe it was better this way. Innocent people would be in their dens right now, and wouldn’t be caught in the crossfire.
Marc gestured for Adrian to cover him, and then studied the ground as they walked. Tracking in the dark was hard, but he’d done it enough to have faith he would discover a trail. This was about more than their missing man now. It was a necessary thing that had to happen or Safe Haven would be under attack yet again.
“Let’s make sure that doesn’t happen,” Adrian stated, loading a fresh mag into his 9mm.
“You know it,” Marc replied coldly, not letting anger at Adrian distract him. For this run, Mitchel was probably the best support he could have.
Unless he gets a shot at me in the dark, Marc thought. One of us could die tonight.
Adrian grinned, but didn’t reply. He liked that Marc thought he was dangerous enough to worry over. Because I am. Watch your six with me. Despite my many appearances, I truly have no mercy.
Chapter Nineteen
Are You with Me?
1
“Drive her straight to the brig,” Angela ordered tiredly, signaling for the evening gate sentries to open them wide.
“Traitor!”
“Killer!”
The people of Safe Haven were not happy to have been woken with the news that someone had tried to hurt Marc.
“Hope you get a bullet!”
“Die, you traitor!”
Angela didn’t like the ugliness, but her people needed to vent a little and the woman in the van needed to be scared for her life. It was definitely in danger here.
The van threw dust over the small crowd of angry people and Angela hid a smirk. Billy didn’t like their hang ‘em high attitudes either and as an Eagle, his disapproval was as powerful as hers was.
She sent a hard look over the crowd that had come at Billy’s radio call, and they sullenly left. That instinct to hurt anything that might disturb their lives was one that Adrian had encouraged, even though it had seemed the opposite from outward appearance. Angela hoped to calm those fears in time, but as long as they had people hunting them, it was impossible to do it now.
“What type of security do you want on her?” Zack asked.
“Just you,” Angela stated, sweeping the waking camp. Dawn had come two hours early. “Handle it like Adrian would have.”
Zack’s brows furrowed, but he didn’t protest. He hated Adrian, and the fact that their routines and plans came from such trash rankled Zack.
He left her side and Angela waited for the locks to click on the gate. The future hadn’t been revealed to her, again, and Angela suspected it was because of what she’d done. Her guilt wouldn’t let her make plans to do it again, even if it was needed. Only for Marc or Charlie’s life would she ever murder and that made her tension worse. She knew trouble was coming. Marc’s demon hadn’t been wrong. She will have to let them die by the hundreds before the truth can be accepted.
You could try again, the witch suggested, meaning to convince everyone to flee south now.
I will, Angela answered, making eye contact with each of the relaxing men on the gate. “And some of them will listen.”
The ones who matter, will save themselves, the witch tossed out a platitude.
They all matter! Angela snapped. Every life matters to the Creator, and to me, so don’t forget that!
I did not mean to–
Stop. Angela sighed, calming down while also finding it troublesome that she was arguing with herself again. Life is the only thing that truly has value. Evil, good, in the middle–all of them. Some deaths serve a purpose and some are needed, but don’t mock their sacrifices. They all matter.
2
Angela swept the vicinity again, spotting Peggy moving through the darkness without Doug. She was avoiding him, not even stabbing the big man anymore. Doug was confused, but Angela wasn’t. If she didn’t want to talk to Doug, she was trying to keep him from discovering her other secret.
In the mess, Kyle and Jennifer were enjoying coffee and cocoa for their end of shift time. If they followed the new pattern Angela had noticed, they would go to the sleeping area next and spend time with three families there. The men that had died in Kyle’s wreck left people behind and Kyle was now caring for them personally. But for his one flaw (a young girl), Kyle would be a perfect man. It could still happen for him, in time, but Jennifer would have to get him over that obsession and Angela wasn’t positive that was even possible. People didn’t get over their obsessions. They learned to avoid them, much like children touching fire. It often took the burn, to learn the lesson.
Behind the mess, the sniper shifts were changing and Angela’s heart clenched as she spotted Charlie climbing down from the perch the Eagles had built. She wanted to keep staring, to give him the chance to acknowledge her, but she knew he was still furious and she turned away so that he couldn’t reject her. Her emotions liked to get out of control and while being pregnant had a little to do with that, it was mostly the stress of knowing what was coming.
In the front parking area, teams were already prepping to leave on new runs, including the men who were picking up Shane’s group. All of those men would be placed into Zone B for testing when they arrived, and so would Marc’s crew. Enforcing the quarantine laws was important, and they’d had contact with multiple strangers. The Eagles were assigned to Zone B, which had been emptied as new people were brought into the inner adjustment zone last night. None of them had been sent on their way and that had emptied both outside zones.
It wouldn’t be that way again while they were in these mountains. Until the snow comes, Angela corrected herself.
Their men would be clear in time to empty the space for Brittani’s group, but still be around when those people arrived–to add comfort.
“Can I talk to you?”
Angela found Cynthia behind her. “What’s up?”
“I’m worried about Samantha. So is Neil. Jeremy hasn’t said so yet, but he’s noticing stuff too.”
“She’s been sick,” Angela answered carefully. She wasn’t sure who all Samantha had told, but it appeared it had been few people and that her methods to keep such an awful secret had succeeded. Much like John and Doug, who had hid their illnesses, Samantha had gotten better at distracting people from the truth.
“She’s also reckless,” Cynthia said, glad Angela already knew there was a problem. “Conner told her not to go in.”
“She didn’t listen to her protection?”
“Protection?” Cynthia gasped. “You sent him down to protect us?”
“Of course,” Angela answered without offense. “He’s a healer
and it was a group of women carrying our future. The question is, why didn’t you guys know that?”
“He didn’t tell us,” Cynthia muttered, hating how Angela always managed to twist it around and come out on top. “Was he supposed to?”
“Yes. He’s young. Probably forgot.”
“Well, she wouldn’t have listened anyway,” the reporter stated. “She’s acting odd. Her guys are going to talk to you about it soon.”
“I know.” Angela waited for more and wasn’t surprise when it came.
“I need to interview Adrian for my paper, but I’d like to take a guard along.”
“A witness, you mean,” Angela clarified.
“Yes. I won’t have people thinking I’m like Kendle or worse, Daryl feeling betrayed. I’ll need about an hour, I think, and that’s it.”
“It’s fine,” Angela granted. “You can even take Daryl if you like.”
“Really? Won’t that cause tension?”
Angela glanced over at Cynthia. “Worse than the questions you plan to ask?”
“No, but I…”
“You aren’t going to stay on business,” Angela finished when Cynthia paused. “Take whoever you trust, Cyn. It’s fine.”
Grateful and yet, still resentful, the reporter left, casting long looks over her shoulder. How can I like Angela and dislike Angela, at the same time?
I don’t know, but I do, Cynthia answered herself. There’s something going on with her and I won’t like it when I discover what it is.
No, you won’t, Angela agreed sadly, scanning Cynthia’s thoughts. I can’t let you give birth and you’ve sensed the ticking clock.
That bell was set to go off in a few weeks and Angela didn’t intend to stop it. That baby was worse than dangerous. He was true evil and he already liked to hurt people.
3
“What the hell is wrong with these people?” Samantha whispered in disgust. Adrian had dropped her off at the bottom of the mountain road and she had made her way on foot to be positive she was undetected. She had followed the bike trail from David’s capture location while Marc let the chaos happen, and she’d found the den. On the front, on the porch, were naked men chained to the railings and dying of hunger, dehydration, and exposure. In the side yard of the wide farmhouse, under a giant willow tree, there appeared to be a bone pile. Samantha was afraid to sweep the rear.