by Angela White
13
Angela left the Eagles to get rid of the bodies, not caring that Marc had hurt the traitors for information. This was War.
Marc didn’t feel ashamed, but he was worried about Angela’s reaction. It hadn’t taken much pain to break the men, it never did, but that didn’t mean she was okay with it.
“Neither of them knew about the other,” Marc stated, blocking the images from his mind so Angela didn’t get them. “They were told to settle in and wait until the 8th of July to carry out their orders. Each one was probably forced. Those two had family inside the bunker that were going to be turned out.”
The disgust in Marc’s voice was thick. “They heard Safe Haven’s calls before Cesar attacked NORAD, knew we would be a future problem. How many more sleepers are here, waiting for their given dates to act?”
“Many,” the demons warned Marc at the same time.
“But it doesn’t change the path,” Angela sated, eyes foggy. “You have work in the west.”
Marc grimaced. “Ugly, bloody work.”
“I’ll love you no matter how much of it you spill, Brady.”
Marc kissed her lightly. “I’m your ghost now.”
“Little Rock Air Force Base can be your defense operations center,” Adrian stated, hoping his tone didn’t show his jealousy. “There’s a river and three reservoirs within a hundred clicks. It has medical facilities, barracks, stables and supply warehouses, terrain restrictions, and natural obstacles that will make it hard for them to cross.”
“It’s also near a lot of places we can use to resupply,” Marc agreed.
“If you can’t hold it, you can slow them down by blocking the routes with concreted cars,” Kenn suggested.
Marc didn’t need their ideas. He had his own.
He gave Adrian a pointed glare and left the tent.
Adrian immediately figured out what was coming and began trying to brace against the joy and pain. He would have a visit shortly.
14
Adrian glanced up to find Marc taking the bench across from him at the deserted Mess, dressed for silent infiltration tactics.
He met Brady’s bitter gaze gravely. “You shouldn’t have told her that.”
Marc tried not to be angrier that Adrian already knew. “You’re monitoring her.”
“Of course,” Adrian admitted. “But in this case, I asked myself what I would do, in your place.”
Marc raised a brow. “And?”
Adrian grunted. “I’d need to know that if I didn’t make it back, she and my son would be cared for.”
“And will you?” Marc demanded angrily. “Or will you use them up?”
Adrian winced at the accusation. “I’ll care for her as if she were mine.”
Marc scowled. “If I don’t return, she will be.”
Adrian closed his eyes. “Yes.”
“You do realize you’ll have to snap out of this plan of yours to stay out of her way, right? You’ll have to be closer than that.”
“Yes.”
Marc studied the man he could have idolized if not for feeling this coming. “And when I return? You expect to share?”
“She’s not like Samantha,” Adrian back sent defensively. “She’s yours until you die. You know that.”
“Yes.”
Marc hesitated and Adrian sighed. “Safe Haven needs you. I expect you’ll be back in a month to reclaim what’s yours.”
“And until then?”
Adrian’s eyes opened to reveal tortured eagerness and dread. “I’ll love her.”
Marc spun from the tent before he could protest. That was what he wanted. No one else would look out for Angie the way Adrian would.
15
Marc spotted Charlie by the trucks and joined him, glad the teenager wasn’t shouting anymore. Charlie hadn’t taken it well when he’d learned that Marc was leaving.
“You okay?”
Charlie kept his attention on the ground. “Yep.”
“You gonna stay pissed and shut me out the whole time I’m gone? Be pissy and refuse to give me updates?”
Charlie wanted to return fire, but the worry was too strong. “No. Be careful!”
Charlie threw his arms around Marc for a tight hug that Brady returned. He barely remembered the time when he hadn’t known his son, hadn’t loved him.
“I’m coming back.”
“Say it again!” Charlie demanded, wiping at tears.
Marc grinned. “I’m coming back, boy. My word on it.”
“Good,” Charlie stated, glancing at the medical tent. “If you don’t…”
Marc sighed unhappily. “He wouldn’t make a bad father, if I...”
Charlie punched Marc in the mouth.
“Don’t ever say that! You’re my dad! Always!”
Marc shook off the surprise from the uppercut and clutched the boy close. “I’m coming back.”
Marc and his chosen team left the safety and warmth of home a few minutes later. He refused to let himself stare in the mirrors. There was only the future now, this mission ahead of him, and he would keep it that way. Anything less and he’d never make it home.
“You may not survive, even if you do return,” the demon warned.
Marc knew that, too. Coming here after the battle could be worse than death, depending on how much Angie loved him, on how loyal she was in his absence. This is where he discovered his true place in her heart. If it was below Adrian, Safe Haven wouldn’t be his home anymore. The Wastelands would.
16
Angela and Adrian stood side-by-side to view the changes sweeping over Safe Haven. Their faces were unreadable, but their minds were full of regret at what they were losing. This new way of running the camp would be more effective and safer, but the casual days of living together in cooperation and peace were over for a while.
Fences with rolls of wire would now line the perimeter, with a second roll inside of it, creating a two foot barrier, but also a new flow-path for those who were coming to help them in the fight. Despite the attacks here, the calls asking to join the fight had tripled.
Angela studied the new panels of the wall that were being outfitted with metal sheets. This final barrier was inside the perimeter and had two gates–one at the Qz entrance to direct newly released camp members, and a large exit near the Mess for a fast escape of the entire population. Semis loaded with their most needed supplies were being rolled into place near the large exit, along with their water tankers, fuel trucks, and weapons.
Marc didn’t like putting so much of their stock in one place any more than Adrian had, but Angela assumed if the enemy got that close, it was too late to worry over it anyway. She wanted everything they needed in one place. It’s there the camp would go when the firefight broke out, where they’d be protected by the Eagles who wanted the weapons covered, where the chain of command would gather for reporting and meals. It was also where the assassins among them would be exposed.
“Look out! Clear path!”
Kenn and Neil came by the pair on Bobcats, delivering the next panels. They had two full teams working on the wall today, with three more finishing the barbed-wire defense the Eagles had been working on in secret for some time. Adrian had known this was coming. Every plan she came up with, Angela had found directions for in his books. All she had to do was implement them.
Across from her, training classes were already in session, showing the camp members the basic skills they would need for survival. Few of them realized it was the same training Adrian gave his Eagles. It would not only prepare them for being on their own if the battle went sour, it would also train them to assist during that fight. Even now, older camp men and women were being shown how to reload guns, make small cocktails, and bandage wounds. Every portion of Safe Haven’s population would be used, even the kids.
To their left, mission teams were getting set to roll out and gather lists of needed items, from food to weaponry. The rest of the camp wasn’t going anywhere yet. They were sticking to
the original plan of staying here long enough to stock up on supplies and let their wounds heal. It would also send a powerful message to those who’d initiated the attack. Safe Haven wasn’t going to flee or become submissive because someone sucker-punched them. These people had survived worse.
To their right, the training tent was also hosting lessons, though these were more mental than physical. The teenagers were attempting to share power with some of the more like-minded, proven Eagles. There was occasionally a thump or cackle, but little else from that canvas.
Beside the teen area was a kid’s class being taught under a canopy. The little children were being given bags they could carry and instructions on how to use the items in those tiny kits. Angela and Adrian both doubted any of the elementary school-age kids would survive on their own, but both of them were glad to know that the kids would have the information. Despite their ages, each of them were hanging on every word the grieving sisters were saying.
Overhead, the bubble flashed and pulsed in every color of the rainbow as emotions ran the gambit. The only dominant color was that crimson-killing gold, only now it was tinged in green as well–Angela’s color. It rippled above them now, spinning new shades of the two into patterns that bewitched those who looked up. The shield was fully visible and people remembered her words, that she was here to protect them, that Samantha was, too. The stories they’d been told seemed proven after the attack they’d been sentenced to and it was easier to accept that Angela was indeed what Cesar’s former Slaves had been saying all along–a Witch.
Angela wasn’t concerned about it anymore. If they revolted, Adrian would protect her and Charlie. The only thing that mattered was stopping the government from taking over. Everything else was second to that. The people who destroyed America wanted the chance to do it again and only her Eagles could stand in their way.
“And we will,” Adrian whispered soothingly, not even pretending he wasn’t in her thoughts.
Angela tightened her control and unthinkingly brushed his wrist in solidarity. “We’ve got this covered.”
Adrian flinched at the contact, jerking away. “You’ve got it covered.”
Angela stared at him coldly. “If that’s how you want it.”
Adrian turned away before he could say more. Nothing he wanted was possible–not her, not the camp, not Conner. For him, it could never be returned.
Angela understood his grief, but at least Conner hadn’t been killed like the others in that tin can when the bomb went off. Kyle had managed to get Conner, the newborn he was holding, and Jennifer out in time, but John and Anne hadn’t been as lucky. Nor had Leslie or the second infant in the incubator that she’d come to visit. Jennifer was inconsolable and being sedated regularly. Kyle was storming around in a fury of work, hitting anyone who had the balls to say maybe it was for the best. Four members of Safe Haven, snatched away by a thieving blast in the night.
The funeral had been a loud, damp hour that saw a surprising number of Eagles honoring Leslie. She’d certainly been friendly, was the most common phrased used. John and Anne were mourned more deeply. They’d been here longer, done more, and the fear of being short a doctor was a very real one. The nursing assistant from rapid City was a large help, as were the classes John had been holding, but it wasn’t enough. Even with the medic that each team had been assigned, there was no way they were prepared for a battle’s horrible consequences. John had known more, had more experience. There was no way for Angela to replace him or his knowledge. There was also no substitute for Anne’s caring hand on a brow or the other life they’d lost.
Angela had only spent as much time at the service as she thought was needed. It hurt her to be there, as it did everyone, but she couldn’t afford to spend the extra time. There was too much going on. Besides all the lessons and training they were setting up, they were also trying to get ready for moving the camp to the Springs, searching for supplies to get them through to the mountains, and monitoring the area around them for trouble. Her grief would have to come later.
She hadn’t been away from Marc in a while and it hurt to think he could die out there. It also pissed her off that she had to put him in such a dangerous position in the first place. When the government came, they would feel her wrath.
The camp’s rage was nearly visible. It simmered in slow waves of hatred and misery. Taking their doctor was something only the most brutal of enemies did, something that even the old world had disapproved of. They would pay for the wounds, for the damage this time. Every angry soul in Safe Haven now demanded it and those were the people Angela took herself to. She let them surround her, smother her with their certainty of what needed to happen next.
“I’m going to bring you down!” Angela vowed furiously, eyes bleeding crimson hatred. “I won’t leave a single man.”
Part Two
“Once the change in leadership becomes an accepted fact, those being led will either love their new commander or hate them. For a leader to be successful, they have to inspire both of those emotions, at the right moments. Without love or hate, there’s no respect. Without respect, there’s no leader.”
Chapter Thirteen
Little Rock AFB, Arkansas
7/15
1
Eagle teams had gone by the AFB, gathering what they could find while on their way to that doomed city to grab Adrian’s son. The base had been deserted, lightly looted, and eerie. It appeared and felt much the same as Marc and his team arrived.
It took them only a few minutes to get inside and verify that no one had come through since they had. Marc thought there might have been large animals on the base from the tracks, but not one sign of people made him breathe easier. He’d been prepared to fight for it, but it was easier this way. He had brought his full group, one man from each of the other teams, and three promising rookies. The rest, he left to defend his family.
Arriving at dawn, by the time the sun set on the first day, they’d made good progress. Marc had them set up in the center command room, power going through the backup generators, and computers whirling softly in the electric lights that none of them were comfortable with anymore. They’d adjusted to candles and flashlights, to lanterns and fires–to the old ways that had started to become lost.
Marc didn’t bother to put out a security detail yet, instead keeping the men in the large command room with him. As the first night inside the base rolled by, Marc prepared them for his departure.
“We’ll go to Denver first, see which route they take, make sure it’s 25. We’ll lay things out all along there and 40.”
“What about other survivors?” Shane wanted to know. “Won’t they get caught in our traps, blow them too soon?”
“Some of them will, I’m sure,” Marc responded grimly. “Most have gone to ground. They know a fight is coming. I’m sure Adrian has a plan for it.”
“He shut us down,” Morgan, one of the few remaining from Kyle’s team, reminded them.
Marc ignored the guilt as best he could. “We can’t leave signs or give radio warnings. The best we can do is report where we know the enemy is going, so they’ll stay clear of the area.”
“That could help us,” Rusty stated, moving a bit closer. He was on Seth’s team and he missed that, but being here with Brady was worth it. He’d been honored to be chosen.
“Many survivors want a target,” Rusty added.
Marc was counting on it. The more damage and chaos they could cause the enemy, the better their chances were of reducing the number of troops in the final battle that would likely take place in Lookout Mountain, Georgia.
“It gives them an advantage, if we force them to take 25.”
Marc agreed resignedly. “Several of them. Besides the roads that Cesar already cleared, they’ll have towns in easy reach for resupplying.”
“Won’t those be emptied out?” Paul asked.
“Some of it will, but unless you’re military, you can’t possibly imagine how many locations you can use to resup
ply yourself. The suburbs are helpful, but those big cities along 25 are goldmines.”
“And if we make them take 70?”
“It puts them here a week sooner. It’s a high price to pay to keep them from resupplying themselves,” Brady stated. “I chose to let them take 25 so that we’ll have the extra week to set things up.”
“Choke points are the reservoirs, north and south avenues of approach,” Donald added, staring at the maps with a hard glare. On Zack’s team, he’d been low-ranked and he expected the same on this run.
“What if they don’t come through here?” Shane asked, viewing the shadows on the walls like they were from another planet. They didn’t sway in the breeze like camp tents did and it made him uneasy.
“We’re going to use good bait,” Marc answered,.
“What?”
Marc held up a tape recorder and hit play. Angela’s voice flowed out.
“We’ll use the Air Force Base and send the camp on. They’ll assume we’re with Safe Haven and we’ll wipe them out.”
Marc hit stop. “I’ve got a few clips like that. We know they’re listening in any way they can, monitoring and collecting information. We’ll plant some.”
“You’re sure they’ll fall for it?”
“We’re going to make it look real. They probably have satellites redirected and reconnected by now. When they zoom in on the base, they’ll find an army waiting for them,” Marc said.
“How do we make it appear that 18 men are an army?” Shane asked. “They’ll know we’re bluffing when none of the mannequins change shifts.”
Marc’s face filled with cold calculation. “Who said anything about bluffing?”
“I have to leave you here for a little while,” Marc stated quietly a bit later, voice raising over the light conversations among the settling men. “I have friends to gather.”
The Eagles hated the idea of Marc going out alone, but Brady knew what had to be done.
“While I’m gone, you’ll work on these pages of preparations.” Marc tossed the notebook to Quinn. “You’re in charge, my XO here.”