by Angela White
Chapter Forty-Five
Past Demons
Day 3
1
Before dawn, Adrian walked through the quiet camp at a fast pace, heartburn keeping him from feeling the chill in the wind as it pushed at him. Sickly leaves blew from the twisted trees, the scent of rain thick in the air, but he didn’t notice.
Adrian stepped under the mess canopy and strode to the table where his best men were eating but not talking. The mood was still tense over Marc’s victory last night and the silent but hard declarations of loyalty to the newcomer by so many in the chain of command. It was one of the things about to change. This would bring them together. Danger always worked that way.
“We need more water. The tankers are shut for testing.”
Adrian had undivided attention as he sat down in his waiting place.
“The dogs are acting funny, foggy. Someone may have tampered with them and our supplies. Hopefully, they only stole water, but we’ll take no chances.”
His full table was now covered with opening notebooks, and one stack of half-finished trays piling up in the center. They all wondered how much of what they’d already consumed might be contaminated.
“Morning and lunch are drawn the night before, so we’re okay for the moment, but dinner and tomorrow will have to come from the reserves. John’s testing those now.”
Everyone held in questions as Adrian lit a smoke, knowing he wasn’t done. The quiet watchfulness of his men drew the attention of the half-dozen sleepy-eyed camp members around them. Many still in robes and housecoats, they began to spread the word. There might be trouble.
“Kenn found an untouched water tower last week. I had hoped to leave it for an emergency, but we need it now. It’s toward our last known location of the slavers. This has to happen, highest security procedures. No one below Level Three goes.”
Kenn was thinking of the slavers that had to be furious over their rescue of the Cheyenne survivors. “They’ll be waiting for us, maybe.”
Adrian had also thought trap. “We’ll send our best men. You will stay, though. I need you here. We’ll push travel back, instead of leaving tomorrow. One of us will change the schedules as we go.”
Adrian spotted Rick getting into the line, and stood up. “Kenn has Point. I’ll be around.”
Kenn kept his relief to himself as the other black-clad men left the table without a word to him. Kenn was more than glad that Brady’s new friends would be leaving for a couple of days. Maybe he could get some time alone with Angela and talk some sense into her.
Kenn picked out a flash of long black hair (down, again!) coming through the fog.
Or whatever it took to get through to her.
2
Angela’s third day at Safe Haven dawned damp and foggy, the sun a distant shadow clouded over by the thinning layer of grit. She was thankful for the blue, button-up shirt over her white tank top and jeans as the cool wind gusted harder. She got into the coffee line, viewing this as a new beginning. She wondered if Samantha might be too, having spotted the blonde further up in line, looking quite normal in her slacks and soft brown sweater.
Angela was hoping to run into Marc, needing any brief contact. When heavy boots crunched next to her, she knew who it was by the way the people around her turned aside. Lovely.
“I was searching for you,” Kenn whined.
The tone was grating, and Angela instantly wished she’d skipped the mess. She was glad to hear Dog’s soft paws come up behind her. He made her feel safer.
Kenn’s visage tightened when he noticed the wolf.
“I wanted coffee,” Angela grunted, very tired. She had gotten little sleep these last nights without Marc at her side.
“I would have brought it to you.”
“Since when?” Angela raised a brow, challenging. If he wanted to start shit, she would help today. The mood she’d woken in was ugly, and she found herself silently warning him to back off.
Kenn flushed, pleading, “I’ve changed. Can’t you give me a chance?”
The dish noise and conversations died down suddenly, alert camp members wanting to hear her response.
Angela’s thoughts were on her nightmares. “Not unless you can make me forget. As long as my ghosts scream, there won’t ever be forgiveness.”
Kenn choked down an angry snarl and shoved a folder at her. He noticed Adrian coming through the other side of the mess–frowning.
“That’s your schedule. Follow it!”
Kenn stomped off at a fast pace, and people got out of his way, not wanting to draw his ire.
Angela sent a quick message to Charlie, warning him to stay out of the angry Marine’s path, too, but got no answer. She sighed unhappily, ignoring the frowns around her. They thought she was being a hard-ass, trying to get something she wanted…and she was. Her freedom.
Angela pulled out only the top two sheets and read the first note, this one handwritten by Kenn.
I am sorry for the past. I know it’s hard to believe, but I do care for you, want you. Please don’t tear apart the only family I’ve ever had. Here’s my truce. I release you from our deal. You’re free to go to him.
Angela wanted to be happy, but she couldn’t believe it. If he had put love and need instead of care and want, maybe she would, but it wasn’t just that. After everything he had put her through, a note wasn’t enough to settle things between them. He was a fool if he thought it was.
As she walked with her mug to the food line, Angela skimmed the schedule for what she was supposed to do today… She was with the doctor. Finally! Something I can do without being so careful and bored!
Angela glanced up as the three dozen or so people around her went quiet.
Samantha had left her place in the front of the dim, foggy food line and was heading toward Rick, who was in the shorter coffee row. Samantha took a small envelope from her pocket, and Angela stared with everyone else as the tension thickened.
Samantha didn’t meet Rick’s eye as she held out the Dear John letter. She made sure her voice carried to where Adrian was standing, mug of coffee in hand.
“I’m sorry. It’s over.”
She walked away without another word, and Rick flushed nervously at all the stares and whispers.
He shoved the letter into his shirt pocket until he got his food and found an empty table, and he was very aware of Adrian studying him as he read it.
Rick,
I’ve decided not to tell them you took advantage of me, or about the deal I believe you made with Cesar because I hope I’m wrong. This is a good place, and you can make a new life here. We both can. I won’t ruin your chance unless you make me. Please leave me alone. You’re a part of the past I need to forget.
Rick put the letter in his pocket, careful to appear sad but not angry for his audience.
When they saw he wasn’t going to blow up, the stares and whispers switched to the other hot story–Kenn and his cheating wife. It wasn’t as bad as Rick had feared anyway. He would keep blending in and do as Samantha asked, for a while. And then he would make her pay for breaking their deal as soon as she thought she was safe among her own kind.
3
Danger! Pay attention!
The voices whispered of grave peril as Angela stepped to the tailgate. She noticed a plump cook wearing a brown poncho and dirty overalls. Was the feeling coming from her or the jilted man sitting alone at the rear table?
Angela gave the cook a friendly smile, pushing gently. “Two plates, please. One is for the doctor.”
The woman didn’t respond, just frowned as if she didn’t understand.
Angela’s brow creased too as she picked up a sense of furious betrayal from the Mexican. “Two plates. My schedule says to get them from you.”
“Ees schedule?”
Angela held out the paper and the cook’s expression lit up with triumph as she reached for it.
Angela snatched it back and shoved it into her pocket, scowling openly. It drew a lot of attenti
on from those in the lines around her.
“What evil are you hiding?” Angela barked, aware but uncaring of the surprised curiosity of the bystanders or the guards moving closer. “How long have you been here?”
Maria shrugged again, still acting confused, but she hurried to get the plates, now wishing she had given the dark-haired slut what she asked for. Cesar would kill her for blowing her cover over something as petty as jealousy of how beautiful the newcomer was.
The cook’s silence and foreign mind were hard to read, and Angela forced the witch down, sensing Adrian was coming toward them. She wondered vaguely if Charlie had picked up anything from the pudgy cook.
“Is there a problem, ladies?”
Adrian had stopped behind her, blocking the camp’s view. He didn’t want to interrupt, but these sheep weren’t ready to know what she could do. It would have to be careful, slow, but this was what he needed, that little edge. He would help her sharpen it.
“No, not yet.”
Adrian took the plates the anxious cook was still holding out. He stayed at Angela’s side as they left the too-quiet mess.
Angela gave one last, long glare at the cook before she turned to him with a grim warning. “Beware of her, or you’ll lose your highest team.”
Angela couldn’t give him more details and told him so regretfully. All she’d seen was Maria and the bodies.
Adrian held his emotions in check, perceiving how her eyes slowly lost their glassiness. With discretion, there would be so much they would accomplish!
“Does it hurt to see into people?”
Angela was amused at the question. It wasn’t nearly what she’d expected, and while she was glad he wasn’t upset, she was aware that more people were staring at her than before. Word traveled fast here.
“No. It’s like that gray area between sleep and awake, where you feel like stretching forever and a loud noise can make you cry.”
Adrian was now the one amused. He handed her the plates. “You can use it when you want? Control it?”
Angela nodded, feeling strange and yet wonderful to be talking about it openly.
There was a lot more he wanted to say, but there were people walking all around them. “Will you come and talk with me about this tomorrow?”
Meaning he would want to really talk about her gifts this time. Despite wanting to earn a place where she could use her abilities, Angela hesitated. In the wrong hands…
“Just to talk,” Adrian soothed. “Give me a chance to show you that I can be trusted.”
His excited eyes belied his calm tones, and Angela let her schedule influence the choice. He had listed her as a doctor with no proof. Even Kenn called her a well-paid nurse, and it seemed a fair trade. This way, she would be using both of her talents. “I’ll talk. I won’t promise anything more.”
“Great, my tent after lunch mess.”
There was eagerness, and Angela leaned in. “Doesn’t it bother you to let someone else like you have free run of your camp?”
“I have no doubts about you,” Adrian swore with a passion he couldn’t hide. “Your heart is purer than mine, and just so you know, there’s no one here like you. You’re unique, special.”
Adrian delivered a brilliant smile that made her heart feel tight.
“Come on. Let me introduce you to the slave driver we call an MD.”
4
Samantha hesitated. She was on her way to the gun class, and the sight of Eagles loading up in the parking area had drawn her attention. Theirs weren’t the slow and casual movements she was already coming to expect in Safe Haven. Their quick actions and worried glances said there was trouble.
Sam’s mind went straight to the slavers, and she let herself wander toward the parking area. Unable to hear, she tried to appear busy studying the dreary sky instead of the leaving crew. She couldn’t pick up anything about their mission, but her eyes stayed on them anyway. There was something about the man in charge…
Neil didn’t turn to find out who was burning holes into him. It could be anyone. None of the people liked it when the shepherds were away, but this was a priority. They had to have water.
Neil motioned to his team that he was ready to go, striding through the loading men, and Samantha’s gaze followed. She’d seen Neil around, knew who he was and what position he held here, and knowing he was about to leave bothered her.
Why?
Samantha didn’t like the immediate answer.
I’m safer when he’s here.
Neil swiveled at that moment and caught her staring.
It was the last person he’d expected. The new woman had avoided contact with all of the Eagles as far as Neil knew, and he looked back, drawn… Her hair blew in the wind, giving him that flash of corn silk again.
Sam didn’t realize Neil had turned, too shocked by her discovery. What was it about the males here that made a woman want to fall in behind and be protected?
She snorted, turning toward the gun class she was now late for. She stood behind no one. The war had changed everything.
Neil was now the one staring. What had she been thinking? It had been about him, he was sure of that, and it was something she hadn’t been expecting.
Curiosity awakened, Neil’s gaze followed her until she disappeared behind the bleachers of the gun class. When he got home, maybe he’d dig into that.
Kevin glanced up as the other students turned to frown at the late arrival. Teaching the class today, he only motioned toward the front. “We waited.”
Kevin had noticed her pause to watch the loading crew, but didn’t call attention to it. Samantha was still settling in, trying to figure out her place. That she had one, the rookie didn’t doubt. She and Angela wore the same expression of determination that his sister had gotten whenever she wanted something.
Kevin sighed. Safe Haven was a great place. His sister would have liked it here. “On your mark, shooter.”
Mind on the man she could hear now rolling away, Samantha drew and fired without her usual flash of Cheyenne Mountain.
Against her will, she wondered if Neil would be gone long. She’d already gotten used to seeing him around.
5
Driving in from the south, the wind had begun to pick up, and storm clouds rolled behind the grit. It cooled sweaty necks and ripped papers from careless fingers. Increasing steadily, by midmorning it was coming at them in long, gusting swells that made everyone glad the dustier places were behind them.
The parking area was mostly deserted, only three guards on the cars since it wasn’t a travel day, and Adrian nodded to each of them as he headed for the supply trucks. Approving of the stacks of neatly packed and labeled boxes around the semi, Adrian still found himself frowning. Nerves on edge, it was a struggle to smooth out his expression as he pulled himself up into the rear of the mostly empty rig.
He returned the greetings of the men coming out to take their first break, and his unease grew with the wind. The sounds of his flock were normal, but not everyone was here. Something was happening. Had it been wrong to send the water crew? Were his men in danger?
Adrian tried to push it away. They had to have water, and there was no way he could have put Kenn in charge and gone himself. Kenn’s one small chance at leadership had passed with the appearance of Angela and her busted lip.
“We’re almost done with this one. Did you know there was a crate of grenades in here?”
Adrian shrugged distractedly as Marc stood up from a stack of boxes on the semi’s mostly empty floor. “I wondered what the key went to. Kenn and Kyle do most of the pickups, and they take anything they think we might need later. Hard telling what you may find.”
Marc lit a smoke, and Adrian forced himself to pay attention. This mattered. He had to make sure Angela stayed.
“I had it put in the weapons rig, along with the ammo we found.”
Adrian was pleased by the way Marc swept their surroundings, like his other men. With his unfriendly attitude, people would be le
ss accepting…and that would work to their advantage. Providing, Adrian could find Marc something to do while he prepared Angie and his people for what came next.
“You’ve gotten a lot done.”
“I spent some time last night figuring out the best way,” Marc said.
After being awakened by Kenn’s angry voice at the crack of dawn (what a different, unwelcome start to a day!), Marc had discovered four rookies waiting for him at the trucks. They’d made it clear he was in charge, and while Marc could have supervised, he’d done as much as any of them and was pleased with the progress.
Adrian pushed gently, wondering if Marc might be immune to his gift. He would be the first. “Before or after Doug and Kenn took the shirt off your back?”
“After. Now I understand why Angie turned into a card shark.” Marc smiled ruefully.
It had been rough at moments, like when Kenn had joined the poker game, but it hadn’t been nearly as bad as he’d expected. Adrian had done a great job of controlling the situation when it got tense.
Adrian stored that information and used his boot to squish a spider with too many legs into the floor.
He ground it in a way that made Marc frown with recognition. Angela had the same reaction to mutations.
“I understand why you have the wolf protecting her, but it’s not necessary,” Adrian said. “She’s safe here.”
Marc immediately felt better knowing she had some protection. He didn’t tell Adrian that Dog was guarding her on his own.
“So, a day each?” Adrian asked, switching to a safer topic. He would keep trying to reach the stubborn man.
“A little less if I spend my free time on it, which I probably will,” Marc answered. “I’m going to hang and then fill the baskets and shelves with what your people use most.”
“Our people… Great idea.”
Against his will, Marc liked how that felt and continued, “As for the stored items, you could–”
“We could,” Adrian corrected him patiently. “They’re your people now, too.”