by Angela White
He flinched. It was tiny, but it was there and pleasing to her.
“I spent a lot of years in the bear cage. Knowing how he thinks kept me alive, wouldn’t you say?”
Kenn flushed guiltily and Angela studied him intently. “Are you still a threat?”
Kenn hated it that he couldn’t ignore the power behind her demand. “Not to him.”
“To his dreams.”
Kenn’s anger was replaced by frustration and worry. “Maybe.”
Angela ground out her butt with her boot. “If you kill the dreams, the man dies. You know that.”
Kenn kept his mouth shut. Of course, he knew.
“Find a way to make peace with all the changes.”
“I’m working on it!” Kenn snapped.
Angela followed her instincts. “Tonya would be a good mate if someone could…rehabilitate her.”
Kenn froze. It was the first time Angela had let on that she knew of his affair with the whore.
“I’m sure you’ve thought about it. She’s much easier to control than I am, because she’s so selfish.”
Angela had leaned in and Kenn found himself listening even though he didn’t want to.
“She’s also very determined, strong. If your loyalties became hers, imagine the respect you’d get for saving her.”
Kenn stayed silent and Angela explained, “Change takes time. People get hurt, but the results are worth it. Pick Adrian, and make everything else second. We all belong to him now; most of us know that. You should, too.”
Angela strode toward her Blazer, aware of Kenn gaping at her with a dumbfounded expression and she made sure her face wasn’t upset. The biggest part of the fighting between her and Kenn was over now and this mission would settle the rest of their issues.
Make peace, save Tonya, pick Adrian. All things Kenn might think were possible if not for one obstacle. Brady was still earning his place and if things continued as they were, Marc would be second in command. Then, there was Angela getting stronger, becoming more like the other Eagles each day despite the crusty wound that had to hurt during workouts. It gave Kenn an unexpected source of pride to have the men say his ex was worthy. That was part of the final problem with him letting go.
He still wanted her. More so now than when they’d met, and that was the anger. Brady was his jealousy, but Kenn knew even if Angela had come alone, there wouldn’t have been a second chance for them. Tonya often brought out his bitterness and now, his mind was full of confusion. How was he supposed to make peace with all of that?
“By priority,” Kenn muttered. Which one do I want more? Which one can I not live without? Adrian was the immediate answer.
To keep his place, he’d have to sanction Angela and Brady being a couple and in power, like he’d foreseen when he found her.
Kenn was glad for the distraction when the other team members began climbing into the jeeps. Maybe somewhere in the future he could reach that point. Right now, he hadn’t completely given up hope on driving her out of the Eagles. If she failed on this first turn out, there was hope.
They took three jeeps and two Blazers, Angela driving her own, and Adrian fought the urge to cancel the mission when his bad feeling grew stronger. He would go to the mess and surround himself with the warmth of his remaining herd instead.
He spotted Samantha’s dismayed countenance also watching the convoy leave from her place atop the fire truck. They were learning how to use the bulky equipment and Adrian let his feet go that way. Samantha had been keeping tight company with Neil and Jeremy, and she would be tense while they were gone. He would lend a hand on the crew and distract them both from their worries for a bit.
5
“Is there a problem?”
The mission team had just crested a short hill and found themselves on a narrow, two-lane road that sloped downward. They’d only been traveling for an hour.
Angela glanced in the mirror at Neil’s question. “They’re arguing behind us.”
“That would be the usual for those two,” Neil stated, wishing he were there to support Kyle against the Marine. Kenn didn’t want her in the Eagles. He would loathe the very idea of her leading a team, let alone having to follow her orders.
“Uh-huh.”
Neil grinned at her suspicious tone. “What?”
“There’s something going on.”
Neil scanned the stalk-layered landscape instead of answering.
“That’s what I thought,” she snorted.
Angela kept track of the angry men in her rear view mirror as she followed the jeep ahead of them, aware of being protected in the center of their convoy.
Neil also monitored the men behind them, and when he and Angela recognized the motions of real anger, Marc told them to keep rolling.
“But if they’re fighting…”
Marc yawned. “Kenn’s driving. He won’t stop for that.” He pulled his hat down to block out the dim light. “When we hit Chadron now, it might be a different story.”
Realizing he was right, Neil relaxed a little and used the distraction technique that usually succeeded so well on rookies. “It’s time for a check-in with base and each other. You do it.”
Angela didn’t hesitate despite being the one driving. She had aced the radio courses so far.
“This is Liberty. Check in, by 7.”
To her relief and Marc’s surprise, when Neil changed the channel, it was already lighting up.
“Independence, clear.”
“Justice, all clear.”
“Freedom, all clear.”
“Caboose, clear.”
“Copy, standby for a base check.”
Neil switched them to another channel, one the camp stayed on regularly between broadcasts.
“This is Animal Control. Come in, Safe Haven.”
“Gotchas loud and clear, Darlin’.”
Angela rolled her eyes as the men with her expressed their disapproval at the unprofessional response from their radioman. He sounded drunker than usual.
“Everything is 5-by. Same?”
“Rogers that. Happy huntin’.”
“Copy, out.”
Angela hung up the mike, feeling pleased with herself, but it faded as she noticed the argument behind them had already resumed. Kenn’s violent hand gestures and red face said he was beyond pissed.
“Kyle can take care of himself,” Marc stated from the rear without glancing up from the maps he was scouring for possible future escape routes. “They have some things to sort out.”
Neil and Angela were both concerned at his words.
“How do you know that?”
“Adrian remade the vehicle arrangements for this mission right before we left. He wanted them alone together.”
6
Before he could insist on seating arrangements, Kyle had stepped in front of him and Kenn knew his plans to prove Angela unworthy during this mission weren’t going to succeed. He’d had the right words on his tongue, was ready to restart the old war with her, and then Kyle had appeared and said four words.
“Let’s have a talk.”
It had gotten ugly fast, and now they were riding in tense silence, both too pissed to keep arguing.
Kyle lit a cheroot, blowing it his way in disrespect. Kenn had told him not to smoke the little cigars when they rode together.
Kenn fanned the cloud, putting the window down. “Asshole.”
“That’s me,” Kyle agreed in surprise.
He was discovering that he actually had respect for this Kenn, the one who spoke his mind.
“Look,” Kyle pushed back into the battle, determined to win. “Pretend it’s someone else in charge. Do it for Adrian.”
“No.”
Kyle sighed as they rolled by a weathered sign announcing the Antioch limits. It was going to be a long ride to Chadron. He hoped things were going better for the boss.
7
Hisssss…
Adrian’s hand jerked up and he leaned away from the burlap
sack lying on his cot.
Hiss…
The snake sounded angry and Adrian quickly snagged the drawstring and gave it a sharp jerk. The bag shut tightly, drawing a louder noise as the sack rippled from the snake’s angry movements.
Sitting with the other papers and kits, and half buried under other envelopes and boxes the Eagles had put here for him, the bag had given the impression of being harmless. With Kenn only gone for half a day, there was already no organization and it had allowed someone to slip in an attempt on his life.
Adrian sat down in the closest chair, thinking hard. Such a simple and smart attempt implied the person knew camp routines. It was also indicative of someone pissing on another man’s property, an insult meant to wound mentally.
This attempt had been done to hurt him. Even if he didn’t get bitten and die before Angie could get… While she was out of camp, her tent was unguarded!
Adrian shoved himself to his feet angrily, but took an extra minute to gain control of his emotions. He would have Jeff and Kevin handle this. Those two were much more reliable than Zack.
He moved toward the training tent, glad Doug, at least, was still here to help maintain normal order, and he kept his pace calm and his face friendly. His mind however, was in a dark place. The next attempt would be bolder and try harder to kill him. His herd might be caught in the crossfire, and like any good shepherd, Adrian was working on a plan to spare them. They would be on the road for the next two days and the highest teams would be away the whole time. Plenty of opportunity for their mole to poke his head up again.
8
“You could sneak into his tent, be waiting when they come in.”
Becky didn’t jump at the voice, she’d known Rick was nearby, but she flinched at the image of Neil returning to discover her in his bed.
“Yeah, I can imagine that working. There’s nothing like being tossed naked from a man’s tent.”
Rick’s hands plunged into his pockets at the word naked and Becky grinned at him. “You’ve got something else, right?”
“If you were found together before he could throw you out, it wouldn’t matter, would it?”
Becky wanted to swear that she’d never trap Neil that way, but couldn’t. “Not to the sheep. He’d have to marry me, maybe.”
“That’s what you want, right?”
“Yes,” Becky answered quickly despite no longer being as positive.
“I know how you can make it happen. Without the naked parade.”
Becky recognized the careful control and almost desperate need. Rick was dangerous. Again, that delicious shiver had her reacting more boldly than she felt. “And in return?”
The traitor advanced, but didn’t take his hands from his pockets. “A small reward.”
Angela’s voice ran through her mind. “To be an Eagle, Becky, you’d have to give up Rick. They’ll never let you in while you play games with the enemy.”
“Are you the enemy, like she said?”
He nodded, knowing it wasn’t necessary to lie to the teenager. In fact, it was crucial that he didn’t.
“What do you want here?”
“Samantha.”
Becky’s stomach churned with jealousy. That blonde bitch again!
She struck back, hard. “I won’t be your toy. If I go to his bed, he’ll be my first.”
Rick shrugged. “Your choice, always.”
Fooled, the teen asked, “What kind of reward?”
Rick didn’t wait any longer to demonstrate.
Becky froze as he swept her up against his rugged body, suddenly terrified.
He hugged her.
Reluctantly, she allowed it. It was a much smaller price than she’d thought he would ask.
Rick knew the end of his time in Safe Haven was nearing, but that didn’t mean he wouldn’t return, or that there wouldn’t be time for what he had planned for the young girl in his arms.
Always one to set up the next move, he let go and said, “Sorry. I get lonely.”
Becky’s heart melted, as he’d known it would.
“That’s okay. I was expecting worse.”
“I’d never hurt you.”
“Promise?” she questioned.
He let the sarcasm loose. “You know it.”
Rick held out a small vial. “Half of this will put him in the mood. He’ll take any woman in his bed, with or without her say-so. All of it will knock him out for about eight hours and make him feel like he’s been drinking for a week.”
Feeling much like a traitor herself, Becky slid the bottle into her pocket. “This is wrong.”
“Yes.”
She waited for Rick to give her the speech she would have heard from the Eagles. When it didn’t come, she surprised them both by moving back into his arms for an intense clutch. “Thank you!”
Pushing his luck, Rick held her again, pretending she was a taller, fuller blonde, with a scar on her hip and fire in her touch.
9
Accompanied by steady rain, the Eagles drove straight through to Chadron. Thanks to half of their route going over roads they had already cleared for Safe Haven, they entered the city limits just twenty-five hours after leaving.
They’d stopped twice for driving changes, the others snoozing in the vehicles, and while the fighting between Kenn and Kyle never really stopped, it did pause when they took a short break in the rain.
Angela stayed by the vehicles during these moments, not wanting to hold them up, and she studied how the others handled the cramped conditions and horrible sights... Like when they’d rolled through Berea, Nebraska.
It had been five months since the war, and the runny corpses they’d all shied from in the beginning were mostly gone now. All that usually remained were graying skeletons in tattered bits of clothing. In Berea, however, the bodies had been fresh through their rain-soaked windows. Their convoy had driven by these reminders of human insanity with tense profiles and guns ready. It was clear that there had been a battle in this small town, but between whom? There were no signs of the government or the slavers, only residents of the town, and the Eagles swept the wet landscape harder after that.
They’d left the mystery behind and it wasn’t until they made it to Max and Lenore’s ranch, that Angela connected the pieces. “The wolves did it.”
Marc raised a brow, but he got her drift an instant later. He kept his mouth shut, thinking that if the wolves were now south of Chadron, it didn’t bode well for the mountain couple that Angela had hopes of rescuing. Chances were slim that Max and Lenore had lasted another month after they’d come through.
As the convoy rolled to a stop in front of the weathered ranch house, the rain stopped and Angela’s upset voice told him the odds had shrunk to nothing.
“No life survives in there.”
Her words weren’t doubted, but Neil had a small team verify it anyway. The sooner they were out of this stalk-filled graveyard, the better.
“I need to go in.”
Marc opened his mouth and Angela swung herself from the Blazer without waiting for his protest. “I’m not asking.”
She slammed the door, and the remaining Eagles split off into two groups. Kenn stayed with Neil’s men, patrolling their vehicles, and Kyle’s team followed her inside.
How they had gotten Kenn to play along, she didn’t know, but she was glad.
The smell of the corn was much worse than when she’d been here before, and Angela strode quickly through the reeking home toward the kitchen with the edge of her shirt over her nose. One of the doors in the long hall drew her interest and heat spread up her face. That was where Marc had helped her conquer some of her fears.
Angela pushed away the memories and the disturbing version that wanted to change the players in that moment. Now is not the time, she warned herself. Sex and death were not supposed to mix!
Moving into the next room, Angela spotted the bodies in the bed, their exposed, purple skin covered in tiny teeth marks, and clenched her fists against the
guilt. Blinking away tears, she kept walking. There was nothing she could do for them now.
Angela stepped through the curtains and grabbed the ornate Caller from the wall peg. She hadn’t known the mountain woman very well, and Max, she hadn’t even liked, but they had been full of life when she’d been here four weeks ago. It was impossible not to feel weighed down.
Why she took the wall ornament was only clear to Marc, who frowned at the thought of who might wield it.
The Eagles followed her outside and when Angela loaded herself into the Blazer’s passenger seat, they exchanged relieved gestures, eager to be rolling again before the sun sank. The wolf den was only thirty minutes from here and as soon as it was destroyed, they could rejoin Safe Haven.
10
Lost in her guilt over Max and Lenore’s terrible deaths, Angela didn’t feel the waves of unease moving their way until it was too late.
One minute they were rolling steadily by row after row of molding cornstalks, the sickly, knee-high plants all they could discern in every direction of the Walgren Lake State Rec Area.
The next instant, a wall of death thundered from the corn and washed their convoy away.
Angela struggled to breathe, smothered between the two men as the Blazer rolled. They were hugging her tightly, trying to keep her away from the debris that was pounding dents into the reinforced steel.
Slam! Crack!
Another flip–this one beat them against the front seats and then each other.
CRACK!
The rear window was hit hard, sending spiraled fractures through it, but none of the black mud that had swallowed them.
Rip! Thud!
Even reinforced, the 4x4 was giving under the onslaught.
Smash!
They came to a sudden, jarring stop against something hard, and it flung them along the roof as the mud-wave parted to flow around them.
Angela wrenched her head up, gasping air into pain-filled lungs. “Hold on…not done.”
Their grips tightened, feet bracing, and then the Blazer was hit in the side by something big and they were spun back into the chaotic mess.