by Angela White
Doug’s was a general question, but everyone looked to Angela for the answer.
Catching Adrian’s subtle nod, she answered. “Fate spared it because no innocent blood has ever been spilled here. It was left alone after the war because people think it’s haunted.”
Some of them chuckled, but the amusement was gone quickly as Adrian asked, “Is it?”
“Not any more than the rest of our world now.” Angela continued to roam through the mental fog…and found something.
Reacting instantly to her concern, Adrian keyed his radio. “Full alert.” He looked at Angela. “What is it?”
“It’s okay. Marc’s calling.” She didn’t hide the satisfaction. “They had some trouble, but he’s covering… Damn it!”
When Angela drew her gun, so did everyone else who saw her.
She swiveled to a view of their back trail and those stunning blue eyes blazed into crimson as she brought the witch forward.
Adrian and the rest of them gaped at the enormous amount of small shadows streaming their way. Behind the rodents, running over the mounds of debris, were the bounty hunters sent to capture them.
“Too many! Into the vehicles!” Kenn ordered.
Their team fled toward the vehicles that lined the cleared street. Angela, no longer restrained by a twitchy herd, immediately brought a shield up around them–including their UPVs.
Adrian turned to stare at her in shock. She hadn’t just been laying low about how recovered she was. Those basic gifts she had lived with all her life were now fully under her control. She’d mastered a new level without telling anyone. On her own!
Outside the small shield, the animals didn’t leave. The Mother said the humans were too many for a direct attack in Safe Haven, but this small group was vulnerable despite the power in it. And the first attempt on Safe Haven had shown nature how best to attack.
“They’re everywhere!”
Many of the rodents had made it through the shield as she brought it up.
Angela slung her foot and then stomped on the rat trying to chew through her boot, foot crunching as she added her weight to keep the manhole cover on. Around her, the others were doing the same or shooting at the legions of sewer rats scurrying from storm drains.
“Get in the trucks!” Kenn shouted again.
“No!” Adrian overruled. “Too many cracks and holes. We have to get off the ground.”
Hiss...
Gas exploded inside their circle, thick white fumes that quickly sent the rodents inside the shield fleeing back into the sewer.
Adrian motioned the Eagles to cover their mouths and noses as best they could.
Some of the rats fled from the fumes, stopping along the way to shudder in violent spasms.
Hiss...
Another canister and the amount of gas inside the shield quickly became smothering. Coughs and gasps for air made Angela bring it down.
Hiss... Bamm!
The release of gas as the shield vanished was like a small bomb, spreading out in a circle of lung-injuring confusion that slammed into the waiting predators.
Not expecting it, the rest of nature’s army fled, crying and coughing in agony. A lot were killed outright from the amount of chemical shoved into open, lunging mouths, giving the team a carcass perimeter.
Cough! Cough! Spit!
It was loud as the mission team recovered, tears streaming too heavily to see who had saved them. Adrian was also hacking and crying, but knew who to thank. He could feel the anger and the energy that was being directed at him, and recognized it.
“Conner.”
The boy didn’t come any closer to the armed men. The mask he wore left him unfazed by the gas. He removed the mask and secured it to his belt, but didn’t wait for them to recover. “You still have company.”
Shadows raced over the hills of debris, shifting garbage in their rush. Dressed in long, tan coats and goggles, the bounty hunters carried military type kits and well-tended rifles.
The Eagles automatically got into a defensive V, and Adrian took Point.
“Get them!” This voice was cold and hard, ordering the hunters down the debris piles.
More shadows ran their way and Adrian called, “Fire the nets!”
Safe Haven’s defenders had learned the bat lesson well. Their aim had also improved through practicing, and the two dozen attackers weren’t expecting the cargo nets that trapped them and prevented shooting. The bullets that followed were lethal, but there wasn’t time to kill them all.
“Move in!” Major Garret ordered.
A second wave of bounty hunters ran by the entrapped men in the ropes.
The hunters didn’t wear hats, but black bandanas that instantly reminded the team of Rick. It made the bounty hunters into walking targets that the team looked forward to shooting as soon as they’d rescued the kids.
“This way!” Conner shouted.
Adrian followed. Underground was where they needed to go, where Conner would have his charges stashed. “Eagles with me!”
Slat! Ding!
Five Eagles dropped into the hole Conner knelt by, and Angela vanished into it behind them.
“Switch!”
The cold order gave the team a brief second’s respite as the bounty men changed from darts to bullets.
Kenn shoved Adrian into the hole and then followed him. The last two men to come through were Daryl and Doug. Both of them were wounded, but Conner already had the group moving through the dank darkness.
“Count off!” Adrian shouted.
“Two,” Angela called, trying to wrap Doug’s arm as they ran through the murky sewer.
The check-in didn’t take long to complete, “Twenty-five!” and Adrian flipped on his light. He did a quick visual check of his crew, and then took the place behind Conner’s quickly pumping heels.
Behind them, there was no sound of pursuit, and Conner hit the light on his belt. The double illumination allowed the team to view the filth and muck they were running through. Snakeskins, molding vines climbing dark, dripping walls and thick corners of mushrooms greeted them. Then the smell hit, and a few of the team gagged.
“Are we far enough?” Kenn demanded, finger on the button.
“Leave it, let them gather,” Adrian answered.
“But we’ll miss–”
“Leave it!”
Adrian’s annoyance earned Kenn frowns from those closest. Kenn had done a lot of training, but on runs like this, he was almost a rookie. Kenn was valuable in the office, but he was the tripping-over-himself Platoon commander that every team leader both scorned and used to their advantage. He hadn’t been that way before the war, but his time in Safe Haven and Adrian’s choice to keep him off an official team, had changed everything for Kenn.
Angela tied a strap around Daryl’s leg–it would have been funny if they weren’t in such a hurry–and got back up on Adrian’s left, where he wanted her.
“Gets low here!” Conner called from ahead, sounding like he was having a good time. There was no mistaking the cheer in that tone.
The adults ducked suddenly as the walls and floor sloped upward, but the ceiling didn’t rise with them. A drainage route, Adrian thought.
Running through a dank sewer while hunched over allowed for only a limited view squinted against the splashes of so many feet. It kept them from seeing what they were about to hit.
“Hold your breath for ten seconds. Don’t stop!” Conner ordered.
Adrian heard Angela’s dismayed groan and quickly reached out to take an iron grip on her wrist. Close by and aware of her fears, Kenn did the same, and the two men led her into the stagnant water.
2
Angela didn’t struggle, but she didn’t try to help them, either. She was totally disoriented, with no idea which way to propel herself. She spent the time listening.
Big ripple. Daryl into the water with them.
Smaller ripple–Lee’s wiry body.
An enormous splash. Doug, in the rear, told
her they’d all made it in.
Adrian yanked Angela above the surface and pulled her aside so that Kenn could come up through the narrow opening. He slung her arm over his shoulders as she gasped in air and hefted her onto the concrete. He let go and did the same for himself as quickly as he could.
Only one could come through at a time, and Adrian knelt at the hole, jerking men through. Twenty-five had to come out.
Lee’s thin frame bobbed to the surface and was grabbed, hauled up.
“One more!” the man gasped out, face an alarming shade of red.
“Where’s Doug?” Angela asked.
Adrian saw the water start to settle and responded accordingly. He dove back through the narrow opening.
“No!” Kenn shouted. “Get him back!”
Angela grabbed Kenn before he could jump in. “He’s okay.”
Adrian’s head broke the surface, as did Doug’s a second later. Adrian sucked in a quick breath and then dove back under to push.
Doug coughed heavily, clinging to the side, and Eagle hands gripped him anywhere they could get a solid hold.
Adrian heaved from the bottom, Doug’s ass centered on his shoulder, and the big man shot out of the water and flopped onto the concrete.
Adrian joined him seconds later, gasping. “We’re not...going back...that way.”
Eagles chuckled.
Conner left them alone for a moment, but he never stopped watching the water. He wasn’t concerned about the dark tunnel behind him, the one they had to traverse next, but standing water was dangerous. His group hadn’t been underground for an hour before learning that brutal lesson.
Eagles dried off, but they didn’t change clothes. Angela followed their lead, despite the way some of their eyes were going over her wet shirt and pants, and then darting away. They couldn’t view much through the front, the vest prevented it, but the sides of her clothes clung to damp swells that even in the dark, marked her different than the rest of Adrian’s army.
“We should go,” Conner stated.
The scold in his tone was evident, and Angela was a bit surprised when the Eagles responded. Apologetic looks were thrown, and men took steps back.
Adrian swallowed his pride and motioned to the door. “You’re the guide.”
Conner immediately took up a double-time run into the darkness.
“Shit!” Adrian darted after him, catching Angela’s wrist to be certain she was next.
Kenn again provided the security sandwich, and the others hurried to catch up.
3
“This way.”
Conner stopped suddenly, bending down to pull on a moldy piece of wood. A gaping black hole appeared, and the teenager disappeared down into it without a word.
The Eagles frowned.
Adrian shined his light as Kyle and Kenn descended ten feet to find Conner standing to the left of the ladder. They were at an intersection where dark, wet and dripping tunnels branched out in four directions.
Conner waited until they were all down and ready, staring at Angela instead of the father that he’d begun to doubt would come for him.
Always take the farthest tunnel to the left, Angela delivered Conner’s message silently. Those to the left are mostly flooded.
Angela stopped searching the floor and began looking down the other tunnels they were passing. The bones down here could fill two cemeteries.
“How many people are down here?” Kenn asked. “Are there a lot of you?”
“That depends on what you mean,” Conner said, winding them through stacks of supplies in crates and buckets. Each of these had a large red X on them that the team took to mean they were spoiled.
“We’re not the only ones, but me and the kids don’t have anything to do with most of them.” Conner’s firm statement was accompanied by his footsteps starting into the dimness. “There are thirty-one kids and at least twice that number of adults in our sector, but like I said, we’re not part of their group, and we don’t help each other.”
Adrian was busy noting things. The boy hadn’t been corrupted despite being abandoned. In fact, he was clearly stronger. That protective tone was impossible to miss.
“You’ll take me to talk with them?” Adrian asked.
“Yes,” Conner agreed reluctantly, still unable to deny that timbre anything.
There was heavy bitterness in the one word, and Angela’s mind went to the child’s words on the tape.
“The grownups left us.”
How could they do that? Would Adrian let them into Safe Haven?
No, I won’t, but I can’t leave them as hunted animals either.
Understanding and agreeing, Angela walked between Adrian and Conner so that she could play mediator if it were needed.
And because he makes you feel safe, the witch stated.
Angela didn’t deny it. Adrian was the light.
“I have to make a stop,” Conner informed them.
Adrian slowed when Conner did.
Behind him, grunts and groans of relief echoed. They’d kept the fast pace for the better part of hour.
“You guys should be quiet,” Conner stated uneasily.
Angela stayed at Adrian’s side as Conner tapped three times on a huge stone door. Set into the wall, Angela thought she would have missed it if Conner hadn’t stopped.
“Who isss it?” a female voice called.
“Conner, for trading,” Conner replied.
The door immediately began to roll open.
The mission team stared in surprise at the underground market. Shelves and tables, crates and boxes were what they picked out first, but the clerks running this bonanza caught and then held their attention.
The women wore some sort of shiny decoration, their boots and long gloves were covered in them. The small sequins caught the light of homemade candles anchored to the damp walls, and cast eerie forms along the tables. The shiny decorations were in hair and covering the packs worn on their backs. A few of them even had the decorations sewn over their gray trousers and shirts, giving a sensual, frightening impression of a room full of dangerously glinting women.
Angela classified them that way for many reasons, not the least of which was the blowguns and rows of needle darts on their belts. These females knew how to survive, clearly, but the way they had adapted was amazing.
Conner eased into the room and the adults followed slowly, staring. There was an assortment of fresh fruits and vegetables, and even producing plants for sale, but the gallon jugs of clear water drew Angela. Apparently, Conner needed the same, because he went straight for them, too.
As the team came closer, they realized the shiny decorations were scales and the respect went up. The team hadn’t seen the sewer snakes yet, but the size of the skins and the amount of scales the women were using implied that the reptiles were large and numerous.
The clerk behind the low table stepped closer to her stock as she got a look at the hard-asses lingering by the slowly closing door.
“Three gallons,” Conner instructed.
The clerk’s eyes swung back to Conner, and Angela wasn’t able to place exactly what it was about these merchants that she didn’t like. They wore the same mismatched clothes covered in dirt; they even had the same abused auras, but there was something else...
“Let’sss see your cash.”
Angela gaped. The clerk sounded like a snake!
Conner pulled the gun from his jacket pocket and slid it onto the plank. “Five bullets left. Use ‘em in good health.”
The clerk made the gun vanish before Angela could blink.
“Deal. Anything elsesss or change?”
Conner pointed toward a basket of dried apple slices. “Use the rest on those.”
“No meatsss?”
Conner shook his head. “I don’t like snake meat. I trap coons and badgers, a rabbit or two when luck’s with me.”
The clerk nodded. “As do most since the mutations began showing up in reptiles.” Cara grimaced miserably.
“Until we broke free of the prison, rodents and the like were all we had.”
Angela sensed the lie, but didn’t remark on it.
Conner reached out, putting a hand on the woman’s arm. “Thank you for the trade.”
She smiled hotly at him, burning with a feverish light she knew he could see, if not sense. “You won’t reconsider my previous offer?”
Conner blushed. “No.”
Snake woman took a step back, making his arm fall. “Then stop touching me or the choice will no longer be yours to make!”
Eagles stepped closer at the threat, but Conner only laughed. “Pretend for them, but don’t bullshit me, Cara. You’re Garret’s girl. You won’t sacrifice that.”
Cara glared in defeat. “No, but it doesn’t stop the want.”
She tried to get herself under control. “What about your friendsss? Are they buying?”
Conner raised a brow.
Adrian opened his hand, revealing a number of small gold and silver ingots. “Whatever you need.”
Conner sneered, but didn’t refuse the generosity. “They only want me, not supplies, so load them up. My father’s buying.”
The room went still...and then cold as the snake clerks glared. This man had left the gifted boy to rot here.
Adrian faced them without anger, but also without guilt. The only one he had to answer to was his son.
4
“The Major’s coming.”
About to hit his favorite romance scene, Hudson marked his place in the book. It was one of three intact paperbacks he owned and liked to use to make the other bounty men jealous. The Major didn’t want too many of his crew acting smart or thinking, and Hudson was the only one allowed to keep the materials. The fact that Hudson had them booby-trapped and was lethal with his knife had probably helped that choice.
“Say it again.”
Despite the fact that he couldn’t see much of Embry’s face through the bandana he wore unfolded, Hudson disliked it immensely. If not for those sharp brown eyes that were so good at recognizing risky opportunities, Embry would have been placed lower in Garret’s crew. Then, Lenore would already be in Hudson’s cot at night. Those wide hips and thick legs would be perfect for passing the long nights of waiting for Mitchel to show.