Bad Moon on the Rise (Soldiers of New Eden Book 3)

by T. L. Knighton

  Walker shook his head, part of his mind listening to Declan and another part praying the sounds of combat wouldn't come any closer.

  "You couldn’t get it done because you don't understand the reality of the world. You watched too many movies, dealt with too many people you were more interested in terrifying than actually killing. The funny thing is, those movies? They should have taught you that if you're going to kill someone, you quit gabbing about it and fucking kill them."

  Walker forced a meek smile. "Does that mean you're not going to kill me?"

  "No. I'm not going to kill you," Declan said as he smiled coldly.

  At that moment, Walker realized just how badly he'd messed up.

  ** ** **

  Billy tackled the insurgent, for a moment feeling like he was back on the field. The man lay still on the ground. Not dead, but not the least bit interested in being conscious either. Billy smiled and turned. Another man ran toward him.

  The deputy punched with everything he had. His own strength, considerable by any metric, was amplified by the man's speed. Billy's fist hit the man with a sickening crunch as the man flopped on the dirt.

  Beside him, Scott butt stroked an enemy, the jammed the barrel of his rifle into another man's face.

  Turning to look for new threats, Billy saw a man in a black vest smiling at him, his hands up. "I'm not with these guys. Declan sent me," the man said.

  "I'm a little busy now," Billy said, then slammed his meaty fist into a man's jaw.

  "Understood. He just wants to make sure you and yours head north for about a quarter of a mile or so. There'll be a little surprise for you."

  "Yeah, okay, great," Billy said as he blocked a punch from another man. He grabbed the man's arm, then reached down and picked the man up, holding him over his head.

  Two men ran toward him, screeching to a halt when they realized one of theirs was held above the big man. Too bad for them, they were too close to get away.

  Billy threw the man onto his two friends.

  Around them, the battle slowed to a trickle. Scott limped his way over.

  "We having fun yet?" the man said.

  Billy smiled. "For values of 'fun'."

  "Well, next time you and Jason decide to have a war, mind if I stay home? This is the second with you guys, and I'm not getting any younger," he said with a smile in return.

  "I'll take it under advisement. I'll be honest, I'm kind of glad I missed the last one."

  Scott nodded. "Wish I had. Wouldn't have minded missing this one too."

  "But you didn't."

  He smiled. "I don't leave my friends to hang out to dry."

  ** ** **

  Jason butt stroked a rebel, then turned just in time to catch a meaty fist to his jaw. The rifle he'd picked up somewhere flew off into the chaos of battle as he landed on his back, looking up. Oh shit, he thought as he looked up.

  The man stood in his Blackshirt uniform. An evil leer crossed his face, betraying his malevolent intent as he drew his knife.

  Jason kicked up, sending the heel of his foot up into the man's gut.

  The big man staggered back for a moment, then came forward. "You son of a bitch," he growled.

  For a moment, Jason considered rolling and trying to get up, but there wasn't really time. Suddenly, the weird flip up to the feet move he'd seen in so many martial arts movies didn't look so stupid.

  Jason drew his own knife as the big man closed.

  Suddenly, the rebel stopped and stood up taller for an instant before a knife tip pushed through his chest.

  As the big man fell to the side, Jackson Chu stood there, pulling his knife out of the other man's back.

  "Well," Jason quipped, "if you're still looking for ways to get my trust, you just figured out a hell of a plan."

  Chu smiled and reached out with his free hand.

  "Joke later. We've got work to do."

  Jason laughed as he was pulled to his feet. "If you only knew," he said.

  ** ** **

  Katie swung her SKS hard against the rebel's head, sending a spray of blood into the woods. As it bounced off the skull, she followed the momentum and directed it into the ribs of another rebel. She felt the sickening crack as the man dropped.

  She dropped the rifle and pulled a meat cleaver from the back of her belt and grinned maliciously. She'd used it for a time like this before, and it felt good in her hands.

  An insurgent charged her. She sidestepped the man and slammed the weapon into his back. The blade sank deep, clearly severing the spine, and the man fell.

  She pried the weapon out and set her eyes scanning for her next victim.

  ** ** **

  The battle slowed. There was no climatic moment like in The Pass, no cavalry sweeping in to save the day. No definitive moment when it was over. It just suddenly…was.

  "We should kill 'em," one of the New Edeners said. Jason only barely recognized the man.

  He shook his head. "No, we're not."

  "Don't we get a say in this?"

  "No, you don't. These are men accused of crimes. Yeah, they're probably guilty as hell, and the result will be about the same, but we're not going to execute them out of hand," Jason replied.

  "Why not?" asked another voice.

  "Because that's what they would have done."

  "Exactly," the second voice replied.

  "So that it? You want to be like them?" he said, then looked around. The New Edeners had rounded up all the prisoners and deposited them in a mass. New Eden folks created a human fence, a fence Jason was also in the middle of. "You want to be like them, take what you want, and leave everything that makes us worth a damn behind?"

  He walked around the edge of the circle. Many of them refused to make eye contact. The ones who didn't glared at him in defiance.

  "Yeah, I get it. I know damn good and well we don't live in a world where the nice guy wins. A lot of time, it's who's the biggest bastard. But we can't let it be that way. Maybe I'm just tired of being covered in blood, but we're not going to murder them. No, we'll arrest them and take them back. They'll stand trial. Honestly, most of them will end up dead just the same. New Lord or Somerton man, they attacked or assisted in attacks against innocent people. Execution is probably coming for most of them. But we'll do it the right way. We're better than that, better than them. We have to be."

  Slowly, the defiant ones looked down as well, looking abashed.

  "Jason," a deep voice called out.

  The human fence parted as Billy walked up. Behind him, secured by a rope, was an all too familiar man in a black vest.

  "I brought you a present," the big man said, gesturing with his head toward Walker.

  Jason smiled and stepped forward.

  Tension gripped the crowd. They all knew who this was based on the description, and they knew who Jason was.

  With each step Jason took, the tension ramped up another notch. He smiled as he reached the New Lord. "Well, how about this? Last time we were this close, you were trying to kill me."

  Walker dropped his eyes, intent to study the Tennessee ground.

  "Walker Denning," Jason started, "you are under arrest for assaulting a law enforcement officer, attempted murder, aggravated assault, and terroristic actions again the people of the Tennessee Valley Alliance."

  Jason turned and walked back toward the prisoners, a certain smug satisfaction welling up within him.

  CHAPTER 16

  Jason sat in his usual spot at Tabby's, a cool glass of water in his hand, when Simon entered the tavern. The Chairman made his way to the stool next to Jason and sat down.

  "Well, it looks like I was wrong and you were right," Simon started.

  Jason laughed. "Never thought I'd hear a politician say that."

  "I'd prefer it not to be true," Simon said.

  He nodded. "Yeah, same here. Just don't tell me that Norm won. If that happened, I'd give up all faith in humanity, hunt down the son of a bitch who decided to not nuke the whole da
mn country, and kick his ass."

  It was Simon's turn to laugh. "Hardly. After what people found out about that sick bastard? Folks may be stupid, but they're not that stupid."

  "Careful," Jason said. "Keep calling your constituents stupid, and you might find someone having this conversation with you."

  Simon nodded, then shrugged in surrender. "Okay, good point."

  "So who won?"

  "Billy," Simon said.

  Jason smiled. New Eden didn't require anyone to formally declare a candidacy. Instead, anyone interested just campaigned. Otherwise, they just shanghaied people…kind of like Billy.

  "He's still got to accept," Simon continued.

  "Before he says no, let him know I'd rather he take the job."

  "Well, if he says no, we have to have another election. You might-"

  Jason raised a hand to cut his friend off. "Don't. I won't win that one either, but someone else will, and I'd trust Billy with the job before some others who might get it."

  "You sure about that?"

  Jason nodded. "For better or worse, right now people think I made the move I did to keep Norm from winning. The fact that he was guilty doesn't really have to make sense. The truth is, I did use the campaign to take him down, so they're not completely wrong."

  "Bullshit," Simon blurted out. "Of course they're wrong. You did what you had to so you could get that sick son of a bitch off of the street."

  Jason smiled. "We didn't know he was that sick."

  Simon started to protest, but Jason cut him off with a raised hand. "We knew something was up, but we didn't know what. You and I both know I used his comments as an excuse to rattle him and then bust him. The truth is, if I was one of these folks? I'd probably have voted against me too. Then I pissed a lot of other folks off when I wouldn't let them lynch the New Lord crowd."

  "So you want Billy to accept it? You're sure?"

  Jason nodded.

  Simon sighed and nodded his head. "Alright, I'll let him know. That's not all that's going on though."

  "Oh?" He asked, raising an eyebrow to emphasize his question.

  "Yeah. Donaldson's back in town. He's at the garrison now, chewing Megan out for sending the Rangers out after the Somerton boys. You're next."

  Jason smiled as he stood. "Hell, that's good news."

  ** ** **

  A knock at the door called to Megan. She'd answered it, finding Tabby on the other side.

  "May I?" the tavern owner asked.

  Megan smiled and nodded, closing the door behind the other woman.

  "I heard what you guys saw out there. I wanted to see if you were okay," Tabby said as she sat on the lumpy couch.

  Megan smiled. "Oddly enough, I am."

  "Good," she said with a smile in return. "I was worried about you."

  "Oh, I was worried about me too. Then we got in the thick of the fighting."

  Tabby raised an eyebrow in question.

  "I got to unleash it all. All my anger, all my fear, all of it. I just let it go out the barrel of my shotgun. It was like…it's hard to describe."

  "So you're saying you're all better?"

  Megan shook her head. "Hardly. But I'm better off. I don't feel like a victim anymore. I know I can take care of myself from now on."

  Tabby chuckled. "I don't think there's anyone left that can't take care of themselves these days."

  "I didn't know though. My husband, well…he tried to avoid the conflict. We made it through hiding, stuff like that."

  "Ah. So, you hadn't…"

  She shook her head. "Not once until last week."

  "Well, for the record, I don't recommend killing people as therapy."

  Megan nodded with a smile. "Yeah, I get that. Honestly, it wasn't about the killing. That part…well, that comes with its own bag of demons. No, what mattered was fighting. And winning. Not being a victim anymore, you know?"

  Tabby nodded. "I get that."

  "Do you?" Megan asked sincerely. "Because I'm not completely sure I do."

  She nodded again. "Remember how I said it was about being powerless? That that was what the problem was? Well, you're not now."

  "Do you ever get over it?" Megan asked.

  "I'll let you know if I ever do," Tabby said with a sympathetic smile. "In the meantime, you just learn to deal and try to never let it happen again."

  Megan nodded. "It won't."

  A knock on the door drew her attention from the other woman. Megan sighed and said, "Here comes the fun part of the day."

  ** ** **

  Jason grabbed Greg and headed to the garrison. Donaldson's voice thundered through the wood walls. Everyone knew what was coming. Megan knew it the moment she agreed to the plan. At the moment though, Donaldson's voice was the only one to be heard.

  He opened the door, not even bothering to knock, and stepped into Megan's apartment and office.

  Donaldson stopped in mid-sentence and turned to face Jason. "I'll be with you in just a minute. Your ass is going to spend some quality time in prison by the time I'm done," the turned back to Megan and continued, "You and your willful disregard for orders has just landed your ass-"

  "What charges?" Jason blurted out, interrupting the other man. He knew what he meant, but wanted to hear Donaldson actually say it.

  The Ranger commander turned and stomped toward him. "You know as well as I do that you didn't have the authority to mobilize the militia, but you did it. I know your Chairman here explained it to you, and I'm going to enjoy watching your ass rot in prison."

  Jason smiled and crossed his arm. "What militia?"

  Donaldson's face reddened. "The army you took with you on that little adventure of yours."

  "Greg," Jason said, making no attempt to keep the smug tone from his voice.

  Greg stepped forward.

  "Who the hell are you," Donaldson growled.

  "Oh," Jason said, "That's Greg Clark. He's my attorney."

  The commander chuckled. "You're going to need him."

  "Actually," Greg said, "he doesn't."

  Donaldson looked at the lawyer dumbfounded. "You might want to find another one. This guy's broken."

  "Commander Donaldson," Greg said, seeming to ignore the insult, "all parties agree that the laws regarding mobilizing the militia are clear and, had Sheriff Calvin done so, he would have been guilty of violating TVA laws. However, that's not what he did."

  Donaldson glared at Greg. "Oh? Then tell me, smart guy, what was with the hundred and twenty-seven men and women who followed him and my Rangers out of town?"

  "You mean the deputies?" Greg asked.

  "What?"

  Greg smiled. "The TVA constitution reserves sole authority for appointing deputies to the sheriff of a given jurisdiction. While the town councils determine the budget he has available, there is no upper limit on who a sheriff can deputize."

  Jason smiled. "You see, Commander, we received word that the men responsible for a recent assault on yours truly were in that general vicinity and may well also be responsible for the recent mortar attack on this town. We also received word that it may well be a sizeable force, I asked for volunteers to serve as temporary unpaid deputies. As it appeared these men might also be responsible for the attack on Deputy Hector Martinez, Investigator Hernandez and her Rangers agreed to accompany us as we sought these fugitives.

  "Of course, they were also escorting a local law enforcement officer as he left his jurisdiction to apprehend individuals suspected of damaging my town and murdering citizens."

  "You expect me to buy that shit?" Donaldson barked.

  "Ask anyone who was there. They were all deputized prior to leaving the town limits," Jason smiled. He then leaned forward and softly said, "You just got lawyered. Learn to live with disappointment."

  Donaldson's eyes shifted back and forth between the three of them.

  "Calvin," he said, glaring at Jason, "I heard you lost the election. Understand one thing. Now that you're not sheriff here, I'm going to keep
an eye on you. You so much as step out of line, I'm going to bust your ass so fast that your head will spin."

  "Well, I'll be sure to have on clean underwear then," Jason quipped with a smirk.

  Donaldson glared at him for a long, tense moment then stormed out of Megan's home, slamming the door behind him.

  "That was entertaining," Megan said, a huge smile on her face. "Hell, it was worth getting yelled at just to see the look on his face."

  Jason returned the grin. "I bet."

  "Sorry to hear that you lost though."

  Jason shrugged. "Small price to pay. Got Boutham off the streets. I can deal with it."

  ** ** **

  Billy came over that night. Jason opened the door to a barrage of apologies. "I'm so sorry, man. I don't want the job. Not like this."

  "Billy, man, it's cool. I'm glad it's you."

  "This is bullshit though," he said.

  Jason nodded. "Yeah, it is, but you and I knew this could happen when I decided to go after Norm."

  "Creepy son of a bitch needed going after," Billy said.

  "Yeah, and if he hadn't decided to run against me, this probably wouldn't have happened. It did, and so be it," Jason said. After a few moments of silence, "Besides, I'm tired. I could use the break."

  Billy studied him for a tense moment. "You're sure?"

  He nodded. "Yeah, I am. Hell, I've barely had time to spend with Allison. She needs her father for a little while. She wants to go to the Ranger Academy next year, so this will be it for a while, you know?"

  "You want a job then?" Billy asked.

  Jason shook his head. "Nah. Thanks, but if I went to work, there would be people who treated me like the sheriff despite it being your job. Plus there'd be the people who would be pissed because they just got me out of the office."

  "I guess so. I just…well…"

  "You're not sure what to do?"

  Billy nodded.

  "Don't worry. You don't take office until the first of the year, so we've got time."

  ** ** **

  Tabby sat in front of the fireplace, one of the chairs titled to face the roaring flames within. The carpet obscured the footsteps, but not enough. "Pull up a chair," she said.