The Price We Pay (Life After War Book 7)

by Angela White

  Linny glared, holding out the basket of freshly harvested green beans. “We work for everyone, not ourselves. You wanna eat, do it.”

  Kendle snatched the basket and stomped to the benches, where a small group of women and men were cutting and cleaning the harvest. She didn’t mind helping, but the people here were treating her as if she had tried to come between Marc and his all-perfect Angela.

  “Wasn’t even that good of a kiss,” she muttered. The memory of it flashed in her mind and she immediately stiffened. It was easy enough to shake off as the talking and laughter floated around her, but at night that was a harder act to maintain. She’d gotten used to sleeping near Marc, seeing him, smelling him, hearing him. No one else was like that to her, no matter how much she tried to develop an interest. If she could find someone to tolerate, then these people would understand she wasn’t going to come between their leaders and she would be accepted, could settle in. Until that happened, her time here would be filled with careful steps and long nights.

  Kendle listened to the wind blow, caught a fresh chill, and shivered. She hadn’t felt the bite of a sharp the wind in a long time to her mind. All those months on the island had conditioned her to warm breezes and loving sunlight. Here, it was bitter wind with a sharp edge and only a few hours of sun. The layer of grit was ugly, a haze that never left, and Kendle found herself wishing for Luke. He’d know how to make her feel better right.

  “Hey, Kendle. You doing okay?”

  Kendle gave a grunt and nod to Missy as she walked by. Missy, almost as old and respected as Hilda, was her adjustment partner. They were sharing a tent, eating together, and doing chores on the same shift. Kendle hated it. Having a babysitter sucked. The only thing worse would be having no one to talk to at all.

  Angela stopped behind Kendle, hating the woman despite her promise to try being friends.

  Angela slid onto the bench across from the castaway with a polite tone.

  “How’s the harvesting work going?”

  “Fine.” Kendle glared. “What do you need?”

  Quick study, Angela thought. Long-winded requests and small talk weren’t big right now with the Eagles. “I have some jobs. No food involved.”

  “Like what?” Kendle quipped, mood snarky. “Test for landmines?”

  “We haven’t put those down yet,” Angela shot right back with a straight face.

  Kendle recognized the joke, but didn’t respond. She’d felt how dangerous Angela could be, but she also felt how loved her rival was. She had to be careful.

  “Not really,” Angela informed the woman. “I hate liars. So do the Eagles. If you want a life here, the truth matters.”

  Kendle had heard it already, but she wasn’t about to argue with the leader of such a massive operation. When she’d heard a woman ran things, she’d been sure that the female was cover for a group of men, but Angela was in charge. Resisting, especially among this tension, wasn’t wise.

  “Kendle Roberts!” Angela snapped the brunette out of her thoughts. “If I want you pissed off or happy or out of here, I’ll make it happen. When I tell you I need the truth, no matter what it is, I expect that too.”

  Kendle withered under the tone. She had no way to challenge, only heartache and a fierce need to…

  Angela understood more than she wanted to as Kendle’s ugly thoughts flooded with the past. Some of it matched with what Marc had said, but some of it didn’t. Kendle had lied to him about what happened after she landed. If she won the battle for her life and then survived her illness, the final truth would still have to be conquered.

  “You said you have work, remember?” Kendle snapped, sure the leader was reading her thoughts. She hated how it felt here, how unprotected her secrets were.

  “In time, you’ll be able to close those doors,” Angela stated softly. “Safe Haven heals those—”

  “Save it!”

  Angela calmly counted to ten and went on as if she wasn’t annoyed. “One of the jobs I have will fill that secret need a bit, but you have to do the others, in order, first.”

  “I’ve got no control,” Kendle denied. “It’s why he said I had to stay here.”

  “If you do these things faithfully for me, I promise to find a cure or kill you when it’s all over.”

  “Swear it!” Kendle’s eyes blazed. “He wouldn’t! I wanted to die, but he wouldn’t give me that either!”

  Realizing she was yelling, Kendle dropped the volume, but her tone didn’t change from desperate. “Swear it!”

  Angela placed a hand on Kendle’s wrist. “My word, as leader of this camp and as a woman, I’ll help you or kill you.”

  “Okay.” Kendle slid her arm free. “But don’t touch me and act like we’re friends or that you care. You be honest. You’d like me dead and gone.”

  Right at that moment, it wasn’t true and Angela’s sympathy came forward. “No, I pity you for the pain and respect you for surviving whatever you’ve gone through. I also envy you a bit, for being free to pick and choose.”

  Angela stood up. “There are a lot of good men here. If I was single, I’d be sniffin’ through, see who happens to be my match. There’s a lot of that going on.”

  Kendle rolled her eyes. She was tired of hearing fate brought us together or it was love at first bullet wound. “I don’t believe in two soul mates. Mine is gone and he isn’t coming back, so get off me!”

  Kendle shoved away from the table and disappeared into the crowd.

  Angela, content her words had done the trick, was subtly scanning those around them. Most of the men weren’t interested yet and it wasn’t because of her fading scars. The men were waiting to discover if Marc did have any interest in her and that was what Angela needed them to get over. Kendle was fair game.

  Marc put her with Adrian, the witch reminded Angela.

  Angela didn’t answer.

  “I need approval for a driving change,” Marc called as she walked by the parking area, and she detoured his way.

  The paper only held one sentence and Angela looked at the trio.

  “You three? Alone in one truck to save gas?” Angela choked on a snide remark to ask, “How does that work?”

  From the silence, Angela assumed it wouldn’t. The uneasy calm since Marc’s return hadn’t mattered. Differences would be settled along the way.

  “Fine,” Angela approved the vehicle change, noting Candy climbing into Theo’s truck, purple curl glaring out her rebellious nature. That would be an interesting mix at some point. “You work it out, but don’t miss a step of this plan or you’ll kill us all for your egos.”

  Angela left them to sputtered protests. She knew they’d get the job done. She simply wasn’t anticipating the aftermath.

  2

  Marc was still chuckling as he opened the rear passenger door of their loaded truck. He couldn’t wait to be alone with the two people he hated most in the world.

  Walking behind him, Adrian and Kenn didn’t share Marc’s obvious good mood. He was bound to make the trip rough for them, but leaving the camp, the war, completely in Angela’s hands, was unnerving. Kenn didn’t think she could do it, and Adrian now had doubts. This was more chaotic, more complex, than her time during his gunshot absence. It was also exactly what he’d been training her for.

  Marc slid into the back seat, dropping his kit into the floorboard. When he leaned his head against the cold seat and crossed his arms over his chest, Adrian grimaced. Marc was the boss now and he intended to act like one.

  Swallowing a chunk of pride, Adrian closed Marc’s door as if he were a rookie and went to the front passenger seat. The next week would be hell, but he would get through them without breaking.

  Already scanning thoughts for problems, Marc yawned behind him. “In less than a week, grunt, you’ll know that was never possible. All men break under me. I’ve never lost.”

  Adrian said nothing, but Kenn glared in the mirror from his driver’s seat. “Maybe we’ll kill you and dump your body.”

>   “Be careful,” Marc warned. “That might be my plan.”

  Both men in the front grimaced this time. Clearly, they’d already thought of it.

  Kenn waved at Tonya as he drove through the gate, but Adrian and Marc stayed unresponsive as people shouted words of encouragement. The one person they might have lingered for had said goodbye last night. For Marc, it had been magical. For Adrian, it had been torture. She’d come with three guards who had refused to leave the tent even when he’d asked them to. Angela hadn’t insisted. The guards were under orders and no one would disobey them without a direct command to blame. The Eagles would rather suffer an injury than disappoint Marc. It was a reversal of roles that Adrian was struggling to accept.

  “Where to?” Kenn asked, listening to Safe Haven’s gate close behind them. The camps around theirs were doing the same thing—sending teams out on missions they might not return from—and the truck didn’t draw much attention until people saw Marc. Then the shouts of support for the ghost grew into chants that sent fresh salt into Adrian’s mental wounds.

  “Due west,” Marc responded finally, enjoying Adrian’s jealousy.

  “Where are we going first?” Adrian pressed tonelessly. Angela’s plan was just that, Angela’s, and she was only releasing a small piece of information on it to each group. Everyone assumed that was to keep the plans safe or to flush out other traitors, but Adrian knew she didn’t trust him specifically. Angela hadn’t even told Marc, so that Adrian wouldn’t be able to pull it from his thoughts. He hadn’t told her how to handle any of this, but he was suddenly sure that she could. He’d spent a lot of time on the notes in his books and Angela was incredibly gifted in planning strategy. He had faith.

  “Head for the base we destroyed,” Marc told them, ignoring Kenn’s rough driving as he took his anger out on the vehicle. Adrian was the only one it would hurt and Marc was fine with that. “We’re not doing recon like we’ve led the camp to believe.”

  “I assume we’re snipers,” Adrian guessed.

  “We’re delivering gear and escorting spies,” Marc corrected. “Once they’re in the enemy camp, we’ll do other things.”

  “Spies? Who?” Kenn demanded.

  “Watch for what? What are they doing?” Adrian wanted to know.

  Marc grinned. This had to be annoying for both men. “We don’t open the next envelope until we pick up our spies.”

  “You don’t know who she’s sending in?”

  “Nope.” Marc enjoyed Kenn’s incredulous tone. “Didn’t ask.”

  Adrian made a mental note to discover what Marc was hiding. The wolfman might not know the entire plan, but he had enough clues to make an educated guess and Adrian wanted to hear it.

  “You won’t,” Marc warned. “And no, even if I knew, I wouldn’t tell you shit.”

  “Why?” Kenn asked, when Adrian didn’t respond.

  “Because he’ll do anything he can to make sure we lose.” Loathing dripped from Marc’s words. “Adrian isn’t really one of the good guys. Are you?”

  “No.”

  Kenn gaped at his idol, but Adrian only stared out the window, unable to handle the guilt. “I never was.”

  Marc peered at Adrian in the passenger mirror. “It would be easiest to give it up. You can’t stop him from finding out.”

  Adrian stiffened at the light prying in his mind and Marc grinned. “You’ll tell me all your secrets by the time this mission is over. I’ll know everything.”

  Confused by Adrian’s silence, Kenn kept his mouth shut. What was going on?

  “All in good time,” Marc quoted the overused phrase cheerfully. “I’m sleeping now. Wake me in four hours for a route change.”

  When there was no answer, Marc sent a stiff wave of anger through the truck. “I said wake me in four hours!”

  Two snotty “Yes, sirs,” came and Marc chuckled again. “Yep. Gonna be a short trip into an ugly nightmare. Hang onto your faith, because that’s part of what I came for, Kenn. By the time this is all over, you’ll be on my side or also out of my way.”

  Marc laughed at Adrian. “You’ll hopefully be dead.”

  Kenn and Adrian exchanged glances that said they would fight together. The threating vibes coming from Marc implied it might be needed, and Adrian leaned his head against the seat. He suspected sleep would be hard to come by later.

  The new doctor had pronounced him fine if he quick smoking, Adrian knew he hadn’t recovered fully from his mild heart ‘episode’. He certainly didn’t feel as strong as he’d been, but that didn’t mean an old dog didn’t have a few more tricks up his sleeve. Thoughts defiant, Adrian started to doze.

  Marc also appeared to be snoozing. His body was slack, moving with the rhythm of the truck, but the muscle in his jaw twitched sporadically, giving him away to their driver. Kenn was sure Marc was working on their mission. It was the same feel as their times together before the war and it comforted Kenn a bit that he wasn’t the main name on Marc’s shit list these days. Adrian had things to answer for, but what would happen afterwards? If Adrian wasn’t in charge of Safe Haven, he wasn’t the same and everyone felt it. Kenn’s goal was to put his boss back in power, by any means, fair or foul.

  “That’s why you’re here, with me,” Marc stated. “So I can watch you.”

  Adrian didn’t stir and Kenn took the moment to point out something he was hoping that Marc had forgotten about. “The bunker wants him alive. We lose an advantage without Adrian.”

  Marc didn’t answer and Kenn felt it was a bad idea to continue along those lines. He switched to his other curiosity. “What did you mean? When you said he’d do anything to make us lose?”

  Both of them heard Adrian’s slight intake of air.

  Marc settled into a more comfortable position as the truck bounced down the narrow mountain path. “If you answer that, if you confess, there won’t be any need for me to break you while he watches.”

  Adrian thought about it. He could be free of a lifetime of secrets in a few hours.

  Marc didn’t want it to be so easy, but he didn’t goad Adrian into becoming defensive and clamming up. If Adrian laid it all out for them without a fight, Marc would simply take his pound of flesh another way.

  “What happens to me afterwards?”

  “That’s up to Angie, so I’d say you’ll live,” Marc responded bitterly. “But I wouldn’t count on friends. In fact, she may not be able to save you when the camp finds out who you were and what you’ve done.”

  “What the hell are you holding over him?” Kenn demanded, growing frustrated. “Either spit it out or shut up.”

  Marc looked at Adrian in the mirror. “Well?”

  “I knew it was coming,” Adrian grunted angrily, playing his role. “I knew about the descendants, the cover-up, the plan to destroy society if the story came out, all of it.”

  “What?” Kenn was almost too shocked to drive and the truck slowed as it rolled over the narrow stone path between huge trees and severe drops.

  “I’m on the other team,” Adrian clarified rudely. “Brady put the pieces together right after he started sleeping with your ex.”

  Kenn’s stunned silence filled the truck and his mind flitted from crime, to trial, to judgment, to sentencing. Adrian had helped kill all those people. The camp wouldn’t ever forgive him for such treason… Adrian had committed treason!

  “He gets it!” Marc remarked happily. “Yes, the man we’ve all looked to for protection of our freedom, is actually one of those who want to take it away.”

  “How?” Kenn tried to form sentences, questions, still hoping for Adrian to defend himself. “Why would... When?”

  “He’s a sleeper, Kenn. He was supposed to deliver any ‘safe havens’ he found into government hands. I doubt he’s ever been out of communication with someone in the remaining military.”

  “But why would he...you do that?”

  “It’s more like why didn’t I hand over this camp or let everyone die.” Adrian’s guts tightene
d into a knot. “The answer is currently sending the next team out behind us. I can feel her wishing you’d drive faster and get Marc back to her side. Makes me sick.”

  Marc laughed.

  Kenn didn’t. “I don’t understand.”

  “I…changed. I got distracted. I…”

  “He fell for that nice ass and those sweet titties, same as we did.”

  Kenn grunted. Angela was definitely a distraction, but it didn’t explain enough for him. “You mean you weren’t on the other team?”

  “Yes.”

  “No.”

  Kenn scowled. “Which is it?”

  Marc waited and Adrian was forced to answer.

  “Because I love her, you idiot. I couldn’t have her if I handed this camp over. I knew that as soon as she signed up for my army. So I broke my oath, my honor, and started helping her get these people ready to fight for their lives.”

  “And César?” Marc prompted, temper waking.

  “He was on the bunker’s list for destroying NORAD.” Adrian shrugged. “It worked out well for both sides.”

  Marc leaned forward and growled in Adrian’s ear, “She almost died!”

  Adrian shrugged again. “That’s the price we pay for defying those who want authority over us. She knew what she signed up for. I carry no guilt for bringing her into my Eagles.”

  Marc leaned back. “No, you shouldn’t. It’s the one honestly good thing you’ve done for her.”

  “I’ve done a lot for her and the rest of the camp,” Adrian reminded him angrily. “Don’t get too high on that soapbox. You’d all be dead without me.”

  “No,” Marc refuted. “We’d be dead without the people who’ve worked under you. Samantha’s warnings, Hilda’s influence, Kyle’s recons. You’ve had everyone else doing the work, but now, that’s over. You’ll bleed and sweat like the rest of us.”

  “I always bleed and sweat with my men!” Adrian retorted sharply.

  Marc was delighted to have already gotten under Adrian’s skin. “Settle in. It’s gonna be a fun ride.”

  Kenn scowled when Adrian stopped defending himself, but didn’t argue further. The Marine had already heard enough to need the rest of it.