The Price We Pay (Life After War Book 7)

by Angela White

  Adrian’s relief was blinding and Angela left him in the darkness alone, unable to take the glare.

  She groaned as she moved, hurting neck and spine the next pains she became aware of, and the immediate crankiness of a rough morning flooded into her. It might be nighttime, but she felt like she’d had the night already and was suffering the hangover.

  “She’s waking up, sir!”

  Angela heard the nervous voice and looked around to discover Donner crashed in the chair behind her and a line of grump soldiers guarding the doors and windows in case she woke in a bad mood.

  “I need to piss,” she grumbled. “Where?”

  One of the men pointed to a pot in the corner and Angela snarled, “Not on your life!”

  She stood up, making the five men reach for their weapons.

  “Let her go,” Donner stated tiredly, not getting up. “She won’t leave Mitchel.”

  Angela shoved by the men in the doorway and moved out into the chill, rubbing her bare arms. She’d packed her Eagles jacket, but didn’t know where her kit was now.

  Ignoring the surprised men outside, she went behind a bush and had a minute to herself, but she could feel them staring, waiting for her to try making a run for it despite Donner’s words.

  He knows us well, the witch stated. Can this still work?

  Angela didn’t answer. The headache had grown in the short time she’d been outside and the cold appeared to be making it worse. Aware of being stared at by more than Donner’s men, she went inside the warm and toasty cabin, shivering slightly.

  Donner was there to hold out a long blanket and Angela took it without a comment, sweeping her temporary prison. She’d honestly expected to be bound and kept drugged.

  “I planned to, but our scientists said it wouldn’t be good for the fetus.”

  “It’s a baby!” she retorted in annoyance. “Where are we going?”

  Donner chuckled. None of your business, Ms. White. Why don’t you sit down and try to eat something?”

  One of the soldiers was busy laying out a cold meal on the desk and Angela did as she was told, hoping the food would ease her headache.

  Donner took the seat across from her with the satisfied look of a benevolent benefactor.

  Angela tore into the juice boxes first, downing all three in a rush that ended with two loud belches. She tossed them into the garbage pile that had already been started in the corner and moved on to the canned fruit. There wasn’t silverware for the pop-top can and Angela took the pocketknife from her bra and ate the peaches.

  Donner didn’t demand the knife even when she finished, not threatened by such a small poker. Her thoughts were much more dangerous.

  “What do you want?”

  Donner sensed this might be the only time he could talk to her without the witch guarding her thoughts against the scientists.

  “It is,” Angela confirmed. The witch would shut her mind down before revealing any secrets to the enemy. “What do you want?”

  “For you and Mitchel to make the call.”

  Angela flashed to the call they’d made a month ago, wondering briefly if anything had come of it, and then understanding fell into place and she gaped as if she hadn’t suspected that all along. “You’re crazy.”

  Donner laughed. “No more than you, Ms. White. Once you’ve made the call, you’ll be turned over to the bunker to answer for your crimes.”

  “And you’ll keep me until then?”

  “Yes.”

  Angela shrugged, going back to the food. “Guess the cell doesn’t matter much.”

  “You’ll make the call,” Donner insisted, not sure if she had agreed.

  “Fine, whatever,” she dismissed, waving a hand. “I need a cigarette, something else to drink, and for Adrian to be woken up and fed. I can’t do it alone, you know.”

  “He is too dangerous to—”

  “He follows my orders.”

  “No. I won’t have both of you awake at the same time until you’re in real cells.”

  Angela belched again, wading up the wrappers. “Fine. Give me the smoke and drink, and then I’ll go to sleep on my own. Sick of smelling you anyway.”

  Angela took the smoke a soldier handed her and used her gifts to light it, proving to them that the aftereffects of the drugs were not holding her powers.

  “Amazing,” Donner complimented. “Do you know why you’re so strong?”

  Angela wasn’t alert enough for all details she would miss and she shrugged, inhaling. “Later, okay?”

  Donner wasn’t offended. “We’ll have months together, Ms. White. No hurry.”

  “Well then you’d better pick a different name for me. Ms. White doesn’t exist anymore. She died in Versailles.”

  Donner had read that part of her file with interest. In fact, it had been the beginning of his obsession. “Did you know government men were spying on you? That they have been for most of your life?”

  “No.”

  “I’m surprised. Your gifts are impressive.”

  “Mostly new developments,” Angela gave, blowing thick smoke rings over Adrian. She chanted lightly as she did it, offering her protection.

  “Why are you so bonded to Mr. Mitchel?” Donner wanted to know.

  “None of your business, Major.”

  “John, Angela.”

  She didn’t like the sound of her name on his lips, and Angela turned around with the witch bleeding through. “I am the leader of Safe Haven refugee camp. I am a descendant, and I am a coldblooded killer. Do not mistake me for anything less.”

  Donner laughed again at the chill from her words and Angela forced the insulted witch back, entertained by the images of him dying that her demon side was currently exploring.

  “That one,” Angela chose, enjoying the irony and the poetic justice.

  Donner, worried she was plotting an escape, started to order her to keep her word when Adrian groaned, waking.

  Angela was at his side before anyone could protest and Donner waved his men away, curious.

  Adrian’s lids fluttered, opening to see her pale face, and it was enough to calm him.

  Angela didn’t try to communicate with anything other than gentle touches and comforting glances. There was no reason for her to hide anything here among these evil people.

  Donner was listening hard and didn’t hear anything. It annoyed him and he took Angela by the arm and pulled her up. “Time for bed.”

  He snatched his hand away as flames burst from her skin and Angela went to the couch on her own, letting the fire walk up her arm in warning. Then she drew the heat into herself and lay down, closing her eyes. “I’ll need a pain pill when I wake up. Once the headache quits I won’t be as grouchy.”

  Donner laughed again, delighted by her displays of power. His men had been gifted and able to do some special things, but nothing like this and Donner was now convinced that what he’d risked so much for was indeed possible. He had spent his entire life in pursuit of it and now, the moment of fruition was almost at hand and it tasted like the sweetest ambrosia. All the mysteries of their universe were about to be his.

  Chris was full of rage.

  The vet had been close to Angela’s camp since leaving her gates and he’d spent the time removing threats trying to sneak in. He had killed his share of the enemy, though no one would ever know it. He’d heard the calls on his radio, listened to her agree in disbelief, but deep down, he’d known she would sacrifice herself for the sheep. Angela loved her people and Chris loved her for it.

  The vet stayed down and still behind the cabin. He couldn’t save her alone and didn’t need any of the rescue party that would arrive tomorrow to know she’d been here. Chris expected Donner to burn the cabin to keep Marc from reading anything there, but it didn’t matter. Chris planned to leave clear signs for the wolf man to follow. Angela wouldn’t be lost. She would be returned to her flock so that Chris could continue to worship her from a distance.

  Chapter Twenty-Four
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br />   1

  Can you get him to slow down?

  Shawn snorted at Dari’s silent question. Marc hadn’t been able to leave until dawn and he was making up for it, almost running the entire way to the first site to check. Scouts had come in overnight and informed Brady of the chopper’s last known location and with afternoon fading, they were almost there. Nothing would slow Marc down at this moment.

  Behind the main rescue party, a small group of new descendants was trailing, offering supplies and guidance, but they were staying in the rear and Shawn was glad. They had enough problems right. They didn’t need another one.

  On Marc’s heels, Becky and Kendle kept pace and scanned for anything he might have missed. The two females had insisted this morning, refusing to stay in the truck and Marc hadn’t argued very long. That had given many of them leave to come and it wasn’t a quiet group that was stalking these woods, but a large, spread out team of vengeance-seeking fighters. Angela would have been proud.

  Marc stopped suddenly, head swiveling, and those nearest also halted, waiting.

  Jennifer stepped from the bushes and weeds alone, still coated in her last battles and Marc was on the go again as she fell in on his right and Kendle backed off. He had three strong trackers with him now and he still couldn’t get a read on where Angela was. That only meant one thing and he wasn’t happy about it. If Donner knew to go underground to avoid their mental radar, then Angie could be in more trouble than she’d planned for.

  Jennifer nodded to people, but didn’t bother with explanations. She had sent Kyle to Safe Haven with her daughter, and then come here to do her duty. Despite her personal choices, Jennifer wasn’t going anywhere until Angela was where she belonged.

  Marc held up a hand to stop the others as they came through the trees and found the wreckage of the chopper. He only spent a few minutes examining the scene for clues and then led them southeast, following clear tracks of soldiers carrying double weight. Over his arm, Angela’s charred kit swung rebelliously.

  As they moved away from the chopper, Marc became aware of ants on his left and instinctively chose to follow their path. As long as it ran with the grid in his head and the tracks in the mud, he would stay with their trail. He had little doubt that the insects were also hunting for their benefactor.

  “Hey, Brady!”

  Shawn’s shout drew an angry Marc to the middle of the rescue party that was five times the size of what he had wanted. “What?!”

  “A group of soldiers sent signals to the rear group. One of them is named Ivan. Says you promised him a place.”

  Marc scrolled his memory and came up with the soldier he’d spared when the boy caught him right after killing General Francis in his tent. “Tell him to wait at Safe Haven.”

  “I did, but he says he has news for you on Angie.”

  Marc stalked to the waiting group of five soldiers who had guns in hands that were pointed downward. “Where?!”

  Ivan swallowed nervously. “He likes to use underground trails. That’s where he’ll take her.”

  “I know that already!” Marc snarled.

  “But we know which ones are still open,” Ivan explained. “We were part of the fire team for the battalion. Your… wife missed us in her demented schemes.”

  Marc swallowed his rage to let Ivan show him on the map that was quickly unrolled. They marked the places and then Marc immediately went to tracking the prints and the ants. He knew where Donner was going. There was only one government facility near here that might still be operational.

  “Put a can on that weapon!” Marc ordered, noting Ivan had joined Kendle.

  That angry woman bared her teeth at him and the soldier quickly retreated.

  Marc didn’t care. He had one focus and that was it.

  2

  They reached the cabin a half hour later, though much of the group took longer to catch up. Marc didn’t wait for them. He could feel that he was already gaining ground on Donner and he wanted every mile he could get before dark.

  The cabin had been left in filth and it took only a second to find a marker outside the cabin. Someone had drawn arrows in paint (or blood, Marc wasn’t sure) on the trees and he followed them, happy with all the help. Donner hadn’t counted on so many species hunting him down.

  “Marc.”

  He knew what they wanted, but Marc wasn’t able to give it to them. He didn’t care how cold it got. He wasn’t stopping until exhaustion forced him to.

  Quinn didn’t try again and the group huddled in their clothes as they hiked, all wishing for a vehicle that would fit between these molded trees. After the week they’d all had, walking for ten miles was the last thing they felt like doing. And if it had been anyone other than Angela, Marc wasn’t sure they would have. She’d earned their loyalty, that much was clear, but for Marc, the cost was too high. He wouldn’t let her place herself into government hands as a punishment and he wouldn’t let her take her own life either. Whatever her mental state was, he would help her straighten it out so that they could have that happily ever after they’d been promised.

  3

  “Donner said for you to be settled in the bedroom,” Trey ordered, using superglue on one of his many wounds that didn’t want to stop bleeding. He’d been trimmed twice during the fight at Safe Haven.

  Donner was outside dealing with the newest group of surviving soldiers to join his cause and Angela was taking advantage of his absence.

  “You don’t understand what’s going to happen if my Brady shows up here tonight. I’d better be the first person he sees.”

  Donner had taken them through caves that had once been tourist attractions with trolley cars that he forced her to spot in the darkness. The jeeps almost hadn’t fit through in places, but after some rock-removing, they’d gotten through.

  Angela was sure it was driving Marc crazy. He would know where she wasn’t and that she had to be underground. It was one of the places his mental grid couldn’t yet penetrate.

  “Brady?” Trey asked. “We were told the Ghost was killed.”

  Angela grinned, hiding her pain. “And you believed it. Excellent.”

  The guards exchanged worried glances, but Angela didn’t take pity on them. “He’ll have Donner to take his anger out on. You boys be still when he gets here and you’ll be okay.”

  “You sure?” one of her sentries wanted a promise. “Cause he was pissed before.”

  Angela loved the protected feeling she got from knowing her man’s name alone could cause such caution. “I’ll handle him, but he’ll watch you, talk to you, feel you out in every way, so be ready for that. If you’re a traitor in disguise, he’ll know it.”

  “But, uh…he doesn’t like soldiers very much.”

  “He’ll adjust,” Angela promised. “I went to a lot of trouble to add a few hundred of you wonderful men to our ranks. Once he understands it was intentional, he’ll let some of you live and even join my Eagles.”

  “And those he doesn’t care for?” Trey asked.

  Angela shrugged, not feeling sympathy or much of anything beyond cold satisfaction and a deep ache. “I don’t ask those kinds of questions when it comes to my Brady. I wouldn’t be able to sleep.”

  Angela intended to continue Marc’s legend as deeply and as ruthlessly as she could. When they were all crammed onto one boat together, he would be the man who could keep the peace.

  Donner came into the room to discover five twitchy men who immediately began to protest about the Ghost. Donner argued the ghost was dead and that Angela was playing mind games.

  Angela didn’t mind being called a liar, because she knew the five men believed her. They would tell the others and the five dozen men Donner had here would drop t four or even three.

  Adrian groaned, waking, and when Donner would have shot him again, Angela topped and glowered at him. “If he dies, I can’t do what you want.”

  Donner didn’t trust her, knew by now that she had something up her sleeve, but he did need Adrian
clear of the drugs for the tests and he put the dart gun away. “I’ll kill all of us if you push me.”

  Angela already knew that and didn’t comment. Donner’s mental stability hadn’t been good before, she was sure, but now, he was two steps away from leaping off the wire. Angela intended to help him with it.

  Angela stared out the window, at the light flakes with dread, and she spotted a movement that wasn’t from Donner’s men. She recognized the odd feel of the person in surprise.

  If the vet had stumbled upon her, then Brady wasn’t far behind with his grid. She needed more time and to get it, Angela opened her mouth. “I saw some of my people in the woods around us. You should flush them.”

  Donner didn’t have an explanation for her help, but he still sent a team to check it out, unable to take any chances.

  “We’re leaving in three hours,” Donner shouted out the front door, amused by the groans of tired men. He could run rings around these soldiers and still get there first. But, there was a nagging feeling that her rescuers were indeed closer than he’d estimated and the changes reflected that. He didn’t want another shoot-out with her people. He wanted these two locked in cells and working.

  Angela sighed in relief and obediently went into dusty the bedroom and tried to rest while Adrian was awake. Marc couldn’t come and blow the doors off everything yet. It wasn’t time.

  4

  Safe Haven had won.

  They were camped at the bottom of the mountain, surrounded once again by Indian camps on all sides. A few Mexican camps were also in the vicinity, but Marc had insisted on them keeping their distance as soon as he’d seen Sebastian’s bullet-ridden corpse.

  With Marc gone, the Eagles were doubled and the gates were back up, but few of them felt safe. All three of their strongest leaders were missing and Cynthia and Samantha had a long night keeping things calm. There were fights to be stopped, meals to be handled, kids to be cared for, and wounded to be tended. Those were still coming in steadily and the doctor and his students were also staying busy.