The Price We Pay (Life After War Book 7)

by Angela White

  The Marine grunted, more at Tonya’s rough handling than the request. “She’ll cover it. I’m staying to bring the other one home too.”

  Marc growled, storming inside, but didn’t belay the order. Adrian would be brought in alive, to stand trial and hopefully hang for treason.

  10

  “There’s a call coming in,” Trey said, reading the instrument panel of the gently swaying train car. They were in the front two, using the rear for storage of their prisoners.

  “The bunker has finally noticed we’re rolling. Put it through to the car.”

  Trey hit the buttons, telling the person to hold, and Donner moved carefully though the cars to get to Angela and Adrian.

  He turned on the screen on the wall and flipped the light switch.

  The face that appeared on the screen was young. It was something of a surprise to Donner, who had only dealt with leaders his own age.

  Benjamin smiled thinly at the sight of Angela handcuffed to a cot and appearing to sleep peacefully, and Adrian, hanging by his arms in the corner of the railcar.

  “Double standard?”

  Donner snorted, moving to block the man’s view of both prisoners. “Well?”

  Benjamin held up his hands. “You gave away your location. This is a courtesy call before we shut you down.”

  “I wanted you to find me,” Donner refuted. “And you can’t blow up these tunnels without hurting your own escape plans, so don’t try to bluff me, young man. She already did and my patience is thin.

  Benjamin was insulted. It came through in the darkening skin, the narrowing eyes and thinning lips. He slowly poured himself a drink before responding.

  “You’re absolutely right, Major. There’s no need to lie to each other. Tell me what you want.”

  “Time for it to work.”

  “Then the call was successful?”

  “Unknown, but you felt it on your instruments, right?”

  “Of course. We know of any mass use of power or force on American soil. The sensors miss nothing.”

  “Give me time with her to learn what’s coming from it, what we do to gain control of it!”

  Benjamin stared at the Major, one of the few that remained in the entire country. “Perhaps we can make a deal, Major Donner. Continue to your chosen destination and I will be in touch.”

  “Wait.”

  “Yes?” Benjamin’s voice was a warning all by itself.

  Donner began to understand that the young man might also be hard, and that could be useful. “What about Mitchel? I’ve got nothing for him.”

  Benjamin considered. “We’ve been very upset with Mr. Mitchel since the war. I think its past time that he…retired. Don’t you?”

  Donner chuckled. “Yes, sir.”

  “Good. Alpha bunker out.”

  Donner frowned. He had begun to hate that name. Despite what he wanted and all that he could gain, dealing with alphas was hard and Donner felt he too was getting too old to continue this line of work. But with a baby who could do things, a retirement in the south with a few men didn’t sound bad.

  As long as nothing came from the call, anyway. Donner had known when he started this madness all those decades ago, that he might not be able to handle whatever came from the contact. He’d accepted that he would likely be killed for the evil in his soul and still hadn’t been able to stop himself. Now, his goal had been reached and Donner was confident that there would be a response.

  He looked over at Adrian’s pale, unconscious form. As soon as they were settled, he would spend some time alone with Adrian and get the answers he needed for himself and the angry little bunker man. All he had to do was threaten Angela’s life and Adrian would do whatever he was told. It was the way Alpha pairing worked and Donner knew how to take advantage of it. Once he got the information, or assured himself that Adrian didn’t know, he would slit the blond man’s throat and leave his body on these dark, dank tracks for his precious Eagles to find.

  If they made it this far. The refueling hub they’d left was filled with soldiers by now. When Benjamin had said he sent a team, he hadn’t been kidding. Thirty heavily armed mercenaries were now in these tunnels, setting traps and watching for anyone who didn’t belong. Benjamin had told him the team had come from a small site in the east that was dying and the bunker leader had appeared glad to have a reason to use those who hadn’t starved. He’d told them the Safe Haven rescue party had stocks of food and that was all it had taken to get the desperate soldiers to agree. It was that way in all of the remaining bunkers. No one wanted to be sent out into hell.

  There was only one other facility within a hundred miles of here and Donner’s pursuers wouldn’t be able to miss it. His advantage was that it would only take him three hours to get there and it would take the rescue party ten or more. He had the only train car for this area. Not many elite had been expected to come from Georgia, Donner assumed. The four train cars were sparsely supplied and would hold forty people, at most. Donner only had half that number with him and it made for an almost comfortable ride that rolled through the tunnels in almost silence. The government had spared no taxpayer expense on this private conveyance.

  Donner went to the main car and missed Angela’s lids opening, the smile coming to her lips.

  “Benjamin, is it?” she murmured, busy trying to track his exact location. Once she had that, she could lock onto him and then find him wherever he was. Her powers had grown again, though Donner would never get the chance to explore them. As soon as the bunker called again to confirm or deny the deal, she would strike.

  Chapter Twenty-Six

  1

  “What is this place?”

  “It’s a refueling hub. They’ve got one like this outside the western bunkers.”

  Ivan was walking next to Marc, feeding him the details he asked for. The building had come into view slowly, lit by dim bulbs that flickered in reluctant duty. The platform of the small hub was dank in places and held an odor they all recognized.

  “Someone’s been getting sick.”

  “Too many chemicals,” Ivan muttered. “See how yellow it is? All drugs and no food.”

  Those words were met with Marc drilling for oil in order to avoid the ugly pictures of Angela being starved and drugged while she was dragged through this newest hell.

  “Doors to topside from here?”

  “Negative.”

  “Closest access point?”

  “Ten miles due west.”

  “Great,” Marc muttered. That meant any number of soldiers could be waiting for them.

  As he had the thought and held up a hand to stop his group, the sound of gunfire filled the tunnel.

  Marc couldn’t see much once the lights overhead were shot out and he heard the hiss of flares being tossed as Ivan lit up the target zone. Marc followed it with a heavy layer of gunfire that allowed the rest of his fighters to take cover around the edge of the curve before the hub.

  “Move in!”

  The order came from the enemy and Marc tossed his grenades into the tunnel in a useless attempt to stop the flood of mercenaries coming their way. Donner’s trap was more than Marc had bargained for. The feeling that gave him was as close to fear as he came when it concerned fighting, and Marc let the demon out as he rushed forward to meet death.

  He ducked, slicing in the smoky dimness and felt blood splatter his arms. He spun and slicked, stabbing behind him and kicked out to knock men off their feet.

  Marc’s Colts had one full load left and he used them now, taking out five of the stunned men who had no idea what was coming after them in the darkness as the flares burnt out.

  A vicious growl echoed as Dog joined the fight, able to see perfectly, and he clamped down on a man’s neck, squeezing until it burst in his mouth like a grape. He hadn’t been able to track the soldiers through the muck.

  “Marc!”

  Kendle’s shout drew his attention to the flood of soldiers chasing his team, shooting at them, and Marc did
the only thing he could think of. He shouted. “I’m the ghost! Catch me if you can!”

  He didn’t wait to see if they would, hearing the shouts and stomping boots that said they knew the bounty for him was huge.

  Marc fled toward the hub hoping his team would come up behind the men and trap them.

  At his heels, Dog lunged for an unprotected throat as the soldiers caught up and gunfire echoed again.

  Missing the wolf, but not Marc, the gunfire trailed off as Brady vanished into the single door of the small refueling station.

  “Move in!” one of the soldiers commanded and Dog was there to leap up and bite down on his face. More gunfire finished the soldier’s gruesome death and Dog darted after his master.

  Less than a dozen mercs were left and they entered the dark control room in a quick line, trying to stay together.

  Behind them, Marc’s team rushed up and piled in with them, leaving no room for anything except hand-to-hand combat in the dark.

  Men grunted, women screamed, knives slashed, and blood covered the floor, leaking out onto the tracks.

  “Get out! Its gonna blow!”

  The warning came from Brady and fifteen seconds after soldiers and Eagles began to flee the room, it exploded, providing more light than they needed.

  The explosion rushed down the tunnel, catching good and bad alike and the smell of charring flesh filled the air.

  Marc struggled to stand up, blown against the wall as he tried to get all of his team out. He still wasn’t’ sure he had, but he didn’t observe any soldiers stumbling around and was relieved. He’d had them all over him in a far corner when he’d pulled the pin and ran for it, shouting.

  Above them, a jagged hole had been blasted into the roof and Marc sucked in the fresh air gratefully, clearing his head. When he thought he could walk, he searched the area for any of his team who had survived, aware of a small cave-in happening behind them. Donner’s ambush hadn’t killed him, but it had come close.

  Marc’s hand slid down to cover the bloody bullet hole in his arm and he counted all of his own people.

  “Spread out and search for people and ammunition,” Marc instructed. “And be careful.” His voice sounded like he’d swallowed a chain, the smoke was that thick and Marc pulled his shirt up over his face as he tied his bandana around his arm.

  “Over here!” Quinn shouted.

  They dug the rubble out quickly, piling it nearby and found the bodies of Ivan, Red Stone, and three other soldiers who’d chosen to help him.

  “The tunnel’s blocked,” Quinn said too loudly, making himself wince. His bleeding ears didn’t want to work right.

  Dog brushed up against Shawn and the Eagle patted the wolf comfortingly, glad the animal had escaped.

  “Are we stopped?” Quinn asked, not sure how they would track an underground train without being able to follow the tracks.

  “Maybe we can help with that.”

  The new voice was welcome and Marc nodded, and then groaned at the pain. “How about throwing down a rope first?”

  Neil hurried to get them all out of the ground. He’d witnessed the explosion from his high perch and rolled down to find a gaping hole. He’d known that was where Marc would be.

  Brady sat on Neil’s passenger seat while the rest of Neil’s men and women tended to the injuries of Marc’s team. They also handed them much-needed mags. “So what’s this idea?”

  Jeremy leaned over the seat and handed Marc his laptop. “We broke the code.”

  Marc stared at the waiting screen and broke into harsh laughter that ended in a coughing fit, and Neil exchanged glances with Jeremy that said they understood. While Samantha had been missing, they would have driven themselves and anyone around them into the ground during a quest to rescue her.

  2

  Adrian wasn’t doing well.

  Awareness slowly came into his mind, along with pain, weakness, and worry. His health hadn’t been the best before this and the neglect and abuse were taking its toll. Angela was in charge of this run and she would make the call on when they’d taken enough in order to achieve their goals, but Adrian wasn’t as confident of his own outcome as he’d once been. Angela had sworn him to trade his life for Charlie’s, and he had assumed that meant he would remain alive at least. He had no illusions about her leaving Brady. That bond was unbreakable.

  “I should know,” Adrian croaked, not hearing himself through the ruptured eardrum that was causing nausea and dizziness. He hoped Angela planned to trigger their trap soon, or he wouldn’t be around to witness the result. Even now, his heart was giving odd palpitations that warned of a coming episode that he had no medication for.

  “Easy,” Angela soothed from across the car. She’d been sneaking him bits of her food and water when she could, but it wasn’t enough. Another full day like this might see him dead and he knew it.

  Will you kill him to achieve your goal? The witch asked curiously.

  If I have to, she answered reluctantly. But I won’t.

  She sent that to Adrian, along with what little energy she could spare, and then slammed her lids shut as Donner came into the car, followed by Trey.

  “Looks like she’s still out.”

  “What about him?”

  Adrian groaned, hoping to avoid the usual punch to the ribs to wake him.

  “Feed him,” Donner ordered. “Take him down and cuff him to the couch so he can sleep.”

  Adrian fell when Trey unsnapped the chain and he struggled to help drag himself over to the couch. His body didn’t want to obey. He couldn’t remember a time when he’d been in worse shape.

  “We’ll be contacted soon,” Donner began, taking the seat near Angela’s evenly-breathing body. “You’ll answer some questions I have.”

  Adrian nodded and then put both hands to his neck, moaning at the sharp lance of agony. “Whatever you want, just don’t hurt her.”

  Donner smiled coldly. “That’s exactly what I wanted to hear.”

  Adrian tried to eat everything in the REM that Trey tossed onto the couch, but his guts wouldn’t hold much. He forced himself to take all of the water in the bottle and he sank down onto the softness with a grunt.

  “Can I have a smoke?”

  Donner gestured and Trey lilt one, then threw it onto Adrian’s grimy chest.

  Adrian enjoyed the brain-fog the first drag gave him, but the pain from the cough reminded him of his waking thoughts. “I’m not doing well.”

  “I noticed that,” Donner agreed. “Something in the air down here doesn’t agree with you.”

  Adrian’s chuckle was weak and Donner frowned. “I’d heard you were a hard-ass.”

  “Before Brady came, maybe,” Adrian said bitterly. “I was younger then.”

  Donner snorted out laughter, as he understood the old bull, new bull reference. “That’s rich. Why didn’t you kill him?”

  “I did,” Adrian stated resentfully. “And she saved him.”

  “And you gave up? Unlikely.”

  “I sent him to the front lines where he was killed again and brought back by another of his devoted harem!” Adrian spewed. “He can’t die.”

  Donner was forced to accept that what his men had been telling him was the truth. Brady was alive.

  “It’s the ghost on our trail, huh?”

  Adrian nodded, dropping his cig into the tray so that Trey couldn’t eat it as he’d been doing to torture Adrian further when Donner wasn’t around. “Yeah. It will suck to be you if he catches up before you reach the big bunker.”

  Adrian rolled onto his side as best the cuffs would allow, easing the pain off his ribs. “Thank you for the food.”

  Donner didn’t answer. He waved Trey on and returned to the main car, scowling. He hadn’t counted on the child’s father being alive, let alone coming for his family. His hub trap might not be enough. He would have to come up with something else for the ghost.

  Thanks to the destruction Marcus Brady had wrought upon the first battalion, Don
ner knew not to underestimate him. When Marc came for his woman and child, Donner would be ready to give him the welcome he required.

  Donner glanced over at Adrian. First though, he would gain some much-needed information and secure his deal with the bunker.

  3

  “Answer me!”

  Adrian shouted hoarsely as Donner sent fire into him again, but there was nothing to tell the evil Major. No one knew what the Master Call would bring.

  Donner had tired of playing with his toy, but he wasn’t allowed to kill him until there was a response from whoever was on the other end of such a call. Adrian had been insisting there hadn’t been a response and wouldn’t be. Donner knew he was lying, but he still couldn’t break the man.

  “I’m not lying,” Adrian gasped. “I don’t know what’s coming.”

  Donner gestured and the soldier chosen for this duty swung again.

  Two cars away, Angela was feigning sleep while Trey ate her lunch and chuckled over Adrian’s pain. Trey had turned out to be much more dangerous than she’d thought, starving her, grabbing her when Donner wasn’t around, and beating Adrian while he was unconscious. Angela wasn’t sure how much more she could take of listening to it.

  The monitor near the door beeped and Trey went to answer it, wiping away telltale crumbs. “What?”

  Benjamin stared icily at the mercenary, angered by the lack of respect. Trey had to know who was calling.

  “Get Donner.”

  Adrian scream echoed through the cars, and Trey smirked. “He’ll be a few.”

  “Working on Mitchel?”

  Trey nodded, moving aside so that Benjamin could view Angela. “Takes care of her, though. You guys got some sort of deal, right?”

  Benjamin already didn’t like where this was going. “She holds value.”

  “How much value?” Trey asked, sitting down next to her. “Cause she holds a certain…appeal, for me as well.”

  Benjamin frowned. “Name your demands quickly, before your master returns and kills you.”

  “I’ll bring her to you and I get to stay. Donner isn’t going to, you know. There’s a small lab before we cross under the Mississippi River. He plans to stay there until she has the baby.”