“I learned from the best,” she answered, fumbling left-handed to shovel some rice and beans into her mouth off an enameled metal camp plate.
Casting long shadows across the clearing, Daymon and Heidi rose from camp chairs and headed off toward the Winnebago, heads down and chuckling at something. A tick later, under Glenda’s disapproving glare, Oliver set his metal plate down atop the ones left behind by the departing couple and followed after them.
“Gotta admit,” said Cade, “The marijuana Oliver found sure has smoothed the rough edges off our resident logger extraordinaire.”
Brook said nothing to that. She was still watching Glenda watch the trio leave. Then she snickered at seeing Duncan, who was obviously taking advantage of Oliver’s absence, boost the woman up and lead her off toward the compound. “Yeah,” she finally said. “Everyone seems to be getting along real well.”
Making a racket, Cade scraped the beans into a neat little pile on his plate with his fork. Not caring if anyone was watching, he leaned forward and, with a wet slurping sound, hoovered them up.
Making Cade start and dump his fork in his lap, Brook called across the fire at Raven and Sasha. “Girls,” she said, “welcome to Day One of punishment for going AWOL. Police up everyone’s plates and silverware and get to washing.”
Raven blew on her marshmallow until the bluish flame died out. “How many days does punishment last?” she asked just prior to jamming the blackened morsel into her mouth.
“Ninety days,” Cade said in a no nonsense tone. “Breakfast, lunch”—
—“and dinner,” Brook said, finishing for him.
Cade watched the girls begin their sentence. He tracked them around the fire as they relieved Tran, Foley, and Seth of their plates and utensils. “And they better be clean,” he added, maintaining a straight face.
“And we’ve been appointed official quality control officers,” Wilson said, nudging Taryn— who was snuggling underneath a blanket on the same camp chair with him—to go along with his ruse.
“Yeah … that’s the ticket,” Taryn said, not very convincingly, as Raven took a pair of dirty plates from her outstretched hand.
Happy to see a sense of community returning to the tiny group, Cade caught the attention of his daughter and her co-conspirator. “It takes a village,” he said jokingly. “So from here on out, we are all watching you two like hawks.” Then suddenly, as if a switch had been thrown, his smile evaporated and his face took on a hard set. He plucked the Thuraya from his pocket and thumbed it on. As soon as the sat phone’s screen lit up, turning his face a cool shade of blue, he scrolled to the messages and selected the most recent. Seeing Nash’s number and time stamp attached to the recording, he pressed the Talk button and listened intently.
Sensing her man’s every muscle tense, Brook leaned forward and whispered into his ear, “What is it?”
Cade thumbed the phone off. “Raven,” he called out. “Go inside and get my laptop.” He craned around and caught Lev’s eye. “I need you to get me the satellite dish from the Black Hawk.”
Brook watched both Raven and Lev spring to action. “That urgent?” she asked.
Cade leaned back and looked into her brown eyes. “Words cannot begin to describe what Nash just divulged to me.”
“Humor me,” she said, meeting his upside-down gaze.
Cade shook his head. “You’re just going to have to watch the screen over my shoulder and see it for yourself.”
###
Thanks for reading Frayed! Reviews help. Please consider leaving yours at the place of purchase. Cade rejoins his former Delta team on a new mission in the forthcoming novel in my bestselling Surviving the Zombie Apocalypse series. Look for it in 2016. Please feel free to Friend Shawn Chesser on Facebook. To receive the latest information on upcoming releases first, please join my mailing list at ShawnChesser.com. Find all of my books on my Amazon Author Page.
Surviving the Zombie Apocalypse (Book 9): Frayed Page 45