From The Ashes (Life After War) (68 page)

Marc's pulse leapt eagerly.

Adrian dropped his jealous gaze back to the notebook. “She needs as much as you can shove in there. When we get to the kids, she'll drain herself to ease their misery.”

Marc headed for the flap. That was his Angie–give it all away and keep nothing for herself. And, as usual, that would put her in danger.

“
You'll stand watch?” Marc asked, not turning around and throat-punching Adrian like that inner voice suggested.

“
Yes.” Adrian stood up as the flap closed, gut burning.

He was hours away from the end of a six month leadership that couldn't compare to anything else he'd ever done in his life. A few hundred minutes from losing it all.

Adrian was fighting panic-laced depression, and Brady needed to be very careful with personal challenges, even ones only made with his eyes. Adrian now understood how Kyle felt about Jennifer. If he was damned anyway...

4

Marc ducked into the next tent, watching Jennifer openly take a place on guard duty with Kyle. Charlie's words came to him, but after letting it go so long, Marc wasn't sure Kyle would welcome a gesture of friendship.

Marc sat down quietly, always a little amazed at the things Angela could do–and this time, he was a touch bitter, as well. If not for her gifts, he might be going with Adrian and coming home to her.

His scent floated to Angela, that deep musk she craved. Her lids flew open.

“
Sorry. Didn’t mean to startle you.”

“
You didn’t,” she stated, locking gazes with Adrian over his shoulder as the blond took up a post just inside the noisy flap. Was that jealousy?
His relief source must not be that good,
she thought.

“
He sent me to feed you.”

Everything flooded in a guilty mess, and Angela stiffened, embarrassed. “I’m fine on my own.”

They both heard Adrian’s snort.

Marc rested his arms on the wooden table. “Take what you need, and use it to keep a shield around yourself. I know that you can.”

“
All right, Marc.” She gave in without more arguing, understanding how hard it was for him to let her go at all. Angela slid her hand into his, ignoring his intake of breath and her own racing pulse. “Close your eyes.”

“
Not on your life!” Marc retorted.

Angela rolled her own before closing them.

Marc’s fingers wanted to caress her skin, but he kept still as the wind picked up, blowing her dark hair around. The world shifted suddenly, and he was forced to close his lids as the drowning sensation began to wash over him.

The force increased, and she tightened her grip, drawing. Neither saw the bright blue sparks around their hands.

Adrian did, his expression layered in mental agony. He hadn’t thought Marc was like them, but that bonding blue said otherwise. What else hadn't he noticed about Angela's Wolfman?

Angela pulled her hand free–it had become a caress on her part. When she opened her lids, Marc was staring at her with concern.

“
It’s enough?”

His energy was coursing through her body like lightning and she grinned. “I'm full up.”

She glanced over his shoulder at Adrian, who still stood in the doorway, and back. “Did he ask you to keep an eye on Jennifer?”

“
No.”

“
He’s worried about her giving birth while Kyle’s gone.”

“
I’ll take care of it.”

Marc's concern for her flared hotly, and Angela gave him what he needed. “I’m coming back, Brady. On my own feet this time.”

“
You’ve seen it?”

Angela was glad she didn’t have to lie. “Yes. Two days, maybe a little longer, and I'll be here.”

Marc let himself breathe, leaning forward to press his mouth to hers. They’d shared a much more private goodbye this morning in their new tent.

“
Miss you already,” he whispered against her lips.

Angela smirked. “You still smell like me.”

Marc groaned in desire, but knew not to follow it with a crude remark. Having her spread open before him like a buffet had been amazing. And extremely frustrating.

Angela laughed. “Go get our boy, will ya? I want a few minutes with him before I leave.”

“
He'll find you after his shift at the Mess. He's helping Li Sing.”

“
Okay.”

Marc waited for Adrian to move out of his way before getting close. “You’ll look after her?”

“
If she needs it,” Adrian stated evenly, locking down on everything.

The Marine forced himself to walk away, going to the next tent. He needed a workout.

“
Who goes?” Adrian asked, staying back. He knew what it was like to be so full of energy and have nothing to do but wait for it to be needed.

“
No one,” Angela said firmly. “They're not ready.”

Adrian approved the choice–it was the one he would have made, but he wouldn't have overruled her. Team leaders had to be given support, even when they made the wrong choice. If she'd chosen to bring them along, he would have let them do a safe shift and had them escorted back.

Angela was high on Brady. She hadn't had so much of his energy since they'd made Charlie and need was smoldering. She kept her head down until Adrian was gone and then went to the training tent, where Marc had just started to work out.

She didn't say anything–she didn't need to.

Marc took it in, grinning in surprised happiness. Her face was full of flaming need. “Now?”

“
I've got half an hour.”

Marc started to grab a towel and follow her to their tent, but she slipped into the small hay room, waving her shadows to stand watch.

For just an instant, Marc lost the mood and gained a flash of Adrian that chilled him. She'd chosen a relief source.

“
That's you, jackass,
” the inner man reminded bluntly. “
Get in there!
”

Marc had also chosen his–eased it into need and desire with a gentle touch, and his reward was almost at hand. In a half hour they would both be pleased. When she came back from Little Rock, he intended to be satisfied.

The mood flared back, bright enough to burn, and Marc dropped his coat in the doorway. “Close those beautiful eyes, baby, and lean against the wall.”

Adrian continued on his rounds, pushing back the bitterness.
She
was happy. That was what mattered.

Adrian neared the vet setup, approving of the new animals. With the constant additions, the vet’s area resembled a small zoo now more than it ever had. Pens and corrals and crates sat in a carefully thought-out correlation to form a winding circle, with his tent and metal table in the center.

Across the deserted two-lane street and through the moldy, surviving fields of wheat, the only building in sight was a weather-beaten nursing home. Adrian had sent a team to explore it as soon as they’d arrived. With the care facility sporting that kicked-in door they all now took as a clear sign that the Draft had come through here, he had expected a few boxes of supplies. Instead, he now had a new group of sheep. The entire third floor of the brick nursing home had survived–twenty eight more hungry souls who were instantly bonded to Safe Haven’s leader.

They hadn’t planned to come out of their barricaded level until all their food was gone–it was how they’d survived the looting right after the war. When the Eagles had come through, thinking it was abandoned, the residents had tried to fight for their remaining rations. They’d quickly been persuaded to come along, but not before Kevin had earned a nasty cane mark across his arm and a new respect for the elderly.

“
Oh, Brady!”

Angela's passion-laced voice echoed through the moldy trees.

Adrian's stomach tightened, fists clenching. He had to find a way to get over this.

5

At dusk, the mission team was rolling.

Angela had been thrilled to be cleared for the run, but the sight of where they were going took that feeling away. In fact, there was a complete sense of doom riding the thick air over the Little Rock skyline. It hung in an ugly gray the shade of old concrete–perfectly matching the rubble of the city it was layering.

Adrian picked up the mic. “Radio silence. By 9.”

Angela automatically switched to channel 18.

Adrian started the engine, slid his sunglasses on, and got them moving.

As the mission team cleared the trees, Angela began to study the destruction with the powerful binoculars Adrian kept behind his seat. She could still hear that awful moan in her mind as she concentrated. It appeared to be a large dump area for a negligent construction company. From this view, not a single building still stood. There were no paths, no streets, just mile after mile of debris.

“
We have movement behind the brown trailer,” Kenn reported.

Adrian keyed the mic once to show he’d heard, but said nothing. He switched on the second CB system and put it on the channel that they’d first heard the kids on.

As they neared the crumbled city, the mission team was reminded of how these scenes always appeared so unrealistic in cheap films. Except with the windows down, they could smell the bodies that were still rotting. Many were skeletons, flesh gone to predators, and the team could hear the hordes of flies that circled and stopped, circled and stopped. This was no movie set.

The grass was dead too, replaced with thick mud from the water rising through and over the land. It should have drained, but a cluster of ships had been smashed upriver by Hurricane Amanda, forming a thick blockade with the wreckage. As a result, the river had been backing up into nearly every city and town along its banks. It probably would only have taken hours and a little dynamite to clear, but no one knew and few would have been able to do the job. The War had changed everything.

“
They think they're ready,” Angela stated slowly, reading. “And they only expect to take one person from this city. The others they're hunting are for fun or bait.”

“
Who?”

Angela's fog lifted and left worry. “Everyone in this dead city is on the watch for Adrian Mitchel Sr. All sightings will be reported. They've been well paid.”

“
Who gave the order?”

“
A Major, but I don't have a name yet.”

“
Garret,” Adrian muttered scornfully. “We end it this time.”

Angela didn't ask what the sneering man in Adrian's mind had done, instead concentrating on finding a weakness.

“
He doesn't have many,” Adrian shared reluctantly. “The only one I was able to use was how he'll sometimes underestimate his prey.”

Adrian's voice held a note of concern. “He'll have the bases covered, and he'll act fast. Don't hesitate if you get the chance.”

Angela didn't say anything, but inside, she was eager to be useful.

6

Three hours into the run, they had cleared a total of 140 feet and were able to view the mostly clear street their leader had known was there. Obviously, this had been done after the war, the piles too orderly to be random, but it wasn’t encouraging that there were no other signs that it had been an attempt at rebuilding. Likely, it had been someone trying to flee or someone determined to get in to find their family.

“
Gentlemen, start your engines!”

Adrian encouraged them cheerfully, as if announcing the start of a race.

It drew tired snickers from the team, who understood they’d be crawling along. There were cars, buses, parts of buildings, and they could already make out the first place they would have to get the Cats out to clear. Part of a school was lying across most of the street, a corner of brick walls.

“
Something up?” Adrian asked as they began to roll.

“
I can’t get just one thought from the blur. There are more people here than we thought–a lot more.”

“
Can you get them to come out?”

Her uneasy glance made his stomach shift.

“
Even if I could get one, I’m not sure how to convince them they’ll be safe.”

“
Yes, you are,” Adrian intoned. “Say it.”

Angela scowled deeply at not being allowed to lie. “We have to do it again. We have to eliminate them.”

“
Yes.”

He waited for her to protest.

She didn’t.

This would be the last time a mission would have only male teams. Within the next month, Adrian expected to have the rest of Angela's rookies, minus Jennifer, out here toiling for the dream. Angela wasn’t a Level Four yet, but she would lead them to glory. Of that, the leader had no doubt. His private lessons with her, combined with the attention she was receiving from Brady and nearly every senior Eagle, would take care of that.

Adrian thought of the special training he’d been doing with her, the leadership lessons she’d soaked up like a sponge. The mental warning that he had to have a successor now was one that had driven him to put those things in place so soon, and only for her, where he hadn’t for any of the others. She wasn’t as experienced, but she valued life more than any of his men, and that was something he couldn’t duplicate. He’d created an army of killers to protect his camp. Then, he’d chosen a pure soul to lead them. It was the perfect setup.