Hammer Down: Children of the Undying: Book 2 (37 page)

But she didn’t know how she would be able to tell if he did. The man made robots look emotive.

“Where’re you headed?”

“We’re just passing through,” Eden said, trying to keep her own voice as even and emotionless as his.

Rambo jerked his chin toward the dirt track they’d been walking down all morning. “Nothing down this road to pass to.”

Which meant she’d gotten them just as lost as she’d feared. “We’re going south.”

She couldn’t read his expression past the camo paint, but his voice was dry. “You need a new compass. You’re going west.”

West. Back toward Spokane. Back toward Seattle.
Shit
. She’d tried to stay on small roads because they were easier for the kids to manage, but the country lanes didn’t always run straight, and she hadn’t been very good about watching the angle of the sun and all that shit to make sure they were staying headed in the right direction.

Suddenly she felt weary to her soul. It was too much for one person to do everything, to be wholly responsible for three lives when the world was spinning upside down. How had she thought she could do this?

Eden swallowed back the self-flagellation and defeat. She needed to focus on moving forward. Getting the kids to safety. Building a life for them somewhere that didn’t involve guns or cults or fear.

Hannah Rose made a small sound of complaint, and Eden shifted so she wasn’t smushing the little girl quite so much. Lucas sat up at her side as Eden crouched in front of them, still defensive.

She jutted her chin up the road back the way they’d come. “So that’s east, huh?”

“East-north-east.”

So south was right in front of her, through the dense forest where this man had appeared. He didn’t look like he was in the mood to play tour guide, and she wasn’t sure she wanted him to. He was too imposing, too obviously deadly for comfort. This didn’t look like the kind of man who had picked up a gun and some hunting gear out of desperation and self-defense the way she had. He was too calm. He’d probably been living the curmudgeonly mountain-man existence for the last two decades, reading the Unabomber’s unauthorized biography and taking shots at anyone who trespassed on
his
land. No doubt he was delighted that only one person was living today for every three thousand who’d been alive a year ago.

But he was plainly capable. He knew the area. He’d tracked them easily, so it wasn’t like she’d be able to escape him without a car anyway.

“Could you give us directions to Boise?”

He snorted. “On foot? Honey, you’ve lost your mind if you think you can walk to Boise this time of year.”

“What about someplace we can get a car? Is there a town near here?” She’d pretty much exhausted her knowledge of Idaho towns with Coeur d’Alene and Boise.

The sense of hopeless defeat rushed back in. How was she supposed to get the kids south for the winter if she couldn’t even figure out which way south was?

A tiny hand plucked at Eden’s jeans, Hannah Rose trying to get her attention. She shifted her leg away.
Not now, babygirl. Mama’s holding a gun on the nice man.

“Look, I’m sorry, lady…”

“Mama?” The little plucking fingers were back. Hannah Rose poked her head around Eden’s shoulder.

“Not now, Hannah Rose.”
Don’t call attention to yourself, babygirl.

But it was already too late. The mountain man was staring at Hannah Rose’s rosy cheeks, his fierce frown evident even through the camouflage paint. “What does she want?” His voice was gruff, choked.

And a note in it set off warning bells in Eden—a note that made him simultaneously a dozen times more likely to help them and a thousand times more dangerous. Not a loner mountain man after all.
This man was a daddy once.

Hammer Down

Moira Rogers

When hell reigns on earth, love is a luxury they can't afford.

Children of the Undying, Book 2

While the tattered remains of humanity huddle underground, hiding in their virtual world, Devi prefers living topside, making dangerous hauls through the demon-infested wasteland earth has become. The wealth that comes from smuggling supplies to those shunned as summoner-born or demon-touched doesn’t hurt, either.

The man she meets to arrange one of those under-the-table hauls is complicated…and handsome as hell. Literally. A glimpse of the predator beneath his silver gaze and she’s tempted to break her cardinal rule: never mix business with pleasure.

Zel’s first look at the wild-haired hauler threatens to distract him from his mission—and reminds him just how long it’s been since he got laid. As the leader of an outcast settlement, he can’t afford to trust too easily. Devi’s got a reputation for running a tight, disciplined crew, but her very willingness to deal with him means she has something to hide.

Not to mention a hot, tempting package like her could be the cleverest trap his enemies have ever set.

Warning: Contains demon bars, virtual (and literal) fights to the death, forbidden love, renegade AIs, a badass truck-driving heroine who will do anything to protect her crew and the half-demon warrior who will move heaven and hell to make her his.

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This book is a work of fiction. The names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the writer’s imagination or have been used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to persons, living or dead, actual events, locale or organizations is entirely coincidental.

Samhain Publishing, Ltd.

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Hammer Down

Copyright © 2012 by Moira Rogers

ISBN: 978-1-60928-560-9

Edited by Anne Scott

Cover by Kanaxa

All Rights Are Reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

First
Samhain Publishing, Ltd.
electronic publication: January 2012

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