The Dragons of Men (The Sons of Liberty Book 2) (8 page)

“Do you have family?” Eric asked as he bent down to her.

“What?” the girl asked as she looked up with red and shock in her eyes.

“Do you have anyone you can go to?”

“My dad, maybe,” the girl replied. “My mom is in Greece and my sister is in Arkansas.”

“Okay, your dad. Is he in the mall?”

“No,” she replied. “He’s a security contractor on base with the Rangers. We live on base but he sent us into town for the night to stay with friends. When we woke up to the sound of bombing, we tried to call him but I couldn’t get through. We came here to take this and find out what’s going on.” The teenager began to breathe heavily, fighting the pain that clearly threatened to annihilate her sanity. “What’s happening?”

A surge of pity and emotion struck Eric again, and this time he didn’t even try to hold it at bay. The teen was kneeling over the corpse of her brother in the city that bordered the base where her father had likely just died. Her mother was on the other side of the world and her sister might as well have been. The teenage girl pushed her hair away from her face and Eric noticed her for a second time—her sharp eyes, her smooth skin, and her athletic physique. She had the beginnings of a beautiful woman, something that might now cause her more harm than good.

Don’t help her,
the warrior inside whispered as a fresh wave of exhaustion rolled over him.
You need to get back before you fall over. She’ll slow you down, require protection, and eat your food before likely dying because of some small stupid decision she makes.

As the soldier’s voice pleaded with him, his compassion won out. Eric had been far younger than her when Gene saved him. Though he wanted to believe the teenage girl could look after herself, Eric knew she wouldn’t make it three days without someone killing her or worse. He muttered a curse as he held out his hand.

“Fort Bragg was just destroyed,” Eric said. “I’m sorry, but if your dad was at the base then he’s gone. I’m not too keen to take on strangers but I can help you if you come with me now.”

Emptiness filled the girl’s pretty eyes—a large pair of glistening caverns that glazed over like death—and she fell sideways, slumping up against the concrete wall next to them without a word.

Don’t do it, Eric,
the voice inside pleaded again.
Go!
He cursed once more before kneeling down to her and sitting next to her.

Eric knew leaving the girl behind would set him on a dangerous path of apathy, but to save her, he needed her to snap back to reality.

“My name is Eric Corsa. I have friends nearby that will help take care of you, but first, I need your help.” She stared ahead, her eyes unblinking as tears welled up and cascaded down her silky-smooth cheeks. “It’ll be okay. Just tell me your name and we’ll go from there.”

She looked back at him, eyes widening and narrowing as though she was seeing him for the first time. He stared back with as warm of a smile as he could muster.

“What’s your name?”

“Alexandra,” the girl replied passively as she gazed at her dead brother.

“Good,” Eric said calmly. “Do you have a last name, Alexandra?”

“Andreou.”

“Very good,” he said, glancing back at the door uneasily as a loud crash sounded out from beyond. “It’s a pleasure to finally meet you, Alexandra Andreou. Now you said you have a sister in Arkansas. What’s her name?”

“Nadia,” the girl responded absently. “She’s a…teacher out there.”

“Great,” Eric said. “Now listen. I don’t think we can help you reach your mother in Greece right away, but my guess is that my friends and I will be heading west as soon as the sun rises. Maybe I can help find your sister Nadia for you.”

“I can’t leave him,” she said quietly, glancing down at the dead boy.

“Alexandra, we have to move,” Eric said. “I want to help you and I know it’s tough, but it’s the way things are. I’m sorry, but he’s gone.”

“But I can’t….”

Eric paused, moving in close as she set her head on his shoulder and cried. He knew they were wasting precious seconds, but unless she snapped out of it before they started moving, he would most likely find himself in a struggle to save her life somewhere outside the isolated warehouse.

“Alexandra, I promise I’m going to take care of you, but you’re going to have to come back to reality. We have to move. It’s what your brother would have wanted.” He peeled the wrapping back from the brown box and took the heavy radio from it, powering it on and holding it up for her. The radio was the size of a brick and had a five-inch screen that dominated one side. “Now do you know what this is?”

She finally tore her eyes from her brother and looked at the radio that Eric held.

“It’s a hunting radio capable of tapping into military channels,” she said. “They were blacklisted just before things got bad, but I thought they might have one in the delivery depot.”

“I’m assuming you know what these can be made to do?”

“They were manufactured before last year’s FCC regulations.”

“Right again,” Eric said. “Did your father teach you all this?”

She looked over at him again, her face empty of everything except sorrow, and proceeded to throw up, spilling rancorous bile onto his Kevlar vest. He fought back the urge to vomit himself as he began wiping the girl’s puke off him. Still, he had committed to helping this girl, regardless of what the shock of losing a family had done to her.

“I’m sorry,” Alexandra said quietly.

“Don’t worry about that,” he said. “It’s okay. Now Alexandra, you look like you’re in pretty good shape. Are you a runner?”

“I played varsity basketball,” she replied flatly. “I also ran the four-hundred.”

“Good. That’s going to help with getting out of here. Take this.” Eric handed her a canteen of water. “We have a little over four miles to get back to where my friends are waiting. Now I’m guessing you were taking this because you knew how to use this to piggy back off the GPS satellites to access live satellite imagery?”

She wiped her chin and looked at him, nodding her head as she took a drink.

“Great,” he said as he stood up, taking her by the hand and helping her to her feet. “I’ll make you a deal. I’m going to get us to safety and keep an eye out for danger before we get there. I need you to type in the exact codes I relay to you as we move.”

“Okay,” she said, wiping the tears away, only to cry again as she looked back down at her brother. Eric started to speak again, but Alexandra held up a hand and nodded, leaning down and whispering her final words to her brother. “I love you.” She took a deep breath and exhaled, holding the radio out in front of her and quickly navigating to the root menu. “Alright, I can type the codes as we walk.”

“No,” Eric said as he unholstered his sidearm, picked up his bulging bag, and began to lead the way back to the entry door. “You’ll type as we run.”

Sarah Reinhart stirred from her slumber and slowly opened her reddened eyes. The glowing horizon glistened upon the unforgiving tears that swelled beneath both her irises. She quietly regarded Fort Bragg through the large window; the military base itself was the source of the night’s illumination, lighting the sky with the fires that burned within its borders. The occasional explosion brightened the darkness, followed a few seconds later by a muted rumble.

Sarah twirled Eva and Grace’s hair around and around in circles, both their heads resting quietly on her lap. Despite the shock of their perilous flight, the girls had fallen asleep shortly after Eric had charged back out into the dark. She looked away from the glass window and glanced at the others in the room. It was silent, save Rick and Judi’s quiet conversation by the office entrance. Rick held a rifle at the ready—his eyes on the entrance should anyone save Eric attempt to enter their temporary safe haven. Eric had radioed a while back, telling them that he was about to enter a mall. Sarah had fallen asleep shortly after, though her mind drifted to eye-opening nightmares the moment it descended into the dream world. Even with all the problems that faced her in the here and now, Sarah couldn’t stop thinking about Adam. They had no idea what had actually transpired in DC—or Fort Bragg, for that matter. All Sarah knew was that she was hopelessly lost without knowing what happened to her husband.

A battery-powered fan oscillated on the desk next to her, drying the damp pages of her leather-bound Bible. It seemed a lifetime since Adam had given it to her. While others typically replaced a Bible every so often for something new and different, Sarah had held on to the book for nearly eighteen years—caring for it and treating it as her greatest earthly possession. She knew and loved its pages like she knew and loved her family. For years she had prayed for Adam to return to God, never letting her frustration get in the way of loving him. For Sarah, her husband’s transition over the previous months had been a monumental answer to prayer. Still, she couldn’t help but feel anxiety as she sat there—staring at the old book as she thought of him. Despite everything Adam had committed himself to since Joe’s death, the foundation of his priorities had always been rooted in the safety of his family.

Only one thing would keep him from coming back,
she thought silently as her mind began to float again.
Only one thing…

She fought down the suffocating knot that began to climb in her throat, pulling one hand away from Grace’s head so she could wipe the new tears away and grab the Bible. Its pages were now dry, though a bit stiff compared to before. She held the Bible as though it were the one thing within a few hundred miles that could soothe her. She had always rested comfortably in the fact that she could count on Adam to look out for her. Twenty-four hours earlier—an eternity with everything that had occurred—Sarah had awakened with the hopes that Adam would finally win out over Lukas and finish his quest to save America. Now, as the sun was on the verge of rising and casting shadows across a dark new world, she found herself stranded with her children, her in-laws, Elizabeth, and Eric—a rag-tag group of refugees fleeing what had nearly become their smoldering tombs.

“Can’t sleep?”

Elizabeth’s voice drew Sarah’s eyes. She looked up at Elizabeth and smiled, shaking her head to answer the older woman. Elizabeth stood there quietly, smiling down at Sarah for a moment as she held two mugs with steam rising from the top.

“How long was I out?” Sarah asked.

“A couple hours,” Elizabeth said. “Not long enough, if you ask me.”

“I’ll be fine,” Sarah said softly, stifling a yawn as she did so.

“You’re a terrible liar, Mrs. Reinhart,” Elizabeth said as she held out one of the mugs. “Just like that husband of yours. I can’t quite understand how a man as honest and innocent as Adam Reinhart ever managed to make a life in politics.”

“Some people still prefer an honest politician,” Sarah said, slowly lowering the girls to the floor. She set her Bible back on the table and leaned up against the desk before taking the mug.

“If you say so,” Elizabeth replied kindly, adjusting a snowy scarf that hung from her neck. “Well, I suppose tonight isn’t really the sort of night that rest comes easily.”

“No,” Sarah began, “it sure isn’t.”

“I couldn’t find coffee,” Elizabeth began, “but I did find some blueberry pomegranate tea stashed in the back of a desk, and lucky for us, the backup generators haven’t quit on us yet. I’m quite partial to the drink of queens myself. I might even sneak some of those adrenaline shots Eric has to give it a little extra kick.”

“Thanks Elizabeth,” Sarah said quietly. “You’re pretty good at this.”

“Good at what, darling?”

“Brightening a dark room.” Sarah lifted the mug, holding it tightly and fighting a quiver at her lip as she sipped. “Taking my mind off the fact that my kids and I might very well die tomorrow.”

“Well honey, anyone might very well die on any given tomorrow,” Elizabeth said, glancing down at the two girls who slept peacefully. “Doesn’t take a war to make that true. But you’re tough; you’ll make it and so will your children. Those kids sure were troopers tonight.”

“Yes they were,” Sarah said as she looked down at her daughters with a smile. “Yes they were.”

“Care if we join?” Rick asked as he and Judi approached silently. “Judah said he wanted to watch the door until Eric gets back.”

“You think that’s wise?” Sarah asked, failing to suppress the concern in her voice.

“He’s not a kid anymore,” Rick replied as he grabbed chairs for Elizabeth and Judi. “He’s more than capable to keep a good eye out for us. Besides, I highly doubt we’ll have anyone climbing that many flights of stairs just to knock on our door after a night like last night.”

“I agree,” Elizabeth said. “I must say, that Judah of yours sure was lookin’ out for his girls tonight. You raised a strong kid, Sarah Reinhart.”

Sarah glanced over at the door near the far side of the room where Judah sat quietly. He held his rifle in front of him—lowered though clearly ready to raise if needed. It was strange, seeing him sit there quietly with a weapon of death. He looked every bit a grown soldier. Judah had watched over Eva and Grace like a hawk from the moment they climbed out of that pool to the minute they had closed their eyes on the top floor of the small tower in downtown Fayetteville.