The Fight for Peace (19 page)

“They let me through when I landed,” Farrak added. “All hell broke loose when the last soldier was out of the plane, like they were waiting to see who’d come. But we had enough of an edge to make the dorm, which they then blew up. We caught up with the Guard who were holding out just as the building detonated.”

“They used me for bait. After what Gabriella said to Damir, they knew if they had me, you’d come,” Byran said. The look on his face was an apology. “Gabriella tried to warn you, but we couldn’t get through. I didn’t want you to come.”

“But I’m here and it is time to leave,” Arinna spat.

Bullets rattled the oak door, a few piercing daylight into the room. A machine gun chewed at the oak brace.

“Get back,” Jared warned. Now that they were there and trapped, the FLF just needed to level the building to kill them. That they hadn’t yet gave Jared a margin of hope. “We need a back exit,” he told Farrak.

“Best bet is a side chapel toward the east,” Farrak said.

“Go,” Arinna said, grabbing Byran and pushing him toward the chapel. “Farrak, get the Prime Minister out of here. The FLF want Jared and I. We’ll buy you some time to make the planes. Just come back and pick us up, if you get the chance.”

Byran looked ready to argue. But as he opened his mouth, the front door erupted inward in a gout of flames and debris. The explosions prevented any gunfire from the FLF and the Guard held fire to conserve bullets. Concealed from the FLF by the dust and smoke, Farrak hauled Byran deeper into the chapel with him, the other two remaining delegates following with three soldiers guarding their rear.

Jared spent the last of his ammo firing at the FLF coming through the door as the smoke cleared, happy to remove three combatants at least. He really should have asked Farrak if he knew how many FLF remained. Too late now, he threw the empty gun aside. The FLF soldiers closed in as the sound of breaking glass came from the eastern wall. The FLF soldiers paused, sharing uncertain glances. One stepped toward the door.

Arinna walked slowly out from the side colonnade. Smoke from the explosions wafted toward the high ceiling, diminishing the light from the ornate windows. The FLF in the chapel froze. Guns drawn on her, one soldier fired. His gun clicked. She smiled at him and Jared remembered to breathe.

No other shots came. A few of the FLF tossed aside empty weapons to free their hands. At least they were even with the FLF that way. Jared joined Arinna in the center of the chapel. He did
n’
t need the columns hampering his movements. In the open space of the quiet nave, he drew his sword.

There were fewer Guard soldiers than FLF and he and Arinna were the main target. Jared had never enjoyed sword fighting, but he could manage. Still four to one odds unnerved him. He couldn’t meet every attack with his sword. Instead, half the time he just tried to stay out of reach of the enemy’s blade.

He took a wide swing on his thigh, happy he wore leg armor even as the blade bit a little. Blocking the next blow, he managed to slip below the guard of a fighter. Jared caught him beneath the armpit with his sword. One more down.

The room was thinning out a little, but not enough. Arinna took a hit in the arm. She managed to knock aside the sword and made a wild stab at her attacker. It was enough to give her some room. The FLF fighter leaned out of reach. A Guard soldier got him in the side while his attention lay on what was in front of him.

Jared stayed to Arinn
a’
s right, helping to cover the retreat of the remaining Guard. They backed slowly, grudgingly giving each foot to the FLF as the worst of the injured and then able fighters slipped out the side chapel window behind them. As far as Jared could tell, the FLF didn’t follow. Instead, in the absence of other Guard soldiers, the fight with the remaining FLF grew intense.

“
Go
,”
Arinna ordered.

Jared ignored her.

She took a badly aimed strike down the length of her hip for her second of inattention. Arinna hissed and struck back. Her smooth lunge took out another FLF fighter. They were still outnumbered.

Even with the lunge forward, the strike to her hip had moved her a pace backwards. Jared took the brunt of the combat for a moment. He nearly dropped his sword when Arinna grabbed him from behind and shoved him into the chapel. The floor trembled as the world erupted in smoke and fire.

The force slammed Jared against the stone wall, sword flying from his hand. In midst of the searing smoke, he heard Arinna gasp. Despite hot debris pelting him, he leaned forward and reached for her, snagging her coat. He hauled her against him. She felt too limp as she stumbled into his arms. Jared caught her, feeling warm stickiness on his hand. It took him a minute to comprehend it was blood.

“Fuck. Arinna, where?” He shook her as if he could force the words from her.

“My side,” she rasped, hand over the spreading stain.

“Out, now,” he growled. She slumped to her knees. “I will carry you if I have to. Are you coming, my Lady?”

“Just go, Jared. The FLF designed this as a trap. We won’t both get out. Did you seriously think both of us would survive this war? I’d rather it be you.”

Jared knelt in front of her, ignoring the clearing smoke afraid he’d see FLF watching them. As if not seeing a threat would make it not exist.

“It’ll take both of us to win. Farrak’s at the dactyl now. You just need to get out of the building.”

Her face was beyond pale. “You know the plan. Derrick is good enough, use him.”

He nearly hit her. With a growl he turned to face the room, scrounging for a sword. To his surprise what he could see of the chapel was empty, but he heard voices where the FLF sheltered. They wouldn’t be alone long.

“Leave,” she ordered, although her command was a whisper.

“Not unless you are coming. We always knew we’d die fighting to save the other one.” Jared wrenched a sword from the debris. It came out twisted with blade broken, but it was a weapon.

“Dammit Jared, this is about saving Europe. Get the fuck out of here.”

He glanced down, refusing to see the blood. Instead he offered his hand. “You coming?” She sobbed once and then reached to take it. Jared hauled her to her feet and swung her out the window, dropping behind her. The snow around her was splattered red.

One arm around her, he took most of her weight as they stumbled through the snow. He didn’t even know where they were going and waited for a bullet in the back. Instead a dactyl landed in front of him, shooting into the chapel behind him.

Jared used the dactyl’s side to support their combined weight as they scurried to the back hatch, unsure if he was happy to see Byran sitting on one of the rear bench seats. Byran caught both Jared and Arinna as the dactyl’s rise pitched them forward. Together he and Byran leveraged Arinna to the floor.

“You promised me you’d survive,” Byran choked.

Arinna sighed a laugh, blood flecking her lips. “You told me long ago I could break any promise to you I wanted.”

As she passed out, Jared pushed his way into the cockpit to take control. He meant to find out how fast the dactyl really could fly.

Chapter 22

DANIELLE LE MARC

DEATH OF A RELATIONSHIP

“The failure of the peace talks is proof that Prime Minister Vasquez is not fit to lead.” Danielle paused, letting the echo of her voice fade from the assembly hall. “He tried to negotiate with an enemy that has only shown Europe treachery and death. Should we be surprised that it is what they gave us again?”

The gavel pounded on the podium and Danielle swallowed her next words. Pushing herself out of order would only succeed in removing her from the room. Just when she wanted to be there. 

“This is not why this emergency session was called today,” Senator Gastelle stated. “We are not here to question or criticize the Prime Minister when we don’t have full knowledge of what happened. What we need to discuss is the fact that we are still at war and what we should authorize the Guard to do.”

“Of course we aren’t going to discuss the four Senators who were murdered and their seats which need to be filled. The fact that there will be no election to replace them,” Sari hissed. The gavel pounded down again.

Danielle smirked as she leaned into her seat. The turmoil over the dropped elections had returned Senators to Prague. They’d arrived in time to learn of the attack on the peace delegation. Now Parliament was in an uproar, uncertain how to react and completely without guidance. Despite that the attack had occurred two days prior, the Prime Minister had yet to make an appearance or pick up the reins of leading Europe. Undermining Byran’s continued absence was almost too easy. Add to that the Lady Grey’s life hung in a fragile balance by all reports, and Danielle was having a fantastic day.

Without MOTHER, Byran, or even Derrick, the number of Senators who had a clue how Parliament was supposed to function in an emergency hovered near zero. Even Danielle wasn’t really certain. She doubted anyone in the room would manage to figure it out by the end of the day.

“If the Prime Minister won’t leave the bedside of his lover, then I think we should find one more interested in running the government.”

The shout came anonymously from the middle-back of the room, but Danielle recognized Evan’s voice. His comment set her silently laughing, which earned reproachful looks from the Senators on either side.

No amount of pounding on the podium would quell the room now. Etienne Gastelle shouted over the din, her voice fit more for an opera than Parliament.

“Do you not understand Prime Minister Vasquez was injured? Everyone at the peace negotiations suffers injuries, not to mention what they experienced. Ms. Lennon, Mr. Cairns, and yes, Mr. Vasquez, need a day or more to recover. They are not soldiers, but politicians and from what I understand, even the soldiers are shaken. Shame on all of you for suggesting other reasons for any of their absences.”

The room had fallen into quiet by the end of Gastelle’s impromptu speech. It pricked at Danielle’s nerves. She opened her mouth, but Gastelle cut her off.

“No. We are done here today.” She placed the gavel on the podium, not needing it to control the shocked room. “This proves we need guidance. Actually this proves so much. I’ve been assured by the Chief Communications Officer that Europe has experienced no other attacks, but the Guard remains on high alert. Captain Vries is monitoring the situation. What I need is a few others who will join me to go to Mr. Vasquez’s house and see if he can appoint a temporary successor to guide us. We have had nearly two months since spring session resumed. We should have organized into a functioning body by now. Prime Minister Vasquez didn’t fail. We have failed.”

Etienne Gastelle left the stage to abashed silence. Danielle hated the woman for it. It took several minutes for the hall to stir. Danielle sighed as rustling filled the chamber, letting go of her annoyance. Byran only needed the slightest push to be removed. If Arinna died, she doubted he’d need that much. No matter the early dismissal and compelling speech, the recent events still worked in the direction Danielle aimed.

Danielle found Evan, walking around dawdling Senators who didn’t know what to do with their suddenly free day other than gossip. He smiled when they caught each other’s eye, which set Danielle laughing again at Evan’s stinging comment that had closed out the meeting.

“There you are,” Evan said, draping an arm around Sari’s shoulder as she joined them. “We should go to lunch and strategiz
e—
”

“No,” Sari said. “I need to speak to Etienne. I want to join her to speak to the Prime Minister.”

“To see if he really is at home? You can report to us what level of injuries he has supposedly sustained!” Evan’s glee had him shifting on his feet.

“What a wonderful idea, Sari. I’d go with you, but I doubt Byran would let me in his door right now,” Danielle added.

“Actually, I want to volunteer because I think Etienne is right.” Sari shrugged off Evan’s limp arm. “Maybe we’ve approached this the wrong way. I could have set up a meeting and spoken to Mr. Vasquez instead of treating him like he was a part of MOTHER.”

“You are forgetting that the Prime Minister has hardly been present in Europe to meet with you,” Danielle pointed out.

“No, he was deliberating at a peace negotiation, one that he was willing to risk his life to attend in the hopes of ending this hideous war. He was home long enough I could have tried.”

Sari didn’t wait for further arguments. She brushed past Danielle in a hurried walk to the front of the room where several delegates stood speaking to Etienne.

“That was surprising,” Evan said with a frown.

Danielle shrugged. Sari’s betrayal might hurt the core of their group. But from the number of Senators making their way toward Evan and her, it was a position easy enough to fill. The next hour passed in deep conversation with others who questioned Europe’s leadership, especially the absence of it during the previous two months as protests and occasional riots spewed across the continent. If any pointed out that she had been the root cause to the unrest, Danielle happily pointed out she only meant to illustrate the problems with the current situation in government. She had never sanctioned rioting. She hadn’t, unlike David Eldridge, paid people to create an emergency.

The early end to session did have another advantage. It allowed Danielle to see Chris. With the Guard on high alert, she’d not expected him to be off base. But when she returned home it was to see him standing at her front door.

“I had a few hours of leave and wanted to get away. The mood is ... bleak,” Chris confessed when Danielle relented her kiss long enough to let him speak.

“This has been the most wonderful day,” she said, leading him inside.

His touch verged on angry, the sex rougher than normal and less sensual as if he didn’t enjoy the touch of her skin against his. But when done, he held her against his chest, wrapping her tightly in his arms. She glanced at him, seeing his gaze fixed unseeing out the window.

“Are you all right?” Danielle asked. “You’ve never exactly been a cuddler before. Is it that bad on base right now?” She moved to face him, but he held her still. 

“I don’t want to talk about it. Tell me about your day. You said it had been good. I’d like to hear something good right now.” His breath ruffled against her neck as he turned his attention to her. Chris released his hold so that he could smooth her long hair.

Danielle hesitated in her answer. “Well, I gained quite a lot of support today.”

Chris released her to roll onto his back. “For your arguments against Prime Minister Vasquez, you mean? Do you really think now is the time to push those articles? We are dealing with enough not to need the unrest you are stirring.” His voice hardened on the last sentence.

Danielle rolled over, rising so she could look directly at him. “I’m not the cause of the protests! I’ve pointed out flaws. Others have acted due to their extreme disappointment in the current government.”

Chris stared at her a moment, before looking away with a quiet snort. “Sure.”

She wanted to hit him, more because his dismissive reaction ticked her off than anger at him. “If it is that bad on base, you should quit,” Danielle snapped.

Chris sat up so quickly that she jumped to get out of his way. “This isn’t a job. You do understand that, right? I can’t just walk away and even if I could, I wouldn’t. I love the Guard.”

“Yes, you look like you love it right now. Why are you so pissy then?”

Chris tossed back the covers, scooping up his shirt as he rolled out of her bed. “You are so dense at times,” he said as he pulled on his clothing.

“The leadership of the Guard has been so stellar you have no complaints?” Danielle asked, wrapping the sheet around her as she stood.

“I never liked that they hid the war, that I fought an unknown battle with the FLF for three years without break and no reserves. I watched friends die, knowing each loss also meant one less soldier to fight. But no, I didn’t complain. I know why we did it. I volunteered to stay and when we start fighting again, I’ll volunteer to go back.”

Danielle stared at him. “I thought you were in the Defensive Guard,” she finally admitted. “I didn’t realize you were fighting.”

“Gabriella was my Lieutenant. She was a good soldier.”

Danielle sank onto the edge of her mattress, reaching out a hand to Chris. He finished pulling on his pants and sat next to her, muscles across his back rigid.

“I am dense. I’m sorry,” Danielle said.

“I shouldn’t have said that,” Chris said with a shake of his head, but he didn’t look at her.

Danielle slid closer to him, resting her head on his shoulder. “Her death was quite a loss to the Guard?”

“A seasoned Field Lieutenant? Yes. Especially half of a team like Captain Vries and Captain Prescot were.”

“Were?” Danielle asked, her heart trembling at the past tense.

Moisture reflected in Chris’ eyes before he shook his head and stood, walking to her bedroom windows. “I don’t know what is going on in the Guard. The Lady Grey and Captain Vries never seem to be in the same place at the same time recently. They say she ordered him back to Europe just before the attack, and he came grudgingly. But then he supposedly wouldn’t leave her side during the fight at the peace negotiations. They both almost died because of that.” Chris leaned against the window frame as if he needed the support. “This isn’t a good time for them to have a split. Not with the FLF out there somewhere while we are blind.”

“Blind?” Danielle asked, but Chris shook his head. “You are worried about a split with, to be blunt, the Lady Grey near death in the hospital? I think that is a moot point.”

Chris cast her a look from the corner of his eye. “I know you dislike her, but have some respect.”

“She is the one who agreed to hide the war that left you fighting without help or acknowledgement for three years!”

“And she is the same person who convinced your fiancée to dump you. Let it go. Bitter ex-girlfriend doesn’t suit you. It taints everything you do. Considering how well you worked with Byran in the fall, that you are attacking him now, speaks of jealousy more than judgment.”

That brought Danielle to her feet. “He had me arrested!”

“No, that would have been the Lady Grey, who was in charge of the government at the time. I guess you do have other reasons to hate her. Though revenge is a poor quality in the innocent.”

“You would defend
her
.” Danielle was so angry she trembled.

Now Chris looked at her. “Is that what made you turn against Byran? That he is friends with the Lady Grey?”

“They are more than friends. I’d swear to it.”

Chris’ expression was concerned more than affronted. He left the window to place his hands on Danielle’s shoulders. “You need to let this go. Whatever slight you think the Lady Grey has given you is in your head. She holds no ill will toward you.”

Danielle shrugged off his hands. “Really? How would you know that so certainly?”

“She gave me clearance to continue seeing you.”

“What?” Danielle felt like he’d hit her in the gut. “She knows about us?”

“Of course. Your recent alleged association with the FLF meant I had to report I was dating you to my commanding officer. She pretty much laughed it off.”

“You mean you’ve been spying on me for her this entire time!” Danielle stepped toward him, raising a fist. Chris caught the strike in his hand, grabbing her other arm as she went to push him again.

“I have not! Danielle, calm down.”

She struggled in his grip, until she tore herself away by stepping backwards. “Oh, she didn’t tell you to report on my activities?” Danielle hissed.

“No. She said if you happen to confess anything to let her know and then laughed.”

The unexpected betrayal froze her breath. “I never should have trusted you. You are Guard. Get out! Get the fuck out of my house!”

Chris turned on his heel and left, scooping up his shoes and belt. Danielle waited until she heard him in the front hallway downstairs before running through the house. She slammed the door at his back and locked it, too furious to scream.