Best Served Cold
1
Dawn hit the refugee camp slowly.
Fog, thick and waist-high in places, had rolled in overnight, covering Safe Haven with a mysterious, dingy gray canopy that had the sentries tripled and everyone who knew about Kenn’s snap, on high alert. The Marine could be sneaking in to do what he had threatened.
Stashed in the large hayroom, Angela tossed and worried. The awful dream wouldn’t let go of her and she muttered lowly, waking her son with words of danger and death–hers.
Charlie listened with a worried heart, the sense of something about to happen thick in the cold air. He’d been scared when he found out Kenn now knew who his dad was, but he had been terrified for her and was glad Adrian and the Eagles had put them under guard. Not sure what to do, but positive trouble had arrived; Charlie quickly dressed and slipped out.
On duty, Marc caught the teenager’s attention as he came from the tent, but got only a tense glance that had the father surveying for signs of Kenn. Finding nothing, Marc swept the landscape harder, now accepting that his bad feeling had grown into an awareness of blood about to spill. What did I miss?
Kyle and Neil sipped from steaming mugs, one slowly waking, one refusing to sleep yet. They had finished updating each other about Mitch and Rick, and the hunt for a new Com truck. Both tired males wondered what Charlie was doing, but didn’t stop him to ask. His shadow was Seth, who appeared as confused as they were, but with that expression of intense need, there was only one person Charlie wanted and it wasn’t either of the men who had a father’s claim.
They’re coming for her!
Adrian’s lids shot open at the silent words, not hearing the camp or his men, only the worried thoughts and images of the boy now begging him to do something.
Adrian met him at the flap. “When?”
The teenager linked their minds as he had with Marc, and then fate was all around them and they both took off running toward the training tent.
2
On the hill above them, where the layers of damp fog concealed everything, Kenn was waiting.
Blind up and ghillie on, he’d been set and ready since midnight. Tonya had packed everything he needed to accomplish this last mission and it was too bad he wouldn’t get the chance to thank her.
The fog below parted, revealing the barest shadow, and he used instinct to help guide him to his target; the killer instinct that his government had honed. Small, Kenn would have dismissed the shadow if not for the adult form following. Who would have a guard right now? My targets.
Kenn adjusted his scope to cover the main entrance of the training tent, but he scanned what he could discern of the sides and rear, as well. Brady would have her in the hayroom, where the bale walls were too thick to be positive of a kill shot. And where Adrian might still be, too. Smart. Brady knew Kenn wouldn’t kill Adrian or even trim him by accident. If Marc kept Angie and Adrian close, it might take a while to get a clear shot.
Kenn studied the hayroom intently. He was on his own line now. There was time to spare and if Adrian thought his rage could be stopped with a short radio call, the leader was in for a shock. It didn’t matter that Kenn’s heart had clenched with longing to be on Adrian’s right or that he’d even been halfway to that coveted place before he’d stopped. They would never really let him back in and the person responsible had to–
Someone’s creeping along the ground near the flap of the training tent. Infiltrator!
When Angela left the hayroom, tired Eagles scanned her, but no one told her to stay put and she proceeded to the tent flap. The first-ever rookie tryout for females was about to happen and she wasn’t missing it.
She’d spent most of the night worrying, but she’d come to accept that whatever was meant to happen, would. Like Adrian, she too felt they couldn’t outrun fate.
As Angela emerged into chilly fog, and saw what she’d failed to account for, it was too late to avoid the knife sliding around her throat.
Time slowed as the blade drew blood and the voices demanded survival.
“Be still!” Dean growled, dragging them toward his waiting jeep.
The knife went deeper, blade spotted red, and Angela stopped fighting. If he couldn’t take her out of here, he planned to kill her. She had to survive to meet Cesar.
Adrian and Charlie rounded the corner of the training tent as Marc dropped from the tree behind them.
Realizing he was trapped, Dean jerked her closer, using her as a shield. “Stay away!”
Angela locked eyes with Adrian, knowing only he would have the strength to do it and got his subtle nod. The brother wouldn’t leave this camp alive, no matter if she had to fall, too.
“Let her go!”
Neil grabbed Marc before he could rush in, and Doug helped him wrestle Marc back.
“Let me go! He’ll kill her!”
“Eagle lessons, Ten.”
At Adrian’s words, every man in the area retreated and prepared to do it by the book. They dragged Marc along. It took four of them.
Feeling Dean’s determination to take her away or kill her, Angela drew on her courage and relaxed her body as much as she could. Blood trickled down her chest as she shrank against the burning man.
Almost a caress, the surprise loosened his grip for a brief second that she didn’t waste. Twisting, the blade sank in deeper, and she braced against the pain as she swung her arm around to catch his hanging flesh in a yanking vise.
The knife flared into her skin, making her moan, and their sounds were mirrored agony.
“Bitch!”
Angela shoved at his loose arm, ducking beneath it, and Dean swung wildly as she spun away.
“Lookout!”
“Open Fire!”
“Angie!”
“Mom!”
“AAhhhh!” Angela screamed as Dean’s knife sank into her shoulder instead of her neck and her hand clutched her holster as she fell.
Pop!
Dean drained of life as Angela stared up at him in scared confusion. Between his glaringly dead eyes, was a round hole that oozed crimson in small rivulets.
Kenn slowly lowered the rifle, heart now thumping with that familiar feeling of victory. Boo-ya! I made the shot!
And they all knew. The Eagles were staring up at him in shock and Kenn snapped a quick salute that Adrian returned. He’d saved her. Now, Adrian would forgive him his flaws and let him back into the fold.
Angela caught the thought through the pain and din of voices surrounding her. She shoved into Kenn’s mind as Marc swung her into his arms and headed for the medical tent.
“Only for Adrian and your place?
You know it.
Then I owe you nothing.
Agreed.
Following Brady, Adrian handed out orders with a steady voice and a worried heart. We almost lost her!
“Check-in of all guards. Get everyone in the mess and accounted for. Pull those steel plated rigs around it and get rid of that body! Call in all shifts and set up a perimeter.”
No need. Angela’s thoughts were surprisingly calm considering how much blood and pain she was covered in. He was alone. It’s over.
But how would I know that? Adrian sent back, hoping to distract her with a lesson. She’d been stabbed and it hurt. Careful cover. Remember it.
Angela was only vaguely aware of how many members were running their way. I will.
In the dark about the drama that had played out behind the scenes, the camp was there to greet Kenn as he walked down the hill in his handmade sniper cover. A large part of the startled crowd met him, some of the Eagles as well, but Adrian was nowhere to be seen and the Marine stored it, bitterness still festering. He’d known Brady would run to her side, but he hadn’t expected the boss to.
As he strode toward his truck, Kenn tossed the brass to Kyle. “Give that to him. Tell him I want my place back.”
Kyle nodded, sliding the warm casing into his pocket. Like him or not, Kenn was needed. None of them had been able to take a shot without hitting her. Even Marc had hesitated when Doug let him go. Adrian had been drawing his own weapon when Kenn fired, but it would have been late even if he could have accounted for the angle. The Marine had saved her life and Kyle had little doubt Adrian would give Kenn what he’d asked for.
Kyle witnessed Kenn being welcomed by Tonya in a way that had the Eagles patrolling the parking area staring in surprise. Most of them hadn’t known the two were having an affair.
Kyle frowned at the term. Neither of them was dating anyone else. Theirs was more like a relationship. Would he abuse her, too? Would Adrian care?
Kyle vowed to find out.
3
“Did he know? Did Kenn let him get that close to you intentionally?” Adrian demanded, the need to do something overwhelming. She was hurt on my post!
Angela shook her head, wincing as fresh warm drips ran down her arm. She was thinking about how Kenn had lingered long enough to make sure she’d be marked. This searing wound was his payback. “Yes.”
Marc and Adrian both pivoted to John.
“Is she okay?”
Brady’s tone was threatening and the doctor snorted, angrily snapping on a pair of gloves. “Does she look it?” John elbowed his way through them to get to her. “Make a hole!”
Both men instantly responded, going to linger near the flap.
Angela’s grin quickly became a grimace as John dumped alcohol over the heavily bleeding gash and began wiping at it.
“You all right, Lass?” Doug’s big form appeared in the flap, face bandaged, and she held still, flashing a too-bright smile instead of moving.
“Just a bit dizzy, is all.”
“You get that a lot here.” The big man grinned wryly before ducking out.
“Ready?” Angela did nod this time and the hardened men by the doorway both winced at a fresh gush of blood.
“Don’t do that!” John snapped, wishing Anne were here instead of babysitting.
“Sorry.” Angela smiled at him through the stinging and throbbing.
The upset doctor blew out a sigh. “Hold still now, sweetheart, okay?”
“Yes.”
John picked up the needle and Marc snarled, “Aren’t you going to numb it?”
“No.” Angela’s voice was like stone. “I’m losing a lot of blood. Let him get it closed.”
That had the worry replacing the anger and Marc forced himself to memorize the needle moving through her bloody flesh. This was what she was in for as an Eagle and he knew without asking that this wouldn’t be enough to get her to quit. He would have to be able to take her being hurt, repeatedly.
Angela blocked his thoughts after she picked that up. When her stomach lurched, she tried not to let it show.
“Angela?” Adrian’s voice was full of the need for answers.
“He felt it coming and went to higher ground to see through the fog. That’s what you tell them.”
Adrian ignored Marc’s warning glare, thinking her being accepted as an Eagle wasn’t just ruffling Kenn’s feathers anymore. Brady was about to start fighting it for real. “Now, the truth.”
“He did it for you.”
“To get back in?”
“He was rolling through the motions, getting set, when he spotted…Dean slipping in and made the right choice.”
“And, if there hadn’t been an attack?”
“He would have taken his own life rather than destroy your dreams. I was only in real danger from him before your call.”
She felt Adrian’s relief and kept her knowledge to herself. Kenn had weighed killing both her and Dean with a single shot and claiming accident. The only thing that had stopped him was the certainty that Adrian would never forgive him, but Kenn had made sure she would have something to remember from it.
“You should get out of here. It looks funny.” Angela’s words had one man grinning and the other tensing.
Eager to have the camp normal again, Adrian ducked out, leaving Marc to stare at her remorsefully.
“I’m sorry. So much, I can’t even say.”
Angela tried to smile, closing her lids as John started on the fifth neat stitch. “You were my shadow?”
Marc’s anger was fading into heavy guilt. “Never saw him.”
Angela didn’t react to the needle now sewing part of her shoulder together; grateful she had a high tolerance for pain. If Kenny hadn’t helped her build it up, Marc would be in torment right now at her misery. I hurt!
“He used the fog, knew there was no way we could detect him on the ground.”
“Adrian will have someone up high from now on.”
“Yeah.” Angela felt the needle strike the bone as John tried to get it all in place and her stomach twisted at the bright red flash. She needed to get these comforting sessions over with so she could have a personal moment.
“Will you send in the boy? He’s worried long enough.”
With a last miserable glance, Marc ducked out of the tent, not responding to any of the questions from the dozen or so men waiting.
He gestured at Charlie. “Keep your mom company while I help the Eagles.”
Charlie entered the tent gratefully and slid into the chair by her leg after only a fast glance at the bloody wound.
“You’re okay?”
“I’m all doped up. Better than okay.” She hoped the doctor wouldn’t give her away and felt his understanding. The boy was already feeling like his father, thinking he shouldn’t have left her alone even to go get Adrian.
“Gonna have a great scar to show off,” she boasted confidently, fingernails digging into her palms when the sharp needle sunk into her flesh for the seventh time. “Could use a different shirt, I guess. And for someone to tell the next group of mourners that I’ll be ready in about five minutes.”
Grinning and eager to help, the boy was gone in a flash and Angela let out a sigh of relief, sucking in the cool air that rushed through.
Charlie came from the medical tent to find Kyle and his Eagles standing nearby, waiting. “She’s ready for the next group in five. I guess that’s you.”
The easy tone had them relaxing a bit, but the tension returned five minutes later when they trooped inside to catch her grimace as John helped her remove the ripped shirt. All of the men spun around while the doctor helped her put on a clean white tank top from his personal drawer.
“It’s okay.” John swept her wild, tacky hair into a bun and then wiped the drying blood from her pale skin as Kyle’s team gathered around.
“You gonna be okay?”
Angela nodded and had to control her reaction again as the tent spun. “Left arm’s hit, I’m all good here.”
Men made jokes that were right, but their expressions said they were deeply upset and needed some way to feel better about how it had all played out.
Giving her a break, John retreated and studied in fascination as her breathing slowed and the static electricity in the tent tripled. When her lids opened, he flinched at the red orbs.
“There are survivors, fuel tankers, and a working radio station in Omaha…medical supplies in Cottonwood…survivors in Martin…”
The list went on for a long minute while John wondered if even Adrian knew what all she might be capable of. John’s thoughts were often consumed by his illness (confirmed stomach cancer that would kill him in the next months) and for that second, there was hope for him. There were stories flying around that she was different. They were clearly true.
When the Eagles left, each promising to stop by later, Angela gave John a sigh. “Finish it now?”
Knowing how much misery she was in had him nodding. After he was done stitching her up, he would find a way to slip something into her system for the pain.
After Kyle’s team, there was still a line of people waiting to be reassured. When she trembled under his fingers, John moved to the flap, glad they were finally done. He didn’t like helping mar that pretty skin with stitches.
“Come back after lunch!” He snapped the flap shut angrily on the protests. “I’m going to the mess. You need anything?”
Angela smiled, feeling the clammy bumps and chills of nausea. “That depends on how long I’m in for, sheriff,” she joked.
The doctor melted. “I won’t chain you either. Give your system time to heal, that’s all.”
“Thank you. For everything.” As soon as he left her alone, Angela reached for the basin.
4
The camp wasn’t doing well. No one knew of Angela’s past with the brothers and now that there had been a few hours to consider what the attack meant, there was unrest. Were they all so unsafe that anyone might sneak in and slit their throats? It was a feeling more than a few people wore.
Adrian hated it, worried about losing them, but he also understood they had to wake up before they could become stronger. Would this be enough to get more of them into his army, where they belonged? Only time would tell. For right now, something had to settle everyone down and make them feel safe again.
Under the influence of the painkillers John had forced on her, Angela still could hear the silent chaos of Safe Haven. It buzzed unpleasantly around Kenn’s newly inflated laughter and the Eagles’ disbelieving shock.
The camp was Adrian’s chore (and she would have helped there anyway), but Kenn was her chain. When she regained her strength, she would handle it one final time and be done with the new games he was now hesitantly planning. They didn’t have time for it. When the brother didn’t report, the slavers would come in force and wipe them out. They’d had a tank last time. What would they ambush these people with next?
Poison came to mind and the doctor inside flinched. In these conditions, there would be nothing that she or John could do.
During her hours of extra stitches, pain, and rest, Angela’s mind went over everything that had happened. As she drifted, she hesitantly found that room inside her heart that was hidden deep behind doors covered with webs. She’d only been to this place a few times in her life and she opened the gates with a reminder not to get lost in the past.
Inside the miserable crypt were half a dozen small boxes and she swept each fleetingly; her childhood, Marc’s betrayal, losing her infant. This was where she had placed all those things that were so horrific she had to get away from them or be consumed by the grief.
Angela took an empty container from the endless stack on the shelf, mentally cringing at so many waiting to be filled. She pulled the day’s horrors together; Charlie’s screams, Dean’s evil touch, the pretending to be fine when she needed to cry…and shoved them deep inside. A fast flip had the lid sealed and she slid it next to the box marked Aftermath. There were seven crippling horrors in here now. How many boxes would she fill as an Eagle?
Too many to ever go back, the Witch warned.
“Good,” Angela responded harshly. “I’d stack them ten feet high to help these people, my people, survive!”
Snapping awake, Angela carefully stood up and staggered to the flap. She could feel the unrest growing, and was shocked to find so many camp members gathered outside the tent to wait for word. She’d found a home with all of these shattered, hopeful refugees and they would stand together. She would help Adrian with all she had, and that included her life. They were hers!
In that moment, she understood how to ease them and she didn’t hesitate to share her story this time. Using a careful pace, with a wolf at her heels, Angela let them in on the personal hatred the brothers had held, and smothered the witch when she told them that she finally felt safe now.
A short time later, the explanation was spreading across Safe Haven, leaving calming notes and allowing that golden light to once again drown out the crimson.
5
“I can’t make it. Again.”
Samantha peered up from the cup of coffee she’d lifted from the mess, hands still dusty brown from working in the garden all day. “More quake trouble?”
Neil shook his head, trying not to peer down the front of her gaping sweater. “I have to make a run. I’ll be back tonight, but it’ll be too late.”
“Checking for more problems?”
“Yeah. Me and Brady are gonna go have a look around.”
Very glad Angie was okay, Samantha shrugged, smiling. “We’ll do it another time. Be careful.”
“Thanks.” For an instant, Neil thought about asking her if she wanted to come along and turned away instead. What was wrong with him?
“Will you tell him there might be a…storm? A lot of dirty rain.”
“Yes.”
Neil didn’t ask any of the questions he wanted to as he traveled to the parking area. He had already suspected Samantha was special from the way Adrian had her hidden whenever she weather-watched and he wondered curiously about her gifts. How much like Angie was she?
Adrian was silently screaming at the men who had been on duty and they felt every word he didn’t speak. Someone had gotten through the wire. They had failed.
The leader stared at his men for a long time, choosing, reordering, and yet his mind said she wouldn’t like it, to go easy on them. If Marc hadn’t noticed Dean during the chaos, how could he expect these months-long fighters to?
With nothing to say, Adrian didn’t offer comfort or threats. Instead, he didn’t talk to them at all. He went to the medical tent while the camp was settling for evening mess, hoping she would be alone.
Adrian paused outside the flap, listening. Was she really okay?
Come in and see for yourself, the Witch invited, always quick to make him welcome.
He ducked inside to discover Angela reclined in a chair, smoking a joint. Her lids were shut, dark lashes on pale skin and she didn’t open them.
“I’m better now. Going to either make him pay or thank him later,” she muttered, exhaling. “John slipped a few happy drops into the last of my water bottle. He knew I’d guzzle it and notice the taste too late.”
He had done it while she was distracted by her son’s last quick visit and Angela wasn’t sure if she was glad or mad.
“Good.” Adrian moved closer to view the red and white bandage covering her shoulder. “How bad is it?”
She was covered in a heated blanket. Adrian had no idea how John had managed to do that, but didn’t get snagged on it.
Angela winced at another dizzying lance of pain. “It’s fine until I do that.”
Adrian grinned tightly, playing along. “Then don’t do that.”
Angela still didn’t open her eyes. She’d heard about Marc leaving on a recon and wasn’t surprised to feel relieved. He would be distracted by Neil and she would have a little time to finish sorting things out. Like Adrian knew when he sent Marc with the trooper, she realized.
“Anyone ever tell these people that they are lucky you chose them?”
“It doesn’t feel that way, watching blood run down your arm.”
She sighed tiredly. “Yeah, that top one won’t stay closed. John will do it again when he gets back.”
Adrian scowled this time and Angela’s tone grew hard. “It could have been worse.”
“Almost was, right? You could have been stabbed and shot.”
That sent her startled gaze to his. “How do you know? I blocked that from you.”
His frown expanded. “It’s common sense. With you gone, Kenn might have been able to earn true forgiveness.”
She raised a brow. “Saving my life hasn’t?”
“No. I’m grateful and I’ll show it, but nothing can ever be the way it was.”
Angela was glad Adrian knew the truth. An honestly good man, Kenn may never be. That didn’t mean they could do without him.
“What comes next?”
“We get ready for the main group to find us again.”
There was silence again as they both considered that final battle and then he broke it, unable to keep from asking, “Where were you going when you left the hayroom?”
Angela’s thoughts were unprotected and he shared the memory with her.
She woke while Charlie dressed, listening to his worried thoughts.
The slavers are here!
Am I ready? No, but it’ll have to be enough.
As soon as Charlie was gone, she prepared herself as best she could for battle. If the evil group was nearby, she would slip out and surrender, give Adrian time to run again.
He won’t, the Witch warned. He’ll fight for you and lose every man.
Not if I can get to Cesar, bluff him down with an offer of giving him my power.
The witch didn’t answer and that was good enough for her. She had to get out of here before all these lives were lost because of her curse.
Angela twisted around to say she had planned to kill Cesar during the power-transfer, and found herself alone in the tent. What would he do now?
6
Worried, and determined not to let the injury interfere, Angela was on duty near the rear of the vet area before dawn. Set up on a corner post where three rotating patrols crossed, the small dirt bike they’d insisted on placing under a nearby tree made a decent seat when her shoulder began throbbing.
John’s medicine had worn off and she stretched her arm slowly, tearing up at the sting. She’d had stitches before and knew the way it worked, but that didn’t mean it was easy.
Sighing in boredom and weariness, she stood up and swept the scraggly trees a full minute early. She understood now why she had never been able to get the exact routine of the sentries down. Each area had a rotating part to be covered a set number of times in an hour. It was up to the Eagle to decide when, during that 60 minutes, those patrols took place.
Satisfied things were quiet here, she entered the center of the grid around her. Stepping into the parking area, she exchanged nods with two of the three men on duty, and kept going, assuming the third sentry was on the other side of his route. That happened everywhere in camp so that more than a dozen Eagles would be crisscrossing the entire area at any given time. To make up for those hiding laziness and carelessness, the senior men and Eagle on Point had a set pattern they walked for half an hour and then they did rounds of all the guards, keeping men alert. It was complicated from the outside, but once in on the secret, it became clearer. Twenty overlapping circles that covered the entire camp, it was smart and very effective. It was also easy on staffing, as it required only two men in each area instead of four.
Angela settled against the bumper of a truck to have a smoke and give her body another quick break. She was pushing herself, but carefully this time, unlike during the trip here with Marc when she’d run his full course and passed out. She’d had to relive her baby’s death to explain it, but now she was stronger than she had ever been and not even close to quitting like some people were hoping would happen now.
Thanks to John’s care, she could still do her duty, and in the morning when she woke feeling as if she was actually dead? That was what pills were for. She wasn’t missing her training time.
Shoulder switching from stinging to throbbing, Angela shifted it to a better position, not hiding her grimace. The rest of the parking lot couldn’t see her from here, only her boots, and the shadows were dark, empty except for the two men she could feel on sniper duty over her patrol area.
“I can make that go away.”
Twitching, Angela stretched her arm out carefully. She hadn’t picked him up at all. He was good.
“Then I wouldn’t be able to use it at the first aid class tomorrow.”
Angela’s hand came up to reveal her gun. She was going to be very fast to pull it again for a while and she slid it into the holster with a sigh. “When can we start my real lessons?”
“A week or so.”
“I don’t want to wait.”
“I know.”
“I’m working my regular schedule.”
Adrian’s sigh was resigned and proud at the same time. “I know that, too. It’s why you were chosen for this, why you’ll succeed.”
Adrian saw she had gotten the wound bleeding again by spending time with the camp and then on duty, instead of resting. He concentrated, pulling from his fury at her injury and a bolt of vivid gold energy shot from his hand and sank into her shoulder.
Angela arched at the sensation, body alive with need and then it was gone, as was the pain. She drew in a calming breath.
“My thanks.”
“My honor.”
The pain would return with dawn, but the open show of his own gifts, of their likeness, had Angela fighting the urge to step toward him. She was saved the battle by the sound of a sentry coming.
Jeremy slammed an icy façade into place at the sight of them, at the striking need in the air. “Marc’s coming this way.”
Suddenly bone weary, Angela surprised both men. “I’ll find him in a bit.”
The Level Three Eagle left quickly and Angela tried to resist the comfort that Adrian still wanted to give. Marc would be hurt, but it was still better than his oaths of better protection and guilt. She didn’t blame him, but she wasn’t ready to spend this time, when her mind was so empty, being refilled with things that didn’t matter. This was her life, her choice to make, and those who were really with her would accept it.
Adrian studied her, unsure of the mood. Was she blaming Marc? Did she blame leadership? The Eagles were his and their failures belonged to him as well. He started to say so and then realized that was likely the reason she had avoided Marc.
“How did it happen?” she asked suddenly.
“With the disks out, he must have crawled all night under the fog.”
“I meant the shift in power you’re putting in place.”
Adrian’s expression became shuttered, but he didn’t lie. “It’s destiny, fated.”
“And you have no doubts, even though everyone else, including me, does?”
“None.” His words were rough with emotion. “It’s meant to be.”
He didn’t say more, but Angela felt it anyway and refused to let the two words even form in her thoughts.
Aware of all the ears on them, she opened her lids to reveal those glints of steel that Marc would have recognized instantly. “Cesar has to die. We’ll never hold this camp together while he murders our people.”
Adrian was relieved to have her agree, but it also sealed his choice. If he didn’t get her ready for it, she would do it untrained. Her loathing of the evil man had finally conquered her fear of carrying the guilt over his death.
“Yes, it has.” Like the man she’d killed on her trip here, another life would be sacrificed for hers. It was hard to swallow, but Angela let it slide down her throat like a fine drink after a toast. Everything I am and will be to eliminate the slavers!
The man beside her echoed those thoughts. Together, they would give their flock room to grow without the wolf nipping at their heels.
Marc listened to the conversation with only a little guilt and a lot of confusion. He had gone to the medical tent first, expecting her to be there recovering. Instead, he’d been told she was on guard duty in the parking area. He was pissed, wanting her to get to bed, but even with all that frustration, their words sank in. Had his sweet Angie just ordered a hit? And why wasn’t Adrian telling her the Eagles would handle it and she would be in the rear?
Marc scowled in the darkness, making Dog’s ears tense. Because she wouldn’t be. If Adrian had his way, Kenn the Destroyer would be on his right and Angela the Witch would be on his left. With that type of an opening line, a leader would be nearly invincible.
There isn’t anything, it seemed, that the pair wouldn’t do for Adrian. And Marc had brought her here, to this…savage garden. To the very place that would take her away again.
7
Kenn was high.
Being in everyone’s good graces again had him feeling like there was hope for the first time since he saw those two Blazers in the street and realized she was here. Saving Angela’s life had made up for all those little moments with the camp and even with some of the Eagles. When he ducked into the medical tent hours after making the shot, he felt attention on him, but not in suspicion. If he wanted her dead, she already would be. He only wanted to talk.
“She’s not here.”
Adrian’s voice was hard and Kenn knew instantly that Adrian hadn’t forgiven him a single hit.
He entered the dim tent, finding the five other stern profiles waiting. “What happens now? You shoot me even after all those pretty words?”
“This is just a conversation.” Adrian stated, indicated the empty bench. “A short one.”
The leader waited until Kenn was seated before giving him another hard, searching look and leaving the tent.
It told him this had Adrian’s full support and Kenn braced for the blows.
Instead, there was silence until Kyle finished lighting a cheroot.
“Is it over now?”
Kenn didn’t blink. “Is what over?”
“Your vendetta against her and Marc. Is it over?”
Kenn’s mind flew through answers. His first thought was to lie.
“I don’t know,” he ground out. “Maybe.”
“It is!” Seth warned.
“It isn’t up to you, scrounger!” Kenn sneered in hatred.
Kyle gave Seth a resigned nod and the undercover cop leaned in.
Disgust crept out in waves and Kenn was surprised to feel a small tinge of fear.
“You think you have the power here.” Seth delivered their message. “We’ll run you out.”
“And we won’t give you the chance to sneak back,” Jeremy warned coldly. “You won’t leave this tent if we’re not convinced it’s over. We won’t let you bring it all down.”
“We don’t want to have to talk to you again and we won’t.” Kyle’s hand went to his Glock. “If you break this deal, we’ll kill you and we won’t worry about the herd witnessing it.”
Kenn was silent for a long moment, doing his best to shield his thoughts from his face. If he got his place back, he might be able to let go of the need to hurt them.
“Things will be the way they were?”
“As much as they can be, but there are limits to this deal,” Kyle stated. “Leave her alone. If you can’t help her grow, at least stay out of our way.”
“I already do that.”
“And if she crosses your line and becomes Marc’s legal mate?” Seth was still furious that Kenn was getting off without a punishment. “Because she will as soon as you leave her alone.”
Kenn let his mind go where it wanted, needing to know if he could accept that, and he let out a breath. “I’ll work through it.”
And instantly, he knew he could. She wouldn’t rush into Marc’s arms anytime soon and he would slowly adjust.
“You sure?”
“You sure you can treat me with respect?”
“For Adrian? Absolutely.”
Confident they’d made their point, Seth moved toward the door with his fingers snapping and unsnapping his holster.
“But all is not forgiven, Kenn. You’ll break this deal. I have faith in that as much as Marc does, and since I drew the short straw, I get to pull the trigger.” Seth headed for camp. “It’s worth the wait.”
Kenn snarled his anger, pushing to his feet in a way that had the Eagles tensing to fight.
“We’ve made a deal and I’ll stick to it, but be careful. This trap could still blow up in your faces!”
Kyle shoved forward at that. “Are you one of us?”
“I’m Adrian’s!” Kenn ducked out, hoping Tonya was still awake. “The rest of you can go to hell.”
8
Rick read the letter a bit nervously, not sure if he had missed anything. The camp around him was half-angry, half-happy mob and his frustration grew as music blared to life in the Eagle tent next to his. Had he gotten across the importance of laying back and taking out the leadership here before attacking again?
He’d been able to get Mitch to tell him the truth about the tank and then spent some time with a map. If the slavers were trapped by the Cheyenne River, they would have to take the long way around. He had roughly ten days before Cesar got here using their cleared roads, a week and a half to take out Adrian.
Rick snarled in anger. And O’Neil if he could. That one had it coming.
Rick slid the two-paragraph note into a plastic baggie and then deep into his pocket. He would put it in the ground tomorrow as they left. There was too much attention on him to do it tonight. After defeating another bad guy, Safe Haven was in higher spirits than ever. If Cesar came now, he would need more than a tank.