Surrounded by Killers
1
Angela paused outside the tent where they’d chosen to hold their second meeting. She’d instructed Kenn to have the leaders of each team collect the ideas and plans so that the number of people would be roughly half what she’d had yesterday. The third and final meeting would only be her and the top five men in camp.
Noting the green sunset, Angela hit her mic. “Kyle, join us, please.”
“Copy.” There was curiosity in his tired response.
She waited outside for him, waving the others on when they would have lingered.
Kyle moved faster when he saw who was waiting for him.
When they were alone, listening to the gentle murmur of men inside the canvas comparing plans, Angela glanced at Kyle. “You once told me if I needed anything I should talk to you. Remember that moment, Reece?”
Kyle stiffened at the name, now aware that something was coming. “Of course. And yes, I meant it.”
Angela noticed he didn’t immediately ask what she wanted. She understood that was only in case it involved Jennifer, who was still in the medical tent, resting under supervision.
“I’d like to offer you a job change to third in command.”
Kyle gaped, unable to form a response, and Angela didn’t wait. “I’m not Adrian. I won’t expect as much, but I can’t have a top dog who serves two masters, like Kenn would. I need men who belong to me, the way Adrian’s do. I’m offering one of those places to you.”
Kyle still wasn’t sure what to say. “No one’s going to like this. Neil and Doug both…”
“Serve in other ways.” Angela interrupted, sure that she now had the complete attention of everyone inside the tent. “Adrian will be out of commission for at least the next two weeks and we are short on time.”
Kyle searched her nervously. “You’ll give it all up the second he says he’s ready?”
“Before that, if I can.”
“Then it would be my honor to serve.”
“Adrian and Marc will probably be the only ones who don’t eventually think we’re trying to take control while the boss is hurt. You may lose friends and gain enemies,” Angela warned.
Kyle snorted, holding the flap open for her. “We all expected you to reform the chain of command. I just thought you’d pick Neil or Doug, or even Zack, over me.”
“So did a lot of people,” she stated, not smiling. This job required her to be surrounded by killers. Nothing less would save them.
Angela went to the front of the tent and got to work. “Let’s hear the weakest solutions first, the ones that do not cost lives. Marc, you start.”
2
While nice, and flush with game, the Toltec Mounds state park was much too open for their liking. Angela was eager to be gone. They’d enjoyed the flat land around the mounds, and the bit of history attached to the locations, but it was enough to keep the shield around the camp most nights. Angela brought it up now, but made sure those closest saw she wasn’t worried, just being cautious.
Angela felt the waves of coolness as she neared the medical tent. They were in direct contrast to the humid evening breeze, but matched the concerns of the men she’d left behind. They hadn’t been happy with her answers, or lack of them and the bad vibes could be coming from anywhere.
When she walked by Adrian’s bed and got a hard stare, she understood who was upset. It only took a minute to figure out the possible reasons why, something she did while John gave her a quick update.
“He’s better, but not out of the woods,” John said lowly, showing her Adrian’s chart. “He’s still fighting the infection, I think.”
Angela checked the next page, hating how low his blood count was. “I think the drugs interfered–stopped me from being able to heal the wound fully.”
John didn’t answer and Anne’s thought was clear.
He always worries until there’s signs of improvement.
Angela handed the chart back. “He looks mostly on track to me and the witch is snoozing quietly, so why don’t you do the same?”
John started to argue and Anne took his arm. “That’s a wonderful idea. Come on.”
John reluctantly let Anne lead him from the tent, as Kevin called Millie in for her first shift on medical duty.
Aware of the audience, Angela started the conversation mentally as she sank down into the chair at Adrian’s side.
How do you feel?
Betrayed.
Ah, Angela thought. He’d been expecting death.
Do you know what you’ve done?
Angela leaned against the tent. “Tell me.”
You’ve traded my life for your son’s.
Angela tensed. “What are you talking about?”
Adrian concentrated on the anger instead of the agony. I believe Marc used his lifeline on Dog.
Angela gasped, lids clenching shut as that fell into place. If anything happened now, they wouldn’t be able to heal Charlie.
Adrian wanted to remain angry, but the waves of misery coming from her had comfort spewing out. Shannon didn’t use hers and it became mine. I’ll use it for Charlie. Calm down. Stop. Breathe.
Angela wasn’t sure why she was reacting as if Charlie was injured now, but the witch wasn’t speaking up and that was a bad sign. The sense of doom was so strong that she could taste it.
With her walls down, Adrian read the feeling and immediately assumed that was why he had been spared. At some point, he would be asked to give his life for Angela’s son. He would do it willingly.
Angela caught the thought and frowned deeper. She was calming–when Adrian made a vow, he meant it–but knowing that he was so willing to die was haunting on several levels. She didn’t want this job he’d gifted her with, and there was definitely no way she could do it alone.
“I’m going to send some people in. Draw from them.”
Adrian wanted to refuse. He should be dead and yet, here he was, expected to resume the burden that had put him here in the first place. He couldn’t help feeling resentful. “I’m not empty.”
Angela knew that to be a lie, and let it go. The people she’d sent had orders to insist. “Do you need anything?”
“Time with Charlie and Conner.”
“You’d have them be friends?”
Adrian remembered not to nod. Movement hurt. “More like brothers.”
Angela slammed a wall down on the thoughts that produced. “I have no problem with it. Maybe Charlie can help him forgive you.”
Adrian winced. “I don’t deserve that.”
“Then why?”
“They’ll be a support system that the others here will look to for strength and ideas.”
“Our replacements.”
Adrian didn’t spend energy denying it. “Yes.”
Angela thought about saying Charlie was only interested in Tracy, but couldn’t. That might be his focus right now, but it would change after he’d gotten, or been denied, what he was currently seeking. And what would he want then?
“I’ll arrange it,” Angela said after a minute. No matter which way things went with him and Tracy, a solid friendship with Conner would be something to help Charlie.
Adrian drifted as the pain increased. Drained of energy, his body was having a hard time regenerating the blood he’d lost and it was slowing the healing process.
Angela listened to some of the thoughts floating through the tent and just outside it. Things appeared calm. She needed a report from Marc.
Adrian heard her stand up and opened his eyes. “Thank you.”
Angela stared, picking out concerns and feeling more of him now, more of his light, than she ever had. There was also more darkness. Adrian had been brought down. First, by the wounds and infection, and then again by how easily his camp had changed hands. He knew it was only because of his carefully laid plans, but the proof was having a disastrous consequence. It said he wasn’t needed and for someone like Safe Haven’s fearless leader, that was a crushing blow. In his plans, he hadn’t been alive to get in the way.
Vanilla ran along his senses, turning him into a mass of regret. The power of her magic had pushed him over a line that there was no recovering from. Adrian used what strength he had and sent a mental hand to touch her cheek.
Angela felt his gentle caress and jerked away in anger. “Don’t do that!”
Adrian grinned in lethal defiance. “I’m done hiding how I feel. You should have let me die.”
The radio crackled loudly in the charged silence. “Raven to the QZ gate.”
Still locked in eye combat with Adrian, she hit the button on the belt. “Copy.”
Adrian studied her face, pushing his magic out in a hard blast. “When Marc’s not enough anymore, I’ll know. I’ll feel it.”
Electric sparked violently as Angela read what he was trying to hide, but his secret plans didn’t change the fact that he meant every word.
“And I’ll be waiting for that moment, craving it.”
She turned for the flap at the panicked sense of need. “That’s what I’m afraid of!”
Adrian closed his lids in satisfied frustration. She felt it, her words confirmed that, but the defiant anger in the tone suggested a long battle with herself before she got to that point.
“I can wait,” he whispered, slipping into his glaring dream world. “And then I’ll love you until I’m dead, the same as Brady.”
Angela didn’t react. The woman inside understood his anger was at how he had to use her…and how she was allowing it.
His personal feelings are growing, the witch stated bluntly, not appearing to care. It means he will make sure that you and those you love will always survive.
“Even if his life is the price?”
The witch didn’t cackle in amusement, but it laced her answer. Oh, yes. He’d throw it all away for the chance to love you even once.
Angela shoved the demon aside in revulsion. “Not true!”
The silence spoke volumes.
Angela stormed from the tent and smacked into the hard chest about to enter it.
“Be careful!” she snapped, shoving by him.
Kenn watched her go with a speculative expression, but inside, he knew. He went to Adrian’s side with a slight frown.
“How are you this morning?”
Adrian grunted, barely awake and Kenn did something he never thought that he would. He scolded Adrian.
“You have to stop playing with her. You’ll hurt the dream.”
Adrian was shocked by who it was coming from.
Kenn took the chair, opening his notebook. “You once told me that a man couldn’t have a high place here and her, that no one could balance the two.”
Adrian’s depression swarmed over them both. “I don’t have a high place anymore.”
Kenn understood a lot from those words and went on with the truth. “You’d have to kill Brady.”
Adrian didn’t respond and Kenn scowled. “Snap out of it! You can’t take over like this.”
“I’m not taking back over,” Adrian informed him coldly. “My duty is done.”
3
Kenn left Adrian a few minutes later, sure the injured man was set to manipulate them, to push someone into telling Marc or the camp. When that happened, Angela would have full control and Adrian would be removed from the picture. Then, his real body could be left for the government, and Safe Haven would be that–safe.
To keep it from happening, Kenn was developing a plan. It was a dangerous thing, to side with anyone but Marc right now, but Kenn had belonged to Adrian from the moment he’d realized the man didn’t have an XO. All these miles later, there was no other choice. Kenn would try to help Adrian get what he needed.
“And good luck on it,” Kenn muttered. “Even if he was dead, she’d still swing with Brady.”
Kenn spotted Kyle sitting outside his tent, working with lanterns, boxes, and piles of rails and bars. Kyle understood how badly they needed Adrian. Maybe…
Kenn joined the mobster, staring at all the baby equipment. “Feeling like a dad yet?”
Kyle snorted coolly. “No. I feel like an engineer who suddenly turned stupid. These directions don’t make sense.”
Kenn let himself be distracted, taking the sheet Lee shoved his way, but inside, he was building schemes. Adrian wanted to be dead or with Angela, and he no longer cared which. Kenn would try to give him the more reasonable of the two.
“Rail C is missing,” Lee stated in frustration, viewing the piles he’d been roped into helping with. “I only looked away for a minute, but it’s gone.”
Rail C was in Kyle’s hand. He and Kenn exchanged smirks.
“Why don’t you go get a beer?” Kyle suggested. “And bring me something. I’m starving.”
Lee stood up, dusting himself off. “Yeah, right.”
He knew Kyle wanted him out of earshot and he went willingly, glad to escape the baby session. He hoped Candy didn’t get any ideas from seeing him assist.
Kyle glanced up. “What do you want?”
Kenn stilled at the hostile tone. “To talk.”
Kyle tightened the rail in place. “I won’t help you trick her. We were wrong to try.”
Kenn began assembling the other side of the portable crib. “And if it’s what brings Adrian back? Does it matter then?”
Kyle had heard the tones and rumors, he knew why this was being brought up, but he’d already made his choice. “Ask someone else.”
“Yeah.” Kenn knew he wouldn’t. If the mobster weren’t keen on getting Adrian back, the others wouldn’t be either. Angela was earning that slot.
“You think her plan will work?”
Kenn slid the washer on. “Yes. The parts we’ve been told, anyway.”
Kyle viewed the darkness that surrounded their camp. He’d also gotten the impression that Angela hadn’t told them everything. “She’s so much like him.”
“Yeah.” Kenn didn’t say they were a match. He didn’t need to. The top men had been thinking it all along.
And that’s how I do it, Kenn thought. I don’t have to tell them. I need to show.
Kenn dropped his attention to the directions. Adrian had done a fantastic job of controlling himself, of hiding how deeply he longed for what he couldn’t have. When the top men saw how unhappy he was, how he’d given up in so many ways, the debt they owe him would take over. All Kenn had to do was make sure they saw Adrian’s pain and that wouldn’t be hard to do right now. Control was hard to come by when the drugs were strong and the company was right.
Strolling across the compound, Tonya spotted Kenn’s big frame. The baby furniture he was assembling was obviously for Jennifer, but it was something of a shock to find her killer Marine carefully putting a crib together. Especially considering where she was going.
Tonya walked around the water tanker and quietly opened the door to the medical camper. Maybe she was wrong. It might be stress, or a cold, or… Tonya stopped trying to make herself feel better. She wasn’t wrong.
4
Angela was surprised by who came into the medical camper. She must think its John’s shift, Angela thought, giving Tonya a polite smile. The redhead’s words cleared things up a little.
“Can we talk while you do the exam or do I have to be quiet?”
Angela waved a hand, trying to remember that personal feelings didn’t matter. “Have a seat. We’ll talk about whatever you want.”
“No gown?”
Angela was surprised again by the nervous tone.
“Nope. I’ve always hated them.”
Tonya sat on one of the stools at the small table. The other side of the camper held a large recliner covered in a pink sheet–the cloth kind. Another sheet of the same feminine shade was folded neatly, lying in the seat.
“Is that where you’ll do it?”
“Yes. Great, isn’t it?”
Tonya agreed, clipped hair bobbing. She took the papers that Angela handed her as she sat down on the other stool.
“It’s mostly medical history and the same old questions about your health and family history. John and I also added a few things, like signs of radiation sickness. Is this your first visit?”
“Yes. I didn’t think I needed one until now.”
Her pharmacy was doing well and she was gaining friends. Tonya had even gotten into the spirit of the holiday by offering free flagsticks for people to pin to their tents. It was a wonderful change from the brutal Christmas remnants they were still running across.
“What’s the problem?”
Tonya’s voice lowered. “I have a mole on my thigh that hurts sometimes and…I’m late.”
Angela’s startled gaze flew to Tonya’s. Late. Maybe pregnant, and who was she keeping time with? Kenn, that was who.
Do you care? the witch inquired casually.
No, Angela answered. I’m free now.
“How late?” Angela asked, tone light.
“Only a week,” Tonya responded lowly.
“Is that normal for you?”
“No. I can keep the calendar by it.”
“Adrian will be ecstatic, and it will finish off the camp’s approval,” Angela stated.
Tonya sighed. “Those things are good, but will he be happy?”
Angela considered, then shrugged resignedly. “I barely know this Kenny. Maybe he’s strong enough to be a father now.”
“Yeah, what about me?”
Angela was surprised at the fear and self-doubt. “You’ll both have help, but yes, I think you can do it.”
“I’ll be out of the Eagles.”
“For a while,” Angela confirmed. “But you’ve seen with Jennifer that it won’t be right away. You’re needed.”
That was what Tonya had come to hear. She didn’t need the test to know what was going on with her body. She and Kenn were going to be parents. She’d just needed to know that it wouldn’t cost her the new life she’d found.
“When will I start to show?”
Angela frowned at the when, not if. “From your build, I’d guess around Thanksgiving. A bit sooner to the man who uses his hands on you. The signs will be there.”
Tonya thought about their almost violent sessions and sighed again. “I guess he’d be happier if you and Anne took care of it for me.”
“I’m not sure that’s true.”
Tonya snorted. “Yeah, right.”
“I mean it,” Angela insisted. “He’d be completely forgiven if he had a newborn for the camp to fall in love with.”
Tonya lit up angrily at the thought of her child being used that way and Angela kept the rest of their talk to the coming baby. She’d given Tonya a warning. Now, she would give her a test and confirm what the redhead was already sure of.
5
Peggy stopped outside the tent, nervous.
A hand descended on her shoulder, causing her to jump.
Doug was in a great mood now that he’d been cleared for duty. “Lookin’ for me, Babe?”
Peggy laughed. “Yes. She wants us to give a hand with a lesson.”
Doug followed Peggy’s shapely hips, wondering why she was involved. Suspecting a matchmaking attempt, Doug remained silent and thoughtful. John’s advice had sank in and festered. Doug was now considering asking Peggy to be his woman. He didn’t care that she’d hid her skills.
“Any idea what she’ll have me doing?”
Realizing Peggy was a rookie, Doug shook off the mental haze and got to work. “Keeping them in line and maybe even medical. She knows you used to volunteer at the Red Cross.”
Peggy stiffened. The words from Kevin had been harsh. He’d told her FND work might not cover it.
Doug was mulling over the skills Peggy hadn’t wanted known. She’d jumped in and gotten a set place, but she hadn’t wanted the glory or duties of a nurse. “Can you tell me why you lied to him?”
Peggy paled. “I’d rather not.”
“Your choice,” Doug offered. “Would be easier to get the men to accept if they understood there was a reason for it.”
Peggy sighed, slowing. “What if there wasn’t?”
Doug hated to push and did it carefully. “You should tell me and I’ll find out what we can do about it.”
Peggy was relieved, but not enough to spill her guts openly. “Can we talk later?”
Doug swept the sleeping camp. “It’s late now.”
She didn’t answer and Doug caught the hint slowly. “You mean later, later…”
She smiled shyly. “I can’t sleep sometimes.”
Doug felt his big heart thump and forced himself to do what had to be done. “I can talk to you in public, but until you’re cleared or punished, I can’t claim you or even be alone with you.”
Peggy froze, stunned.
Doug was a bit hurt himself. “You let people suffer and be overworked when you could have helped. That has to be settled first.”
“She hurt someone, gave them the wrong medicine,” Becky stated quietly, coming up behind them. “She won’t forgive herself for making a mistake.”
Becky kept walking and Doug turned to Peggy. He found her halfway across the compound.
“Damn.”
Instead of hurrying to catch up, Doug trailed her and continued to think. There was a lot he and Angela could do with that explanation once he had the fine details.
Doug stiffened. Unless she’d been negligent, like drunk or on drugs when the accident happened. That wouldn’t be viewed as an accident or a mistake. It was a crime.
6
Kenn came through the flap and silence fell.
“He’s teaching us?” Charlie’s voice echoed with hostility.
Kenn flipped him the finger. “Shut up and sit down.”
Doug and Peggy frowned. They didn’t interfere, but at that moment, they both understood why they’d been asked to be here. Now that the teens were spending so much time together and the top men were needed for training, the shadows were usually a mixture of the levels and members, and it was working out. The kids in this camp were being observed by nearly everyone, thanks to Matt. He’d shown everyone that the teens were as dangerous, just in different ways.
Charlie snorted as the other teenagers snickered and muttered. “What are you doing here?”
Kenn held up a slip of paper, reading from it. “Teach the teenagers what Eagles do with traitors.”
He glared around in the confused silence. “Which one of you is the traitor?”
No one spoke, and Kenn crumbled the paper up. “She means outsiders. You’re getting a lesson in punishments. She wants you to understand that it’s okay when she lets someone in that you’re worried about, that there are measures waiting to detect them.”
Kenn had full focus from the teens and went on with the lesson. “Whenever you mark someone, we watch them. You won’t pick it out most of the time. We’re good at not being seen now, but we’re there, and it screws us up when you stalk them once they’re out of the QZ. We’re waiting for them to make a mistake, like we’ve been taught. You do your job, and we’ll do ours.”
Kenn waved at the lanterns. “Flip the button on the floor and then blow out the candles.”
The film began playing as dimness filled the tent and all of them settled back to view the words someone had written on a wide sheet of paper.
“You are now rookies in the Jr Eagle army. Please remember to act like it.”
The kids broke into a loud cheer that the film appeared to account for with fireworks.
“That’s cute,” Doug commented.
Peggy didn’t answer, too humiliated by Becky’s method of delivery. She’d planned to tell Doug in her own way and let him spread it around. Now, she was defenseless.
Kenn motioned toward the screen on the canvas wall, pointing out items that were important, and the kids paid attention as if he were Adrian. They wanted to know what happened to the people Kyle led from camp, and they were told. In some cases, there were photos, and those were shown as well. Angela was starting the next phase of their training and it wouldn’t be neat and clean.
An hour later, Kenn had the lanterns lit and waited for the lights to fill the canvas before letting them shut off the film. Angela had warned him not to let the tent go completely dark with the teenagers inside and he’d taken it to heart without asking why. He could come up with plenty of bad scenarios on his own.
“Questions?”
Matt’s was the only one.
“What happens to us, if we break the rules?”
Kenn pinned the boy with a hard sneer. “We kill you, of course. Why, Matt? Are you a bad guy hiding among the sheep?”
The boy flushed. “I’m a Jr. Eagle.”
The other kids cheered and Matt joined them, but Kenn saw the information get stored away for later examination. Kenn wasn’t sure what Angela had going on in Matt’s area, but he was suddenly sure she’d hit a target with this lesson.
“Any other questions before homework?”
There were groans, but none of them serious. All of the kids were hoping for a hands-on lesson.
“Sneak up on an Eagle.”
“They’ll shoot us,” Charlie stated.
“Not this time. They have orders to be on watch for you and not to use anything more painful than pepper spray.”
That had the teenagers agreeing and protesting, and Kenn held up a hand. “Maybe you should pick an Eagle, and tell them what you want to do, so they’ll be expecting it. Adrian always knows with us and we still pass.”
Annoyance had Becky’s mouth opening. “That’s because you’ve been trained. All we’ve had is babysitting and rules.”
“You’re being trained now,” Kenn stated. “Stop fighting the teachers and soak up the information. If we all die, this camp still has to be protected and that means by you.”
Kenn left the tent with a cool nod to Peggy and Doug. They’d been sent to make sure he didn’t get out of hand with the kids, but Kenn had planned it all out after Angela’s tips and warnings. Much to his delight, he’d discovered that the kids needed the same thing she did–for the distractions and bombs to be placed in their paths in the right order. When that happened, they were easy to control.
Kenn felt warm wetness slide down his back and swung around with his fist out.
Thud!
The vet fell backwards at the blow, clutching his cheek. “What the hell?”
Kenn opened his mouth to yell and felt another blast of warm wetness caress his neck.
He turned around in time to catch a full blast down the front of his shirt this time and flinched.
Chuckles started around him as Kenn realized it was bird shit.
He yanked his gun out to take revenge and found Billy’s hand taking it and replacing it with a handkerchief.
“You can’t do that right now. You’ll spook the herd.”
Kenn was furious, but couldn’t argue. He cleaned his face, tossed the cloth to the ground, and held out his hand.
Billy gave him his gun back with a cheerful smirk. “Come daylight, you can blast every bird you find, you know? She said she likes it when the camp’s up early.”
Kenn gritted his teeth and went toward the showers. A perfectly good moment, shot to hell. The teenagers were still rolling on the ground, in stitches at his mistake. Chris, who was being tended to by Ray and Lee, he ignored.
Billy let out the breath he’d been holding since picking out the shadow in the tree and figuring out who it was. If those two weren’t careful, someone would get hurt.
“Should we talk to Marc about it?” Lee asked, coming over now that they knew the vet was okay.
Billy narrowed in on Charlie, who wasn’t laughing but staring at the trees.
“No, not yet.” He had a sudden intuition that Charlie hadn’t been in on it. “Let’s see where it goes.”
Lee returned to his post. He had no problems with it so far, except that Kenn might have fired and woken the camp in a panic. Other than that, it had been great.
“Hey, what happened?” Neil asked, coming by on his way to the tents.
Lee let out a short cackle. “A bird shit on Kenn, so he punched the vet.”
Neil was still chuckling when he ducked inside his canvas.
7
“Can I join you?”
Samantha’s question was met with silent surprise. She came in and dropped the flap before turning around.
The five Eagles had cards, poker chips, and beer on the round table, but from the notes they were trying to hide, Samantha immediately suspected it wasn’t a real game.
“You mean for some poker?” Theo asked, sitting his beer down on top of his open notebook. “We were about to finish up. Maybe next time?”
Samantha snorted, crossing her arms over her chest. “Angela sent me.”
Theo and the others peered around in concern. Samantha’s guns hung on her hips as if they belonged there.
“She said I’d find you together, and when I did, to tell you that you’ve finally been noticed. The truck and reserves are open for use in your projects.”
Theo laughed as the others slapped high-fives. “She’s good.”
Samantha ducked out of the tent. “Yes, and she’s gonna need everything you guys can put together.”
The five men in the tent cleared the table to work on. Cover was no longer needed.
Samantha went to the personal tent area, tired but satisfied with the day. She was in the thick of things at any given time. It was soothing.
Sam saw the man leaning against her tent and sighed heavily as she stopped in front of him. So much for soothing.
“Do we have to fight over it, Jeremy? You know why I won’t.”
“I came to ask if you’d like to spend the night in my tent, sleeping.”
Taken aback, Samantha searched his face for anger and found only a desperate longing.
“Okay.”
Jeremy settled into the shadows to wait for her, sure she’d hit the showers first, like he just had. After that, they would spend the next six hours alone in his tent.
8
“Go doctor a body.”
Angela’s words got immediate action from the two teams of Eagles that she’d handpicked for this chore. Kyle and Kenn would take a dozen men each, and protect John while he made the chosen corpse appear to be Adrian. Thanks to the surgery, they had plenty of DNA to put in the right places. The smart healer had also made a mold of Adrian’s fingerprints and teeth, and would use them, along with the dog tags, to convince the government that Adrian had died.
None of them expected it to last. Angela was estimating that roughly three months from this very moment, they would be locked in mortal combat with the enemy. She hadn’t told anyone that part. She also hadn’t mentioned the fifty other subtle details of the plan. It was complicated, depended on many things, and it wasn’t guaranteed to work. She’d accounted for each possible reaction, but in the end, fate always had the final say.
Angela went to her tent, running through the plans again. Where would a wildcard hurt them the most and how could she account for it?
Marc let her leave, half wishing he was going into Little Rock to be able to observe the evidence of what she’d gone through. She had come back changed once again and he had no doubt that one of her moments there had caused it.
“She okay?”
Marc nodded at Kevin’s question. “She’s going over things, making sure she’s right.”
“Oh. Like Adrian.”
Marc tried not to be offended for her. “Yes, like Adrian. She’s just as smart…”
Marc stopped, replaying that. He did think she was as smart as Adrian was. And wouldn’t that mean she was also as dangerous?
And devious, his demon spoke up carefully. She isn’t telling them everything.
Marc heaved a worried sigh. She isn’t telling me everything.
No, the demon confirmed in surprise at the response. She’s not sure that she can.
Marc spun away from the guards and found the shadows of the farthest perimeter. What does she have planned?
The demon hesitated and Marc understood Angela’s plan had support.
“Let me guess. A witch came to visit and now, you’re a convert, too?”
The demon snickered scornfully. I’ve been a convert all along. So have you.
Marc couldn’t argue. As much as he hated Adrian, he couldn’t have withheld the energy needed to heal him.
Not wanting to leave them on a sour note, the demon spoke again. You should rest.
Marc started to snarl and was interrupted.
If you don’t rest, you’ll have to start drawing, like she does.
Marc hadn’t considered any effects. He’d thought if he didn’t acknowledge the demon inside, he wouldn’t have to deal with any of it.
If I hadn’t been woken, that would still be true, the demon confessed slowly. You’d have to put me to sleep again.
Marc started to ask how and then didn’t. He might not want to get cozy with the power he held, but if he needed it, he sure as hell wanted it to be there.
The demon settled back happily for a change, grateful to the witch. She’d told him many things, but those he lingered on were about how to gain Marc’s friendship. That was something the demon had longed for the whole time he’d been in this body. He was never lonelier than when his host was pretending he didn’t exist.
9
The Big Plan
Angela went over the outline again, but the math didn’t lie. They’d never get a ship stocked in that time, even if they managed to find one that would haul them all. Then, there was the issue of where to go, and others. If they didn’t wipe out the first set of troops that came, they were doomed. By taking out the first troops, they might avoid the fight all together. It was their one chance for peace–that the government would know they had escaped, but not chase them anyway after taking another loss–but Angela knew it wouldn’t work that way. The remaining government needed her kind, desperately if the thoughts of the Major’s men were to be believed. They wouldn’t be stopped by a small defeat. They’d come in force on the second run, whether they left them a body or killed every last man.
“And if the outcome is the same, I have to do something different,” Angela muttered, slipping the paper into her pocket as she finished nightly rounds.
“Yes, but what exactly have you chosen?” a guard asked from his post nearby.
Angela joined Dexter, a Level Three on Kevin’s team, as he lounged against the bumper of Jeremy’s rusty truck.
“What do you think, considering the details you have?”
Dexter had been in jail most of his life and was still shocked to be an Eagle at all, despite being so high up. He answered truthfully, “I think we could put up a great fight, but in the end, we’d fall.”
“So not fighting,” Angela humored. “That leaves surrender.”
“Negotiate in ways you haven’t considered, maybe, or even a series of hidden camps,” Dexter offered. He gave her a slightly condescending tone. “I don’t have it figured out. That’s why you’re in charge, not me.”
Angela laughed like it was all in the day of a leader, and quickly moved away from prying ears so that she could vent.
“I’m in charge because I value life and Adrian knows killing isn’t what I’ll pick if I have another choice. He’s banking on me doing this the right way.”
“Then he’s already lost, hasn’t he?” the witch questioned.
“Yes,” Angela answered. “I only came up with one way to do this and it’s ugly. I’m turning into him.”
No, the witch corrected sleepily. You’re becoming a leader. He would have counted on that, as well.
“Why didn’t he have this covered? The Adrian I know plans for everything!” Angela snapped, fading into the shadows around the perimeter for more privacy. “He would have at least checked through it and set a few things up.”
He did that. Look at the Eagles. He wasn’t only training them for camp defense. It was also to protect the magic, the people that he knew would come. He taught his men to care for the most important part of the camp–the heart–and he set it up to die, to give us time to gather supplies and find the ship. The government might have experimented on his body for months before seeking out the rest of us.
“So my plan is all we’ve got,” Angela realized harshly. “That’s all there is.”
The witch tried to comfort. It’s good. Many of the pieces are in falling into place. We’ve seen enough to know it could work.
“But will it?!” Angela demanded.
She was met with the annoyingly familiar answer that had haunted Adrian so often.
That has not been revealed.
Kyle came to her side. “They both said no.”
Angela caught a flash of Dog’s anger and made a note to handle that. The wolf had no right to it.
“But?”
“They’re both lying to me.”
Angela made a note of the loyalty and gave her own in return. “I won’t sacrifice her. My word on it.”
Kyle let out the breath he’d taken. “Thank you.”
Angela’s tone went cold. “For trading your life instead? It’ll be my honor and one of the hardest things I’ve ever done.”
Kyle now understood why she’d been avoiding him. He’d thought she had lost too much respect for him upon finding out about Tracy.
“Couldn’t have you discover it until the right time, Reece. You would have seen through me before now.”
Kyle didn’t have to ask what had changed. “She survives?”
“Yes.”
“And the camp?”
Angela faded into the thick darkness without responding.