Lurking
1
“Damn tremors,” Billy muttered, scanning the wreck site. Shane’s vehicle looked like it had rolled down the cliff, with them inside it.
“That’s exactly what happened,” Marc stated distractedly. He keyed the radio. “Safe Haven is on your doorstep, Eagles.”
They were parked at the end of the driveway of a small house that still held sullenly twinkling red tinsel in the trees around it, and the front door opened immediately following the call.
A large group of black men came outside, loosely holding minor weapons like bats and clubs. Marc didn’t discern any guns and he wondered how long the group had been here. Since the beginning?
Behind the strangers, the stranded Eagles jogged down the stairs and greeted their family.
“Thanks, man,” Shane told Marc as he got out of the van. “We’re okay here, but they don’t have much food. Felt guilty about eating.”
“They don’t have much here,” Tommy explained before Nathan could start prattling.
Marc gestured toward the rear of the van. “Then you’ll like what the boss sent.”
Shane helped carry the cooler of beef and pork to the nervous strangers. Marc followed, observing the peaceful interaction. It was a nice change from the constant fighting.
Joseph stayed with Marc, not sure what to do now that they were here. He hadn’t thought to ask and Marc hadn’t given him any instructions. I don’t know how to do this. She knew that. Why am I here?
Billy remained by the driver’s door as Quinn went with Marc. Fresh from a shift patrolling the snow gathering location, Quinn hadn’t hesitated when Marc asked him to come along as security.
“Oh, shit! They got blacks, man,” the small teenager in front of his mother stated loudly.
His mother quickly shushed him and Marc grinned. “Kids, huh?”
The woman gave him an uneasy smile in return, sweeping his hard body.
It caused the wide man at her side to twist toward her in surprise. “What just happened here?”
“Where?” the woman asked.
“Here,” the man repeated, scowling. “What just happened here, woman?”
“What?”
Marc didn’t know if she was screwing with the man’s mind or not, and hid a snicker. Women, huh?
“Was that a crack?” the woman demanded suddenly, glaring at Marc. “You got a problem with women?”
“No, ma’am!” Marc choked out through his surprise. She’s a descendant!
“Your boss didn’t tell you,” Brittani guessed. “I probably wouldn’t have either.”
“I wondered why she wanted me to come,” Marc stated, holding out a hand. “I’m–”
“The Ghost,” Brittani interrupted, shaking his hand. “We know all about you and your people. We’re fine being neighbors with Safe Haven.”
“Any thoughts of being members?” Joseph spoke up, feeling like he should be doing something.
The woman glanced around her group and shrugged. “Thoughts of the past might prevent that. You’d have to be convincing.”
“Can we stay and share a meal with you?” Marc directed. “We’ll cook and supply the food.”
“And during this meal?” wide man demanded, still gaping at Brittani. “You gonna welcome them personally?”
“We’ll just be talking,” Marc quickly stated. He could almost hear Angie snickering at this.
The woman turned to Marc. “Why? You don’t think I’m hot?”
She was, in fact, but Marc only laughed. “The boss is gonna love you, lady. Really. Name your terms while I feed my men.”
“Thank you for knowing how it had to go.”
“Thank the boss when we get there,” Marc stated. “She told me I had to know when to ease off. She didn’t tell me you were willing.”
Brittani chuckled. “Yeah, she said you guys needed the drill, but I can tell you’re tired, so I’m cutting you a break.”
She wrapped her arm around the waist of the wide man, who instantly looked mollified. “Come on. Let’s eat and then get moving. Oh, and she said you need to check the alarms on the return trip.”
Marc gaped, both loving and hating how easy this had gone.
He saw Joseph with the same expression and shrugged at the man. “She didn’t tell me.”
Joseph wanted to be upset, but it was amusing and he cracked a reluctant grin. “That Brittani’s something, isn’t she?”
Marc went cold, stopping as alarm bells blared. “How do you know her name? She didn’t give it and I haven’t said it.”
Marc shoved into Joseph’s mind, digging through weak, hastily erected walls to discover a carefully tended secret. “You’re a descendant!”
Ahead of them, Brittani cackled. She’d spotted it as soon as Joseph got out of the van. She’d known descendants were close by the power she’d felt and the woman was eager to have her people under the full protection of Safe Haven.
2
“What town is that?” Samantha asked.
They were stopped for a quick meal of Li Sing’s burrito wraps and none of them was in a hurry to restart laboring. Since leaving after this morning’s excitement at the gate, they had cleared thirty-two vehicles. They’d expanded the cleared road by five miles and all of them were covered in grease and dust. Even the soldiers had taken turns this time, and Samantha hadn’t argued when they’d insisted. She and her trained girls had taken up the sniper posts and tried to keep their attention off the sweaty men.
“Cleveland, I think,” Conner answered when no one else did. “My dad and I went through there a couple days ago. There isn’t much left.”
“You guys had a different list, I’d bet,” Samantha commented cheerfully. “I want to go through there and then call it a day. Five miles is good.”
“You’ll watch our vehicles,” Samantha told Conner firmly.
There was a tense silence where the soldiers frowned and the females nodded.
“Good. Pack it up, gear up, and let’s roll.”
Samantha’s words drew reluctant respect and the soldiers followed her orders and then her as she led them toward the town.
“Wait.” Conner got their attention. “We shouldn’t go in there yet. Let’s wait until tomorrow.”
The soldiers stared at him, but the females felt a cold chill. They knew that tone, even if the voice was different.
“Why?” Cynthia asked snidely. “So you can feel like you protected us?”
“I’m too tired to do anything about what I think may be waiting in there,” Conner admitted, sitting down on the hood. “Do what you want. I’ll watch the vehicles.”
He sounded like Adrian and it sent anger through the women.
“I say we go and do it now, while there’s still light,” Samantha stated. “Vote on it.”
Enough hands rose to get the win and Samantha signaled for them to follow. The mall she could see was half a mile over cracked pavement and a small wooden bridge. If they found anything useful, she planned to send a pair of the soldiers for their wheels.
Candy and Tracy brought up the rear, not letting the males surround them for this run, and David shrugged when his men looked to him for instructions. “Follow their lead, I guess.”
Samantha loved the feeling that gave her, but nervousness was also present, creating an ugly mix in her gut. It was a reminder that she was carrying new lives and she slowed their pace a bit. Conner had been able to heal her completely and she wouldn’t waste the gift by getting hurt. He had refused to tell her how it was possible to get rid of the cancer though, and she hadn’t insisted once the pain receded.
Samantha motioned for weapons out, something the soldiers had already done, and the group of nine strolled into Cleveland, Georgia an hour before dusk.
Samantha took them straight to the mall that had two stories encased in brick and a huge entrance sign lying across the wide stone steps. It was dark and felt empty, and Sam led them up the stairs calmly. She had scanned the mall and the town all day, as much as she could, and didn’t feel any danger, despite Conner’s words.
The mall had been looted and there were bodies, but both were light and the group nimbly took mags and gear from these corpses. The soldiers realized the skeletons wore uniforms of a foreign nation and stored the information. Adrian had said to get a complete account of everything that happened today. He’d obviously known Samantha would go exploring.
The setting sun didn’t cast much light and Sam flipped on her belt light, adjusting the angle so that the glare from the shiny floors and walls didn’t blind her. Those in the rear did the same and the illumination allowed them to read the various signs.
“You are here.”
“Wheelchair Rentals at the Office.”
“Radio Shack.”
Samantha headed toward the big red letters. They would check other stores, but if this one held something usable, it would go with them now. Parts for their radios were hard to come by.
Samantha swept the store with her light. There was broken glass and plastic, and papers, but no bodies she could discern and she eased through the propped-open door. Forcing her finger to stay off the trigger, Samantha led her group inside and began scavenging.
“We should clear the rooms back here,” David stated, taking a position near the rear hall.
“Go on,” Samantha stated, prying open a metal cabinet. “Everyone else, grab what you can and be ready to leave in ten minutes. I want to be at the vehicles by dark.”
David and two of the men went down the hall together in a neat form that drew Candy’s attention. It made her feel safe and a little curious about how they had been trained. Would she be able to achieve that in time?
Samantha opened a drawer of resistors. They came in many sizes that could be soldered onto circuit boards.
“We’ll have to test these before we install them,” Sam stated, carefully loading the packages into her kit. “But there’s a chance some of them will be usable.”
“Won’t all of them?” David asked. “They’re not even opened and the cabinet isn’t damaged.”
“I don’t know if we’re in an EMP radius from the war,” Samantha answered. “And I’m not even sure if it would affect these anyway, since they’re not connected, but it would suck to install them and then find out they’re dead weight.”
“Good point,” David agreed, starting to like these Safe Haven women. They were smart, they were brave, and they were feisty. It was a powerful combination.
The noises of clinks and thuds echoed across the mall, along with their voices and laughter. It made the soldiers nervous and David was forced to say something. If he didn’t, his men would.
“We’re making too much noise,” David informed Samantha. “And our time is up.”
Before she could protest, David picked up her kit and slung it over his shoulder. “Lead us out.”
Samantha stood there for a brief moment, considering weapons, and then she spun toward the door, gesturing to her team.
The women followed her while casting resentful glowers at the men and David swallowed an apology. The blonde was cool and he didn’t want her pissed. He’d already heard stories about her temper.
Samantha stormed down the stone stairs, hating the fact that he’d been right on both counts. He didn’t have to handle me like that.
“Hey, can I talk to you for a minute?”
Samantha paused on the bottom step, not sure if she would accept his apology or not. She certainly felt she was owed one.
“We have orders to get you to Safe Haven’s gate by dark. I should have told you that when you suggested coming in here.”
“Orders from who?” Samantha asked in a dangerously cold tone.
“Our boss. He said you’re needed at home.”
“You should have told me!” Sam accused angrily, taking off. “I owe you!”
“Damn,” David breathed, taking off after her. “That’s not what I wanted to hear.”
“She means it, too,” Cynthia tossed over her shoulder as she flew by to take Samantha’s right.
“Great,” David grumbled, letting himself and his men once again be the filling in the sandwich. “Now they’ll never let me in.”
“You’re living with our enemy,” Candy told him as Samantha increased her pace and a sense of urgency filled the air. “We weren’t going to let you in anyway.”
Before he could reply to that bombshell, David stumbled and fell. Half of his men stopped to wait for him and the rest of the group kept running.
“Stay with the women!” David grunted through the pain. Something was sticking through his leg. He could see both ends of it, and was almost certain it was a dart of some kind.
Dart?
Fuzzy, David tried to focus. Did someone shoot me?
“Look out!”
“No!”
“Open fire!”
David heard the chaos from a foggy distance and couldn’t stop his lids from shutting. Help!
3
“We came from Atlanta,” Brittani told them while everyone was enjoying the burgers the Eagles had prepared on their personal stoves.
Each Eagle had made two sandwiches from their kits and shared with one of the strangers. Li Sing had told Marc of having a custom like this when new people came to his restaurant and Marc had adapted it. Besides showing there was nothing wrong with the food, it also gave the Eagles a new layer of training. They hardly ever had to use the gear in their kits and that had to change. Marc had spent the time guiding the team through assembling the Emberlit stoves, lighting them, and then cooking the meat. Marc had enjoyed the demonstration and the group of men and women had watched in interest and hunger. They’d been cooking over open fires too, but they didn’t have the gear that the Eagles did.
“Atlanta?” Marc finally responded, after swallowing. “That had to be ugly.”
“It was. My dad and I grabbed the few people we knew we could trust and came out here to our family cabin.”
Marc peered around the neat home, approving. “Nice handmade radio there. You do that?”
Brittani motioned to the wide man she’d been orally sparring with earlier. “Gus. He usually runs the radio, but when we found out we had Safe Haven people here, I decided to make contact.”
“Wise,” Marc said. “And you’ve been here the whole time, listening on the radio to the fighting?”
“Yes.” Brittani didn’t shy away from Marc’s slightly accusing tone. “We’re inner city people. We don’t know how to fight and I don’t how to train them anymore than I already have.”
“You didn’t want them to be sacrificed in someone else’s war.” Marc read her guilty thoughts. “We won’t hold that against you. A lot of good people didn’t come and fight with us.”
“I didn’t know you,” Brittani stated evenly. “And I’ll kill for these people. It didn’t seem like a good time to bring them around.”
“It ain’t now, either, girl,” Gus said in a quick rush.
Brittani’s cold frown gave Marc pause and he observed her intently as she pinned Gus with a nasty glare.
“What did you say, Boy?”
Gus realized he’d tripped a switch and said, “Nothin’.”
“Nothing!” Brittani cried angrily. “We’ve spent hours and hours on it every day and you still sound like some ignorant fuck!”
Gus flushed and Marc grimaced, but he approved of the lesson. In fact, he had hopes that Angela would create a language class soon to help with those already in Safe Haven. Understanding what someone from across the country was saying got hard sometimes.
Sighing, Brittani put a hand on Gus’s big wrist. “I don’t want them to be mean to you.”
Gus smiled a bit. “I know. I’m sorry I embarrass you.”
“Embarrassed,” Brittani repeated automatically. “If you leave off the ‘e d’, then it means you always embarrass me and that’s not true.”
Gus repeated, “Embarrassed.”
“Very good.”
“A teacher!” Marc exclaimed happily. “You taught English?”
“English, and some history–even the parts I hate,” she answered. “You have a school?”
“We have a tent that we call a school,” Marc replied happily. These people would be a wonderful addition to Safe Haven. Smart, willing to learn, and hard workers. Perfect.
“Thank you,” Brittani stated. “For me being able to come to the same conclusion about you.”
Marc held out a hand. “Welcome to Safe Haven refugee camp.”
Brittani shook it gratefully. “It’s an honor. And, a relief. I’m not a strong enough leader for this new world.”
Marc didn’t agree, but didn’t allow himself to consider where this feisty woman might end up after Angela’s evaluations.
“Get us packed up,” Marc told Joseph. He started to ask Shane if he needed to do anything here before they left, and found the Eagle gone. Marc sent his grid out and found that Eagle behind the little house. He immediately liked what he saw in Shane’s hands and directed the conversation to the topic at hand.
“Can we send trucks for you tomorrow or is that too soon?”
“Can’t come soon enough,” one of the older women in a rocking chair muttered. “Then she can make those grandbabies she promised.”
“Oh, mother!” Brittani groaned in embarrassment. “Why do you do that to me? I hate kids.”
The men all snickered and the old woman flashed a toothless grin at them, indicating she enjoyed her daughter’s distress.
“Tomorrow is great for the trucks,” Brittani told Marc, still casting hard glares at her mother. “We’ll try to be ready on time.”
“We’ll stay and help if you like,” Shane volunteered from the doorway. “Least we can do for your help.”
“Fine by me,” Brittani stated. “Objections?”
There weren’t any and Marc said, “I’ve got no problem with that.”
He stood up. “My team will head out now. Call if anything changes.”
Brittani and Gus walked them out while the others finished eating, and Marc noticed that the woman stayed very close to the large man. Bodyguard or husband, Marc wasn’t sure, but he did know that anyone who tried to hurt Brittani would have to go through that mountain first.
“Yes, they will,” Gus answered the thought, dark profile alive with intelligence Marc hadn’t suspected.
Marc laughed with them. “She really got me on this trip.”
“She’s your wife?” Gus asked, viewing Angela through Marc’s glare of adoration.
Marc wasn’t sure how Angela would want him to answer at first and then it was as if her voice was in his mind, saying, Of course, you say yes. I’ve been yours since we were kids.
“Wife, soul mate, boss. She’s everything.”
Gus smiled down at Brittani. “Yeah, they get to you that way.”
Blushing, she nuzzled his hand in comfort and then pointed toward the house. “Go make sure your brother doesn’t open that cooler yet.”
When they were alone, Marc stepped over to her so that his men couldn’t hear them either, sensing she wanted a quick, private moment.
Brittani leaned toward Marc. “Gus wants to be an Eagle–already. If that happens, tell your boss I’ll cause so much trouble that she’ll have riots. He isn’t leaving my side.”
“Why can’t he?” Marc needed to know. “His size and gifts would make him an incredible addition to any team.”
“Because he’s not all there,” Brittani explained. “He’s like a teenager right now. In a few years, maybe he’ll even be an adult, but not if he has to go out and fight. Killing someone will destroy him. He’s that pure. I’ve kept him from being corrupted for the last nine months. You have to do the same.”
Marc could feel her dangerous rage flickering in weakening control. “I’ll tell her about Gus’s mentality. The rest of that, you’ll tell her yourself.”
“Deal.” She chuckled easily. “Still friends?”
Cute and playful. Marc suddenly suspected Gus would have competition for her love whether he wanted it or not.
“No, he won’t,” Brittani corrected. “I love Gus. He worships me. I’d never disturb that for a quick roll in the hay.”
Marc liked her more after hearing that and he held out a hand again. “Until I see you again, watch your six.”
Marc and his team pulled away with waves and a good feeling about the people. Shane and his team certainly liked them and Marc wondered if Brittani knew that Shane was interested in her. Marc had noticed the vibes, but knowing Shane had replanted a wild rose near the back porch for her had clarified it. Shane was unhappy that Nancy still hadn’t joined the Eagles and Brittani obviously would. Marc wondered if Shane knew how desperate he seemed and then decided the man did. It’s why he was trying to find a woman and settle down, so he could feel at peace again.
Good luck with that, Marc thought.
4
Billy took them straight toward camp, stopping only when Marc told him to. Their one short break was at the place where Marc had put his alarms down and he was uneasy as he surveyed the location from the passenger seat. He didn’t go rushing into a possible trap, but he was very curious as to what had happened to his alarms.
“You want me to do it?” Billy asked, not wanting Marc to leave the van at all. The hinky feeling had invaded the minute they got here.
“Yes,” Marc answered, surprising everyone that he would let a man face danger in his place. When Marc got out too, normalcy returned and the pair approached Marc’s alarm with extreme caution.
“You’ve been a driver for years, right?” Marc asked as they spotted a branch over his alarm.
“Two decades,” Billy replied. “I raced cars as a child.”
“What do you make of the tire tracks next to us?”
Billy spotted the very faint trail in the mud and knelt down to examine it.
“I’d guess it was a bike, something light, and there was one person. Maybe a day ago.”
“Keep going,” Marc encouraged, trying to pick up any lingering trail of the person on his mental grid.
“Light on fuel and water…headed southwest, toward Safe Haven.” Billy surveyed the surroundings. “The road’s way over there. Why would anyone ride over here?”
“Bingo,” Marc approved, enjoying his role as teacher. “No one would have known this was here, unless they were watching us.”
“Like right now?” Billy asked, getting a stronger wave of that hinky feeling.
“Maybe,” Marc answered, standing up. “Maybe not. If it’s one person, they have to sleep sometime. We won’t count on that.”
Marc bent down nearby and pulled a rock up. “I left a camera. It was Kendle’s idea. She felt a disturbance in the force while I laid the discs and I used my horse as cover to put it down.” Marc slid the small black camera into his pocket. “It had enough battery life and room for about 18 hours, but it might tell us who doesn’t want these alarms up.”
“Any persons of interest?” Billy asked and they went to the van.
“All the usual, but few motives. Watch your six out here on runs. We may have a lurker.”
“Lurker?” Billy questioned as they climbed inside. “Never heard of that.”
“You saw a lurker?” Jax asked worriedly.
“No,” Marc replied. “But I feel him.”
“Not good, man,” Jax groaned, scanning the stone and weed landscape.
“What the hell is a lurker?” Billy demanded.
Quinn spoke up from the rear seat, “A lurker is a crazy. They’ve been alone too long and gone nuts, but not in the pathetic way. They’re deadly. They wait for you to sleep and slit your throat.”
“To steal your stuff?” Billy tried to clarify. He had no trouble imagining a long-bearded psycho running around the cliffs in camo with a hatchet.
“They hunt people,” Marc informed the confused driver. “The old world technology and progress labeled them predators and serial killers, but these guys are almost worse. They stalk you for days or weeks, and then snatch you and carve you up while you scream. My unit handled a few of these for a security firm we moonlighted with. They like blood and they’re very territorial. Safe Haven might have landed right in a lurker grid.”
“Does the boss know yet?” Billy asked, thinking she would really ground the command people now.
“Not yet, but I want to view this footage first,” Marc stated, taking the chip from the camera and sliding it into the fully charged camera that he’d brought along for this reason. He’d already planned to stop here before Angela sent him. He hadn’t needed the reminder from her, but it was her sense of fairness. If the Eagles saw that she even stayed on his ass, they would adjust to it better. “In a few minutes, we’ll know for sure and have a report to give her when we hit the gates.”
Respect for Marc went up, but Billy wondered if the man knew it was because he had reminded them of Adrian. Both men were a wealth of knowledge and ingenuity. They were also both lethal when riled and Billy pitied the lurker, if there was one. Marc sounded a bit nervous about the possible threat and that meant he wouldn’t stop until it was eliminated.
5
“You went off-mission. And then left a member of your team behind?” Marc asked incredulously. Samantha’s jeep had been flying toward Safe Haven when they hit the road to home and Marc had waved her over.
“Yes,” Sam admitted. “We have to get help!”
“I am the help, Samantha,” Marc stated, turning to Justin.
Justin didn’t care about the blame and he told the truth. “David was shot through the ankle and he fell. We didn’t witness what happened after that. He told us to stay with the women.”
Marc grunted, motioning toward the jeep. “Take me there.”
The trio of vehicles–a van, a jeep, and a small truck, flew over the cleared road and then took Marc all the way to the place where David had fallen. In the darkness, they hadn’t seen anyone else, but arrows had been flying hard and fast.
“Stay in the van,” Marc ordered as they arrived. “Billy, with me.”
“Same bike,” Billy stated as soon as the neared the bloody tracks. “And it’s heavy. The lurker has our man.”
“He’s not our man,” Marc stated, considering his options. “He’s from Adrian’s group.”
“Does that matter?” Billy asked, not liking the idea of leaving anyone to be carved up.
“No, but I’m thinking a trap would be better than a hunting party.”
“Oh, shit!” Billy exclaimed.
“What?”
“I had a bad thought. What if our lurker is a descendant?”
Marc led them toward the van. “I never assumed otherwise. And, I think he’s military. Not many people would have known how to disable my alarm. An average person would have destroyed it.”
“Was it a trap for us?” Billy asked. “Leaving the camera intact?”
Marc hadn’t let anyone in the van watch the video, and none of them had felt comfortable asking him about it until now.
“I don’t know, but there’s a message for Angela on the video.”
“Why her?”
“She’s the boss. Sometimes, that’s all it takes.”
6
David couldn’t take his hands away from his waist.
It was an odd way to wake up–not being able to rub his face–and he opened his lids slowly against the glare he sensed.
Everything was blurry and upside down, and he realized he was hanging from a tree by his ankles. Pain lanced through various parts of his body and then centered in his leg. It continued to grow until he began to groan.
“Hold still!” a rough voice snapped.
David tried to discern who it was but the pain increased again and he screamed as the blackness took him.
“You hear that?” Billy asked, covered in goosebumps.
“They aren’t far,” Marc muttered, using his grid but uncovering little. “We’ll come back and track it down. You in?”
“You know it,” Billy replied.
Fed up with being ignored, Samantha snapped, “We’re coming too!”
“We’ll see what the boss has to say about that,” Marc replied coolly. “But I suggest not using that tone with her.”
Samantha flushed and slumped in the seat. This was all her fault and she wasn’t going to be able to go along and try to make it right.
“Is it about your honor or the missing man?” Marc asked suddenly, pinning her through the mirror with a hard glare. “’Cause it matters.”
“Honor,” Samantha lied. “He’s one of Adrian’s men. How could I trust him enough to care if he lives or dies?”
Marc understood that sentiment as much as anyone could, but he still said, “Stay in camp. Do what the boss says.”
“Why? Because I don’t value life enough?”
“Because you’d be along to prove you can handle yourself and this time, it could get you killed. Lurkers are not anyone to play around with.”
“I’m a good hunter,” she pointed out. “You’ll need me.”
Marc didn’t tell her he’d been tracking trash for most of his life, but his tone said she should know it already as he stated, “I need you to follow orders. It’s part of the job.”
Samantha gave in then, saying, “Fine.” When Marc used that tone, everyone knew he was finished being sensitive to the person’s feelings and it bothered Samantha to be on the receiving end of it. She much preferred to be the teacher’s pet.
“Don’t we all,” Marc muttered, wondering if Angela had known this was coming. She hadn’t acted like it, but that meant little. Still, he didn’t think she would have sent him out blind against someone who was obsessed with killing. That was more like something Adrian would have done.
“Take us to the gate,” Marc instructed. “When we get there, send a message to Angela. Tell her I said if I’m not home by dawn, to send her pet killer.”
Everyone knew he meant Adrian and the mood went from sullen to tense. Marc wouldn’t send for Adrian unless he thought there was a chance he could lose whatever fight might be waiting.
Samantha felt guilt crash down on her shoulders and she clamped her mouth shut against the pleas that wanted to come out. Marc wasn’t the one she needed to beg for permission to go along.
“No, I’m not,” Marc agreed, adjusting automatically against the force as Billy rushed them up the mountain in the darkness. “And I’m not waiting for you talk her into it. Make it up some other way. You’re off this run.”
7
“Can you repeat that last part, please?” Angela asked as shock and anger warred for the top slot in her mind.
“If he’s not here by dawn, he said for you to send in your pet killer,” Samantha forced out. Angela had met them at the gate, with Greg and Shawn on her heels.
Angela gestured for them to leave and the group of women dejectedly trudged toward the showers and mess.
Angela didn’t have time for their emotions as she scanned the doors in her mind. She’d never heard of a lurker and she’d sent the witch out for information as soon as she’d picked it from Samantha’s mind. While the witch and Marc went hunting, she needed to scour the halls and discern what new doors might have opened up.
Shawn and Greg waited patiently with her, watching the soldiers hurry into Adrian’s site to inform him. The people in Zone A had been viewing the activity with concern after this morning’s attack, but they were settling down now. The other zones were empty.
Minutes passed and then Adrian appeared at the tree line. He signaled to the guards on the gate and Zack scowled as he glanced at Angela. “Do we give it to him?”
Angela didn’t answer and Shawn did what he thought was best. “Marc asked for him. I say we do–because Marc needs him.”
“Damn.” Zack gestured at Greg. “She’ll be searching for a while. Go get him some wheels and one of the girls.”
“Samantha,” Angela croaked suddenly. “They need Sam.”
The men around her hurried to do as they’d been told and Angela returned to her searching. She hadn’t predicted Marc and Adrian working together in the dark. If she’d gotten a vote beforehand, she would have guessed that Marc would tell Adrian to cover his own people. Marc had known she would want David rescued if possible, but asking for Adrian in the only manner tolerable to him (snidely) meant there was a chance for the two men to eventually co-exist.
Dreaming again, the witch warned from a distance. The only thing that might come from this is a murder. Two men have never been more at odds in this universe.
8
“So why am I here?”
Marc let Adrian’s question hang in the air as they settled into the tall weeds to wait. Billy was in the truck below, left to guard their vehicle and now they had to wait and see if their lurker was still lurking. Tracking in the dark was nearly impossible and they would make too much noise. This plan was better for their prey.
“I realize you needed someone who was used to hunting this way, but there are half a dozen of those in Safe Haven now,” Adrian said. “I know. I helped train them.”
Marc scanned the darkness around the truck, thinking Billy might have nerves of steel by the time winter came. As he’d done with a few men over the years, Marc had taken Billy under his wing. The man didn’t know it yet, but he was being trained by the Ghost. Billy had a big future ahead of him and he would need the guidance.
“You want to talk about Angie.”
“I hate it when you call her that,” Marc immediately responded, not pausing in his scans. “You haven’t earned the right to be so familiar.”
“Bullshit,” Adrian denied. “You hate it because you can’t avoid feeling how much I care for her when it comes out sounding that way.”
Marc let it go in favor of the silence he knew Adrian didn’t handle well. The blond had gotten used to people jumping when he spoke, not the other way around.
“Is it because she took those lives?”
Marc winced.
“Surprised me, too,” Adrian admitted when Marc didn’t respond, yet again. “She wants the baby enough to risk corruption.”
“Risk?” Marc asked. “It doesn’t mean she already is?”
“No. She chose bad people. No different than the variety of killers she’s got laboring for her now.”
“Variety?” Marc knew of two.
“She has five active right now, with three in reserve while they recover or age. As long as everyone sticks to their assigned chores, it could create a beautiful environment when enough of the assholes are gone.”
“And if even one of those people goes off-grid?”
“It’s not her killers that we have to watch out for,” Adrian stated gravely. “They’ve just gotten a taste of that freedom and they won’t risk it yet.”
“But Angie might, right?” Marc guessed.
“Yes. Taking a life force is different from taking a life. It corrupts the soul to take a pure force.”
“And the consuming thing she told me about?”
“That’s a myth,” Adrian informed him promptly. “Jack and his crew were animals who enjoyed acting that way. They also liked using the stories of their cannibalism to scare their targets. Made them easier to corner.”
Adrian’s words matched what Marc’s demon had told him, and he continued with the questions that worried voice hadn’t had any answers to. “Did you predict all of this? Is that what’s in your notebooks?”
“Yes.”
“And you’ve seen a lot more, all the way to the island and back?”
“Not back,” Adrian stated wistfully.
“Are you with us on the island?”
Adrian didn’t want to answer that and said, “It’s up to you, in the end.”
“Obviously I agree. Why?”
Adrian sighed. “Do you really want to do this now?”
“No, but it’s too late to shoot Kendle before she can heal you,” Marc growled, barely remembering to do it quietly. “Tell me.”
“Because what I told you was the truth. She needs more than you can give her. I’ve saved her life. So have you. And it’s not over, Marc, not by a long shot. It’ll take both of us to keep her alive.”
“Did it heal her enough to have the baby?”
“It healed her completely,” Adrian answered, adjusting the scope on his rifle to narrow in on Billy, who appeared to have fallen asleep while waiting for them to return. “Your daughter will be more beautiful than her mother.”
Marc didn’t like the feeling of bonding that was coming, but before he could break that mood with a snide remark, Adrian cleared his throat.
“David is a good man. Thank you for this, even though it was a cover.”
“Don’t confuse me with yourself,” Marc said. “I thought he and his men should have been allowed in and I know she refused them so you wouldn’t be alone.”
“Yes. She has hopes of reforming me.”
“Impossible!” Marc spat.
Adrian didn’t take the bait. Reform was easy. Following through on it was much harder. He would have to have a damn good reason to change and the one thing that could bring it about was forbidden to him and always would be.
“Not when I die,” Marc ground out, unable to leave it alone. Not knowing when and how was eating at him.
“I won’t do it when the time comes,” Adrian spouted angrily. “So tell her to make other plans. I’d kill you as fast as you would me.”
Marc didn’t know what they’d seen and it was frustrating, but he was forced to let it go as a shadow below them moved.
“Here we go,” Adrian whispered, aiming.
“Take him alive,” Marc ordered. “I at least want David’s body to take back if we’re too late to save him.”
“No worries,” Adrian bragged lightly. “The flea’s ass is in my crosshairs.”
The shadow approached the truck with a crossbow in one hand and a large knife in the other.
“Take the shot.”
Adrian fired.
The loud report echoed across the mountains and the shadow by Billy’s window dropped to the ground. Billy, following orders, remained in the truck.
“You’re up,” Marc told Adrian. “Go take one for the team.”
Adrian grimaced. “You got it, Mary.”
Marc recognized the nervous response. Adrian hadn’t been the one doing the dirty work for a long time.
Adrian approached the vehicle carefully and quickly, hoping Marc was covering his back and not aiming at it. He hurried to the fallen man and used his foot to roll him over.
He gestured to Billy, who flipped on the headlights for illumination. As the lights came on, another shot fired.
Adrian slumped against the hood, gasping at the pain. A double vest had stopped the slug from entering his shoulder, but the impact was still enough to stun him. He let the sensation take him to his knees and then to then ground, listening as he tried to forget that he’d been shot.
The body next to him immediately rose up, coming over to take his weapon and point it at Billy. Marc had been right to suspect this.
“I know you can hear me,” the man declared emotionlessly. “Stand up.”
Adrian did, not needing to fake the reaction. The blood wasn’t there, though, and the lurker realized it too late. Adrian swung with full strength and knocked him out with a hit to the temple before he could spin the gun and fire.
Another bullet slammed into Adrian, hitting flesh this time and he fell to the ground, rolling under the truck for protection.
Silence fell and the Eagles waited with ragged breathing for their shooter to come closer.
Inside the truck, Billy stayed down, listening in amazement as Adrian and Marc handled a pair of serial killers.
Marc waited patiently for the second man to show, very surprised there were two of them. It was rare.
The sound of a bike came and then Marc had it in his sight. He pulled the trigger gently and hit the rear tire of the Yamaha.
The bike skidded sideways and then slammed into the ground, flipping the rider into the air. It came down in a bed of weeds, not hard enough to have killed the rider, and Marc hurried down the hill as he unslung his rifle and drew his Colt.
The rider struggled to stand as Marc neared, and he stopped so they couldn’t reach him with a lunge. “Take the helmet off.”
The rider faced Marc and slowly pulled off the protective gear. “You won’t find them.”
Long brown hair streamed down and Marc realized this was more than rare. It was unheard of. “Husband and wife?”
The woman glanced at the still form on the ground near where Adrian was crawling out from under the truck. “Acquaintance, with common goals.”
“And what would that be?” Marc asked, scanning for weapons and not lowering his.
“To get you out here,” the woman answered, smiling insanely. “Hello, Der Ghost. We’ve been waiting for you.”
“There are more?” Billy asked from the window he’d lowered. Marc had told him not to leave the truck, at all, and he wasn’t going to.
The sound of bikes echoed and Marc said, “Three more. You’re not lurkers.”
The woman flashed black teeth and madness. “No. We’re from Benjamin.”
“He died in the bunker,” Marc stated, going cold at the memories. “Nice try.”
“We were sent before your bitch infiltrated the bunker,” the woman revealed as the bikes came down the same hill where Marc and Adrian had been hiding. “She succeeded, but so will we.”
“Why?” Adrian asked, wrapping a bandana around his bleeding arm. “There’s no one left alive to reward you.”
“Oh, we’ll have a reward,” the woman replied, motioning to her team with no fear of Marc’s guns. “We captured the Ghost and a Mitchel. All the rebels you’ve denied entrance will flock to us. In a few months, we’ll also take over your Safe Haven.”
“You think it’s that easy, huh? We’re gonna go quietly?” Marc asked coolly at the bravado.
“You will or I’ll tell them to kill the man I’ve got stashed.”
Billy’s weapon appeared in the window. “Now?”
“Fire!” Marc shouted, diving toward the woman.
Billy aimed his weapon at the coming bikes and the three men didn’t have a chance to do the same as blood splattered and bikes crashed into each other from a carefully taken shot through the tire of the lead rider.
Marc held the woman, glad he didn’t sense any power in her. “It’s over. You lose.”
Instead of the anger or begging he’d expected, the woman cackled wildly.
“You gave the code with that action. Your man will be dead in half an hour.”
“Fuck!” Adrian grunted. “How many of these assholes are there?”
“More than a dozen,” the woman cackled. “You screwed up!”
Marc punched her in the face, knocking her out. He hadn’t counted on that many people hunting together.
“Get her home,” Marc ordered, dragging her heavy body to the truck. “Adrian and I have things to do and people to kill.”
Adrian immediately checked his weapon and waited for orders.
Marc stared around them, not hearing or seeing anything. He flipped on his gun light and headed in the most likely direction. He hadn’t planned to hunt in the dark, but maybe it was better this way. Innocent people would be in their dens right now, and wouldn’t be caught in the crossfire.
Marc gestured for Adrian to cover him, and then studied the ground as they walked. Tracking in the dark was hard, but he’d done it enough to have faith he would discover a trail. This was about more than their missing man now. It was a necessary thing that had to happen or Safe Haven would be under attack yet again.
“Let’s make sure that doesn’t happen,” Adrian stated, loading a fresh mag into his 9mm.
“You know it,” Marc replied coldly, not letting anger at Adrian distract him. For this run, Mitchel was probably the best support he could have.
Unless he gets a shot at me in the dark, Marc thought. One of us could die tonight.
Adrian grinned, but didn’t reply. He liked that Marc thought he was dangerous enough to worry over. Because I am. Watch your six with me. Despite my many appearances, I truly have no mercy.