Adrian's Eagles: Book Four (Life After War) (31 page)

Kyle halted near the bumper and the men gathering around him gave her polite nods, but no words of welcome.

“Let’s do the usual check. Weapons?”

Each of the nine men started going over their guns and Angela did the same, feeling awkward despite her fingers doing mostly what she wanted them to. They were securing other weapons too - guns in boots and knives on belts - and Angela did a quick check to make sure her wrist blade was fastened securely. She had picked it up a few days ago, from one of the baskets Marc had sorted. He’d been the one to put it in there, she was sure of it. His scent was still on it, even now.

“Communication?”

Each man strapped a stocked tool belt around their hips, securing it to their right pocket, and Angela barely had time to wonder if she should ask for one, before it was being held out to her.

She recognized the simple walkie-talkie setup she was given to hang on the belt, and she quickly flipped through the dials to channel 77 before powering it up. The set crackled to life, blaring static and she flipped the filter switch, and then adjusted the volume.

Very glad she didn’t have to wait for them to show her, or worse, have to suffer through the jolt from the short-wave communications system, Angela didn’t notice the silence. “Did he give you the headsets yet? Those are great. They automatically catch the spark and adjust.”

The quiet was thick and long, and she glanced up to see the Eagles sharing scowls. “Did I do something wrong already?”

Kyle glared toward the Mess. “Not you.”

“He didn’t tell you to go to channel 77 first so there’s no shock?”

There was only the feel of their anger and she snorted when she picked it from their thoughts. “Not on purpose. He didn’t want to say he forgot because he likes testing it out on the rookies.”

She shrugged. “That’s the Kenny I know.”

The Eagles were muttering and casting dark looks toward the man still sitting stiffly on Adrian’s right. Kyle went on, but his voice wasn’t quite calm anymore. “Gear?”

They were comparing their bags to the sheets of paper from their pockets now, and Angela was ready for Kyle this time, going to him instead of the other way around. She did her check fast and was embarrassed at all the items she didn’t have.

“I’m short a canteen.”

“I need a battery pack.”

Angela steeled her nerves and followed their lead. “I need a complete kit.”

Kyle handed her one. Not sure if her own items were off-limits, Angela settled for the three things she used the most and then tossed her bag through the open window of her blazer.

“All right. Who’s the sucker on drive detail?”

“Rookie.”

“Rookie.”

“Rookie drives.”

Angela flushed. “Okay.”

Daryl tossed her the keys and she was very aware of the camp watching her get into the driver’s seat of Kyle’s vehicle. The black Ford Excursion was long, with three rows of seats and she had to move hers all the way up to reach the pedals.

Angela strapped herself in, waiting for Daryl to climb in beside her. “Why is the driver a sucker?”

The Eagle exchanged glances with the others getting in, voice amused. “‘Cause Kyle likes to go where no man has gone before.”

Understanding her road skills were about to be tested, Angela grinned. She loved driving.

Kyle paused at the back door, eyes going to the center table and he caught Adrian’s nod. It said to do his job and the Mobster gave a firm nod in response. He would.

Lingering near the showers, Marc watched them roll out of camp with a bit of worry and only a little of the nagging urge to follow that had fallen over him during the airport rescue. This time he knew where she was and what Kyle had planned, and while Marc was glad to know it had already been scouted, he couldn’t stop the curtness in his tone as the day progressed and they didn’t return.

4

Still high on her successes, Angela kept her foot on the brake, letting the Eagles see the huge hill they were about to roll down. She got set, grinning as she listened to them. They were only a few miles from camp, but the feeling of being out with an Eagle team was worlds apart from the training tent.

“You sure, man?”

“Awful steep sides.”

“See her face? Recognize that?” the team leader gently reminded them. “We were all rookies once, too.”

Daryl’s mind flashed back to his own excitement of the first trip out of camp. “Those were the days. Rollin’ through no-man’s land while Adrian shot at us. Fun times.”

Angela’s grin widened as she picked up the dusty image, loving the idea that in time, she too, might be trained that way. “You guys ready, or what?”

Kyle tightened his belt and confidently put his hands behind his head. Inside, his gut was a churning ball of nerves. “Set.”

The others followed his lead, starting to get excited, and Angela got them moving with a bubble of happiness in her chest. She had their trust through saving Adrian from being bitten and she was an Eagle to them, if only for this minute.

Malevolent eyes followed the single vehicle down the steep grade. If Dean followed them, he would be in plain sight. If he went in on foot, he wouldn’t be able to keep up.

The black man growled in frustration. They were being too careful, which meant they wouldn’t come back this way to meet up with the camp, so even an ambush was out. The man pounded his fist on the wheel and the jeep shook in response. She would pay!

Dean slowly backed up, locking his anger away so he could think. If he couldn’t get to her outside the camp, then inside was the answer. He would take a line from Cesar and move in under the cover of the next storm. He would have to test their wire before then.

“I’m
comin
’ for you, baby!” Dean crooned, resisting the urge to spin out and kick up telltale dust. He would lay low for as long as it took.

Angela hit the brakes halfway down the hill, no longer hearing the men who yelled for her to go faster. The feeling of menace was consuming and she closed her eyes in concentration.

It would have been natural for the men with her to assume Angela had seen the next incline and frozen in fear, but Kyle’s team had been there for Brady’s miracle and each of them immediately swept for the danger.

“Are things 5-by?”

Angela shook her head at Daryl’s question. “He’s heading for camp, testing the perimeter, searching for a way in.”

“Who is?”

Drawing her courage, Angela grabbed Daryl’s hard wrist, making him jump.

“Sorry,” she muttered, face flushing as the Eagle stiffened in surprise. “The radio isn’t an option. He can’t know that
I know.”

She released his hand a moment later. “I told Adrian. He’s tightening things.”

Angela opened her eyes… the morning’s feeling of victory returning. It was okay to go ahead, Adrian had it covered. Without warning them, she hit the gas and the full level of Eagles bounced, shouted, and slid to the bottom of the dirt and weed-dotted grade that had once been the most challenging ATV trail in the state.

“We’ll use these trips out of camp to get you caught up,” Kyle told her as they watched the other Eagles check out the lightly wooded area, verify their perimeter alarms hadn’t been broken, and set up a quick guard.

“So the camp doesn’t know how much work I need?”

“Also the actual training. Most people wouldn’t understand, but you do, and that’s why we’ve set it up this way.

She smiled. “I appreciate the rearranging.”

“It’s all Adrian. He’s handling your schedule personally.”

“He has a lot of dreams,” she stated.

Kyle’s curious expression said that he, too, was eager to see if she could fulfill some of them.

“Let’s make this happen. You ready?”

She flashed a grin he had to steel himself against. “You know it.”

“Good. Take in as much as you can and we’ll cover it all again in the next lesson.”

Angela followed nervously, a bit self-conscious, but determined not to be run out by her own fears.

“Rookie lessons, gentlemen, and I hope you remember them.”

There was a laughing round of groans and good-natured complaints as they began settling in the grass at Kyle’s feet.

“You’ll sit on my left, the learning place, until you know the lesson, then you’ll join the team. Right now, you are a rookie. A place with us has to be earned.”

Angela quickly sat down, hoping her face wasn’t as red as it felt.

“From the very first day, Eagles. We’ll start on the right flank.”

Daryl stood up and his words carried an instant ring of magic.

“Eagles are men and women who care about the future of their country… so much, that they are willing to sacrifice their own lives for the greater good. Because of that, Eagles are unafraid of getting involved and can easily tell wrong from right.

“Eagles are not thieves. Some of them may have been in the past, but no longer. An Eagle can now be trusted with a life, the only possession which has any true value.

“Eagles have hope and suspicion in equal amounts. They believe in the truth when it’s called for, and silence when it’s not. An Eagle helps, plans, searches, and defends without being asked and no payment will ever be taken. They are strong and loyal defenders of those around them.

“There are a lot of reasons to join my Army. Worry over the future, a need to belong to something you can depend on, but it comes down to a simpler fact. We all want to be better than we are - mentally and physically. Humans are an ever-evolving species. Before the War, you were something else. Now, you’re an Eagle in my Army and I’ll accept nothing less than your best.”

As Daryl sat down and Chris stood up, Angela realized these must be the exact words Adrian had spoken to them.

 
“There is no room in my army for slacking off. If you can’t cut it, get out now.” Chris paused lightly and then went on after meeting her eyes. He suspected that wasn’t going to be a problem with Angela. “America comes first with us. Not that shit to enforce laws that hide greed, but only for the greater good - the survival of our country. The continuation of America is all I care about and there isn’t anything I won’t do, any one person I won’t sacrifice, to see it happen. Be sure you want this. It may be your life I take to save theirs.”

Kyle stood up. “Two minute break.”

Understanding the Mobster was giving her time to process, Angela ran it through her head again. This time, she could hear Adrian’s voice and feel parts of the magic that must have surrounded them as he accepted the first team of men into his army.

Kyle nodded and she listened closely as Billy started speaking.

“An Eagle is the only line of defense between the camp and this hostile new world. Extreme force is necessary and will be used at my discretion, no matter the age or condition of the threat. Mercy in this new hell comes from death and hardly anything else. Be prepared to not only face it up close, but to also be the one pulling that trigger. Lives are not to be taken lightly but they
will
be taken.”

The oral lesson went on for almost an hour, with Kyle calling periodic two minute breaks to keep her from being overwhelmed. Kyle himself went last, voice so similar to Adrian’s that it rang in her head and her heart.

“We’re writing history, here and now. In this new world, we are the first military power. As such, we are duty-bound to each other and the lives we come in contact with. Their needs are our needs and we will always see to them before ourselves. We are Guardians, shepherds of the remaining American flock, and everything we do, all that we are, is for them, for
Her
. We will be closer than any army before, more in tune with each other and the environment. Because of that, we have an edge. Knowing what’s coming will save us.”

 
Kyle couldn’t help a pause as his mind said that Adrian had been thinking of Angela when he’d told them that back in Nevada. He’d known she was coming, even then. The men around him shared the thought.

Angela waited without telling them Adrian hadn’t known it was for real back then, or that any of the help he had dreamed of would show. These men could never know he had based their new lives on a maybe.

Kyle went on, voice a bit awed. “I’m going to ask you to do things you’ll hate me for and yourself as well. Do them anyway. The motions we make now, are waves we’ll ride later, when there are more of us. You’ll have doubts and questions and moments of weakness when you think you’re about to fail and maybe cause the fall of these goals, my goals. Accept it as hard duty and learn to live with your demons. Talk to me, I am here for that, but more so, talk to each other. The old saying of not letting one hand know what the other is doing does not hold with us. We will be a family inside the Safe Haven community and there will be none tighter than these first teams. You are more valuable than anyone will realize or give you credit for, and if the camp finds out about the things we do on missions, you’ll be run out or worse. You must be sure. There’s no going back.”