Adrian's Eagles: Book Four (Life After War) (35 page)

“This is a symbol of your commitment. You will wear it to lessons and on missions.”

Angela’s fingers paused on the zipper, voice laced with embarrassment, “But nowhere else, right?” Her cheeks went darker as they all chuckled.

Adrian’s eyes were glowing. “Wear it whenever you want. It’s yours and only I can take it away.”

“Only I can take it away.”
Kenn mocked sarcastically, moving out of the area and away from the empty training tent. It wouldn’t be that way long and he couldn’t be anywhere near it and still remain in control. Whenever a rookie jacket was given out, a workout always followed. They would all be in the tent with Angela, alone, for hours.

Kenn’s feet moved him faster. He was off duty at noon. From there, the day was his and he would spend it watching for a moment alone with her. She might have been accepted as an Eagle by Adrian and his two suck-ups, but not by all the men in the levels, and Kenn had things planned to show them how unfit she was.

He would give her one last chance to stop and then he would make her life miserable. He knew how to work the men over without breaking Adrian’s rules, his skills at causing unexpected pain had sharpened. If she wanted to be one of the guys, he would treat her that way.

Charlie moved back inside Marc’s tent with three minutes to spare, not sure if the man was bluffing. The teenager wanted to ‘look’, but the pounding in his head said that wasn’t an option. He would have to deal with this closed-off stranger on his own.

Marc had been dozing lightly, warm under the leather coat instead of the rookie jacket he’d pitched into the corner shortly after getting it from Neil. So far, he hadn’t worn it at all and didn’t think he would. Rookie and Brady hadn’t seen each other in decades.

“What did you tell everyone?”

“You ate too many different things last night and need a day for it to clear out. You’re here because you didn’t want to keep Matt or your mom up and you knew I’d be on duty until dawn.”

“You just got off duty?”

Marc’s tired yawn was an answer and he saw the guilt he’d been hoping for get quickly hidden by teenage rebellion.

“Not my fault. You brought me here.”

Marc's tone was like steel. “You’re done drinking. For years.” Before the boy could protest, Marc held up a pack of aspirin and a bottle of water. “Take these and eat the crackers in your pocket.”

Charlie patted himself in surprise. These weren’t the jeans and hoodie he’d been wearing last night! He took the water and packet with a glare. “You’re not my boss.”

“Okay. Then you should be able to get out of this one on your own, right?”

Adjusting his Colts, Marc moved toward the flap, and instinctively ducked the bottle meant to hit him in the head.

Slap!

The bottle hit the floor and Marc stepped over it. “I’ll be done with my next shift around noon. You will be here waiting for me. If not, I’ll go to Adrian first and then to your mom.”

“I hate you!”

Marc stiffened, blinking back bright pain, and forced himself to shrug. “We have to start somewhere.”

Adrian saw Marc step from his tent with a wounded face and gave the man a nod of recognition for the battle that had begun. Adrian had no problem letting Charlie’s father try to handle it. Maybe they would find some common ground along the way. Much like he would have to with his own abandoned… Adrian stopped the thought. He hadn’t abandoned Conner, he was very late.

Adrian’s gaze went over the parking area, where Sam and a small crew were preparing a double semi for the new garden. She was another one who needed to take advantage of the circumstances. Neil’s team was trying to match-make and Adrian wasn’t the only one who had noticed. Becky was currently skipping her new nursing duty with the doctor to perch in the front seat of Tonya’s muddy convertible, out of sight. Neil wasn’t in the area yet, but the redheaded teenager knew he would be.
She was waiting for him to show,
Adrian thought, though her youth would likely send her searching for him if he took too long. Becky had become very adept at tracking Neil.

It was all likely to become an ugly mess, especially since Neil’s right-hand also seemed to have a thing for the Storm Tracker. And Jeremy already had a fling running with Cynthia. Adrian headed for the coffee line, shaking his head. It was life and he was grateful for each of them.

He moved under the steel canopy of the Mess with a welcoming smile and people responded right away. Moods picked up, heavy worries lightened a little and he was glad to be able to do it. That was a part of his gifts that required no real work anymore. Happiness had its own attractions. Like with the college kids and the Nuns. They were all at a double table, surrounded by Peggy, Hilda, and the camp’s other females. Talking and eating as if they’d been friends for years, it was another sign he was heading them all in the right direction, picking up those who were worthy.

And that was another problem he was trying to solve. Who was worthy? It came as no surprise that he resented having to make those hard choices just as much as he liked it. He planned to have Angela start meeting with the new arrivals soon, but that too, was dangerous to rely on. She couldn’t always tell when there was a problem, like with Rick. Adrian had asked her and been left frowning at her explanation of dark spots. They still didn’t know if the man was a threat.

The Slavers had been following Angie and Marc or Safe Haven’s radio calls, maybe both, but they’d shaken their tail for a moment and gone quiet. Safe Haven hadn’t put out a radio call in days. If there was a transmission, an attempt at contact, they would catch it and that, along with the extra guards, was the best he could do. If not for the mental map pick-ups, even the radio silence might have been impossible because of his need to gather survivors. The thought of passing them by was intolerable and he wasn’t sure how much longer he would keep things quiet. And that made the Eagle lessons even more important.

Speaking of lessons
, he thought, stepping from the Mess. A group of females were reading the tryout notice Kyle had put up. Adrian turned away before they noticed him and rushed over with a million questions. The try-outs were set for dawn, but he had few hopes of those women showing up. Unlike Peggy and Hilda’s troupe of helpful females, these six were a clique and stuck to themselves. They weren’t ready, but that would change. Angela would be the first, and second... Samantha.

Adrian turned back to see Jeremy lean too close to the blonde as he spoke. Sam laughed in response, leaning toward him as well, and Adrian grinned at the slyness on Becky’s face as she saw the flirting. That fiery teenager might fall into his army right after Samantha.

3

“Can I go now? Somebody will get suspicious.”

“That’s your problem.”

“Yours, too, if my mom finds out you’ve kept me here all morning.” The frustrated boy hesitated, pushed harder. “Or Kenn.”

Marc’s eyes popped opened. “You want that piece of shit instead of me? I’ll get him for you.”

Bluff called, Charlie fell back on the bedroll. “What do you want?”

“You’re smart. Figure it out.” Marc closed his eyes again. He’d been back from his short shift and dozing for the better part of an hour now, skipping lunch Mess while he waited for this angry child to understand that the path he was walking led to nowhere.

“I’m
gonna
get fed up and blow it open, I hope you know that.”

“And I hope you get it before things go that far. Why don’t you try again?”

“
Uhh
! I’ve been trying! You won’t tell me enough.”

“Deep down, you know. Push aside all that anger and concentrate!”

Marc’s sharp command had Charlie reluctantly doing as he said, but the mental door loomed like a wall, and the frustration rose up again.

“Stop fighting it,” Marc coaxed. “You don’t want to feel our emotions and it’s holding you back.”

“It’s private.”

“It’s your story, too, son. Now, open the door. We both have better things to be doing.”

That wasn’t true in Marc’s case. Other than Angie, there was no one he’d rather spend time with than this smaller, angrier version of her.

“Fine!”

Charlie had reached his limit and instead of pushing, he yanked on the mental door and fell into a large room in his father’s mind. A young Angela was what he saw.

She’s adorable
, was Charlie’s first thought. Sitting in a chair in the far corner of a crowded room,
she seems sad
, was his second. The little girl was dressed smartly for the holiday, almost a Christmas angel, but no one talked to her or offered her anything from the long table everyone else was picking through. Was she being punished?

As he watched, the number of guests steadily increased and each time the door opened to admit these new family members, the little girl’s eyes would fly open and give him an awful glimpse of desperate hope. She was waiting for someone, Charlie realized, unable to fit that pretty and clearly vulnerable kid, with his mom.

The door opened again, letting in another large group and this time, instead of quickly hidden disappointment, there was a flash of indescribable joy in the little girl’s gaze. Only lasting for an instant, it was missed by everyone who had turned toward the new arrivals, but two of the coat-bound incomers had seen that telling expression. The first was his dad and Charlie had no trouble recognizing this pre-teen boy as the man whose memory he was sharing. They were nearly identical still.

Young Marc was grinning, calling out and responding to greetings, and his eyes skipped over the little girl without even a glance. The group moved to the full rack to hang their coats up and the snow-covered boy managed to place himself behind it, hanging up his parent’s jackets.

Out of sight, young Marc finally glanced her way and Charlie’s jaw dropped at the open fire there. He’d wanted her! At that age!

Angered, Charlie started to pull back, but stopped at his father’s command. “Wait.”

Reluctant, he turned back to the image, to the girl. She almost seemed to have fallen back into a doze, but Charlie saw her face flush in response to young Marc’s look. Her lashes were lowered and she casually moved her hands, stretching out her fingers. Only… had that been a code?

After being around the Eagles so much, Charlie recognized the motions as too orderly and wasn’t surprised to see young Marc nod before coming out from behind the rack.

“What did she say?” Charlie asked, drawn despite himself.

“She’d be outside.”

“I don’t want to see that.”

“You won’t.”

The little girl was slipping out now and no one asked her where she was going or told her to button-up. In fact, they seemed to be acting like she didn’t even exist.

“Why do they hate her?” As soon as Charlie asked, he knew.

“You tell me,” Marc instructed, sensing they were finally on the edge.

Charlie watched one of the newest arrivals flinch back to let the child go out first. “They know what she can do. They fear her.”

“Feared,” Marc corrected. “It was a long time ago, but there’s more to this than just that. She was an example to them, of who not to cross.”

The door closed behind the little girl, cutting off the glimpse of her startling face of misery and hope, and Charlie knew young Marc’s would be the replica. He didn’t want to see that and he glanced over the other people instead. His family?

Charlie’s gaze stopped at the matching eyes of a tall, intimidating woman standing near the coat rack Marc had been behind. She was imposing, impeccable in her black and white robes… and she was staring at the door too, only her face was filled with fury.

“Mother Brady.”

She was the other person who had noticed the little girl’s joy when they’d first come in and she didn’t like it. Not even a little.

Marc’s tone dripped with loathing and pain, “She’s the reason you were without a father.”

The woman snapped her head around, as if in response to older Marc’s voice, and Charlie couldn’t tell if she’d been fast enough to see it on her young son’s face
. It wouldn’t have mattered anyway
, he thought. Feelings that strong couldn’t be hidden.

Or fought
, he added slowly. The image faded into darkness, but Charlie didn’t back out yet.

“I’d like to see something else.”

“Depends on what it is.”

“How you found out… about me.”

Charlie winced at the instant bright rays of happiness coming from the man now in the Ohio hall in front of him. From the garbage and cracked glass, there was no doubt it had been after the War. When Warren’s death came, the world darkened and Charlie withdrew. He leaned his head against his hands, thinking about what he had seen.

“You’ve had a different life than the one your mother and I would have chosen. Some people let that sort of thing eat them up, but considering your parents, I know you’re not that weak.”

Marc lit a smoke and opened the bottom of the flap to clear the smoke, but missed the shadow that had frozen outside as he studied his son.