Adrian's Eagles: Book Four (Life After War) (57 page)

They’d stopped twice for driving changes, the others snoozing lightly in the vehicles, and while the fighting between Kenn and Kyle never really seemed to stop, it did pause when they took their short breaks in the rain.

Angela stayed close to the vehicles during these moments, not wanting to hold them up, and she studied how the others handled the cramped conditions and horrible sights, like when they’d rolled through Berea, Nebraska.

It had been five months since the War, and the running corpses they’d all shied from in the beginning were mostly gone now. All that usually remained were graying skeletons in tattered bits of clothing. In Berea, however, the bodies had been fresh even through the rain-soaked windows. Their convoy had driven by these reminders of human insanity with tense faces and guns ready. It was clear there had been a battle in this small town, but between whom? There were no signs of the government or the Slavers, only residents of the town, and the Eagles swept the wet landscape harder after that.

They’d left the mystery behind and it wasn’t until they made it to Max and Lenore’s ranch, that Angela connected the pieces. “The wolves did it.”

Marc raised a brow, but he got her drift an instant later. He kept his mouth shut, thinking that if the wolves were now south of Chadron, that didn’t bode well for the mountain couple Angela had hopes of rescuing. Chances were slim that Max and Lenore had lasted another month after they’d come through here.

As the convoy rolled to a stop in front of the weathered ranch house, the rain stopped and Angela’s upset voice told him the odds had shrunk to nothing.

“No life survives in there.”

Her words weren’t doubted, but Neil had a short team move inside to verify it anyway. The sooner they were out of this stalk-filled graveyard, the better.

“I need to go in.”

Marc opened his mouth and Angela swung herself from the blazer without waiting for his protest. “I’m not asking.”

She slammed the door, and the remaining Eagles split off into two groups. Kenn stayed with Neil’s men, guarding their vehicles, and Kyle’s team followed her inside. How they had gotten him to play along, she didn’t know, but she was glad.

The smell of the corn was much worse than when she’d been here before, and Angela moved quickly through the reeking home toward the kitchen with the edge of her shirt over her face. One of the doors in the long hall drew her eye and a warm flush spread up her face. That was where Marc had helped her conquer some of her fears.

Angela pushed away the memories and the disturbing version that wanted to change the players in that moment.
Now is not the time
, she warned herself. Sex and death were not supposed to mix!

Moving into the next room, Angela spotted the huge bodies in the bed, their exposed, purple skin full of tiny teeth marks, and clenched her fists against the guilt. Blinking back tears, she kept walking. There was nothing she could do for them now.

Angela stepped through the curtains and grabbed the ornate Caller from the wall peg. She hadn’t known the mountain woman very well, and Max, she hadn’t even liked, but they had been full of life when she’d been here four weeks ago. It was impossible not to feel weighed down.

Why she took the wall ornament was only clear to Marc, who frowned at the thought of who would be wielding it.

The Eagles followed her back outside and when Angela loaded herself into the blazer’s passenger seat, they exchanged relieved looks, eager to be on the move again before the sun went down. The wolf den was only twenty minutes from here and as soon as it was destroyed, they could rejoin Safe Haven.

Lost in her guilt over Max and Lenore’s terrible deaths, Angela didn’t feel the waves of unease moving their way until it was too late.

One minute they were rolling steadily by row after row of molding cornstalks, the sickly, knee-high plants all they could see in every direction of the Walgren Lake State
Rec
Area.

The next instant, a wall of death thundered from the corn and washed their convoy away.

Angela struggled to breathe, smothered between the two men as the blazer rolled. They were hugging her tight, trying to keep her away from the debris that was pounding dents into the reinforced steel.

Slam! Crack!

Another flip - this one beat them against the front seats and then each other.

CRACK!

The back window was hit hard, sending spiraled fractures through it, but none of the black mud that had swallowed them.

Rip! Thud!
Even reinforced, the 4x4 was giving under the onslaught.

Smash!

They came to a sudden, jarring stop against something hard, and it flung them along the roof as the mud-wave parted to flow around them.

Angela wrenched her head up, gasping air into pain-filled lungs. “Hold on… not done…”

Their grips tightened, feet bracing, and then the blazer was hit in the side by something big and they were spun back into the chaotic mess.

The flash flood raced over the land in a roaring torrent. Leaving a trail of destruction that was nearly two miles long, the wall of mud carried the blazer along brutally. Slowly losing power, it finally let them go deep in a cornfield with muddy silt up to the tires.

At a shaky gesture from Angela to confirm it was over, the trio inside untangled themselves carefully.

“You okay?”

“You all right?”

They asked it at nearly the same time and Angela nodded, wiping blood away from a scratch across her arm. “Think so. Might be sick,” she informed them, swallowing a groan as she noticed how many other small cuts she had. If this kept up, she’d be a hideous hag by the time she got to Kyle’s level. “Can we get out?”

“Two minutes.”

She nodded again at Marc’s words, and then held her head as it spun. “One…two…three…”

Marc grinned at the countdown and the two males began examining their situation. He and Neil were also bleeding from numerous places, but none of them seemed bad and being men, they didn’t worry about it now that they’d assured themselves of her safety.

“There’s light.” Neil pointed.

Marc slid toward the back passenger window. “Good. That means we’re upright.”

The blazer’s engine wasn’t running, denying power to the switches, and it took both of them to gently force the glass down.

Mud rolled into the blazer in small rapids, leaving a very limited vision of their surroundings. The battered vehicle was sunk partially down into the dark, dank mud, and all around them… were cornfields and little else.

“Help her with the gear and I’ll do a quick check,” Neil instructed, already sliding his thin torso through the mud-covered window.

Angela didn’t wait for Marc to help her from the slippery opening, moving smoothly out and then onto the roof before jumping clear of the mud path. It wasn’t that she didn’t want Brady to touch her; she wanted to hold her own and be treated like any other Eagle, no matter what happened.

Marc knew and followed her silently. He’d been sure seeing her on this mission would be hard, but he was beginning to suspect it wasn’t because of anything she might do, only his reactions to it. He had himself under tight control right now, but later, when she was busy proving herself again, might be another thing all together.

8

 
“Come in Freedom.” Neil waited, still fighting half an hour later to get his guts under control from their wild ride. Thanks to the extra supplies they’d brought, their injuries were a large number of scrapes and bruises from bouncing off of boxes and bags instead of sharp metal, but Neil had little doubt they’d be hurting from it later.

There was only static as the mud-splattered trio listened and the Trooper tried again, worried. “This is Liberty. Come in Independence.”

Angela shook her head when he would have tried a third time, sure they’d been heard. The adrenalin was still pumping through her body, making it easier than usual to pick up on Kenn’s bad vibes.

“They hear us. Radio’s sparking. Looks like the same street we were on when the mudslide swept us out. They’re on foot now, too.”

Neil’s face was incredulous. “We lost all five vehicles?”

“Kenn thinks they’ll have the Excursion back when it dries out.”

“Ours may work, too, in a few hours.” Marc stated, from the raised hood. “Needs some settling time.”

“Tell them to meet us over there by that blue silo. It’s high enough to be seen in every direction.” Neil instructed.

Angela carefully tapped the message out in code, and then listened mentally to make sure they’d gotten it. She planned to do as much of this as she could without help from the Witch.

Neil turned toward Angela, thinking that even with mud in her hair and dried blood on her face, she was still so pretty it hurt to look at her… like Sam, with dirt in her hair from gardening.

“You’ve got the basic foot formations down?”

Angela
unslung
the rifle she had acquired for passing the level tests. She ran a finger over the initials burned into the stock. “Yes, Sir!”

Both men smiled, but Angela didn’t. She turned to take Point without being told, Neil’s thoughts full of giving her lead. No matter how well she did or how exact her copy was, it always brought surprise and amusement instead of respect or even acceptance. Knowing they still didn’t consider her an equal made Angela even more determined to be perfect and she reluctantly brought the Witch forward to walk with her as the two males moved to her flank.

The formation for three people was a shifting diagonal, led by the Point man. The Eagles in the rear automatically adjusted the line as she moved, searching the empty stalks that surrounded them.

Marc was keeping track of the distant sun that would soon start to sink below the skyline and he was glad when she set a fast pace. They only had a few hours before dark and then they would be out here with no shelter and the wolves roaming freely.

The men kept up easily and Angela was surprised by her lack of fear despite their situation. That feeling of being right where she belonged was settling over her.

When she caught movement in the distance a bit later, she pointed. “There they are.”

The double diagonal line of Eagles was much larger, appearing like soldier ants marching neatly to their own beats.

Angela turned to Marc. “You remember, I’m sure, what happened the last time we were here after dark.”

Marc hunted through the shadows of late afternoon as his mind lingered on the note of excitement in her voice. Where was
his
Angie? “Yeah. We’ll have to get ready.”

She gestured at the farm they were about to reach. “We can set up in there.”

The barn was huge, faded red with a top window and narrow deck that was easily 40 feet across. The two front doors were open and Marc lit a smoke, thinking that ledge was where he wanted her when it all went down.

Angela moved that way and Neil hung back to be even with Marc. He made sure his voice was low enough so that she wouldn’t overhear. “I want to give her lead of this mission. It’s my call.”

Marc’s sudden flash of intuition was sharp. “You want it or Adrian does?”

Neil didn’t flinch, expecting the accusation. “Both.”

“When will you tell her?”

Neil snorted. “She knows what we want. Probably has since before we left.”

Marc stiffened, tightening his control. She hadn’t mentioned that part. “As long as she’s safe, I’m on board.”

It was clear from the set faces of Kenn and Kyle that their leadership transition hadn’t gone as well. Marc observed as the rest of the tense, scraped-up men joined them in front of the barn. Would the Marine fall in line?

Neil was wondering the same thing, but didn’t change the plan. It took the Eagles only a few words to understand what the Trooper wanted from them.

“Angela’s been through here in the last month, knew the people we found. She’ll tell us what to expect tonight.”

“It’ll be easier to show you. It’s behind the barn.” She sounded calm to her own ears, but inside, the nervousness had returned with Kenn’s hard face.

Marc was surprised she’d known they were so close to where their battle with the wolves had taken place. Only half a mile away, they might have been able to make their stand in the big red shelter if they’d known it was there.

Angela moved that way at Neil’s motion. Hearing nothing behind her but light steps, she turned back around. “Who’s got guard duty?”

Neil shrugged, hiding his surprise. He’d expected to have to remind her. “You pick it.”

Angela smothered the grin of power that wanted to fill her face. “Daryl and Jeremy. Password is mud.”

There were snickers at that, and frowns from the more serious among them, as the two men moved to take up positions around the barn.

Very conscious of Kenn’s glares burning holes into her back, Angela turned toward the corn with a neat step, but didn’t try to lead them in a formation. Neil and Brady could handle that, but the rest of these men were as unsure as she was.