Love in the Time of the Dead (9 page)

“I’m going to wait here. Someone will come and check on their little venture. I’m sure of it.” He held up his rifle. “And when they do, I’ll wing them.”

She had never met a better gunman than Jarren. He really was the person for the job.

“Meet back at the barn if anything goes wrong. We’ll sleep there tonight when everyone is finished,” Jarren ordered. He lowered his voice to a whisper again. “Be careful, Laney.” He squeezed her shoulder reassuringly and jogged off toward a grove of trees.

“You too,” she said quietly to his retreating silhouette. “Come on, Finn. Don’t want to be late for my hot date with Sean-Zombie-Puppeteer-Daniels.”

“I think you’re wrong about him. He gives everything for this colony. He wouldn’t do this.”

“We shall see,” she gritted out as she turned her sights toward the populated center of the colony.

Chapter Six

“I
S
T
HERE
A
NOTHER
E
NTRANCE
?” Laney asked Finn from the shadows of the building they were hiding behind.

Erhard stood guarding the main door of Sean’s house with a handful of other guards. The tension in his stance and the single-minded precision with which he scanned his surroundings while he gave hushed orders to his men said he must have caught wind of her scheduled dinner with the Denver colony leader. An unfortunate and irritating obstacle.

“There is a back entrance, but it will be just as heavily guarded. Follow me, but stay hidden. Stay close if you can.”

If the other entrance was guarded too, what kind of plan was Finn hatching to get her in? She didn’t trust anyone on the planet besides the team, so having any faith in Finn’s ability was about as far a leap as possible. On the other hand, there weren’t a ton of options. She slunk through the shadows as Finn walked casually around the house. He waved to other guards and talked cordially to a couple of them, and she smiled when she saw what he was doing. She liked it when people surprised her. To the other guards it would look as if Finn was thoroughly checking and re-checking if each bottom floor window was securely locked. One creaked promisingly, and Finn made a quick motion behind his back. He couldn’t have known where she was in the dark, but he must have trusted her to be close enough to see the gesture. Maybe Sasquatch wasn’t so bad after all. Finn strode over to a group of three guards who would catch her for sure if she ran for the window. He patted them on the back and joked easily with them while he positioned himself on the other side. When their backs were turned and they seemed engaged in conversation with a surprisingly animated Finn, she ran for the window and slid it open. Other than the creaking sound it made when Finn tested it, the window opened decidedly easily. In fact, if she were a betting woman, which she was on occasion, she would bet that window had been greased quite recently.

Hooking a leg over, she panicked when one of the guards started to turn in her direction, and she flopped through the window like a beached dolphin.

In a frozen pool of hope, she lay perfectly still on her stomach. Maybe she hadn’t made too much noise falling through the window. She lifted her face just enough to come foot to eyeball with someone’s boot. Busted.

“Shoot,” she whispered.

Sean Daniels sat in his office chair with an amused smirk on his face.

He waved his hand toward the window. “Please don’t shoot my dinner guest.”

She turned her head just enough to find three assault rifles trained in the general vicinity of her ear.

The guard closest spoke first. “Sir, Erhard said—”

“I don’t care what he said. At ease.”

“Yes, sir.”

The men lowered their weapons and withdrew from the opening. Sean stepped over her and closed the window before locking it securely in place. Laney cleared her throat and stood with as much dignity as she could muster. Which wasn’t much. She sidled around him to stand on the other side of his desk.

“Seems like you’ve made a lot of friends while you’ve been here. Must be your accommodating demeanor.”

She glared at him. “Your second in command is a thorn in my side.”

“Yeah, what did you do to get him so riled up? He told me he kicked you out of the colony, so I just assumed you wouldn’t be making it to dinner.”

She shrugged. The real reasons she took the risk would have to wait for later. “I’m hungry. I figured the food here would be better than the crap I’ve been eating. He can kick me out tomorrow.”

“Ah, a woman driven entirely by her stomach. You remind me of my three-year-old.”

She opened her mouth to pop off but was cut short by the office door swinging open. A solemn-faced Finn stepped in and took a post in the furthest corner of the room.

“Glad to see you’re still keeping our guest here out of trouble,” Sean told him.

“She doesn’t make it easy, sir.”

Sean chuckled. “No, I don’t expect she does.”

“I have a question,” she cut in with annoyance. “Why do you have an unlocked window, all greased up and ready for anyone who wants to mess with you or Mona or your daughter? Do you trust everyone in your colony so much?”

A flash of concern washed over Sean’s face before his mask was firmly back in place. He looked to Finn and arched his eyebrow. “The lady poses an interesting question.”

“You are right to be concerned, sir. We do regular window checks. I didn’t think we had a shot at finding one unlocked, but it was the only way I could think to get Laney in here. I was pretty shocked when that one actually gave.”

Sean drummed his fingers on the desk thoughtfully before he jerked his head toward the door. “Let’s go eat.”

She was surprised when he led her to an upstairs dining area instead of staying on the main floor. The upstairs was smaller but boasted a kitchen, dining room, and three bedrooms.

“This is the strangest house I’ve ever been in,” she mumbled.

“That’s probably because it wasn’t originally a house,” Sean said without offense.

“What was it?”

“It was a church when we found it. In fact, the original buildings and land used to belong to an extreme religious group, as far as we could tell. They were all gone before we got here.”

“Extreme religious group? So a cult is what you are saying. Creepy.”

“At first it was a little weird. We found an impressive cache of texts on the darker aspects of their beliefs, and if you lift up the carpet in any given room, there are strange markings in a red substance we can’t seem to clean off. But if you ignore that stuff, the extremists gave us a huge advantage.” He motioned for her to take a seat at an oak dining room table before he continued. “You see, the people who lived here had already started building the wall around the entire property. Not sure whether it was to keep outsiders out or members in, but it gave us a good foundation, not to mention a lot of the gathered materials to build the first wall. We worked constantly to get it built, but we still lost many in the first days of this colony. After we finished the first wall we were safe to build the interior gates in time. Without the gate having been started, we would have lost many more. Excuse me, I’m going to go check on Mona.”

Sean disappeared into one of the bedrooms, and Mona and Adrianna both followed him back out.

Laney breathed out of her mouth, but she could almost taste the rotting smell of death. How would she ever be able to stomach dinner with such a strong, lingering aroma of Deads that seemed to be absorbed into everything in the colony?

Mona greeted her, and Adrianna waved shyly before she took a seat directly across the table.

“Dinner is on the plates and all ready to go. I’ll be back later,” Mona informed them, pulling on a jacket.

Laney’s stomach flip flopped uncomfortably. “You aren’t staying?”

“No, dear. I’ve been watching Adrianna for Sean while he was on a supply run, but tonight is my night to myself. Some of my friends have invited me to a ladies’ dinner.”

“Thanks for cooking again, Mona. We’ll see you later tonight. Don’t get too crazy on the moonshine though, huh?” Sean said with a wink.

“Scoundrel.” Mona laughed as she waved goodbye and headed for the stairs.

“I’ll grab the plates,” Laney offered, only to be waved back down by Sean.

She watched him as he gathered their dinner in the adjoining kitchen. He wore the same black T-shirt he had on earlier but had changed into more comfortable-looking dark gray cargo pants. He had removed his weapons. Was it because he was in for the night or because he always removed them when he was around his little girl?

He was statuesque and fit, and the musculature of his back showed easily through the thin cotton shirt as he worked. She needed to get a grip, and fast. He could be harboring Deads in his own colony for all she knew.

Sean brought a plate and drink out and handed it to Finn. “You’re welcome to join us. It’s the least I can do for strapping you to this one all day.”

“Aw, she’s not so bad.”

“Please, she has the demeanor of a deranged grizzly bear,” Sean quipped.

“I can hear you, you know,” she gritted.

“I wouldn’t turn down a plate of Mona’s lasagna, but do you mind if I eat at the kitchen table?” Finn asked, ignoring her.

“Whatever you want.” Sean grinned and turned to her. “One day with you and he’s already wanting to eat alone.”

She rolled her eyes and padded into the kitchen to retrieve her own plate and water. One look at a fidgeting Adrianna had her setting the food in front of the child and heading back to the kitchen again. Sean didn’t say anything when he came in with food for his daughter, who was already digging in. He just sat at the head of the table and went to work on the plate in his hands.

“Slow down, little bear,” he said after a minute of watching his daughter eat with a concerned furrow between his brows. “Here, let me cut it up for you.”

Mona had made lasagna with thick garlic bread and fresh green beans. The lasagna was made with goat cheese and had a much different taste than the kind Mom used to make, but it was easily the best food Laney had tasted in months. If she could completely ignore the stench of Deads, she might have been able to enjoy it more. As it was, she was only able to get a few bites in her before she felt queasy and started pushing food around her plate.

His eyebrows shot up. “What, the food isn’t good enough for you?”

“No, it’s not that.” She really should’ve tried to eat more out of politeness. Her stomach did another flip flop.

“You one of those girls that doesn’t eat? Is that why you’re so scrawny?”

His observation pricked at insecurities she tried her damnedest to keep buried. That lash of hurt he caused, that obnoxious little affectation against her pride, was too much. “I wasn’t meaning to be rude.” She had to find a way to explain without giving too much. “I guess I just need certain conditions to eat.”

“Like what? Filet mignon? You don’t like the house? A different colored table? What?” Sean’s serious blue eyes pierced hers. He wasn’t going to let her get out of this conversation.

“She has a smelling problem, sir,” Finn spoke up from the doorway.

“You’re saying it smells in here?” Sean was only growing more offended if his tone was any indication.

“Daddy? All done. Can I play?” Adrianna asked sweetly.

Saved by the three-year-old with fresh tomato sauce all over her face.

“Yes, you can, but I want you to bring your toys in there.” He pointed to a small sitting area at the entrance to the bedrooms, within easy view.

When Adrianna had disappeared to her bedroom, Sean looked back at Laney with exaggerated patience. He waited.

Stalling, she took a drink of water and wiped her mouth with a napkin. “I smell Deads. The smell of them is overwhelming for me sometimes and it makes it hard to eat when it is like that. I didn’t mean to offend you. The food is delicious. I just don’t feel very well.”

“It’s true, sir. She was eating just fine in the barn, but as soon as she came out of there she got pretty sick.”

“Finn,” Sean warned.

“Yes, sir.” Finn disappeared into the kitchen.

“Seems you’ve bewitched him,” Sean said.

“I’m much too scrawny and unwomanly to bewitch anyone.” She took another bite and chewed it slowly, focusing on the pattern of her plate instead of the dizzying smell and the churning of her stomach.

Sean sighed and let his fork drop. The tinkle of the metal against ceramic sounded quite beautiful.

“I’m sorry,” he said quietly. “For this morning. The way we handled the gate check in front of everyone. And for your face, too.” He gestured in the direction of her newly stitched cut. “Losing Reynolds—” He cleared his throat. “Well, I didn’t handle things like I should have.”

She nodded her acceptance, impressed with Sean’s ability to apologize but unable to trust her voice enough to respond.

“The tattoo on your back,” he started. “Did you have it done before or after?”

His eyes never veered from her face as she answered quietly. “After. I had it done the first year of the outbreak.”