Adrian's Eagles: Book Four (Life After War) (74 page)

Changing of the Guard

1

“This is Safe Haven. We are an American Red Cross convoy. Who is calling?”

Static again and then a very young voice floated out of the tape player, horrifying Angela, who could feel the fear and helplessness behind it.

“The grownups left us! We need help!”

It was whispered but clear, even though odd noises in the background should have drowned it out.

“Where are you, honey?” Mitch asked, not as steady now.

Angela flinched at the awful cry in the background. The child waited for it to stop and it did, in a long, unbroken howl of pain that finally ran out of breath.

“Little Rock. Hurry! They’re closer!”

“Where exactly? We’ll come and get you!” Mitch’s voice was full of outrage and worry as he tried to find out where the abandoned kids were.

Static garbled the transmission. “You’re breaking up! Say again!”

There was only more static instead of a response, and Adrian turned the recording off.

“He tried them for the next two hours and got nothing. We heard it on another channel yesterday. Same message, different voice. We won’t be the only ones hunting them.”

Angela closed her eyes. “Play it again.”

He did, not watching her and they both winced at the loud moan when it came. Angela pushed, stretched, listened. When Adrian cut it off, her lids snapped open.

“Kids. Trapped on the East side, near where the water is coming in.”

He nodded, ignoring the tone of the dead that was coming from her lips. “I want to go in and get them.”

“And if it’s a trap? If we’re ambushed?”

He frowned at the question. Did she know something? “We go in assuming it is. We plan for it.”

Angela concentrated on the unrecognizable city below them. They were down there, she could feel them waiting to be captured and killed, or rescued, and she couldn’t even see a way in. It was all pile after pile of rancid debris.

“Let me worry about that,” Adrian told her. “I need you to help me locate them, to listen, but mostly, to convince them they can trust us. Nothing else.”

She looked away, knowing it would be more, knowing it was more even now.

Adrian blew out a tired breath, turning to stare at his people as they began to make camp, Brady scheduled on Point for the first time.

“We’ve seen armed men here. They wear fatigues like soldiers and act like it to a degree.” Adrian turned to her. “I need to know if they are.”

Her eyes closed immediately, seeing the past, and after a minute, she was picking up details. “They’re not all from the same branch. Mercenaries, I think. There’s a small group inside that mobile home. They’re on duty, watching for us. Word has spread about what we’ve done.”

Adrian was now the one frowning. Eliminating the Slavers was only a small part of the death he and his army would end up dealing out.

“Deserters are as bad as Slavers,” he stated gently, a bit unsure how to bring it up with her. Neither of them was fully recovered from the last mass-killing.

She cut him off. “I understand what you’re about to say. If they follow us in, they won’t come out.”

Skipping over the lecture on duty that she obviously didn’t need, he gave her a tight smile. “Stay close to me once we’re in.”

“You should watch your six on this run… closely.”

“You know something I don’t?”

She shook her head, daze clearing. “It’s just a feeling about a bad decision.”

He smiled uneasily. “We make those every day now.”

They laughed halfheartedly, but he took her words to heart. “I’ll keep you out of the ugliness as much as I can.”

She nodded, warming. “I know that. I need a map.”

Adrian pulled one from his pocket, putting the tape player away. “We’ll let the camp get out of sight, and then we’ll head down. You’re solo again, on this run. Be in the Mess in half an hour.”

He turned from her many questions - like what happened if she couldn’t convince them to come out and at least talk. She went slowly back to her blazer, looking from the map to what used to be Little Rock, Arkansas.

There were no landmarks to use, the entire city was crumbled on top of itself like broken Lego blocks and it was impossible to tell where one building started and another ended. There was nothing she could see to navigate by, except the Arkansas River, which was literally surrounding Little Rock on three sides due to post-war flooding. That ugly mass of scummy liquid, which she knew they would have to cross when they were done here, would be a nightmare for Safe Haven.

2

As they neared the crumbled city, the mission team was reminded of how these scenes always appeared fake in the movies. Except with the windows down, they could smell the decay and see the bodies still rotting out in the open, eyes foggy, skin mostly gone to predators, and they could hear the hordes of flies that circled and stopped, circled and stopped.

The grass was dead too, replaced with thick mud from the water rising through and over the land. It should have drained, but a fleet of Coast Guard ships had been washed upriver by Hurricane Amanda, forming a thick blockade with the wreckage. As a result, the river had been backing up into nearly every city and town along its banks. It probably would only have taken 2 hours and a little dynamite to clear, but no one knew and very few would have been able to do it now. The War had changed everything.

The convoy stopped about a 1/4 mile from the first big piles of buildings, cars, lives, and Adrian sat still for a long moment, deciding where to start the assault.

Angela kept quiet, almost able to feel his mind working the problem.

After a moment, he picked up the mic. “There’s a clear street behind that church. We’ll start on the right side of the lot. Once we make a hole, we’ll be able to travel for a bit.”

No one doubted him, though how he could see it, she had no clue.

3

By midnight, they were two miles in. Their camp was quiet, 20 men and Kyle on guard duty. The dead city moaned and banged around them, settling down only to let out a horrid scream of pain, followed by glass breaking and gunshots. None of the Eagles rested easy.

Adrian and his main circle were in the largest, middle tent, along with half a dozen guards. Everyone else was split between the two tents on either side. The lights and candles were kept going and the fire and coffee, by the guard on Point. The wolf paced the boundaries of the electrified fence (he knew what it was and could easily jump it), also making his own rounds.

The 3 a.m. shift change was quiet, companionable shakes on elbows and wrist alarms, but Adrian woke anyway, joined Kyle by the fire. He poured himself a cup of the strong coffee and raised a brow at the tired Mobster.

“Things staying quiet?”

“Quiet, but not dark. Lights in every direction. Six camps, roughly a mile out, each with 5 men.”

Adrian grinned. “You went for a walk.”

Kyle wasn’t worried the Boss would be mad. “We snuck a couple hard-asses out and went for a look/see.”

Adrian lit a smoke, wondering if Angela had been among them. She hated not being a part of Kyle’s team for missions, but Adrian needed her learning to work alone, too. “See anything interesting?”

Kyle nodded tiredly. “They didn’t. We saw no means of communication. No CB’s, no hand-
helds
, but these guys were alert, serious.”

“You see The Man?”

“Negative, but I’m positive he’s seen us.” Kyle yawned. “I’m going to bed.”

“With all those snores? Good luck.”

Kyle left the fire smiling and Adrian went to his truck. Once inside the cold interior, he turned on the CB system. Their people would have heard the explosions, seen them too, maybe, and while they knew better than to break radio silence, he could at least let them know everything was okay. He had no doubt most of the camp would be listening by now, all worried, hoping to hear something, and giving Brady shit because he wasn’t their true Guardian.

“This is Eagle. Everything is 5-by.”

The static cleared immediately with a brief sound of a huge crowd cheering in relief and then there was silence. Following instinct, Adrian turned the second system on, adjusting to a less-used frequency. It was a shipping channel he’d taught a young boy to use a very long time ago.

“This is Eagle. We are in the city. Hang on. We’re coming.”

He didn’t hang up the mic, feeling, knowing there would be a response.

“You have to hurry!”

It was a low whisper and he keyed the mic. “Be ready. It will happen fast.”

“But you don’t even know where we are!” the child moaned.

Adrian’s voice was hard, sure. “Be ready. We’re close and we make a lot of noise.”

There was no answer and he turned it off, knowing others were likely listening, still trying to find the kids. If they got to them first, there was no way it would end well.

4

At 5:00 a.m., the sky was moonless, lightless, and Adrian could wait no longer. He got his camp up. They had a lot of ground to cover.

The starving thin boy watched the large group with deep blue eyes full of longing, remembering a time, a life, when he’d been loved, wanted. Were these the right people? Conner was the oldest and the others had left it to him to make contact, but he was only a kid. How was he to know?

The tall boy pulled his ragged clothes closer, ignoring the rain, the cold, and the nasty muck seeping into his duct-taped shoes. Desperate and too weary to keep pretending help would come, his intent stare never left the large group of people now unloading, setting up camp.

He could tell the Leader from the way he cared for his people, and by the respect he was given. Those things would have told him even if he hadn’t recognized the blond man. It was almost a dream, seeing that walk, those eyes!

Conner swayed lightly on his cold feet, unable to believe. Certain it was the hunger, he knelt down for warmth and kept studying them. It was the men with him who convinced the boy. There was no mistaking that style of teaching. His father had come at last!

Instead of relief at the sudden hope he could now allow himself to feel, or even anger at how long it had taken, there was only fear in Conner’s mind. His memories of Adrian were vague, shadowy pictures from a time when life hadn’t been blown up. What if he was only seeing what he wanted? The others trusted him with their lives and he was terrified of making the wrong choice and getting them all hurt. And still, his heart was already yearning to be a protected member of this man's camp.

“Then come. None of us will harm you.”

The boy whirled around, hands rising in defense. “Who’s there?” he whispered and felt the gaze of the only woman over the long distance.

“Come talk to us. We’re your way out of this hell.”

The boy shook his head, sure he was imagining things.

“Watch our vehicles.”

The boy was stunned to see headlights flashing with no one inside flipping switches. On and off. On and off.
She was special! She was like him!

Adrian’s face was thunderous, but he accepted her explanation.

“He’s coming. Tell the guards by your rig to give him room.”

Adrian did and seconds later, a shadow emerged from the wreckage - 5’7” or so, and very under weight - was this the same child he’d left in the care of his mother? Adrian wiped his face clean, not sure if the boy knew who he was, and he waved the Eagles back, including Kenn, as he and Angela moved forward.

Conner ignored the Leader’s attempts at eye contact, heart now feeling the bitterness. These men were the reason it had taken so long. If not for the woman’s powers, and the desperate medical need of some of his kids, Conner thought he might not have made contact. It wouldn’t be hard to just trick them into getting rid of the Cleaners, so they could leave this dead city.

The silence told Adrian that Angela was handling things. Running on instinct (something he realized he did a lot with her) he put a light hand on her wrist and was immediately able to hear bits of their conversation.

‘Good guys...
 
Rescue...’

‘Proof... Many betrayals...’

‘Not like the rest... Protection...’

‘Hunted... Scared...’

It moved too fast for Adrian to keep up and he reluctantly let go, knowing it was a distraction for her and was making the Eagles wonder if she was in danger.

A moment later, the boy grunted and Angela turned to Adrian. “They need food and water. Maybe some weapons?”

“What else?”

“Medical help. I’d like to go with him.”

Adrian shook his head quickly. “Not alone, not ever. Kyle and his men will escort.”

The boy was frowning as she relayed the next instructions to Adrian. “Five men of your choice and he carries the weapons.”

Before Adrian could say no, the boy spoke, still not making eye contact. “This will go a long way in making the
others
trust you.”