Eden's Promise (18 page)

She looked up, and could have sworn she saw Aaron looking at her from down the hall. It had to be the tears blurring her vision because no way would the commander let him be in here knowing she was here. Besides, the man she saw was almost bald.

But then he stopped, looking in her direction, and she knew.

She managed to pass the baby to Adele before she started running, and then she was in his arms, smelling the strong clean scent of him, her hand gliding over his shorn head, and then his mouth was on hers, hard, hot, reassuring. Tears flowed freely down her cheeks as she wrapped her arms tightly about him, not wanting to let go.

“You’re safe?” he asked, pulling back a little to look at her, frowning as he rubbed at her lower lip.

She didn’t want to tell him, didn’t want to worry him. “So far. You?” But even as she asked it she saw the new scar on his jaw, another on his cheek.

“Where are you?” he asked, ignoring her question.

“The brig, but in the back. Well guarded.”

He grimaced. “I’ll find a way, Eden, I promise.”

She only nodded, running her fingertips over his jaw.
 

“Stay safe.”
 

The way he was looking at her, searching, as if he could read in her eyes what had happened to her, at once alarmed her and reassured her. If he saw how scared she was, would he take unnecessary risks?

And then they were pulled apart, two men for her, three for him. But she didn’t turn her head, didn’t drop her gaze, until he was out of sight.

Chapter Fourteen

“I want answers!” the commander barked as the men stood at attention in the courtyard. The air had a distinct chill to it, and Aaron folded his hands into fists to warm his stiff fingers.
 

They’d been in the courtyard for hours, at attention, and every part of his body hurt. Worse, this was his fault, because the commander wanted to know who had let Aaron know Eden was in the infirmary.

Aaron stared straight ahead, refusing to feel guilt. Any of these men would have done the same thing for the woman they—for the woman they were protecting. Any of them would have done the same for that brief moment of feeling her in his arms, pressed against his chest, her mouth beneath his.

The lipstick, the eye make-up, that had alarmed him. What was she made up for? Worse, it looked like the make up had been applied by trowel, had looked whorish. Was that what she was now? The thought of another man touching her had his stomach twisting.

The commander shoved his face close to Aaron’s. “Who told you she would be there?”

Aaron forced himself to remain expressionless. He stared straight ahead, not making eye contact. He wouldn’t say that he’d befriended some of the other soldiers, men who told him that the women were held separately, that they were kept together and used for release, mainly for the “officers,” who were the commander’s friends.
 

The commander stepped back and pounded the fist of one hand into the palm of another. “All right then. Looks like a storm coming. You can thank Mr. McKay in the morning.” With a nod to his guards, he backed away and went into the bunker.

Aaron waited a few moments before he dropped out of formation, only to be prodded back by a soldier with a gun. He went back to attention and gauged the reaction of the other soldiers. He could damn near feel the hate simmering off of them, but if it was directed at the commander or for him, he couldn’t tell.
 

He waited until the rain washed over him, icy cold and numbing. He waited until it had drenched him, drenched the ground beneath him. The next time he slouched, the soldier took a little longer to prod him back to position, and he unflexed his stiff fingers, grabbing the man’s gun by the barrel. The weapon was slippery from the rain, and Aaron’s fingers were stiff, but he kept his hold, jamming the butt into the the soldier’s gut. He waited for the other guards to start firing as he took control of the weapon, bracing it against his shoulder, but he looked up to find them disarmed as well.
 

Shit, this wasn’t how he wanted to do this, not out in the open, not with so many others as witness. Or people looking to him to help them. He only wanted Eden.
 

He needed to take out the power, but if he did that now, he’d alert the commander. That was one son of a bitch he’d be glad he never saw again. He had to get to Eden first.

***

The baby was crying. Eden woke, disoriented by the unfamiliar sound. Added to that was the sound of icy rain hitting the windows. She rose to see if Annie needed help. She was staggering through the already dark room when something popped outside. The next thing she knew, the door was flung open and a man with a gun ran in, closing the door behind him. Because the room was dark, she could only see his outline, and feel the threat rolling off him. She snapped to attention and put herself between the intruder and the new mother.
 

“Eden.”

Aaron’s gruff voice carried across the room and she hurried forward to grip his arm.

He lowered the gun. “Get dressed. We’re going.”

“Now? How?”

He glanced toward the door. “Eden,” he urged.

Right. Move. She hurried to her cot and dragged on her jeans and socks, shoved her feet into her boots as he kept watch.

“What’s going on?” Christine asked drowsily.

“We’re going.”

“We? Wait a minute,” Aaron said, crossing to her.
 

“We can’t leave them here, Aaron. They’ll be killed—or worse. Get dressed,” she said to Christine. “I’ll help Annie.”

“A baby—Christ, Eden, it’s forty degrees outside and that baby isn’t a day old.”

“I’ll risk it,” Annie said, already out of bed and dressing.
 

“Teresa?” Eden asked.

The civilian woman sat up in her bed, her blanket pulled to her throat as she stared at the window.
 

“I can’t. My husband is here. I won’t leave without him.”

Eden looked at Aaron, who scowled and shook his head.
 

“We don’t have time for this. Look, I’ve got soldiers running all over the place, I don’t know where your husband is, or who he is. But he’s more likely to be leaving than not, so if you’re coming, let’s go.”

Eden crossed to help Annie with the baby, bundling him in the blanket from the bed as Annie shoved her clothes in a duffel. Jesus, she’d just had a baby hours ago. Was she going to make it far? She had to be in pain. But Eden would be damned if she left her behind.

Once Annie was ready and Eden cradled the baby in her arms, they turned to see Adele standing in front of the door. Did she intend to stop them? To sound an alarm?

“Are you coming?” Eden’s voice shook, already knowing the answer, and she pulled the baby closer. Only then did she realize that was Adele’s focus.

“You can’t go. You can’t take him from me.”

“Adele, come with us,” Annie pleaded. “Please, we need you to help take care of him.”

Eden was surprised, tough Annie making the plea. Adele shook her head.

“I can’t. My husband is here, this is the place he chose to keep me safe.”

“But we’re not safe here, and you won’t be if you stay behind and we go,” Christine said. “Please, Adele.”

Adele took a step toward Eden and held her arms out for the baby, but Eden held tight. Adele moved even closer, pushed the blanket back from his face and kissed his forehead. When she stepped back, tears glistened in her eyes.
 

“Go,” she whispered.

Aaron didn’t hesitate. He grabbed Eden’s arm, and they went.

Chaos reigned in the courtyard. Aaron motioned them to the shadows along side the building, away from the courtyard. The baby in her arms complained, but thank God the sound couldn’t be heard over the noise made behind them.
 

Aaron directed them into a culvert, deep in shadow, out of the rain, then hesitated. “Give the baby to his mother.”

She did as he asked without question and accepted an automatic weapon instead.
 

“Take them out through that culvert. It will be wet and messy, but it’s our only shot.”

“Where will you be?”

“We need supplies. I’m not taking them out there just so they can get pneumonia and die. And we need ammo.”

She gripped his arm, loving the familiarity of it, wishing she could see his face clearly, instead of just shadowed. “Aaron, it’s too dangerous for you to go alone.”

Again he hesitated. “Find shelter as soon as you can, but no place too obvious. He’s going to come after us and we need to be prepared. I’ll find you.” He cupped his hand around the back of her head and kissed her, hard, before disappearing into the rain.

Pulse thudding, Eden squared her shoulders and faced her charges, who were dripping and shivering. “Right. Let’s head out.”

As she remembered, there was nothing around for miles, so they had to choose a different direction than Eden and Aaron had come. She took them east, moving slowly because of the mud and Annie’s condition. God knew Eden wouldn’t be able to move after what she’d just seen Annie go through. At least she had Christine to lean on. Christine was the look-out for shelter. Eden kept her attention behind them, in case they were followed.
 

She didn’t want to head in a straight line from the culvert, so veered to the right and hoped they ran into something soon.

Dawn was breaking—and the rain had stopped—when her foot hit pavement for the first time. She almost didn’t know how to walk without pulling one foot, then the other free of the mud. And pavement meant they didn’t have to worry about leaving footprints. Even better, it would lead to shelter.
 

They’d had to stop once on the way, Christine holding a blanket over Annie and the baby so Annie could feed him. Both Annie and the infant were exhausted, but there, ahead in the mist, was a strip mall. Thank God. Eden’s fingers were numb—she didn’t even think she could fire the gun if she needed to. She prodded her charges forward, all of them shivering.
 

A sporting goods store sat beside an electronics store and a book store. The electronics store had been looted—the glass front was completely shattered. The sporting goods store would have been looted too, but there might be something in there they could use.

But Aaron said no place obvious. She zeroed in on the fabric store a little farther away. She hoped some fabric remained that they could use while they warmed up.

Sure enough, the fabric store was mostly intact. Eden smashed a corner of the glass door with the butt of her gun, wincing as the sound echoed over the empty parking lot. She reached inside, unlocked the door and herded her charges inside. When they reached the back of the store, she pulled foam from the bins along the wall, had the women strip and wrapped them in unrolled fleece. Candy was still stocked in bins near the registers. Not the healthiest, but something to sustain them. She left Christine to watch over Annie and the baby and crept next door to the sporting goods store. Anything would be handy right now.

She was able to round up some clothing that might fit, socks, even some beef jerky. She jammed it into a reusable shopping bag and carried it to the fabric store, where she found both women and the baby asleep.

She wouldn’t be able to sleep until Aaron found them, so she sat in the shadows near the front of the store, and kept watch.
 

***

Aaron cradled his gun and wiped blood out of his eye as he stood in the middle of the damn field and tried to figure out which way Eden would go. He knew she knew better than to move in a straight line after she left the culvert, but would she go left or right?

His pack was loaded with as much as he could wrest from the other rioting soldiers, including ammunition, knives, MREs, medication. He had a feeling they’d be using some of them for the women he’d sent out in a late fall storm. He’d made sure no one followed him out the culvert, and that hadn’t been pretty, or fun. Jesus, he just wanted to be back on the island, relatively safe, well-fed, warm.

With Eden.
 

The rain had stopped, the sun was rising, but he could see no sign of their route. That was good—if he couldn’t, the commander couldn’t, and that was more important. Eden was out there with two women, a baby, and a gun, with only the ammunition in the clip.
 

He kept his attention on the ground, with occasional glances behind him. He had to get out of sight before the sun rose fully.

And then he saw a sign at an intersection, one she must have left for him. The condom wrapper was half-hidden under the rock, but too new to have been out in the open for more than a couple of days. He picked it up and pocketed it, not wanting anyone else to use the same clue to find them. With a grin that hurt his bruised face, he turned right and plodded on.

***