8

  Adrian was placing the final charge when he felt the first vibration through the rails. Hurrying, he left the explosive area and hoped he was dim enough to those on board.

  Instead of stopping to watch the show, Adrian kept running for the horse now grazing in the small thicket across from the rail yard’s main building.

  As he jumped on the horse, a new sound came and his heart thumped unhappily. Someone else on horse was flying toward him and Adrian was forced to go west. He disappeared into the thicker woods as Vlad topped the final rise.

  Drawn to the approaching train, Vlad dismissed the shadow and headed for the waving men and women.

  Out of thought range, the noise of his horse was covered by the squealing of the train’s brakes, and Adrian urged his mount faster.

  The passengers on the train had no warning as the C-4 was triggered and exploded. The engine rose into the air, flames engulfing it, and the fireball raced through the terminal.

  Another brick of the explosive detonated, tearing through the passenger car and bodies flew through like screams.

  A third explosion rocked the train, causing it to roll slowly backwards and the heavy noise of grinding and ripping metal drowned out everything else. When it finally stopped, there was only the sound of hot debris burning, cracking, and shifting.

  Vlad gaped at the destruction. He’d jerked his horse to a stop at the first explosion and now he examined the wreckage for any signs of survivors. He was a healer, but there had to be at least a little life left for him to help.

  Vlad eased closer to the inferno, noting the main terminal was on fire and burning hotly. It wouldn’t stay up long.

  Vlad dismounted and ran toward the passenger car, swiping at flaming wires and wood that showered him in hot sparks.

  “Help!”

  Vlad rushed toward the voice and shoved his way through the flaming boxes to discover a familiar face.

  “Vlad! Heal me!”

  Vlad did as Jack’s son commanded, sweeping the area for other survivors.

  The boy’s wounds weren’t bad and Vlad left him coughing to get closer to the flaming passenger car. Thick smoke blinded him and Vlad brought up his shield as it got hotter.

  “There!” Jay ran by him to grab the shaking body of a thin woman. Her hair was on fire and the boy slapped at it while Vlad sent a light current of healing power through her to calm the seizure.

  The roof over the area was in full blazing glory and pieces began to fall on them.

  “Get her out of here!” Vlad shouted.

  Jay threw her arm over his shoulder and stayed with Vlad as he approached the passenger car that was on its side.

  “Get in there!” a voice called. “Help them!”

  Vlad recognized Kranten’s voice and kept going into the burning car. He found one other survivor and he had to drag the bald man outside before he could heal him. As he passed under the archway, the entire roof collapsed in a hot shower of fire, covering the passenger car. Blankets of smoke rolled over them as Vlad used the last of his energy to heal the man he’d brought out.

  The other survivors gathered around Vlad and kept watch out for another attack. They didn’t speak or cry, or show any emotion except for the rage-filled orbs that stayed crimson.

  Chapter Twelve

  One of Three

  1

  Loud cheers echoed through Safe Haven as those in the small tent watched the train being destroyed. The Eagles that were around Jeremy and his laptop passed the word that Jack’s friends weren’t coming and the camp slowly resumed the work of getting everyone settled in the caves.

  After being attacked, the members were okay with sleeping underground while the labor continued and Angela was happy to have them there. It was the safest place they could be, even with constant construction that brought moans and creaks in equal measures.

  “Is that it for them?” Marc asked her when they had a moment alone. “Or is part one finished?”

  Angela sighed, loving his sharp mind. “One of three.”

  Marc grunted his unhappiness, but didn’t give her static over it. Keeping Safe Haven alive and together would always be a full time job. If it weren’t these ass-hats, it would be some other group trying to make a name for themselves.

  “Is it something I can take care of?” he asked, hoping for a yes.

  “It’ll have to play out this time, Marc,” Angela informed him tiredly. “But we now have a break, so that’s something, right?”

  Marc nodded. “I can accomplish a lot in a short time.”

  “Good. I have lists.”

  “I kinda figured that,” he joked. “When will I get them?”

  Angela gestured to Greg, who handed Marc a thin notebook.

  “It’s all in there–all the details on what’s coming and my suggestions for handling it. Do the best you can.”

  Marc watched her go to their tent and hoped she would be able to sleep now. The bags under her eyes were more pronounced than after her rescue from Donner.

  Eager to chase down whatever it was that she had missed, Angela collapsed on her bed without removing her boots and fell into a thin sleep a few minutes later. When Greg took up his post outside the flap, she didn’t notice. There were train stations to be scanned and survivors to be trailed.

  2

  “We’re not getting any water from there.”

  Neil didn’t answer Tim’s comment. The water plant below was the scene of an ongoing battle and Neil was busy trying to estimate the threat. Safe Haven needed that precious liquid.

  “There’s another plant a few miles from here,” Donald stated. “We could try there and leave these idiots to their fighting.”

  Gunshots echoed, along with shouts for surrender, and Neil studied the area. These people were on the edge of Safe Haven’s site. Eventually, their battle might spread and Neil didn’t think Angela would be very happy with them for letting it sneak up unmonitored.

  As they observed, the group outside the plant tried to ram a jeep through the reinforced main gates. It slammed into the sturdy barrier and came to a sudden halt without doing much damage to anything but the jeep. Smoke billowed from the wreck and men stumbled down, bleeding.

  “That wasn’t very smart,” Tim said.

  Neil agreed and it helped him make the choice. “These people aren’t intelligent enough for us to leave them alone. How long before they try to charge our gates the same way?”

  “But we don’t know who is in the right here,” Donald protested lightly. “What if those on the outside are the good guys?”

  “There’s a lot of brass on the ground. We can’t leave armed combatants on Safe Haven’s hearth.” Neil insisted. “There’s one way for us to know who has to go. We’ll make contact.”

  None of the men cared for that, but didn’t argue. Being Eagles meant making the hard choices and Neil was right about armed groups roaming unmonitored. It didn’t provide a comforting feeling.

  Neil motioned for his team to stay close and led them down the winding road. Thin sunlight glinted off the small town and Neil lowered his shades, wondering if the smoke rising from the west was related to Becky’s mission. He wasn’t as concerned now. The radio signal for all crews within two miles to quietly come in and surround camp had calmed him. Angela had found a problem coming and covered it. That was her job.

  And this is mine, Neil thought, easing his horse into a slightly faster walk as they reached the flat ground.

  As Neil’s team neared the intersection, the group outside the water plant noticed them and reacted by pointing their weapons.

  Neil stopped, hand coming up, and his Eagles neatly surrounded him.

  The tension surged and Neil gave the expected order, “One shot and we wipe them out.”

  “Go away! This is our water!”

  “We’ll shoot you! Get out of here!”

  Despite the hard words, the voices were full of dismayed nervousness and Neil was glad to hear it. He hoped it meant they weren’t ready to have a third party enter their struggle.

  “We’re from Safe Haven,” Neil called, hand still up. “Send someone to talk. Now.”

  The faces of the two-dozen men fell and they muttered to each other. It was clear that they’d heard of Safe Haven.

  Neil slowly walked toward the group, spotting faces behind the fences. “Tell the people inside who we are. If they shoot, we’ll end up killing you anyway.”

  “Hey! Inside!” one of the outer men shouted. “They’re Eagles. Don’t fire!”

  “Fuck you, man! Liar!”

  “Great,” Neil grunted, coming to a stop out of range of the handguns he could see. He hadn’t spotted any rifles yet, but there was a sense of being in a scope and Neil made sure he didn’t sound worried as he shouted, “Inside the gate! Send someone out to talk!”

  “No way!” came the reply. “They’ll shoot us!”

  “I’ll come and get you!” Neil shouted and heard his men mutter unhappily.

  “You really Eagles?”

  “Tell your sniper to inspect our clothes,” Neil stated, waving at the outside man to pass the word. He was done shouting. “I’m Neil, a level seven Eagle with the authority to order all of you killed.”

  The men in and outside tensed, hands tightening on their guns, eyes darting for a safe place to fight from.

  “We can all die right here,” Neil stated calmly. “Or you can send two people out here to talk me.”

  “We’re sending someone out!” the inside man called. “If anything happens to him, we’ll come out shooting!”

  Neil confidently gestured for his team to stay put and went forward as the fence inched open.

  A thin man wearing a white coat was shoved out and the gate slammed shut.

  Neil raised a brow at the outside men and wasn’t surprised when the translating man came forward.

  “Let’s go over here and chat,” Neil instructed, leading the two glowering men to the base of a large tree. His team moved to be between Neil and the rest of the strangers, and they stayed alert. Now would be a bad time to let anyone sneak up on them.

  Neil studied the two angry men for a brief moment. He couldn’t let them argue or the information would be too confusing. Instead, he used his police training and took the upper hand from the first sentence.

  “Safe Haven wants this water.” Neil let their mouths open and then cut them off. “We’ll take it if we need to. In three hours, this place will crawl with Eagles. In five hours, we’ll be loading the water and the birds will be eating your eyes.”

  “Hey! You guys aren’t thieves!”

  “Yeah,” the inside man agreed. “You’re supposed to be fair!”

  Neil sighed heavily. “Damn. I knew that was going to be a problem.”

  Confused, the two men stared and Neil hunkered down between them. “You can agree to split the water and go your own way, or I’m calling my boss. Any guess what she’ll say?”

  Neither man spoke, and Neil told them, “She’ll say to kill all of you and bring the water. She has no patience left for people who can’t get along.”

  “We were here first!” inside man argued. “We don’t have to share.”

  “We only wanted enough to get to the next town,” outside man explained. “Why won’t they help us?”

  Neil sighed, lowering his glasses. He pinned the inside man with a dark glare. “You told them no?”

  Inside man winced, nodding. “There isn’t very much and we have sick people to care for.”

  “So, you turned them away?” Neil clarified. “Your fellow man was thirsty and you told them no.”

  Before the man could protest, Neil scrutinized the other combatant. “So you decided to take it?”

  Outside man, feeling the guilt, dropped his head in shame. “Yes. Our vehicles were overheating. We would not have made it to the next town.”

  “You could have walked,” Neil stated. “You chose to kill.”

  “We haven’t hit anyone.”

  “Neither have we!”

  “Okay,” Neil chose quickly. “Give me a tour of the plant. I’ll divide it and send both of you on your way. Safe Haven doesn’t need people like you living here.”

  “We have sick people! We can’t leave.”

  Neil stood up and went to the gate. “Give me the tour. I’ll decide if you get a house call from our doctor.”

  Those words had the inside man on his feet and leading the way. Medical help was rare.

  Neil signaled to his team and then regarded the outside man. “I suggest you leave while I’m in there. While I don’t agree with their choice, they were here first and that makes you the offender. In the old world, the law would not be on your side and it’s definitely not now.”

  Neil entered the gates without worrying over reactions. Knowing who they were had solved the problem of who had authority. Angela’s master plan against the government had given Safe Haven more than freedom. They were now the reigning power in the country and these two small groups of refugees would likely be in one of their quarantine zones in the next few days.

  Neil caught an odor of damp rot and detoured toward it. “Did anyone test the water?”

  Inside man was busy talking to his people in low mutters and Neil dug through his kit for the pack of testing strips that all the Eagles were required to carry. “Are you idiots fighting over bad water?”

  3

  “He’s been in there for a while,” Tim stated, eyeing the sullen men outside the gate. “Maybe we should go in.”

  “Not yet,” Donald refused. “He has three minutes left and then we’ll call him.”

  Content that Don was keeping track of things, the others fell silent, waiting. They didn’t like their team leader being out of sight for so long. It went against their training.

  “There he is,” Allan said, pointing at the opening gate.

  Neil stopped to talk to the outside men, handing them something his team couldn’t identify from where they stood, and then he marched toward his men, expression disgusted.

  “What is it?”

  “Are you okay?”

  Neil held out his hand to show them three water test strips. “All of its contaminated and the idiots have been drinking it. I think they have a Cholera outbreak in there. Call the boss.”

  4

  “It’ll take about two weeks to get them all through it,” Doctor Reynolds stated, picking through his supplies and filling a duffle bag. “Lots of clean water and food.”

  “Doctor.”

  Angela was ignored as the man continued to gather supplies and think aloud.

  “We’ll have to have a burial crew if they have as many bodies as Neil hinted. We can’t use–“

  “Yo, Savage!”

  The doctor was snapped into alertness and Angela didn’t waste time with niceties. “They’re not getting our doctor for two weeks. Not even a full day. Get in, evaluate, then tell them how to medicate themselves and get back here. The Limit is ten hours. If you can’t do it in that time, you might as well stay here and pass messages.”

  “What?” the doctor stammered. “It’s an outbreak. I-I can’t.” He peered at her with squinted eyes. “You still pissed at me or something?”

  Angela left, indicating for Marc to handle it. She didn’t like the new doctor. He would never handle her medical care.

  “If we leave you down there, those people will take you hostage,” Marc explained coolly. “You won’t make it in one piece. Try listening to the boss. She knows what she’s doing.”

  “So I can be a captive here or down there. Is that it?” the doctor protested loudly. “I’m not your prisoner!”

  “No, you’re not,” Marc agreed, leaning in. “If you were, I’d punch you in your throat right now and this conversation would be over.”

  Marc enjoyed the man’s sudden fear, but he didn’t take it any further. Instead, he repeated Angela’s instructions. “You’ll get in, verify that it’s Cholera, tell them how to dispose of the bad water and the bodies, and how to use the supplies we’re delivering. The Eagles will set up a quarantine area and when they leave, you can go with them or stay there–permanently. We don’t need three doctors anyway.” Marc went to the flap. “You know how I feel about you, so if you don’t come back with my men, and then change your mind later, I’m not likely to order a rescue.”

  Marc left the man thinking about how ugly that could get and Angela was satisfied that the doctor would follow orders and return when the Eagles did. He didn’t understand how dangerous the situation could become if the people inside the water plant decided they wanted their own medical man.

  Their radios crackled with,” New arrivals at the gate. Bring a doctor.”

  Angela and Marc went that way without speaking. If Adrian’s notebook was correct, this was the lightest part of the flow of survivors from the west–their only chance to get ahead of it.

  Angela surveyed the small group of five men, discerning runny noses and rashes. “Ash effects. Get them showered and fed and then Hilda will go in to run the tests. Have her take a student, in case she needs the extra hand.”

  “Add to the security?” Marc asked, sweeping Zone C, where the drinking and shouting had resumed with dusk.

  “Not yet,” Angela responded. “These new people aren’t a threat.”

  Marc didn’t question her decision. It was easy to figure out that the group of five was ill and tired, searching for sanctuary.

  “Zone A?” Marc asked. That was the area where she was putting people who would eventually become members.

  Angela scanned them again, digging deeper, and was glad when she could say, “Yes.”

  “We don’t care about no magic! We want in!”

  The shouts from the large refugee group drew attention.

  “What about them, Zone C?” Marc wanted to know. She’d said something went wrong during the fight with Jack, and implied that those people should already be gone.

  Angela swept the ledge next to the drunken refugees, where Adrian’s cold camp couldn’t be viewed through the trees. “It’ll be handled. Keep the Eagles away tonight.”