Page 46 of Princess (Marinah and the Apocalypse #5)

Marinah

“How many units are down?” demanded a general. His voice was deep and carried in the open area.

He was easy to identify since he was nice enough to wear three stars on the lapel of his uniform.

“Too many. Our only way out is on foot,” one of the red stripes answered.

“The fucking president does not go on foot,” the commander yelled.

“I have two vehicles that are operational,” the unfortunate man replied. “You would need to leave the hounds behind.”

We hid twenty feet away. King was on the opposite side of the road. This was too easy, and something told me I wasn’t seeing the entire picture. A man walked up to the two military personnel, and they both saluted.

“President Barnes,” the higher official said.

“Why aren’t we moving?”

Thoughts filled my head. We had a major problem. That man might look like the president, but it wasn’t Barnes. Had Terry betrayed us? I signaled the Warriors to fall back. We made our way deeper into the swamp until King approached me.

“That wasn’t Barnes,” he said before I could.

“No, it wasn’t.”

“Terry?” King asked.

I shook my head. “I don’t think so. It looks similar to Barnes, and if it were Terry, their vehicles wouldn’t be damaged.”

King growled.

“He could be anywhere by now,” I said feeling frustration build inside me. “This was a decoy. They blew up their camp after we attacked it by air. They wanted us inside the camp and we evaded them.”

King thought about it for a moment. “I want that fucking bastard. He can’t escape.”

“We need to head back to the harbor and find someone who knows where the hell Barnes is.”

“We need rest,” King said.

“I can keep going,” I told him.

“All of us need rest and calories, or we’ll be no good.”

He knew how to get to me. I nodded. “Not here. I want us further from the fake president.”

I turned and saw Terry. His face and those of his men were flushed. One vomited.

Terry had not betrayed us. It took only a few seconds to put the pieces together in my head. I waved him over and relayed what we’d seen.

Worry flashed in his eyes. “I know it was the president in the camp. If there’s a decoy now, Barnes is still in the area,” he said, looking defeated. “Are the soldiers on the road still alive?” he asked.

“Yes, we left them trying to figure out what to do.”

“The other two vehicles won’t make it far. With permission. Allow us to go after them.”

“You’re more exhausted than we are,” I told him.

His jaw hardened. “You were right,” he said, barely keeping the emotion from his voice.

“We couldn’t keep up with you, and if you are going after Barnes, we’ll get there after the fight.

The commanders in that convoy,” he pointed in the direction of the road, “gave the order to inject us with their shit. They also gave the orders to kill some of these men’s families to supply the semi-trucks with hellhounds.

We want blood and we want our loved ones released from their hell.

I’m asking you to give us a chance to pay them back. ”

“Those two vehicles could make it further than you think.”

“I don’t care.”

“My Warriors need rest, and we need a place further away from here to do it safely. We won’t be able to come to your aid.”

“If we die, we die helping the cause. I’ll ask the men, but I know what their answer is.”

“Ask them,” I said.

Terry and his group left fifteen minutes later. We gave them two days’ worth of supplies. We found a location on higher ground an hour later. It kept us out of the swamp. King brought me a plate of food along with his own.

“I might be too tired to eat,” I told him.

He took my clawed hand and turned it over, examining my palm. “It looks like you, but I don’t think it is.”

“Ha ha. I don’t eat all the time.”

“It would be impolite for me to disagree.”

“Fine, I’ll eat,” I grumbled.

We began the ritual with our usual silence, though I didn’t feel hungry. “I miss her,” I finally said. “There’s a hole in my heart, and it’s killing me.”

King placed his plate on the ground and pulled me into his arms before I could set mine down. He then situated me between his thighs.

“Eat.”

The hole was still there, but the contact with my mate helped. He felt Nikayla’s loss, too.

We finished our food, and King leaned back against a trunk with his arms still around me. Shadow Warriors liked it warm, and even in the humid heat, the feel of his arms let my mind rest until I fell asleep.

I woke instantly when he squeezed me.

“Three hours,” he said to let me know how long I’d slept.

I yawned, turned my head, and gave him a pointed stare. “What about you?” I ground out.

His jaw did its rendition of a smile. “Yes, I woke up a few minutes before I woke you.”

I was still tired. I looked around and saw the Warriors were no better off. Yawns and stretches took a few minutes as we gathered ourselves for the next run. The sun would go down within two hours. If we didn’t hit major obstacles, we would be at the shore an hour before nightfall.

The radio crackled.

“This is Mike Two. We’ve got a Sierra in the harbor.”

The radio went silent.

“Mike Two rendezvous in sixty.”

Mike Two was one of several Warriors we left hiding outside the Federation camp to keep an eye out if anything changed. We were en route within five minutes.

We didn’t encounter problems and had an hour of sunlight by the time we located the bay. Besides the water splashing against the shore, it seemed eerily quiet.

“Something isn’t right,” I told King.

“It’s too quiet,” he said.

I looked at a single ship and pulled out binoculars. I scanned the vessel slowly. Uniformed soldiers stood on the deck in key locations. Moving the binoculars back again, I noticed something strange. No movement.

I did it again.

“They’re decoys dressed in Federation uniforms,” I told King and handed him the glasses.

“Fuck. They’re running us sideways.”

“Yep. The crew must have slipped into the water and made it to shore. I need the other paperwork Landan provided from the area. We’ve got to find Barnes.”

King left, then returned with the satchel that Stevens had given me.

I pulled out the papers and rifled through them until I came to the one I’d glanced at before.

New Orleans had a tunnel system along with catacombs.

I myself wouldn’t use the catacombs due to the probability of hellhounds, but the Federation was collecting the hounds, and the catacombs were a maybe.

Each tunnel had a name that connected to another document that provided a map of that tunnel or tunnels.

Harvey, Belle Chasse, and the Houma Tunnels were possibilities. There were also service and utility tunnels, others abandoned and unused, and last were the catacombs. I flipped through the papers and handed King the info on three of them.

“Check through these. We’re looking for the most likely tunnel system near here.”

“New Orleans has a tunnel system?” he asked.

“More than one. President Barnes likes underground spaces. I guarantee he’s set up in one of them.”

I examined the maps closely. Houma Tunnel had an asterisk next to it. It was outside New Orleans and too far.

“This group of utility tunnels has promise,” King said a few minutes later.

I was studying the Harvey Tunnel and only half listening.

“Look at this,” King said and placed the map in front of me.

It did have promise, but Barnes wasn’t there. I passed the Harvey Tunnel map to King. A minute later, he grinned. He saw exactly what I saw. It was large enough and perfectly located.

Nokita joined us.

“The figures on the ship are dummies,” he said.

“We came to the same conclusion. President Barnes likes tunnels, and we think we know where he’s at.”

King handed him the Harvey map.

“Son of a bitch,” Nokita said. He looked up, and his eyes wandered to the bay again. “Are we supposed to board that ship?”

This is what I got for having Barnes on the brain. I hadn’t thought about the ship being a trap.

“That makes sense,” I said. “I think we’ll pass but we’ll give them a reason to think they’re plan worked. Radio alpha 2. They have a couple of spare bombs waiting to help.”

My thoughts turned back to Barnes, and I included Lesley in those thoughts.

They had become one and the same in my head.

I lived underground for years. Lived in fear and uncertainty.

The island had been a sanctuary of sunshine and hope.

I was no longer the fearful Marinah, and she would never come back, but still the dark, endless, sun-free thought of tunnels sent a shiver down my spine.

Destiny said this would end where it began.

Thirty minutes later, the ship in the harbor exploded.

“Let’s find Harvey Tunnel,” I said after the debris settled.