Page 26

The Island (Cuba)

King

“You’d think your power was in your hair, the way you whiny babies are handling this,” Marinah said as she looked at us. “When this is done, I’ll start calling you Samson One, Two and Three?”

Personally, I had resigned myself to my fate; it had just taken a bit longer for the others. She leveled them with her alpha stare, pulled out her sword, and hacked off a section of her braids without a second thought. The men caved after that, shooting me pitiful looks while we sheared our heads. Beck had wisely kept his mouth shut the entire time. Maylin finally stepped in to clean up the disaster we created.

Six hours later, I settled in my seat on the plane. The looks on Alden and Labyrinth’s faces mirrored my own. We were unrecognizable as Warriors without our hair. Honestly, I’d rather have dressed in pink, but no way would I say that out loud.

Without thought, I ran my hand over what I considered prickly stubble on my head. Marinah’s hand landed on my opposite arm, and I pulled her close so she could rest her head on my shoulder. “Sleep,” I whispered, threading my fingers through her short hair, which was maybe an inch longer than mine.

Her wicked eyes followed the movement of my other hand rubbing my nearly bald head. “Poor furbaby,” she teased. “It’ll grow back, I promise.”

“What did you just call me?” I asked, feigning indignation.

Her laughter filled the plane. Labyrinth and Alden glanced over, both rubbing their shaved heads. “We really need sleep,” she said when her laughter faded.

“As you wish,” I replied, closing my eyes.

We had an eleven-hour flight to reach the drop point. I faded in and out. After a few hours, sleep was overrated, or at least Labyrinth thought so. He had questions about the female Warrior who had given Marinah the journal. He said that he and Alden planned to travel to the Shadow women and return with mates. Of course, the women had a choice. I wasn’t as sure about their choice as Labyrinth was, but they were on a mission to find their own Marinahs, and who was I to deny them?

It also reminded me of Nokita speaking about a future without war and death, a vision that felt almost impossible. Beck was happy with Missy, and I was sure they’d have a child soon. Cabel’s wife was expecting their first baby any day now. Alden and Labyrinth deserved their own happiness, but I couldn’t help wondering if there would ever be a time without war. It had been woven into my life for too long.

As a child, I’d known I was different. I wasn’t meant to be a farmer. The last thing I wanted was to grow up and work the land. After my first shift to Warrior, I spent a year resenting my Beast. It was Uncle Greystone who saved me, who showed me what I was capable of and what I was made for.

War. It made for a bleak future when I actually considered it.

When we finally reached the drop point, we parachuted in as humans, our shaved heads and outpost daily wear helped to sell the deception after we were on solid land. If someone from the Federation saw us, we wanted them to see what looked like ordinary outpost citizens, not the real threat we posed. If they saw us parachute, all bets were off.

After landing safely, bundling our chutes, and hiding them, I turned and scanned Marinah from head to toe. There was nothing left of the frightened woman I encountered when she first came to the island. Her eyes met mine. She carried more strength than all of us combined. If anyone could bring an end to war, it was her. With her by my side, I wouldn’t be a farmer, but we would find something that settled us both.

Marinah’s plan was straightforward: if we couldn’t get the president, we’d take a lesser official, someone who might have the answers we needed. We also hoped it was someone we could use as a bargaining chip though information was our key goal.

The escape, however, was the messy part of the mission. Whoever we kidnapped wouldn’t stay quiet during the extraction. Marinah had come up with the idea of using Federation uniforms, and while I didn’t have a better plan, it still felt dicey. We’d likely have to use the hostage, or hostages, as shields. This mission relied on a mix of stealth and the unexpected. While it wasn’t perfect, it was the best we had.

We had landed about fifty miles from the first enemy encampment and set out at a steady jog. Labyrinth and Alden carried a large, insulated box with extra equipment and clothing, which included the Federation uniforms we’d gathered after the attack on the island.

We found an old gas station on the edge of the city. Marinah, Alden, and Labyrinth changed out of the fatigues and into plain uniforms with red stripes on one arm. I wore an officer’s uniform that was in good condition with no holes. We figured the man had been taken out by a percussion round. It was a little tight, but Marinah said there were few uniforms that would fit me, and we got lucky that this one was close. I caught her eyes after I slipped on the shirt. She winked and whispered, “Later, baby cakes.” With a look in her eyes that should have mine glowing.

We had to blend in to execute the next stage of the plan. Marinah gave us an overall inspection. Beast didn’t like it when her eyes went to Labyrinth and Alden, but I shoved him back.

“The idea is for you to appear human,” Marinah said. “It would help if you shrank six inches, lost fifty pounds, and maybe scowled a bit less. It’s okay for King in the officer’s uniform, but the rest of us are just dumb fodder, ready to die with smiles on our faces. In the name of country and all that.”

Alden snickered, clearly not accustomed to Marinah’s brand of battle humor.

“Dismissed,” she said with a cheeky smile.

“Isn’t that my line?” I snapped back with my own grin.

“You’ll get your chance, big boy.”

We stashed the insulated box behind the gas station, in dense shrubbery. If at all possible, we planned to pick it up after completing the mission and heading to the rendezvous point.

We entered the soldier-filled camp thirty minutes later. With our size, it was hard not to draw attention. The key was to act like we belonged, and that’s exactly what we did. Our destination was a small brick building to the east, maybe twenty by twenty. Small groups of soldiers entered and left the building at regular intervals, but they weren’t carrying food or gear. It only made sense if it was connected to the tunnel system.

A large group of soldiers drilled on the west side of camp; their young faces eager to impress despite the inevitability of death. I didn’t know why Marinah had spared the red stripe who attacked us. Sometimes she hesitated when it came to killing, and that was dangerous. The hesitation came from her human side, warped from too many years of brainwashing. Or maybe it was the fact that she was a female Shadow Warrior. I still dwelled on thoughts of peace from my conversation with Nokita. The females left the males for a reason. I didn’t want to be that reason, but our future seemed cemented in war.

I opened the heavy steel door at the entrance to the small building. A soldier almost ran into me. He was a foot shorter, probably in his twenties, his attention focused elsewhere. “Pardon me, sir,” he said, snapping a salute. I gave him the expected response along with a slight grunt for inconveniencing me. He moved on without another glance.

The room was dark, with small lights at knee level marking a path to the stairs. Marinah, Labyrinth, and Alden followed me silently as we descended. The sidewalls were steel making it perfect when it came to repelling hellhounds. Marinah had been right. The Federation had been hiding underground for a long time. We would have eventually figured it out, but I gave Marinah all the credit.

Voices echoed from below, and I heard someone ask, “Are you hitting the party tonight?”

A party. I’d forgotten how the Federation operated. Invade the Shadow Warrior island, try to kill them all, then throw a party even if they lost. I inhaled slowly, suppressing the K-5 from rising to the surface.

After two flights of stairs, we reached a long, narrow tunnel that stretched in both directions. We turned right, passing closed doors on either side until we arrived at a central area. It was a busy cafeteria filled with soldiers milling about. They sat in groups, talking and laughing. They were safe in their confined world and paid us no attention.

We crossed to a single door that led to who knows where and stepped into another long hallway. It was empty.

“We need somewhere secure,” Marinah whispered.

“We could go back and check out the rooms down the first hallway,” I suggested.

“No, we move forward. They’re having a party tonight. Let’s crash it.”

In the midst of the enemy, Alden and Labyrinth smiled.

About fifty yards later, the hallway ended, and we entered a massive rotunda. The glossy marble floors reflected sparkling lights from the ceiling. The Federation’s emblem took up one wall, an official sign of domination. This had to be the government section of their underground complex: fewer soldiers and more opulence. Several men, paying no attention to us, wore actual suits.

“Wearing suits in the current world is ridiculous,” I growled under my breath. Idiots. It was also ridiculous that women here were dressed in skirts including short ones like what Marinah wore when they sent her to the island. They were each young and pretty. My thoughts shifted to Marinah. She had told me once that she’d worn military fatigues. Her so-called analytics job had been a complete sham.

“We’ll place the band here,” a man said, standing about twenty feet away. He held a clipboard, not a gun. Beast grumbled in my chest at the stupidity.

I crossed the room like I owned it and headed toward an exit door, which led to another hallway with rooms on either side. I started checking doors until I found one unlocked. I opened it, glanced inside, and we entered.

Folded tables and chairs were stacked against two walls. It was a storage room.

“They’re having a party,” Marinah hissed.

“With a band,” Labyrinth added.

We all smiled. It wasn’t that we didn’t celebrate on the island. The harvest festival had become a yearly tradition. The humans partied while the Shadow Warriors stood guard. It was our job to keep them safe.

“Hopefully, it will be a large party and President Barnes attends,” Alden said.

A heavy “Humph” escaped Marinah’s throat. “He’ll be here. There’s no way he would dream of missing a chance for pomp and circumstance.”

“Are those verbs?” Alden asked her with a grin.

“They are now,” Marinah replied, heading to the back of the room where another door was located. We followed her. The smaller room was about six by six, with a sink and cabinets lining one wall. “We’ll wait in here until the party starts. If they come in for tables, they might not open this door, and we’re good,” she said, then looked at Alden, who stood closest to the door. “Kill them if they do enter and ask questions later.”

My mate was definitely wound tight and on the bloodthirsty side right now.

She turned to Labyrinth. “Find another way back to the tunnel we came in through. We may not be able to go through the converted ballroom when we leave.”

Marinah gave me the look after he left. For her, the hard part was waiting for the action. I didn’t care for it either, but I’d done it more times than she had. We sat silently; in case someone entered the first room. I clasped her hand, and she gripped mine back.

Labyrinth returned within twenty minutes.

“The hallways form a square around the government’s main room, now set up as a ballroom,” he explained. “If we go in the opposite direction from where we entered, there are stairs leading to an area above ground. Each hallway has a separate exit to a different military camp. I’m unsure where the fourth set of stairs leads.”

We wouldn’t worry about it on this trip.

We sat quietly again. An hour later, someone entered the outer room. It was more than one person by the sound of it. We stood and went on high alert, with Alden at the door. They shuffled tables and chairs and avoided death by staying on their side of the wall.

“If we go in as Warriors, terror will be on our side,” I said softly to Marinah once the crew had left the outer room. It was a conversation we had back on the island, but I was trying one last time.

“We don’t know if they’ll shoot,” she whispered. “They had no problem killing their red stripes. We need to at least try to get President Barnes out of camp without alerting anyone.”

The outside door opened again, and we went quiet. Someone moved a few chairs, muttering a soft curse. Marinah stepped closer to Alden and leaned into the door, turning the handle carefully before cracking it open an inch.

Without warning, she burst into the outer room. A short scream echoed, cut off almost instantly. I was at the door fast enough to see Marinah break the woman’s neck. She caught the body, lowered it silently to the floor, and dragged it into the smaller room.

She looked up at me, and for the first time, I saw something in her expression that I hadn’t seen before. It said she understood war now, really understood it. People died so we could live. It was them or us, and there was no time for second-guessing.

I cocked my head, silently asking what she was doing.

“I need a dress for the party,” Marinah said softly. No sadness showed over the life she’d taken, just determination. I glanced down at the woman. She was, in fact, wearing a black gown.

“Black won’t show as much blood,” Marinah added.

Marinah wasn’t the same woman she had been by a long shot, and she was thinking purely as our leader.

We stripped the dress off the body and turned our backs while she changed clothes.

“I’m decent,” she finally said.

I tried not to smile as I watched her struggle to stay upright in the heels. She wobbled slightly, but she caught herself before falling.

“If I break a leg, leave me behind,” she declared.

One: she was beautiful in the dress. Two: she was taller than the woman she’d taken it from, which made the fit imperfect. The slit at the side was indecent when she walked, something she was still trying to do with a bit more grace. She saw me looking and slid the fabric aside, revealing her knife strapped to the opposite leg.

I glanced at Alden and Labyrinth. The looks on their faces made Beast growl. Labyrinth winked and turned away. Alden quickly turned his head, but I didn’t miss the grin tugging at his lips. They knew I was mostly in full control of the mating rage, and they were jerking my chain.

“What do you think?” Marinah asked, catching my attention and turning slowly. She lifted her leg and stuck it out in a vampish pose. My eyes burned as they traveled over her body.

“I prefer your boots,” I said, which might have been a lie. In truth, I preferred her in Warrior form, or naked when she was human, but that was just me.

She stuck her tongue out. “Party pooper.”

She preferred her boots too. I was half-surprised she hadn’t named them yet. I was still waiting to hear what she’d named her sword. Honestly, if she told me she’d named her big toe Adam, I’d roll with it. My mate loved ownership, and her way was to baptize what she coveted.

She took another short trip around the room, finding her balance, and looked like she’d been born for the heels.

We waited another two hours. Marinah eventually slipped out of the shoes, muttering about how much they hurt her feet. I fought back a grin. An hour into our wait, the band started playing, and the muffled music drifted into our hiding spot. We stayed put, knowing the timing had to be perfect. We needed the celebration in full swing.

“It’s party time, boys,” Marinah finally said.

We each knew the plan inside out. Dressed in our standard Federation uniforms, we’d stand out too much in the ballroom, so we were staying behind. The mission rested on Marinah now. Her job was to locate President Barnes.

She left with sultry eyes that needed no makeup, short hair giving her sophistication, her posture elegant, and perfectly balanced on the shoes.