Believe: The Complete Channie Series (122 page)

Zen
squatted down and put a hand on Josh’s back. “Are you injured?”

“No.”

“We still have some clean up to do. Can you get yourself back to the rendezvous point?”

“What’s left to clean up?” Josh did not want to engage the enemy again, but he’d tapped into his men’s power wells, weakening them. He wasn’t going anywhere without them.

“One of the hostages told us that these creeps are holding the kids in a separate bunker. It’s how they’ve managed to keep everyone else under control. If they so much as raise their shields, they take it out on the kids.”

“Where is it?” Josh pushed himself to his feet, but had to hang onto Zen to stay upright.

“Josh, you’ve done enough. I don’t know what we’ll find when we get there. It’s probably too late to save them.”

Josh ground his teeth so hard his molars ached. “Let’s go.”

Zen frowned, but nodded and took off across the compound at a trot.

Josh followed him. He heard the cries before the barracks came into view. At least some of the kids were still alive.

What he saw confused him. His men plus a dozen hostages were guarding the barracks but they were under attack…from another, smaller, group of hostages.

Josh dug deep and found a remnant of magic inside his chest. He used every bit of it to reinforce his words. “Stop it! You don’t want to hurt each other. We’re on the same side. Stand down.”

It was like flipping a switch. All the magic fizzled out of everyone. The lethal bolts as well as the glowing shields disappeared.

“That’s better. Now what the hell is going on?”

“There’s a cowardly guard hiding in there and those guys won’t let us in.”

Loyalty, one of the Freedom Ridge Volunteers, pointed at the hostages. “Our young’uns are in there, too. If you rush in, he’s going to start killing kids.”

The guard was using the kids as leverage to save his own neck. Josh already hated the son of a bitch, and wouldn’t mind turning him over to the angry hostages, but he wasn’t going to risk the lives of innocent kids to satisfy their thirst for revenge. “Let me talk to him.”

Loyalty pressed a button on what looked like an old-fashioned intercom box and nodded at Josh.

“My name is Valor Veyjivik. I’d like to negotiate the release of the kids.”

Loyalty released the button. After a few seconds of static, a young, frightened, voice answered. “H…Hello?”

Josh let Loyalty control the intercom. “What’s your name?”

“F…fate, sir.”

The kid’s voice was so soft, Josh couldn’t tell if it was a boy or a girl. “Are you in charge, Fate?”

“Sort of.”

“Can you open the door?”

“Are you going to kill me?”

“No.” Josh looked over his shoulder at the angry hostages. They were still frowning, and still pissed off, but no longer murderous. “No one is going to hurt you. I promise.”

“Okay.”

The sound of metal grinding against metal as the double doors swung open set Josh’s teeth on edge.

Zen held a flashlight over his head and directed the beam inside.

An ocean of dirty, frightened faces squinted against the light. A young girl, about fourteen, stepped out first. “Which one of you is Valor?”

“I am. Are you Fate?”

She nodded.

“Were you holding all these kids against their will?”

She dropped her chin and stared at the ground. “Yes sir.”

“Why?”

She looked up with tears glistening in her eyes. “The guards said if I let any of these little ones sneak out, they’d kill my parents.”

Since no adult stepped forward to defend the girl, Josh had to assume that her parents were already dead.

He leaned in close to Zen and whispered, “Find another way out of here. I don’t want to march these kids through the carnage at the front of this hell hole.”

The
trip back to Freedom Ridge was one of the longest and hardest journeys Josh had ever taken.

He rode in the back of one of the hummers with Shep’s body.

How was he ever going to face Hunter? How could he tell him that he’d let his bother die? At first he blamed Wisdom for talking some of the best fighters out going with them, but ultimately, it was his responsibility. He should have let Tim at least talk to the men that didn’t volunteer. Maybe if just one of them had changed their mind and come with them…

“Stop it, son.”

“What?” Josh looked up and found Zen staring at him.

“Don’t play the ‘what if’ game. It’ll drive you crazy.”

Josh sighed and dropped his gaze back to Shep’s body. Zen and his men had brought several body bags, but they ran out before they got to the men that had died outside the compound gates. Josh had used his own shirt to cover Shep’s face and his jacket to hide his wounds.

Zen twisted sideways and placed a hand on Josh’s knee. “We lost a lot of good men today, but they did not die in vain.”

Josh stared at his hands. He’d used a cleansing spell on himself and several others, including Shep, before exhaustion overcame him. There was no trace of blood or gore on anyone inside the hummer, but he still felt dirty. Would he ever be clean again?

Zen gave Josh’s knee a gentle shake. “Twenty-seven men, thirty-eight women and fifty-two children are alive because of you.”

“How many are dead?”

“Dominance Veyjivik and her evil minions are responsible for all the casualties.”

“How many died?” Josh gritted his teeth. He didn’t know why the number was so important. It just was.

Zen sighed and shook his head. “Two marines, twelve Freedom Ridge volunteers and…one hundred seventeen hostages.”

“We lost more than we saved.” What sort of cosmic algorithm did you use to weigh one life against another?

“We wouldn’t have saved anyone if we hadn’t gone. Every one of the hostages would’ve been executed by now. Including the kids. I couldn’t live with myself if I hadn’t at least tried. And neither could you.”

“I know. I just wish…” Josh closed his eyes and rubbed his forehead. It was too late for wishes. Nothing would bring Shep or any of the others back. They were gone forever.

Zen leaned back and tugged the brim of his hat down over his eyes. “Me too.”

The entire town of Whistler’s Gulch poured out of their houses, shops and bars as the Veyjivik Enterprises caravan rolled into town. Josh was too tired to care what they thought—until three derelict pickup trucks followed them out of town. He waited until he was sure they were following them then tapped the driver on the shoulder. “Stop the car.”

He obeyed without so much as raising an eyebrow.

Josh marched down the road to the closest truck and rapped on the driver’s window with the back of his knuckles.

A kid that looked to be about fourteen rolled it down and gave him a sheepish grin. “Hey.”

“You need to turn around and go back. This is a classified operation.”

“Really?” The kid’s eyes widened. “What’s goin’ on.”

“What part of ‘classified’ do you not understand?” Josh knew the kid was just looking for a little excitement to spice up his small-town life, but he’d run out of patience a long time ago. He locked gazes with the boy and let his angry energy seep out, just a little.

He didn’t even have to use magic.

The kid rammed the stick shift into reverse, hit the gas and slammed into the truck behind him. Which bounced into the one behind it. Steam spewed out of the middle truck’s hood. No one was hurt, but none of them were going anywhere soon.

When they got to the quarry, the chopper was there and ready to shuttle the first group to Freedom Ridge.

Josh waited with the rest of his men, the fallen as well as the survivors, until the last refugee had departed.

He debated hiking back on foot, to give himself time to absorb everything that’d happened—everything he’d
done
. But that was a chickenshit move. He owed it to Hunter and the other people that had lost loved ones to tell them in person. So, Josh went with the first group of the dead. He carried Shep’s body himself, refusing to let anyone else bear that burden.

If he’d been thinking clearly, Josh would have realized that some of the hostages knew all the Freedom Ridge volunteers. A wall of grieving people surrounded the makeshift landing pad. Wisdom and all her loyal soldiers that had refused to go were now holding back the tide of distraught mages. Josh didn’t wait for the rotors to stop spinning. He climbed out then waited for someone to lower Shep’s body into his arms. When he turned around, Hunter was right there, tears streaming down his face. He slipped his arms under Shep’s back and legs and took him from Josh. He turned around and walked away without a word.

Josh
talked to countless mages about their missing and dead relatives, but not to Hunter. He searched everywhere for him, but couldn’t find him. He even looked inside the cave that served as a morgue. He wasn’t there either. Josh didn’t blame Hunter for avoiding him, but he couldn’t stand it if he’d lost his best friend, on top of everything else that had happened.

Josh finally found Hunter at the collective memorial service, but he was comforting Billy, Truth, and Honor—all that remained of his family. His brother, Stewart, was also one of the fallen.

Josh’d been up for more than forty-five hours when he finally collapsed on his cot at three-thirty in the morning. He kicked off his shoes, but didn’t undress. He covered his face with his elbow and passed out.

When he woke up, the sun was creeping down the western side of his tent. He must have slept through the entire day. He rolled over and nearly jumped out of his skin. “Whoa!”

Channie’s nephews were standing shoulder to shoulder next to his cot, their faces mere inches from his. He couldn’t help laughing when he saw that someone had written their names on their foreheads--with permanent ink. “What are you guys doing here?”

“Daddy needs your help.”

Josh shot out of bed then grabbed the tent pole to keep his balance as all the blood rushed to his feet. “Is he okay? What’s going on?”

Savvy popped his thumb in his mouth.

Zeal chewed on his lip.

But Courage lifted his chin and grinned at Josh. “Our magic is so strong, Daddy cain’t handle us.”

Josh sank back down on his cot and laughed with relief. He’d imagined all sorts of horrendous scenarios. Everything from Diego being accused of kidnapping to over zealous freedom fighters trying to execute him as a spy.

“So…what sort of mischief have you three been causing that’s brought your poor dad all the way to Arkansas?”

Savvy spoke up. “We cain’t help it. When we get upset, or excited, magic just…
happens
. Daddy wants you to make him better.”

Josh arched his eyebrows. “Is that right?”

They all nodded.

After the horrors of the past few days, Josh was ready for a diversion, but when he saw Diego in the medical tent, he barely recognized him. Angry, red welts covered every inch of exposed skin. “Wow. Are you in a lot of pain?”

“It feels like I’ve been attacked by a swarm of hornets.”

“Maybe you should take some Benadryl or something.”