Raze shrugged and gestured for a man to draw down the back of the truck. “Couldn’t sleep.”
“Been there.” With the exception of the night before, Jax had slept better with Lynne than he had in his entire life. “You need a woman.”
“A woman is the last thing on earth I need,” Raze countered.
Jax raised an eyebrow. “A guy, then?”
Raze shook his head. “I like women, Jax. Just don’t want the complication right now.”
That Jax understood. He frowned as Ernie ambled out of the building, two fairly small boxes in his hands. Pale and panting, the older man neared. “You okay to go?” Jax asked.
“Yes.” Ernie patted the boxes. “Byron did an excellent job with the portable ham radio, and this smaller battery is charged and will work. We should be able to keep in touch with headquarters as well as reach out to the president.”
Jax nodded. “Okay. You’re going to have to ride in the middle so Raze can scope out the window in case we need to shoot.”
“I figured.” Ernie hitched himself up and into the cab of the van.
Jax turned to find Lynne standing at the entrance, Sami flanking her. He lifted his chin.
Lynne raised a hand and gave him a smile. He returned the wave and jumped into the truck. Now that was a nice sight. Then he sobered and tucked another gun along his boot and ignited the engine. It purred like a lazy kitten.
“Byron tweaked it,” Raze said.
The kid was becoming more and more useful. Jax glanced in the side mirror to see Lynne still watching him.
He’d promised to protect her, and he would, but he needed to discover if there was a military, and what his obligations to it were. Not to mention he had to figure out if there was a president of the United States and if it truly was Bret Atherton, and whether the man really was a Ripper.
Then he’d have to make a plan. At the moment, even without necessary information, he was seriously between a rock and a hard place. Yet he put the truck into DRIVE, maneuvered between vans and trucks, and headed for the I-15. “Watch for Rippers and gangs.”
“Copy that,” Raze said.
Chapter Thirty-Four
To live is to face death daily.
—Dr. Franklin Xavier Harmony
The four-hour drive to the border took nearly six hours. Just getting out of the city had required Jax to prod vehicles out of the way with the van, but when they’d finally gotten out of Los Angeles, the I-15 hadn’t been a problem. If the lanes were clogged, he just went off road and then got back on. Defunct vehicles littered the entire way, and by the time they’d neared the dead casino, he and Raze had started a contest of speed with siphoning gasoline.
Jax inched under an Escalade, pierced his screwdriver into the gas tank, and watched gas flow into the can he’d placed beneath. As soon as the flow stopped, he scooted back out to the warm sun. “Time.”
Raze smacked the ground near a truck on its side. “This tank is full.”
Jax shrugged and carried his can to the back of the truck before returning and going through the vehicle. Most of the abandoned cars had been cleaned out when the owners had left them, but bodies littered the desert around them, so those folks hadn’t taken anything. He’d found several bottles of painkillers, some food, and some water during his quests.
Raze had found other medicine, so they’d cleaned up as scavengers.
Ernie sat quietly in the truck, a little pissed off. The radio had worked during the first hour they’d checked in, and then the battery had gone dead. He was sweating in the warm desert, and his face had taken on a flushed red hue. Yet besides bitching at the radio, he hadn’t complained.
Jax finished his search by claiming several hair ponytail things somebody could use. He tossed them in the van and opened his door. “We’re about fifteen minutes out,” he said.
Raze screwed the cap onto his plastic container. “I’ll go on foot from here.” Stretching his shoulders, he walked around to deposit the can before shutting the door. “Give me a little time.” He checked his weapons and glanced up at the sun.
“Yep.” Jax paused. “And, Raze? Thanks.”
“You’re welcome.” The soldier glanced at him, gaze steady. “Atherton’s forces are stretched thin, and he usually travels with a squad of twenty-five or so. Many of those should be out on local missions. See you there.” He mock-saluted Ernie and then turned to jog into the desert to approach the casino from the back.
Jax watched him go, his mind spinning. “How the fuck did he know that information?” Something to ask Raze at the nearest opportunity, to be sure. For now, he had work to do. Jax spent the next thirty minutes going through empty vehicles and then finally climbed back into the driver’s seat. “You ready?”
“Yes,” Ernie mumbled, his head against the back of the seat, his eyes closed.
Hopefully the guy wouldn’t kick the bucket on the mission. Jax started the van and wove through several more cars before finding a clear road. Waiting fifteen minutes, he reached Franco’s Casino. It rose from the desert, no longer shining with lights but still impressive and large. A ten-foot tall metal dollar sign stood strong and steady in the center of a sprawling parking lot littered with abandoned vehicles. Two men, fully armed, guarded the glass doorway. A vestibule was clearly visible through the many panes of glass. Inside sat a man flanked by two more guys with guns.
Besides the casino, the only other building within half a mile was a gas station to the left. Jax watched as Raze moved up behind a sniper on the station’s roof and put him out of commission. God, the guy was good. Keeping secrets, but damn good at that, too.
Jax glanced at Ernie as he pulled up near the front door. “You okay staying in the van with your gun out the window?”
“Yes.” Ernie nodded, his hand trembling on a shotgun. “I’ll shoot if you give the signal.”
Jax took a deep breath, his shoulders relaxing. Raze would be able to see through the floor-to-ceiling windows, and he had a sniper’s rifle. This was going better than expected. He pushed out of the van and made his way to the soldiers at alert.
“Weapons,” the first one said.
“Yes, and you can’t have them.” Jax smiled.
The guy turned and shoved Jax face first into the window. Jax let him and allowed himself to be frisked. “I didn’t say I have the weapons on me,” he said dryly as the guy pulled him back around. He wasn’t crazy enough to carry weapons while possibly meeting with the president of the United States.
The soldier roughly grabbed him and opened the door to shove him inside.
Without the air-conditioning, the glassed-in room shimmered with too much heat.
“Master Sergeant Mercury,” a blond man said from a settee in the corner. He gestured to a seat across a marble table. “Please, sit.”
Jax eyed the guy. Sharp blue eyes, clean shave, fighting shape. Yep. Bret Atherton. He’d seen clips of the former Speaker of the House on television. “Mr. President.” He moved forward and took a seat, angling his body to keep an eye on the two interior guards. Raze would have to watch the guys outside.
“It’s nice to meet you in person.” Atherton reached into a basket and drew out a bottle of water he passed across the table.
“Thank you.” Jax didn’t move to take the water, his senses attuned to the rest of the building, which remained quiet. “Where is Greg Lake?”
“Busy elsewhere.”
Jax straightened. “All right. What is the status of the government?”
Atherton smoothed his white button-down shirt. “We’re reorganizing.”
Ah. Jax studied him, noting the charisma and intelligence. A primitive beast rose within Jax to claim Lynne publicly. The woman was his and would remain so. Right now, he had to tamp down on himself and think.
Oh, he believed Lynne that Atherton was a Ripper, one of the controlled, organized ones, but the question was, should the man stay in power? If Atherton died, what would happen then? Maybe anybody in power with s
ome logic, even a Ripper, would be better than chaos. Especially if outside threats still existed. “What are your forces?”
Atherton smiled, all charm on what was probably considered a handsome face. “I’ve consolidated all branches of the military beneath the Elite Force for now, and my numbers are around several thousand, all working right now to recruit and gather our forces.”
Several thousand? “Please define several,” Jax said.
“More, many more, than you have under your command.” Atherton met his gaze levelly.
Fair enough. “Do we know about outside threats?”
“Not yet.” Atherton lost his smile. “There’s a chance of foreign attack at every moment, which is why I need my best soldiers in place. You’re good. Damn good.”
Yeah, but he couldn’t work with a man who wanted Lynne dead, and the mere thought clenched Jax’s fingers in a need to strike. “Thank you.”
Atherton leaned forward, and a USB drive on a cord slipped free to rest on his shirt. “How many forces do you have?”
“Not many,” Jax said honestly, unwilling to give a number. “What’s with the USB drive?”
Atherton grasped the flash drive and fingered it with a low hum. “Lynne is on here.” His chin lowered, and his chest moved. “Memories of a sort, as well as research. She really is the best, you know.”
Jax leaned back, nausea mixing with a rapidly growing anger in his gut. “Nope. Never met any Lynne. I’m assuming that’s Blue Heart?”
Atherton rolled his eyes, making him instantly more approachable. “For goodness sake, I know you have her in your compound. I’ve known for a while.”
“I don’t,” Jax said easily.
Atherton pressed his lips together. “According to Cruz Martinez, Lynne Harmony has been with your group for days.”
Jax stilled. “Cruz is a liar.”
“Of that, I have no doubt.” Atherton’s nostrils flared as he inhaled. “You’re not the only group in L.A. with a ham radio, Master Sergeant Mercury. We’re also in contact with Twenty, and we’re impressed by their forces. However, I’d rather not do business with gangs.”
“Meaning what?” Jax asked softly, his body tensing naturally in case he needed to strike.
Atherton picked a piece of lint off his dark jeans. “Meaning I need forces, and I need allies. I’d much rather work with you, a soldier in our military, than a criminal who just wants to kill. But I need soldiers.”
Yeah. That made sense. “Say I do have Lynne, what do you want with her?” Jax asked, having no doubt Cruz had reached out to the president. It was a smart thing to do, and Cruz was no dummy. But he was a criminal, and he wasn’t trained like Jax or his forces. The president had to know that fact.
“She’s infected with a more dangerous strain of Scorpius.”
“Bullshit. Try again.”
Atherton studied him and then smiled. “Fine. That was a story to gain cooperation from citizens in finding Lynne. The truth? I need her back at work,” he said. “I have her research on this USB, and we can rig a laptop with a generator so she can return to her research.”
Jax eyed the innocuous flash drive. “Did she find a cure?”
“Not yet, but if anybody can, it’s Lynne.” Atherton rubbed the USB drive.
“So you want her back for research reasons,” Jax drawled.
Atherton leaned back, relaxing. “Of course I want her back for her research skills and knowledge. The woman is brilliant.” He exhaled slowly. “And yes, I want her back for personal reasons, too. When I first recuperated from the fever, I scared her, and I regret that. It took a while to gain my, well, balance back.”
Jax studied him, fighting the urge to punch the guy who used to date Lynne. However, Atherton’s statement about the fever was true, and Jax could relate. “You killed the sitting president of the United States.”
Atherton blanched. “I know. Not my finest moment.”
Jax tried to hide his surprise. “So you do admit it.”
“I do.” Atherton shook his head. “Of course, he was weak and wasn’t working for the country. She told you that, right?”
Jax kept his expression stoic. “I know everything.”
“Good. Going forward, we have to be honest with each other. The president was weak, desperate, and he was hurting the nation. He’d put our soldiers at great risk, and somebody smarter needed to step up.” Sorrow, deep and glimmering, filled Atherton’s eyes. “I reacted quickly and without any finesse, trying to protect my country.” His gaze narrowed. “What would you have done?”
Jax didn’t flinch. “I don’t know,” he said honestly.
“Now I have to live with what I did, but all I can do is go forward from here. I wasn’t quite right after the fever for a while. You know?”
Jax nodded. He still didn’t feel like himself. “Lynne is afraid of you. Thinks you want to hurt her.”
Atherton’s head jerked back. He blew out air. “I guess I don’t blame her, but shit, that hurts.” He turned and looked out the window. “If I stay away from her, just communicate through intermediaries, do you think she’ll come back to work for the government to head research? We need her. Bad.”
“I don’t know. How about you give me the USB drive, and we find out?” Jax asked.
Atherton shook his head. “No. You have to understand that I need to consolidate and keep the research, right?”
Yeah. It’s what Jax would do. “No. If I can get it to Lynne Harmony, then you should give it up.”
Atherton lifted his chin, blue eyes glittering with questions. “I’ll rephrase the language, but Cruz said you and Lynne have started a relationship.”
Jax lifted an eyebrow and forced a half-smile. “Cruz makes shit up.”
Atherton studied him for several moments, and Jax returned the stare without blinking. “She’s a beautiful woman,” Atherton said slowly.
Jax shrugged even though his heart started to pound against his rib cage. “I’m more interested in her brain,” he said. “Other than that, I don’t have time for entanglements.”
“Smart. In your position, you can’t afford to be manipulated by emotion.” Atherton steepled his fingers under his chin. “Even though I have feelings for Lynne and have for quite some while, I’m not blind to her brilliance or ability to manipulate people. One can’t get to her position in life at such a young age without having those abilities.”
Jax tried to look bored. Was Atherton just reminiscing, or was he trying to mess with Jax’s brain? Either way, enough. “You said you had medical supplies and food.”
“I do.” Atherton leaned forward. “Any chance you’ll trade Lynne for both? I can give you enough to sustain your entire group for two years.”
Two years? That’d be enough time to hang tight, let the gangs kill each other off, and plan for the move north. Trade her? “You’d take her unwillingly?”
Atherton sighed. “No. I want her willing to help. But how can I talk to her, convince her that my initial response after the fever wasn’t me and that I’ve changed, if she keeps running from me? If I could just talk to her, I could explain.”
Jax eyed the guards standing at attention. “I don’t know you, and I don’t trust you. However, I’m not sure there’s anybody better waiting in the wings to lead the country right now.” He slowly stood. “I actually don’t have Lynne Harmony, but I know where she is.”
Atherton blinked. “She’s not with your group?”
“No. We traded her for weapons and ammunition, including land mines and grenades.” Jax lifted a shoulder. “I don’t have the laboratory resources necessary to use her knowledge, and weapons are more useful to me than the former head of the CDC infectious diseases department, blue heart or not.”
Atherton’s nostrils flared. “Then where is she?”
Jax smiled as he lied his ass off. “I’ll reach out and then be back in touch with you. If I’m able to get her, or rather the folks who have her, are willing to work with you, I expect compensat
ion.”
Atherton stood, his gaze darkening. “You have twenty-four hours to reach out, and then I’ll go find her myself, and I’ll start with dismantling your community, just to make sure.”
Was the president pissed because he’d lost Lynne, or was he actually angry Lynne had been traded somewhere else? The guy was impossible to read.
Atherton gestured toward the door. “You’re dismissed. And, Mercury? If Lynne has been harmed because of your actions, I’ll put a bullet in your head myself.”
“Fair enough.” Jax shoved open the door and reached the truck without mishap, driving nearly a mile before catching sight of Raze waiting by the road. Was the man even human?
Raze jumped inside, and Jax gave him and Ernie a rundown of the meeting.
“Did you see anybody besides soldiers around?” Raze asked quietly.
Jax glanced his way. “No. Why?”
“Just asking.” Raze kept his gaze outside the window.
“Someday you’re going to level with me,” Jax returned.
Ernie snorted. “Neither one of you is an open book, you know.”
Jax swerved to avoid a partially decomposed body in the middle of the road. “Lake wasn’t here, and that concerns me.”
“You’d think meeting you would be of top importance. If Lake isn’t here, then something bigger is going on.” Raze kept his gun pointed out the window. “What now?”
Now? Now Jax needed to talk to Lynne and feel her out. Atherton had admitted the killing, and he might still be the best bet to run the country. And Lynne had forgotten to mention a few details. “If I don’t at least get Lynne in touch with Atherton, he’s sending soldiers our way.” The last thing in the world Jax wanted was to fight the legitimate U.S. military, considering he was army himself. “We don’t have much time.”
He hadn’t considered that his meeting with the president might result in having to choose between his duty and his woman. Where would that leave Vanguard? The people who trusted him, who needed food and medical supplies? “This sucks,” he muttered.