“Holy crap,” Gia said. She hated politics and politicians now more than ever.
“Wait,” Lima said, drawing their attention again.
The male anchor took over. “The military also refuses comment on a growing topic that started in a few fringe blogs and has now begun seeping its way into the mainstream. Rumors are flying that there is a military special operations team, nicknamed the Drunk Monkeys, who apparently are on a mission to locate scientists from The List. Depending on which set of reports you believe, either they have found some of the scientists and are protecting them so they can find a vaccine for Kite, or they are holding them hostage and preventing the vaccine from making it into the proper channels. Initial polls report a 75-25 split in favor of the Drunk Monkeys being on a clandestine mission of good. When asked for comment about the existence of the Special Operations and Tactical Infiltration Force units, General Joseph Arliss of the Pentagon denied any knowledge and refused to comment on the rumors. But there has been a public outpouring of support for the mythical team’s success, even if its existence is still in question…”
“Huh,” Alpha said. “What do you know about that?”
“Bubba called that one right,” Papa said. “He guessed that Silo and their team might try a misinformation campaign about us, so he jumped ahead of them and started spreading the word about us and what we’re doing. Good call on his part.”
“Kind of beats the whole purpose of being a secret unit, doesn’t it?” Gia asked. “That’s like inviting reporters to cover drug raids on live TV, and having them show the outsides of the buildings and the officers’ positions before they charge in. Sort of gives away the element of surprise.”
“Nobody trusts the government anymore,” Papa said. “The more rumors we can put out there in our favor, the better. Because if the wrong people do somehow get their hands on us, it’ll be harder for Silo’s people or the government to keep it a secret.”
“Genie’s out of that bottle already,” she said.
“Exactly.”
She turned to Pandora. “You are keeping track of all this, right?”
“Oh, you bet your ass I am,” she said. “This is going to be a helluva book when we get through it.”
“If we get through it,” Gia said.
“When,” pretty much everyone else corrected her.
Papa stepped forward. “One thing you’ll have to learn, Chief, is that failure is never an option for us.”
“Uh-oh,” Annie teased. “Someone just got their code name.”
Gia was confused by Annie’s remark at first, then she scowled as she turned on him. “Really?”
Papa grinned. “Hey, everyone gets a code name, Chief.”
“Yeah? Well, why can’t I pick it?”
“You don’t get to pick your own name,” Omega told her. “Not in this unit.”
“Dammit.”
* * * *
Papa ordered Lima to jump on the sat-link and see what else he could scrounge up about them before they got on the road. While Lima did that, Papa stood behind Gia at the computer in the lobby and studied the service map of the county’s sheriff stations over her shoulder.
More stations than ever were showing up black or red. Almost a complete system shutdown, even into the eastern part of the LA valley basin.
“Is there a special button or something you need to push to shut everything down here?” he asked her.
“Nope. A couple of my daytime guys said they’re hanging out for an extra day or two. I’ll leave it up and running for them. We clear out the armory?”
“Yep. Omega went shopping on the LASD’s dime, so to speak. Hope you don’t mind we went through the evidence rooms, too. Found some useful things.”
“Better us than some looter. Won’t be any trials held in LA county for months or years.”
“If that,” Papa said. “I hope you don’t regret leaving,” he added. “You went above and beyond. You have nothing to be ashamed of.”
She thought about Nick Edison, whose body rested in a secured transport coffin in the back of one of the National Guard trucks.
And the sight of Annie, Roscoe, and Niner standing outside over Mark’s grave a little while ago, paying their final respects to their friend before the convoy pulled out.
Even Malley Baynes had been willing to forgive Gia for shooting her husband in front of her.
She looked up at him. “So is it going to get easier, or harder, from here on out?”
Papa shrugged. “I’m not a psychic. And it’s all relative. To me, this part of the journey has actually been a cakewalk. Although I know I risk jinxing us by saying that. I’m sorry we lost Sparky, but he volunteered to go on the recon mission. He went fast, and he went fighting. I think that’s the way he would have preferred it, if he’d had a choice in the matter. But the rest of my people are alive and well, our special packages are still safe and sound, and it looks like they might have actually made some important advances in their research over the past few days. That’s a check in the win column, far as I’m concerned.”
They assembled in the garage again while Lima finished checking his sources.
“Hope we don’t run out of supplies,” Gia said.
“We’ll be okay,” Omega said. “Remember, the rest of the western coast isn’t a disaster zone. Might be some food shortages in some places, but for the most part, people’s lives are continuing on as usual. This is just a bunch of video on their TVs or their computers to them. Unless they have family in the area they can’t get hold of. We’ve got plenty of food and if we run low, we’ll find or buy more. Or even go hunting.”
“As long as we’re not eating chicken of the cave,” Echo muttered.
“What?” Pandora asked.
“Bats,” Gia said.
Pandora let out a burp and looked like she was about to yak all over her shoes. “Sorry,” she finally said, “but I’ll shoot a damn Kiter and eat one of them first.”
“Won’t be necessary,” Omega told her. “Have I let y’all down yet?” he asked her.
“No, I’ll admit we’ve never lacked for food nor water while in your care,” Pandora drawled.
“Just indoor plumbing,” Clara teased.
“That,” Omega said, “would be logistics.” He pointed at Uni.
“What? Me? Oh, no. I make sure we and our shit gets where it needs to go. That’s my job.”
“Yeah,” Omega said. “My point exactly. Where we need to go.” He grinned.
“We’re ready to pull out,” Papa said. “Victor, you sure you want to fly that bird at night?”
The pilot shrugged. “We got the night vision and stuff figured out now. Uni’s going to be my spotter. We’ll find a place for the convoy to stop before Bakersfield.”
Gia let Omega drive. Her vehicle would lead the convoy, at least until they reached the junction with Highway 99. By then they suspected either the road would be clear, or they’d run up against a military roadblock.
All she wanted to do was lie back and go to sleep, even though her nerves wouldn’t allow her to. By her watch, it was 3:06 a.m. when they opened the back gate for the last time and the convoy rolled out. Victor and Uni lifted off in the chopper and headed north. Sharon was sharing another marked SUV unit with Mike and following somewhere toward the rear of the convoy.
Gia gave Omega directions to the on ramp where the 5 met the old Magic Mountain Parkway.
“Settle back and rest,” Omega told her. “We’ll take it from here.”
She wanted to. The deep, full-body weariness had settled in again. Painfully so.
And not the good kinds of aches and pains from making love to the two men, either. Not the fun kinds.
She closed her eyes, even though no sleep was forthcoming. Her mind raced, going over things, trying to remember if there was anything she’d forgotten.
Not that I can do anything about it now.
Behind them an inky, unfamiliar darkness that had once been Santa Clarita fell
away into her past.
Chapter Twenty-Nine
There were no roadblocks stopping them from leaving the area. In fact, they didn’t stop for anything until they made a planned turnoff just before noon, when they pulled into the closed Stone Lakes Wildlife Refuge just south of Sacramento. Roscoe easily picked the gate’s padlock, letting them all in before closing it behind them and putting a combo lock of their own on the chain.
Over the past century and a half, what had started out as a delta grasslands region surrounded by farmland had grown into a woodland area, thick stands of trees blocking the view from the road and nearby properties and providing them with a perfect secluded hiding spot not far from a metropolitan area.
“You sure no one will find us here?” Gia asked Uni, who’d flown ahead, refueled, and returned with the announcement about the hiding place.
“Pretty sure. Lima helped me scope it out. US Fish and Wildlife has shut down public access to all their parks and refuges as of three months ago because of Kite. All the National Parks Service, Fish and Wildlife, and Forestry folks have been drafted to help support local state law enforcement departments in their regions.”
“Sometimes they have rangers who live on-site.”
“Not here. Not as of a couple of years ago, at least. Looked deserted to me.” He grinned. “We did our research, Chief. Don’t worry. This is what we do. Besides, we’ll only be here a day at the most. Just long enough to get into Sacramento, grab any last supplies we might need, and hit the road again.”
Which reminded her. She walked down the convoy and found Papa.
“We’ve got to stop in Redding on our way north, so figure that into your timeframe,” Gia told him.
“Why?”
She nodded toward the National Guardsmen. “Their guy, Nick. All he wanted to do was get back to Redding, so I want to make sure that happens. One way, or another. And I want to be a part of it.”
Papa grimly nodded. “Then we’ll make sure we stop in Redding tomorrow and give him a proper burial there,” he said. Do they know who his family is?”
“Yeah.”
Normally, the trip from the LA area to Redding would take eight hours if the traffic wasn’t bad and someone drove straight through. But with the stop in Sacramento to take inventory and resupply their growing band of misfits, it would be dark before they arrived at their current rate anyway, so Papa ordered them to prepare for an overnight at the park.
Not to mention, they all needed the downtime. Gia, especially, was finding it difficult to keep her emotions reined in now that she was no longer responsible for Santa Clarita and its citizens. Since she hadn’t gotten any real sleep the night before, her energy tank level had dropped back into the red zone.
Omega and Echo would be part of the team traveling into Sacramento to scout for a few things the scientists had on their wish lists that they hadn’t been able to find in Santa Clarita.
The men helped her set up their tent in the shade of a tree right next to her SUV. “We’ll be back before you know it,” Omega told her. “Try to get some sleep.”
“Yeah, you won’t even miss us,” Echo said.
She laughed, a weary kind of sound that almost physically hurt her to make. “You’re right, because I’ll be asleep.” She kissed them both. “Make it back safe. Love ya.” She froze, realizing what she’d just said.
The men had also frozen, staring at her.
She swallowed hard to form spit. “Sorry,” she said. “That was…” She considered it. “You know what? No, I’m not sorry I said it. Maybe a year ago, saying that would have been stupid this fast, but not now. Who knows what the hell will happen. Maybe this is the only kind of love I’ll ever get again in my life. Or maybe twenty years from now the three of us will still be together.”
Omega smiled, pulling her to him and kissing her. “Then I love you, too, baby.”
Echo grinned and took his turn, her heart pounding as he kissed her. “Love you, too.”
Then they departed, leaving her standing there and wide awake when moments earlier she’d been ready to collapse.
She climbed into the tent, staying fully dressed, and laid her gun belt by the head of her bedroll. Closing her eyes, she took a deep breath and hoped for sleep.
* * * *
It must have worked, because when she next opened her eyes, Echo was peeking his head through the tent flap, and it was full dark outside.
“You awake yet?”
She sat up and rubbed at her eyes. “Holy crap. What time is it?”
“Nearly nine.”
“At night?”
“Not the next morning.” He climbed in. “You want some chow?”
Her stomach rumbled. “Yeah, thanks.”
She grabbed a package of wipes, found a bush to squat behind, and cleaned up as best she could. Hell, she’d been through worse conditions than squatting over a hole when an MP.
This was practically luxury by comparison.
She joined her men out in the middle of the small group of tents where everyone who wasn’t on watch or grabbing rack time had gathered. Echo handed her a warmed MRE. “Here you go.”
She leaned in for a kiss, marveling how right it felt being with these two men, even as the rest of her world had undergone such immense upheaval. “Thank you.”
After eating, the three of them took advantage of a makeshift hose shower someone had rigged up with a tarp as a privacy curtain. The water from the spigot was warm enough. As they took turns holding the hose for each other, she started playing with their cocks, getting them hard until Omega finally turned her around, pushed her down to her hands and knees in the wet, muddy grass, and started fucking her.
Her laughter turned into moans that Echo quickly silenced with his cock in her mouth.
Omega lightly smacked her ass. “You tease us, you get fucked, baby. Lesson number one.”
She moaned, wanting to come but not quite having enough traction on her clit to get there. Echo had his hands buried in her hair and eagerly fucked her mouth. There was no participation required on her part at this point, because the men were fully in control and fucking her.
Only when they’d both come did they flip her over onto her back. Echo knelt over her mouth. “Open up, baby.”
She did, and he lowered his balls into her mouth. “Lick ’em good and you’ll get seconds.”
She felt Omega lowering himself between her legs, his breath warm against her clit. “No, she’ll get my load in her mouth next time, and you get to fuck her. Fair’s fair.”
“Oh, true.”
Omega made her come several times. So hard, that she forgot she was lying in muddy grass, with people just yards away who could walk around the tarp at any time and see what they were doing.
She’d just softly moaned her way around Echo’s balls, through one more orgasm, when Omega sat up. “Switch.”
They flipped her around, onto her hands and knees again, this time with Omega sliding his cock into her mouth.
“There you go,” Omega softly said as Echo fucked his revived cock hard and deep inside her. “Obviously we haven’t been keeping you well fucked if you were that horny. Our bad.”
“We’ll have to take turns driving,” Echo said, his voice low and punctuated by soft grunts as he thrust his cock into her cunt. “One of us can have you naked and spread out in the backseat, eating that sweet pussy of yours, while the other one drives.”
Echo slowed his thrusts, reached around her, and found her clit. “Suck him deep, baby, because you’re going to come again for us.” He pressed his cock into her cunt, all the way in as he played with her clit, and sure enough, he pulled one more from her.
Holy. Fuck.
She gave up trying to figure out whatever magic it was the men could do.
All that mattered to her is that they were interested in doing it with her.
“There she comes,” Omega said. “Maybe we can have her riding our cocks in the backseat, too, just sit there with her in
our lap, always keep a cock buried in her.”
“At least for a couple of hours at a time,” Echo said. “Baby, you have no fucking idea how dry we’ve been lately. You will be one well-fucked woman for the immediate future. You get tired of it, you’ll have to tell us you need a break. Otherwise, you so much as bend over in front of us and you’re getting this sweet…pussy…filled.” And with that said, he did just that, adding a load of his cum to her cunt while Omega emptied his balls down her throat.
After a moment, they helped her up, completely pleased with themselves and unapologetic that they had to help her rinse mud off her.
Echo leaned in and kissed her as he reached up and tweaked one of her nipples. “Are you really going to complain about getting fucked too much?”
She couldn’t lie to them. “No,” she whispered, her face heating as she realized that, without the crushing responsibility of Santa Clarita weighing her down, she had found her missing libido.
Woo-hoo.
Both men grinned. “Didn’t think so,” Omega said.
They both nailed her one more time in the tent later that night, simply rolling her over and fucking her, hard and fast, while the other would play with her clit while sucking on her nipples.
No asking involved.
They didn’t need to.
And she loved it.
Even more, she realized the truth of what she’d said earlier.
She loved them.
* * * *
Echo lay there, Gia cradled between their naked bodies, listening to both her and Omega, the way their breathing slowed and deepened.
No, he’d never been a big believer in love at first sight. Maybe this hadn’t been at first sight, but it was close enough.