The Stones of Angkor (Purge of Babylon, Book 3) Read online

  “You sound as if you’re planning on being gone for a while.”

  “We’ve been out here by ourselves for too long. We need allies, babe. That kind of relationship takes time. And that helicopter will come in handy one of these days.”

  “Starch?”

  “Yeah. We left a lot back there. That helicopter would make the trip easier, faster, and safer.”

  She watched his face closely. Will always had a look about him when he was thinking ahead. “Hope for the best, prepare for the worst” was a motto he and Danny had lived—and survived—by since The Purge. It had gotten them this far, and this island.

  “So how are we going to convince Mike we’re his new best friends?” she asked.

  “You know what every soldier likes during wartime?”

  “Sex?”

  “Besides that.”

  “More sex?”

  “Bullets. The only thing soldiers like more than bullets? Even more bullets.”

  “I’ll pretend that actually makes sense.”

  “Think about it.”

  “I’d rather not. Anyway, so who else is going with you and Danny, if not me?”

  “Danny’s not going. I need him here. So it’s either Gaby or Blaine.”

  “Gaby’s just a kid, Will.”

  “She’s eighteen going on thirty. In a few years, she could be in charge of the island’s security.”

  “You can’t be serious. Take Blaine.”

  “Why Blaine?”

  “He’s bigger.”

  “Is he supposed to be my bodyguard?”

  “Something like that.”

  “I’d feel better if Blaine was here with you. Danny’s very good at what he does, but he’s only one man. That leaves Gaby.”

  “What about Maddie?”

  “Gaby’s better.”

  “Better than both Blaine and Maddie?” she said doubtfully.

  “Yes,” he said matter-of-factly.

  “How is that possible? You’ve been training both Blaine and Maddie, too.”

  “Gaby’s a natural,” Will said. “Some people were just born to be shooters.”

  *

  After she got Jen settled into one of the many available rooms in the hotel, Lara showered, spending her full five minutes. That was their daily limit: five minutes in the morning and another five at night if they needed it. She always needed it. After all those months on the road, every shower counted.

  Afterward, she stood nude in front of the sink and dried her hair, while Will leaned against the open bathroom door and watched her. She didn’t acknowledge him for a while, and he seemed content to just stare at her with that smile on his face that all men got when a woman took her clothes off in front of them.

  Finally, she said, “My hips are fuller, have you noticed? Must be the steady diet of seafood.”

  “Your hips? I haven’t really noticed your hips.”

  She rolled her eyes at him. “You’re such a charmer, Will.”

  “Is that why you love me?”

  “Uh huh. Your ability to shoot things in the face was a close second.”

  “Good to know, good to know.”

  He walked over and picked her up. She yelped and turned around in his arms, wrapping her legs around his waist and kissing him.

  Will carried her to the bed and laid her down, then sat back and watched her for a moment.

  She stretched her arms and legs lazily in front of him. “Like what you see?”

  “Very much.”

  “So do something about it.”

  “I should let you know. I expect my good-bye sex to be spectacular.”

  “You’ve had a lot of experience, have you?”

  He shrugged. “Ladies like a man in uniform.”

  “You’re not wearing a uniform.”

  “I could put one on.”

  “You have it with you?”

  “For the purpose of this conversation? Yes. Yes, I do.”

  “Lame-o,” she said, and pulled him down to her.

  *

  Afterward, she lay in his arms, their bodies sticky and tangled, glistening from either the heat or the sex, she wasn’t entirely sure. It should have been uncomfortable, but it wasn’t. Maybe she was just used to it. She had learned to get used to a lot of things these days, but this was one of the more pleasant ones.

  She stared at the darkening patio window across the room, secured in the knowledge that they were safe here—in this hotel, on this island. It hadn’t been easy after that first night, when they uncovered the island’s true purpose. But day after day, week after week, it got easier, until she stopped looking at every coming nightfall with mounting dread. It still happened every now and then when she least expected it, but they were rare these days.

  “You’re awake,” he said softly.

  “Uh huh.”

  “You okay?”

  “I’m fine. Better than fine.”

  “Good.”

  “When was the last time we were apart for longer than a day?”

  “Before Starch.”

  “Not since?”

  “I don’t think so. Why? Are you tired of me already?”

  “Yes, but that’s not the point.”

  “What is the point?”

  “I was just wondering…”

  “The good kind of wondering, or the ‘I think we should see other people’ type of wondering?”

  “Really? And what other people would I be seeing at the end of the world? Blaine? Danny? Maddie?”

  “Maddie?”

  “What, you think I should limit myself to just the boys?”

  “Then why not include Carly?”

  “Gross. She’s like my little sister.”

  “I’m just saying, if we’re already going there…”

  “That’s disgusting, Will. Don’t ever talk about me and Carly like that again.”

  “A guy can dream, can’t he?”

  “Only if he’s Danny.”

  “Gotcha.”

  “Anyway, I was wondering…about this thing we have. You and me.”

  “What about it?”

  “It’s been good. This thing.”

  She saw a ghost of a smile creasing his lips in the semidarkness. “You’re not trying to get me to buy you a ring and make this official, are you?” he asked.

  “Perish the thought. Besides, where would we find a minister?”

  “Whew, escaped the noose by the skin of my nose.”

  “Oh, that’s funny.”

  She punched him as hard as she could in the chest. He laughed it off, grabbed her by the shoulders, and reversed their positions until she was lying on the bed underneath him. He kissed her, then pulled back a bit to trace the length of her breasts with his fingers as if they had all the time in the world.

  She loved these moments. The quiet and solitude of the island, especially in the evenings, was a gift she was determined not to waste. To have someone to share it with, someone who had been through everything she had, made it all the more special.

  Please, God, don’t take this away from us.

  Lara watched his face, letting herself become lost in his soft-brown eyes. They didn’t speak for a while. It used to drive her crazy, the way he could be silent for so long. Will could do that. He was so unlike Danny in that respect. Unless someone was shooting at them—and even then—Danny always felt a need to fill the void. Will, on the other hand, could look at her in the darkness for hours without saying a word.

  “By the way,” she said, “you still owe me one.”

  “I do?”

  “Oh, right, you forgot. Give me a break. You didn’t forget when you reminded me it was your turn last time.”

  He laughed. “I’m going to take your word for it.”

  “Trust me, you definitely owe me one.”

  “I was hoping you’d let me get away with it. After all, I am leaving the island for who knows how long.”

  “Nice try. Now get down there.”

&
nbsp; “Yes, ma’am.”

  He kissed her on the lips, then moved down to her breasts. By the time he was at her belly, the last remaining light in the room had begun to fade and she was only aware of Will, existing in this space with her, at this moment.

  His touch against her skin, the warmth of his breath against her belly…

  As he continued moving southbound, she sighed into the darkness, closed her eyes tightly, and found his shoulders somewhere around her waist. She held on and tried to make the night last as long as possible.

  CHAPTER 3

  GABY

  She was happy. The last time she was this happy was when she finally hit something with the M4. After that first hit, it was all uphill. It was like sex that way—once you got it over with the first time, the second—and third, and fourth, and fifth—times came naturally.

  Training on the M4 and the Glock with Will and Danny were some of the best times of her life. For the first month, it was almost exclusively Will, with Danny still recuperating from his wounds. Will didn’t so much as teach her to become a soldier as he taught her how to become more. More than she had ever thought she was capable of, or realized she had the potential to become.

  “Muscle memory,” he had told her. “When you can do it without thinking about it, that’s when you can stop.”

  By the end of the second month, Will had enough faith in her abilities to give her overwatch duty when either he or Danny were occupied elsewhere. She became, essentially, the third most valuable shooter on the island, and Gaby didn’t take the job lightly. Their trust in her put her on a high that she still hadn’t come down from yet.

  So when Will came to her room last night and asked how she would feel about coming with him to the hospital with Jen, it was all she could do not to blurt out, “Hell yeah.”

  She was packing for the trip the next morning when Danny showed up. He had a palm full of blueberries, one of the island’s more abundant fruits, and his mouth and hands were already stained with blue and purple juices. From a distance, Danny could have passed for an old teenager and not a thirty-year-old ex-Army Ranger.

  “Ready to go?” he asked.

  “Almost.” She stuffed only the bare essentials into the field pack she was bringing with her—a pair of shirts, pants, underwear, and socks—before filling the rest of the space with spare magazines for the Glock and M4 that she couldn’t fit into the pouches around her waist.

  “Your first field work.”

  “Got any advice?”

  “Stay close to Will and do what he says.”

  “That’s it?”

  “What were you expecting? Something more Mr. Miyagi-like?”

  “Who?”

  “Mr. Miyagi.”

  “I don’t know who that is.”

  He grunted. “Never mind.”

  “What else?”

  “Always use a condom.”

  “My mother could have told me that.”

  “Don’t go into the barn.”

  “The barn?”

  “It’s tough getting hay out of ass cracks.”

  “Good to know.”

  “And finally, always follow the Army Ranger creed: It’s not your job to die for your country, it’s your job to make the other guy die for his.”

  “That’s the Army Ranger creed?”

  “Of course. Would I lie to you?”

  “Yes.”

  “I’m hurt.” Danny touched his chest, then went the extra mile and slid down the wall and let his hands flop away, the berries spilling onto the floor.

  “Finally, he shuts up,” Gaby said. She slung her pack, grabbed her M4 off the bed, and stepped over Danny on her way out into the hall. “You’re cleaning up my carpet before you go.”

  “Yes, ma’am,” he said after her.

  *

  She found Lara on the patio outside the hotel, watching Will, Blaine, and Maddie loading three heavy green ammo cans into Jen’s helicopter.

  Lara smiled at her. “Excited, afraid, a little bit of both?”

  “A little bit of both, but mostly excited.”

  “You’ll do great.”

  “Thanks.”

  Of all the people on the island, it was easiest for her to bond with Lara. The fact that they could have passed for sisters didn’t hurt. Gaby was a few inches taller, but they had almost the exact same blonde hair, except Gaby kept hers tied in a ponytail so it wouldn’t interfere with her aim.

  “Do me a favor?” Lara said. “Blonde to blonde?”

  Gaby smiled. “Sure.”

  “I really love him. If you could bring him back in one piece, I would really appreciate it.”

  “Okay, but if he accidentally puts his hand on my thigh, can I accidentally shove my tongue down his throat?”

  “Only if he puts his hand on your right thigh.”

  “Not the left?”

  “No. The left means he’s only mildly interested. The right is the serious thigh.”

  “Deal.”

  Lara turned around and hugged her, and Gaby felt a sudden flood of emotions she wasn’t prepared for. It almost got the best of her, but she managed to push it down so she wouldn’t start crying like a girl.

  Girls cry. Soldiers don’t. You’re not a girl anymore.

  “Take care of yourself, Gaby,” Lara whispered. “And him too, if you have the time.”

  “I will. He and Danny are like the brothers I always hated.”

  Lara laughed. “You’ve been spending too much time with Danny.”

  “You think?”

  “Just a tad.”

  “That would explain the strange desire to punch myself in the face for absolutely no reason.”

  They heard the helicopter’s rotor blades starting up behind them, the whup-whup-whup getting faster and faster, pushing the wind all the way over to the patio.

  She looked over, saw Will waving at them.

  “That’s my signal,” Gaby said.

  “See you soon,” Lara said.

  Gaby hurried off, jogging down the steps and running across the lawn, afraid that if she hesitated for even a second, she might change her mind and convince herself that she wasn’t ready for this.

  She passed Blaine and Maddie, bracing against the onslaught of swirling wind. The whine of the helicopter’s turbine engine was already deafening even before she got close. Will opened the back door for her and she slipped inside. He slammed the door shut, then climbed into the cockpit’s passenger seat.

  Will held up an aqua and black headset and motioned for her to put hers on. She grabbed a pair off the seat next to her. Will’s voice came through loud and clear. “We good?”

  She nodded back. “We’re good.”

  Will turned to Jen. “How far to Lafayette by air?”

  “Eighty miles, so call it an hour, give or take,” Jen said. “I like to take the scenic route whenever I can, in case I run across survivors below.”

  “How many survivors have you found over the last year?”

  “Exactly thirteen.”

  “Lucky thirteen.”

  “Lucky for them, I showed up.”

  The helicopter lifted into the air, gaining speed and altitude with each passing second. Gaby looked out her window, saw Carly outside the front patio with Lara and the kids leaning against the railing around them. It wasn’t until she saw the girls waving good-bye that the realization she was leaving the island for the first time since arriving here with Josh and the others three months ago finally struck her.

  “How are you for fuel?” Will was asking Jen up front.

  “There’s enough to get us to Lafayette and back, if necessary. Don’t sweat it.”

  “Sweating things is what I do.”

  “Is that how you landed the hot doctor?”

  “That, and my charming personality.”

  “Is that what she told you?”

  Will chuckled.

  Gaby became slowly aware of an insistent clicking noise. It took a few seconds to track it do
wn to the ammo cans on the floor next to her, shaking from the vibrations that coursed through every inch of the helicopter. The rectangular boxes were dull green with handles on top, and the bullets inside were trembling against the sides, the metallic click-click-click sounding disconcertingly like a bomb’s timer.

  Jen pointed the helicopter northeast, and Gaby watched Song Island slowly fade behind them.

  *

  Somewhere between Beaufont Lake and Lafayette, Gaby drifted off to sleep. When she opened her eyes, the first thing that flickered across her mind was—

  Josh.

  How long had it been since she thought of him?

  Too long…

  Josh is dead. Move on, girl.

  She pushed him out of her mind and sat up in the backseat. In front of her, Will and Jen were talking, their voices coming through the headset that had slipped down to her neck while she slept. She pulled it back up over her ears.

  “The city’s almost completely empty,” Jen was saying. “I flew this chopper over every inch of it before I started expanding out into the countryside. I was sure there would be survivors at Lake Charles. If anyone can survive the end of the world, it’s got to be gamblers, right?”

  “Where do you land this thing in the city?” Will asked.

  “I’ve been landing and taking off from the hospital rooftop. Every time I leave it up there overnight, I’m always dead certain the next morning I’ll find it in a hundred pieces, that they—the ghouls—would sabotage it. But they never did. I don’t know why.”

  “It’s a good question.”

  “You don’t have any theories?”

  “Not really. They used a car against us once. They lifted it up and crashed it into a brick wall.”

  “Ouch.”

  “Yeah.”

  Gaby had heard that story before. Will and Lara had lost a couple of people they were traveling with that night.

  We’ve all lost people.

  She thought about everyone she had lost over the last year. Her parents, her friends, her neighbors…

  Josh…

  “What was he in the Army?” Will was asking in the cockpit.

  “Mike was a lieutenant,” Jen said. “You?”

  “Corporal.”

  She grinned over at him. “So what was it, a general lack of ambition? You don’t strike me as the kind of guy who’d be happy pulling down a corporal paycheck for the rest of his life.”