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  The tall, very thin man in the middle Angie didn’t recognize, but he looked to be about her age at thirty and had intelligence in his eyes that didn’t seem to miss anything.

  She instantly had a bad feeling about him.

  Instantly.

  That was unusual.

  None of them seemed at all worried about meeting a stranger. That wasn’t normal in these situations either.

  All three of them were dressed in jeans, light shirts, and work boots and all their clothing looked new and clean.

  As they got within ten steps, the three stopped and Bettie signaled for Angie to stop and she did.

  She was about ten yards from the tree line and very much out in the open.

  “Put your arms down,” Bettie said. “That had to be hard walking like that.”

  Angie did, smiling and rubbing her shoulders. “I’ve done it numbers of times, but it never gets that much easier. I’m Angela Park, but everyone just calls me Angie.”

  “Everyone,” the man asked, clearly puzzled and not introducing himself at all.

  Angie nodded. “That’s what I’m here to tell you about. Civilization is slowly rebuilding. Portland is one of the five cities picked to be one of the centers. I’m just out trying to inform everyone about what is happening.”

  “How many people are in Portland?” Bettie asked.

  Angie shrugged. “Last count about forty thousand.”

  “Forty thousand,” LeAnne said, breathlessly.

  The man didn’t even flinch.

  Angie nodded. “And your Aunt Carol is there and knew I was coming out this way and told me to send her best wishes. She survived as well.”

  Angie thought both Bettie and LeAnne were going to collapse right there, but both managed to take deep breaths and then look at each other.

  Angie was starting to feel that something was off here. She wasn’t sure, but her little voice was starting to get worried. These people were not reacting in the way that survivors on their own normally reacted, which was usually with fear and then relief that civilization was rebuilding.

  “Since civilization destroyed itself one time,” the man said, “why is everyone so fired up to rebuild?”

  “Humans had nothing to do with the Event,” Angie said. “It was an electromagnetic wave that came out of deep space and swept over the entire planet. The scientists who knew it was coming thought it would be harmless. Turns out it was at a certain frequency that fried something in our human brains and everyone who wasn’t either underground or protected behind steel died instantly and painlessly. It did not harm equipment.”

  “How do you know all this?” he asked.

  “May I?” she asked, pointing to her back pocket.

  He nodded and didn’t raise his rifle.

  He should have raised his rifle.

  Something was very off.

  As she pulled out three folded sheets and offered them to him, she glanced around looking for the three others who lived here to be in positions to kill her at the guy’s signal. If they wanted to, she was as good as dead. She was a good ten running steps from the nearest shelter.

  Bettie stepped forward and took the sheets, then stepped back and looked at the papers, handing them to the others one at a time.

  “That information was recorded from the International Space Station,” Angie said, staying on her practiced patter. “We finally got the men who were up there down a year ago, and used a couple existing rockets to resupply them in the meantime.”

  All three looked at each sheet. LeAnne held onto them when they were finished.

  They had no questions at all.

  Under normal circumstances, they would have questions. A lot of questions.

  What the hell was going on here?

  Angie took a deep breath and kept going. “The third sheet is a summary of what is happening in Portland and around the world, when the first major election will be for both Portland and the United States. And so on.”

  “Seems very civilized like,” the man said.

  Again Angie pointed to her pocket. “May I?”

  The man nodded and Angie pulled out an iPhone and charging cord and a paper list and offered them.

  Bettie again stepped forward and took the iPhone, charging cord, and paper.

  Then she stepped back beside the man.

  No comment about how useless it was, nothing. More than anything Angie wanted to just turn and run, but more than likely if she did that she would be cut down from the hidden guns of the others.

  “Cell towers are now working along the Interstate Five route from Portland down to Eugene and all around the Portland area,” Angie said. “That’s a list of numbers you can call for more information if you go down near the freeway. And your aunt’s number is on there as well.”

  Nothing.

  Not one bit of comment at all.

  Angie had every alarm bell in her body going off. She had to get out of there and get going now!

  She smiled. “Nice chatting with all of you. I hope you decide to stop into the city when you get a chance. It’s very nice.”

  She raised her hands and stepped backwards.

  “I don’t think you’ll be leaving just yet,” the man said, bringing his rifle up and aiming at her.

  LeAnne and Bettie did the same.

  Behind her, she heard a man huffing. She glanced over her shoulder to see a man pushing her bike up the road. “This is a nice ride,” he said as he got over the crest of the small rise.

  “What’s going on here?” she asked.

  “We never allow visitors to leave once they know we are here,” the man said.

  “We have to protect ourselves,” Bettie said.

  “We are so sorry,” LeAnne said.

  But to Angie she didn’t look sorry at all. More than likely numbers of people had stumbled into this place and were buried in back somewhere, which is where she was about to end up.

  Why had she ever thought she could do this job alone?

  FOUR

  GAGE LISTENED TO the conversation Angie was having with the three and then the stunned and worried sound of her voice when the guy with her bike came up behind her.

  “Stand ready,” Gage said to his team through their comm links. “And Marsh and King, back me on the guy with the bike in case I can’t get a clear shot.”

  “Copy,” Marsh said.

  He watched Angie stand there, facing almost certain death, staying calm and proud. She was an amazing woman and when this was over, it was time he finally got to know her.

  He had an apartment in Portland to be part of the team there when needed. In fact, all of them did. And each of them protected a certain Seeder-important person in town. In fact, if his team ever took a name, it would be Guardian Angels.

  Marsh and King were assigned to watch over a couple by the name of Carrie Noack and Matt Ladel. They had actually become friends with them without ever telling Carrie or Matt that they were being guarded. And Carrie and Matt didn’t know about the Seeders ships in orbit or the vast human society that covered the galaxy and far beyond.

  But for some reason, those higher in the Seeders considered Carrie and Matt worth protecting, along with Angie, who didn’t know about the Seeders either.

  Drake had been assigned to watch and protect Benny Slade. Benny and his girlfriend were already Seeders, but they had elected to remain on the planet and unknown to Benny and his girlfriend, Drake was watching out for them.

  The team had not had to be called for a problem with anyone but Angie. Gage had a hunch that Angie wouldn’t stop doing her job until someone told her about the Seeders. And Gage had no idea when that would be.

  So he stood ready to take out the sniper from the tree and the guy with her motorcycle the moment it looked like Angie’s talking could no longer save the day.

  She was one brave person, going out and doing this alone. Wow.

  FIVE

  “I AM NO threat to you,” Angie said. “All we wanted to do
was tell you about what was happening. You are free to stay here for the rest of your lives. No one cares.”

  “Someone always cares,” the man said.

  The two women nodded. Both of them looked very pained. Clearly the year after the Event had not gone well for them.

  The man pushing the bike had stopped behind her about ten steps right at the tree line. She had no doubt, without looking, that he had a gun trained on her as well.

  If these people were so worried about being found, maybe Angie had one last thing to say to save her life.

  “If you allow me to leave here,” Angie said, “I will just cross this compound off as not interested.”

  “I am sure you would,” the man said.

  “But if you kill me, if anything happens to me, the new government will come swooping in here faster than you can ever imagine. Murder is still murder in a civilized world.”

  “No one knows where you are at,” the man said, laughing. “You’re just like those religious types who used to bang on doors back when the world was still alive. You just want us to follow you to your church so you can take our things.”

  “Check the bag on my bike,” Angie said, staring at the man. “There are satellite images of this compound that were taken just recently. They are watching us now as I speak because they knew I was going to be here. You think I am stupid enough to walk in here alone?”

  She was damn proud of herself that her voice didn’t shake when she said that, even though she had been just as stupid as she claimed not to be.

  The man nodded and behind Angie she could hear the other guy rummaging in her pack. He pulled out the photos of this compound and let out a small gasp. Then he let the bike drop and moved around Angie to hand the images to the man between LeAnne and Bettie.

  The man looked at them and suddenly didn’t seem so sure of himself.

  “So go ahead and shoot me,” Angie said. “But expect the helicopters and police to descend on this compound in less than two hours. But you let me go, I just cross this place off as you not being interested and you can go on with your lives for as long as you want.”

  “I think you are bluffing,” the man said.

  “Look at the photo,” she said, actually bluffing her socks off. “Can you tell when it was taken? I left Portland two days ago with it. They took it for me so I would know what they were watching and so I could find this place easily. You are my third stop. They watch me closely at every stop.”

  The man looked at the photo, then simply tore it up and dropped it on the ground.

  “We let you leave and for sure you tell everyone about us. We kill you and take the chance that you weren’t being watched. I think we’ll go with that second chance.”

  He raised his gun and at that moment all four of them just slumped to the ground. And there was a crashing beside the road and another woman slumped out of a tree and fell to the ground.

  What the hell was going on?

  She stood there staring at the four bodies in front of her, letting her racing heart slow just a little. She had been seconds away from being very dead.

  Very, very dead.

  What had happened?

  At that moment, a man came walking up the road, smiling at her. “Bet you thought you were bluffing, didn’t you?”

  She opened her mouth to say something, then just shut it.

  The guy walking toward her had a smile that lit up his face and a body that would turn any head. He looked to be about six-feet tall, with wide shoulders and short, dark hair. His skin looked smooth and tan, as if he spent a lot of time in the sun. He wore jeans, a dark green T-shirt, and had a gun on his hip in a holster that just looked like it belonged there.

  “Angie, sorry we had to finally meet like this,” he said, extending his hand.

  She took his calm, dry hand in her sweaty hand and shook it, still stunned beyond words as to what had happened.

  “I’m Lieutenant Gage Teal. Former United States Special Forces. I’ve been in charge of your protection detail for the last six months.”

  “Holy shit,” she said, almost gasping for air. “You just saved my life.”

  “And that’s exactly why we have been watching you all along,” he said, smiling. “Me and my team always went in ahead of your scheduled stop to make sure you got the protection you needed.”

  “Thank you,” she said, not really knowing what to think other than that she was still alive and the man responsible could be a Greek God. Wearing a damn T-shirt that showed muscles no human should ever have.

  “I thought you were going to talk your way out of this mess as well,” he said. “You had the nutball thinking there for a while.”

  She laughed. “Desperation brings on wild stories. I just didn’t know any of them were true.”

  “Ninety-nine percent of the time,” he said, “it is better to think you are alone when facing these survivors. Glad we were here for that one percent.”

  “Yeah,” Angie said, “me, too.” She was still trying to catch her breath. Near-death experiences can make you real short of breath it seemed.

  “Can you help me get these people rounded up? My men have spread out to scout the area to make sure no one else is around.”

  “Are they dead?” Angie asked. “And what kind of weapon was that?”

  “A ray gun, actually,” he said, laughing “sort of along the same principle as the wave that killed in the Event, only not fatal. Just knocks a person out for a few hours and gives them a real nasty headache.”

  “Good,” she said, laughing.

  “The fifth one fell out of a tree over here where we stunned her,” he said, moving off to the right.

  They each took one of the woman’s arms and dragged her back to the others in the middle of the road. She was about Angie’s age—around thirty—and also looked as clean and fresh as the others. But clearly the Event and this leader guy had really twisted their minds and made them into killers.

  “Where is the sixth one?” she asked after they got the woman near the others.

  “In the big house,” he said. “We can leave her there for the pickup.”

  “What are you going to do with them?” she asked.

  “Helicopter will take them down into the old Central America and dump them off with enough water and food to survive for a few days. It’s pretty wild down there still. Perfect for their type. What they manage to do from there is their business.”

  She laughed. “I love that. Serves the creeps right.”

  He walked her back to her bike and helped her get it upright again. Her helmet must still be down near the highway.

  She secured her bag on her bike and then turned to look at him. Damn, he had green eyes.

  She loved green eyes.

  Now she wasn’t sure if her heart was still racing from almost being killed or racing because the man standing next to her was so damn good-looking.

  How was it possible that the man who had saved her ass was handsome and had green eyes?

  “How about from now on out we do this as a team?” she asked.

  “We have been a team since you went out the first time,” he said, smiling. “You just didn’t know it.”

  “How about you and I work together then, so I know your plans and I don’t go off course and change plans on you and get myself killed in some place you can’t rescue my skinny ass?”

  He laughed. “I like that a lot. So what are your plans next?”

  “I’m going back to Portland to my wonderful house and my two cats, take a long, cool bath, and try to stop shaking.”

  He nodded, the smile still on his face.

  “After that I am going to go out and have a nice dinner at a nice restaurant and a few drinks to try to bury the memory of these nut cases.”

  “Would you like company for dinner and a few drinks?” he asked.

  “I would love that,” she said. “Do you know where I live?”

  She wasn’t sure that she wanted to know the answer to tha
t, but she had asked anyway.

  “Not a clue,” he said.

  “Northwest sector of town,” she said. “You ever heard of a restaurant called Danny’s in the Pearl area?”

  “Best chicken and pizza in all of Portland,” he said, his smile lighting up an already hot and bright day.

  “Six p.m.,” she said, climbing on her bike and firing it up.

  “Six p.m.,” he said, nodding to her.

  She turned her bike and headed slowly down the dirt road, not daring to look at the lieutenant behind her.

  She had almost died, been rescued by the most handsome man left on the planet, and now she had a date with him.

  If he had come in on a white horse it wouldn’t have made it any stranger, other than the fact that horses had been killed in the Event as well.

  Who knew that facing down crazy survivalists could get her a date.

  It was a strange damn world, of that there was no doubt.

  And she was going to enjoy every minute of still being alive, and maybe later, every inch of the body of the man who saved her.

  A girl could hope.

  SIX

  “GOT A DATE, huh?” Drake said as he came around the end of the house dragging the woman who had been inside through the dust like she was so much luggage.

  “Figured it was the best way,” Gage said, smiling, really, really happy that Angie had said yes to meeting him.

  “So we were scouting, huh?” Marsh said, appearing out of the tree line twenty steps to the right. King appeared at the same time on the left.

  “Easier to just let her get on the road again,” Gage said.

  “Sure, sure,” Marsh said, shaking her head.

  Drake dropped the unconscious woman in the pile of other human garbage. “So what exactly are we doing with these sickos?”

  “I’ll have transport drop them with some supplies on a beach in Central America a very long distance from any other humans. Not my issue if they survive or not, but they will be alone like they wanted. They just won’t have anyone but each other to kill.”