Edge of Valor: A Post-Apocalyptic EMP Survival Thriller(48)

He seized the radio, switched to the correct channel, and radioed Luther.

The radio hissed static. There was no answer. It wasn’t their prescribed check-in time. Besides, without the repeater stations, the radio was out of range.

Dread settled in his gut like a block of ice. Liam tried again and again.

Again and again, nothing.





32





Hannah





Day One Hundred and Ten





“It’s not over,” Hannah whispered.

“It is for tonight,” Liam said. “You’re safe now.”

She didn’t feel like it. Try as she might, she couldn’t still the fear pulsing through her. She couldn’t stop trembling.

Reynoso and Perez had conducted a thorough search of Fall Creek, and Liam had ordered increased patrols and twenty-four seven surveillance of Hannah’s house. He refused to leave her side.

Lightning flashed outside the window. A moment later, thunder rumbled.

A storm was coming.

Hannah was back home, Liam with her. They sat on the sofa, Milo and Charlotte asleep in their beds. The fire crackled in the fireplace as orange shadows flickered along the walls.

Ghost stretched out in front of the hearth, alert but rested his head on his front paws, his brown eyes watching their every move. Every so often, he’d nose his injured hind leg and give a plaintive whine.

It was three a.m. Neither she nor Liam had slept.

Anxiety wound a knot in Hannah’s belly and wouldn’t let go. Her mind kept rewinding and replaying the night’s events. “What if I’d missed? What if Charlotte was seriously hurt? What if—”

“You did everything right,” Liam said.

“She could’ve died. L.J., Milo. Evelyn and Travis—”

“They didn’t. You can’t beat yourself up about what might have been.”

She nodded dully.

“You did good,” Liam said, pride in his voice. “The bad guys are dead, and you aren’t. Charlotte is safe. You’re safe.”

“I killed a man tonight.”

“You did what you had to do.”

She stared at the fire. The flickering flames danced and blurred. “I didn’t miss, Liam. I was scared to death, but I didn’t miss.”

Not like before. She remembered the night of the blizzard, trapped in the house with Pike. The confrontation in the hallway when she could’ve shot him dead but missed, her hands shaking with panic, her bad hand unusable.

How much had changed.

She had changed. She was stronger.

Still afraid, but fear wasn’t a lack of courage. True courage was action in the face of fear.

And she’d acted.

“That makes you strong, Hannah.”

She looked at him with burning eyes. “He wants you dead. He wants my baby.”

“He’s not going to get what he wants.”

She shuddered. “This family is poison. It’s like they never die. When Pike was chasing us, that’s how it felt, like he was the devil himself.”

“He wasn’t, though. You killed him. He was a human being, just like General Sinclair. He can be killed.”

Hannah rubbed her crooked fingers. “The evil in that family. Do you think it started with Rosamond’s father? What if it’s a genetic curse passed from generation to generation?”

“We all have choices,” Liam reminded her. “No one is born evil.”

“What if Charlotte has it?”

“She doesn’t. She won’t. You’re raising her with love, kindness, everything good.”

Her chest went tight. Now that the danger was over, she was shaky and weak. The tension and fear crashed down upon her. The stress, the pressure, the exhaustion. She couldn’t get enough oxygen.

“We’ll protect her,” Liam said. “I promise you.”

Lightning flashed. A rumble of thunder trembled the house. The first drops of rain dribbled down the windowpanes. She was suddenly so cold.

Concern flashed in Liam’s eyes. “You’re shaking.”

“I almost lost her, Liam.” A sob escaped her throat. “I came so close—”

“Hey, hey.” He turned toward her on the couch, only a foot away. “Look at me.”

With great effort, she raised her eyes. As he’d done in the nursery, he placed his hands on her shoulders, comforting her. Once, she would have flinched from him in fear, the specter of Pike rising up in her mind. No longer.

“You did it,” Liam said softly. “You kept Charlotte safe. You’re her mother. You protected her.”

She nodded. He was close, so close she could inhale the smell of him, earthy and masculine.

He lifted one hand and brushed her hair back from her face. “I will protect her, I promise you. I will lay down my life for hers.” He hesitated, his eyes dark and bottomless. “I would die for you, Hannah.”

An electric charge shivered through her.

The way he was looking at her. The intensity in those gray-blue eyes. The question waiting there for her to answer.

It felt like the boundaries of their relationship had abruptly shifted. She felt disoriented, dizzy.

The rain fell harder, battering the roof. More thunder pealed.