Chapter Text
Robert knew that he shouldn't. If Thomas found out, he'd slice him open from groin to gullet. But at this moment in time, he didn't give a damn. All that mattered was the feel of Anna's skin under the tips of his fingers. The taste of her on his tongue. The feel of her pussy gripping him as he thrust into her with slow, firm strokes. The whole city could be burning around them and he wouldn't be able to stop.
“Whatcha lost in there, Corporal?”
The young Ranger gave a yelp of surprise, leaping up from the downed log she'd been using as a bench and whirling around. “Sorry, General! I didn't hear you come up.”
Bass hid a smile. “I gathered that. At ease, Soldier.” He nodded at the book in the girl's hand. “Must be good.”
She blushed. A full on, tomato red blush. “It's...just a trashy romance. Bodice ripper type stuff.” She shrugged. “Just something to pass the time.”
Okay. That was funny. “They've started publishing romance books again? I figured books on survival and how to cook on wood burning stoves would be more useful.”
“People need...something fun to read. It's either this or Harry Potter, and I'm a little old for those.”
He had to laugh. “I can see that. Sorry to interrupt your 'me time', but I need you to round up your squad and get them ready to relieve the camp guard.”
“Yes, Sir.” The young corporal saluted and hurried off, shoving the paperback into one of the cargo pockets of her jacket.
“Well, at least she's reading.”
That had been his last official task of the day. It hadn't really been his, but she'd been on his way over so he'd told the captain who was going to do it that he'd take care of it. Mission accomplished, he made his way to the mess tent to get some dinner before he retired to the command tent he shared with Miles to split a bottle of whiskey.
The Rangers did a better job of chow than his Republic cooks had. Then again, they had access to more arable land thanks to having swallowed up Arkansas and Louisiana when the boundaries were redrawn. And they were reclaiming their fame for beef. He caught up with Miles in the line where they filled their trays with roast, potatoes, green beans and corn bread before scoping out a place to sit. Charlie was already there, sharing a table with a couple of female Rangers.
“You ladies mind if we join you?” Miles didn't usually do charming, but he did try not to muscle in on Charlie's free time. He was trying not to be the overprotective jerk of an uncle who didn't let his precious niece breathe or live her own life.
He also did a very good job of pretending not to notice how the female soldiers looked at him. Looked at them both, actually. Part of it was the lure of power, certainly. But part of it was also because both of them weren't bad looking for old guys. Not that Bass thought of himself as old, but he knew Miles did. He'd always thought it a bit unfair that his brother didn't even have to try to win a girl over. All he had to do was be brooding and look tormented and they wanted to soothe him and try to make him happy.
They looked at Miles kind of the same way the brunette seated next to Charlie was, though she kept the glances from underneath her eyelashes.
Bass didn't try to pretend he didn't notice how the blonde was looking at him. A Private First Class. Donnovan? No, Donneghall. Pretty thing from a farming town with a smattering of freckles across her nose and light hazel eyes. Pity he promised Miles he'd behave himself. The quiet ones were usually the most fun.
Bass sat down next to Donneghall and across from Charlie. “So, what are you ladies chatting about tonight?”
The brunette...Sasser?... gave a little shrug. “Oh, nothing much. Book club.”
Miles arched a brow at his niece. “You're in a book club?”
“No, not me.”
“We're trying to get her interested.”
Charlie cast her interest in the tray in front of her. “I know the stories, Beth. I don't need to join a book club.”
Okay, Miles might be trying to tone down the overprotective part, but he still rarely passed up a chance to tease her. “What books are we talking about? Harry Potter? Nanny McPhee? Twilight? Please, not Twilight.”
Bass grinned. “I know! Fifty Shades of Gray.”
“No, that's Blanchard's favorite.”
Sasser and Donneghall nearly choked on their dinner. Charlie just rolled her eyes. After she got herself under control, Sasser (Beth) decided to clarify. “They're new. The Republic Chronicles by Lorna Sterling. They're short, but nice and steamy.”
Bass frowned, wracking his brain. “I think I just saw Corporal Yarrow with one of those.”
Beth nodded. “Yes, Sir. I loaned her one of mine.”
“So you have a book club for what I believe was described to me as trashy romance? Bodice rippers?”
“Delicious, steamy sex.” Sasser wasn't even bashful about it. “I just figured Charlie needed something to spice up her fantasy life since she doesn't have a sex life.”
That was enough for Miles. “Okay, I don't want to think about her sex life.” The two non-Matheson girls burst into giggles.
“Hey, none of that.” Bass was grinning, enjoying the fun of making Miles uncomfortable and embarrassing Charlie. “You're Rangers. Rangers don't giggle. They growl.”
Donneghall made a show of fanning herself. “Well, if I had someone like General Lee to spice up my nights, I'd have no trouble growling.”
That got Bass' attention. “Wait? These are period romances? Civil War?”
“Oh, no. The two generals just happen to be named Robert Lee and Thomas Jackson. It's a running gag in the whole series. Random people comment or joke about it.”
“Oh, thank God.” Miles gave an over dramatic sigh. “Charlie, you are an adult and you can make your own decisions, but I do hope you at least try to read something more academic. Surely Aaron wrote a book of something.”
“If he did, it'd be about computers. What good would that do me?”
~***~
They hit a particularly stubborn cell of Patriots. One that had guerrilla tactics down pat. Real pros at rigging up traps using whatever they could find.
If he didn't have that fucking blind spot, he would have seen the damn thing.
Bass glowered from where he was seated in an over sized chair with his leg propped up on a couple of pillows on a crate. The leg wasn't broken, but the surgery to remove the shrapnel and piece together torn tissues had been lengthy. He was under orders not to try weight bearing any more than what was needed to get to the damn chamber pot and back into a chair or bunk.
Fuck.
At least he got to stay on the field as long as he remained in the command tent. It meant he did mostly administrative work while Miles did the manual stuff for both of them, but he'd go crazy if he'd been stuck in a hospital or sent back to Austin to heal.
“General Monroe?”
Bass looked up to spot one of the matronly women from the nearby town who helped out in the camp. It was the Blackout version of the USO. They arranged dances and live music for the troops as well as provided new linens, did repairs on uniforms and brought in fresh baked treats. “Yes, Ma'am. Please forgive me if I don't get up.”
The woman, she looked to be in her mid-sixties, gave him a gentle smile. “Oh, no bother, Dear. May I come in?”
“Sure.” He was bored. He'd talk to anybody at this point. She came inside backwards, pulling a rolling cart along with her. “What's that?”
“Books people in town donated for the troops. I was just in the hospital tent passing them out when someone told me you were here. I figured I'd stop by and see if I might have anything to ease the boredom.”
He smiled. “Madam, you are an angel.” She blushed prettily for a senior citizen and maneuvered the cart closer so he could peruse what she had without getting out of his chair.
Pickings were slim, but there was a copy of Stephen King's Christine and a beat of paperback by someone named Jim Butcher called Summer Knight that was supposed to be about a wizard PI. He plucked them out of the cart and saw a slim volume that looked to be a post-Blackout printing. He wouldn't have noticed it, but the name Lorna Sterling was still relatively fresh in his mind, so he pulled out A General Temptation just out of curiosity. He should probably look into what his female soldiers were in to, after all. A wise leader should understand those under his command.
He thanked the woman, paying her a roguish compliment as was his style just to see if he could get her to blush again and moved as much as he was able to get comfortable again. He reached over to the chest where Miles kept their whiskey stash and pulled out a new bottle. Pouring himself a few fingers, he opened the Sterling book and started reading.
It wouldn't win any literary prizes, but the book was easy fun. There was action and the fight scenes were well written for a romance. The author was either really a man or a woman with her hooks into someone who could help her with the action parts. The two generals, Robert and Thomas, had once been close friends who governed the Northeast Republic until Thomas had begun to feel guilty over all the wars he'd waged and blood he'd shed and left without so much as a good-bye. Robert had been left to try and manage everything on his own while dealing with his feelings of betrayal and loss. The set up really hit close to home for him, strongly echoing what had happened between him and Miles.
Thomas eventually reunited with his long lost daughter, Anna, who had been raised by his brother, after her cousin (who was also her half-brother) had been abducted by Republic forces. The pair of them embarked on a journey to get the boy back, only to run into a wall when they were separated and Anna was captured. Taken to Robert's prison, Anna learns the mother she believed was dead was actually alive. Kept prisoner by the Republic because she knew the location of a large cache of weapons and ammunition that would finally give General Lee the leverage needed to expand his holdings.
”Sarah, it must be nice, having your children back with you again.” General Lee's boots echoed against the smooth concrete floor as he walked. The shadows from the hallway seemed to caress his shoulders as he left them, reluctant to let go of their master so easily. “Hello, Anna. It's nice to finally meet you.”
He wasn't at all what Anna had imagined him to be. His hair was a carefully groomed mop of dark gold curls that complimented bright blue eyes. He looked a good ten years younger than his supposed early forties and his uniform did not hide the powerful build of his body. He moved with a feline grace and hinted at speed and strength.
He was beautiful. Evil wasn't supposed to be beautiful.
”Sarah, I am tired of your games. I need to know where those weapons are. I know that you know. Now you are going to tell me.”
Anna looked from Lee to her mother. “Mom? What's he talking about?”
”Oh, I'm sure there's a lot about your mother you don't know. Isn't that right, Sarah?”
”Mom? Mom, listen to me.” Anna waited until her mother met her gaze. “Whatever he wants you to do, you can't do it.”
General Lee smiled a small, smug smile. “Oh, is that so?” He motioned with one hand to a tall sergeant with salt and pepper hair. The man took a step forward, pulling a revolver from its holster, confirmed it was loaded, and leveled it at Anna and Derek.
”Ms. Jackson, I'm sorry, but you're going to have to choose which of your children I'm going to kill.” The soldier delivered the statement with cool detachment.
Sarah glared at Lee, her eyes wet with tears. “You son of a bitch!”
”Mom, I have seen the Republic army kill dozens. If you help them they will kill hundreds if not thousands.”
”The boy or the girl? Which one is your favorite?”
Anna squeezed Derek's hand in hers. She hadn't come all this way to watch him die. “Mom, some things are more important than family!”
”Choose now!”
Anna didn't think. Her body seemed to move of its own accord. Her legs straightened, the full weight of her coming up until she was glaring down the barrel of the revolver at the sergeant. “Pick me!”
Time stood perfectly still for a small eternity. No one so much as blinked. She could feel Lee's eyes on the side of her face. A tangible heat against her skin that seemed to crawl its way through her. An odd feeling, that look. Even though she wasn't watching him, had her full attention focused on the cold eyes beyond the barrel of the gun, she knew Lee was watching her. And something instinctual inside of her warned her that there was a darker, earthier power behind the eyes she didn't see.
Then, just as it had begun, time moved forward again. “Okay.” He thumbed back the hammer of the revolver, pointing it at the space between Anna's eyes.”
She heard her mother draw in a ragged sob. “No!”
”It's all right, Mom.”
”Stop! Stop! I'll tell you how to find the weapons! Just, please, stop!”
Anna couldn't stop the stab of disappointment that shot through her. Couldn't stop herself from thinking that her mother was weak for giving in. She'd feel bad about that later, but in that moment all she could think about were the hundreds of Dereks that would die once Lee and his men had those weapons.
General Lee's lips turned up into a pleased smile. “See? It's just as Thomas always said; A good hostage works every time.” He looked from Sarah to the kids and back. “Take the kids back to their cells. Have Sarah mark down every cache and location onto a map. And if she tries anything, anything at all, kill both the kids.”
Anna helped her brother up from the worn sofa, not wanting any of the soldiers to lay another finger on him. She was helping him get his balance when she noticed Lee pausing just outside the room to speak to one of the soldiers. She couldn't hear what they were saying, and their guards ushered them out of the room before she could ponder what else he might be planning. They escorted them through the dank corridors towards the holding cells only to see the same soldier Lee had pulled aside rounding the corner in front of them.
”I'm to take the girl with me. General Lee's orders.”
”What? No!” The soldier took hold of her upper arm and pulled her away. “No! I have to stay with Derek! I need to stay with my brother!”
Her pleas fell on deaf ears as another soldier helped him by taking her other arm. Together they drug her down the hall. Anna called for Derek and he called out to her. She strained her neck to see her brother and watched as he was shoved, unceremoniously, into one of the spartan cells. The metal door clanged shut with finality.
Anna wasn't a weak girl. Years of helping to support her family and the less fortunate families in their village and resulted in her developing a good deal of strength. The months on the road with her father on the way here had only made her stronger. But, try as she might, she couldn't get free of these men. Her head still throbbed from the injury in the tunnels, and the harder her heart beat the more it throbbed. She tried tripping them up, but it only made them madder. They tightened their grip on her arms to a punishing extent and jerked her forward until they reached a flight of steps down. A sense of self-preservation made her stop struggling, then. She didn't need to compound her problems by breaking her neck falling down a flight of stairs.
They hauled her down the stairs, through another corridor and finally into a spacious, well appointed office. The Republic's flag hung on the back wall behind a heavy, ornate desk. Behind the desk sat General Lee, reclining in a plush, comfortable chair, his bright blue eyes watching her as she was brought in.
”Hello, Anna. Thank you for joining me.” He nodded to the guards who moved her to a chair situated before the desk and shoved her down into it before exiting the room. It was on the tip of her tongue to mouth off to him, her father had improved her sarcasm skill on the trip here, but she reminded herself that this man still held Derek's life in his hands.
She opted instead to remain silent, her fists balling up in her lap as she forced herself to keep her breathing slow and steady. Her father was still out there, somewhere. If anyone could get them out of this mess, General Jackson could.
Lee got up and walked over to a rolling cart behind his desk, atop which sat a serving tray with an ice bucket, a cut crystal decanter and four matching glasses. He flipped two of the glasses upright and added a couple pieces of ice to each. “You were really something in there, by the way.” He poured some amber liquid, probably whiskey, from the decanter into the glasses. “You have quite a bit of your father in you.”
She swallowed. “Thank you.”
He put the lid back onto the ice bucket and carried the glasses over. He held one out to her and she took it. Took it, but didn't drink. She didn't think she could stop her hand from shaking long enough to drink without spilling it down the front of her last good top. “I suppose that's hardly surprising. You were a stubborn, hard-headed thing when you were a child, too.”
That took her by surprise. “You...you knew me when I was a kid?”
”Oh, yes. Your father and I are from the same home town. Were in the corps together. We'd come home on leave together, mainly to see you.” He moved slowly until he was standing behind her. A firm, heated hand came to rest on her shoulder, making her jump slightly from the unexpected contact. “I have to say, you grew up beautiful. Hardly surprising given who your parents are. You know, Thomas and I, we had a whole plan mapped out as to what we were going to do when you got old enough to date. Not the usual cleaning guns thing, that's nothing. You have to put the guns back together to shoot. No, we were going to be sharpening knives. Big ones.” He gave a low, throaty chuckle. “We had plans to have any would-be suitors so terrified they wouldn't have even had the guts to give you a peck on the cheek.”
Anna licked her lips, her eyes still looking forward so that she was staring at his desk. “Is that what you did for fun when the lights were on? Terrify teenage boys?”
”Only when we didn't think they were good enough for the girl.” Lee's voice had taken on a dark quality. Not scary dark. She wasn't sure what it was, but she didn't think she was afraid. But then, if she wasn't afraid, why was she trembling? She felt his fingers trail from her shoulder and move up the side of her neck to trace her jaw. A line of fire seemed to follow in the wake of those fingertips. “And, Anna, from what I've seen today, I can't think of a single boy who would be good enough for someone like you.”
“Hey, Bass!” He jumped slightly in his seat, his eyes flying to the front of the tent where Miles was peeking in. “You hungry?”
It took him a second to register the question. “Uh...yeah. Starving actually.” He dog-eared the book and dropped it into the pocket caddy hanging on his chair. “Lunch was kind of light.”
“I'll go grab us something out of the mess and bring it back. So...uh...” his lips quirked up in a crooked grin, “sit tight.”
“Oh, funny! Ha, ha!” He snatched up a model of a wagon and chucked it at Miles' head. Of course the jerk ducked before it could hit him.
Once Miles was gone, Bass was better able to wrap his mind around what he'd just been reading.
Fuck.
The similarities between him and Miles and the characters of Lee and Jackson had been eerie enough, but that scene with Anna, her brother and their estranged mother had almost been exactly what had transpired in Philly that day Rachel got the power on for him. Almost word for word, right down to Charlie standing up in front of Strausser's gun and daring him to shoot her.
What the fuck?
Rachel wouldn't write this. She was the type of elitist who'd consider romance books trite and unworthy of her time. She certainly wouldn't write what had been shaping up to be a rather sexually charged scene between a character that was obviously him and a girl who was obviously patterned after her daughter. No, if Rachel had written this, Anna would have managed to get her hands on a knife and castrated General Lee, then gone on to slaughter every soldier in the building.
That left only one other person who had been there that day. The only other person who would have known about the show down between him and the Mathesons that morning.
What was going through Charlie's mind?
Admittedly, he'd had a fantasy or two after seeing her that day. Usually involving bending her over his desk or pushing her to her knees and giving that smart mouth of hers something more interesting to do.
Had Charlie entertained her own dark fantasies about that day as well?
Thank goodness his injury required him to wear looser clothing or his pants would be getting uncomfortably tight right now.
He was tempted to fish the book back out and keep reading. To see just where Charlotte Matheson's fantasies went. But Miles would be back soon and he didn't think he wanted to have dinner with his best friend while his mind was filled with fresh thoughts of defiling his niece.
Bass concentrated on getting himself under control. Miles would be out again tomorrow and he could read more, then. In the meantime, he needed to not think about Charlie.
Yeah.
Right.