Flash Bang (11 page)

Rowan took in the three large rectangular wooden dining tables, each surrounded by eight chairs, inside the large room. The plank wood floors looked old, but clean. At one end of the room was a large service window that opened into the kitchen area with a wide counter extending out into the dining room. Right now it looked like it functioned as a buffet for the hot breakfast food. The steam and smells emanating from the platters set off a round of growling in Ro’s stomach.

Zach heard it, or maybe felt it, first. “Here, sugar, take a seat.” He pulled out a chair and squatted down so she could slide onto it.

“Thanks for the ride,” she said with a sincere smile. Zach was easy to like, and the fact that he was gorgeous and saved her from the awkward silence following her nosy questions didn’t hurt.

Ro forced herself to look away from his twinkling amber eyes and take in her fellow companions seated at the table.

Three men, all large and wearing long-sleeve thermal shirts and cargo pants in various earth tones, and then one little blonde angel dressed in jeans and a pink sweatshirt that had a giant, purple, glittery flower in the middle. Her pigtails were accented with matching pink ribbons. The largest man at the table, sporting a completely shaved head and light mocha-colored skin, sat next to the little girl and occasionally cut her pancakes into smaller pieces when she tried to shove a giant chunk into her mouth. He would have easily been the most intimidating man in the room, except for maybe Graham, but the look of complete adoration in his eyes when he looked at the little girl effectively derailed the scary vibe. Beau was seated across from the little girl, and a man who Rowan hadn’t seen before sat at the foot of the table. Even seated, Ro could tell that he was also tall and broad, with shoulders fit for a linebacker and looked like he could crush the chair he was sitting in. He had shaggy hair that was more copper than brown and stunning green eyes that were currently making a careful study of her.

Rowan opened her mouth to introduce herself, but Graham beat her to it.

“This is Rowan; she’s a guest. You’ve already met Beau. Next to him is Travis, and across from Travis are Jonah and Grace. What do you want to eat? There are pancakes, eggs, sausage, bacon, and hash browns, if Allison is going with the usual today.”

Ro looked up at Graham in semi-shock. That might have been the longest string of words she’d heard come out of his mouth yet.

A female voice called from the window in the kitchen, “There’s also toast and blackberry preserves.”

Rowan looked toward the sound of the voice and saw a woman around her age, dressed in what looked to be a homespun blue dress with a white apron. It reminded Ro of what Amish women wore and seemed out of place among the commandos.

From the seat he had pulled up between her and Beau, Zach faux whispered, “That’s Allison. She’s married to that brute across from you, although none of us can figure out why. And that sweet little girl covered in syrup is Grace. Why she’s not terrified of Jonah, we aren’t sure.”

The maligned Jonah threw a piece of bacon at Zach. Zach caught it in flight and popped it into his mouth.

Jonah rolled his eyes and gave Ro a manly chin jerk. “Nice to meet you. I understand you had a bit of a rough trip on the way here.”

Ro looked down to the table and the plate of scrambled eggs, bacon, sausage, and pancakes that was shoved in front of her. A mug of coffee followed. She looked at Graham questioningly, as he seated himself at the head of the table, just to her left. He just shrugged. “Eat. You need it.”

Opting not to argue with him, she answered Jonah. “It wasn’t a picnic, but I did all right.”

Beau spoke up. “How’s your ankle feeling this morning?”

Ro tentatively rotated it in a circle under the table.

“Actually, it feels pretty good. I don’t think it was as bad as it looked last night.”

Graham interrupted, “We’ll let Beau decide that after breakfast.”

Whatever
, Ro thought as she dug into her food. It was delicious. The eggs were light and fluffy, the bacon crispy, and the pancakes tasted like her mom’s homemade buttermilk recipe, which Ro hadn’t had since her mom passed away when she was a kid. She blinked back the tears that misted at the memory.

“So,” Travis began, “where ya headed?”

Ro could swear she heard Graham mumble, “Great fucking question.” She ignored him and focused on Travis.

“Home.”

“Care to elaborate? And did you really come all the way from Chicago on foot?”

“I’m a little off my bearings, but my family’s farm shouldn’t be too much farther northeast of here. My dad and sister will be waiting on me. And yeah, I left Chicago pretty quickly after whatever happened, happened.”

Jonah looked up from where he was still helping Grace eat her pancakes. “How did you know to get out of the city that fast? Figuring the distance, walking, you must have left the day the EMP took out the grid, or at least by the day after.”

“So it was an electromagnetic pulse? I wondered.”

Jonah nodded, eyes narrowing.

“I left the city the day it happened.”

“Most people wouldn’t have left that fast. Or known what the hell an EMP was.” He paused, and his assessment made Ro feel self-conscious. “I’ve seen your bag.” He gestured to the corner of the mess hall. Ro looked and was relieved to see her pack on the floor. “You had everything you’d need for the trip in your kit. How’d that come about?”

“As much as I’d like the answer to that question, Rowan needs to eat while her food is still hot,” Graham decreed.

For once, Ro was actually grateful for Graham’s highhanded behavior and took a huge bite. She didn’t really want to explain. After she chewed and swallowed, she asked the question that had been nagging her since she’d arrived, “How do you still have working electronics when no one else does?”

“Just eat, woman,” Graham ordered.

Ro let the question go, for the moment, but only because she was starving. She ignored the stares of the other men as she worked on tucking away her giant breakfast.
Whatever, boys. A girl’s gotta eat.

After she was finished, she pushed away from the table and went to stand, momentarily forgetting about her ankle. Surprisingly, the two seconds she put weight on it before Graham shoved her back down onto the chair, she felt only a twinge of pain.

“What the hell are you doing?”

“Calm down, Conan. I’m fine.”

The other men at the table bit back grins at her nickname for Graham. She hadn’t actually meant to let that slip out.

Beau intervened before she and Graham could square off and verbally spar.

“Let me take a look at it.” He turned her chair so he could crouch in front of her and peeled off her sock. He unwrapped the bandage and manipulated her ankle. The bruising was still there, but the swelling was almost completely gone.

“It actually looks a hell of a lot better. Definitely better than I expected. You sprain your ankle fairly often?” he asked, looking up at Ro.

“Yeah, it happens. I’ve broken both of them, and I’m not sure they’ve ever been totally right since. I bounce back pretty quickly though. I figured more than a day or two off it would be completely unnecessary. I can probably walk on it today and be fine.”

“Doll, how about you let the good doctor here make that determination,” Zach said. “So, Beau, what’s the verdict?”

Ro waited with great anticipation as Beau continued to manipulate her ankle. “Does that hurt?”

There was a twinge, okay, maybe a
slice
, of pain, but nothing Ro couldn’t handle. “Feels fine.”

“Don’t lie to him,” Graham said, dropping a heavy hand on her shoulder. “You won’t like the consequences.”

“It’s
fine
. Barely a twinge. Don’t get your panties in a twist,” Ro shot back. She didn’t take well to threats.

“Beau?”

“I’d suggest staying off it for the rest of the day today, at the very least. And preferably tomorrow, too. You might as well give it a chance to heal up right this time. Especially if you’re planning on walking on it eight hours a day like you’ve probably been doing.”

More like ten or twelve hours a day
, Rowan thought.

“She’s not going anywhere,” Graham decreed. Rowan’s temper flared like a Roman candle.

“Excuse me? I’m headed out today, whether you like it or not. I don’t have time to screw around. I need to be somewhere, and I’ve got people waiting on me, and whether I stay or go is not your call.” Ro had put her family last on her list of priorities too many times during the last decade. They were first on her list now, and any desire to stay—regardless of the reason—had to be ruthlessly shoved to the bottom.

“How exactly do you think you’re getting out of here? Not a single person here is going to open the gate for you. You’re going to stay put until you’re healed up completely and I figure out what the hell to do with you.”

Zach spoke up then, as if sensing that Graham’s words were just pissing Rowan off more. Which would be an accurate assumption. “Sweetheart, it’s not safe for you to be out on the road alone. I know you made it this far, but we can’t in good conscience let you leave by yourself. We’d be throwing you to the wolves.”

“I’ll be fine. And regardless, I’m not your problem. I’m not far from where I’m going. It’ll only take me another day, maybe two, to get home.”

“I don’t care if you’re only crossing the street, you’re not going anywhere. And that’s final.” Graham reached down to pluck Rowan off the chair, but she shoved his shoulders back.

“I don’t know how things usually work around here, and I don’t really care, but this whole
what I say goes
attitude you’ve got going on doesn’t work for me. So just let me grab my pack and I’ll be on my way. You won’t need to trouble yourself with me again.”

Graham cursed, spun, and left the mess hall, slamming the door behind him.

“I think Mr. Graham is mad, Daddy,” Grace said to Jonah. “I think he doesn’t want Miss Rowan to go because he likes her like you like Mommy.”

Ro dropped her head into her hands. From the mouth of babes and all.

Zach lifted her chin and dropped a quick, and completely surprising, kiss on her lips. “Been wanting to do that since I saw you covered in mud. I’ll talk to Graham. We’ll figure something out.”

Zach left the mess hall and spotted Graham heading for the command post. He jogged to catch up.

“That could have gone better.”

Graham shot him an annoyed look. “No shit.”

“You got a plan besides telling her she ain’t leaving?”

“I’m still working on that.”

“Because she seems pretty damn determined to get on her way. I want her to stay as much as you do, but we can’t force her.”

“Says who?”

“Seriously, G. Don’t you want a willing woman in your bed?”

“As long as she’s in my bed, I don’t much care.”

Zach knew posturing when he saw it, especially in his best friend.

“There’s got to be some middle ground here.” And Zach was determined to find it. After all, he wanted her to stay, but even more, he wanted her to
want
to stay.

“You think she’ll figure a way out of the camp?”

“Not a chance in hell,” Graham said confidently.

“She’s a firecracker, all right. Might surprise you.”

“Everything that woman does surprises me. Can you imagine her setting out without any protection to
walk
home? Over a hundred miles?” Graham shook his head. “Un-fucking believable.”

“You have fire watch this morning?”

“Shit. I have a shift in the command post.” Graham looked down at his watch. “Which started five minutes ago.”

Graham took off for his post, and Zach called after him, “You ever been late before, G?”

Graham shot up his middle finger before he disappeared into the building.

Rowan waited at the table until the other men gave her apologetic looks and left to go about their business. Jonah took Grace into the kitchen to sit with Allison, and cleaned up and set the leftovers aside for those who hadn't made it in for breakfast yet.

Room empty, and the others occupied, Rowan spied her backpack in the front corner. She stood, gingerly putting weight on her ankle. Only a twinge, okay, more than a twinge, but still, she was satisfied that she could walk. At least a little. Thankfully, both of her boots were sitting next to her bag. She dragged the bag to the nearest chair and attempted to fit her wrapped ankle into the hiking boot. Not happening. She pulled her sock off and unwrapped the ace bandage and shoved it in the bag and then pulled the boot on and laced it. Standing, she took a few tentative steps. The pressure from the boot definitely helped. She wouldn’t get ten hours in today, but she’d get a few. She shouldered the pack and slipped out of the mess hall.