“We’ve had worse.” Tace set the mop to the side and jerked his head to the examination table. “Three wounded, all easy to sew up. April Snyder regained consciousness, no permanent damage, and you’re forgiven since you saved her daughter.”
Jax shrugged out of his vest and sat on the table, his legs extending to the floor. “And the kid? How bad?”
“Scared shitless but not hurt.” Tace shoved Jax’s shirtsleeve up his arm and hummed at the wound.
Jax cleared his throat, forcing his voice out. “Was she, ah—”
Tace paused, understanding dawning across his broad face. “No. Haylee got separated from the group, so she hid. Cruz found her and set his plan into action. Nobody touched the girl.”
The breath he hadn’t realized he’d been holding blew out of Jax. “Good.” Cruz must’ve been on a timetable or he would’ve taken the time to violate the girl, just to torture Jax. “No more kids on scavenging trips.”
Tace leaned in and started stitching up the wound. “Don’t have a choice, and you know it. We’re limited, and everybody has work to do.”
Jax sucked in air and shoved pain away like he’d learned in the army. Failure threatened to crush his skull. If he was doing his fucking job, the kids would be safe.
“Stop.” Tace finished stitching and slapped a bandage on the wound. “Don’t second-guess yourself.” He threw blood-soaked cotton balls into a corner trash can. “Bullet just grazed you and will leave a wimpy scar. Nothing fun.”
What was one more scar? “Thanks, Doc.”
“I’m not a doctor, and you should probably see one of the real doctors inner territory,” Tace said without heat. “That old feud between you and Cruz. It’s bad.”
“Yeah. It’s bad.” Jax picked at his bandage. “When I left the service and came home, one of my plans was to kill him.”
Tace blinked. “Oh. Um—”
“Don’t want to talk about it.” Enough of opening old wounds. “Thanks for covering my back out there.”
“Of course.” Tace, as usual, let the subject drop. “Uh, I heard your window being unboarded during the fight. How bad did you yell at Dr. Harmony?”
“Not bad.” Jax unrolled his shirt sleeve. “She doesn’t seem to understand her importance. Or the threat she represents.”
“Perhaps she knows something we don’t.” Tace leaned back against the counter, fatigue creasing the side of his mouth. “Did you piss her off so bad she won’t help us?”
“She’ll help us.” Jax needed to get some answers from her, when they both had clear heads. He probably should’ve calmed down before storming up to discuss the window with her, but either way, he’d made his point.
“When do I get to meet her?” Tace asked. “I’m ready to figure out this illness, and she knows a helluva lot more than we do. I’ve had the records from the CDC outpost brought here from the main records building’s inner compound.”
Now probably wasn’t a good time. “Let’s give her a couple of hours to calm down from our, ah, discussion, and then I’ll bring her to the lab.”
Tace exhaled and shook his head. “You yelled at her.”
“She deserved it.” No need to go into details. For now, he had to figure out a way to allow the teenagers to contribute without putting them in so much danger.
Manny strode inside, a butterfly bandage over his right eye. “Everyone good?”
Jax took in the fifty-year-old badass. “Yes, but I need you to keep a closer eye on the kids and scavengers than we’ve done so far.”
Manny rubbed a hand through thick gray hair. “Shit.”
“Thanks.” Jax rolled his burning shoulder. “I think April Snyder can help. I’ll have you approach her.” He turned back toward Tace and paused as a teenager crossed into the room from the soup kitchen, hands full of wires. “Byron?”
The kid glanced up through wire-rimmed glasses. “I’m working on a portable ham radio, just in case we need one on a mission. But I need more wires. If I come up with a list, will you keep an eye out during raids?”
“Sure.” Jax studied the skinny seventeen-year-old. “You did a great job rewiring the van the other day. Thanks.”
“No problem.” The kid glanced at his watch. “Damn. I’m late for target practice. We can’t keep using pretend bullets.” He knuckled his glasses back up his nose. “I’ll try to come up with rubber bullets or something.” Muttering to himself, he turned on his torn tennis shoe and disappeared.
Jax looked at the empty doorway. “I like that kid. Just imagine what he could’ve been before Scorpius.”
Tace nodded. “I’d rather imagine what he can do for us now.”
Good damn point. “Speaking of fake bullets, we need more real ammo,” Jax said.
Tace sighed. “Raid?”
“Yeah. I hate to do it, but I remember some of the stash houses around L.A. Chances are, we’ll find some still there. Maybe drugs, too.” With so many getting wounded so often, they couldn’t be too choosy over painkillers. “I’m thinking of taking the new guy so you can stay here.”
Tace’s head flipped up. “No.”
“Yes. If I don’t make it back, you’re in command. Plus, you’re our only medic with actual combat training. The rest are a couple of nurses and doctors. Young ones. We can’t lose you.” Jax didn’t let any doubt show in his eyes. The Vanguard had to run like the military to survive, so his orders had to be obeyed, and he had to keep his distance from folks.
Suddenly, without a hint of sound, Raze stood in the doorway. He stood shoulder to shoulder with Jax, his body in definite fighting shape. Black hair curled over his collar, and only the odd light blue of his eyes showed his heritage as anything other than Native American. “Is the girl okay?” Raze asked.
“Yes. Nice job on the roof. You’ve done sniper duty.”
“Yes.” Raze turned on his heel and disappeared.
Tace wrinkled his brow. “That guy is seriously weird.”
Yeah, he was off, but so was the rest of the world right now. “He can fight, and he has experience. Let’s hope he stays on our side,” Jax said. Jax didn’t trust him and didn’t know his true agenda, but for now, he could use him. “Anyway, with him on the raid, you can stay busy here as my main combat doctor.”
Tace sighed. “Fine. But about Lynne Harmony—she has medical knowledge, right?”
“Yes. Worked for the CDC before everything. Was some brilliant scientist—that comes with medical knowledge, I’m sure.” Jax stretched out his wounded arm. “But even if she wanted to help us, most people wouldn’t let her touch them. You know that.”
“She just has to help decipher the research materials we’ve confiscated from labs lately.” Tace shook his head. “Although I don’t want to cover her back all day. How are you going to keep her safe?” He kicked at a roll of garbage that had fallen out of the overflowing bin. “How will I if you don’t return from your next raid?”
Jax eyed his second in command and somebody he would’ve called a friend in the old days. They’d nearly died more than a few times together, and he couldn’t lie. “I have no fucking clue.”
Chapter Eight
Passion will hunt us, as we slumber unaware, and consume us from within.
—Dr. Franklin Xavier Harmony
So far, Lynne’s first full day in Vanguard territory had sucked, and she was still stuck in Jax’s room as darkness filtered through the boarded-up window. Damn it. She didn’t have time to be a prisoner. She needed to get on with her mission.
She set down her dad’s journal after reading some of his more humorous passages and then fingered a worn and faded picture taped to the wall by the door. A much younger Jax with his arm slung around a shorter kid, one with Jax’s eyes. A brother? They had the same facial structure and build, so definitely a younger brother.
A timid knock sounded on the door, and Lynne hurriedly unlocked her side, more than tired of talking to herself for the last several hours. She yanked open the door, happy to see whoever ended up on the other side.
Fragrant and steaming, a bowl of soup lay at her feet on the threadbare carpet.
She glanced up and smiled at the woman sidling down the other side of the hall near a soldier guarding the stairwell. “Thank you.”