Page 37 of Taken By the Soldier
Then he’s gone, out the door and into the early morning light, off to attend to some task that requires his immediate attention.
When I finally venture downstairs, I’m stunned to discover the security system is set and all the windows and doors are locked. The security light beside the front door is blinking red, and I know if I try to open it, he’ll receive an alert.
Did he set the alarm on purpose? My spirits plummet. Is he angry with me?
I don’t know what to think, so I set off to do a couple of chores inside the house, saddened that I won’t be able to attend the groundbreaking ceremony for the school. I’d promised Adella and Chloe I would be there, and I hope they don’t think I flaked out. I also hope they don’t worry about me.
After I complete all my chores, I stare out the bay window in the living room, watching for Luka.
I don’t know what I’ll say to him when he returns, but I pray he comes home soon.
Chapter22
LUKA
The dream hauntsme all morning. I haven’t dreamed of Isabell and Harlow in a while, and this disturbs me. I don’t know if it’s due to the passage of time or if Judith has something to do with it.
Since we got married, I’ve been less lonely. I’ve even experienced flashes of peace and… happiness.
After the bombs were dropped on the Zasforr Islands, I’d dreamed of Isabell and Harlow constantly. All fucking night every night. But after marrying Judith, those dreams started to come less and less.
Sometimes, it feels like a betrayal to Isabell and Harlow’s memory that I’m starting to move on.
I growl as I march to the newly built meeting house. The protective shield that surrounds the settlement has been malfunctioning all morning and I’ve asked some of my best men to meet me there so we might try to figure out what’s causing the issue. Scans of the terrain outside the settlement don’t show any signs of enemy forces, but I’m still on edge. The shield keeps alerting us to a breach every couple of minutes, yet whenever we travel to the location of the breach, we find the shield is still activated and no one is there.
When I enter the meeting house, my men are waiting, and I’m quick to pull up all the information and display it on a large screen. I also erect a holomap of our settlement, and the locations of the false breaches flash red.
Before I start talking, Gunnar jumps up from his seat, holding a tablet high in his hand. “I found the problem! A bug. A fucking bug.”
“A virus in the shield’s system?” I ask. I don’t like the sound of that, but it makes sense.
“Yes,” Gunnar replies. “It was intentionally planted a few hours ago.”
“Sabotage,” I say, suppressing a growl. “Someone wants to keep us busy checking on the shield today. But why?”
“The network was hacked from the outside,” Gunnar clarifies. “There isn’t a traitor among us, if that’s what you were thinking. It’s likely the Americans fucking with us.”
“Maybe they’re out there somewhere close by,” a soldier by the name of Harris says. “To purge the virus from the system, we’ll have to reboot it, and that means shutting the shield down for at least an hour.”
All our wrist comms beep as the shield is breached again, though there’s no point in checking the location of the so-called breach. If we go there to check things out, we’ll just be wasting more time.
“Christ,” I mutter under my breath. I walk closer to the holomap, my focus on the more mountainous regions, where it’s likely easier for the Americans to be hiding. “If they are out there waiting for us to shut the shield down, there can’t be many of them. We would’ve detected a large army approaching hours ago.”
“I think you’re right,” Forrest says, sitting taller in his seat. “Maybe a dozen soldiers, two dozen at most. I can’t imagine a group larger than that making it this close to our settlement without being detected. Or, perhaps they have cloaking technology. I heard the Americans were trying to buy such technology from the Chinese before the war started.”
“Is there any way to purge the virus without shutting the system down?” I ask, my gaze sweeping around the room. The idea of turning the protective shield off for an hour leaves me uneasy, especially when I suspect the enemy is lurking nearby.
Judith’s face flashes in my mind and my worry deepens.
The thought of anything happening to her makes my hands tremble with rage. An odd tugging sensation fills my chest. And suddenly all I want is to have her at my side where I can see that she’s perfectly safe. I know she’s home right now and I set the alarm before I left, but that’s not enough. She’s my wife and it’s my duty to protect her always.
But it’s also my responsibility to lead the people of this settlement and keep them safe as well. Fuck. I resist the urge to run a hand through my hair in frustration. I always endeavor to keep my calm in front of my men, even when a tense situation arises. If they think I’m panicking, they might lose faith in my ability to see us through this danger.
“Let’s come up with a plan,” I say with a nod at the holomap. I draw a finger along the border that circles the settlement, which flashes blue on the map. “We’ll need to have every soldier in this settlement join us if we want to be sure no American soldiers, or anyone else who doesn’t belong, trespasses into our territory.”
I summon the commanders from the other twenty-four units, and we divide sections of the border to patrol. The plan is for our eighteen thousand soldiers to guard the border while Gunnar and a few other techies work on purging the virus from the system that runs the protective shield. During the one-hour window that the shield is totally shut down, we’ll stop anyone who attempts to set foot in our Deep Creek settlement.
“You have orders to kill any enemy soldiers, or civilians, who try to storm the border on sight.” I try to ignore the sickness that rises in my stomach. I’ve enjoyed several peaceful months here. God, how I’d hoped the fighting was over. But apparently, it’s not.
