The Humvees pulled up in front of the gates and men in desert camouflage spilled out, weapons at the ready. One of them sauntered toward Rain and Elan. There was a light swagger to his walk as though he thought himself just a little better than anyone else. Rain disliked him instantly.
“Major Smith, at your service. Heard you folks had some dragon problems.” His voice was low and harsh, his eyes icy.
“You’re a little late. We could have used your service an hour ago,” Rain snapped.
“Well, ma’am,” Major Smith tugged at his cap and gave Rain a once over, “we do have more important things than protecting your little compound. Besides, looks like you did a good enough job yourselves. Wonder where you got the ordinance, hmmm?”
Rain glared and crossed her arms over her chest. So, that was what the Marines wanted. They weren’t there to help. They were there to take. Typical.
She glanced at Elan. He just stood there, face remote, eyes locked on the distance. Shit.
“Molotov cocktails,” she lied without batting an eyelash. “Easy enough to make if you’ve got some home brew.”
Smith narrowed his eyes. “Molotovs are useless against dragon hide.”
“We didn’t throw them at the dragons,” she said tartly. “We threw them in the dragons.”
“Dragon.”
“What?”
“There are only enough parts for one dragon here.” Smith indicated the still smoking body parts.
Rain tried to ignore her roiling stomach and shrugged. “The other one got away.”
Smith stepped toward Sutter’s body. “Looks like you got one of your own while you were at it.”
Rain ground her teeth. Bastard. Like she didn’t know her actions had brought about Sutter’s death. She’d never forgive herself for it, either.
“Well, we’ll take the body along with some of that home brew.”
“Excuse me?” She stared at Smith, aghast. “You aren’t taking Sutter’s body. We’re burying him.”
Smith stepped right up into her personal space. “That’s where you’re wrong. According to the Articles of Military Law, we have a right to take anything we want.” He gave her a long look up and down, a smirk crossing his face. “Just be thankful a dead body and some liquor is all we’re taking.”
Rain glanced over at Elan. As head of the compound, he should be dealing with the jackass. Unfortunately, Elan appeared to be in complete shock. He stood there motionless, eyes averted from his brother’s body.
“I don’t think so.” She clenched her fists. “You’ve been taking from us long enough.”
Smith grabbed her by the hair and yanked her head back. “Who’s going to stop us? Huh? You?” He burst out laughing, his men joining him.
She knew it was stupid to battle the Marine, but she couldn’t seem to help herself. Rain hauled off and kneed Major Smith right in the junk. He went down like a ton of bricks.
Unfortunately, his men were extremely well trained. Before Rain could blink, one of them had a gun pressed up under her chin. “You want I should blow her brains out, sir?”
Smith staggered to his feet, still clutching himself. He waved for the Marine to lower his gun. The minute the gun was down, he slammed his fist into Rain’s cheek, sending her tumbling to the ground.
“No,” Smith said. “No, we don’t want to kill her. She’ll come in handy next time we need a little entertainment at the base.” He crouched down next to Rain and gave her a pleasant smile that didn’t quite reach his eyes.
“Now, I’m going to take what I came for, and you’re going to stay here and behave like a good little girl. Do I make myself clear?”
“Fine,” she hissed at the Major. “I can’t stop you.” Not now, anyway but she’d be damned if he was going to get away with stealing her friend’s body.
The smile he gave her wasn’t pretty. “Glad we understand each other.”
Rain staggered to her feet and tucked her arm through Elan’s as the two of them watched the Marines shove what was left of Sutter into a body bag. Then they tossed him into the back of one of the humvees. Rain held back a wince, anger snaking through her at the disrespect. Elan didn’t even blink.
“The booze?” Smith not-so-subtly caressed his gun.
“This way.” Rain led Smith and the rest of the Marines to one of the brick buildings at the edge of the compound. Two large, blue plastic drums were tucked up against the far wall. In front of them sat a couple of crates. Rain pointed at the barrels. “There.”
“That’s it?” Smith frowned, obviously displeased by the pittance.
“We’re lucky we got that much. It was supposed to last through the winter,” she snapped.
“What’s in the crates?”
Rain clenched her jaw and crossed her arms over her chest. “Some canned food we scavenged. It’s our winter stock. You take that and we’re going to starve.”
Smith leered at her. “Too bad. Guess if you get hungry, you can stop by my place. Maybe we can work something out.”
She barely held back a snarl. Much as she might like to, getting all up in Smith’s face again would get her nowhere but locked up. Or worse.
The Marines hustled into the building and hustled back out with the barrels and crates. In minutes they had everything including themselves loaded onto the Humvees.
Smith gave Rain and Elan a mocking bow. “The American Marines thank you for your kind donation.”
“Fuck you.”
He stepped in so close she could smell a hint of mint on his breath. “Anytime, sweetheart.” Then he was gone along with the Humvees and Sutter’s body.
“They took everything?” Elan spoke for the first time. His voice was dull, like his expression.
“Yeah. Just like we planned.”
It wasn’t unusual for the Marines to raid compounds for food and ammunition. During her tracks with Sutter, Rain had discovered more than one community starved to death because of it. Padre Pedro swore that before
