The Pleasure Palace had done a number on her, that’s for sure. It was a wonder she’d pulled herself together and returned to the Resistance. Most females, once on sex drugs, couldn’t get off them. They were highly addictive. They’d been designed that way. To hook and keep the females as virtual slaves in the pleasure houses. If a woman escaped, she would crave the drugs to the point of near death and return to the place that supplied her, looking for more, plus the sex.
Apparently Reena had beaten those seductive drugs. She was tough, sexy and totally out of his league. Besides, she was damaged goods. She would need a man or men who were caring and patient with her and who would accept her desire for freedom for all women.
He could never be that man. As a SKULL assassin, he had too much blood on his hands. He didn’t deserve happiness.
When he cleared the nearby tree line, he sighed in both frustration and relief. Relief because he’d been stopped from making a moral mistake. Frustration for the leader of the Resistance, because her troubles were only beginning.
* * * * *
Blade slipped away into the horizon and Cade sighed in relief. Blade wouldn’t be back. At least not any time soon. He was a smart man and understood that what Cade said, he meant. Cade would have killed Blade if he hadn’t dropped the gun, despite their friendship. It would have sent a strong message to SKULL to back off the leader.
Unfortunately for the Resistance, Cade was on a similar mission. Only Cade’s orders didn’t come from SKULL.
His mission—capture the leader of the Resistance, the woman they called Red, and bring her into the government safe and sound. Too bad Blade being here had screwed up his plan of capturing her. He wouldn’t be able to catch the woman today. She’d have disappeared without a trace by now.
Tomorrow.
Tomorrow he would attempt to pick up the trail and start the hunt again. He’d capture the red-haired beauty and bring her in. He’d been told there was a deal on the table for members of the Resistance who came in peacefully. In the meantime, he’d make a large bounty for doing his job.
He just wished he could trust the government when they assured him her freedom was guaranteed, even if she didn’t take the deal. Cade frowned and shoved his gun back into the ankle holster, then headed back to the Outlaw farm.
Chapter Two
Six weeks later…
Reena “Red” Wilde topped the tree-enshrouded embankment of the winding creek she’d been following for the last half an hour. She tried hard not to shiver as sheets of frigid air blasted against her jean-clad legs and her face. The cold mid-November wind had picked up and she was grateful she’d had the forethought to slip into her late grandfather’s green camouflage hunting jacket before leaving the cabin. Thankfully she’d also donned an extra pair of wool socks before opting to put on her winter boots despite no snow on the ground—although from the looks of the sky that would change soon.
She focused her attention on the dark-gray clouds rolling above the gnarled branches of the hardwood forest prevalent in the southern half of the state of Maine. She should have taken the weather forecast more seriously when she’d listened to her portable satellite radio this morning at the cabin.
In her desire to reconnect with nature, she’d spent hours walking through the woods. The small, picturesque frozen ponds in the valley behind her grandfather’s hunting cabin made her breath catch at their beauty. She had admired the birds, deer and other wildlife she encountered. But in doing so, she’d ventured too far.
She probably had another hour or more of walking before she could get back and warm herself by the wood stove. Maybe she could avoid getting caught in the snowstorm that was sure to drop a good load before nightfall.
As if the angry-looking sky ignored her wishful thinking, a defiant snowflake twirled a taunting dance past the white mist of her breath. Another snowflake landed in her eye and she quickly swiped it away with the back of her mittened hand. Any split second of blindness was dangerous.
Cursing the impending bad weather, she hoped her luck would hold out and the erotic throb of need wouldn’t erupt between her thighs. She was overdue. The crushing craving for sex hit at the most inopportune times. Ever since being infected with the X-virus, her life was a chaotic rhythm of yearning for sex, masturbating and then having a few days to several weeks of peace before the overwhelming need to orgasm hit again.
The “big O” is what she needed when the cravings kicked in. A climax in order to keep from dying—literally.
She’d end up freezing to death out here if she didn’t get her ass in gear and head back to the cabin. God, why had she let her good friend Maggie talk her into taking a couple of weeks away from her job, anyway?
Her job. She chuckled harshly beneath her breath as she continued to gaze at the desolate wilderness beauty.Yeah right. Now that is an understatement, isn’t it?If life ever returned to a semblance of normalcy—which she highly doubted—what in the world could she write on her resume?
Job experience: Fugitive. Leader of the Resistance. Wanted dead or alive by every bounty hunter in the United States. Wanted dead by various government factions. Wanted alive by any group of men who could catch her and screw her brains out just so they could claim rights over her and call her their wife.
Crud.
Why hadn’t she been smart enough to bring an entourage of her most trusted bodyguards into seclusion with her? Because Reena, or “Red” as the members of the Resistance had nicknamed her, was just plain stupid, that’s why. Well okay, aside from being stupid, lately she’d been snapping everybody’s head off due to the stress of being the Resistance leader.
Her need for alone time—the first alone time in years—had clouded her judgment. She’d been in seclusion only two days of her two-week hiatus and already she was climbing the walls. Hence, she’d disregarded the storm warning and did her five-mile run this morning, following up with a wilderness hike.
Reena sighed and stuck out her tongue, catching a couple of snowflakes. The wetness made her yearn for something to drink. Maybe some sparkling water drawn from the ice hole she’d augured in the lake in front of the cabin. Or better yet, some of that cool white wine she’d brought in via her very heavy food-laden knapsack after being dropped off by a male member of the Resistance about three miles from the cabin.
Women were forbidden to drive these days. There were checkpoints along most roads so it had been quite difficult to arrange her hiatus. But, in the end, everything had worked out and she’d finally gotten her much-needed solitude.
Perhaps she should have taken a man or two along too to keep from getting bored. Now that men were returning from the Terrorist Wars, many of them were joining the Resistance. Some were prominent doctors and lawyers, and others blue-collar factory workers from the cities or farmers from the countryside. If she got her way, they would amass a large enough group to overthrow the dictatorship that now controlled the U.S., then they could start getting things back to normal…if that were possible.
Once upon a time, she’d wanted to be a teacher, a wife and mother. But she wanted none of those things now. Even if she did get back to a somewhat ordinary existence, she didn’t have the desire to get into that kind of life anymore.
