Veil of Destruction (Kessler Effect Book 3), page 22
Work. Adapt. Work more.
It was that, or die.
Tanda sat behind her desk, staring at the three men in front of her—three men that she considered her closest friends.
She’d known Cade Dawson for three months.
Miles Turner for nine.
And Logan Wright for as long as she could remember.
She’d trust each of these men with her life. What they were suggesting wasn’t sitting well though. They’d come together as a town, shared and rationed supplies, used every resource at their disposal. “Most everyone has vegetables planted.”
“Too little too late.”
“We have the goat milk. Lots of fresh eggs. The hunting parties are still bringing in meat.”
“It’s not just a lack of calories,” Logan explained. “It’s a lack of the right calories. It’s not just undernutrition, but rather malnutrition.”
“People have survived on less. What about those people trapped in Antarctica? That was over a hundred years ago, and they were stuck there almost two years. The head of the expedition was—”
“Shackleton. 1914.”
“Shackleton. Thanks, Miles. They survived on seal, penguins, and sea weed.”
“They did,” Logan agreed. “But they weren’t well. They wouldn’t have had the energy to plow a field or the mental fortitude to prepare for rogue attacks. We’re asking a lot of our people, and I’m seeing the wear and tear of that.”
“I’m feeling the wear and tear.” Tanda leaned forward and interlaced her fingers, stared at them a moment. “You want to go to the Valley? Do you know how crazy that sounds? And dangerous?”
“We’ve discussed establishing trade routes before. I think it’s time. I think we need to do this now.”
Tanda turned to Miles and Cade. “You two agree with this guy?”
“I do,” Miles said. “And I should have seen it myself. Proof that my brain isn’t working as well as it should either.”
“Same,” Cade agreed.
“Not what I want to hear from two of our doctors.”
Cade was the one person in the room who had been outside of Alpine for a significant amount of time since June 6th. “I’m not sure what we have to trade. I am sure it will be dangerous, and I hate to say it, but I can’t go.”
Tanda waved that away. “No one expects you to go.”
“Right. I get that. But I want to do my part. I just can’t leave Harper.”
“I’m not sure that anyone in this room needs to be the one to go.” She glowered at Logan, but he simply widened his eyes and let her vent. “Why you, Logan? Why not Liam? He knows what’s out there. He’s trained to deal with an armed and hostile populace.”
“My grandparents grew up in the valley. I know the area. I also know what foods provide the most nutrients and calories. I know this area and what we have to trade. If people are willing to give up what they have for what they need.”
“I don’t like it.” She stood, walked around her desk, and perched on the corner of it. “But you don’t need my permission.”
“True.”
“Okay. I’d like to run this by the Council.”
The meeting broke up after that. Cade hurried home to his pregnant wife. Miles set off with his dog. Logan and Tanda stood in the last of the evening’s light, backs rested against the building that housed the police station.
“Why does it have to be you?”
“I don’t know, Tanda. It has to be someone, and I think it should be me.”
“We need you here.”
“Yeah. I get that. But if we don’t do something about this now then all we’ve been through, all we’ve done to survive, will be for nothing.”
“You don’t think the crops here will be enough?”
“I don’t.”
She sighed, knowing that she would support him if that’s what he really wanted. But she had a condition, and he wasn’t going to like it. Best to put it out in the open now, before they went any farther down this road.
“Okay. I’ll support you. On one condition.”
“Name it.” He gave her the boyish grin that was so familiar to her.
“I’m going with you. Just the two of us. We’ll travel light and move quickly. We’ll get what we need and get home.”
He studied her for a long moment. She had the feeling that he was assessing her. Tanda Lopez knew that she didn’t have to prove herself to anyone, but she did have to live with her own conscious, her own decisions. If things had grown this critical, and she hadn’t realized, then what else wasn’t she thinking of? What wasn’t Logan thinking of?
They’d do this together, and maybe between them they could find what the town needed.
The one thing she knew, though she didn’t understand it and couldn’t have explained it, was that he wasn’t going without her.
Fortunately, he agreed or maybe he simply didn’t have the energy to argue because he stuck out his hand and said, “Deal.”
“Deal. We’ll leave in forty-eight hours.”
You can purchase Veil of Stillness exclusively from Amazon.
Also by Vannetta Chapman
Defending America Series
Coyote's Revenge (Book 1)
Roswell's Secret (Book 2)
Kessler Effect Series
Veil of Mystery (Prequel)
Veil of Anarchy (Book 1)
Veil of Confusion (Book 2)
Veil of Destruction (Book 3)
Veil of Stillness (Book 4)
Allison Quinn Series
Her Solemn Oath (Prequel)
Support and Defend (Book 1)
Against All Enemies (Book 2)
Standalone Novel
Security Breach
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Vannetta Chapman, Veil of Destruction (Kessler Effect Book 3)
