Without Law 18 by Eric Vall (most difficult books to read .txt) 📗

something, then he set it back on the flames to cook longer.

It was still partially dark out, but the deep blue of the new day had started to make its appearance on the horizon, and I knew it wouldn’t be long until it was full daylight again.

“Morning,” Ben said as I walked over and sat down.

“Morning,” I greeted him. “Smells good over here.”

My nose was filled with the scent of cinnamon, but I still wasn’t sure what he was cooking.

“Thanks,” he chuckled. “It’s nothing special, just some spiced oatmeal.”

“I appreciate you taking the initiative and making breakfast,” I told him.

“Of course.” He nodded. “It’s the least I could do. We’ve been getting a little stir crazy around here. We practice our hand to hand and everything like that, but with the stealth operations you all have been doing, most of us have just kind of been hanging out. I’m just trying to do what I can.”

“You’ve done a lot already,” I chuckled.

“Yeah, my first day here was pretty busy,” he laughed.

“Well, don’t fret too much,” I told him with a smile. “Everyone is about to get a lot busier here soon.”

“Right.” He nodded seriously. “The Boston troops.”

“Yeah,” I agreed. “The girls and I scouted some areas yesterday, and I think I found one we can funnel them into.”

“Good,” Ben said. “So, what’s the plan?”

“I’m not entirely sure right now,” I told him with a shake of my head. “I want to talk to Hammer and see his thoughts. He’ll know the area better than we do.”

“Good idea,” Ben said. “Always good to use people with more knowledge than yourself.”

“Right,” I said.

Just then, I saw the girls making their way over to the fire. Bailey and Paige were walking together and chatting about something while Anna walked behind them.

“Where’s Tara?” I asked as the girls sat down by the fire.

“Where do you think?” Anna chuckled.

“Again?” I asked, and my eyebrows furrowed with concern.

“She’s alright, Tav,” Bailey assured me. “Morning sickness sucks, but it doesn’t mean there’s anything wrong.”

“Yeah,” Paige agreed. “I’m sure she’s doing just fine. Don’t worry, I’m keeping an eye on her exertion and water intake.”

“Thank you, Paige,” I said sincerely.

I shouldn’t have been surprised to hear the brunette say this. As our resident travel nurse, Paige was always looking out for everyone around her.

It didn’t take long for Tara to join us, and when she did, she sat next to me and laid her head on my shoulder.

Ben dished us up some breakfast, and I was surprised by how good it was. Then again, I wasn’t too picky. Still, though, I hadn’t expected the pilot to make such a good bowl of oatmeal. I was able to take a few bites before Minji and Hammer made their way over to the fire pit to get things started for the day.

The sun had risen some, and the sky was more light blue than dark blue at that point. The new day had officially begun, and it was time to get things done.

“Tav,” Hammer said as he and Minji approached the fire.

“Hey.” I nodded. “Sit down if you’d like, we’re almost done.”

“Alright,” Hammer agreed, and he and Minji sat across from me. “What are our plans for today? Normally, I’d separate my men into groups and have them posted in different areas, but you’re in charge now, and I wanted to see what you had in mind.”

The last part was said with a smile, and I couldn’t help but smile back. Something about Hammer made me feel as though I’d known him forever. By all rights, he should have been bitter as hell that I’d taken over as commanding officer when he’d been here from the beginning, but he was nothing but supportive, and I appreciated the hell out of him.

“We need to finish cleaning out the ship,” I said. “And do a tally of all our supplies.”

“I can do it!” Paige said.

“I can handle that,” Minji said at the same time.

The two women looked at each other and then burst into laughter. They were quite similar, and I had to admit, their eagerness to do menial tasks was something I’d never seen before.

“Alright,” I chuckled. “The two of you can handle it together.”

“Great,” Paige said with a smile.

“Works for me,” Minji agreed.

“After we get everything cleaned up and tallied, I want us to work on some practice runs,” I said.

“Practice runs?” Bailey asked. “For what?”

“The ship,” I explained.

“We don’t want another incident like last night.” Hammer shook his head.

“It’s alright,” I told him. “Like I said, it’s better we got those foot soldiers out of the way so soon. If they’d attacked while we were getting prepared to take on the Boston troops it could’ve been much worse.”

“Right,” he sighed and looked at me. “We’ll make sure everyone knows the basics of the ships before days end.”

“Alright.” I grinned. “That sounds like a plan.”

“I’ll inform the men,” Hammer said, and he stood up.

“I still want people on guard today,” I told him. “Split your men in half and send half to their posts and half to the ship. I’ll do the same with mine. Less to train at once.”

“Good idea,” he agreed, and he turned on his heels and walked away.

“Soooo we get to steer the ship today?” Tara asked with a grin after Hammer walked away.

“Looks like it.” I nodded.

“Cool,” the platinum-blonde said.

“You’re excited about that?” Anna asked with a raised eyebrow.

“Yeah,” Tara scoffed. “Aren’t you?”

“Eh, I could take it or leave it.” The redhead shrugged.

“It’s a huge frickin boat,” Tara laughed. “I think it’s awesome. I can’t wait to get my hands on the wheel.”

“I don’t think that’s exactly how that