Unstoppable Force (Force of Nature Series) (2 page)

“I’m Debbie Jones. It looks like we’re
going to be living together for awhile. What are you in for?” Lou ignored her
and hung her shirt over the back of the headboard. “I guess you didn’t hear me.
I said—”

“I heard you.” Lou sat on the bed and
pulled out the map she’d been given. Looking up at the clock, she saw that she
had eight minutes before she could leave this room to go to the mess hall. Standing
up slowly, she moved toward the door, taking her bag with her.

“There’s a closet you can leave your
things in. No one will bother them. Not even me.”

Lou walked to the door and noticed that
in addition to the dressers, there was a laptop on the one she supposed was
hers.

“You can use it all you want. They don’t
care. Just don’t steal it. I’ve been keeping in touch with all my friends. Would
you like to be on my list?”

“No,” she said, then added a, “thanks.” Lou
walked out of the room and out of the building. She didn’t have any friends and
she certainly didn’t want any. She was walking to the building that was marked
on the map when she saw Mr. Force and his wife going in too.

Lou had been alone most of her life. The
last ten years or so she’d been trying to survive. Not well, but she’d made it
this far. Jobs were hard to come by without an address, and an address was
harder to come by if you didn’t have any money. She’d found that she could live
on little and needed even less. The dining hall wasn’t busy.

There were lots of things to choose
from. Pizza and burgers as well as things like chicken and ham. Mashed potatoes
as well as pasta were on the hot bar, and a salad bar was in the center of the
big kitchen. Lou took a slice of bread and a very small salad of just lettuce
to the table furthest away from everyone else and pulled out the bottle of
water she’d picked up too. She was just finishing up her salad when someone sat
beside her.

“How did you like your bunk?”

She didn’t answer Mr. Force, but chewed
her food slowly.

“Your roommate has been here awhile. I
think her time is about up.”

Lou drank the last of her water and
started to stand. Mr. Force told her to sit down. She sat, but didn’t look at
him.

“You’re not going to have any fun if you
don’t loosen up a little. Why don’t you try to sit with some of the other
workers instead of sitting all alone? Some of the people here are very nice.”

“No, thank you.” She started to stand
again when he reached out toward her. She stepped back so quickly that she
nearly tripped.

“I wasn’t going to hurt you. I was
trying to have a conversation with you. Sit down.” She sat down, but further
away from him. “Are you going to be this way the entire time you’re here?”

Lou looked at the man. “Yes. Now if I
have your permission, I’d like to leave now.” She wasn’t sure he’d let her, but
he nodded. When she stood this time, he didn’t make a move to touch her or to
stop her. She was picking up her tray when he spoke again.

“No one will be able to get you here. You’ll
be safe.” She looked at him sharply, then away. “Tell me who’s trying to get to
you and I’ll make sure he never comes near you while you’re here.”

She wanted to laugh at him. She’d been
made promises like that before. Plenty of times. Even by the man who even now
was probably trying to figure out where she’d gone into hiding this time. Lou
didn’t believe this man any more than she did anyone else. Walking away without
a word, she dumped her trash in the big can and put her tray on the top. She
was out the door and into the night when she wiped the tears away. At least
here for a few weeks, she’d be able to recuperate. She needed the time to heal.

Her leg was the worst of her wounds. There
were a lot of smaller cuts on her back and on her torso. She’d been beaten
pretty badly when she’d fallen in the stream and pulled downstream. So much so
that she was reasonably sure she had a couple of cracked ribs. Then she’d been
found and sent here.

She’d been trying to find a blanket or
something she could clean up and use for padding when the cop had found her.
He’d yelled at her a few weeks ago for digging through the trash. She never ate
from the things she’d found there, but she had been tempted more than once. She
usually raided kitchens or restaurants when no one was looking. And tried to
get into a soup kitchen when one was open. But she figured there were more
needy people than her. It wasn’t the best way to survive, but it worked for
her. Now, though, she was getting sick of it.

The room was empty when she returned. Lying
down on the bed, she thought about how she’d ended up here. The judge, Judge
Taylor, had told her he was doing this for her own good. He said that she might
be able to learn a trade working on the Force Compound, as well as get a few
meals. She wasn’t going to be here long enough to learn much, but she was going
to stash some food if she could. As soon as someone turned their back she was out
of here. Closing her eyes, Lou started to count sheep. It didn’t work very
often, but today she was exhausted and fell asleep quickly.

Chapter 2

Karl watched the girl struggle with the
boxes of tile. His alpha had told him to work the girl hard and then to see if
she asked for help. He glanced at his watch and decided that it might be a long
wait if he had to wait on her to give it up and ask. The girl was ten kinds of
stubborn. Reminded him of someone else in this pack.

“You gonna let me carry that for you?”
That was another thing about her, she didn’t talk much. He could hardly get his
daughter to shut up. This kid, about the same age as his own kid, didn’t say
hardly anything. “It won’t be nothing for you to ask for someone to tote it for
you.”

The box had to have weighed around fifty
pounds. The tile that was to cover the kitchen floor in this house was twelve
inches by twelve. She put it down near the other five she’d already moved. She
was supposed to tile this entire room by the end of the week. He looked at the
size of the area again and thought she’d be lucky to get half finished. Then he
looked at her. Nah, she’d get it done. He figured she’d have it done in about
three days. Too damned stubborn not to.

The mud, or what was tile cement, had
been spread about ten minutes prior to the tile being delivered. The girl had
done a damned fine job of it too. He watched her open the first box and put out
the large ceramic piece on the line she’d made to plum up the floor. Then when
she started to put the spacers in, he left her to it. She’d have to ask for
help soon or she’d be dead on her feet in a few days time. Grinning, he was
amazed at how badly he wanted her to finish the room without a lick of help
from anyone else. It would be something he could crow about, he figured.

Karl wasn’t surprised when his alpha was
standing in the room he’d been working in only moments before. He smiled when
he saw the man pace. It was something he’d noticed he did when he was
frustrated. Glancing back at the kitchen, he figured she was a great deal of
his need to pace. Karl had been told that this girl was needing of some
watching. Well, he could do that for him.

“She working out for us?”

Karl didn’t ask who. The girl was the
only new hire he’d had in months.

“She didn’t have anything listed on her
paper to indicate she ever worked on a site before.”

“She said she could lay tile.” What
she’d done was point at it and said I can do that. “She seems to have a handle
on it. Don’t talk much, does she?”

“No, she doesn’t. George was hoping we
could learn a little about her. Maybe who was trying to hurt her? She didn’t
say anything in our meeting yesterday, but I think she’s hurt. CJ noticed it
too.”

Karl looked back to the room where Lou
was working again. “She ain’t acting like she’s hurt. But I know she is. Can
smell it on her like some bad blood. Might need a closer look at it by the doc
before long. She’s a mite on the touchy side, but we’ll…hell alpha, she’s
acting more like she’s pissed at the world. You think someone tried to hurt
her? Or you think she’s hurt herself?”

Austin shrugged. “We don’t know for
sure. George says she’s a good kid, just lost. I tried to tell her at dinner
last night she’d be safe here, but she won’t listen to me.”

Karl guessed that’s what had him frustrated.
He knew the man to be kindhearted yet fierce. He also knew him to be slow to
judge, but swift to make someone pay for crimes they might commit. This girl
must be driving him insane.

“I’ll keep her busy. She’s only just
started working. By lunch she’ll be begging for someone to come talk to her and
to help her. You mark my words.” Karl watched the big alpha move out. Karl
nodded again and started on the wall he’d been working on since yesterday. Hanging
drywall was a younger man’s work, but he was up for it.

By lunch, he was starving. He’d been
working so hard toward getting the last wall in this room hung that he’d
completely forgotten about Lou. Putting his tools away he went to the doorway
where she was and stopped dead in his tracks. Holy shit, she’d been busy.

The six boxes that had been near her
when he’d left the room over four hours ago were empty. As were five more laying
beside them. All of them were neatly broken down and laying flat against the
wall. She was nearly finished with the first half of the floor. He looked
around in amazement. All that was left was the last three or four blocks in the
row she was working on then the grout between the tiles. And it was as straight
as an arrow too. Karl watched her put another square in place.

“It’s time for lunch.” His voice cracked
as he spoke. “You gonna be able to leave that until after?”

She pulled a large piece of plastic over
where she’d been working and stood. He noticed that she moved like she hurt
now. Slow and easy, and she favored her left leg more’n the other. He thought
about what Austin had told him and wondered how she’d come to be hurting that
badly. Looking over the floor, he thought if she was, then he’d hate to see
what she could do when she was at full strength.

Without a word she limped past him to
the hall and toward the door. She left the house they were working on and off
the porch. Karl frowned and shook his head. He wasn’t sure if he wanted her to
talk. He had a feeling she had a story to tell and it wouldn’t be one of happily
ever after. Following her out he watched her move. Yes sir, she was hurting all
right. Her leg, he decided, as well as her ribs. She moved like a girl who’d
been beat to crap and back. Karl detoured to the office and called Austin.

“You should hop on over and see the
kitchen. That girl can work my crew any time she wants. Damned fine job she did
for me.” He smiled when Austin started asking ninety questions a minute. First
and foremost was if she asked for help.

“Nope. Did it by her lonesomes, she did.
And before you ask, she didn’t say a single word. Don’t even remember seeing
one of the music gadgets either. She must have been in some kind of zone 'cause
she nearly finished with half that floor.” Austin asked where she was now and
he told her he’d sent her to lunch.

By the time Karl made it to the dining
hall she was there. He hadn’t seen her at first, but finally found her in the
very back of the room sitting by her lonesome at one of the long tables. He
figured it was by design rather than no one wanting to sit with her. Karl
decided that he’d respect her privacy and let her be. But Austin and CJ coming
in made him think the girl wasn’t going to be eating alone much longer.

Karl watched them go to the table. He
knew the moment she saw them and watched her entire body stiffen. He pulled
himself out of line to watch this. He had a feeling this was going to be fun.

CJ sat first. If Karl was honest with
himself, he was about half in love with the alpha person. She was kind yet firm,
and could be as gentle as a lamb one minute and tough as nails the next. Lou
got up the moment Austin sat down. He couldn’t hear what was being said, they
were too far away and the noise level was too loud, but he could imagine. Especially
when Lou sat down again.

When Karl’s belly protested him not
eating he sighed. He was going to have to eat and get back to work. Whatever
happened here wasn’t going to feed him. Taking his place in line, Karl kept an
eye on the table and the three sitting there. He kind of felt sorry for the alphas.
It looked to him like Lou was winning this one.

~~~

“It’s a simple enough question. Where
did you learn to lay tile? Karl said you did a spectacular job.”

Lou fisted her hands under the table and
didn’t answer Mrs. Force.

“Lou, I would like it if you looked at
me when I speak.”

Lou turned her head and stared at her. Most
people looked away, not wanting to make such a deep connection. She had to hand
it to her, the woman was stubborn too. But Lou knew how to play this game. Mrs.
Force looked away before Lou did. For some reason she didn’t feel triumphant,
only a little childish.

“Answer her.” The voice was hard,
compelling. Lou looked at Mr. Force and fought the need to speak. When he
repeated the command, Lou did stand then and picked up her tray.