Greene stood with a group of other CRM operatives around a map laid out on the trunk of a debilitated jeep. The helicopter Major Okafor flew them in on was planted in the center of the street they stood on, and while it seemed quiet, a pair of uniformed soldiers stood on guard for the dead.
They were just north of the Maryland-Virginia border, scouting the area for some industrial supplies the engineers needed to keep something running in the city. The details weren't as important to her as the location they were in. Far too close to where the people from her past were reported to be seen. Funny how they all ended up out of Georgia in the same corner of the north.
She definitely wasn't laughing.
Every time she moved her head she could feel the hairs on the back of her neck standing up as if someone was watching her. And she was right. Donald Okafor was watching her carefully as he spoke into the long-range radio, giving an update to the base back in Philadelphia. She was pointedly avoiding his gaze and tried to focus on the details of the map.
That was, until the static of interference came over the device. Both sides of the CRM stopped communicating as they waited to see if the mysterious third party would try again. The radio cracked with the sharp sound as a few words came through, distance possibly making the reception scatter. " -lo? Som–ne -here? Ca–ear me? "
Beth's entire body froze at the sound and her eyes quickly flicked to the Major's. A chill went through her and she visibly shivered. The voice was discernible but it could be them–it could be.
She swallowed and breathed deeply, shoving her emotions down somewhere deep inside her chest. Once she felt they were stored away she fixed her face to a mask of aloofness and nodded at the man giving her an intense gaze.
The mission continued.
Now(One Year after the Cascadia Mutiny)
She considered ignoring the radio call. But after their hasty escape from the Cascadia Base, she knew they would have to be really desperate to contact her again. To contact any of them again. And yet…
She admittedly had given the pair much thought over the last year. Immediately after their disappearance from her life she had to secure an entire military base, root through all of the messes Beale had created, rebuild the Council, and assure the Civic Republic of their safety. By the time she even remembered their second escape it had been weeks. They were probably already home at that point.
In the aftermath of the Summit mutiny, a third of their forces present had died along with two of the five Council members–fucking Murray ran to hide as soon and the fighting started and was caught trying to flee with his remaining staff. The coward was taken into custody and she led the investigation of his assistant herself, the skittish man giving up all the secrets of the CRM she hadn't been privy to.
The raids, the experiments, the destruction all in the name of the Civic Republic. She was disgusted, and she made it her mission to shut it all down.
It took months to undo what Murray and Beale had done, including sorting out who among the ranks had been loyal to who. With Thorne and the Major General's betrayals she didn't trust anyone she hadn't personally vetted. The now-highest ranking officer–that she trusted–was an enlisted named Corporal Diane Pierce. After some reluctance Councilor Greene handed her the reins of the military.
Klubeck had managed to get away during the fighting and was one of the many tasks Greene still needed to deal with. The elections to fill the open Council seats had been a circus in itself, yet now all five spots were filled, and with those the people had chosen after learning the truth. She and the other Cascadia survivor, Nathan Miller remained, along with the new delegates.
In short, Rick and Michonne were the least of her problems even now that some things had been settled. And if she was being honest with herself, she was just really fucking tired of it all. So she considered ignoring the radio call.
But curiosity always killed the damn cat.
She surmised that they hadn't told anyone about her re-emergence into their world seeing as no green eyed brunette came running to fawn over her. Hadn't told any of them, since no one from her former life had come running. Or maybe they did , and that's why they chose to stay away.
She took a couple of days after hearing the recorded message before she decided, officially. Knew where to find them, and it wasn't likely the extra time would make them go off elsewhere. Shepherd nearly choked when the Councilor told her that they'd both be going on this little expedition to the community in Ohio. She tried to protest, all too comfortable in her administrative position to go out on this run, but she was just unlucky enough to be the one person the head of the Council trusted completely. The one person left who knew of her true connection to the man on the radio.
They left Philadelphia in the early morning by chopper, just the two women and the pilot. She'd informed the rest of the Council that she'd be away and unreachable for a few days, not something that they were entirely strangers to. Sometimes she just liked her space, and they had no need to consider that this wasn't one of those times.
She knew from previous surveillance that the Commonwealth was one of the largest communities left in the country, with its outermost walls miles away from the city's center. The last information that they received from the Milton administration before it fell was that there were around fifty thousand residents inside and that they had a fierce military of their own. However any information she'd been privy to since the CW's war with her former family members was minimal, only knowing that Pamela Milton and her skeevy aide Hornby were gone and the former ruler of the Kingdom now governed in their place.
Her first interaction with this new Commonwealth, no matter who it was that called her here, had her on edge and she fought back against her jittering nerves the whole ride there. Shortly after the sun hit its highest point in the sky she instructed the pilot, Morris, to set them down in an open field a few klicks away from the main gate. Strategically it put her in a bad position but she highly doubted that they called her just to entrap her. Then again…
She hesitated just a moment before reaching for the radio clipped on her belt and exhaled loudly before hitting the button on the side. She knew someone would be listening, and she figured she didn't need an introduction. The man who called her would know exactly who it was. "Five miles south of the gate. I'm here."