by R. D. Brady
“I know,” Jake said.
Yoni looked at him for a long moment. “Just tell me when I can shoot somebody.” Then he walked away, heading toward the other Jeep.
The silence was heavy after Yoni left. Everyone stared at the screen. Jake was the first to recover. “Danny, check the opening behind the altar.”
Laney blinked, noticing the bloom of light just on the edge of the screen. “What is that?”
Danny brought the bot closer. About ten feet behind the altar was another room. Light shone dimly through the opening.
The bot moved closer.
Laney held her breath.
Jen stepped closer to her, her shoulder brushing Laney’s, and took Laney’s hand. Laney squeezed her friend’s hand but didn’t take her eyes from the screen. Then the bot flew into the room, once again along the ceiling.
And there, crouched along the floor, their faces dirty, were the fourteen missing children.
Laney gasped, her heart breaking at the sight. The smaller kids were cradled in the bigger kids’ laps. Some slept, but most just stared, not saying a word.
Laney scanned the group frantically, her eyes finally coming to rest on a little boy on the left, his little arms holding on to a two-year-old girl who seemed to be crying quietly. “Max,” she said, reaching for the screen.
“Everyone, grab your sheets. Find your kids,” Jake ordered.
Laney swallowed, shoving aside her heartbreak at the sight of Max. She grabbed the stack of photos in front of her. They had divided up the kids prior to the bot search. Each of them was responsible for identifying each kid in their stack.
Laney scanned the group on the screen. Her heart broke a little more each time she ticked off a name on her list.
“All of mine are there,” Jake said.
“Mine too,” said Maddox.
“All of mine,” Henry said.
Jen nodded.
Laney let out a breath. “Mine as well.”
Then she noticed an older boy in the back, a boy she didn’t recognize from the pictures. He had a small girl in his arms and was pacing along the far wall. He stopped and ran his hand through a smaller boy’s hair, saying something to him.
Laney pointed. “Does anyone have that tall boy on their list?”
They all shook their heads.
“He looks older than the rest,” Jen said.
Laney looked at Jake. “Can you ask Danny to get closer to him?” There was something about the boy that was familiar.
Jake relayed the request. The bot moved closer, and Laney caught her breath. “That’s Nathaniel’s son.”
“Are you sure?” Jake asked.
Laney nodded, watching the boy lean down to another child and give him a hug. “Zachariah Grayston. He’s fourteen.”
Laney watched the teenager as he moved among the kids, speaking to a few of them. Everything in his movements was compassionate, caring. But he was the son of Nathaniel and Beatrice Grayston.
Jen looked over at her, her confusion plain. “So is he a good guy or a bad guy?”
Laney shook her head. “I have no idea.”
CHAPTER 78
Laney leaned her head back against the chopper seat. They would be dropped a quarter of a mile from the cave, would make their way over to it, set up their ropes, and rappel down—after the river team took out the spotters on the bank and Jordan took out the guard at the entrance. They’d lucked out with regard to the spotters on the top of the cliff: according to Jordan’s report, they had climbed down.
Laney ran over the plan in her mind. They were going to use the rocks they’d seen at the top of the cliff to secure their ropes. Someone had suggested bolting them in, but the bolt guns would be way too loud and they couldn’t take that chance.
She pictured the rappel down, the fast disengagement, and making her way through the cave. Everything had to be silent or they risked warning Nathaniel’s men. And that couldn’t happen.
Henry’s voice came through her headphones. “We’re descending.”
Laney opened her eyes and looked at Lou and Rolly, who were seated next to her. The other teenagers were part of the river patrol and would hold back until the kids were secured. But Lou and Rolly had begged to be allowed to do more.
Laney nodded at them. “You guys ready?”
Lou nodded and Rolly gave her a big thumbs-up. Laney hoped they were taking this seriously.
The chopper landed with a short bump a few seconds later, and they quickly hopped out. The chopper took off immediately and the other chopper took its place. Another six members of their team disembarked. They were ready to go.
Laney tapped her mike. “We’re on the cliff. Heading for the rappelling spot.”
Maddox’s voice answered. “Our swimmers are in the water. Five minutes.”
Cleo appeared from behind some rocks and Laney received no sense of danger from her. She was calm. Laney suddenly realized that the group was looking at her expectantly. “We have five minutes. Let’s go.”
They took off at a fast clip.
Laney kept an eye on her GPS, and after a few minutes she put a hand up for everyone to stop. The cave entrance was precisely 1,462 feet straight down from where they were.
“Set up the anchors,” Laney said quietly, even though it would be impossible for the guard down at the entrance to hear her even had she spoken more loudly. The distance alone would make it difficult, plus a wind blew hard against them, pulling away any sound.
Four anchors were quickly established, and Laney locked herself on to one of the ropes, as did Henry and two other members of the team. They were the first wave. As soon as they unclipped, the second wave would follow.
“We can help, Laney,” Lou said, stepping up to her.
“You are helping. You’re watching our backs. “ Laney nodded to the radio attached to Rolly’s belt. “Remember, if you see or hear anything, you contact Jordan immediately.”
Rolly nodded. “We will.”
Cleo padded up and touched her head to Laney’s. Laney rubbed the big cat’s ears. “I’ll be okay. You look after these two, all right?”
Cleo gazed at Rolly and Lou for a moment, as if memorizing their faces, before walking away.
“We’re being babysat by a cat?” Lou grumbled.
“Yup,” Laney replied.
Rolly crossed his arms over his chest. “We can handle ourselves.”
“I don’t doubt it,” Laney replied. “But if something does go wrong, wouldn’t you like Cleo’s help?”
Lou glanced over at Cleo. The cat’s shadow stretched out behind her, making her look even larger than usual. “Okay. Good point.”
Laney waved them back. “Now scoot.”
Lou and Rolly backed up to give the team room. Laney gathered the rope and held it to her side. She spoke into her microphone. “We’re ready.”
“Thirty seconds.”
“Earplugs in, everybody.” Laney handed her radio to another member of the team and inserted her own earplugs. Then she watched the woman with the radio. The woman raised her hand, then dropped it.
The first wave flung their ropes over the edge and all but flew down the side of the cliff. Laney had never rappelled so far in one leap. She forced herself to not think about just how far it was. Instead she pulled up a mental picture of Max. I’m coming, Max. I’m coming.
Henry landed a few seconds before she did and had already disengaged himself by the time Laney landed. She quickly followed suit, then pulled her P90 from her hip. Normally she liked the Beretta, but she wanted the laser sight for this particular mission.
She looked toward the entrance, where the guard they’d seen through the bot already lay sprawled on the ground. From the corner of her eye, Laney saw Jen crest the cliff and roll into a smooth crouch, her weapon in hand.
Laney moved in behind Henry. So far, so good: no one seemed the wiser. Then a familiar electric tingle ran over her. She grabbed Henry’s arm and mouthed, Fallen.
How m
any? he mouthed back.
Laney put up one finger.
Henry nodded, his jaw taut. There was nothing they could do about it now. They were committed. But Laney worried that the Fallen had sensed them as well, and was already warning Nathaniel. Damn it.
Laney followed Henry into the cave. Laney stayed to the right of the passage; Henry took the left. Henry peered into the first opening and shook his head. Then he glanced over at Laney and went still, pointing at the opening in front of her. Silently, Laney swung her gun onto her back and withdrew her knife from the sheath on her thigh. She held her breath and waited.
Henry held out his hand and counted down with his fingers: three, two, one.
A man rounded the corner. Laney wrapped her arm around his neck and covered his mouth with her hand as she plunged her knife into his back. She left it there while she wrapped her other hand around his neck and twisted. The man’s eyes bulged wide for a second and then he went still.
Laney lowered him quietly to the ground, reminding herself that his death was necessary. This man was willing to sacrifice kids. But the horror of what she’d done remained. It didn’t really matter if it was for the greater good: each life she took also took away a piece of her.
A little shaken, Laney pulled her weapon back in front of her. Henry moved forward and Laney followed as the rest of the team filed into the cave behind them. They were silent as they continued down the passage, checking each room as they came to it, but no one else emerged.
Laney began to feel a thin ray of hope. Whoever the Fallen was, he hadn’t sounded the alarm. No one yet knew they were here. We can do this. The kids are going to be—
Twenty feet ahead, a man stepped out of the cavern where the sleeping bags had been. He rubbed his eyes and looked down the passage at all of them.
Everyone went still.
And then all hell broke loose. The man let out a yell and turned to run back into the cavernous room. Henry’s bullet cut him down.
“Move!” Jake yelled, sprinting forward.
Laney ran with him, praying for the kids. Two gunmen leapt out of an opening farther down the passageway. Gunfire blasted down the passage toward them, and they all immediately dove into the nearest room, unable to move forward.
Panic twisted in Laney’s gut. They needed to get to the kids. They couldn’t just sit here.
Maddox must have had the same thought. He pushed away from the others, stepping right out into the barrage of bullets, and charged down the passage with a yell.
He ran right past the large cavern and toward the two gunmen. Bullets blasted into him, but he didn’t slow, even though Laney knew each wound was incredibly painful. Jen and Henry sprinted after him. Each of them was shot multiple times as well, but they didn’t drop. Instead they offered themselves up as a shield for the rest of the team to get in place.
The gunmen’s focus on the trio allowed the rest of them to make it down the hall as far as the opening of the cavern where the first man had appeared. There were more gunmen inside, but working together, and led by Jake, the team made quick work of them. Maddox took out the two men farther down the hall.
Laney saw Jake pulling his earplugs out, so she did the same. “Where are the rest of them?” she yelled as she ran forward and flattened herself against the wall beside the room at the back where they’d seen the children. She steeled herself for what she might see, then she glanced inside.
The room was empty.
The kids were gone.
CHAPTER 79
“Where are they?” Maddox limped up next to Laney. Blood still seeped from some of his wounds. His shirt was dotted with bullet holes and his face was pale. But his healing was already well on its way.
“I don’t know.” Laney looked around the large room.
The room towered above them, rows of giant alcoves hewn into the rock walls, one atop the other. It was like a giant theater, with luxury box seating all up and down the walls. Along the bottom were seven separate openings. Discounting the one they’d entered through, that meant six possible escapes for Nathaniel and the kids.
Jake jogged over. “We need to split up. But I don’t like spreading us out so thin.”
Laney rubbed the ring on her finger. “Let me see if I can help with that.” She closed her eyes and tried to sense the kids. She knew they didn’t have their powers yet, but maybe there was some small nugget in them she could pick up.
Maddox blew out a breath. “Laney, we need to—”
“Maddox, quiet.” Jake ordered.
Laney struggled trying to sense something—anything. Come on, where are you?
Suddenly a small tingle began somewhere to her right. There was another to her left, and one somewhere behind her. The one behind her was the strongest—that must be the full-blown Fallen she had sensed when they first rappelled down. But the other two? Had some of the kids come into their powers?
She opened her eyes and pointed at the three openings. “They split them up. I sensed something through there, there, and there.”
Laney looked at Maddox, who nodded. “We’ll take this one,” she said, nodding to the one where she’d gotten the strongest reading. If there was a Fallen, she was the one best equipped to handle him.
“Good luck,” Jake said, running to one of the other openings while barking orders at the rest of the group.
As soon as Laney ducked into the entryway with Maddox, a surge of electricity rolled over her. She grabbed Maddox. “Did you feel that?”
“No. What?”
“It’s got to be the kids. I can feel them.”
“One’s at full force?” Maddox asked.
Laney nodded. “Yeah. Let’s go.”
She ran forward, need overriding caution. The passage was dark. Laney pulled out her flashlight and placed it along the top of her weapon to guide the way.
One minute in, Maddox grabbed her hand. “Hold on. I hear them.”
Laney quickly doused her light. They moved forward cautiously. After a few more feet, a light shone from farther ahead. Laney could hear voices as well.
“—betrayal! Someone has betrayed us! A Judas in our midst! Was it you?”
“No, no, of course not,” a second voice screeched.
A child cried out.
“Shut them up!”
Laney and Maddox inched forward and peered in. Nathaniel was pacing in front of a group of children, and two other men were with them. Laney did a quick count of the kids: five, including Nathaniel’s son. But no Max. She shoved the heartbreak away. Save these kids, then find Max.
One of the men waved his gun toward the children. “We should sacrifice them now, even if it’s early.” The children shrank back.
The tingling struck Laney again, and her eyes flew back to Nathaniel’s son. He’s the Fallen. Her mouth fell open. Holy crap.
Maddox nudged Laney. He pointed to the man on the right. Laney indicated the man on the left. Each man cradled an assault rifle comfortably in his arms. More military training, Laney thought.
Nathaniel, unarmed, continued to pace in front of them, sweat pouring down his face, mumbling to himself—a man unhinged. They’d leave Nathaniel for last.
Maddox counted down.
The man on the left reached down and grabbed one of the kids. “Well, I’m not waiting.”
Neither did Laney. She sprang from her covering and drilled him right through the forehead. The children screamed as Maddox took out the other one.
Nathaniel didn’t pause. He grabbed the child nearest him and yanked her up, placing a knife to the girl’s neck.
Laney stepped into the cave, her weapon pulled to her shoulder. She hadn’t seen the knife. Damn it. I should have shot him when I had the chance.
“Take another step and I kill her,” Nathaniel screeched, his eyes bulging.
Maddox stepped forward. “No.”
Nathaniel pressed the knife tighter to the girl’s neck. A tear rolled down her cheek. Her eyes begged Maddox for help.
Laney tensed. She didn’t have a shot. Shit.
With a blur of motion, Zachariah Grayston appeared in front of his father, grabbed the hand that held the knife, and pulled it from the girl’s neck with a twist of his father’s hand.
Nathaniel screamed.
Zachariah pulled the girl away from him and gently pushed her toward the other children. “Go.”
The reverend squirmed, tried to get out of his son’s grasp. But Zachariah just twisted his arm harder.
Nathaniel dropped to his knees, his face contorted in rage. “What are you doing? Let me go.”
Zachariah’s face was contorted as well, but by sadness, not anger. “No, Father. No more. It’s over.”
Nathaniel at last yanked his hand from his son’s grip. He scrambled to his feet, his knife aimed at his son. “How can you defend them? They’re abominations!”
The boy shook his head slowly. “They’re not abominations. They’re just children.”
Nathaniel glared at his son, spit curling at the sides of his mouth. “You disgust me.”
“I know, Father. I’m sorry.”
The reverend lunged toward his son, but Zachariah stepped out of the way, latched on to his father’s arm at the wrist and shoulder, and twisted it. With a quick move, his father’s arm snapped at the elbow.
Nathaniel screamed and the knife dropped from his hand. He cowered on the ground, clutching his arm and moaning.
Maddox and Laney stepped forward.
Zachariah snatched the knife from the ground and whirled around. He waved it between Maddox and Laney. “I won’t let you hurt them. They’re not abominations. They’re just children.”
Maddox raised his hands, his voice calm. “I know. We came to help them, not hurt them.”
Tears streamed down the boy’s face. “They’re just kids. They deserve to be just kids.”
Laney kept her voice calm as well, but her heart broke for the kid. “They do. And my friends and I will make sure that they’re safe and cared for. You’ve helped them. Now let us help too. My name’s Laney.”
Zachariah started, his eyes growing wide. “Laney? Max said you’d come. I didn’t believe him.” His gaze turned to Maddox. “You must be Maddox.”
