by A N Sandra
“We have a plan,” Sugar told them. “I’ll go out and try not to get shot. You all will have to fight if they come in.”
“Molly’s with them.” Sadie had been looking over Travis’s shoulder at the monitor. “What the hell?”
“Molly and I have a history,” Sugar said bitterly. “You know that.”
“Why would she be coming with a team to break up our Dark Web hub?” Travis asked.
“She wouldn’t,” Maddy said with certainty. “She’s here because she knows about Doctor Justin being here. She might not even know about the Dark Web stuff.”
“We’re in trouble.” Daniel looked white. “I can make sure everything is unsalvageable before they get to this room, but the real trouble is that Molly is just going to keep chasing us if this is personal. We’re going to have to run for it. Go!”
“I’ll help you,” Sadie said quickly. “Better that she doesn’t see me no matter what happens.”
“Do exactly what I say. Everyone else take your stations like we talked about!” Daniel commanded. Everyone turned and dispersed instantly. With lightning speed, he crouched over a keyboard to send a message about what was happening out into the ether. While he was waiting to make sure that his message made its way into the wider world, he began to rip hard drives out of their nesting places, deleting things, and checking a list he had made in case Hollister security raided them. Sadie followed Daniel holding open a backpack, and he dropped things into it he was sure he needed to keep.
The security cameras still functioned, and Sadie could see Molly and several armed security forces wearing bullet proof vests were making their way carefully up the long walk, all of them with weapons drawn as they approached the house, unsure if they were expected or not.
“Happy New Year!” Sugar called cheerfully toward the advancing assassins. “I’m so sorry, I didn’t know you wanted to come. I didn’t invite you so you should go home and we’ll try again next year!” Sugar stepped outside the door wearing body armor, holding an assault rifle.
“Put that down,” Molly commanded. Even though the picture on the monitor was poorly lit, Sadie could see that Molly looked horrible. For someone who had never looked really great, that wasn’t too surprising, but her countenance had been altered in a way that only comes from deep misery. As an actress Sadie could see it.
“You are all trespassing,” Sugar went on. She spoke as if she were speaking to naughty trick-or-treaters, but the Hollister security people simply began firing on her. To her credit she fired back with great enthusiasm, even though her aim was not great and the power of her weapon caused her to be unstable. Uncountable shots were fired and only one Hollister guard fell to the ground. Travis rushed the door, knocked Sugar down, and took several shots with a handgun before he was dropped.
From the upstairs monitor Sadie saw Travis fall and her heart dropped into her stomach. She considered running downstairs, but it was four flights and she didn’t have a gun. Maddy and Tilly were down there with Donia, whether or not Sugar was alive. When she told Daniel she would help him with the lab, she meant she needed to do it.
“Months of hard work utterly destroyed!” Daniel announced in an odd voice. He had two full backpacks of components he wouldn’t dare leave behind, even crushed. He tossed one to Sadie. “We need to leave now.”
Without lights, all the stairs were a bit hard to navigate, but they got to the bottom where Tilly and Maddy were shooting and holding back the Hollister people. Sugar was low, behind a large bench, but quite alive and taking shots at the security people when they were brave enough to come forward.
“I took everything that could identify what we were doing out of the lab,” Donia said, coming breathlessly from the garage. Over her arm was a backpack similar to the one on Daniel’s back. Probably things she just didn’t dare leave or could not completely destroy.
“We’re going to retreat then,” Maddy announced. “We’ll do it just the way we planned.”
There was some small scurrying while everyone scrambled for things they couldn’t bear to be scrutinized by an enemy. Only Travis lay in the entryway.
“Carry my backpack,” Daniel said to Tilly, who wore a much lighter backpack. “I’ve got Gramps.”
“Oh—” a collective gasp went up.
“I don’t know if he’s dead and I don’t care right now,” Daniel said fiercely. “We’re not leaving him for those snakes to abuse.”
“Got it,” Maddy replied calmly. She had a smoke bomb in her hand and threw it out the door with astonishing precision.
All of them ran for the kitchen screen porch door, barreled down the stairs, and raced down a narrow sandy path lined with beach grass. The path wound behind Molly and her Hollister Security back to the dock. By the time the smoke cleared, Daniel had tucked Travis into the stern of Sugar’s boat. Sugar herself started the engine while Maddy and Tilly together ran to the boat Molly had come in with Hollister Security and fired their handguns into the instrument panel.
The smell of gun smoke filled their nostrils just as Sugar pulled her boat up to the one they were on so that they could jump on board. Tilly hesitated just a bit with the leap, but Maddy assessed the situation for a second, jumped, and a few seconds later Tilly was on board and they were speeding away.
“I don’t know if I’ve ever been more scared in my life.” Donia was shivering as the boat sped away from the island at a pace that would have been terrifying if they had not just been shot at by professional killers.
“I was pretty scared the day we ran away from the set of One Tough Customer.” Tilly sighed. She was still a little shaky herself. The gun she had used to shoot into the instrument panel of the Hollister boat was resting in her lap. “But I felt better as we got farther away from Molly, and everything seemed to go right that day. Maddy called all the plays and I just did what she said, and everything was fine.”
The sound of the motor was the only sound for what seemed like hours. Sugar was steering the boat into the darkness, her face set in concentration. In case of a raid they had planned to go to a nearby port and split up. It had seemed like the safest thing to do. There was no tension in the boat, just a determination not to let bad emotions cause trouble.
“I don’t think we should split up. I think we should stay together.” Maddy spoke into the darkness.
“Second guessing carefully laid plans is never a great idea,” Daniel said doubtfully. Travis was lying across his lap, there was no bleeding, it appeared Travis had not been shot, but suffered a stroke. “But Gramps needs to go to a hospital—”
“I’m not going to try to convince you. It’s just a gut feeling I have.” Maddy told Daniel with a voice almost void of emotion. “Also, if you take Travis to a hospital anywhere near here the Hollisters are going to pick him up and do whatever they do to old people—”
“I know,” Daniel fretted. “He still needs medical care, though.”
“I know some underground medical people at Johns Hopkins,” Donia volunteered.
“Fine, Baltimore it is,” Sugar said without turning around. “If that doesn’t work out, we can see about leaving him with my grandparents’ personal physician in Boston. After that, I’m doing whatever Maddy wants. She hasn’t been wrong since I’ve met her.”
“I’m not leaving Maddy,” Tilly agreed.
“I’m not leaving any of you then,” Sadie said. “I won’t be left out of your fun adventures.”
“Do I detect a hint of sarcasm?” Maddy laughed a little bit.
“None,” Sadie deadpanned.
“Where you lead, I will follow,” Daniel said.
“That was sarcasm,” Tilly said.
“You can’t leave me behind,” Donia said. “Doctor Justin hasn’t answered a text or a call from me in days—”
“Which is probably why Molly turned up,” Daniel said grimly.
“I guess we’re all together, then.” Tilly smiled a little.
“The six musketeers,” Daniel said.
“Twice as good as three,” Donia answered.
