by Tate, Harley
“If it’s still the same as Mrs. Oster’s place, then you walk into a living room with an archway to a formal dining room.” Harvey squinted as he tried to remember. “The kitchen is in the back.”
Doug agreed. “John’s home office is the other window on the front porch. Full of engineering books and a desk. I never went upstairs.”
“What about a basement or entry from the backyard?”
“No idea.”
It wasn’t much to go on. An orderly house with a living room and office up front and a kitchen in the back. If there wasn’t a way in through either a basement or the yard, they would have to storm the front door. The absolute worst possible option.
He longed for some of his gear as a SEAL. Even a handful of items from the sporting goods store he loaded up on before Jarvis tried to riddle him with bullets would be better than nothing. Too bad he’d been too weak to carry most of it.
The rifles each man carried and Colt’s handgun were the only weapons left. Colt thought about Dani and how she’d stormed up to those soldiers at the model home and pulled the trigger like it had been no more than a video game. She’d been prepared to kill that man over a cat she didn’t even know.
He frowned. Was that the life she could look forward to? Were they all destined to become mercenaries out for vengeance or control? Colt brought the binoculars back up to his eyes. If they shot first, how different were they from Jarvis and his men?
Still no movement.
He turned to Harvey. “We can’t see anything from here. If the army is still inside, they’ve retreated to an interior room. We’ll need to get closer. Maybe even break in.” He paused to glance at Doug. “Are you both prepared to engage?”
Doug and Harvey made eye contact across Colt. After a moment, Harvey nodded. “I am. If what you’ve said about Jarvis is true, he can’t bring the grid online. If he controls the power, he’ll control the entire town. He’ll turn us all into his slaves.”
“Do you really think he’s capable?” Doug voiced his doubts. “Won’t some of the guardsmen rebel? Once the power’s on, what can Jarvis really do?”
Trying to convince a civilian about the sway a senior officer held over enlisted men wasn’t easy, but Colt tried his best. “The men serving under Jarvis don’t question orders. They follow orders.”
“Even if those orders are wrong?”
“Wrong is subjective. They teach you in boot camp to not even think about it that way. They teach you to do the job no matter what.”
From the way his nose wrinkled as he thought, Doug still wasn’t buying it. “How about we get closer? See if we can get a clearer view of the inside and then decide what to do?”
“All right.”
Harvey spoke up. “What if they spot us?”
“If they fire first, I sure as hell hope you both engage. I’ll be fighting alongside you, but I can’t take on eight soldiers alone.”
Doug checked the safety on his rifle. “If they shoot first, I’ll back you up. But I’m not going in guns blazing.”
“Neither am I.” Harvey pulled his own rifle off his shoulder and held it in both hands. “But I won’t leave you hanging.”
It was the best Colt could expect in the circumstances. He didn’t want to shoot first, either. With any luck, they wouldn’t need to fire a single round.
The fewer firefights, the better. Colt and Dani couldn’t hide under Jarvis’s nose if they shot up every group of guardsmen they came across, especially not some right down the street. With a deep breath, Colt stood up. “Let’s do this.”
He sketched out a rough plan to Harvey and Doug and the three set off, one taking the front, one the rear, and one the side. Colt crept up to the picket fence of the neighbor’s yard and climbed over. Ducking behind a bush covered in bristled, purple flowers, he checked again for movement inside.
Nothing.
The longer they watched the house, the more his unease grew. Something wasn’t right. Either the army was long gone with John and all the information they needed to reboot the University’s grid, or something bad happened inside that house.
Maybe both.
He motioned to Harvey, who waited at the side yard to keep going before creeping around the front steps and up to the front corner of the Cliftons’ house. From his view, it appeared Harvey would have no luck in the side yard. All he could see were two windows above eye-level and no door.
Colt couldn’t see Doug thanks to a backyard fence and a large evergreen, but he hoped the man hadn’t chickened out. Another few steps and Colt made it to the porch. No noise inside or out. Any number of neighbors could see him right now. But what choice did he have?
It wasn’t like they couldn’t see Doug in the back, either. With second story windows on most of the houses on this side of the street, no speck of yard was safe from prying eyes. Colt took the porch stairs two at a time, avoiding the middle like Dani had done at her mother’s apartment building.
By now, any soldier worth a damn would be firing out the front window.
They weren’t inside. It wasn’t possible.
Colt strode to the front door and put his face right up to the leaded glass. He took in the scene. Stepped back. Wiped his face with his hand.
Well, shit.
Sticking two fingers in his mouth, Colt whistled high and sharp and in seconds both Harvey and Doug appeared at the foot of the porch.
Colt sucked in a breath before speaking. “It’s clear. The army is gone.”
“How do you know? You’re still outside.”
“I just do. You two can head back. I can do a once-over, confirm there’s no threat, and meet you at Harvey’s place in an hour.”
Doug stepped forward. “No way. We all need to go in and clear it. How do we know you’ll tell us the truth?”
Colt kept his voice even. “I’m just trying to spare you, that’s all.”
Doug’s gaze flitted past Colt to the front door. “From what?”
“No matter how bad it is, we need to go in as a team.” Harvey focused on Colt. “You’ve seen what Jarvis can do, but we haven’t.”
“You should keep it that way.”
“We can’t.”
Colt nodded. “Suit yourself. But don’t say I didn’t warn you.” He turned around and busied himself with the front door. It opened with the turn of the knob. “I’d hold your breath.”
Chapter Sixteen
DANI
Wilkins Residence
Eugene, Oregon
12:00 p.m.
Dani paced behind the sofa, unable to sit still while Colt was away. She still didn’t know why he disappeared in the middle of the night or hung out with those soldiers until the morning hours, but he seemed back on board now.
She should be out there, helping him fight the bad guys, not stuck as a lookout. She knew he only threw out the protection line so she would stay. It barely worked.
Crossing her arms, her steps turned into more of a stomp. Everything was all turned around. Doug and Harvey were off with Colt investigating a potential hostage situation. Melody was camped out in the kitchen with Gloria, cleaning the latest pickings from the garden, and Dani was stuck inside with nothing to do.
Melody’s words from earlier echoed in her head. If she was so willing to fight, why wasn’t she out there fighting? Instead she was in the kitchen chatting and laughing like nothing had changed.
Didn’t she see it was now or never?
Every minute Jarvis and his men breathed they amassed more power. Weapons. Food. Gas. Maybe even electricity. Soon they wouldn’t be able to shoot their way out of an attack. Jarvis would come for them all and Dani and Colt wouldn’t survive.
How lucky could two people be?
The sound of feet scurrying on wood caught Dani’s attention and she stopped still. Will flew into the room, cheeks rosy and chest heaving. “You need to hide!”
“Why?”
“The army! They’re in the backyard.”
“What? No way.
”
He gripped the doorway so hard, his knuckles showed white. “I saw them. They jumped the fence and fanned out real slow all around the oak. They’re coming in.”
Dani scanned the room for exits. If she hid in the basement, they would find her. She would be trapped. If she ran out the front door, she’d be gunned down in the street.
There was nowhere to go.
She reached for the rifle sitting on the coffee table. “Did they see you?”
Will shook his head. “No. I was in the little back room, just sitting and staring out the window. No one can see me if I’m in the corner.”
Dani nodded. She’d noticed the same thing earlier. “Go get Melody and Gloria. Tell them what’s happening.”
Will disappeared into the kitchen and Dani rushed around the couch, crouching beneath the top. The soldiers would come from every angle they could, but would keep a low profile. Just like Colt said they would.
Organized. Quiet. Slow.
Melody appeared in the doorway with a baseball bat. “The guys took all the guns.”
Dani nodded. She was the only one armed. “Help me barricade the living room. We need some cover.”
They worked together to flip the coffee table over just as Gloria came running with garden shears in her hand. “I told Will to hide in his room. He’s shoved himself in his closet with Lottie. What can I do?”
Both Gloria and Melody looked at Dani like she was the leader when half an hour ago they thought she was crazy. Too late to hold grudges. They would all need to work to survive. She’d done it once against all odds. She could do it again.
“How good are your acting skills?”
“What do you mean?”
“How about you go out back and pretend to pick vegetables? They won’t want to rush the house with you out there. It will buy us some time.”
Gloria glanced at Melody. “Are you sure?”
Dani nodded.
“Okay. I can pick some beans.”
Dani didn’t care what it was as long as it got Gloria away from the action. The woman wasn’t capable of fighting off more than a pesky fly.
Melody tugged a chair across the room. “Will that really buy us time?”
Dani shrugged. “I have no idea. But they might not shoot an unarmed old woman picking vegetables.”
Melody nodded. “Good thinking.” She yanked on the other chair and dragged it to line up next to the first.
Between the chairs, the upturned coffee table and the couch, they might be able to stop a few bullets. Dani wished she had a flame thrower or the fireworks from the cat. Anything to distract the incoming soldiers.
Melody crouched behind the couch. “Now what do we do?”
Dani’s lips thinned into a line. “Now we wait.”
Blood whooshed in Dani’s ears, in and out as if she sat on the ocean floor with high tide lapping above her head. Every second they sat on the floor, knees almost touching as they crouched below the cushions, her doubts grew.
Where was Colt? Didn’t they see the army closing in?
She thought about his friendly visit with the man he called Larkin. Had Colt sold them out? Did he purposefully lure Doug and Harvey away to leave the women exposed?
After the way he clapped that soldier on the back and dismissed her like she meant nothing, Dani didn’t know anymore. She clutched the rifle tight in her fingers. Screw Colt. If he was setting her up, then she’d take out as many soldiers as she could. If he wasn’t, then he’d left her at the worst possible time.
High-pitched shouts echoed in from the backyard. “What are you doing? You can’t just barge in there! Stop!”
Here we go. Dani rolled onto her knees and propped the rifle up on a cushion so the barrel just peeked over the back of the couch.
Noise in the back of the house. The rattle of a door. Orders barked in low tones. Boots too heavy to be silent on the old floors.
“Get ready.” Dani whispered to Melody just as the first hint of camo eased into her field of view. She closed one eye and leaned into the scope.
The trigger pulled so easily when she didn’t have to hold the barrel aloft. Bam! The first round hit her target, the shoulder of a soldier. Bam! Bam!
Two more hits as he staggered back. The man crumpled to the floor.
“You shot him!”
Dani didn’t lift her head. “Of course I did.”
Melody’s response was silenced by a volley of gunfire. Dani and Melody ducked to a crouch beneath the sofa. Bullets flew over their heads to lodge in the drywall behind, others pelted the couch and the chairs and the coffee table. Dani braced herself for impact, but nothing came. The furniture did the job.
She sucked in a breath and popped back up, firing into the hallway without taking aim.
More return fire.
Damn it! It was worse than the apartment. There were too many of them and Colt couldn’t help. She crouched back down as more gunfire erupted. “I’ll never be able to kill them all. If the guys don’t come back, we’re going to die here.”
“Then we’ll have to hold them off as long as we can.” Melody crawled over to the far edge of the couch. She wasn’t as safe, but from the new vantage point, she could see more of the hallway. “I’ll tell you when to fire.”
Dani nodded and brought the rifle back into position.
“Now!” Melody hissed out the word and Dani fired into the hall.
A grunt and a thud confirmed she’d hit another soldier, but this time they didn’t stop. One, two, three, more. They all barreled into the room shooting and running straight for her.
There were too many to shoot. Too many to account for. Melody started screaming and Dani spun in time to see one reach over the couch to grab her. Dani fired and hit him square in the chest. Blood splattered out his back and he looked down at his chest and the wound smack in the middle before collapsing on the cushions.
Another came at her and she swung the rifle, but it was too late. He fired a handgun from ten feet away and clipped her shoulder. Dani took the shot and almost fell over, but she managed to stay on her knees.
“Take the girl alive! No direct hits!” The shout came from the hallway. She swore she recognized it. One of the soldiers from the apartment? The one on the street? Colt?
Dani couldn’t tell, but she knew it, of that she was certain.
Another soldier appeared in the hall and Dani fired. They weren’t going to take her alive.
If they captured her, this would be a walk in the park in comparison to what Jarvis had planned. She couldn’t let them win. All she could see was her mother’s smiling face as soldiers dragged her back into the University building. Jeers from the soldier she wounded as they took her to some forgotten back room.
No.
It couldn’t go that way. Dani rose up on her feet, staggering from adrenaline and the bullet wound and the weight of the rifle. She fired into the hallway even though no soldier appeared. Melody shouted, but she couldn’t listen. They had to die. All of them.
The room grew dark and fuzzy around the edges and her hold on the rifle slipped. What was that? She pulled her hand away from the grip.
Her fingers didn’t look like her own. They were red and slick and… Is that blood? She glanced down at her shoulder. Blood pumped from an open wound, coating her shirt and sleeve and fingers.
So much for a graze.
Dani snorted as she tried to pull the rifle up again. Damn thing was so heavy. The shouts retreated into the distance. Are they surrendering? Is it over? She half smiled as she thought about victory.
As she blinked, the ground rose up to meet her, wood planks slamming into her cheek as the room tilted ninety degrees. Melody hovered over her, lips moving. Dani couldn’t hear her. She couldn’t hear anything.
Had all the soldiers left? Did they really do it? Were they free?
Colt must have saved her. He must have saved them all like he’d done a million times before. She reached for Melody, fingers slipping off the other
woman’s shirt as she tried to speak. Melody leaned in and a thick pressure wedged against Dani’s shoulder.
Another smile tipped her lips as the room went dark.
Chapter Seventeen
MELODY
Wilkins Residence
Eugene, Oregon
12:30 p.m.
“Get your hands in the air before I blow that pretty head of yours straight off!”
Melody shoved the wadded-up dishtowel tighter against Dani’s wound and thrust her arms straight up. Thank goodness she’d accidentally carried the rag into the living room when all the commotion started. She glanced down at Dani again.
The girl lost a lot of blood already and her chest barely moved as she breathed, but she wasn’t dead yet. Melody lifted her head and focused on the soldiers pouring into the room. Where had they all come from? She counted at least ten.
Were Colt and her brother already captured? Did they even know what was going on? A million scenarios ran through Melody’s mind, none of them good. If they took Dani away, the girl would never be seen again. After the hell Jarvis already put her through, Melody couldn’t let that happen.
She needed a diversion.
The sea of soldiers parted and a more senior man entered the room. As soon as Melody set her eyes on him, she knew he was in charge. She fell to the ground, whimpering and crying. “Oh, thank you. Thank you for coming.”
He stopped on the other side of the couch and she scrabbled at the cushions, trying to climb over them. The barrel of a rifle stopped her ascent.
“Why are your hands not in the air?”
Melody shoved her hands back up and blubbered. “I’m sorry, I’m just so happy you’re here. You’ve finally rescued us from these horrible people.”
“What are you talking about?”
“Colt and that girl. They took us hostage. We’ve been their prisoners for days.” She blinked and forced her eyes extra wide. “You saved me.”
The soldier raised an eyebrow and his thick, meaty face twisted sideways. “Colt, you say?”
