by R. D. Brady
She tore down the road and then got onto the highway, heading toward Hardin. Her only shot was reaching it and losing them somewhere in the city. But even as she thought it, she knew that was a long shot. Montana was one of the least populated states in the United States. Hardin might be bigger than Hogansfield, but that didn’t mean she’d see a huge city.
So losing herself there was definitely a long shot. But right now, a long shot was all they had.
Chapter Twenty-Five
In Norah’s mind, she had always pictured Montana as flat, with little vegetation and some mountains in the distance. It was the landscape of dozens of old country westerns. Touching down outside Hardin, the reality for once equaled the imagination. There was little around the “airport” that Adam brought them to. It wasn’t actually an airport. It was a private field that for some reason had a very long driveway.
As soon as the plane stopped, Norah had her seatbelt off and Iggy’s as well. She grabbed the P90 and strapped on the vest that she’d already loaded up with extra magazines, a few grenades, and one very sharp knife.
Greg had also grabbed a vest, a rifle, and a berretta in a holster at his side. Norah eyed the handgun. “You know how to use it?”
“Use it? Yes. Hit anything with any sort of reliability? No. But it seems stupid to walk in unarmed.”
Adam stepped in from the cockpit. His gaze scanned each of them, and he gave a simple nod as he grabbed a series of guns and knives and a vest for himself.
A few minutes ago, Penny had contacted them to let them know that there were reports of gunfire in Hogansfield. A woman matching Sandra’s description had driven away, being chased by three dark SUVs.
Norah grabbed Iggy. “Time to go.”
Greg had already released the stairs and was climbing down them.
Norah peeked her head out. A man waited next to a Range Rover.
“Wait here.” Adam walked past her, carrying the trunk of weapons like it weighed nothing.
The man straightened up as soon as Adam appeared. His eyes went wide at the sight of all the weaponry. He stepped away from the Rover. “It’s all gassed up. The keys are in the ignition. Do you need anything else?”
“No. Thank you, Roger.” Adam made his way to the back of the Range Rover.
The man waited for a moment before turning and getting into a waiting pickup, the engine idling. He put the car into gear and started to drive away.
Norah grabbed a blanket and threw it over Iggy before hurrying down the stairs.
She pulled open the driver’s door. “Inside, Iggy.”
Iggy vaulted into the driver’s seat and then scurried into the back. Norah lost no time hopping in behind the wheel and turning the ignition as Adam closed the tailgate.
Greg climbed into the back seat with Iggy. “Um, so, I guess Iggy and I will try and stay in the car?”
“Yes.”
Adam had barely gotten a foot in the door before Norah had the car moving. He dropped into the seat, just managing to pull his hand from the doorframe before it swung shut with the motion of the car.
He didn’t say anything, and Norah didn’t apologize. They both knew they had to get moving as quickly as possible. Norah turned the car in a U-turn and hit the gas. She’d studied the map while they’d been airborne. According to the reports, the SUV was headed north toward Hardin. Sandra was probably hoping to lose them in the traffic of the city, because with a population of around five hundred, Hogansfield wouldn’t offer her much cover.
From the corner of her eye, she noticed the large weapon in Adam’s hands. She frowned. “Where was that?”
Adam gave her a rare smile. “This one’s mine.”
Norah shook her head, but Adam’s smile made her feel better. Not because it suggested they were becoming friends. But because it suggested he was about to go on the hunt. And she had a feeling Adam was a very, very good hunter.
Chapter Twenty-Six
Sandra didn’t know what to do. The SUVs had closed the distance, so now the closest one was only about three car lengths behind her. They hadn’t shot at her again, but she knew it was only a matter of time. She also knew there was no chance she was going to be able to make it to Hardin before they were on top of her.
She cursed herself for not going to a larger city or more populated area when they’d first set out. She’d worried that a more populated area would have more cameras, making them easier to be found.
But then I went and made a phone call and led them right to us. Stupid, stupid, stupid.
She still didn’t know what any of this was about. She and Luke had led the most normal of lives. Truth be told, her life was incredibly boring. How the hell did she go from sitting by herself at her kitchen table in old sweats to being chased down a highway by armed federal officers?
It had to do with those blue apes and with Sammy, but for the life of her, she couldn’t figure out why. She had no idea why those apes had shown up on their property or why Sammy had befriended Luke. According to Luke, Sammy had been talking to him for weeks before the apes had shown up. The apes must have somehow been tracking Sammy. Luke and Sandra had nothing to do with any of it.
An image of the black-clad team breaking into her home flashed through her mind. But someone definitely thought they had something to do with it. Those officers hadn’t been showing up to have a quick chat or to further question them. They came in with force.
Panic clawed up Sandra’s throat. She forced it back down. She would panic later. In fact, if they got through this, she could curl up for a week in the fetal position if she wanted to, but right now she needed to figure out a way to protect Luke. Because if those guys got a hold of them, she knew the least they would do would be to separate her and Luke. And Luke would not handle that well.
Come on, Sandra, think. Think.
She swerved around a slower-moving Toyota Sienna. Through the back window, three kids stared out at her. The mom quickly moved over to the side of the road to stay farther away from her and her pursuers.
Sandra desperately wanted to trade places with that mom. But apparently her life was on a much more adventurous course. Up ahead, the next exit ramp was coming up fast. She couldn’t stay on the highway. She had to pray that maybe there was something at the exit that would give her an opportunity. She stayed in the farthest left lane, waiting until the very last minute before she swerved over to the exit.
She cut off an Acura MDX that yanked itself out of the way and did a complete 180 to avoid hitting her. The SUV now blocked the exit. She hadn’t intended for that to happen, but she would take all the help she could get.
Sandra flew down the ramp, ignoring the stop sign as she swerved to the right. The back of the car fishtailed out, and three cars slammed on their brakes. She just missed a car sitting at the light.
Her heart pounded as sweat broke out along her entire body. But she didn’t slow. If the military had taught her one thing, it was that your body was going to react whether you wanted it to or not. But you decided how much of that reaction was going to affect you.
The street was lined with small businesses and one strip mall on her right. But there was nothing that offered much coverage. She kept going, even as she heard the squeal of tires behind her, letting her know that her pursuers were after her again. She turned down a side street and slammed on the gas, praying that something, somewhere would give her a little help.
And then she saw it up on her right. A junkyard. She wrenched on the wheel and turned to the right, crashing through the junkyard’s gate. She tore down an aisle that towered with old cars stacked on top of one another like discarded toys.
She wrenched on the wheel as she reached the end of the aisle, hitting the brake at the same time. The back of the Ford still slammed into a tower of tires, and they tumbled down like dominoes, crashing into the back of the Explorer.
Luke let out a cry, his hands over his ears.
“It’s okay, baby. It’s okay.”
Sandr
a shot forward again, going down another aisle, although at a slower rate of speed. There was an opening up ahead between two stacks of four crumpled cars. She pulled in and quickly turned off the car. She flung open her door and reached down for Luke. “Luke, we have to go.”
She could hear the SUVs one row over. Luke cringed away from her.
“Luke!” She ripped one of his hands from his ears. He let out a scream, tears running down his face. Her heart split in two at the terror on his face, but there was nothing she could do about it at this moment. She quieted her tone, even as her heart raced and the hairs across her whole body stood at attention. “Luke, honey, I know you’re scared, but we need to go. We need to go now.”
Luke scrambled out of his seat. She pulled on his arm, practically dragging him from the car and through a gap in the stack of cars. A ragged bumper caught on her pants and tore into the skin below. She sucked in a breath but didn’t slow.
The SUVs had pulled to a halt near her abandoned car. She led Luke deeper into the junkyard, winding their way through heaps of metal trash and tires. Car doors opened and slammed shut behind them.
She moved more quickly, keeping Luke’s hand firmly clasped in her own, saying a little prayer of thanks at how large the junkyard was. A dog barked somewhere in the distance.
Please don’t let him be loose.
She rounded another corner, then stopped. She reached up and pulled open the back door of an old sedan that was sitting on the remains of a station wagon. Inside, the car was just a skeleton of a car. There were no seats, no dashboard, no paneling of any kind. The top of the sedan was flattened, and the window were gone, but otherwise it looked stable. It looked like an old cop car from the seventies.
The door squeaked as she urged it open. She winced, waiting for someone to let out a yell. But no one did, and she didn’t hear anyone in the immediate vicinity. She looked back at Luke, keeping her voice low. “I need you to climb up quietly, okay?”
He nodded and reached up. She clasped her hands together, bracing her legs as he placed his foot on them. She gave him a little boost. His chest fell into the car, and he squirmed forward before he finally disappeared inside.
Using the car underneath, Sandra hauled herself up through the same door. Once inside, she crouched low, slowly pulling the door closed softly behind her.
Luke was huddled in the back corner. Sandra put a finger to her lips. But Luke didn’t look at her. He just rocked back and forth slowly. Sandra peered out the window, careful to keep her movements slow, not sure how stable a resting place the station wagon was. A man all in black walked down the path between the towers of junk, his gaze scanning back and forth.
Sandra ducked back down, a hand over her mouth as her breathing came out in pants. In her mind, she imagined what she would do if he got closer. She knew she could take at least one, especially if she had surprise on her side.
But there was no chance she was going to be able to take out all of them. She glanced back at Luke, who was still rocking quietly in the corner. Oh God, please help.
The seconds ticked by at an agonizing pace. Each sound in the junkyard, each scuffle of a shoe, each creak of metal set Sandra’s heart racing, knowing they were about to be discovered. She knew that their best chance of not being caught was to keep moving, to keep shifting from hiding place to hiding place, even doubling back to where the men had already searched. But Luke wouldn’t be able to do that, at least not quietly.
Desperation clawed at the edges of Sandra’s mind, slowly turning her thoughts to panic. But she couldn’t panic. She needed to come up with something. Slowly, she moved toward Luke, trying to keep her movements silent. “Luke, honey, we need to run, sweetheart. Do you think you can run?”
Luke didn’t meet her gaze, just continued to rock, a soft hum escaping his lips. Sandra stared around her desperately, trying to come up with any plan. How was she going to do this? There were at least three SUVs, which probably meant twelve individuals. In the military, they had practiced multiple-attacker drills. She’d defeated as many as six. But twelve who were heavily armed while she had nothing was beyond the scope of believability.
But not if you get one of their weapons. It was her and Luke’s only chance, and it was a slim one at that. If she got ahold of one of their weapons, she could try and take them out one by one, and silently. If one of them called in or opened fire, the game was over.
No, she couldn’t risk it. They would wait, and hopefully the men simply wouldn’t find them. Luke’s humming grew louder.
“Luke, I need you to be quiet, honey. Please, Luke, I need you to be quiet.”
Luke only rocked faster, his mewling getting a little louder. “No, Luke, you need to be quiet. Please, Luke, please.”
The creek of metal was the only warning she had. Sandra whirled around as the driver’s door opened fully. A man in black, his weapon aimed at her, stood with his arms braced against the floor of the car. A second man in black appeared above the passenger-side window. “Lookie what we found. Out. Both of you.”
Sandra put her hands up while her mind raced. But there were no good answers here. All she could do now was hope that she could pave the way to make this less painful for Luke. She reached her hand toward him, wanting to touch him one last time, but he let out a small cry, and she pulled her hand back. “Okay, baby. It’s going to be okay.”
The second one barked. “Out. Now.”
Sandra looked into his eyes and knew he would pull the trigger. “Okay. Okay. I’m coming. Just give me a second.”
She was forced to duck crawl because she couldn’t stand up all the way. She reached the driver’s door. She was about to turn around to lower herself out when the gunman grabbed the front of her shirt and yanked her face first through the opening.
A cry burst from her lips as her knees slammed painfully into the edge of the car. She was unceremoniously dumped on the ground. The second gunman stepped down from his perch and stood with his M4 aimed at her. “Don’t move.”
The first one stepped back. “I’ll get the kid.”
He swung the strap of his M4 around him and started to climb the station wagon. As soon as his head appeared in the opening of the sedan door, Luke’s cries erupted.
The gunman standing above her turned his head to watch his partner. Sandra bolted from her position. She wrapped her hands around his ankle, jamming her shoulder right into his knee. He let out a scream as he fell back.
Sandra didn’t give him even a second to gather himself. She slid up between his leg and slammed her knee into his crotch. She flung his left leg over and then crawled up his torso, slamming her elbow into his chin. He cried out, then his eyes rolled back in his head.
She grabbed the gun and pulled the trigger, catching the other man in the stomach as he turned.
She rolled off of him, getting to her feet. She needed to get to the other gunman. She needed to—
“Nice move. Stupid move, but nice move.” A third gunman stood balanced on the station wagon, his weapon aimed at Sandra. There was four feet between them. Too large a distance to cover before he could get a shot off. Plus there was another gunman to his left.
Luke’s cries had grown quiet.
“They want the boy alive. You’re optional.”
Sandra tensed. Oh God. Luke, I’m sorry. She dropped the gun. “Don’t shoot.”
One of the men charged, grabbing her by the front of the shirt and throwing her to the ground. He grabbed her left arm and yanked it behind her back, and a zip tie was cinched around her wrists before she could even breathe.
She was whirled around yet again and pushed toward the third man. “Take her back to the cars. Get the boy.”
Sandra dug in her feet. “No, wait. He’s autistic. You can’t just grab him.”
The man holding her didn’t say anything, just yanked her forward, practically pulling her shoulder out of its socket.
“No, wait. Let me—”
Screaming erupted from the car.
Sandra yanked herself free, whirling around. While she’d been distracted by the three men on the side of the car, another three had approached from the other side. One of them had Luke by the shoulders, pulling him from the car.
Sandra bolted forward. “No, no! He doesn’t like to be touched! Leave him—”
Pain crashed into the back of her skull. Stars blinked across her vision as she fell to her knees. The man who’d been holding her gripped her roughly by the arm. “I said let’s go.”
Sandra swayed, her vision blurring in and out. But there was nothing wrong with her hearing. Luke’s cries sounded over and over again. She struggled against the man holding her.
The man’s grip loosened. “What the—”
Without the man’s support, Sandra fell once again to her knees. Without her hands to break her fall, she crashed forward onto her chest. Luke’s cries had slowed. Sandra could hear fighting up ahead. She struggled back to her knees, knowing she needed to get to Luke.
On her knees, she leaned against the car near her, using it to help her get to her feet. Screams rang out from the other side of the car. A spray of blood splashed against the car near her. She gasped. Her mouth fell open as two large wings appeared on the other side of the car. The men with her opened fire.
Sandra ducked her head, hurrying around the car. Luke sat against the car, his hands wrapped around his knees. Sammy flew over the car, moving faster than Sandra’s eyes could track. Sandra placed her hands over a piece of ragged metal and slowly started to cut away the zip ties around her wrists. “Luke? Luke, are you okay?”
This time, Luke did look up at her. “Sammy’s here.”
Chapter Twenty-Seven
The Range Rover had a little pep in it. Norah used all of it, coaxing out even more as she barreled down the I-90, heading toward Hardin.
