Coming In Hot (Jupiter Point Book 6)

by Jennifer Bernard

  "It's better that way. You don't want a fight. If you run into trouble, tell them the FBI knows exactly what's going on. Tell them if anything happens to you they'll be in so much legal trouble that the entire place will have to shut down. If anything happens to a single child, the group is done. They know that. They're not stupid. You're smart and skilled, Carolyn. You're a warrior queen disguised as an art history professor. You can do this."

  A slight smile brought that little dimple to life.

  He couldn't help it; he touched her cheek. "Damn, I wish I could be the one to stay. You're getting the dangerous end of this."

  She shook her head. "It wouldn't work, and you know it. They'd never allow you near the kids, for one thing."

  A silence fell between them, a silence filled with the immensity of what they were about to attempt. He dropped his hand from her cheek, but she caught it before it got too far. Her gaze softened as she held his hand in both of hers. "Tobias…about before…" She trailed off. In her eyes he read regret, worry, gratitude.

  But did that add up to love?

  "Forget it." He turned away from her, toward Sarah, who was bouncing toward them.

  "I just heard the bell for prayers before dinner," she said. "I have to crawl back, really quick!"

  "I think it's go-time all-around," he said gruffly. "Ready for a fake fight with your fake fiancé, Caro?"

  "Ready."

  29

  Their plan worked perfectly…until it all fell apart. They waited until Sarah had disappeared, then Tobias stormed out of the guesthouse, ranting about crazy impossible women. He demanded to be able to leave immediately—the hell with Carolyn Moore. She could find her own ride back. He drove off in a rooster tail of gravel while the guards laughed their asses off.

  Carolyn ran into the longhouse kitchen, sobbing. The women, who were busy serving the night's meal, clustered around her to offer comfort. She remembered a few of them, but others were new. Even though she was technically a pariah, the fact that she'd come back for her father's blessing softened them toward her. Everyone liked drama, after all. The women jumped at the chance to lecture her on the dangers of marrying godless men.

  "You should find a suitable partner here," they told her. "Once your father has forgiven you and received you back into the fold, you'll have no shortage of offers, even though you're so far past your prime."

  Carolyn didn't argue. She accepted all advice and lectures eagerly. If it helped her find the children, she'd volunteer for a thousand scoldings.

  And it worked. At the Light Keepers, the children always ate separately from the adults. When it was time to bring them their food, she volunteered to help out. "I can't possibly accept your hospitality without pulling my weight. That's against the Third Principle." Thank goodness the old jargon came back to her so easily.

  The women smiled kindly at her and accepted the offer. Following their instructions, she piled trays of baked chicken and biscuits and gravy onto a rolling cart. The entire time, she made sure to sob occasionally, or drop her head into her hands, as if her heartbreak blinded her to everything else.

  She followed Patience, a sour older woman she'd always detested, to the barn. Behind it, a large aluminum hatch door opened onto a short set of stairs that led down into darkness.

  It occurred to her, with a jolt, that she should pretend to be surprised. "What is this place?"

  "It's for the children's safety. That's all you need to know."

  Carolyn accepted that with a bowed head, and carried a tray down the stairs. A motion sensor light went on, illuminating another door at the bottom of the staircase. Patience unlocked it—these kids really were prisoners!—and let her into a big open room filled with cots and about a dozen children from the ages of seven to fourteen.

  Sarah's face lit up at the sight of her. Carolyn gave her a surreptitious "quiet" gesture behind her back. A boy of about fourteen whispered something in her ear and she snapped her mouth shut. That must be Mark.

  Patience directed her to put the trays on the table and dish food into the bowls that had already been set out. Carolyn did so, thinking quickly. She had to find a reason to stay back here, something that wouldn't make Patience suspicious.

  After they'd served all the food, the children sat obediently around the table and Patience delivered the blessing. Carolyn lowered her head along with the others, though her own silent prayer was slightly different. Please, Lord, help me get these children to safety.

  Patience finished with a sharp clap of her hands. "I expect all the dishes to be piled on the trays when we return in one hour. Older kids, you're responsible."

  "Yes, ma'am," they answered, mouths already full of biscuit and chicken. She turned to go, her floor-length skirt swinging wide. Carolyn remembered the feeling of those long skirts always dragging at her legs, of never feeling free to run and climb and dance. Of the many times she'd gotten her skirts tangled between her legs and fallen flat.

  And that gave her an idea.

  Following behind the older woman, she snagged her foot in the leg of a chair. She went crashing down, face first. She landed on her side, her face and shoulder slamming into the concrete floor. Pain lanced through her. The older woman whirled around with a scowl.

  Carolyn sat up and grabbed her ankle with an expression of agony. Her ankle was fine, but she didn't have to fake the pain, with her shoulder and cheekbone throbbing. "I twisted my ankle. Oh sweet mother, it hurts." She moaned and rocked back and forth. The kids all turned to stare at her. Sarah jumped out of her chair and came running to her side.

  "Oh miss, are you okay?"

  Carolyn winked at her so she didn't worry too much. Sarah got the hint and dropped down next to her. She peered at her ankle.

  "Ma'am Patience, it looks terrible. I don't think she can walk!"

  "I'll be fine," Carolyn said with a gasp. "I just need a few minutes. You go on, Patience. I know you have a million things to do. By the time you get back I'll be up and ready to tackle those stairs." She put on a brave smile. She made a show of trying to get to her feet, then collapsing back down from the pain. "Just a little rest, that's all I need," she repeated faintly.

  Patience let out a disapproving snort. "I suppose bad things happen to bad people. That'll teach you to leave the path of the Light Keepers."

  "You're so right, Patience. That lesson has been brought home to me in so many ways since I came back. I'm truly grateful for your forbearance."

  "I have to lock the door. The Elders require it. You won't be able to leave until I return."

  "Of course you must do as the Elders say. Where would I go like this anyway?" She pretended to test her ankle again and winced.

  With one last scornful glance, Patience bustled toward the stairs. She made a big show of locking the door. "One hour, children," she called as she left.

  The sound of her footfalls echoed in the stairwell as she climbed toward the hatch. As soon as Carolyn heard it slam shut, she scrambled to her feet. Sarah jumped up and down and clapped her hands. "You're not hurt!"

  "No, not much. A little." She rubbed her shoulder, then raised her voice to address all the kids. Most had stopped eating to watch the drama, though some of the younger ones were still focused on their food. She called on her best college professor voice—authoritative, friendly, calm, in charge. "Kids, my name is Carolyn Moore and I'm Sarah's half-sister. I used to live here, so you may have heard about me."

  "You're the one from the poster," said a little girl. "But you're a pariah now!"

  "Because I left when I was of legal age. Not because I sinned." Though she certainly had sinned plenty since then, and still would—if Tobias ever forgave her.

  "I'm here because of Sarah. She wants to leave here and I’m going to help her.”

  Forks clattered onto plates and thirteen sets of hopeful eyes clung to her. Her heart twisted. How could she leave these kids here, with some unknown cataclysmic event about to occur?

  “We want to go to,” said
a tall boy, the oldest in the group, as he rose his feet.

  “Are you Mark?”

  “Yes, and I know the tunnels so I can help.” His eyes were snapping with excitement. “We all want to leave. We've already talked about it. We know how to get off the property, but we couldn't figure out what to do after that."

  "All of you? Are you sure?” She surveyed the other children. Their expressions ranged from frightened to determined to thrilled—in Sarah's case.

  "We all talked it over together. We only trust each other. The adults don't pay attention to us anymore. Even the kids with parents are freaking out because something weird's going on. We never had to stay underground before."

  "Our parents never visit us anymore," piped up one small child.

  Carolyn shoved aside her anger at the situation. Tobias would be expecting her and Sarah, no more. But how could she leave these kids behind? This might be their last chance. The prison would be locked that much tighter once one child escaped. And time was ticking away. One hour.

  Tobias could handle it. Tobias could handle anything. Decision made.

  “Okay then.” She nodded. “Let’s get moving. Mark, lead the way to that tunnel.”

  With a big grin, the kid hurried to the far corner of the room and moved aside a cot. Behind it lay a hatch door. Carolyn peered at the narrow opening—easy for the kids, tight for her. She couldn't imagine Tobias trying to squeeze in there.

  "You go first, Mark, and lead the way. I'll bring up the rear and cover our tracks."

  He nodded and beckoned to the other kids. They clearly saw him as their leader already, and easily followed after him, ducking into the tunnel one by one. Carolyn crawled in last and pulled the cot and the hatch door back in front of the hole.

  She could barely manage to turn her body around in the narrow space. By the time she was pointed in the right direction, she was several yards behind the last child. The corridor was lit by dim utility lights at intervals so far apart that occasionally she found herself in total darkness. Ahead, she heard a few whimpers, and shushes, and an occasional whisper from one of the children. To her right, she felt the rough concrete of the tunnel, to the left the smooth surface of cords and pipes. A low hum seemed to fill the space.

  They crawled, on and on. It seemed to last forever, this slow inching away from the bunker, toward uncertainty. Would Tobias find them? Would the FBI be there? Or would they be on their own?

  Emotion welled inside her as she pictured Tobias waiting patiently at the fence line, all night if need be. I said I love you.

  He loved her. It had shone from his eyes as he spoke those words. It was true. It was real. And she'd thrown it back in his face out of…what? Fear? Denial? Light Keeper-inspired craziness?

  Maybe all of the above. But as she squirmed through the tunnel, those emotions didn’t seem very important anymore. What mattered was Tobias, and the way he looked at her, the way he made her feel.

  Of course she loved Tobias. Her love for Tobias sang through her heart, her soul, her mind, her cramped, crawling body. She loved him so deeply, so permanently. She'd fallen so fast and hard she hadn't even realized what was happening. Hot sex, she'd told herself. That was total crap, total self-delusion. She loved him. What if she never got a chance to tell him so?

  Lost in thought, she didn't realize that something had gone wrong until she reached the end of the tunnel, where another hatch opened next to the power station. A fluorescent light illuminated the kids, huddled in a tight group against the wall of the station as an armed guard aimed a machine gun at them. He was speaking into his walkie-talkie, saying something about "stupid kids."

  Which meant he didn't have a complete focus on his M15. And he probably didn't know she was with the kids.

  Making a split-second decision, she crawled silently out of the hatch and lunged at him. She yanked his feet out from under him and he toppled to the ground, jarring his weapon loose. She pounced on him while he scrambled after the machine gun, then planted a knee in the small of his back, where he'd feel it in his kidney. She ripped the M15 out of his grasp. He was still fighting her, struggling to get away from the pressure of her knee. The walkie-talkie crackled. She had to finish this, now. Get the kids out of there. Hauling her arm back as far as she could, she rammed the gun against his temple. He slumped against the ground, unconscious. She grabbed the walkie-talkie from his hand and shut it off.

  The kids watched, wide-eyed, as if she were some kind of Rambo. Sarah jumped up and down. "That's my sister," she crowed proudly.

  Carolyn allowed herself a tiny smile. Adrenaline coursed through her as she slung the M15 over her back. "Come on, kids. We have to run. Go due west toward the fence. Someone will meet us there."

  God, she hoped so.

  The bigger kids took the smaller kids on their backs and they set off at the fastest pace they could manage through the stalks of last year's crops. She didn't know exactly how far the fence was from here. It was now full night, with the moon just beginning to rise. She walked backward, scanning for signs of pursuers from the compound. The station was silhouetted against ghostly silver light, like a scene from one of her favorite Rembrandt paintings, “The Night Watch.”

  The odd flashback to her real life disoriented her. Was it just a couple weeks ago that she'd been wrapping up finals at Evergreen? That she'd said a tearful goodbye to Dragon? Now she was back in the one place she'd never wanted to see again, jogging with a pack of kids towards freedom, hoping with all her heart that Tobias Knight would be there to save them. All of them.

  30

  As soon as Tobias could get a cell signal from the Land Rover, he called Agent Turner and filled her in. Naturally she was furious, but only yelled at him for a brief time until she hung up to mobilize a response.

  Then he called Will and Ben. "I'm flying the chopper up," Ben said right away.

  "No need. The FBI's got this."

  "So at worst I get in some night flying practice. I'm coming." When Ben talked in that tone, there was no point arguing, so he didn't. Instead he scouted out a good landing site and sent Ben the coordinates.

  When the brothers had purchased the Robinson helicopter for Knight and Day, they'd wanted it for ocean rescues, or natural disasters. Tobias certainly hadn't pictured it as the getaway vehicle from a fringe militia group. But so be it.

  Will hopped in the big Ford Super Duty he’d borrowed from the Jupiter Point Hotshots and headed toward the compound. Knowing his brothers were on their way was a huge relief, but he wouldn’t breathe easy until he laid eyes on Carolyn and Sarah.

  After all that groundwork had been laid, Tobias parked his Land Rover as close to the westernmost point of the Light Keepers property. He dug a pair of night vision goggles out of the bag of gear he kept in the back of his rig. In the greenish darkness they created, he hiked through the fields until he reached the fence line.

  There, he watched and waited. He didn't have wire cutters, so he found a hole in the fence and gradually managed to widen it, relying on his hand strength for the job. At one point, he heard the thunk-thunk of the chopper setting down in the field. He'd instructed Ben to stay in the pilot's seat, ready for a quick escape.

  He stayed still and watchful, a shadow in the night, and thought of his father. As an army sniper, how many hours had his father passed like this? Alert but still, waiting on a knife's edge? What did he think about? Robert Knight hadn't married and started a family until after he left the army. Had he wanted to? Did he dream of coming home to Jupiter Point? Was he already in love with Janine?

  Tobias would never know these things. He could never ask his father. Because someone had reached out from the past and snuffed out his life. In that moment, an explosion of grief radiated through him, like a nuclear blast. Oh Dad. You stubborn, upright, dedicated, strict, difficult, wonderful man. I loved you.

  A blinding flash of emotion lit up all the corners of his heart—the guilt, the penance, the grief. And you knew that. I don't have to worr
y. I don't have to atone.

  Right. That's not your job. Your job is to live.

  It sounded like his father's voice, the hushed whisper of a ghost. But it wasn't. It was him. All him. The deepest, wisest part of him.

  Tobias shook himself back to attention, feeling as if he'd traveled a great distance in that brief moment. He checked the dark fields again, lit a garish green through his goggles.

  Will appeared at his side, squeezing his shoulder as he crouched next to him. “Anything yet?”

  “No.”

  “Should we go in?”

  “Not yet, I don’t want to set off any alarm bells. I don’t know their cameras, their systems. If we hear anything that doesn’t sound right, we’ll go in.”

  “Roger that.”

  “Ben?”

  “Standing by. About a quarter mile away, out of sight. He said the chopper flew like a dream on the way up.”

  Good man. Both of them.

  They settled into silence. More time passed, but it had a different quality now that he had company. His brother’s company, best of all.

  And finally, there they were! A cluster of dark figures stumbled exhausted across the field. Wait—holy shit, that was more than just Carolyn and Sarah. Jesus, it was a whole group, ranging from little to nearly adult-size. What the hell had happened? Carolyn must have decided to spring all the children.

  Good for her.

  “That’s a lot of kids,” Will murmured.

  “How many can the chopper carry?”

  “I’ll fit the rest in the Super Duty. It’s a good thing I brought it. I had a feeling it would come in handy.”

  Tobias jumped up and waved to draw their attention to their location. The group veered their direction.

  The first kid to reach the fence was a tall, gangly teenager carrying a smaller child. He was panting so hard Tobias could barely make out his words.

  "Caro…Moore…back…"

  "Carolyn?" he asked sharply. "Did something happen?" He scanned the group and didn't see her. More kids arrived, piling up behind the hole in the fence. He helped them through, one by one, until they were all on the other side. Little Sarah hugged his leg.