EMP Lodge Series (Book 3): Dark Defiance

by Grace Hamilton

  As they approached, Wyatt turned back to Jack who was limping behind, “Keep your eyes on that garage. Greg and Brenda may not be able to take them all if they leave on ATVs.”

  Jack was out of breath, “Got it.”

  Megan watched Jack. She fell back to walk with him, “Are you sure your up for this?”

  “Yep, I'm okay, Megan. We get through this and then you better believe when we get home I am laying in bed and Willow will be waiting on me hand and foot.”

  Megan giggled, “Sure she will. She is going to be kicking your butt for not telling her how bad that thing is.”

  He winked, “She is a lot of fun when she's mad.”

  Megan touched his arm, “Jack, please be careful. Watch your back. You aren't going to be able to run as fast as us, so give yourself a head start if we have to run.”

  “We aren't going to be running. We are going to do fine. You have to believe it. Don't be putting any bad juju into the air by being negative.”

  “Take care of yourself, Jack,” she told him before speeding up and falling into step by Wyatt.

  Everyone split off to get in position. Jackson carried the dynamite to the edge of the garage and waited to hear the bird call announcing all was clear. They couldn't afford tipping off the men inside. They had one chance. One shot to use surprise to their advantage.

  Jackson was at the giant stone arches. Megan watched as he laid a stick of dynamite at the base. She was a little sad to destroy such a beautiful piece of architecture, but it had to be done.

  She got busy putting her own stick into place. She could hear footsteps above. Someone was coming out on the small deck.

  She had two choices, run now or light the dynamite and then run. If she delayed, the person may see her. If she didn't light the dynamite, the entire plan would be ruined.

  With her decision made, she bent down and used her lighter to light the stick of dynamite. Knowing Wyatt was watching and would shoot the man if she was spotted, she crouched low and rushed back to the hiding spot next to Wyatt.

  They watched as the man, threw open the doors to the upstairs room. He was shirtless and smoking a cigarette. The glow of the cigarette was like a beacon in the night. He walked to the edge, scratched himself and then started to pee.

  Megan was appalled. Then she was furious. His stream of urine fell right on the stick of dynamite, effectively extinguishing it.

  She looked to Wyatt, “Now what?”

  “Plan B.”

  “Plan B? What is Plan B?” she was frantic. They didn't go over a second plan. “Wyatt, what are we doing?”

  Just then another man opened the side door of the garage. He too looked in rough shape. He was carrying a rifle slung over one shoulder.

  “Quit peeing off the porch, man,” he said with frustration.

  The guy up above chuckled, “Watch where your walking.”

  The man below directed the beam of a flashlight to the area where the urine pooled.

  “What the?”

  “What?” the man above said leaning over the railing.

  Megan froze. He had found the dynamite.

  Their surprise was blown. Megan started to panic. They wouldn't walk out of here alive if they didn't have the element of surprise.

  Wyatt whistled. It was the signal for the attack.

  Megan looked towards the front of the house. The dynamite hadn't exploded.

  “Take cover,” Wyatt said in a low voice.

  She saw what at first appeared to be a shooting star, but it was far too close to the ground.

  It was a stick of lit dynamite. It was sparking and creating a spectacular display. Before it hit the ground it exploded. The front of the house crumbled in places, but the stone was solid. What would have leveled a typical home, barely did any damage to the fortress in front of her.

  The sound of the explosion rang in her ears.

  The smoke and the mayhem that followed left her stunned. There were men running everywhere, firing weapons in every direction.

  Wyatt was shooting every few seconds. The sound of the gunshots made the ringing in her ears even worse.

  “You good?” Wyatt shouted over the bedlam unfolding below.

  She stared at him, watching as he pulled the trigger over and over. She was enthralled with how methodical he was.

  “Megan! Shoot!”

  Her vision cleared and everything was blissfully silent. It felt like she was in a bubble. She aimed her rifle and pulled the trigger.

  Bullets were spraying the hillside all around the house.

  “Automatics!” Wyatt shouted. “How the heck did they get automatics?”

  Megan couldn't believe she hadn't been shot yet. There were literally bullets peppering the area she and Wyatt were hunkered down.

  The men were either the worst shots in the world or they were just shooting to shoot. They were firing as if there was no reason to worry about running out of ammunition. That was not a good sign.

  While reloading her rifle, she took a second to check on everyone else.

  Greg was lying on the ground. He wasn't moving. Megan prayed he wasn't badly hurt or dead.

  The men kept coming out of the house, shooting. It reminded her of an anthill. They just kept coming!

  Megan watched as Brenda belly crawled towards Greg. She held her breath as she watched Brenda put two fingers on his neck. When Brenda began to drag the man back to the safety of their original spot, Megan breathed a sigh of relief.

  “McDaniels!” Wyatt shouted.

  Megan turned to see where Wyatt was looking. The leader of the horrible men had his leg thrown over the top balcony where the man peed off of.

  Wyatt aims, but can't get a clear shot.

  “I can't waste the ammo, we are running out.”

  “We can't let him get away, Wyatt!”

  He nodded, picked up the box of ammunition laying on the ground and headed towards the back of the house to get a better shot.

  Megan had a moment of panic at the thought of being alone, but quickly tamped it down. She needed to take out as many of the men as possible.

  She took a moment to scan the area. There was a small shed off to the side of the home. The sun was breaking the horizon, which made it easier for her to see.

  Evan, Chase and Garrett were running towards the shed. Brenda and Jackson were running from the front of the house.

  One of McDaniels' men had spotted the group and open fired.

  Megan screamed when she saw Brenda drop to the ground. The rest made it to the shed. She waited to see if Brenda was going to get back up. She didn't move.

  The man was going to die. She aimed and fired. Down he went.

  “Take that you big jerk,” she murmured.

  She turned to check on Jack.

  He was still shooting, taking out the men who were trying to escape out the front doors. It was, boom, quiet, boom, quiet. Jack was taking too long to reload. Their rifles were no match for the automatic rifles the other men had. They were putting out 10 times as many bullets.

  Megan loaded her rifle and looked for her next target.

  “No!” she yelled to nobody in particular.

  Two men were aiming some giant rocket launcher directly at Jack's location. She knew nothing about military weapons, but she knew a rocket launcher when she saw one.

  She quickly took the shot and took out one of the men next to the launcher.

  As she reached for another bullet, there as a commotion at the shed. A man was using a torch to ignite small piles of twigs at each corner.

  The last time she had seen Chase, Evan, Garret and Jackson, they had gone in there.

  Her attention focused on the man with the launcher.

  She took a deep breath, “First Jack and then Chase,” she said reaching down to grab another bullet.

  Nothing.

  “No!” she sat up and quickly felt deep in her pockets for a bullet. There was nothing. She felt around on the ground, hoping one had fallen out of h
er pocket. Nothing.

  Megan gave a strangled cry. Wyatt had taken the box with him!

  “No, no, no. This can't be happening. Please, God. Just one more bullet. Please!” she wailed.

  She wasted several precious seconds trying to find a way out of the horrible situation she found herself in.

  Jack or the four members of the group that were trapped in the shed. Her eyes darted back and forth. Jack, the man on the deck and the man who was lighting small fires around the shed.

  She frantically looked around for Wyatt. She needed him. She needed his gun and his guidance. He would know what to do. No, he would have already done it.

  Megan closed her eyes, begging for mercy.

  Chapter Thirty

  “Please don't make me make this decision,” she whispered. A tear slipped down her cheek as she thought of her options.

  She loved Jack. He had become her best friend next to Wyatt. Wyatt loved Jack. Willow, Rosie and Ryland all flashed through her mind. She couldn't leave them without their son, husband and father.

  She thought about the four men trapped in the burning shed. Evan had Tara, but the other men were single. Would their absence be a big a loss as Jack's?

  Were four lives more valuable than one?

  It was truly gut-wrenching. Her insides felt like they were being twisted into knots as she weighed the importance of each of the men's lives. Who was she to make this decision?

  She cursed the fates for putting her in such an impossible situation.

  When she opened her eyes, her decision had been made.

  She aimed the rifle, paused and then pulled the trigger. It all felt like it was happening in slow motion. The recoil from the rifle threw her shoulder back as the gun bucked. Megan held her breath as she watched her target.

  He dropped. The torch fell to the ground. At the same moment the man with the torch fell dead to the ground, there was a loud explosion.

  “Jack!” she screamed.

  Megan sobbed as she watched the area where Jack had been burn in a fiery inferno.

  “I'm so sorry, I'm so sorry.”

  Her attention was drawn back to the barn. The two small fires that had been lit were quickly growing. The shed was going up in flames with the group trapped inside.

  She had expected to see them run out. When they didn't, she knew they were trapped inside. The man had trapped them and was going to burn them alive.

  Megan looked around, trying to find a way to get to the shed without getting shot. The fire burning out of control where Jack had been hit would provide her enough cover. It was the long way around, but she had to try.

  Megan raced towards the fire and then behind it. There had been gunshots, but she had no idea if they were aimed at her or someone else. She made the area where Brenda and Greg had sheltered her next destination. She made it.

  She could hear yelling and realized it was the men inside the shed screaming for help. Megan was not about to let Jack's death be for nothing. She would not let the men die.

  Megan raced passed Brenda's body laying on the ground, but didn't stop to check on her. If she was dead, it wouldn't matter.

  She reached the shed and quickly found the door. It wouldn't budge.

  “Dammit!” she shouted. “Hold on, guys. I'm trying!”

  Megan looked around for a rock to hit the lock on the door. She found one and started pounding on the lock.

  It wasn't doing any good. The heat from the fire was making it difficult for her to stay close.

  She looked back to the man holding the smoldering torch. He didn't have a gun.

  Megan scanned the area. Her eyes landed on a shovel laying on the ground a few feet away from the barn.

  The fire had engulfed one side of the shed. She grabbed the shovel. Using the head of the shovel like an ax, she continued to hit the wooden door.

  Just when she thought her efforts would be futile, the wood cracked. She hit it again, splintering the wood. A few more good whacks and she had made a good size hole.

  “Get back,” Chase shouted.

  She complied. The large man came crashing through the door a few seconds later.

  He went right back in, coming back with Chase who was nearly carrying Garret. Evan was right behind them.

  They were all coughing. She prayed her efforts weren't too late.

  “We're fine,” Chase said, before launching into another coughing fit.

  “We need to get out of her,” Evan said. “Where is everybody else.”

  Megan looked at Chase, “Jack's dead.”

  All four men looked at her with shock and sadness.

  “Wyatt?”

  She shrugged, “I don't know. He took off after McDaniels.”

  “Let's move,” Chase said, heading towards the back of the house.

  Garrett seemed to recover with the fresh air and managed to walk himself.

  “There's a barn back here. If McDaniels was running, he would probably head there,” Chase said leading the way.

  Behind them the fully engulfed shed fire provided created an orange glow. Bodies were strewn about the area, but one was moving. Walking towards them in fact.

  “Behind us!” Megan alerted the group. She was hoping one of them still had some bullets.

  “Brenda?” Jackson said in disbelief.

  The woman was holding her arm across her stomach.

  Jackson ran to aid her.

  “Where are you hit?” Megan asked. She had seen her drop and had run right by her thinking she was dead. She suddenly felt a twinge of guilt.

  “Shoulder. I'll live. Where we headed?” she asked all business.

  “Barn. We need to find Wyatt and see if he took out McDaniels,” Chase answered.

  The gunfire was sporadic now.

  “Are they shooting each other?” Megan asked. “If we're all here, who else,” she stopped.

  Wyatt. Wyatt was unaccounted for.

  “Was Greg killed?” Megan asked, remembering Brenda dragging his lifeless body across the ground.

  Brenda nodded, “He didn't make it.

  “They were shooting anything and everything. Hard telling if they are aiming or just shooting. They aren't the sharpest tools in the shed,” Evan said.

  When they reached the barn, they spread out. Megan was given a handful of bullets.

  Chase held up three fingers, silently counting down. On 3 they burst through the large double doors, guns at the ready.

  Megan nearly wept with joy when she saw Wyatt knelt in front of an elderly man and woman.

  “You're alive!” she wailed.

  His face was grim as he untied the couple.

  “McDaniels?” Chase asked.

  “He is hiding in some shack behind here,” he replied.

  The old man rubbed his hands together, trying to get the circulation moving.

  “It's an outhouse,” he informed them.

  “Perfect. Who has the dynamite?” Wyatt asked.

  “I have some,” Jackson said.

  “Good, let's plant it and blow him off the face of this earth. It seems fitting he will die in the pile of,” Wyatt stopped, looking at the elderly woman in front of him.

  “Got it,” Jackson said. They all knew what he was going to say.

  “I'll cover you,” Chase said, following Jackson out the door.

  “Stay here,” Wyatt ordered Megan and Brenda. “You know what to do if one of them tries to come in.”

  “Yes sir,” Brenda replied.

  Megan turned to the couple. They looked like walking skeletons. Their fragile skin was stretched tight across their bones. There was bruising on their faces and arms. They had been sorely mistreated. It was a miracle they were alive.

  “We'll get you out of here,” Megan said with a soothing voice.

  The old woman was crying.

  “Thank you. Bless you all. Bless you,” she repeated.

  Megan couldn't imagine the horrors they had been through.

  Seconds later there was a
spurt of gunfire followed by a massive explosion that shook the rafters in the barn.

  Brenda looked up, “We need to get out of here. They may have gotten a little carried away with the dynamite.”

  Just then Wyatt came through the door, “Time to move. Evan and Chase ran in and each grabbed one of the elderly couple.”

  Megan could smell the smoke. Their explosion had just started a fire. They did not need to be dealing with a forest fire.

  The group ran around the back of the house, using it as cover.

  Megan felt a few raindrops and hoped it would be enough to extinguish the fires burning all around them.

  Her wish was granted. The skies opened up and released a downpour of rain.

  “In here,” the old man said.

  He opened a door and they found themselves in the garage.

  An ATV was parked towards the front.

  “Does that work?” Wyatt asked.

  “It has been. These guys have been using it for the past couple of months. I heard it running yesterday.”

  Wyatt looked around. Megan knew the instant he realized Jack wasn't with them.

  He looked at her, asking the question.

  She looked at her feet, gathered the courage to meet his eyes.

  The pain she saw when he got her silent message was nearly more than she could stand.

  Chase put a hand on his shoulder. Everyone else looked away.

  “Later. Let's finish this,” Wyatt said with such conviction it snapped everyone to attention.

  The rain that had been pounding against the roof and the ground outside, came to a sudden halt. It stopped as fast as it had started.

  He looked at the group, before designating Brenda to stay in the garage with the couple.

  “Guard them. We'll clean up the rest of the garbage out here and then we are getting out of here,” Wyatt told her.

  The rest of them walked out, hugging the side of the garage wall. There were four men standing in the center what would have been the yard. They all looked a little shell-shocked.

  When they saw Wyatt, they all dropped their weapons and held up their hands.

  “We don't want any problems. We were just obeying orders.”

  Wyatt glared at them, his weapon trained on the one that was talking.

  “We can go with you. We can fight for you. We don't have anywhere else to go.”