by John Grit
Deni coughed. “Yeah. They have all the advantages. They can hit and miss. We can’t miss once.”
“One mistake and it’s over,” Nate agreed. “However, we have to be back with the others by nightfall or they’ll be worried. We don’t have time to do everything possible and make it back to them before dark.”
“Might as well swing down by the river,” Deni said. “I have no objections.”
Nate half smiled. “If we get killed, you can blame it all on me.”
She coughed but didn’t smile back.
Easing their way down slope, into the wetter lands, they took their time, turning south just before reaching the river.
There was no boat at the landing, no soldiers. They came across no boot prints and found no sign anyone had been in the area lately. Still, they refused to let their guard down. As far as they knew they were still being hunted, and they were not taking any chances. The farm was an obvious place for a trap. Nate was homesick and wanted to return to a somewhat normal life, even if he never admitted it. Even so, he was risking Deni and his life only because they needed the supplies buried in several caches around the farm. His interest in the house and barn was more out of homesickness than anything else. It prompted him to move in once more and take another look from a different angle. What they would find changed everything.
Nate scanned the front of the house through his binoculars. For the first time, he had a good look at the front door and windows. The first thing he noticed was everything was intact. The door hadn’t been knocked down or the window shutters broken. The second thing he noticed was something white on the door. He checked the barn and found no evidence anyone had bothered it.
“Take a look at the door for me, will you?” He handed Deni the binoculars. “You have younger eyes.”
She examined the door for several seconds and lowered the binoculars. “Looks like someone nailed or stapled a sign to the door. It’s too far for me to read.”
Nate raised an eyebrow, a look of surprise on his face. “I guess I’ll have to move in and get close enough I can read it with the binoculars. Might be Mrs. MacKay’s people asking for help or something.”
“So you haven’t even considered our discussion?” Deni stared at him.
He knew what she was referring to. “Okay damn it. But take your time and be as careful as possible. Don’t get any closer than you need to to read the damn sign.”
Her eyes lit up. “You did say I have younger eyes. That means I won’t have to get as close.”
“I hope it doesn’t say if you can read this you’re dead.”
She looked out across the clearing for a second and then back at him. “My, you’re cheerful this afternoon.”
“I’m really going to be pissed if you get shot.”
“That’ll ruin my day too.” Deni hung the binoculars around her neck and slipped them under her jacket so they wouldn’t be hanging down and snagging on brush while she crawled to the nearest cover out in the clearing. “Someone takes a shot at me; just make sure it’s his last. My armor might save me.”
“He’ll be wearing armor too, if he’s a soldier. The armor they have now can withstand what I’m shooting.”
“That’s good to know. I’m wearing the same armor.” She looked back and smiled at him while on her stomach. “Aim for his face. I’ll keep my head and butt so low about the only thing they’ll see is my pack mysteriously moving across the ground in the tall grass over there.”
Nate almost smiled. “Move slow enough and they won’t even notice that. Just take your time, Deni. We have all afternoon. And don’t get any closer than you need to to read the sign.”
“I promise.” Deni slithered on her belly a few feet and stopped to look back. “I’m going to swing around to the left some. The grass and weeds are taller there.”
Nate nodded. “Keep an eye out for rattlers. It’s been warming up lately and they’ll be out crawling. You get bit in the upper body by a big one, you probably won’t make it.”
She shook her head. “So cheerful today.”
“Just be careful and make it back here in one piece. I’ll be full of cheer. Might even smile once.”
~~~
Deni continued her slow progress, dragging her body along on her belly, staying as low as possible. Occasionally, she would sweep the weeds in front of her with the rifle barrel. Perhaps that would scare off any diamondback rattlers or at least prompt it to rattle and give her a warning.
One problem she immediately noticed was that her attempt to stay well hidden in the tall grass and weeds prevented her from actually seeing the house, and she was soon less and less sure of her exact position and exactly where the front door was. She could see the roof of the barn and used that as a guide until dead reckoning told her she was close to where she wanted to be. Turning to her right and heading directly toward the house, she hoped to move just close enough to the edge of the tall weeds and grass that she could see the sign and read it through Nate’s binoculars.
She stopped five feet from the edge of the taller grass and pulled the binoculars out of her jacket. Propping herself up a little higher on her elbows, she steadied the binoculars as she looked through them. The lettering on the sign was too small for her to read. She strained and tried to focus on the message but couldn’t see it well enough to read what it said.
Damn it. She slowly inched closer. When she ran out of tall grass and still couldn’t read the words, she realized she would have to expose herself to anyone waiting along the tree line with a rifle if she was actually going to read the message. Looks like I failed this mission.
Just as she was about to turn back and give up, movement along the tree line behind and to the left of the house caught her attention. She trained the binoculars on that area and saw nothing at first. Then someone moved into a beam of sunlight that had slanted into the tree-shaded sniper’s hide and illuminated the person’s face. She focused on it for a second and recognized Caroline. What? The features were familiar, but the face was somehow different, harried, rigid with tension. Even at that distance, their eyes seemed to connect for a second through the glass of the binoculars. That was when she saw death staring back at her. She shivered and lowered the binoculars and her head. Instinctively, she knew that if Caroline saw her hiding out there at that moment she would kill her before she had a chance to see who she was. Nate had told her Caroline had been through seven kinds of hell, but seemed to be better as time passed. The short glimpse Deni had just seen of her was more than enough to tell her Caroline was in a killing mood.
Deni backed deeper into the tall grass, lying flat and moving as slow as she possibly could. Her life depended on Caroline not seeing her out there, and she knew it. Following the same route she had taken before, she pulled herself along on her belly until she was within hearing distance of Nate. “You won’t believe it.”
“Keep coming until you’re back in the tree line again,” Nate said, seemingly ignoring her words.
It took her several minutes to get far enough back in the tree line that she felt safe enough to stop sliding along her belly. “Caroline’s out there hiding behind and to the left of the house.”
“What?” Nate closed the distance between them by crawling on his hands and knees.
Exhausted from her long crawl, Deni caught her breath and mopped her forehead with a jacket sleeve. “Only saw her for a second. But I can tell you she’s dangerous at the moment. Even from that distance and through the binoculars, looking into her eyes sent chills down my spine.”
Nate frowned. “Oh shit. Something’s happened to her. You’re right. She could be dangerous.” He looked toward the house. “Was she alone?”
“Only saw her for a second and no one else.” Deni took a long swallow from a canteen. “Scared me more than if I’d seen a Special Forces sniper out there.”
“Yeah, I’ve seen that look before. Though it’s men she hates. And for good reason.”
Deni put her canteen away. “
What’re we going to do?”
Nate raised an eyebrow. “It would be wrong to just leave her out here. It’s obvious something’s happened. She needs our help. The problem is helping her without getting shot.”
“Well,” Deni said, “I’m sure she can recognize our voices. Should be safe enough for us to get close and yell her name and identify ourselves. We can do all that while behind cover.”
“Okay.” Nate glanced toward the house. “I would feel better if you stayed here and I did it alone. But like I said, she hates men, and hearing your voice might make the difference.”
She looked up at the sky for a second. “Nice of you to give me permission to come along.”
Nate had a strange look on his face for a second. “This isn’t about me being a chauvinist pig. We’re discussing the best way to stay alive. Someday when we’re not fighting for survival, I promise I won’t boss you around at all. You can do whatever you want while I work the farm. I won’t care if you sleep all day, never cook a meal, or wash a dish, or help in the field. You can go back to college, get a job – if that’s possible again someday – whatever. I don’t care. Just be alive and healthy and happy and live to be one hundred. In the meantime, I won’t be apologizing for doing everything possible to keep you alive until the day comes we can put our rifles away except for target practice and hunting.”
She laughed. “Wow. I wasn’t expecting a speech.”
“At least you didn’t call it a rant.” Nate wanted to change the subject. “Since she didn’t take a shot at you, I’m guessing you’re pretty sure she never saw you.”
“Oh, I’m certain she never saw me. If she had I would be dead. I’m telling you, she looks like she wants to kill somebody.”
“Well,” Nate said, “let’s go. We’ll make our way around to the back of the house. Slow and easy like.”
“We’ll just pretend we don’t want to get shot,” Deni added.
~~~
Forty-five minutes later, Nate and Deni hid behind thick pine trees ten yards apart, still searching for Caroline.
Nate signaled for Deni to yell out Caroline’s name.
Deni yelled out, “Caroline! It’s Deni.”
Nate scanned the woods for any sign of danger.
No answer.
Deni yelled out Caroline’s name and identified herself again.
Finally, Caroline’s voice came back to them and echoed in the forest. “Are you alone?”
“Nate is with me,” Deni answered.
“Have you seen any soldiers?”
“Not lately. We’ve been hiding from them,” Deni answered. “We came to check out the farm and were worried it was a trap. While we were looking for any sign of soldiers hiding in the woods, we saw you.” When no answer came back, Deni asked, “Are you okay?”
“I’m unharmed. Soldiers killed a lot of people, but Samantha and I escaped.”
Nate had not seen her, but her voice had allowed him to locate her approximate position. “Is it okay for us to come on in? You’re an old friend, and we don’t want to just leave you here alone. We have food and other supplies with us.”
Samantha spoke for the first time. “Deni, I think Caroline is sick. She’s afraid of everything.”
“She has no reason to be afraid of us.” Deni changed her voice to a softer tone. “Have you eaten lately, Samantha? We have plenty of food.”
“She won’t let me go to you.”
Nate broke in. “Caroline. If I step out from behind this tree, are you going to shoot me? You know Deni and I are friends and we mean you no harm.”
Caroline’s response was incongruous. “Last thing I saw, they were torturing the old horse woman, MacKay.”
“Who?” Nate asked. “Soldiers?”
“They killed Ramiro.” Caroline stepped out of the shadows and emerged into a small clearing, holding Samantha’s hand at her side. “They also killed more than a dozen others from the horse farm.”
Nate lowered his rifle and stepped from behind the tree. “You’ll be safer with us.”
“Not if you two keep yelling and talking so loud,” Caroline said. “If there are any soldiers in this part of the county, they know we’re here now.”
Nate smiled. “First things first. We didn’t want to get shot by you.” The fact Caroline had her right hand occupied by holding Samantha’s relieved his worries to some degree. He stepped closer. “You two look like you’ve been through it.”
“Yeah,” Deni said.
Samantha rushed to Deni. Deni dropped to her knees and held the little girl. “Are you hurt?” Deni asked.
Pent-up emotion poured out onto Samantha’s face. “No. Caroline took care of me. She protected me from those mean men. They were hurting people wherever we went. We saw dead people in the woods. One of them cut Mrs. MacKay with a knife.”
Deni held her again. “Oh God. Did we cause all of this?”
Nate glanced at Deni for a second and then kept his eyes on Caroline. “Somebody’s been here. They left a sign on the front door of the house.”
“Yeah,” Caroline said, with a strange look on her face. “Soldiers. They came and looked around a little a few days ago. Then they put that sign on the door and left. But I don’t believe them.”
Nate raised an eyebrow. “Don’t believe what?”
“What the sign says.”
Nate asked, “What did the sign say?”
Caroline didn’t answer.
Deni stood. “I never got a chance to read it. Never got that close.”
“I did,” Caroline said. “It says the soldiers are no longer looking for Nate Williams; Deni Williams; Brian Williams; Atticus Hayes, and Tyrone Hayes. It also says you can stop hiding and come back to your farm now. It’s signed by Colonel Donovan.”
Deni and Nate both stared at Caroline in amazement.
Caroline looked at them like they were crazy. “You don’t believe that bullshit, do you?”
Nate checked the position of the sun in the sky. “Right now we need to get back to the others. They’ll be worried if we don’t make it back by dark.”
Deni wasn’t ready to let the subject go. “What about the idea we’re not being hunted anymore?”
Nate looked at her and Caroline. He inhaled deeply, a question mark on his face. “Who knows? Maybe Donovan called the assholes in Washington off some way. Right now we have to get back to the others.”
Chapter 16
Brian peered into the darkening woods and gripped his rifle tighter. He thought he had heard something a moment before, but thought it might have been a squirrel late to its nest and in a hurry to get to its bed before it got dark. Tyrone and Atticus were in camp 30 yards behind him, conversing quietly about what to do if the others didn’t show up before dark.
Worry heightened his senses, and he heard Samantha’s cough from 35 yards deep into the darkness, though he didn’t know at the time it was Samantha.
Something scraped against a palmetto frond to his left. He turned his whole body in that direction; ready to raise his rifle and fire.
Nate’s voice came from out of nowhere. “It’s your father. Don’t shoot.” Nate’s indistinct form emerged from the darkness only five yards away. “We have Caroline and a little girl with us.”
“Caroline?” Brian hesitated only for a second out of surprise. “Come on in. Any trouble?”
Deni suddenly appeared beside Nate. “No trouble. But things may have changed for the better.”
Brian turned. “Well, come on to the camp. We’ll prepare something for you to eat.” He led them to where Atticus and Tyrone were waiting. They had heard them talking.
“There must be a story behind all of this.” Brian couldn’t see faces in the dark. “Who is the little girl?”
“Samantha,” Caroline answered, while Samantha clung to her, holding her hand. “I’m happy to see you’re still alive and kicking,” she added.
“Same here,” Brian said. “You and little Samantha both. Uh. We lost Kendell, thou
gh.”
Caroline froze in the dark for a second. “Damn it! He was a good young man. He fought like hell when the terrorists attacked the horse farm, and later he backed me all the way when I killed that weasel child killer.”
“He was my best friend,” Brian almost whispered. “He saved my life. I’ll never forget him.”
~~~
It was too dark to see, so Nate chanced a small fire to provide light and to warm their freeze-dried food.
Brian watched his father work. “You always said no fires while we’re being hunted.”
Nate looked up from cooking. “It’s a small risk. We’ll put it out as soon as we’re through eating.”
After the four new arrivals had eaten, Brian dug around in his pack and came up with some cocoa powder. He heated water on the fire to make a cup of cocoa for Samantha. “You probably haven’t had anything sweet for a while.” He handed her the cup.
Samantha silently took it and sipped the contents. Never far from Caroline, she sat next to her and seemed to be more at ease as she got used to the strangers.
Atticus and Tyrone had been standing guard while Brian helped the others prepare a meal and eat. After 30 minutes, Tyrone came back to camp, leaving Atticus on security duty. “Earlier, Deni said things have changed for the better. What’s that about?”
Nate answered, “There’s a sign on the front door of the house signed by Colonel Donovan. It says we’re not being hunted anymore and we can go home now.”
“You believe that?” Tyrone asked.
“Not completely. Not yet,” Nate answered. “If it’s true, it means those at Mrs. MacKay’s horse farm can also go back home. We’ll head that away tomorrow morning and take a careful look sometime in the next day or two.”
Caroline spoke up. “I can tell you that not all of them will be going home. Some of them are dead, killed by the Army or CIA. I don’t know. They were not wearing regular military uniforms. But they acted and talked like soldiers.”
