The deader’s body went limp.
A beam of light shone from the compound.
She huddled down, hissing, “Great.”
Smoke whispered back, “You didn’t fire your weapon. I’m impressed.” He offered over to her the gun she’d lost in the struggle. “Don’t worry. I won’t tell Cyrus you lost it.”
She snatched it out of his hand, whispering harshly, “I didn’t lose it.”
As the light passed over their hiding spot, she took a glance. Three men were spread out and coming their way with assault rifles ready. Assuming these men knew what they were doing, it would be her last gunfight if they saw her first. A few quick blasts into her spot and it would be over. This is bad. Really bad.
Smoke crawled over to her side and whispered, “We could surrender.”
“Are you nuts?”
He shrugged.
The light swept over their heads again, and she took another glance. The men were twenty yards away and closing in. Do I shoot or not? Do I shoot or not?
Smoke wiggled her knife in front of her eyes. “I’ll handle this.”
Suddenly, a buck rushed through the grasses and bounded over them. A cry of alarm went up. Shots were fired.
Blat-at-at! Blat-at-at!
“Stop shooting, you idiot!” said one of the guards. “It’s a fricking deer!”
Still huddled beside Smoke, Sidney watched one guard in a pea coat march toward the one she thought had fired. He snatched the man’s weapon away.
“Give me that!” He cocked the weapon back and stuffed it into the man’s belly.
“Oof!” the man gasped, collapsing to the ground.
“Now I have to explain this mishap to the boss.” The lead guard lowered the muzzle on the fallen one. “I should probably shoot you myself. It’d be better than seeing you turned into one of those deaders.” He tossed the rifle at the man. “Let’s get this over with. Better hope they’re feeling merciful.”
The guard pushed himself up with his weapon and trudged behind the other two. Near the log cabin, a small force had gathered. The lead guard held his arm up and waved. Before long there were some angry mutterings cutting through the steady rain.
Smoke nudged her. “We need to move while they’re distracted. Come on.”
Heart racing and keeping low, she pushed through the tall grasses with her gun barrel lowered. The thought of deaders prowling the grounds kept the alarm sounding in the back of her mind.
Smoke led her behind a barn that stood adjacent to the back porch of the cabin. The smell of hay and manure tickled her nose. She sneezed into her sleeve.
“This isn’t the time for that,” Smoke hissed.
“Then maybe we should vacate.”
“Are you allergic?”
“No.” She pressed her ear against the barn. Soft rustlings came from inside. She crept along the way, running her hands along the boards. Her fingers found an open knothole about knee high. She crouched down and peeked through. She stiffened. Children aged eight to twelve were busy packing, taping, and stacking boxes. A fire erupted inside her. Not again!
“What is it?” Smoke said, bending down.
She scooted away.
Smoke took a look through the hole, grunted, and eased back. “They’ll have to wait.”
“I’m sure they’ve waited long enough.” She took out her phone and started to dial.
Smoke pushed her hand down. “One thing at a time. This is Drake space. Your comrades at the FBI aren’t going to drop in without more evidence.”
He was right. She didn’t want to admit it, but he was. All she could think about was Megan. What if her niece were in that situation? The horror of it all. She took another look. There were five kids, wearing khaki jumpers. They all seemed so familiar. Their movements were purposed, fluid, and eerie.
“Hey,” Smoke whispered. “I think I have an idea.” He twisted a silencer onto the muzzle of his gun. “See that propane tank? How about I put a hole in it?”
“I think we need a more subtle course of action.”
Smoke offered a smile. “I don’t.” He took aim and fired.
Ptew!
There was a metal ting sound, but no explosion.
“Idiot!” she whispered through her teeth. “Good thing it was empty.”
He took aim again. “I see another one.”
“No, it’s too loud.” She pushed his gun barrel down. “We just got here. Just wait a minute.”
“Don’t worry about it. We’ll draw them out and then scatter. Easy peasy, Agent Shaw.”
“Easy peasy?”
“You didn’t have to come. And frankly, you’re slowing me down.”
“You arrogant sonuva—”
Smoke clamped his hand over her mouth.
The door on the back porch of the cabin opened. A towering man stepped out of the inner light and into the porch roof’s shadows. His head was partly hidden by the rafters. Two guards sidled up to him, and he waved them away. There was a flicker of light, and a cigar was lit. Its fiery ashes burned bright and dulled again.
“That’s him,” Smoke whispered in her ear.
She peeled his hand away and said, “I know, you sonuvabitch. And you better not do that again.”
The giant man took the wide-plank steps off the porch and into the rain. It was Mason Crow. Tall. Dark. Black bearded. Much bigger in life than in the pictures.
One of the men in pea coats came down the steps and said a few words to him.
Crow was every bit of seven feet tall. Maybe four hundred pounds, all muscle. He bent his ear toward the man and nodded.
Sidney whispered, “You really think you can carry him out of here?”
“Yeah, but I’m not sure the chopper can lift him.” Smoke let out a strange chuckle. “I’ve never seen such big shoulders.”
“Excuse me, but what are you doing?” A little girl in a khaki jumpsuit appeared beside Sidney, half-stopping her heart.
“Where did you come from?” Sid said, clutching her chest.
The little girl stood in the barn’s shadows with them. She was a straight-haired towhead, pale-eyed, with a maturity about her. “Where did you come from?”
“We need to go,” Smoke said with a sense of urgency.
“Can you tell me what your name is?” Sidney asked the girl.
“We need to go now,” Smoke said
“Sure,” the little girl said, “My name is—” Suddenly, she let out an ear-splitting scream.
CHAPTER 16
Sidney clamped her hand over the little girl’s mouth. “Sssssh!”
It was too late. The alarm sounded. Forces scrambled. Mason Crow, their target from the Black Slate file, ducked back inside the cabin.
“Way to go, Princess,” Smoke said. He laid down a round of cover fire. Men screamed and fell. “Get inside!”
Gunshots rang out all over.
Budda-budda-budda… Budda-budda-budda…
Sidney lifted the girl onto her shoulder and scrambled for the barn entrance. The barn door opened, and a man in a pea coat stepped outside. Sidney cracked off a shot into his leg.
“Aargh!” he cried out, falling to the ground.
She leapt over him and dashed inside the barn. Children, four that she could see, stood inside handling the boxes the same as they’d been doing before, packing them into a black van’s cargo doors. “Get in the van!” she said.
They all gave her a mute look.
She popped off a few rounds into the ceiling and yelled. “Now!”
The frightened children scrambled into the side door of the van. She jumped in the back with them and slammed the door shut behind her.
Smoke sat in the driver’s seat and said, “Hang on!” The van lurched forward and powered through the barn wall and barreled through the ranch. Gunfire erupted all around. Bullets tore into the metal.
“Get down,” Sidney said, covering the children as best as she could. “Stay down!” The van bounced up off of its wheels and land
ed hard. “What was that?”
“A person.” Smoke cut the wheel hard and surged through the ranch. Bullets blasted the windshield. Smoke hunkered behind the wheel and stomped on the gas. “Here we go!”
The van’s tires dug in, and the vehicle roared ahead, bouncing over the rough road. Sidney climbed into the front seat. The van was speeding down the driveway. Checking the side mirror, she saw other vehicles were in pursuit and closing in.
“Are you happy?” Smoke said.
“Happy?”
“Sure. Looks like this turned into a rescue after all.” He flashed his teeth. “Happy?”
“Just drive.”
The van now barreled down a country road toward where they had parked the Hellcat, slinging from side to side.
“You’re going to crash!”
“No, I’m not,” he said, slamming on the brakes and accelerating up a hairpin turn. “See? Besides, they can’t get around us. The road’s too narrow. Once we get around this crooked neck, it’s practically a straight stretch to the city.” He glanced at her. “What are you doing?”
“Calling backup.”
“We don’t need backup.”
“Yes, we do—unless you plan on adopting these kids.”
Smoke checked the rearview mirror. “Oh, them.” He smiled. “Hi, guys.” There was no response. “Pretty shy, I guess.” He slung the wheel back and forth more times until they found themselves on a straight stretch of gravel.
Sidney could make out a faint line of cars traveling down the highway in the distance. Her breathing eased. “Everything’s going to be fine,” she said to the kids. “Just stay down.”
“Yeah,” Smoke said, looking up and out of the front window. “Everything should be just fine, assuming we can get past that.”
A helicopter buzzed overhead, rattling the van. It landed on the road a half mile ahead.
“That’s a problem.” Smoke said.
“Go around it,” Sidney said.
He shook his head. The straightaway had a steep valley on either side. “The only thing we can do is pull off and run for it. Maybe we can get to your car from here, but not with these kids—unless they’re really, really fast kids.”
One of the children popped his head up and said, “I’m fast.”
“Yeah, me too,” said one right after the other.
Ahead, the helicopter lifted off the road.
“Whoa!” Sidney said, squinting. A lone man stood in the middle of the road. His arms were spread wide, shaking toward the sky. Lightning flashed. Thunder boomed. “Is that Mason Crow?”
“It’s something,” Smoke said. He pressed on the gas. “And it’s about to get rolled over!” The closer they got, the bigger the man became, filling the road. “Sweet mother of Pearl!” Smoke slammed on the brakes. “That’s not a man…”
From less than fifty yards away, Sidney got a closer look. It was at least eight feet tall and padded in brawny muscle and coarse hair all over, and it had the head of a bull and the body of a man. It shook the horns on its head and let out a strange roar. Its hooved foot scraped over the ground, and it charged. It can’t be! It can’t be! She finished Smoke’s sentence, “It’s a minotaur.”
Horns lowered, the man-bull made a bead straight for them.
Smoke put the van in gear and sped straight for it.
Frozen in her seat, Sidney said, “Why do I not like our chances?”
“Because this defies reasonable explanation.” Smoke’s knuckles were white on the wheel. “But can it defy the laws of momentum?”
Speeding toward each other, the van and the minotaur crashed. Twisted metal and shattered glass erupted from the impact. The van’s wheels dug into the gravel road. The minotaur’s horns pierced the hood. Its monstrous face growled and began shoving the van backward.
Sidney took out her pistol and started shooting. Blam! Blam!
The minotaur twisted its mighty neck and flipped the van over. The machine rolled over the hillside and slammed into the trees. Flames and smoke spilled out from underneath the hood. Smoke lay slumped on the wheel with his head bleeding. She shook him.
He groaned.
Dazed, Sidney clawed her way into the back that now lay sideways. The children were disheveled. Some had been knocked out. She found the latch to the cargo doors, twisted it, and shoved them open.
Wham!
The roof of the van buckled. Children screamed.
Wham!
Something had jumped on top of the van and started pounding on the roof. A horn ripped through the metal. A huge hand peeled it away. The minotaur leered inside, snorting.
Sidney went for her other gun and started shooting it in the face. Blam! Blam! Blam!
The minotaur let out a booming laugh, reached inside, and pulled her out of the van by the arm. It shook her like a doll and hopped down off the van. Her struggles were child-like against its raw power. Its animal eyes stared her down with hunger in them. Slinging her over its enormous shoulders, it said in a cavernous voice, “NICE. YOU’RE GONNA DO JUST FINE.”
CHAPTER 17
The minotaur had started into a jog, jostling her entire body. It stopped at the sound of Smoke’s voice. “Put her down.”
“Move aside, mortal,” said Mason Crow the minotaur, “your weapon is useless against me.” He stomped his hooved foot. “Or watch as I run rough-shod over you. Oh, how I like the sound of splintering bones and cracking skulls.”
Sidney twisted enough to get a look at Smoke. He stood tall, pointing the gun at the monster’s skull. “Just shoot it!”
Crow jostled her. “Be silent, woman.” He leered back at Smoke. “Go ahead. Let’s see what your bullets can do. Be careful though. I don’t want this woman damaged. That might make me angry. Crow likes his pretty playthings.”
Ka-blam!
Crow let out an awful howl. “Mah-Rooooo!” He whipped Sidney around the front of his body. “Where did you get those bullets?”
“Where did you get those horns?” Smoke took aim. “Put her down.”
The minotaur eyed the upper road. The forces from the ranch had gathered. He crushed Sidney against his powerful chest. “You have nowhere to go. And your bullets only sting. They cannot kill the likes of me.”
“Is that why you’re bleeding?” Smoke said, maintaining his aim. “Or is that blood a figment of my imagination?”
“It’s only blood. I have plenty of it.” Crow started to squeeze Sidney harder. “Let’s see how much she has.”
Sidney’s eyes bulged. Her body felt like it had been stuffed inside a trash compactor. She let out a painful gasp.
Ka-Blam! Ka-Blam! Ka-Blam!
Crow dropped her in front of his hooved feet, lowered his horns, and charged.
Smoke skipped away and kept shooting.
The minotaur kept running up the hill, crashing over small trees, and bellowing, “Kill them! Kill them!”
The throng of men above opened fire. Smoke caught Sidney up in his arms and dashed behind the van. Bullets riddled the vehicle by the dozens. Smoke returned fire.
Sidney shook her numb arms and searched for a gun, finding nothing. I’m useless. She spied another gun tucked in the back of Smoke’s pants and took it. It was an old single-action army, cowboy style. Are you kidding me? She pulled back the hammer and cracked a shot off up the hill. A man tumbled into the tall grasses. Pretty accurate, but I’ve got a whole five shots left against their hundreds.
“How do you like it?” Smoke said to her, talking about his gun.
“This iron would make a great paperweight.” She took another shot. “But I bet it was quite the conversation piece a hundred years ago.” She squeezed off another, and one more goon rolled down the hill. “Eh, it’s a good shooter. But ‘game over’ once we’re out of bullets.”
“Never imagined it would end like this,” he said, blasting away until he emptied his magazine. “A bad ending to a bad western. Nice knowing you, Agent Shaw.” He snapped in another magazine. “I’ll stay wit
h the children, you run. Your car’s just over that ridge.”
“No.”
“Yes!” he said. “Just go! Get help!”
“I’m not leaving you, and I’m not leaving these kids.” She patted down his pockets. “Got any more bullets?”
“No.”
She cracked off her last shots. “Then maybe we need to give ourselves up. Keep our lives a little longer.”
He eased back behind the van and hunkered down beside her. He looked her in the eye and said, “If that’s what you want to do, then so be it.”
She grabbed his face and kissed him hard. Finishing, she said, “It’s sexy when a man listens to me.” She tossed her gun away and Smoke tossed his. They raised their hands up over their heads and waved them high. She said, “We give up.”
The gunfire stopped.
She took a breath and eased away from the van. This sucks!
Wumpa! Wumpa! Wumpa! Wumpa!
A chopper soared overhead with searchlights burning bright. A voice came over its loudspeaker. “FBI! Drop your weapons!”
The mercenaries on the road tucked away their weapons and turned tail.
“FBI! Halt!”
Engines started up and headed back down the country road, disappearing into the night. A small convoy of cars with sirens gave chase, and the chopper landed.
Sidney let out a ragged sigh. “And you didn’t want me to call them.”
“I just said that because I knew you wouldn’t listen to me.” He touched the lips she had just kissed and added, “It was all worth it.”
“I don’t know about that.” Stiff legged, she opened up the doors to the back of the van. Her jaw dropped. All of the children were gone. “That’s impossible.”
CHAPTER 18
“We survived,” Smoke said, staring out of Sidney’s car window. “I think that’s a good thing. Soon enough we’ll get another shot at that monster.”
“Huh?” Sidney replied. She had barely heard what he said. Instead, she was in deep thought about those kids. What happened to them? They couldn’t have snuck off so fast. “Oh, I suppose.”
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