David fell silent. I hoped that was a good sign.
I pressed my case. “If we leave this mountain now, we’re not only risking our lives, we’re risking Jude’s, Milly’s, and Ben’s.”
Grunting, he looked away. “And the cure? What if the praetor has found a way to replicate it?” He stared up at me. “What if this thing he calls the Goliath Code is Dad’s cure?”
“How in the world could a man like the praetor possibly succeed at something that took our father a decade of research to accomplish? Isn’t it much more likely that this is all a ploy?”
He didn’t respond.
“I am not going to gamble our lives on a possibility, David.”
David looked at the ground and fell silent for a moment. “What do you plan to do with Calhoun?”
“I’m not sure yet.”
“Well. You’ll do what’s best for everybody else, Sera.” He turned and walked away. “You always do.”
I watched him walk back to the cabin, knowing I’d failed to convince him. I was right, though, and the others would agree. David was just going to have to come to terms with that. We had too much at stake to let his vanity lure us out of hiding. Even if our father was alive.
I slipped out of bed early the next morning, wanting to get Calhoun down the mountain and be back before nightfall.
I yawned and looked over at Ash, sound asleep at the foot of my bed. “Time to get up, boy,” I whispered. I ruffled the fur on his back and got a low groan in response.
Milly stirred in her bed across the room. She yawned and stretched. “What’s happenin’?”
I stood up and pulled on my jeans. “I’m taking Calhoun down the mountain to Chiwaukum Lake.”
She scrunched her face. “To the rebels?”
“Yeah. Just getting an early start. I’ll be back before sundown.”
“’Kay.” She rolled over and went back to sleep.
I pulled on my boots and slipped into my coat, hoping it wouldn’t be too windy out. Gusts coming off the mountain in the morning could reach subzero temperatures. I roused Ash again, then he and I headed out of the bedroom.
The living room sat in muted shadow. If I squinted I could almost see my grandfather sitting on the sofa, smoking a cigar. When David and I were little, he used to bring us up to the cabin on weekends to give Mom and Dad a break. Those were some of my fondest memories.
I clicked on the lights. “Wake up, Calhoun. If you need to use the—” I froze.
Private Calhoun was gone.
Ash reacted to my change of mood with a low, menacing growl. I glanced frantically around the room, then ran to check the kitchen. It was empty, too.
“Ben!” I called. He was supposed to be on guard duty last night. “Ben!”
Ash shadowed me as I hurried to the weapons rack by the front door and grabbed the M16. Calhoun’s AK-12 and David’s .45 were missing. My stomach clenched. I would not panic. I threw open the front door to a frigid morning. The sudden blast of cold air made my eyes water. I scanned the tree line. Nothing moved in the frost-covered pines. I looked for footprints leading off into the woods, but without fresh snow it was hard to tell the new from the old.
I went back into the cabin and closed the door. I checked out the room. There weren’t any signs of a struggle. Nothing was out of place. Even the big round rug on the floor was in the same position it had been in the night before.
I stared at the empty kitchen chair. The only evidence that Private Calhoun had even been there was a puddle of ropes on the floor.
He’d escaped.
The consequences of that hit me hard. I sat down on the sofa. Our time of sanctuary was over.
Jude and Milly wandered into the room, rubbing the sleep from their eyes. I must have woken them both when I yelled for Ben.
Jude yawned. “What’s going on?”
“Calhoun’s gone.”
They were both instantly awake.
“What?” Jude hurried over to the empty kitchen chair. “That’s impossible! I checked his ropes before I went to bed!” He held up a piece of discarded rope.
“It’s been cut,” I told him. “And Ben—”
A sleepy voice answered from the hallway. “Ben what?”
I looked up, surprised to see Ben standing next to Milly. I felt relieved, then enraged. “Were you sleeping?”
Jude pointed at his brother. “You were supposed to be on guard duty!”
Ben looked confused. “I— David asked to take my shift.”
My stomach turned. I closed my eyes.
Jude gestured to the room. “Then where is he?!”
“How the hell should I know?” Ben shot back.
A cold feeling of dread was winding itself around my heart. Ash shifted restlessly at my feet.
Milly examined a hank of rope. “Maybe he’s in the basement?”
I breathed deeply. She was thinking Calhoun had gotten loose and tied David up somewhere. I hoped it was true. The alternative was so much worse.
Jude headed across the room. He threw open the basement door and thudded down the stairs. “David?” His bellowing voice echoed below us.
We all listened, but Jude didn’t get an answer.
He came back up the stairs, shaking his head.
The heartbreak was crushing.
Ash plopped his big muzzle onto my knees. He looked up at me with soft amber eyes; I absently rubbed his ears.
“Calhoun must have forced David to go with him,” Milly said.
Jude took the rope from Milly’s hand and held up the neat end. “How did Calhoun cut the rope?”
“He must have had a knife,” she answered.
“He didn’t have a knife,” I murmured.
Milly’s eyes filled with tears. “He must have,” she insisted.
“He didn’t!” Ben shot back. “I searched him myself before I went to bed.”
The room fell silent. The truth was hitting us all hard. I had dangerously underestimated my brother’s obsession. It hurt to realize that even the possibility of a cure mattered more to David than we did.
My chin trembled as I voiced what we all were thinking. “David set him free. They left together.”
Milly eased down next to me on the sofa and took my hand. “He really thinks the praetor has your dad?”
My heart ached so badly I couldn’t answer, but I knew this had very little to do with my father and everything to do with my brother’s pride.
“How could he be that stupid?” Ben roared.
Milly tried to justify his actions. “It must have been a really hard choice for—”
“Don’t,” I interrupted. “It wasn’t hard for him. We need to worry about ourselves now.”
Jude nodded, pursing his lips. “We can’t stay here anymore.”
Milly winced. “You think David would tell Europa where we are?”
“Maybe, maybe not,” Jude replied. “But Calhoun definitely would.”
Her posture wilted.
I looked around the cabin. We had security, shelter, food, water—and now we had to walk away from it all. Because of David.
Ben’s jaw tightened. “Well, that’s great. Where are we supposed to go now?”
I shook my head. “I don’t know.”
“How much time do you think we have?” Jude asked.
Ash suddenly leapt to his feet and let loose with a mournful howl.
My heart thudded. “None.”
Chapter Twenty
We watched them burn our cabin.
After looting our stored supplies, they broke the windows, tore the front door from its hinges, and set the roof on fire. The flames melted the snow from the shingles, licked down the cedar siding, and crawled under the floorboards to consume everything inside. My grandfather’s hideaway and our sanctuary went up in a thick, black cloud of smoke.
We’d barely had time to grab our weapons and our packs before the Europa squad arrived—nine men in all, plundering and vandalizing, joyfully laying waste to
our refuge. We could only hide in the woods and wait for them to finish, then gather what little might be left before we set about finding another place to call home.
Milly and I crouched in the woods behind the thick trunk of a fallen pine. I could tell by her ragged breathing that her anger matched mine. I wasn’t sure who I hated more—Private Calhoun, or my brother—but it would not go well for either one of them when they crossed my path again.
Jude and Ben hid a few feet away, on their bellies in the snow, peering over the top of a knoll. Ben had a tight grip on his M16; Jude’s hand on his shoulder seemed to be the only thing keeping him from charging the soldiers.
Ash shifted beside me. He was on high alert. If not for him, we would have been captured or trapped inside the cabin as it burned.
Milly leaned close to me. “They haven’t found the truck.”
I blinked at her. I’d forgotten about the transport truck we’d stolen from Roslyn. We had parked it in the woods behind the cabin, concealed in a stand of tall blackberry bushes. It would be perfect for a getaway once the soldiers tired of their games and moved on. I felt sure it still had enough gas to get us down the mountain, maybe as far Winton.
The sound of an engine sputtering to life crushed my hopes. The large transport truck, blackberry brambles clinging to its canvas and sticking out from beneath its windshield wipers, came around the side of the smoldering cabin with two cheering soldiers in its wake.
I closed my eyes and threw my head back, wishing something would go right.
“Plan B,” Milly whispered.
But there was no Plan B. There hadn’t even been a Plan A. I wanted to lie back on the cold snowy ground and cry. David was gone, our home was gone, our transportation was gone. I opened my eyes, watching the black smoke from the cabin billow up into the distant clouds. I wanted to be like that smoke and float far, far away into the red sky.
A rock landed not far from me. I frowned over at Jude. He and Ben stared at me in horror, gesturing wildly. I looked to my left. Milly was gone. My eyes darted to the cabin in time to see her enter the clearing, heading straight toward the soldiers. My first impulse was to scream her name. Thankfully, I thought better of it.
I fumbled with my weapon, scrambling to get it ready. Hands shaking, I pulled the bolt, jammed the stock against my shoulder, and zeroed in on the men. Nose to the charging handle. I blinked to clear my eyes.
“Breathe. Slow it down. Breathe.” The first person to touch my best friend was going to get a bullet between the eyes.
Milly’s words took the soldiers—and me—off guard. “Have you seen my pretty bird?” she asked brightly.
They turned their weapons on her and my heart lurched. “Steady, boys,” I whispered. My finger hovered over the trigger. If I fired, it would bring all of them down on our heads.
One of the soldiers shouted something at her in another language.
Milly kept ambling forward. “He’s fluttered off without a word.”
The men were confused by her. But, when they saw she was unarmed, they slowly lowered their guns.
“He took my heart with him, away.” Milly twirled like a lunatic. “Will you help me find him, pray?”
The soldiers shared a laugh. Even the men who’d found the truck hurried over to join the fun. Pretty Milly had quickly gathered everyone’s undivided attention.
“He has a tail of crimson red. A spot of white upon his head.”
I crept toward Jude and Ben, keeping my eye on the men surrounding Milly. “We need to get to the truck.”
Milly continued to talk and twirl. “His wings are soft and feathered so. And where he flies my true love goes.”
Jude kept his weapon trained on the soldiers surrounding Milly, though his hands shook and sweat beaded on his forehead. “We have to get her out of there!”
“She’s distracting them,” I whispered back.
Ben agreed. “Look. They think she’s crazy.”
A soldier reached for Milly but she eluded him, twirling away to the other side of the circle of men. She was risking her life for us; we couldn’t let her efforts go to waste.
“Follow me,” I told them.
I crept around the base of the knoll and glanced back to see if the boys were following my orders. Ben was right behind me. Jude hung back, reluctant to take his eyes off Milly. I waved him forward. He gritted his teeth, gave up his position, and followed.
We skirted the trees, staying hidden until the rumbling truck was just twenty feet in front of us. Thanks to Milly, it had been left running and unguarded. We snuck up to the passenger door; Ben and Jude crawled in and onto the bench seat.
“Gun it,” I told Jude. “Head for 97 and Winton.
Jude shook his head. “Not without Milly.”
I peeked up over the hood. One of the soldiers had tired of Milly’s games. He’d taken hold of her arm. “Komm ihr hübsches Mädchen.”
“Go!” I snarled.
Ben reached his leg under his brother’s and stomped down on the gas. The truck surged forward. I dropped flat in the snow. The vehicle raced toward the circle of soldiers, plowed over two of them, made a slight right, then careened down the logging road. Five of the soldiers ran after it, firing their weapons. The two that stayed behind had Milly.
The tall one spotted me. He wrapped his arm around Milly’s throat and, hand shaking, pressed his handgun against her temple.
The short soldier pointed his AK-12 at me. “On your knees!” he shouted in a heavy accent.
I rose up on my knees, lifting my weapon over my head with both hands. Ash peeked out at me from around the side of his shed. I shook my head; two soldiers with guns meant he’d get shot for sure. He ran off to watch from the safety of the trees.
I locked eyes with Milly, willing her not to do anything stupid. Hopefully the boys had gotten away and would be back to rescue us. In the meantime, the soldiers wouldn’t hurt us if we kept calm and did as we were told.
But calm wasn’t exactly Milly’s style these days. She sidestepped, driving her fist backwards into the soldier’s groin. He dropped his gun as she spun away from him, falling to his knees in the muddy snow.
The shorter soldier faltered, directing his AK-12 at Milly, then back at me. He wasn’t sure which one of us posed the bigger threat.
Milly’s soldier, still on his knees, moaned in pain. She eyed his handgun, lying just out of reach.
I didn’t want her to do it—it was too risky. I tried to catch her eye, tried to shake her off, but she was too focused to notice.
She dove for the gun.
The short soldier turned his AK-12 on Milly. I rolled my weapon back into my arms, fired, and dropped him in the snow.
The soldier on his knees finally regained his composure and lunged for Milly. She pointed his handgun at his head. “Ah-ah. Don’t be grabby, now.”
She’d done it. I was impressed.
I stood to check on the unmoving soldiers that had been hit by the truck. Milly and I high-fived as I passed. The run over soldiers were broken, bloody, and very dead. I stuffed their ammo clips inside my coat.
“This one’s name tag says Harris,” Milly called to me.
I walked back to her. She had Harris on his knees with his own gun pointed at his head. Grandpa Donner would have been proud.
I sneered at the soldier. “You’re an American.”
“I…I’m a citizen of Europa.”
He was a child, barely old enough to shave. I placed the bore of my weapon against the side of his head. “Tell me, citizen of Europa, where is my brother, David Donner?”
“H-he was brought in by Private Calhoun earlier this morning. He asked for amnesty. You can ask for that, too. Europa’s been good to us. We owe them our—”
“Save it, Harris. Where are they going?”
“Where else?” he replied. “Ellensburg.”
“Thank you for your cooperation.” I stepped back to shoot him and Milly cleared her throat. I stared at her. “What? He’s
a traitor.”
“He’s a kid.”
I exhaled in disgust, but I slammed the butt of my M16 into his head instead. He collapsed to the ground. “Make better choices!” I shouted down at him. I looked at Milly. “Happy?”
“We aren’t animals, Sera.”
“Yes, but they are, Milly.”
Gunfire sounded in the distance, echoing off the canyon walls. We exchanged a panicked look. Jude and Ben.
The two of us took off through the woods, racing down the slope of the mountain with Ash bounding ahead of us. The logging road was full of hairpin turns; if we ran in a straight line we would eventually cross paths with the boys in the truck.
Several minutes later we spotted the transport truck below us. We ducked behind some trees. The truck sat at a dead, crooked stop, pointing in the wrong direction. There was no sign of Jude, Ben, or any soldiers.
I commanded Ash to stay put.
Milly and I crept from the cover of the trees, our weapons ready. We reached the truck and moved along the driver’s side. It was riddled with bullet holes. They’d hit the gas tank, leaking diesel onto the dirty snow.
The driver’s door stood open. Milly stifled a gasp. There was blood on the seat and more on the ground.
Several sets of footprints led off down the snow packed road.
“Come on,” I told her. “They can’t be far—”
Two grinning soldiers popped up from the other side of the hood, holding AK-12s. “Hands up, please,” one of them said in accented English.
I clenched my jaw. I’d allowed my worry for the boys to distract me and hadn’t checked the other side of the truck. Now Milly and I would pay for my stupid mistake.
The soldiers came around the front of the vehicle toward us. We dropped our weapons and raised our hands. One of them—Genc, his nametag said—was enormous, tall and well-muscled. The other soldier—Hogstadt—was particularly unattractive, with one long eyebrow and a crooked nose.
“The praetor will be quite happy to see you again, Miss Donner,” Hogstadt said to me. He leered at Milly. “But perhaps I’ll have some fun with this one first.”
The Goliath Code (The Alpha Omega Trilogy) Page 23
