Chapter 11
Chapter Eleven
The unmuffled roar of the motorcycles grew louder, closer.
Raven stilled, rooted in place. Her mind whirred with terrible possibility after terrible possibility, each one worse than the last. They could be looters or vandals, criminals or serial killers.
But she knew who they were—the bikers from the pharmacy in Forsyth.
What the hell were they doing here? And how had they followed her? She’d been careful, so careful.
It didn’t matter how. They were here, or would be in the next few minutes. She fought off the panic that was closing her throat. What should she do? Standing out here like a sitting duck was a monumentally bad idea. She needed to hide.
Maybe she could hide in the crawl space beneath the lodge, wait it out until they left. She couldn’t make a run for the car; the electric battery was dead. The bikers were too close, anyway. If they heard the engine, they’d be on her in a hot second.
She should make a run for it. Her backpack with her supplies was in her bedroom in the lodge. She needed the supplies in that pack to survive alone for days in the woods. Plus, the pack contained the map with directions to the hunting cabin.
She couldn’t run away without it. And she couldn’t leave it behind for these thugs to find, either.
The evening sky deepened to indigo. Bats soared and dove over her head, chasing mosquitoes. There was still enough light to see by. The engine sounds grew louder. They’d turn on the road to the refuge any second.
She had to get herself out of sight, right freaking now.
Raven dropped the bucket of meat and broke into a run. She sprinted left, abandoning the exposed flagstone path for a worn-in trail through the weeds and bric-a-brac behind the exhibits.
From the back end of the park, she raced past the wolf enclosures, the bears, the ostrich pen, then the porcupine, eagle, and otter exhibits, the bonobos’ house, and finally the reptile house. She reached the storage buildings nestled behind a screen of poplar trees, out of the public’s sight.
The motorcycles grew louder. She couldn’t see them. They were still obscured by the trees. A five-mile gravel road brought visitors through the forest to the front entrance, which was gated and locked.
At best, the locked gate would only slow down intruders. Though electrified top wires were strung along the perimeter, the fence was intended to keep dangerous things in, rather than offering protection from threats outside the walls.
If they wanted to get inside, the gate wouldn’t deter them for long.
Luckily, the many trees and lush foliage obscured her presence as she raced between the storage buildings, headed for the lodge.
The motorcycles roared into the parking lot. The engines switched off. Loud, raucous voices filled the air with shouts and jeers and curses.
Darting between two bushes, she reached the back of the lodge and pressed herself against the rear wall. Her pulse thudded against her throat. Run. She needed to grab her gear and escape to the woods.
Her window was located on the west side of the building, directly in the line of sight of the bikers.
The ground sloped downward along the rear of the lodge, making the back windows—a bathroom, her father’s room, and a guest bedroom—ten feet above the ground.
There were no nearby trees to climb, no way to reach the windows.
She needed a plan B, whatever that was.
Raven eased around the corner, cautiously scanning the front of the park.
She counted ten bikers gathered outside the gates.
She recognized several from the pharmacy: burly blond Scorpio, Damien with the sharp fox-face, a fat short one whose name she didn’t know, and Dekker, the dead-eyed one who’d shot Carl in the face.
The one who’d threatened her outside the pharmacy.
Of the half-dozen bikers she didn’t recognize, one stood out.
He stood half a head taller than the others.
He was huge, with a barrel chest and blue tattoos squirming across bulging biceps the size of footballs.
She was close enough to make out his square, stubbled jaw and chestnut-brown hair shorn close to his skull.
He sauntered up to the gate with one ham-sized hand resting on the butt of his AR-15 rifle. His shrewd gaze assessed everything as he scanned his surroundings.
The others were tough, burly, and heavily tattooed.
They carried various weapons—rifles, knives, and guns.
Most wore gloves, with masks tugged down around their necks.
They circled the tall man, waiting for his orders.
He was clearly their leader. This must be Vaughn, the name Scorpio had mentioned at the pharmacy.
She strained to make out their voices, which carried in the quiet.
Ponytail glared up at the fence. “What the hell is this place?”
“A wildlife refuge.” Damien read the sign affixed to the gate. Ponytail looked at him blankly. “Like a private zoo.”
“The animals are probably dead,” Scorpio said. “Or else those crazy Earth Liberation activists released them, like they did in Atlanta.”
Kodiak chose that moment to give a half-hearted bellow, which echoed through the park.
“That a lion?” asked a bearded Black man, his eyes going wide.
“You’re an idiot, Cobb,” Damien said. “Don’t you recognize a bear when you hear one?”
Cobb scowled in embarrassment. Dekker and Scorpio laughed at him. Damien’s face flushed at the show of approval.
Vaughn threw back his head and laughed. “Guess at least one wild animal is still alive. Anybody have bear meat recently?”
“My mouth is already watering,” Ponytail said. “I’ll take any meat.”
“I’m sure you will,” Dekker drawled.
“What a pleasant surprise.” Vaughn peered through the bars of the gate and took in the restaurant, the lodge, the picnic tables, and the souvenir shop. “A precious jewel hidden away in the middle of nowhere.”
Vlad’s roar punctuated the quiet evening air.
The bikers froze and stared at each other. Damien’s mouth gaped in startled awe.
Vlad roared repeatedly, the deep bass notes ringing across the grounds. It was an impressive sound, conjuring images of enormous, vicious beasts hunting their dinner.
A savage grin spreading across his face, Vaughn slapped Damien on the back so hard he stumbled. “Gentlemen, we’ve just entered the jungle. Good find, Dekker. You’ve earned first choice for your prize.”
“What about the girl?” Dekker asked, sounding bored.
Raven stiffened. Dekker had looked at her like she was prey. She still didn’t know how they’d found her; she’d been so careful to ensure she wasn’t followed.
“She might be here, she might not,” Scorpio said. “How much time do you want to waste looking for her?”
“It’s not a waste,” Dekker said flatly. “She and I have unfinished business. Besides, she’s premium quality. And she’s here. I know she is.”
Dekker scanned the trees as he prowled next to Vaughn, hand resting on his holster. He was likely Vaughn’s beta, his enforcer. Dekker pointed toward the carport at the other end of the parking lot. “That’s her car. With all the bumper stickers.”
Icy fear poured through Raven’s veins. The faded, peeling stickers. The ones advertising Haven Wildlife Refuge, which her father had been so proud to paste all over the bumper. She’d forgotten about them. Damn it! That’s how he’d found her, then.
“Bring her to me,” Vaughn said. “If she’s as hot as you say she is, I have a particular client who will… appreciate … her exotic flair.”
The bikers laughed.
“I get first crack at her,” Dekker said.
Vaughn raised his eyebrows. “We’ll see.”
Raven inhaled sharply. Her face flushed hot with outrage—and fear. They could go to hell. Every single one of them. They were murderers and worse.
Vaughn cocked his head, listening to Vlad’s distant roars. “Let’s have a look around before it gets too dark, see what we can find. We’ll stay here for the night.”
“How about something edible?” Ponytail asked. His voice was deep and rough, like gravel. “I’m starving.”
Cobb sniggered. “Don’t accidentally walk into the bear cage, Rex, or you’ll be the edible one.”
Cobb flashed an ingratiating smile at Vaughn, as if gauging his reaction to the insult. Vaughn ignored him. Beside him, Dekker sneered down at Cobb and waved a hand at him in dismissal. Cobb slunk several paces away.
There was a hierarchy among the bikers, with the same jostling for power and dominance as a wolf pack. In this case, she doubted the alpha treated his pack like family.
“Gentlemen, a treat just landed right in our laps, thanks to Dekker’s quick thinking.” Vaughn gathered the men around him. “Let’s go see just how sweet it is.”
Cobb grabbed the bars of the gate and rattled them. “How we gettin’ inside, boss?”
Rex narrowed his eyes at the bioscan lock. “No way to hack this.”
“Grab the hook,” Vaughn ordered. “And the chains.”
“What are you waiting for?” Dekker clapped his hands at the lower-tier men. “Get to it.”
Raven watched with barely contained panic as several bikers jogged back to their motorcycles. One pulled a large metal hook and chains from a case attached to the rear of the bike. Rex grabbed a bolt cutter and went to work on the gate’s hinges.
Cobb and Damien wrapped the chains around the gate, then attached them to the rear of several bikes.
They revved the bikes and pulled away with a squeal of tires and roaring engines.
With a sickening shriek of metal on metal, the gate wrenched off its snapped hinges and fell to the asphalt with a thud.
The bikers strode through the opening in the fence like they owned the place.
Vaughn turned to Damien, Rex, and a third guy—a slight, stoop-shouldered Latino in his forties, wearing a khaki jacket and a floppy brown fishing hat pulled low over his forehead. “Damien, find us a place to sleep. Rex and Gomez, you’re on food patrol. Scrounge up something decent to eat.”
Damien nodded. “We’re on it.”
The bikers dispersed, laughing and conversing among themselves. Three of them found the main path that circled the perimeter of the park. As dusk fell, they flicked on their flashlights.
Rex and the black-haired guy in the fishing hat—Gomez—strode up the path that circled the lodge. They would skirt the side of the lodge and reach the rear in a few moments.
Raven had to move. Now.
The growing darkness would help shield her. She knew the layout of this place like the back of her hand. The darkness gave her a slight advantage—an advantage she needed if she was going to survive the night.