Chapter 12
Elena glanced at her phone. No word from the guys. Worry pounded her, and she paced from one end of the cabin’s great room to the other. Ollie had fallen asleep on the couch, and Piper stood by the kitchen window. Every so often she would move to a different window. She kept her weapon in her hand.
Maya was in the kitchen cooking spaghetti noodles, and Gideon was at the back of the house, also on guard. Maya caught her watching. “I did the right thing, right?”
“Absolutely,” Elena said.
She’d sent nearly all the staff home, including the cook, housekeeping, the stable workers.
“Most of the vets won’t leave,” Maya said.
“You were honest with them. They made their choices.”
“I don’t think they understand that this ranch isn’t safe.” Her fingers gripped the tongs, snapping them together.
“They understand. They’re also fighters. They don’t run from trouble.”
“Maybe they should. Maybe we all should.”
“You don’t mean that. You’ve survived too much to just give up. War. An avalanche, someone trying to kill you . . .”
Maya had been at a Colorado ski resort that had an avalanche come through it, covering up the only way in or out.
The cell towers had come down with it, the landlines sabotaged, and they’d been cut off from help.
The geomagnetic storm that had happened at the same time was the kicker because it had cut off even satellite communication.
But it was also where she’d connected with her childhood friend and secret crush who was now her husband.
“I know. It just seems like too much this time around.”
Gideon walked in, spotted Maya, and went to wrap her in a hug. “You’ve got this.”
“You heard us talking?”
“Yeah. And we’re going to take care of this as a team just like we do everything else.” He kissed the top of her head, and Elena bit her lip. The two of them had beaten the odds and found a way into each other’s hearts and arms.
Maybe she’d have that one day too. Maybe. Why Sully’s face popped into her head, she had no idea. “I think it’s me they’re after,” she said. “It has to be.”
“They shot at Billy and Van,” Maya said. “Why would you think it’s about you?”
“Well . . . while they had us all distracted taking care of Billy, no one came after Ollie. That would have been the time to attack here.”
“Maybe they didn’t know where she was.”
Elena shook her head. “I don’t know. I’m convinced it’s me.” Even saying the words sounded self-absorbed. Like everything was about her. It wasn’t. And yet, she couldn’t shake the feeling that this was definitely about her. But . . . why?
“I’m not saying you’re wrong,” Maya said, “but since we don’t know, we shouldn’t jump to conclusions. Which means stop trying to talk yourself into running.”
Gideon snagged a handful of carrots. “What she said. Stay put. I’m going to stay in the back of the cabin. So far all is quiet.”
“I pray they’re okay,” Elena whispered. She checked her phone. Nothing. No messages, no calls.
“I’m praying too.” Gideon returned to his post, and Elena resumed her pacing.
Ollie sat up and rubbed her eyes, then disappeared down the hall to the bathroom without a word to anyone. Piper’s gaze followed her and lingered, but she sighed and went back to her window watching.
Minutes later, the sound of the truck halted Elena mid-step and she hurried to the door to look outside. Gideon was right beside her while Piper headed toward Ollie’s room. Maya turned the stove off and crossed her arms in front of her waist.
“It’s them,” Elena said.
“Thank you, Jesus,” Maya muttered.
“They have someone with them.”
“Who?”
“Um . . . hold on. They’re just getting out. David and Sully and . . . another guy.” The men climbed out. “And the dude they have with them has his hands cuffed behind his back.”
“The shooter?” Piper murmured, stepping back into the den area.
“Probably.” She’d love to go give him a shake—okay, a shake hard enough to loosen some teeth—and demand answers. But she had a feeling Sully had already done something similar. She’d have to be patient. Something she’d never loved practicing but had mastered as a child out of necessity. She’d wait.
They approached, with Sully’s hand clamped on the arm of the probable shooter and head on a swivel. She stepped out onto the porch, and his eyes connected with her. “The sheriff on the way?” he asked.
“I don’t know.”
“I texted and asked you to call him. That we had the shooter in custody. Guess I should have called.”
She pulled her phone from her back pocket and held it up. “No text.”
He frowned and looked at his device. “That’s because mine didn’t go through.”
He walked the young man who’d yet to lift his chin from his chest up the steps of the porch and settled him into a chair. “Sit there, Spencer, and don’t move. Please.”
He did so.
Elena returned her attention to her phone. “I have no service,” she said. “No bars.”
Sully pulled his phone out again and checked. “Mine shows the same.” He tapped at his screen. “I just sent you another text. You get it?”
She waited. Watched the screen. Then shook her head. “Nothing. Something’s interfering with the signal.”
“This isn’t a coincidence.” Sully shoved his phone back in his pocket.
Elena frowned. “No. And I don’t like it.”
Sully turned to David. “Can you call me?”
David frowned and tapped his screen. They waited. “Not going through.”
Sully walked up to the prisoner sitting subdued and quiet in the chair. “What’s going on? Do the preppers have something to do with loss of cell use?”
Spencer looked up. “Probably.”
“Who or what are they after?”
With a shrug, the guy dropped his gaze.
“So, you forgot about the whole ‘if I cooperate, there’s a better chance that I won’t rot in a prison cell’ thing?”
Spencer sighed and looked up. “Dude, I’m at the bottom of the food chain. I do what I’m told, but that’s it.”
Sully held his gaze as if trying to see into the depths of his brain. Then there it was. Elena saw a little flicker of something. Like Spencer had a piece of information he could share but was thinking twice about it. Sully must have seen it too. “No, you know something.”
“I don’t.”
“You do. Spill it.”
But the young man leaned his head back and closed his eyes. “I can’t.”
“You’re scared.”
“You would be too if you—” His lips snapped together.
“If we what?”
“Nothing.”
Elena walked over. “Is Iris Higgins still in that camp?”
His eyes opened wide and he nodded. “Yeah. Why?”
“And Shorty?”
Now he frowned. “How do you know them?” He straightened. “What do you know? Who are you?”
“Just someone who knows people.” She walked back inside to think. She turned to see Sully standing behind her with his hands planted on his hips. He opened his mouth only to be interrupted by Maya’s return to the kitchen.
Seeing the look on the woman’s face sent concern shooting through her. “What is it?”
“Just concerned. Gideon is joining in the patrolling of the perimeter and I’m worried. Not just about him, but about all of them.”
“They’re being careful,” Sully said. “Especially now that they know someone might have them in the crosshairs.”
She shook her head. “I don’t understand. What was the purpose of sending that kid out to shoot at people along the fence line? What are they doing?”
“It was a diversion,” Elena said, “not the diversion for the reason I thought, but definitely a diversion. Only . . . to take our focus away from . . . what? No one made a move on Ollie here at the cabin, so . . . what?”
“Maybe they don’t know where she is.” Sully rubbed his chin. “Or it could be so that everyone was distracted, giving a team of them the time to start setting up the signal jammers.”
“They’d have to have a number of them, and they’d have to be powerful units,” Piper said.
Maya rubbed her hands over her thighs. “I know there are battery-powered ones, but seems like for this big of an area they’d need electricity.”
“They have a building that contains a power station,” Elena said. “It’s guarded and most people don’t have access to it, but some of the leaders like to keep up with the news. At least that’s the way it was when I was there.”
“But they’d have to run wire to any battery-powered jammers to keep them charged,” Sully said. “That wouldn’t work.”
“Or they just have extra battery packs to switch out when the jammer gets low,” Ollie said, coming back into the room.
“Or that,” Sully agreed.
“Yes,” Elena said, “they’d use the power station at the compound to keep the backups charged, then when it’s time, change them out to keep the signal strong.”
“Okay, we’re going to find a way to work, should that be the case, but first things first. We need to deliver this guy to the sheriff since we can’t get a call out to him.” He went to the door and stuck his head out. “David, you ready for a ride?”
David appeared in the doorway, hand around Spencer’s arm. “Yeah, I just hate leaving without knowing what’s going on and when the next attack will hit.”
“We’ll be fine,” Maya said. Elena nodded. “The sooner you take care of him, the sooner you’ll be back.”
“All right,” Sully said to the prisoner. “Let’s go.”
“No.”
“What?”
“No.” He straightened and shook his head. “I don’t want to.”
David snorted. “Doesn’t matter what you want, kid. Let’s go.”
“I-I—no. It’s—no.”
“What are you stammering about?” Sully asked. “You can walk or I can carry you.”
Elena cleared her throat on a chuckle. She had no doubt he could throw the skinny young man over his shoulder and transport him to exactly where he wanted him.
“It’s . . . you can’t leave the property,” he blurted. “There are explosives rigged. If you try to leave, they’ll blow up the vehicle and everyone in it.”
They all froze for a hot second, then Sully narrowed his eyes. “Why didn’t the ambulance blow? Why didn’t anything blow when the staff left?”
“It’s a guess,” Spencer said, fidgeting and shifting, “but I would assume they’re just not ready for that. It would bring too much attention to the ranch if the ambulance went missing. They probably let it—and everyone who left—go so it didn’t mess up the big plan.”
“What is the big plan?”