Chapter 14
“If we do it, we need to be sneaky about it,” Elena said. “If they’re watching—and I feel sure they are—then it will tip them off that we’re on to them and may trigger them into a full-blown attack.” She glanced at the bomb. “No pun intended, but we’re not ready for that yet.”
Sully nodded and even Javier looked like he might agree. David joined them.
“Okay, so we’re doing this?” she asked.
“I think so,” Sully said.
“Then let’s go while we can,” Elena said. “If it’s her they’re after, they’ll stop.”
David nodded. “I’ll go with you.”
“No,” Sully said, “you’re needed here. Your guys are here and are looking to you for direction. Piper and I will take Ollie. Elena will come with us.”
She blinked. She would? “I will?”
“We really don’t know who they’re after. You or Ollie. So if we move both of you away from here . . .”
Right. “But—”
“No buts. Let’s get back to the house and grab Piper and Ollie.” He hesitated. “I think that’s the best plan, but if someone has a better one, let’s hear it.”
“I’m not leaving the ranch,” Maya said. “Someone has to stay and take care of the animals.” She paused. “By the time they realize you’re not here, reinforcements should be here.”
“So, this is what we’re doing?” Elena said.
“Yes.” Maya nodded. “I think so.”
“As soon as I have a cell signal, help will be on the way,” Sully said.
“We can hold out that long.”
He nodded to Elena. “Let’s go. Hurry.”
He and Elena jogged toward the cabin, boots thudding against the dirt. Javier, Felicity, and Milo headed in the direction of the kennels. Elena’s pulse thrummed through her veins and the feeling of being watched hounded her. But how? The darkness hid them. Didn’t it?
Please don’t let them have night vision goggles.
They reached the front porch, and Piper threw open the door to step outside. The screen door slammed behind her. “Tell me.”
“It’s disarmed and we need to move now while we can,” Sully said.
“I don’t know what’s going on—if it’s Ollie they’re after or what—but something big is getting ready to go down if our prisoner is to be believed.
” He shrugged. “And because he was right about the bomb, I’m inclined to believe him. Better safe than sorry at this point.”
“Keys are in the Bronco.” Maya came up behind them. “It’s parked behind the barn.”
He nodded. Ollie stepped outside, backpack slung over her shoulder. “Time to go, huh?”
“I’m afraid so.”
“I’m coming too,” Elena said. “Bring your books. They might help pass the time wherever we end up.”
Ollie reentered the house, and when she returned, she had another bag that held the books. “Ready.”
Sully gave a sharp nod. “I’ll get the Bronco. Be back in five.”
Piper stilled, her head tilted toward the lake. “You hear that?”
Elena did. “A low hum. Like a swarm of bees or something.”
“Or drones,” Ollie said. “Saw an episode of America’s Got Talent that had a really cool drone show. That’s exactly what they sounded like.”
Elena took off around the side of the cabin and stopped when she had a better view of the whole lake.
And the sky above it. The others had followed her.
The sound grew louder, and as if to prove Ollie right, a drone crested the ridge just beyond the other side of the lake.
And then another and another, their lights growing brighter with each addition.
“Everyone back inside!” Sully’s shout spurred them to action and they raced back around to the front.
The drones were right overhead now, and Elena watched them peel off in organized precision.
She shoved Ollie through the doorway as the first burst of fire hit the ground behind them.
Dirt and rock exploded, peppering the porch.
Sully grabbed her and practically carried her inside.
“There are more,” Maya yelled. “Two more from the south! How is this possible?” She checked her phone. “It’s still jammed.”
“They’re preprogrammed,” Piper said. She slammed the door shut. “They don’t need radio control. They’ll execute based on preset triggers.”
“Triggers?” Elena blinked. “Like what kind of triggers?”
“Visual movement,” Sully said.
Gideon was already checking the windows.
“Or they’ll just spit bullets—or bombs—at coordinates they’ve been programmed with,” Ollie said. She dropped her backpack on the couch, then curled into a ball, wrapping her arms around her knees.
Piper nodded. “Or that.”
An explosion rocked the ground nearby and the walls trembled.
“The barn,” Elena whispered. “What if they bomb the barn? All of the animals . . .”
Sully nodded. “Not to mention our prisoner still in his little makeshift cell.”
Elena could see another drone swooping low. “Everyone on the floor! Now!”
Everyone dropped. Piper grabbed Ollie from the couch and covered her with her body. A spate of bullets blitzed a path across the back of the cabin. Glass shattered, then the drone was gone.
Elena bolted to her feet and pulled her pistol from the shoulder holster. “We have to shoot them down. It’s the only way.” She ran to one of the broken windows, ignored the blast of frigid air blowing in, and took aim at the nearest drone.
“Elena! Get down!”
Sully’s voice echoed, but she had the thing in her sights. She fired. The drone spun, then plunged into the backyard near the edge of the water.
Javier and two other vets, armed with rifles, burst from the barn.
“They’re going for it,” Sully muttered. He shot a look at Elena. “Piper, Ollie, we’re going to make a break for it as soon as we can. Be ready.”
A burst of gunfire followed. Two of the drones jerked in the air, spiraled, then exploded in a flash of heat and light.
“Now! Take the path behind the storage shed. Run toward the back of the barn. Gideon, you and David and anyone else who can shoot, make sure we make it.”
“Got you covered. Go!”
“Move fast and stay low,” Piper said.
Ollie reached for Elena’s hand and held tight. “We got this,” Elena whispered.
“Right.”
They slipped out, crouched low, and ran. Smoke curled in the distance where the drone had fallen. Shouts echoed, and the blessed sound of the horses’ hooves pounded in the distance. Someone—likely their prisoner’s guard—had released the animals from their stalls and into the pasture.
Another drone swooped overhead. Sully shoved Piper and Ollie down beside a woodpile. Elena tumbled next to them. Bullets shredded the air behind them.
Elena and Piper covered Ollie while Sully aimed at an approaching drone.
He fired. Missed. Fired again and sent it into a spinning nosedive.
The crash sounded seconds later. “Come on. Behind the barn!” Sully led the way.
“Hurry!” He pulled Ollie from Elena and Piper and shielded her while he guided her to the Bronco, parked right where Maya said it would be. “Everyone in!”
Another drone shrieked overhead, flying too fast and too low.
Elena dove into the passenger seat. Piper vaulted into the back with Ollie.
Sully stomped on the gas, and the Bronco fishtailed before the tires caught and rocketed forward.
He aimed the vehicle in the direction of the front gate. No hiding that they were leaving now.
Sully hated to abandon the others to deal with everything, but they needed to get Ollie to safety.
She was his priority. His heart ached at the thought of the damage the ranch would suffer if the others couldn’t shoot down the drones, and he sent up a prayer for their safety, fighting the temptation to go back.
Sending help would be better than staying put. Once they were through the gate, he headed toward town, pressing harder on the gas. “See anyone?”
“No,” Piper said.
Elena echoed Piper.
His vigilant study of the rearview mirror told him no one had followed them thus far. Whoever was planting the bombs and after Ollie or Elena wouldn’t have expected him to be able to get out of the gate. The plan had worked. For the most part.
He breathed slightly easier and slowed, not wanting to cause an accident before he was able to get help. There were no cars on the two-lane road this time of night, and the convenience store located at the bottom of the mountain would be locked up tight.
“I’ve got a signal!” Elena’s delighted cry jarred him.
“Fabulous! Call the sheriff and let him know we’re on the way. We may need to spend the night at the jail to keep Ollie safe at this rate.”
“Already dialing.”
“You want me to sleep in the jail?” Ollie asked. “Cool.”
Ollie stared out the window as the Bronco raced down the mountain road. The darkness outside pressed against the glass like a living thing. Math equations scrolled through her mind—a habit that helped when everything else spun out of control.
Four people in the car. Two FBI agents. Elena. And . . . her. The equation of her life these days.
“You okay?” Piper asked.
“Yeah.” Ollie pulled her backpack closer. Another safe house. Another move. Another temporary place. What else was new?
She unzipped her backpack and dug around inside. Her fingers brushed against the familiar pill packet and relief surged. She still didn’t understand what happened to the other pills, but whatever.
The Bronco hit a pothole, and Ollie bounced in her seat. Fitting. Her life had become one jarring bump after another, trying to avoid the giant pothole that would end it all. First witnessing the murder. Then the safe house. Then the attacks. Now this ranch with its drones and bombs.
But these people—Sully, Piper, and now Elena—they’d stuck with her. Protected her. They cared whether she lived or died. Of course it was their job, but still. They cared. She could tell. Well, Sully and Elena did. She wasn’t sure about Piper. But at least the woman did her job.
“You’re going to be okay, Ollie.” Sully’s voice carried from the front seat. “I know you don’t want to leave the ranch, but hopefully, one day soon we can go back. You’re not alone in this.”
Not alone. The words settled in her chest. When was the last time she truly hadn’t been alone? Even in the crowded foster homes, she’d been alone. A visitor passing through other people’s lives.