Chapter 30
“How the fuck did he find us?” demanded Brett, his foot pressed hard against the accelerator. It was raining again, the tires struggling for traction on the wet, winding road. He’d known something was wrong, so why the hell had he been at the main house instead of checking on Grace and the boys?
If he’d listened to his gut, he would have been down there.
Maybe he could have stopped this from happening.
But it didn’t make any goddamn sense. He swerved onto a highway entrance ramp and headed toward Lamont Scientific.
“We weren’t followed. There was no vehicle behind us when we left Lamont last night. I’m absolutely certain.”
The sounds of impending battle carried throughout the SUV. A magazine clicking into a gun. A canister of ammo rattling. The Velcro straps of a tactical pack being ripped apart. “There could be a GPS on the vehicle,” said Razorback. “Or a GPS tag on us, or something we took.”
“We were parked a quarter mile away,” said Mac. “They couldn’t have found the vehicle. What did you take with you?”
“A geode,” said Brett. “A bunch of papers. That’s not how they tracked us.” They had to have been followed, but how? He thought of a helicopter and immediately dismissed the idea. They would have noticed a helicopter in a heartbeat.
His mind flashed back to the mysterious hovering object he’d seen when they were leaving Lamont Scientific, the memory mixing with the idea of flight.
“Son of a goddamn bitch.” He smacked the steering wheel hard.
“It was a drone. The thing I saw in the sky when the lightning flashed. It must have been a drone!”
Razorback swore colorfully. “It followed us back to the cabin. It’s probably following us right now.”
“Jesus Christ.” Brett shook his head. No wonder he felt something was wrong. They’d brought their enemy to their safe house to roost. “We should have been more careful. We should have anticipated they might have high-tech security in place.”
“So much for the element of surprise,” said Mac.
The exit for Lamont Scientific was just a few miles ahead, and adrenaline pumped through Brett’s bloodstream like gasoline into a blaze.
He’d done this a hundred times, marched into dangerous territory to battle the forces of evil.
But this time there was far more at stake, and it was utterly terrifying.
They were loading up weapons, preparing to enter the place where Grace and his children were being held.
One wrong move, one simple mistake, and the consequences could shatter his entire world.
The irony that he hadn’t cared about Toby, Theo, or Grace until this week wasn’t lost on him—but now they truly were his everything.
Mac went over the plan for their approach. They’d go through the woods like last time, but without the dark of night to hide them.
Brett took the exit ramp and said a silent prayer for their safety. He’d already lost Joni and Luke to this madman, and he’d be damned if he was going to lose anyone else.