Chapter 22
Chapter Twenty-Two
C onnor led his team, consisting of Cole and Edwyn around the right side of the house. Junior led another team with Sam and Eric around the left. They were each to leave about thirty yards between themselves and the driveway, putting them roughly sixty yards apart.
As long as they stayed ahead of the attackers, there would be no shooting at each other accidentally. That was the last thing Connor wanted to happen. In the dark, there was always an issue of knowing the target before pulling the trigger. He trusted all his men to know what was ahead before doing anything.
A few gunshots on the left signaled that Junior and his team had encountered someone. Cole blew his whistle three quick blasts so the other team would know their location. The men headed in the direction of the shots, keeping behind as much cover as possible.
Cole took out his night binoculars and looked ahead. “I’ve got no sight,” he mumbled.
“We’ll need to get closer. How in the world did Junior meet up with them first? I thought they were headed right up the driveway?” Had their intel been wrong or had they left the visibility of the driveway and Junior’s group had surprised them.
Edwyn braced against a tree. “If we cross the driveway, we’re putting ourselves in danger. I want to help them, but they need to signal us first. What if the group of six broke into two groups like they were in the cars? We could be setting ourselves up for an ambush.”
Connor nodded his agreement. Nothing about this felt right. He checked his weapon one more time, just to make sure everything was in working order. He motioned for Cole to move in a little closer. Cole got low and ran to another tree, then used his binoculars again.
He held up two fingers then pointed right. If Junior had found others, then they were surrounded on two sides. Connor motioned for them to hold their position. He squinted into the darkness where Cole had been looking until two forms appeared from behind the trees, the snow was the only thing making them stand out.
Within seconds, he lost them in the trees again. Connor held completely still pressed to his cover. If he waited until they passed his three o’clock, he could safely engage without risking his men. He held his breath and counted the seconds as they ticked by.
These two didn’t seem to understand combat. While they knew how to hide and stay out of the light, they weren’t being especially quiet, nor did they hide their footprints within the tracks that were already out there. One of them pointed to the ground and muttered something. Just a few more feet and Connor could lunge for them.
One of the men whipped around and took a shot at Edwyn. The bark of the tree where Edwyn had been hiding exploded as Edwyn dove to the ground. Connor took aim but wasn’t sure where Junior and his men were. They hadn’t put up a sound marker. Had they been caught?
The other man took a shot at Connor, narrowly missing. If he hadn’t been on slick snow, he might not have missed. Connor and his men fell back a few feet. He couldn’t call Junior, but he needed to know where the men were. He took out his phone and opened up the app to show him the location of every man. He’d thought Junior had engaged someone, but he was now heading toward the barn.
“Guys, something is going on at the house. Team B is running for the barn. We have to follow those guys. I don’t know what caused Junior to break protocol, but that means we could have guys right up at the house.”
They couldn’t run with the two attackers somewhere in front of them. He sent off a text to Junior, knowing he might not be able to answer. If they were being chased, then things didn’t look good. Once they had hostages, they would be able to get whatever they wanted. Connor would never risk lives.
Slowly, they made their way back along the path Junior was supposed to have followed toward the house. The silence worried him more than the gunshots had. Was it possible Junior and his team had been shot and it was their bodies that he’d seen on his app? He refused to think that way.
As they neared the house, the two men they’d encountered before waited, looking at the house beyond. He took a shot at one of them, but hit the tree the intruder was using for cover instead. With quick movements both men moved to better cover and took aim toward Connor and his men.
“Hold your places. Don’t move,” he muttered. “Make them come after us. I want them away from the house.” If they came after Connor and his team, it was less likely that Junior and his had been overtaken by others.
“Message in from Team 2, they heard some shots by the barn and went to check it out. They are almost there,” Edwyn’s voice was barely above a breath.
Good. That meant none of his men were captured. He motioned for his men to fall back further, trying to draw the two intruders out. When they followed, Connor led them closer to the driveway where there was more open area. If he could trick them out in the open, this standoff might come to an end.
Edwyn huddled in next to him. “Team 2 says they have two men in the barn. A third just left. That means one lone wolf is wandering around. Keep your eyes open.” He headed over to Cole’s position to tell him what was happening while Connor covered him.
Cole drew something out of the back of his jacket and tore off the end. He took the end that he tore off and struck the long stick. It flared immediately, illuminating everything within a few feet.
Three shots came from the trees and Cole threw the road flare onto the driveway about twenty feet behind him. He then ran across as the men fired on him. Connor gripped the tree; unsure what Cole was doing. He could be volatile and when he felt cornered, would rely on no one but himself.
The men followed him, running toward the light. The moment they ran for the trees, Connor clotheslined one of the men who tried to run past him. Edwyn tackled the other. He let Edwyn deal with his own man as Connor wrestled to get the attacker’s gun from him. Cole returned and raced over to help Edwyn. Once they had him subdued and his hands tied, they came over to wrestle the man Connor had trapped.
“That leaves four.” Connor looked toward the house. He could barely see it through the trees.
“We’ll get these two locked away. Where should we go?” Cole asked as he led the two men they’d caught slowly toward the house.
They had an area in the barn where Sam occasionally locked dogs that were too untrained to be part of his kennel. That made the most sense to use for now until they could gather all of them and get a hold of some police force.
“Message from Brendon. There’s a team of FBI agents on the way. Viceroy is a big fish, and they want him,” Edwyn relayed the news.
“Great. They’re only an hour away. Let’s get as many rounded up before they get here as possible.” At least Lacy was safely inside and the only thing those men who’d been headed for the barn could’ve found were horses, hay, and feed.
“Let’s stow these two in the barn and see what Junior was after.” Connor headed left though the house was to the right along the driveway. His heart might be there, but he couldn’t follow it until the work was done.
At the base of the haystack, Lacy glanced around for inspiration. She needed something to make noise on the other end of the barn or to distract the men hunting for the light switch.
“By the time we find it, they’ll be gone,” one of the men said.
She heard the click of the switchbox flipping open and she knew they’d found the light. They didn’t use the fluorescents often, but they took a minute to come on fully. Lacy headed for the first stall. Maximus, a massive gray workhorse, stomped in his stall. She carefully slid to the front along the wall and quickly released him.
As she backed him out, the men noticed her. “Hey! What are you doing?”
Lacy whispered a command, telling Maximus to go to the house. One of the biggest issues with that particular horse, that Eric couldn’t break him of, was once he was given a command, he would trample anything in his way to complete it.
Maximus headed off at a trot, right toward the men. Lacy grabbed Adam’s hand and ran out the back of the barn. There was no time to cover their tracks, so she swung Adam up on the top of the fence, then started helping the others over. She had a vague idea where they could go, but her main objective was to get away from the men.
“Wait, don’t shoot!” the strange voice yelled.
Junior’s voice answered. “Hands in the air where I can see them.”
That was two of the men down, but she had no idea how many there were in total. Connor had always told her she should keep going until she knew she was safely away from danger. “Keep going!” she encouraged her group.
Ahead of them was a dark pasture that led to the Homestead. Most people outside of Wayside didn’t know it was there. Viceroy and his men might still think the whole place was a burned-out shell. Even people in town didn’t know they’d built homes there, since the Homestead was heavily wooded and private.
Moira waited with Adam on the other side of the fence until Lacy climbed over. A volley of shots from the lodge scared her into moving quicker.
“Do you think they got in the house?” Moira glanced quickly at her and they ran as fast as they could through the snow.
“I hope not. I don’t think Connor would intentionally lead them that way.” It was hard to talk as she ran. Some of the women were already slowing down. They wouldn’t make it the full mile if they kept at such a pace.
Lacy kept her voice as low as she could. “Everyone, stay together. Slow down so we don’t lose anyone.” She watched behind her, waiting for dark forms to follow them.
Slowing down was a risk, but no one in the group was used to speeding through snow on foot. She didn’t want to risk anyone having a heart attack from fear and strain. There were other risks though, too. Animals wandered around in the dark, ones that might not take on a full grown horse but would think a person was easy prey. Especially with the scent of fear on them.
“Watch around you. Keep your eyes open. Help me look for anything that moves.” Maybe engaging them in doing more than moving would keep them focused.
Moira kept her pace slow to accommodate her son who, at ten, had lots of energy but short legs. He also swiveled his head back and forth, watching for anything. The dark line of trees Lacy was aiming for seemed further away the longer they walked, not closer.
More shots made one of the women scream. She couldn’t help it. These poor women had seen the worst of humanity. Some had seen death, beatings, starvation, and worse. Hopefully, Connor would get the men who’d attacked them, and they wouldn’t have to be afraid in their home anymore.
“There’s someone coming,” Adam whispered to her.
“Where?” She’d been trying to watch everywhere.
“Behind us. He’s alone, but I can see he has a rifle. We should hide.” He looked behind him again.
Lacy slowed, letting the others get ahead of her then looked behind where Adam had indicated. The form stopped as soon as she turned, then dropped into the snow, making himself all but invisible.
Lacy quickly caught up to the group. There was nothing in the pasture but random trees and nothing nearby to hide them. Where could they get away from that guy? None of the Wayside men would be using rifles, they all used handguns in situations where they had to defend themselves.
She knew this land better than the man behind them did, but with dark coats on and in the moonlight, they were visible. Too visible to hide where they were going. Unless she found a way for them to spread out and blend with the snow.
“Everyone, drop to your knees and spread out. Stay as close to the snow as you can.” While her plan might make them slower, they would only stand out if they had to crawl up a hill that was facing the man behind them. If they crawled now, while they were in a low spot, and headed east, they could go around the hill and go unseen.
She headed to the front of the group, leading the way. A trio of wolves growled a few feet away. Lacy raised her arm to stop the group. Now they were trapped between a shooter behind them and aggressive predators ahead.
The wolves had caught something and were all trying to nip bites of it. Thankfully, Lacy couldn’t tell what it was, only that it was far too small to satisfy three huge animals. She pointed to her right. Even though she’d hoped to swing back around in the direction she’d been heading before, now they would have to crawl further out of the way.
The man behind them shot, but the only thing it did was scare the wolves. They ran off toward the trees, exactly where Lacy had hoped to go. If she grabbed her phone to call Connor, it would light up. Even facing the ground, it might give off enough light to give away their position.
She pulled it from her pocket and realized there had been areas where the snow had brushed against her belly and snow had filled her pockets. Her phone was totally wet and wouldn’t turn on at all. They were far away from the goal, though she could barely see the security light in the distance now. Behind her, the man with the gun stalked them.
“Mom, I’m soaked and cold,” Adam wasn’t a complainer, but it was dark, cold, and now they were wet and sore.
How could she expect them to crawl through the snow for a mile? What kind of leader was she? She’d saved them from their warm homes to freeze in the middle of a field. Doubt bashed her over the head.
“It’s okay. Just keep going. We’ll get warm and dry as soon as we get to safety,” Moira answered.
They were the only two who hadn’t been directly trafficked though Viceroy’s wife had tried to kidnap Adam and planned to use his organs to save her dying son. They both had stayed at Wayside for a better life and to start over. This certainly wasn’t better than poverty.
Lacy tried to crawl faster. At some point, they would have to risk going over a rise and that might put them in the line of fire. This close to the ground, they’d be harder to hit, but she wanted to avoid shots at all.
“Is he still there?” Adam asked.
If anyone was going to take a chance and look, it would be her. She motioned them to keep going as she crawled up the back of a small hill. Searching the darkness, she tried to find a dark spot, anything that didn’t look like snow. Worse was the fear that if she didn’t see him, he could still be there. If she told everyone they could get up and walk normally, she would be at fault if any of them were shot.
She scanned the whole area slowly once again but saw nothing. Had he given up? Were they too far away and he’d wanted to stay closer to his men? She had to be absolutely certain.
Distant shots came from Wayside, and she prayed fervently none of their men were hurt. Both Connor and his father had been shot in the last year and she didn’t want any of the others to deal with the pain and risk. That they were willing to do it for the people who lived there spoke volumes about the integrity of the crew Connor put together.
She turned back and jogged down the hill then encouraged them all to stand. “I think we’re okay to walk now. We’re about halfway there and we’ll be faster on our feet. I didn’t see the man who was following us.”
Adam happily stood, the others got to their feet, but stayed hunched either from the cold or because they wanted to stay as small of a target as possible. The first home to come into view was Teddy’s. He lived there with Gloria and Ferd.
Ferd made her way up to Lacy. “Let’s go to my place. Mom will have warm drinks and lots of blankets. No one is more ready for us than she is.”
“I thought you said she didn’t really like groups of people?” She’d thought about Gloria but hadn’t wanted the poor woman to have a breakdown at seeing so many needy people at her door.
“Nope, when Mom is needed, she is happy. Let’s go there.”
Lacy breathed a sigh of relief. She now had a destination. “Great. Let’s let everyone know. We’ll head for that first cabin with the lights on.”
Finally, the trees seemed like they were getting taller, the light glowed a little stronger. They would make it to safety. She again prayed for Connor and all the men. Junior had caught the two that had been in the barn, but there was one wandering around alone and he was the most dangerous of all.
Ferd opened the door as they reached the house and Lacy took a deep breath, allowing all the others to go in first. By the time she walked through the door, Gloria had stacks of warm blankets, and she was collecting wet shoes and coats to hang in the back room.
Praise God, they’d come to the right place.