Chapter 21 #2
Iris lunged for her, but Elena sidestepped, grabbed her sister’s arm, and used her own momentum to throw her against the wall.
The stun gun lay on the floor. Elena snagged it and backed toward the door, holding the weapon in front of her.
“You always were stubborn,” Iris gasped, pushing herself upright. “But you won’t get far.”
“Watch me,” Elena said. She slammed the door and slid the bolt home. It wouldn’t keep them long. Even she could kick it down with enough adrenaline flowing. She turned and ran.
The guard at the desk was already on his feet, reaching for his weapon.
Elena side kicked him in the gut and his breath whooshed from his lungs as he fell.
He scrambled to his knees and she jabbed the stun gun into his neck.
He cried out and collapsed back onto the floor.
She raced to grab her boots and coat, noted her hat and gloves had been shoved into the pockets.
The main door was too risky—there would be guards outside. The side door was her best bet. Assuming it led to the outside.
She raced to it and flipped the lock. The door swung open to reveal a storage room. Beyond it, another door with a window, facing the woods she needed to get to.
Footsteps pounded down the hallway. Elena threw herself through the storage room, knocking over shelves to block the path behind her. Her injured knee howled a protest, but adrenaline pushed her onward.
She flipped the dead bolt and stumbled outside. Cold air bit at her face. She took two seconds to pull the boots on over her socked feet. She’d tie them later. The compound spread before her, buildings lit by floodlights. Guards patrolled the perimeter.
And somewhere out there was Sully. She had no doubt. She just couldn’t wait on him or anyone else to come to the rescue.
Elena took a deep breath, tightened her grip around the stun gun and her winter garments, and ran for the shadows.
Sully crept along the perimeter fence, still a little surprised he’d managed to get this far inside the compound without triggering some kind of alarm.
But all was quiet. The night vision goggles cast everything in an eerie green glow as he studied the compound’s layout.
The perimeter guards patrolled in pairs, their movements predictable—ten minutes between rotations at the fence line.
And yet, there was only one guard on the “prison.” He could understand that.
It didn’t take much to guard two people who were locked in cells.
That was one positive Sully intended to take full advantage of.
The team had put their heads together and drawn a crude map based on the footage the drone had gotten before it had been shot down.
The building where Elena was likely being held sat toward the back of the compound, deeper into the woods, away from the main areas.
That was another advantage. Fewer eyes to avoid.
Sully hunkered down behind an oak tree with a massive trunk to watch.
Unfortunately, this guard was alert and doing his job very well. He walked the perimeter every so often and was definitely not predictable. Three minutes, then five, then ten, then two.
On the guard’s next pass, Sully hurried to the side of the building. The weight of his weapon in his gloved hand provided little comfort. He couldn’t shoot everyone.
A door slammed somewhere. Sully froze, then melted into the shadow of a storage shed three feet to his left. Voices approached.
“—escaped not fifteen minutes ago. Check the perimeter!”
“How did she get out?”
“Took down three guards and Iris. The woman’s dangerous.”
Relief sparked for a moment. Elena had escaped on her own. But if she was still within the compound, she was still in danger.
The men hurried toward the fence line and their voices faded. Sully once again headed for the jail-like building. He needed to confirm Elena was gone and possibly find clues about where she might have headed.
The guard had disappeared. Interesting. They had everyone scrambling to find the escapee. Sully slipped inside through an unlocked side door, finding himself in a storage room with shelves toppled across the floor. Signs of Elena’s escape route?
He moved to a hallway where he found a pool of blood, then a trail to the front door. A bloodied pencil lay on the floor. Huh. What did you do, Elena?
“Who’s there?” a small voice called from down the corridor.
Sully hurried to the row of cells to find a teenage girl with dirty blond hair pressed against the bars of the nearest one.
“Are you with Eleanor?” she asked, eyes wide with hope.
“I’m looking for her. She escaped?”
The girl nodded. “She promised to come back for me. I’m Maria.”
“I’m Sully. FBI.” He examined the lock on her cell. Without a key, he wasn’t getting in. “Do you know where she might have gone?”
“She told me about the old mine. I don’t know. She was kind of muttering to herself after that.”
The mine. Of course. The abandoned property Elena had mentioned before. The possible route her mother had taken to sneak Elena out of the compound.
“How do I get there?”
“There’s a trail behind the mess hall. Follow it up the ridge and you can’t miss it.” Maria’s knuckles whitened as she gripped the bars. “Please don’t leave me here.”
Sully rapped a fist on the lock. “I don’t have the keys, Maria. But I promise we’ll come back for you.”
“That’s what Eleanor said too.”
“And she meant it. So do I.” Sully reached through the bars, squeezing her hand. “Someone will be here to help you soon. I promise.”
“Check the cells again!” The shout from outside startled them both.
“Go,” Maria whispered. “Find Eleanor. I’ll be okay. They’re looking for her, so they’ll leave me alone for a while.”
The front door to the jail banged open, and Sully slipped back into the storage room, then out the side door. He pressed himself against the wall, breathing shallowly as two guards rushed past.
Once they were inside, he darted across the open space to the mess hall, a large building with darkened windows.
He skirted around behind it, finding the trail Maria had mentioned.
It wound upward into the dense forest, away from the compound.
He started up it, wishing he had Jim Small there to help track.
The sound of voices ahead sent Sully scurrying toward a boulder. He crouched behind it while flashlight beams swept the trail.
“She couldn’t have gotten far,” a man said. “Spread out. Check the mine entrance.”
Sully remained motionless until they passed, then continued upward, moving parallel to the trail through the underbrush. Elena was headed to the mine—and the preppers knew it.
Sully pressed the transmit button on his comms unit. “Agent Sullivan to command. Elena has escaped custody and is heading for the abandoned mine. Hostiles in pursuit. Request immediate backup at these coordinates.”
Nothing but static answered him. The signal jammers were still active, at least this close to the compound.
“Great,” he muttered.
He had two choices: Follow Elena to the mine and hope to find her before the preppers did, or retreat beyond the jammers’ range to call for backup. If he chose wrong, Elena might not survive the night.
The sound of gunfire in the distance made his decision for him. Three shots in rapid succession, coming from the direction of the mine.
Sully broke into a run, abandoning stealth for speed. Elena was in trouble, and she needed him now.
He’d gone fifty yards when a figure stepped onto the path ahead, silhouetted against the moonlight. The unmistakable shape of a rifle barrel rose to meet him.
“Stop right there,” a woman’s voice commanded.
Sully froze, hand hovering near his weapon.
“I wouldn’t,” the woman warned. “My finger’s already on the trigger.”
As his eyes adjusted, he recognized Lindy Grace, the woman who’d warned them away before.
“I’m looking for Elena,” he said evenly.
“I know.” Lindy lowered her rifle slightly. “You’re the FBI agent.”
“She’s in danger.”
“She’s always been in danger, ever since she came back.” Lindy glanced over her shoulder. “They’re sending teams to the mine. That’s where she’s headed.”
“Gunshots came from there. I need to get to her.”
“They weren’t shooting at her. They were letting others know where they are.
” Lindy hesitated, then nodded. “To get to her, you can’t go this way.
” She gestured to a barely visible game trail branching off to the right.
“That route will take you longer to get there, but they won’t expect anyone to come from that direction. ”
“Why are you helping us?”