by Nicole Helm
As he poked his head into the room, he immediately saw Shay and Granger next to the big picture window. A couch had been moved out of the way, and shoved in front of the front door.
Shay was sitting in the floor, Granger crouched over her. Though the curtains were drawn, Holden saw the shattered glass littering the floor. Holden had to assume someone had shot through it.
It was a strange thing to see Granger McMillan standing there. He’d been the one to offer Holden a job in North Star, and like many of the other operatives, Holden had looked up to him like he’d been some kind of saint. Definitely a hero.
Then Granger had been shot in the explosion that had left scars on Holden’s side. Granger’s recovery had gone well enough, but he’d never returned to North Star.
Holden had to admit Granger didn’t look the same. He sported a heavy beard. Holden might have expected him to look wan, or rangy, but he’d done the opposite, adding a bulk that appeared to be all muscle, as if he’d spent his off time purposefully building himself into a different man.
“What happened?” Holden asked, keeping his voice low.
“Bit of an ambush. Not sure who’s out there, or how many, but suddenly they were shooting up the house. We held them off, but...” Shay trailed off, staring at them more closely. “How did you guys get in here?”
“Tunnels under the house, came in through the inside. Are they still out there?”
“I think so. We don’t have enough to recon. I’ve got a backup team coming, but I told them to proceed with extreme caution since we’ve got nothing on what’s going on out there.”
Holden frowned at the way Shay was still sitting and had one hand clamped over her arm.
“What’s wrong with you?” he demanded.
“Nothing. I’m fine.”
“She’s not.”
“I am.”
“She got shot.”
“I got clipped. In the arm. Hell, for all we know it was a piece of glass. I’m fine.”
“She won’t let me field dress it.”
Holden muttered an oath. “Don’t be stupid. Get it dressed. Where’s Elsie?”
“In that godforsaken bunker,” Shay ground out, glaring daggers at Granger. “I want her to stay there.”
“She’s seeing what she can do to hack into the security measures, but it takes time,” Granger offered, but his attention was on grappling with Shay to get her arm free so he could dress it. “She says it’s quite the encrypted system. She can kick through it, but there’s hoops to jump through and whatnot.”
“I’ll go. I’ll go help,” Willa said, her hand still in his. “I can get video and security measures all up in five minutes tops. It doesn’t seal off the whole farm, but it’ll make things more difficult for anyone trying to get within the property lines.”
“Not sure security measures are going to help when they’re already here,” Holden said, though he knew that was emotion more than sense talking. Still, he had to say it. He had to...
Willa grabbed his arm, eyes wide and determined. “Let me go do this. I know the tunnels, how to get in and out fast and easy. You three hold the fort here. You just get a message to Elsie so she knows to look for me. It’ll help. You know it will.”
“We shouldn’t separate,” Holden said, but Willa was already moving away as if he’d agreed.
He swore under his breath. “Fine. Go. But get everything set up, then I want you and Elsie up here.” They all needed to be together where he could be certain they were protected.
“Okay. I will.” She dropped his hand and arm and scurried off, and Holden had to fight down all his instincts to stay where he was and not chase after her.
“Do me a favor and knock Shay out so I can get this wrapped around the wound,” Granger grumbled.
He’d torn a piece of fabric from his own shirt, and if Willa wasn’t off in those tunnels alone, Holden might have found some humor in the situation. “Best not to knock her out. We might need all hands on deck.” He glanced at Shay. “Why are you being so difficult?”
“Because this moron disobeyed a direct order.”
“I’m your superior,” Granger muttered, taking the arm she reluctantly held out.
The gash was deep, but Holden had to admit it looked more like a cut from glass than a bullet. She’d need stitches, but it’d hold for now.
“No, you left,” Shay said through gritted teeth as Granger inspected the wound, then wrapped the strip of fabric around it. “And left me in charge. You’re officially a subordinate.”
“I didn’t even want to get roped back into this—”
A gunshot rang out from outside, but wherever it hit the house wasn’t close to them. It seemed to knock Granger and Shay out of their argument.
They all were on their feet, guns out and ready, in seconds flat.
“Shay, get that message to Elsie so she knows not to shoot Willa. Then go to the bunker. There’s something about this place that gives me a bad feeling. Granger, take east. I’ll take west.”
“You’re not in charg—”
But he had no reason to listen to Shay’s orders when they didn’t know who or what they were up against. Besides, Shay might be his boss, but this was his mission. He’d come to believe that bunker and the tunnels were more than just safeguarding Willa.
What? He didn’t know. But he wanted Willa in and out ASAP.
Another gunshot exploded somewhere in the dark night. As far as Holden could tell by listening, that one hadn’t hit the house.
Which raised the question...if someone out there wasn’t shooting at the house, what were they shooting at?
Chapter Nineteen
Willa had never been afraid of the dark that she could remember. When she’d been very young, her parents had trained her how to move in the dark. How to keep her calm in the dark. How to defend herself in the dark.
Willa felt as if all those lessons had deserted her. She had to force herself into the dark tunnels again. Though she gratefully didn’t have to crawl through the narrow one, something about this oppressive dark made her feel like everything was all wrong.
But she had to get to the bunker. Video would help Holden’s team figure out what they were up against. The security measures she could enact didn’t have the potential to eradicate the threat, but they could definitely diminish it.
Holden needed her help. She blew out a breath as she felt through the tunnel, ducking as it got a little shorter as went from under the house to outside. It would get taller again when she was under the barn and nearing the bunker.
She hadn’t had a chance to ask after her animals. There was too much danger to worry how the crew was holding up. She could only offer up a silent prayer that in the light of morning every person and every animal would be safe.
Please God.
She stepped forward, the ceiling a more walkable height yet again. She let out a soft whoosh of breath. There were a few hurdles left. First, Elsie had to have gotten the message that the woman who would walk into the bunker wasn’t an enemy. Second, if Elsie had engaged any of the locks from the inside, she would have to hear Willa pounding or yelling at the door, and then want to open it.
Yelling would be a bad idea. As much as she doubted her voice would carry through subterranean tunnels, she didn’t want to risk anything.
Are you sure your parents don’t use this as some kind of...home base?
She didn’t know why that question of Holden’s bothered her, why it kept popping up in her head. So what if they did? It would be their right. Yes, her feelings might be hurt if they were underfoot and never told her, but they’d built the tunnels.
To keep you safe.
If they hadn’t done it for that reason, it hardly mattered. Either way, they weren’t the bad guys here, so even if they used them, it didn’t matter.
Willa stumb
led to a stop as a dim light spread out into the tunnel. It was the door opening. A tall figure stepping out into the swath of light.
Willa’s breath caught, then she raced forward, tears springing to her eyes. “Dad. Dad. Oh my God.” She practically fell into his arms. She furiously blinked back the tears, holding on to him tight. He was alive. He was okay. He was here. “Oh, thank God you’re okay.” A panicky laugh escaped her mouth. “Here. Oh, thank God.”
“Wills.” He sounded almost surprised, but his arms were strong and tight around her.
“Where’s Mom? She’s okay, isn’t she?” She had to be. Had to be. Willa pulled back to look at her father’s face.
“She’s not far away,” Dad said, an odd, sad smile on his face. He brought up his hands to her cheeks, searching her face. He sighed. “What happened to you?”
Willa reached up and touched the bandage on her head. “It’s been a strange few days.” She was tempted to tell him everything, but now was not the time. “Where have you been?”
Dad glanced at the room behind them. Willa couldn’t see Mom or Elsie, but surely they were in there. “It’s a very long story.” He sighed, then looked back at her. “But you’re here. Which is good. Everything will be okay now that you’re here.” He smoothed down her hair, and Willa gave in to the luxury of hugging her father as tight as she could.
He expelled a breath that was something like a mix of pain and relief. “I am so, so sorry, Willa,” he said into her ear.
“Sorry?” She wanted to laugh again, but she pulled away from him instead. “But you’re here.”
There was something about his eyes, about the odd slant of his mouth that had her backing up.
He frowned a little. “What are you doing? Mom’s just inside.” He swept a hand toward the entrance, and Willa found herself taking full steps back. Away from her father. A man she’d always loved unconditionally, without suspicion.
But something was wrong. Something was all wrong.
“Come in,” he insisted. “We have a lot to talk about.”
But a cold dread settled through her. She didn’t want to go in.
She was being ridiculous. Of course she needed to go inside. Her parents would take care of everything, like they always did.
Except the past few days.
The past few days. Nothing had made sense. This certainly didn’t. She was being...foolish to question it.
Except her parents had always told her to listen to dread. No emotional outbursts, but by God, a spy had to listen to their gut. She didn’t want to go in there. She didn’t want to understand why her father’s expression was so...off. Sad. Resigned. And just a little lost.
None of those things had ever been her father.
“Dad. Tell me what’s going on.”
“On?”
Her dread intensified. “There are men shooting at my house. You’ve been ignoring my SOS messages, or, as I thought, had been taken or killed by someone so couldn’t respond. But here you are, apologizing and then acting like something isn’t going on?”
“Come inside, Wills. Your mother was always better at explaining things than I was.”
“Then call her out here.”
“Willa.” He sounded hurt. She believed him for a second, but none of it made sense. None of it.
And then there was a gun. In her father’s hand. Lifting toward her. No, it didn’t make sense, and no, she didn’t want to believe this of her father, but when a gun was pointed at a person, there were only a few options.
She chose to run. Back into the dark. Back to Holden. It was all wrong. All wrong, but Holden wasn’t. He’d save her.
No, Willa, it’s time to save yourself.
She zigzagged as much as she could in the narrow tunnel. The gun didn’t go off, and she had to be grateful he wasn’t shooting blindly in the dark.
Maybe he hadn’t meant to shoot at her at all. Maybe she was being paranoid and reading everything wrong.
Well, that was something she’d figure out, but she wasn’t about to risk it. Even when it came to her own father.
She was running too hard, breathing too heavily to hear anything. Was he chasing her? Had he given up?
Is any of this real?
Someone slammed into her hard, and she fell to the ground. If it was her father and he had the gun still, he didn’t use it. They wrestled on the cold, hard ground. Willa fought tooth and nail, but her opponent was stronger, better in the dark.
“We have to end it.” Dad’s voice, breathless and strained. He worked to get a hold of her arms and pin them down, so she fought wildly. Punching, kicking, wriggling away.
“They can torture me, I don’t care,” he continued. “But I won’t give them you. I won’t let them do that to you.”
Willa didn’t understand what was happening, what he meant, but she knew she couldn’t give in to it. “Then let me go,” she said, trying to push him off her.
“You’ll never be free. We’ll never be free. It has to end.”
Willa didn’t want to know what he meant by that, but she had the sinking suspicion she knew exactly what he wanted.
He wanted to die, and her to go with him.
* * *
THERE WAS THE occasional sound of gunfire, but nothing close. The lack of lights outside kept them from seeing who or what might be out there. The lack of full-frontal attack made Holden’s nerves hum.
Three of the windows on the main level had been shattered by gunfire. Holden considered heading upstairs. It might give him a better vantage point, but the incessant dark of the country night wouldn’t allow him to see anything.
Besides, he didn’t want to be that far away from the tunnels and Willa.
Whoever was out there wasn’t out there to attack. Or, if they were, they were supposed to wait, hold back, break a few windows. It was attention seeking at best.
Holden met up with Granger after their inside perimeter check. “Any word from Shay?” Holden asked.
“No.”
“Should have heard something by now,” Holden said with a frown. “This isn’t anything. What’s with the random gunfire? Surely they don’t think there’s an army in here. They’re waiting for something.”
“Elsie was getting somewhere with that computer, but she hadn’t briefed us yet when the guns started. Do you think they could tell she’d gotten the information they want?”
“How?” That was the question that plagued Holden. How? “None of this adds up, Granger, and you know as well as I do that means we don’t know what they’re really after.”
“So, we’ll figure it out.”
“They’re just there to hold our attention, or maybe make sure we don’t run. They’re not attacking.”
“They could be amassing more men or ammunition or something. They could be working to blow us up.”
Could, Holden thought. But it didn’t feel right. He thought of Willa in the tunnels, and Shay. They weren’t back yet, and there was no attempt at contact. “Unless someone else is down there.”
“You think that’s possible?” Granger returned, his eyes staring out the gap between curtain and window where they stood in the TV room. “Elsie acted like there was no way in or out.”
“If you didn’t know where to look,” Holden muttered. “Let’s go down there.”
“And leave the house unprotected?”
“Screw the house,” Holden replied, already moving to the other room. Shay had left the panel off, and he couldn’t blame her for that. The door was closed though.
Or was. It swung open as Holden reached for it, Shay stumbling quickly into the light. She squinted against it, panting.
“Someone’s fighting down there. I need a light. We need someone at the other entrance. I don’t know if they got in or what, but we’ve got to move.”
The only people wh
o could be fighting in the tunnel were Willa and someone else, unless two new people had entered the tunnel from who knew were.
“You two to the barn and the other opening. I’ll take the light to the tunnel.”
“Holden.” Shay didn’t say more, and Holden refused to parse what the expression on her face meant. He had a flashlight on him, and he was going to get to Willa.
He nudged Shay out of the way and moved into the tunnel. He pulled the door closed behind him, plunging the world around him into darkness.
He took one deep breath to get his eyes as accustomed to the dark as he was going to get, then he moved forward. He held his gun in one hand, flashlight in the other. He kept it off. Though Shay had claimed someone was fighting, Holden heard nothing.
Moving forward carefully and stealthily was a battle in restraint he was slowly losing. He wanted to run and race forward. He wanted to bellow Willa’s name. But none of those things would get her out of this alive.
She had to be the one who’d been fighting. There was no other explanation. Maybe she’d won and gotten to Elsie in the bunker. She could do it. He had faith in her.
But still he moved forward, dread solid and heavy in his gut. When things didn’t add up, what a man believed and had faith in didn’t always add up either.
After what felt like eons, Holden saw what he thought might be...light. He moved forward until it became clear there was indeed the tiniest sliver of light. It was the door to the bunker, just barely ajar.
Holden moved toward it. Quietly, he moved until he was as close to the door as he could get without pushing it open.
He heard a voice, and it made his blood run cold. Because that was a man’s voice, and as far as he knew, only women were down here.
Chapter Twenty
Willa didn’t know if she’d fully lost consciousness, but a blow to her already wounded temple had made her woozy enough to forget to fight. It made her forget what she was fighting for. She could feel her body, and she could feel herself being dragged into the bunker. She even watched as Dad tied her up.