by Kate Morris
“I’m good,” he said. “I want to help her.”
“See?” Wren said, spinning toward Jamie again. “I should go with you guys then. I can contribute.”
“Fine, but you’re wearing a vest,” Jamie said and handed over a Kevlar bullet-proof vest. “Elijah, you’ll wear mine.”
“I can’t take that from you, sir,” he said. “If I wear yours, you’ll have nothing.”
“I’ll be fine. I have a lot more experience with this sort of thing.”
“He does,” Wren praised with a grin. “I’ll get ready.”
Wren left them to work things out and went to her newly assigned room of Elijah’s parents, where she and her uncle would be staying. That was another topic covered yesterday evening when they’d come to Elijah’s for a group meeting. Elijah wanted them to move in with him and his brother, and Alex was in total agreement with it after watching the news and hearing of Jamie’s military background. Lila and Hope were also going to move in until this was over. Television network helicopters had flown over the freeways, which were jam-packed, congested messes. Footage was also shown of empty shelves in grocery stores and pharmacies. The situation was becoming grave, despite repeated hourly reports from the government for everyone to remain calm, stay inside, and hole up for a few weeks. It seemed like food and supplies were going to become scarce soon. The most significant deciding factor for the move to Elijah’s house was that Jamie knew about the ping. He figured it was the principal- she left out the part about Elijah also searching. He concluded that they’d be found in the trailer park by whatever bread crumbs Russo had left on his computer at the school after the team had bleached it. He told her that he went there last night again to scan his office more thoroughly for any other evidence or to see if he’d stupidly printed out anything about Wren. Unfortunately, those searches were still out there to hackers. And they would find the trailer. And they could put pressure on Lila, as well.
Wren pulled on her shoulder holster and stored her .45 in it. Then she dressed in a zip-up hoodie and her short, black leather jacket, pulling the hood of her sweatshirt up and out to ward off the chill. It hadn’t snowed again, but it was overcast and cold, hovering around the freezing point. She wondered if her friends back home were riding this out on the beach. Probably. Surfing was their life, hers, too, once.
She went back downstairs and grabbed her bulletproof vest from the box Jamie had left near the stairs.
Alex passed her going up to his room.
“Thanks for doing this,” he said to her quietly.
“Doing what?”
He looked toward the kitchen and back at her, “Moving in with your uncle. Elijah didn’t tell me everything, but I know some of it. He’s Special Forces. I can tell. I didn’t get to pursue that, but I’m thankful for the extra help. Hopefully, in a few weeks, this will all blow over.”
“I hope so,” she said and paused. “And thanks for letting us move in.”
“Sorry if I misjudged you,” he apologized.
She tried to offer a grin, “It’s okay. I kinda’ get that a lot.”
“Well, sorry anyway.”
He ducked his head and went upstairs. The idea to move in with them was solely Elijah’s. She had a sneaking suspicion it was so that she didn’t flee with Jamie. If they had fled this time, they would’ve been on their own essentially, no support, no back-up from the government. They weren’t in a position to move them right now with everything else that was happening, and the forty-eight-hour move plan was canceled. Australia was certainly not immune to this. Jamie had been told that nearly a million had already perished in their home country.
She hadn’t told Jamie that she revealed her story to Elijah, only that they were a part of a bad situation. He was still working on their evacuation anyway. Supposedly, the Australian government was sending backup and reinforcements. Jamie had told her what they’d conveyed on the secure line. One, they were hunting down Russo. Two, they already caught wind that the crime family had sent some thugs out from their compound, who were followed by government spies. The Greeks took a flight. It was a private jet, of course. A flash of the Interpol agents’ badges got them the flight information, though. Their fight was to Zurich, which she was told could be a layover to New York. They believed it was six men from the crime family who got on that flight. Three, Jamie was supposed to go to a meeting place today to be delivered a full shipment of supplies so that they could ride out this flu bug until the government in America moved them again. He’d told Elijah that he had connections in the government who were sending them supplies and left it at that. She knew Jamie would never approve of her telling Elijah the whole truth, and she wasn’t going to argue.
Wren had no preconceived notions that she held some great importance to her government. She was only important in so much that they knew her father had hidden a lot of the money, and they figured she knew where it was. Her government wanted it, too. Seizing over two hundred million from the Greek mob wasn’t enough. They also wanted the money her father hid for his family. In addition, they needed her alive to help take down the rest of the crime family through the testimony of things she’d overheard in discussions between her father and his ‘work friends’ as her mother used to call them. By the time it all fell apart, Wren had started putting two and two together. This was all discussed over breakfast the morning after she’d stayed here with him and after Elijah insisted she call her ‘uncle’ and make up. She hadn’t wanted to. The fact that she told Jamie that Elijah made her call him probably made him think better of her friend, or boyfriend, or whatever they were. Buddy. They were just pals. Good buds.
Other than the impending death by flu, or murder by drug lord hitmen, Wren was in a better mood today. She’d awakened feeling safe, and it was a pretty nice way to wake up. Strange and not something she’d certainly done often, but nice just the same. The other morning when she’d awakened on his sofa in the den, she’d glanced over to find him asleep on the other sofa. The shotgun was on the floor beside him. Watching Elijah sleep made her realize that she actually liked him. She wasn’t sure how much and didn’t have time to think about that right now, but she cared about him as a person, and he was kind to her when others never were. He didn’t mock her for being poor, or so that’s what the other kids in schools always assumed she was. Or for wearing clothing that wasn’t fashionable. Or for just about anything. He’d given her a chance. Also, saving her life more than once made her like him a little, too.
“Thanks again for looking after her the other night,” Jamie was saying as she walked into the kitchen again suited up and ready to go. “I never got to say that.”
“Yes, sir,” Elijah said.
“I’m ready,” she announced, noticing Elijah wearing Jamie’s Kevlar. He also had a pistol strapped to his hip. “Do you know how to work that?”
“Somewhat,” he admitted. “Jamie was just showing me.”
“We’ll get outside of town tonight,” Jamie said. “I’ll take him to do some practicing. You’re not gonna need it today. This is just a standard meeting. We’d better get moving. We’re supposed to meet at the spot at noon. When we’re done there, I’ve got some ideas on where else we can…shop.”
They left, Alex went to retrieve Lila, and the house was locked up before they departed. Jamie drove them in his black SUV to the meeting place about twenty miles outside of the city in what Elijah called ‘Amish country.’ It was remote, mostly farms with tidy fields, rolling hills, and white houses all with clothing on drying lines outside.
“They probably don’t even know what’s going on,” he commented as they passed a farm where children were playing ball in the yard, and the fields contained strangely stacked mounds of hay that looked like little teepees. Black buggies stood in some of the driveways. Their clothing was different from normal kids with the girls in long colorful, yet plain dresses and little white bonnets on their heads, and the boys in blue pants and black coats with matching black hats. They w
ere cute. A few had bare feet, although Wren couldn’t understand how they weren’t cold. They didn’t seem to be. They were just laughing and having fun.
“Why?” she asked, from the passenger seat next to Jamie.
“They’re Amish. They don’t have television and electricity and stuff like we do. Some listen to the radio in their barns. But I would bet most of them don’t know about it yet.”
“Unless they start getting sick,” Jamie said.
“True,” Elijah agreed. “I don’t think any community is going to be untouched by this.”
“I agree,” Jamie said as he turned off on a gravel road and kept going.
“I don’t know what they’ll do, though,” Elijah commented. “They don’t believe in violence, wouldn’t dare fight back. They could be in trouble soon.”
She frowned as she watched those children play, a Border Collie running along with them. Why was life so cruel sometimes?
They came to an old feed mill that appeared to have long ago shut down. The white paint on the silos was faded, chipped, or exposing rust. There was a glossy black pickup truck sitting in the parking lot that now had grass pushing up through the gravel.
“It’s them,” Jamie said. “Our stuff’s probably under the tarp.”
The bed of the truck was covered in inconspicuous black plastic tarping that matched the truck. This was how the government usually showed up. Shiny black vehicles, black suits, matching sunglasses, black guns under their expensive suits. This was just like the meeting she’d gone to last week in Akron. They all drove the dark vehicles. Even Jamie drove one. Typically, they blended right in. Out in the middle of Amish country, they both stood out.
“I don’t see anyone,” Jamie said beside her and cut the engine.
“Maybe inside looking at the place,” she suggested. “It is kinda’ cool.”
“And they did travel from far,” he added.
“Maybe stretching their legs?” Elijah suggested.
They got out, and Wren followed behind Jamie with Elijah as they approached the dilapidated building.
“Around back, maybe?” Elijah asked as Jamie placed his foot on the first wooden step.
The unmistakable crack of gunfire sounded off right as a piece of wood on the platform splintered into the air in front of her face.
“Get down!” Jamie shouted and practically dragged her up the stairs and into the building with him.
Wren immediately spun and found Elijah right behind them. Jamie dashed to the left into some sort of warehouse area with skids of old grain, buckets, barrels, rope, and a variety of other items including stacks of lumber and building and fencing supplies. The floor was wide-planked wood and scarred from decades of people walking on it.
“It’s a trap,” he whispered as soon as he found a place behind a stack of pallets and squatted with them. “We need to get outta’ here.”
More gunfire sounded off as it hit the building in rapid bursts that sounded like fully automatic weapons.
“Is it them?” Elijah asked Jamie, getting a nod.
“It’s not the government, Elijah,” he said. “These are assassins here for Wren. We need to keep her safe at all costs.”
“Yes, sir,” Elijah said without giving it away that he knew the truth of her situation.
“I’m going out that side door over there,” he indicated toward a wooden door about twenty yards from them. “Stay here with her if you can. If your position gets overrun, try to get back to the car. It’s got bullet-proof glass. Then get outta’ here. Leave me.”
“What? No!” she whispered vehemently.
“Wren, you know the drill. Get out. Call it in. They’ll send someone for an evac point.”
“How can we trust them?” Elijah asked knowingly.
“Only talk to Agent Roger Carter. He’s the only one you can trust.”
“Yes, sir,” he said.
She interjected, “I’m not…”
“Don’t argue with me, young lady,” he said. “Elijah, come with me.”
He followed, and they left her. Wren watched as Jamie showed him where to stand near what appeared to be a sliding door. He was giving him quick instructions. Then Jamie silently flew down to the other end of the building. He gave Elijah a nod, and he slid the door just a few inches open. Jamie went through his door as Elijah fired off about four rounds into the outside somewhere. Then he sped back to her behind the pallets as rounds were returned at the barn where he’d just stood.
“We can’t just sit here,” she told him. “He’s outnumbered. They said they thought six of them were sent the other day for America. We need to help Jamie.”
“He said to wait…”
“I’m not,” she informed him and stood in a hunched over position and shuffled to another door behind her. She peeked her head through and didn’t see anyone.
Elijah said, “Let me go first.”
She nodded but wanted to tell him she had more experience in this sort of thing. She and Jamie ran a lot of practice drills. Not necessarily in abandoned feed mills, but sometimes in empty warehouses or houses or obstacle courses he set up.
Wren followed as he ran in a stooped-over fashion and slipped into the first open doorway they came to on their left. It was some sort of sales checkout and small feed room with dog food and bags of birdseed. There were multiple exits, three. No sooner did they enter the room than she heard a sound at the other end of it through one of the three exit doors. It stood wide open. She tugged hard and fast at his jacket and dodged to their right behind a shelving display of cow and horse medicines. She squatted with Elijah and indicated with her hands in the direction of the noise. He nodded in a way that let her know he’d heard it, too.
Crawling on all fours, she peered around the other end of the aisle and saw just a flash of black material as someone entered the room with them. It wasn’t Jamie. He was wearing blue-jeans, not black slacks. Behind her, Elijah was also waiting.
She picked up a can of dog food and indicated he should roll it along the floor and out into the open area to create a diversion. He nodded again, so she sneaked into the next aisle to await her chance.
Elijah did more than roll it. He half stood and threw it like he was still playing football. It crashed through a window. Good enough. She stood and spotted the man whipping his head toward the window before rushing toward it. She fired her pistol in two, quick trigger pulls, hitting him the back. He went down, and Wren closed in on him in case he was wearing a vest. She approached quickly but cautiously. The splatter of blood on the beige wall let her know that she’d hit him. She was still careful.
“He’s dead,” Elijah said, having must’ve rushed over to him. “Damn, you killed him.”
“Elijah!” she whispered angrily. “Don’t do that! If he was wearing a vest, he could’ve rolled over and shot you.”
“Oh, sor…”
Gunfire exploded the windows all around the room, and they threw themselves to the floor. Wren belly crawled out of the room using a new exit that led to walled-off offices. Then she stood and stooped over and kept going to the end of that section of the building. Bullets smacked into the side of the building at a near-constant rate, but they were deep enough inside to avoid being hit by one going through an exterior wall.
Then it grew quiet. It was nerve-wracking, the silence, so she kept moving. Jamie taught her that. Never sit still too long. Keep moving forward.
“Come on,” Elijah said, touching her waist. “This way.”
There was a set of wooden stairs that led down to a dirt floor. She wasn’t sure if they should go that way, but the alternative was a dead-end.
Wren tried to go ahead of him, but Elijah shook his head. He went first, going slow, and stopped at the bottom to look around. Without looking up, he motioned for her to climb down. She went quickly and as quietly as possible. When she got to the bottom, he led her right around the corner where they hid behind some sort of big silver grain dispenser. It was eerily silent.
>
“We need to get to the car,” he said.
“No!” she whispered. “I’m not leaving Jamie.”
Elijah shook his head, “No, I didn’t mean that. I’m gonna leave you in the car and go help him.”
“I’m not leaving Jamie,” she reiterated firmly. “He’s…”
Lightning fast, his hand shot to her mouth, and he shook his head. Then he indicated over his shoulder. A second later, she heard men’s voices. Her eyes widened.
They were essentially under the feed mill in a space with a dirt floor. It ran almost the length of the building above them but ended in a hill with a cement retaining wall. Most of the space was open to the outdoors and without the entire wall that faced a cornfield. It was just tall enough for her to stand, but Elijah was stooping. She stooped, too, just to be safer. She took a silent step back as two men walked past them. They were probably thirty yards away trying to sneak around, but she could see them plain as day. They were close to the building, but she was sure they couldn’t see them since she and Elijah were hidden in shadows.
Elijah touched her forearm and whispered in her ear, “Are those the government men?”
She shook her head in one single, serious movement to let him know they were with the people trying to kill her.
“I’m going to try and get the first one. I’ll go this way.” He pointed to his left.
“I’ll come around behind and take out the second one,” she said with a confidence she didn’t quite feel.
Shooting erupted in the distance somewhere. It had to be Jamie. She hoped he wasn’t shot, but it gave them an opportunity since the men were distracted.
Elijah unholstered his pistol, showed it to her, and Wren turned the safety lever down so that he was ready. Then she nodded.
“Go,” he whispered and gave her arm a gentle squeeze.
She stayed low and crept behind wooden slat fencing resembling something that would corral animals. At the end, she was out of options and had to sprint along the cement retaining wall. There were a few metal barrels scattered around, so she tried to use those for cover. Then she came to the end of the building. She must’ve taken a lot more time than Elijah because rounds were fired at the other end of the barn before she was ready. It sounded like he was in a shootout.