CHAPTER 36
Danni’s head spun at the sound. Someone was screaming, either in pain or surprise. The high pitch of the voice, however, made it difficult to tell whether it was male or female.
It wasn’t far away, but the cries cut off quickly.
At first, she hoped one of the Lesterfields had stumbled into a trap she’d reset. There was just one problem with that; the scream had come from the opposite direction she expected.
Had they circled around her somehow? It was possible. But why bother? If they figured out how to get past her so as to cut her off, then they could have easily caught up to her by now. Also, she hadn’t moved any traps in that direction.
Was it an owl or some other animal? It was easy to misidentify some cries as a human voice, but her gut was telling her that wasn’t the case here.
Perhaps there were others out in the woods with her. But who? Was it a search party, or just some unlucky campers?
Danni was split. A part of her wanted to wait and see if the Lesterfields decided to chase after the source of the screams, then make a run for it. But she couldn’t get Sophie’s or Abigail’s faces out of her head, nor the utter horror of the place from where she’d just barely escaped.
If whoever was out there was male, they’d no doubt share the same fate as her friends, but for any women in the group ... what was waiting for them in these woods was worse than death.
That made up her mind. Much as she didn’t want to leave the hiding spot she’d taken refuge in, she couldn’t allow someone else to fall victim to these bastards.
However, before she could move, the decision was taken out of her hands as the sound of movement caught her attention. Branches cracked, followed by low voices. She couldn’t make out the words, but it was definitely someone speaking, and they were coming from the direction she’d escaped from.
A moment later, she caught sight of light coming through the trees.
There was no way to get to the newcomers and remain unseen by the Lesterfields. Whichever of their awful clan it was, they seemed to be moving at a good clip, perhaps mistaking the cry in the woods for hers and thinking their quarry was near.
Danni huddled down in the hollow of the rotted-out tree she’d found close to the bog, hoping the mud covering her was enough to make her invisible in the darkness.
She held onto Francis’s knife as she waited, the loaded shotgun also within reach. If they passed her by, she’d make her move. If not, she’d make certain her last stand was one they didn’t soon forget.
♦ ♦ ♦
“Hear that?” Ezekiel whispered. “Let’s go.”
The cry had come from somewhere up ahead. It hadn’t lasted long, but he was certain that Sarah had run afoul of one of their traps. The only question now was what condition they’d find her in. Alive was good, but dead would at least sate his family’s anger.
“Keep your eyes peeled,” he told Jonathan.
The mute signed back at Ezekiel. He indicated the snares ahead and signaled that perhaps they should slow down.
Ezekiel waved him off, though. “Watch your footing, boys, but stay sharp. She’s close, and we ain’t letting her get away this time. You all with me?”
There came nods and grunts of approval from all around.
He turned back to where Noah stood, his head up as if he were sniffing the air. “How about you?”
“Want Sssarah.”
“I think we all do,” Ezekiel replied, barely concealed glee in his voice. None of the others were questioning him. That was good. “We move fast. Anyone gets tripped up, they can catch up.”
Chuckles came from the clan members.
“Keep your weapons at the ready, but don’t shoot unless you have to. She ain’t getting out of this that easy.”
There came more assent, louder this time, but he held up a hand. He didn’t want them giving away their position prematurely if they didn’t have to.
“Save it for when we find her. We have proper mourning to do, but that don’t mean we can’t have a party right afterwards.”
Ezekiel heard Noah hiss from behind him, but turned and gave what he hoped was a reassuring glance back. Hopefully the boy had the brainpan to understand that he was just saying what was needed to motivate the rest.
They set out again, moving faster this time. Speed was more important now, in case Sarah had merely been caught in a snare. She was a clever girl. He doubted she’d be kept hanging around for long.
Even if it didn’t slow her down much, though, the odds were still heavily in their favor. These were his family’s woods. They’d grown up here, hunted here, lived here. Even he, with a house in Shilough, could find his way back home practically blindfolded if need be.
He stepped high, knowing there was a trip wire close by, then sidestepped past where a bear trap had been laid.
Off to either side he watched as his family members likewise moved quickly and with purpose, their muscle memory taking over where their eyes failed...
Then there came a hiss of anger from behind him, followed by a heavy thump. Ezekiel spun on his heels, careful not to lose his step, and shined his lantern back the way they’d come.
What in God’s name?
He wasn’t sure whether he should laugh or be angry, but somehow Noah had managed to step in a snare. He was too heavy to be pulled into the air, but it had dragged his feet out from beneath him. The others weren’t so generous. Hearty guffaws could be heard from all around him.
Ezekiel debated whether to go back and cut him down, but then remembered his words only moments earlier. Giving an order and then immediately countermanding it was likely to hurt the respect he was trying to instill for himself.
“Cut yourself loose and catch up,” Ezekiel ordered. “And be more careful. You should know this place better than any of us.” He turned without another word and followed the others. It was unlike Noah to be this sloppy. Of all the family, he’d been designated the protector of their lands. He should have been intimately familiar with every inch of these woods.
Ezekiel sighed and considered things. The boy was probably just over-excited by the prize which had been dangled in front of him.
But now he’d best get his head in the game. Perhaps this was just the motivation he needed to do that.
♦ ♦ ♦
“What the...”
Derek turned and silenced Julia with a quick glance. He held her gaze, hoping to impart that discipline was absolutely necessary in what they were doing.
After a few more seconds she nodded, then silently mouthed, “Sorry.”
The scream hadn’t lasted long. Whoever it had come from had either been smart enough to know to shut their trap ... or had been killed quickly.
Mitchell stepped up, keeping his light low. “Pretty sure that came from east of here,” he whispered.
Derek nodded. “That’s what I was thinking, too. Close to where our base camp was.”
“Think it’s a coincidence?”
“Here, now? I doubt it.”
“You think those idiots were actually stupid enough to come into the woods after us?”
“Never discount the power of politics. I’m more interested in whether they stumbled over something, or whether something stumbled into them.”
They held position for a few more minutes, waiting to see if there came more cries, but all was quiet again.
“Do we go that way?” Arthur asked in a low voice before immediately shutting up again.
Derek thought hard about that. It was possible someone was in trouble, but it was also just as likely they’d walk right smack dab into the people who were probably looking for them. He didn’t think things would devolve into a gunfight, but he also wasn’t about to surrender either – not after coming this far, and not with the fate of his friends still unknown.
Their objective, the place they’d been ambushed, lay north of their current location. After that, it was up in the air. He was hoping to find tracks, anything to giv
e them a clue as to where the Lesterfields might be holed up.
Of course, his team’s tracker was among the missing, which didn’t help matters. Fortunately, he and Mitch had done this long enough that they’d picked up a few things via osmosis.
“No,” he said after a few seconds of deliberation. “We have a mission to complete. We stick to that. If we don’t find anything, then we can go and see who else is traipsing out here with us. Now quiet down and keep your ears open. I mean it this time. No giving away our position unless we find someone we’re looking for.”
Left unsaid was the possibility of finding something that was looking for them instead.
CHAPTER 37
Fortunately, Hopper was on the ball.
He stepped in before Eric could even get off the ground and clamped a hand over Bob’s mouth, silencing the man’s cries before every fucking squirrel in this forest knew where they were, much less Jenner’s crew.
Bob was quietly whimpering by the time Eric stood up and shined his light on them. Muellenberg and Vasquez kept watch, guns drawn and flashlights scanning the forest while Hopper and Sullivan tended to the injured man.
The fuck?! Something had speared Bob. Thankfully, it hadn’t been dead center, otherwise he’d probably be too busy nursing a sucking chest wound to cry out. Eric saw a wooden spike buried in the man’s arm. It was secured to the branch which had apparently just missed him when he’d fallen.
There was no way this was an accident. He played his light out over the trap. Definitely manmade. A trip wire of some kind, like out of some fucking Vietnam war movie.
What the hell? Had Jenner set these up? Was he actively trying to kill them?
“It’s in there pretty deep,” Sullivan said after a few moments.
“Huh?”
“I said it’s in there deep,” he repeated.
“Can you patch him up?” Eric asked.
“With what?”
“What about that shit back at the camp?”
“You mean the stuff you ordered us to trash?” Hopper replied.
Eric was tempted to round on the man, but that wouldn’t do any good. How were any of them to know this would happen? “Goddamn it! Can’t believe those fuckers did this to us.”
Bob had calmed down enough for Hopper to let him go. He was obviously still in a lot of pain, but was at least holding it together for now.
Hopper shone his light on the trap. “I don’t know, Eric. This looks like it’s been here for a while. Besides, why bother to stop and set it?”
“Because that son of a bitch is smart. He knew we’d come looking.”
Hopper appeared as if he wanted to argue the point, but he simply nodded. “So what do we do about Bob?”
“Pretty sure he needs a doctor,” Sullivan said. “I can tear off a sleeve and wrap that around it, but I don’t know what else we can do. I’m no medic, but I’m fairly certain he could bleed out.”
Eric turned and kicked at the rope which had been set across their path, now hanging limp on the ground. “Fuck!”
In one fell swoop, his grand plan had gone totally FUBAR. He was sorely tempted to call it a night, head back, and hand this off to the state troopers. Let them handle this shit. They’d eventually corral Jenner, but that still wouldn’t save him from being chewed a new asshole by the governor. And now, with a man injured, that would give Yarlberg extra incentive to keep on chewing.
Going back emptyhanded was looking like a grim prospect, but an injured man was better than a dead one. He turned to Bob. “Camp’s back that way. Think you can make it on your own?”
The wide-eyed look on the man’s face told Eric what he thought of that idea.
Double fuck!
“I can take him if you want,” Vasquez said. “Pretty sure I can find the way.”
Eric’s first instinct was to lay into him for being the first to puss out, but he stopped himself. Vasquez was right. Someone needed to keep an eye on Bob, get those ATVs up and running again, and get him to a hospital. Losing two men erased his numbers advantage, but maybe it wasn’t as bad as he was making it out to be. Jenner’s reinforcements were a college kid and a reporter. He’d be surprised to find them anything other than useless. No idea why Jenner had even brought them along, but that wasn’t his concern.
He still had three trained men with him, all of whom knew how to shoot and at least one, Hopper, who seemed to have half a clue about being out in the woods. This could still work.
He turned to Vasquez. “Fine. Go with him. There’s a hospital in Pomona. Call ahead and see if they can send an ambulance out to meet you.”
“Gotcha. Should I go with him?”
Eric considered this. “No. You make sure he’s okay, but then you haul ass back to the campsite and wait for us there. If Jenner and his crew show up, arrest their asses. If not, hold down the fort until you hear from us.”
“Maybe we shouldn’t have destroyed everything.”
“And maybe you should have gone into a different line of work. What’s done is done. Bob, hand over your flashlight and extra ammo.”
The injured man didn’t seem overly pleased with that, but he did as told once Sullivan had bandaged him up as best he could. It wasn’t pretty, but hopefully it would keep him alive until Vasquez could get him to the EMTs.
They handed over the parts for the ATVs and Eric wished them luck as they set off back the way they’d come, watching until the light from their lone flashlight disappeared from sight.
Hopefully the dumb bastards won’t get lost.
He turned to the rest. “Let’s keep moving. Eyes peeled for any more tricks. Shit just got real, boys. If he is trying to kill us, we’re not going to give him the satisfaction of dying.”
“What if he is?” Hopper asked.
“Then we teach him the error of his ways.”
Eric turned back toward the dark woods ahead of them.
“Let’s go get this bastard.”
♦ ♦ ♦
Jonas Yarlberg slammed down his phone. “Where the hell is everyone?”
It was after hours and most of his staff would be home by now. But he dialed his assistant Myra from the back of his car and commanded her to keep trying to reach Eric or anyone on his team, whatever their names were.
Myra insisted she’d do just that, although he was certain she was merely yessing him to death to get off the phone. That was the problem with the help these days – you couldn’t trust anyone to do their job without looking over their shoulder.
This whole mess with Jenner was turning into far more trouble than it was worth. Why the hell had he brought the man and his team in to begin with? Sure, the girl was a piece of ass, but she had a mouth on her. The rest were worthless so far as he could tell. That he’d actually thought for one minute there was an unexplained creature in the woods they needed specialists to deal with. He must have been losing his mind.
Jonas opened up the dry bar, pulled out a glass and a bottle of bourbon, then poured himself a generous splash.
He ordered the driver to take him home, but via the scenic route. Hopefully his wife and kids would be long asleep by the time he got there. He was in no mood to deal with them either.
Devil Hunters (Tales of the Crypto-Hunter Book 2) Page 28