by Rusty Ellis
Harper grabbed the top of the wooden banister and slipped over the rail and onto the porch. Viktor could see the tip of Jame’s weapon out of the corner of his eye, six-feet away, trained in the same direction at Harper.
Harper stayed low and inched toward the bedroom window, keeping his head just below the lower lip of the pane overhead. Viktor slipped his forefinger inside the trigger guard and rested it on the cool metal trigger. Viktor had pre-determined a list of responses in his mind, directly connected to Harper’s actions.
If Harper retrieved a weapon, Viktor would drop two rounds into his torso. If Harper reached the backdoor and attempted to enter Adam’s room, without a weapon in his hands, Viktor would drop two rounds into his torso.
Viktor saw no reason to share his intentions with James—confident James would react after the first shot, and not before. Viktor tightened his finger against the trigger as Harper raised up toward the corner of the window and peeked in, then dropped back down. No response needed—yet.
Harper raised up again and peeked in the window a second time, this time touching the edge of his palm over his eyes. Viktor assumed he was shading his eyes against the moon’s glow on the glass to get a better view of the interior of Adam’s room.
Viktor’s breaths became deep, deliberate, pulling the air in through his nose, steadily pushing it out through his lips. He was on target, his heartbeat steadied, his mind made up. His breathing and pulse in rhythm, readied to calmly deliver two rounds in close proximity to one another between Harper’s shoulder blades.
The decision was on Harper. His moves determining Viktor’s next action, to deliver two rounds or not.
50
Chase grabbed the rail of the porch and pulled himself up and over, landing softly on the wooden decking.
So far, so good.
No attention drawn. No random contact with HLC security on random patrols.
Chase crept nearer the corner of the window and listened before rising and taking a quick peek inside the bedroom. No movement and no lights. He leaned toward the corner of the window a second time and shaded his eyes from the glare on the glass. His eyes adapted to the darkness in the room and he could see a body sleeping in the bed, partially covered and facing away from the window. The bushy hair on the pillow gave away that the body was Adam. No sign of Megan. A pang of panic shot through his chest.
He gritted his teeth to take control of the emotion, frustrated at his reaction. He needed to work through his set of progressions, the steps to tackle the unforeseen and ability to call an audible. His initial plan included Megan in the room with Adam. If she was back in the main area of the cabin, with the other girls, he’d need to not only call an audible but possibly punt—retreat and play defense until he fabricated a more in-depth offense.
Chase scanned the room one more time before deciding to back off, first toward the front door, then toward the door he expected led to the bathroom. He closed his eyes, racking his brain for any alternative that didn’t include retreating.
He opened his eyes and caught a movement nearer the window, between him and Adam’s bed. He squinted and looked closer, the movement turned into the outline of a person lying on a beanbag. A flash of hope surged through his system as he leaned in closer to the window. It was a woman, shoulder length dark hair, the same general build as Megan. No guarantees it was her, but he had nothing else to go on. If it wasn’t her, he would backtrack to the property line and battle the backpacks to drag them back across to Henry’s location. If it was her, his plan would move forward. The only way to find out was to get her attention and hope Adam was a heavy sleeper.
Chase took his finger and tapped lightly on the corner of the glass pane. Nothing. No more movement. He tried again, this time a more deliberate tap-tap-tap. He thought he saw the woman stir but wasn’t certain if it resulted from the noise. If she didn’t respond to the subtle taps on the window, he would have to break in through the door and take a chance at waking her in person.
He abandoned his initial attempts and dropped back down. He turned toward the far end of the deck and duck-walked under the window to the door. Out of options, he needed to get into the room.
51
Viktor watched as Harper tapped on the window, trying to get the attention of someone inside Adam’s room. When Viktor finished his shift at the bedroom door, Adam still had the same woman in his room, the special assignment that was now Adam’s newest focus. Viktor was unsure of the connection between the woman and Harper, for now it didn’t matter—the connection—his only concern was Adam’s safety.
Harper dipped back down below the window and began to slowly move toward the door, inching closer to Viktor’s predetermined two-round reaction. Viktor took steady breaths as he trained the front-sight of his weapon on the upper-middle of Harper’s back.
Viktor could see Harper’s hands, which were still empty, but Harper was now closing in on Adam’s door… three feet… two feet… a foot.
Viktor drew his fingertip back against the trigger and leaned forward, his target set, his breathing smooth, two rounds patiently waiting for his command, one in the chamber, the other loaded into the 30-round magazine.
Harper paused at the far edge of the window before reaching the door. Viktor watched intently as Harper turned and rose again to the window’s edge and peeked inside. A faint tap-tap-tap echoed on the glass. Harper watched through the window and waited a few seconds before reaching for the door handle.
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Chase decided it was all or nothing. He needed to show his face and wait for the woman’s reaction. If it wasn’t Megan, the response would be either a frozen stare or a scream. Either way, a tactical retreat would be in order. If she screamed, he would head directly east, at a dead sprint. If she stared, he would make his way back south and toward the backpacks. Regardless, he needed to push the narrative and get her attention.
The light from the moon glowed through the window, running from the woman’s waist and up and onto Adam’s bed. Chase raised up and used his knuckle to tap on the window again, a more decisive tap-tap-tap. He watched as the sound stirred the sleeping woman this time. He watched as she sat up; the moonlight bathing her upper body and face. As she stood, the light dropped back down below her face. Chase’s heart raced as she walked toward him. He prepared his retreat, either directly east or over the banister and back toward the south. He raised up, his face fully visible in the window to the woman. She paused, the outline of his head now casting a shadow onto her stomach and chest.
She took two smooth strides toward the window and stretched out her hand to the glass. As she reached the window, the light crept up her body and overcame the darkness, revealing her face.
Megan! Chase mouthed her name.
He stared in disbelief, so close to his sister, both of them here and now. Megan turned to look at the bed behind her and then back to Chase. She turned to her left toward the door and Chase could see her reaching for the handle. He followed suit and reached toward the door handle, the only thing keeping him from freeing her from Adam’s bedroom.
53
Harper’s hand reached for the door, the point of no return, of action and consequences. Viktor fingertip pulled tighter on the trigger of his M400 as he watched Harper’s hand extend toward the door.
Viktor was protecting his employer. He was in the green, the law on his side. The verbiage he would issue to law enforcement already written in his mind:
An individual (Chase Harper), came into their employ with ulterior motives. Harper had been seen with a known subversive (Henry Giles) of the Holy Life Community. Giles was seen pointing a weapon in the direction of the owner’s cabin on the property the prior day.
The perpetrator (Chase Harper) had worn dark-colored clothing and taken measures to disguise his entrance onto the compound. After illegally trespassing onto the compound, Harper tactically made his way to the cabin and attempted to illegally break into the owner’s bedroom through the porch door. Fearin
g for the owner’s life, I (Viktor Popov, Head of Security) took action to protect the owner from Harper’s illegal actions.
Harper had no reasonable cause to be on the property at that time and had no expectation of authority or permission to access the cabin.
The report would be clear. Harper was in the wrong and Viktor had every right to intercede on behalf of his employer and the HLC.
Viktor peered through the red-dot system mounted on his M400, keeping the dot firmly fixed center-mass on Harper’s back. As Harper reached toward the handle, Viktor inched the trigger backward, as if Harper’s hand and Viktor’s finger were on opposite hinges—Harper reaching, Viktor’s finger pulling.
The last millimeters of pull on the trigger’s action were spent as Viktor watched Harper’s fingers reach for the handle. Just as Viktor’s weapon was ready to spring to life, the door disappeared inward, away from Harper’s reach. Harper’s hand recoiled from the open door, causing Viktor’s fingertip to release the tension on the trigger.
Viktor kept his gun trained on Harper’s back and looked over the top of the optic sights to the open doorway. A face appeared from the shadows of the room, Megan King, the special project. Viktor lowered the tip of his gun and looked closer at her face as she stared directly at Harper, no look of fear at Harper’s presence. She knew him.
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Megan look bewildered. She hesitated and stood in the doorway, a sense of apprehension in her stance. Chase waited for her to burst from the room, free, no longer a prisoner of Adam. But she stood there, door ajar, holding onto the handle and remaining inside the room.
“What are you doing here?” Megan whispered.
Chase was as confused by her question as Megan had appeared to be about seeing him.
“I’m here to bring you home,” Chase answered.
Megan looked back toward the bed and then back at Chase, “I can’t.”
“You can’t?” Chase repeated.
“You need to leave before he wakes up,” she said.
“Wait a minute, you want to stay or you have to stay?”
“I… I just… I just can’t, Chase.”
“So you want to stay with him?” Chase asked.
“No, no, no… it’s, it’s not that. It’s Haley. I can’t leave here without her.”
Chase raised his hand and tried to calm his sister, “Okay, okay. Do you know where she is?”
Megan used her free hand to point directly behind her toward the main area of the cabin, “She’s in there with the other girls. I can’t leave her here, Chase.”
Chase could see the tears welling up in Megan’s eyes, a single tear escaped and streaked down her cheek. Chase motioned for Megan to step onto the porch, out of earshot of Adam’s bed. She slipped out and pulled the door closed behind her.
“Are you sure she’s still in there?” Chase asked.
“Yes. Wait, what do you mean still?” Megan looked confused.
“I saw her through the picture window in the front of the Garden earlier today, while I was on patrol.”
“You saw her? On patrol? What are you…”
“Listen, I can explain everything later. Right now we need to get out of here and off the property,” Chase said.
“But, Haley.”
“I’ll be back for her, don’t worry. One step at a time, sis.”
Just then a light flashed on in the bedroom, the yellow glow filled the room and spilled out the window onto the porch. Chase leaned toward the window and peeked with one eye through the glass. Adam was standing in the doorway to the bathroom, the light switched on just inside the doorway, and he was searching the bedroom, looking for Megan.
“Megan?” Adam called out.
Chase turned back and locked eyes with Megan, “We need to go, now!”
Chase grabbed Megan’s forearm to set her in motion and pulled her down below the window’s ledge. He led the way to the bannister and turned to make sure Megan was still with him. Chase flipped up and over the railing and helped Megan duplicate the move and land on her feet beside him.
“Stay right behind me,” Chase instructed. “There’s a spot we need to reach about a third of a mile down. It’s safe to cross there.”
Megan nodded. Chase looked down at her bare feet.
“You gonna be okay?” he asked.
Megan nodded again. Chase grinned at her response.
Of course you will, once a Harper, always a Harper.
Chase began moving through the brush and tree branches, occasionally looking over his shoulder to see Megan’s face and to make sure she was keeping up.
The moonlight was at their backs and casting long shadows in front of them. The ghostly outlines did their best to play mind games with Chase, not only darkening the ground in front of him, but creating menacing tentacles from the shadows off the tree branches in their path.
The shadows in the taller trees kept pace alongside him, the shorter trees and tall brush grabbing at his thighs and shins. A surge of being pursued nagged at Chase’s heels, as if the forest was doing its best to impede their exodus.
Chase slowed as he neared the spot where he’d left the backpacks. He found the two bags exactly where he’d left them, one zipped up and the other open and on its side. He stepped to the bag that was still zipped up and grabbed one of the straps.
“Wanna give me a hand with this?” Chase motioned for Megan to help him load the bag on his back. “I’ll explain later.”
Chase crouched down and heaved the bag up and over one shoulder. Megan grabbed the free strap and lifted it up for Chase to slip his other arm through.
“I need you to stay close to me as we walk across, okay?”
Megan nodded. Chase pointed east toward where Henry should be waiting.
“About sixty-feet that way and we’re off HLC property,” he said.
The distance seemed nominal, a final sprint to the first stage of his family saving marathon. Being able to see the finish line lightened the strain Chase felt across his shoulders and back. His mind was moving pieces beyond the property line, playing chess and anticipating the needed moves to complete his mission: cross the line, drop the pack, meet up with Henry, and head back to his house to work on Stage Two to rescue Haley.
Megan gripped a strap hanging off the side of the backpack and hung on as Chase weaved and pulled them the short distance off the HLC property. As he stepped off the censored area of the crossing, Chase looked up and saw the outline of a man directly in front of them. He hesitated, not able to make out whether or not it was Henry.
“Chase,” Henry’s voice whispered from the shadow.
Chase smiled and headed in his direction, relieved as Henry’s face came into view.
“Henry…” Chase smiled and began to speak.
“Harper!” a voice yelled from behind Chase and broke the quiet reunion.
Henry raised his rifle as Chase turned to face the voice, a deafening bap-bap filled the air as Chase grabbed Megan and dropped to the ground.
55
Somehow Harper had convinced the woman to leave the Holy Garden and follow him. Viktor’s intuition had been right, Harper motives had been an assault or an extraction—the latter won out.
Fortunate for Harper, the woman had opened the door before his own hand reached the handle. Harper had no idea how close he’d come to receiving two-doses of lead poisoning, injected through his back.
The woman had stepped out onto the porch with Harper and he cajoled her further into following him, barefoot and in a nightgown, into the woods and back the way Harper had arrived. When Adam turned on a light in the bedroom, the pair took off, like touching a match to a fuse.
Viktor led out ahead of James as they followed Harper and King back through the woods. Viktor couldn’t see James, but knew he was in close pursuit a few yards behind him. Nearing the spot where Harper had originally crossed the perimeter and sensors, Viktor watched and was amused at seeing him putting on a heavy backpack, a sort of ballast to imitate
a larger animal crossing their sensors.
Well played, Harper. Well played.
Viktor’s amusement was short-lived.
James maneuvered beside Viktor and observed the same scene, backpack and all. The former soldiers watched as Chase battled the heavy bag onto his back. Each impressed, watching another former soldier improvise a tactical retreat after a successful extraction. Impressive, no matter which side you were on.
They continued to watch as the weight of the backpack and proximity of the woman to Harper slowed him down across the 40-foot sensor line. Viktor and James followed at a steady pace. Off in the distance, just ten feet ahead of Harper, Viktor could make out a man’s silhouette. Viktor heard the man call out quietly to Harper. The voice stepped into the moonlight—the old man.
Not a surprise.
A smile crept across Viktor’s face. He was impressed at Harper’s plan, but even more impressed by his and his team’s monitoring of the entire event. The bottom line, nothing slipped by, he was in control, he could have interceded at any point.
Viktor was willing to concede the loss of a single Community member. Adam would be angry about the breach and embarrassed anyone would want to leave him bad enough to disappear barefoot into the night. However, Viktor was confident he would fill the vacancy at the next morning’s Enlightenment Circle. No doubt Adam would hastily replenish the Twelve.
Viktor listened and watched as Harper contacted the old man while dropping the backpack to the ground.
In a warped way, Viktor wanted to applaud Harper’s mission, to let him know that the mission was successful, just not covert. But Viktor was not one for spotlights or recognition. He did his job. A steady paycheck and commensurate position were enough to satisfy his own ego. However, he couldn’t let Harper feel his success was because of lax security, to a failure of Viktor’s team or sub-par protective strategies. All he needed was for Harper to know he was watching the whole time. That he could have interceded at any point. That he considered their chess match a draw, by his choice.