by Dale Mayer
“Cooper is at the truck and Mason at the pumps,” Shadow added filling him in. “Now Arianna is here.”
“Keep an eye on her,” Shadow said. He carefully lowered her to beside a wall full of ropes and other miscellaneous items. “I’ll be back,” he whispered.
At the next round of gunfire he bolted out the back door.
Chapter 15
Arianna huddled in the corner of the store, arms over her head as the gunfire rained all around the building. Shots hit the old wooden structure but didn’t penetrate the thick walls. Smoke filled the air, making it difficult to breathe, but she honestly couldn’t figure out if that was the panic or residue in the air. When there appeared to be a small break in the shooting, she slowly lowered her arms. And froze.
The smell hit her at the doorway. The storekeeper lay on the floor in front of her. She hadn’t seen him before. Now the dead man came clearly into view. He’d been covered with an old plaid hunting shirt but laid up against the back of the counter. She had no doubt about his identity. The poor man.
“Arianna?” Dane’s harsh whisper broke her out of her reverie.
“I’m here. I’m fine.”
“Good.”
“What’s going on out there? Surely that’s more than one man?”
“Yeah, looks like three.”
Three. She shook her head. “Did the other prisoners get away from the soldiers and somehow come into town via a different route?”
“We didn’t see a different route. Mason has been trying to contact the other soldiers. We could use the backup, and if they are traveling toward us, we don’t want them to get caught in the trap.”
“No, there’re enough dead men already.” Too many dead. Thankfully most of the deaths hadn’t involved her.
She didn’t count the guy she knocked out of the tree. He’d been going after her brother. Kevin. Thank God her brother wasn’t here with her now. That would be terrible for him. He should be home safe and sound. But with both parents injured and in the hospital she had no idea where he’d go. Who’d look after him? He’d be with her if she’d gone home. If she was allowed to leave. Her leg didn’t feel horrible but neither did it feel terrific. The hospital might have sent her home to heal or they’d have forced her to wait in the hospital a day or two longer. And Kevin would be in the same boat as he was now.
At least he’d escaped without physical injury, but she knew these past events would scar him for life. How could it not? He was a strong boy though and with help he’d get past this.
She just wished she was there with him now.
The silence outside continued in an elongated moment. She twisted to look up at Cooper. “Any idea what’s happening out there?”
“No. Not yet. If our team can sneak up and take them out, this could be over in minutes.”
“Or hours,” she muttered.
“Hopefully not. We aren’t into sieges.”
“Good.” As the words left her mouth a short burst of gunfire sounded behind the store. Shit. She’d feel better if that had been out front.
Cooper raced to hide behind the door. Arianna scrunched up as small as she could.
Slowly the door was pushed open and swung loose. No hand visible. Nobody walking inside. Her breath caught in the back of her throat, and she pressed harder against the shelves at her back. Now what the hell…
A man somersaulted inside, and with guns blazing, he spun and fired. She lay flat on the floor as the bullets rained over her head.
A single shot fired.
The gunman collapsed to the floor, a bullet between the eyes. Shadow walked inside the store, kicked the gun away from the dead man and nudged him with his boot. Satisfied the danger had been neutralized, he turned to study Arianna. “Cooper,” he called out.
“Yep,” Cooper said, “Right behind you.”
“Anyone else in here,” Shadow asked in a dark, flat voice that left Arianna breathless at the dangerous man in front of her.
“Only us,” she whispered. “And now two dead guys.”
He shifted to the window. “Mason took out one, this is two. We’re looking for at least one more. Maybe two more. We’re afraid they’ve holed up in one of the houses, possibly holding a family hostage.”
“To what purpose,” Cooper asked. “They failed in their mission. What’s the point of attacking innocent bystanders?”
“No idea. They might have been holding them as insurance for the senator as extra leverage.”
“Makes no sense,” Arianna said. “If his own family didn’t do it, a house of strangers wouldn’t either.”
“I have to agree,” Shadow said. “It could have been insurance in case their group got into trouble.”
“Or to persuade you to hand me over?”
Shadow shot her a hard look. “Not happening.”
“I think once the plan blew up and they lost three family members, they realized the senator wasn’t going to do what they wanted, so they looked to grab me to save something of the operation. Or maybe they needed me as extra insurance to gain their freedom.” She shuddered. “You have to help the family.”
“We are planning to. But that’s not going to work out so well if we can’t shut down the men hunting us.” He spun around and crept to the open door. “First things first.”
And once again he disappeared.
She looked from the second dead man to Cooper. “Do you want to go after Shadow?”
Cooper shook his head. “Shadow operates on a whole different level than the rest of us. He works best alone.”
She nodded, trying not to worry about the man. If he was the best then he was doing what he needed to do. She glanced over at the killer’s gun. “Can you give me his gun?” She pointed to the assault rifle Shadow had kicked against the far wall. “I don’t want to be defenseless.”
“It’s not a beginner’s weapon,” Cooper said cautiously. “You could kill all of us with that thing.”
She stared at it with misgivings. “I wouldn’t want to hurt you… But I don’t want to be a sitting duck for the next man either.”
Cooper carefully closed the door part way and picked up the rifle. He checked it over then walked toward her. “I’ve put the safety on. If you click this,” and he showed her, “then it’s basically point and shoot. But you need to have a target in sight and it’s going to fire multiple rounds as soon as you pull this trigger.”
“Oh.” She carefully looked at the mean looking weapon and realized she wanted nothing to do with it. Particularly if she did something wrong. Taking a deep breath, she said, “Take it away. I don’t want it.”
She ignored the relief on his face.
But she could understand how he felt. She didn’t want to be caught unarmed, but if she were armed and someone approached they’d kill her anyway. She’d be the one hesitating to pull the trigger so she’d be just as dead.
*
Shadow’s heart had damn near seized up when he saw the gunman sneaking around the side of the door. Too hidden for a clear shot, too far away for a tackle and too damn close to Arianna. Shadow was already on the run when the man had disappeared into the store. With the gunshots filling the air, he burst through to see the gunman lining up a shot. He couldn’t see a target but there were only two choices and neither were ones he was prepared to lose.
He fired one shot to the head. The man fell and never moved again.
Thank God. But this was so not over. With relief coursing through his veins he’d raced back outside and to the house on the north end of town. The faster he traveled, the more he considered her theory. Would they be looking for hostages to get out of the country? With the resources available to them, surely they could have slipped away without this. He had to wonder if anyone lived here. Or was this place a ghost town. Then again, the store owner lived here. But there’d been nothing fresh in the store. So he didn’t cater to locals as much as travelers, and there couldn’t be many of them through here. The roads led to nowhere. Just more ro
ads north. There wasn’t any major center further past the cabin and the road into that place hadn’t been traveled in many years. Mother Nature had tried to reclaim most of it.
The team had checked the south end of town already. There were four houses there. Two were derelict and empty. The other two vacant but in better shape. Now they were heading to the houses they’d passed on their drive in to town.
He moved and shifted with the changing landscape, blending in and out as required. In the distance he heard a dog bark. Then nothing. That wasn’t normal. He shifted back a few steps and changed his angle. The dog barked again. Good. Dogs made great warning systems for both those he protected and predators. They let them know what the dog was sensing at what time. People never thought of that. Shadow caught sight of Swede two houses up. He motioned at Shadow to come closer.
Keeping low and moving fast, he quickly joined Swede.
“Hawk and Mason are on the other side.” He pointed to the last house. “If there are more shooters here, they have to be inside this one.”
“Where’s the dog?”
Swede shook his head. “No idea. Haven’t seen one.”
Shadow frowned. “If it’s not there, it’s got to be somewhere close as I heard one. And dog means people.”
“We haven’t found more. But…” he motioned to the woods. “There could be more in there.”
Shadow studied the thick trees that completely blocked any view of what was behind. “I’m going to scout that area.”
“You’re worried about the dog?”
“Yes, because he’s not alone.” And Shadow headed for the woods.
Chapter 16
She hated to sit and wait. There had to be something she could do. Something useful. The other military unit would be joining them soon – surely she could help the process of ending this mess somehow. She slid over to the dead kidnapper and struggled to remove his wallet from his pants.
Cooper, always on guard, asked, “What did you find?”
“His ID.”
“Really?” He motioned at her. “Toss it to me.”
She’d already done a quick search and hadn’t found anything else. She flung it lightly in his direction and it was more due to his skill than hers that he caught it. She went back to searching the rest of the man’s pockets. She didn’t recognize his face but figured based on the khaki outfit he was part of the same kidnapper group. God help her if they ever decided to change those uniforms.
In the last chest pocket she found something harder and crumpled.
She pulled it out and gasped in shock. It was a picture of her standing outside her own condo.
“What is it?”
She struggled to reorient herself. Such a horrid thing to find but maybe not all that unusual given that she’d been on the trip. She used the checkout counter to pull herself to her feet and held out the picture for Cooper.
He studied it.
“It was taken outside my house,” she said. “I know they already kidnapped my family and that’s over and done with, but it’s a little disturbing to know they were stalking me at home beforehand.”
“Maybe and maybe not. They could be using this image to identify you as they know you’re the one that didn’t get on the plane.” He nodded as if liking his hypothesis. “Explains why they are making a play for you here.”
“They don’t need me now,” she exclaimed. “They never did.” She shook her head. “Could these men have been here since yesterday?” She frowned. “Waiting for their team to show up? Then when we got here instead, all hell broke loose?”
As if the world had heard her, gunshots split the air again. “Oh God,” she whispered. “I need this to be over?”
“Soon,” he said standing right beside her, both of them peering out the window from the side. “At least it should be.”
He turned to look at her. “They might have been using the town as a base. That makes the most sense.”
It did. It also meant this wasn’t over. The continuous shooting worried her. She’d known Shadow was safe when she’d seen him here, but with this new round… What if he’d been shot?
She hobbled toward the door.
“Whoa, where are you going?”
She waved her hand outside. “I wanted to look around.”
“Bad idea,” he said. “We wait until they come back.”
“Aren’t you getting tired of being the babysitter?”
He laughed. “Sure, but I was off active duty for a long time due to a bad injury, so I’m just damn happy to be back as much as I am.” His grin widened. “If that’s being your babysitter – no worries. I’ve had worse jobs.”
She tried to study him covertly but couldn’t see any physical injury on him. So whatever had happened, he’d healed. “I suppose they want to keep you safe as much as possible too.”
His grin widened. “I doubt that’s the reason as much as everyone wants in on the action, only someone has to stay behind.”
“So you drew the short straw.” She laughed at his look. “That’s okay. I’m happy to have you with me.”
“My pleasure,” he said simply. “You’re a special woman.”
The glance she sent him said he was out of his mind. “I’m an idiot. I could have had an easy life but no, that wasn’t good enough for me.”
“I thought you were a lawyer. Or started as one.”
“Sure, but before then my daddy tried to marry me off to a judge.” She winced at the memory. “Told me it was the best he could do for me. And I should take the offer as I wasn’t likely to get a better one.”
There was an awkward silence. “And how old was this judge?”
“Early fifties I think. Back then that seemed ancient. I was in the last term of high school.”
“Wow. Nice father.”
“He is in many ways, but he has strong views on a woman’s place. It’s because of him I applied to law school. No one was more surprised than I was when I got in. But it was the wrong place for me.”
He stayed quiet for a bit, then said, “Your father was also at an advanced age when he started a family.”
“True enough. And even older when he fathered Kevin and yes, he is the father of us both. Insisted on DNA tests.” She smiled. “He is consistent.”
“Interesting. Maybe an effect of his career. Maybe his age.”
“And the way he was reared by an older father himself. He didn’t have my father until he was sixty–five himself.”
Cooper’s eyebrows shot up. “Wow. That would have an impact, I’m sure.”
She nodded. “I don’t blame my father, but it has made me head in the opposite direction. He’s dark so I’m light. He’s serious so I’m not. He’s all about image…” She grinned. “And I’m not. As you can see. My father’s clothes were the top casual for the man–at–the–cabin look he could buy.” She motioned to her oversized black sweatpants. “And I’m wearing Shadow’s pants and damn glad to have them,” she admitted. “I think the biggest thing was he’s all about image so I’m all about real.” She sighed and leaned against the wall. “It’s hard though as my mother was a watering pot and ditzy to boot. And I have way too much of that in me.”
“No, you don’t. You temper it with courage and independence and caring. You have to be yourself and given the two different people you came from, I think you did a wonderful job.”
She grinned, feeling chipper in spite of everything. “Now tell me that Shadow believes the same thing you do, and you’ll have made my day.”
“Oh my broken heart,” he said in a mocking tone. “You shot a single arrow and killed me with that comment.”
“Nah, you might be interested in me but you’re not interested in me.”
His dancing eyes landed on her. “Even if I was, Shadow is the man in your heart and that guy deserves to have someone sweet in his world.”
“Aw. That’s so nice of you to say.” She beamed up at him. “Now if only he’d get that message, too.”
&nb
sp; “I’d tell him but he needs to figure it out for himself.”
She nodded seriously. “So true. And as I suspect that he’d be one of the last to go down in the line of fire, I think he’d be the same in terms of letting down the guards to his heart.”
“But that doesn’t mean you should give up…” he said in alarm.
“Oh, I won’t give up,” she said with a smile. “But I might just have to change tactics.”
And she wouldn’t say any more.
*
The trees were so thick and stick thin Shadow could barely make his way through the woods. The place was in need of a controlled burn before Mother Nature took care of it herself. The undergrowth was strewn with old broken sticks and dead leaves. Treacherous for walking and deadly to try and sneak up on anyone. He’d skirted the worst of the area and now peered down what appeared to be a dirt driveway. There were tracks at least. He slipped from tree to tree working his way deeper into the woods until it finally opened up to show a log cabin at least forty years old. Untreated, the logs had long ago turned grey.
There was a fenced yard with a dog run along the back. He could hear the snarling sound of canines fighting over territory. So there was at least one, if not two. But where were the owners? He’d have expected the kidnappers to shoot the dogs first. Unless something else was going on here. Then again shooting the dogs let the neighbors know something was up. Shadow quickly traced the perimeter.
There were no lights inside. No vehicles outside but a garage or workshop sat on the far corner of the property. He worked his way over to the back of the small outbuilding. There were windows but no lights. There was, however, a back door. He turned the knob. The door unlatched. Inside, he could see nothing but a row of white. His eyes slowly adjusted to add hair and glowing eyes to the row of teeth in the darkness. But the guard dog never made a sound.
Shadow closed his eyes and reached out to the dog mentally like he’d done many times before. All animals responded to him well but the wilder ones even more so. They might have seen him as an equal, not competition. He didn’t know, but they generally had little argument over his presence.