“Worse than yesterday.”
“You going to be all right?”
“Yeah.”
“’Cause we could leave you here with Decker and Jack.”
Lanh grunted and began cramming his bedroll into its stuff bag. “Never met two guys who were so interested in fishing.”
“And hunting.”
“And cars.”
“RVs.”
“Whatever.” Lanh cinched up the bag and set it to one side, ready to be returned to Hauk. “Besides, I want to be there when we get our vehicles back.”
“Yeah. Me too.” Carter leaned forward and they bumped fists, which seemed ridiculously childish but still served to make him feel better.
Max had explained the plan to them when they returned to camp the night before. Actually, there wasn’t much of a plan. Gus and Hauk had agreed to lead them to within sight of Hugo’s camp. After that they were on their own. They’d take the canoes an hour downstream and then hike another three miles, which Gabe hoped they could do in ninety minutes. A thirty-minute mile didn’t sound like much, but carrying their packs and stumbling through the woods in the dark was bound to slow them down.
They ate some granola for breakfast. Gabe had a big sack of it, which he swore was high in carbs and protein. He kept passing it around the group, perhaps hoping they could eat enough to spur them into jogging instead of merely hiking.
“Gabe’s intense this morning,” Lanh noted, helping himself to another handful of the granola mix.
“They shouldn’t have taken his Hummer.”
“Guess they didn’t know who they were messing with.”
“Sounds like no one has stood up to Hugo before.” Carter stretched out the word Hugo as though he were announcing his name over a loudspeaker, maybe introducing the guy at a concert. Huuuu-Goooo. Only he wasn’t a rock star. He was a punk, and Carter for one was tired of punks running the show.
“No lights once we’re on the water,” Hauk reminded them. “We’re fairly sure the adjacent banks are clear of other people—”
“Or they were,” Gus said.
“They were clear two days ago. We do reconnaissance three times a week, but anyone could have moved in since then. We want to go undetected.” Hauk held his hand in front of him and slid it softly through the air. “Like a duck in water.”
That image struck Carter as funny.
They should be comparing themselves to a stealth flyer, or a sleek submarine, or a ninja warrior. But a duck? The image didn’t fill him with confidence.
Though he had to admit, their team was focused and determined to a degree he hadn’t seen before. Everyone was awake, packed, knees jiggling as they scarfed down the cold breakfast.
They walked single file down the bank to the canoes. Carter walked behind Gus, who once again carried his rocket launcher.
“Where did you get that thing?”
“Found it.”
“You found it?”
They were practically whispering, and Carter had to crane his head to hear.
“I like to go out, you know…beyond where the group normally goes.”
“And—”
“And sometimes I come across some weird stuff. Figured this baby might come in handy.”
“Saved our butts.”
“Yeah, but I wish I’d killed Hugo. Then this mission wouldn’t even be necessary.”
That was one thing about the post-flare world. People chose sides pretty quickly, and the good guys—like Gus and Hauk—were committed once they teamed up. Not committed enough to go with them, but loyal enough to protect them as far as they could go. Carter understood that family always came first. He got that, and he didn’t blame them for not wanting to poke the bear that was Hugo.
Gus, Shelby, Bianca, and Patrick slipped into the first canoe.
Hauk, Max, Gabe, Lanh, and Carter piled into the second.
And then they slid into the Brazos, like a duck through water.
TWENTY-THREE
Shelby would have felt better if they’d had an actual, detailed plan. Gabe had insisted that it was smarter to stay flexible until they could size up Hugo’s camp and security. Patrick had agreed, and because they were the two with military experience, no one else voiced any objections.
They rounded a bend in the Brazos, and Shelby was able to glance back at the other canoe. She could just make out Max’s silhouette in the starlight. It did something funny to her stomach seeing him there. She was reminded of him sitting on the hood of the Dodge, cowboy hat pulled down against the glare of the sun. Had that been only three days ago? It seemed wherever her memories landed, as far back as she cared to go, there was Max.
Seeing Carter and Lanh back there sent a stab of pain through her heart. How she wished she could spare them this. Why were they forced to creep along a river in the dead of night? Was it too much to ask that they simply drive up the interstate? How many years had she taken the ability to freely travel from one spot to another for granted? All her life. That was how long.
She tried to focus her mind on staying positive.
Hauk and Gus knew where Hugo’s camp was.
They were willing to ferry them to within a few miles, something that saved them at least a day and maybe more.
They’d shared their food and their camp.
There were still good people in the world.
The canoes slipped through the water, and Shelby lost track of how long they’d been on the river, how many miles they’d covered, what was behind them and in front of them. In places, the overhang of trees blocked out the stars completely. After what seemed hours, but couldn’t have been more than one, they paddled the canoes into waist-high reeds.
Bianca jumped up and helped secure their canoe to a half-sunk pier.
Carter was doing the same to his.
Making as little noise as possible, they waded through the foot-deep water and climbed up the riverbank.
When she reached the top, Shelby’s heart was hammering against her ribs, and she kept blinking her eyes, trying to put what she was seeing into the context of what she’d been expecting. Maybe she’d been anticipating another ambush or more darkness.
But she was greeted by something so completely normal that it caused an ache to settle deep in her heart. It was another beautiful Texas morning—night, actually, because it was before five and the sky hadn’t yet begun to lighten. But the stars…they were riotous. They were the same stars that shone over High Fields. Before that, they had twinkled down on her home in Abney, but she understood that she’d never seen them like this—a dome of millions of lights, the Milky Way evident against the inkiness of the sky, God’s wonders holding steady, assuring her that the world would continue to spin as it always had.
He determines the number of the stars and calls them each by name.
The verse rose from her memory, lightening her heart.
Gus led them across the field and into the cover of trees. He pulled out a flashlight and a topographical map. “We’re here. Hugo’s camp is nearly three miles to the northwest.”
“I wish we could go with you,” Hauk said.
“We understand. This isn’t your fight, and you’ve already saved us once.” Max studied the map as if he needed to memorize the details, apparently hoping its contours and roads could save them.
Gabe stared off toward the northwest. “You’re sure no one has tried this before?”
“I would have heard about it.” Gus ran his fingers through his beard. “That may work to your advantage. He won’t be expecting you to be so bold.”
Patrick warned Gus to be careful with the rocket launcher.
There were handshakes, whispers of Godspeed, and then they were again on their own, headed toward trouble this time instead of away from it.
And though it might be foolish, Shelby was suddenly filled with confidence in their ability to handle whatever they found.
TWENTY-FOUR
Gabe set a fast pace, but no one had trouble
keeping up.
Max understood why everyone had extra energy. They’d rested a full night without having to stand patrol. Gus had insisted that it was their camp and their responsibility. The uninterrupted sleep had helped. Plus Hugo’s arrogance was working into their collective psyche. When Gabe had said he was going to take back his Hummer, it had been like a battle cry, and they’d all responded.
The sky was barely beginning to lighten when Gabe halted them by holding up his right hand in a closed fist.
He waited until they had all circled up, and then he whispered, “Should be in the next mile. Everyone, get your weapons out. We don’t know what kind of guard rotation he has out, and we want to be prepared.”
Patrick added, “One shot and the entire camp will be awake. From that point…the battle is on until the last man—”
“Or group,” Lanh mumbled.
“Or group is standing.”
“Listen.” Gabe made eye contact with each of them. “I know this is intimidating, but guys like Hugo aren’t usually the smartest.”
“You don’t have to be smart to pull a trigger,” Carter pointed out.
“That’s right, and that is exactly what he’s been doing the last nine months. At this point, he’s used to people cowering anytime he shows his face. But we’re smarter than he is. We can outthink and outmaneuver him. Five minutes and then we move closer. Check your weapons, grab a drink of water, use the facilities if you need to.”
The last won some smiles and groans from the group.
Everyone began pulling out their weapons and checking them.
Shelby stepped closer to Max under the pretext of needing to use his flashlight.
“Should we attempt to keep Carter and Lanh near the back?”
“They’re not boys, Shelby. They’re men. And we’re going to need everyone.” He reached out and touched her face, trying to ease the harshness of his words. They must have mirrored her own thoughts because, though her shoulders slumped, she didn’t argue. Instead, she sighted something along her 9mm and said, “All right. Then let’s get this over with.”
One weakness in their plan was that they had no rifles. The pistols had been stored in their backpacks, so they still had those. Gus had attacked with the rocket launcher before Hugo had a chance to demand they hand them over. But a handgun was only good at close range, and from what Gabe had said, Max suspected he’d rather use the knife on his belt to defend them. Quieter. More efficient. Lethal.
Once everyone indicated they were ready, Patrick led them forward.
Coming to the top of the hill, Gabe motioned for them to spread out right and left. But they encountered no guards, and from what they could see of the scene in front of them, Hugo’s group wasn’t used to needing to defend their territory.
Every pack had binoculars in it. Once they were sure they weren’t going to stumble over a guard, they each pulled out their binoculars and studied Hugo’s camp.
Max figured there was only one way to explain what he was seeing. Arrogance.
Hugo’s group had taken over an old hunting camp. Three rickety trailers straggled out from left to right, and no one had bothered to move them into a circle or tried to conceal them in any way. A campfire smoldered in front of the trailers, and around the campfire five lawn chairs formed a lopsided ring. Max focused to the far left of the trailers and could make out three horses grazing in a field with a dilapidated fence that wouldn’t hold the animals if they were spooked.
At the other end of the trailers sat a porta potty that had clearly been stolen from a highway construction site. It had “Property of State of Texas” stamped over the door.
Beer cans littered the ground, and a pile of suitcases had been thrown haphazardly on top of one another—spoils of war.
Patrick touched his shoulder and pointed to a stand of trees to the far right. Targets had been tacked up, and used casings littered the ground. They weren’t worried about saving ammo, not based on what he was seeing. They also weren’t particularly good shots. Very few hits in the kill zone. Of course, it only took one.
The things Max was seeing were important, but what he wasn’t seeing? That was even more telling.
No guards.
No dogs.
No easy exit.
No attempt to conceal who they were or what they were doing there.
In front of the trailers and the campfire and chairs was a makeshift parking area, which was basically hard-packed dirt. Sitting there side by side with Hugo’s vehicles were the Hummer, Mustang, and Dodge.
All three vehicles looked to be in good shape, though the blast seemed to have done minimal damage to the Mustang.
“Why couldn’t it have hit your ride?” Patrick grumbled. “No one would have been able to tell the difference.”
Gabe motioned them back the way they had come.
Time to decide on a plan.
TWENTY-FIVE
Carter admired the strategy, which was a product of Gabe’s determination.
The man was getting his Hummer back.
He was willing to use everything at his disposal. Of course, this was rather a life-or-death situation. The thought of traveling on to Kansas by foot made Carter’s head hurt. And returning home without ever making it out of the state? That didn’t sound any better.
Gabe handed the stun gun to Carter. “Remember, I’ve put it into touch stun mode.”
“And you’re sure it’s charged?”
“Yes.”
“But…how?”
“Generators, Carter. The governor has generators. I charged it before leaving Corpus.”
“Okay. If you’re sure.”
“It’s not like we have the time or desire to test it on someone. See this green light? Means it’s ready. If it turns yellow, the charge has dropped too low to give an adequate voltage. And red means it’s dead. We don’t have a way to recharge it, so you get the juice that’s in it, and that’s all.”
“It’ll be enough,” Patrick assured him.
Carter glanced up. Everyone in the group was watching him with an amused expression, except for his mom, who was chewing on her thumbnail, something he hadn’t seen her do in years.
“You don’t have to worry about aiming,” Gabe said. “But the device does have to come into contact with skin, and you need to leave it there for four seconds. Otherwise, it will only startle him. We want him incapacitated.”
“Got it.”
Carter glanced at Lanh, who was holding a small hand mirror, several lengths of rope, a tree branch, and a roll of duct tape.
“See you in a few,” Lanh said, and then they took off to the south.
Once they had taken up their position behind the porta potty, Lanh flashed the mirror in the direction of their group and received the same in return. They could have used the radios, which had also been stored in their packs, but they wanted to be able to communicate even when one of Hugo’s goons was nearby.
A moment later, he saw a flash from the north. His mom, Max, and Bianca were in position.
“I feel like I’m in a James Bond movie,” Carter admitted quietly.
“A very low budget James Bond movie.”
“Low budget, low tech.”
And then they stopped talking, though Carter’s heart continued to thump against his chest.
Gus had estimated anywhere from three to six henchmen in Hugo’s group. The chairs in a circle seemed to indicate five, including Hugo, but they wouldn’t count on that. There could be more people than chairs—maybe someone came in late or stayed in the trailer or sat in the dirt.
He probably didn’t have enough charge in the stun gun for six. The idea was to reduce their number before the battle began.
The day started to warm, and Carter could actually feel his eyes growing heavy when Lanh nudged his shoulder. Wordlessly, he indicated that someone was coming, and then Carter heard it: the sound of shoes scuffing against dirt.
Gabe had said to wait until they heard the door open on
the toilet. “The guy will be focused on getting in and doing his business. Hit him while he’s unzipping.”
The door scraped open, sounding incredibly loud in the still morning.
Lanh held his hand in front of them and signaled one, two, and three.
Henchman number one had stopped inside the door and paused to spit into the toilet before unzipping his trousers.
Carter hit him with one hundred thousand volts. He counted to four and wondered if he should do it again, but the guy’s face went suddenly slack, as though he were surprised, only not able to understand what had surprised him. Then he collapsed to the ground, which was when Carter noticed it was a young kid—younger than him. He didn’t even have facial hair yet.
The tricky part was moving him because Lanh’s left arm and shoulder weren’t exactly in tip-top shape.
Carter made sure the stun gun was turned off before handing it to Lanh. Grabbing the guy’s arms, he pulled him into the tall grass behind the porta potty and kept pulling him until they’d reached the closest tree line. Lanh stayed back long enough to brush their footsteps clean with the tree branch. He caught up quickly and, with his good arm, grabbed one of the guy’s legs.
They positioned him sitting up against a tree, facing away from the compound.
Lanh slapped a strip of duct tape across his mouth, covering the drool that had run down his chin. Carter was already tying his legs together, and Lanh wound a longer coil of rope around the guy’s torso, effectively securing him to the tree. By now his eyes were starting to focus, but Carter and Lanh didn’t stay around to answer any questions.
The next two were older, but not by much. Maybe Carter’s age. Maybe not.
He and Lanh nabbed them with the same process, though there was a long wait—at least a half hour—between the first and the second. The third guy came out quickly on the heels of the second, and they had to crouch and run back from the woods to get to him in time. When they were finished with henchman number three, the power light on the stun gun was a solid yellow.
Light of Dawn Page 10