by Debra Webb
“I do the same thing every day,” Smith reminded him. “Today was no different. You’re well aware of my personal schedule.”
“Except something occurred while you were out,” Prentiss countered. “Your new pet project, Sadie Buchanan, confessed her real reason for being here and it was not that she required sanctuary. She has infiltrated our walls under false pretenses. She represents a threat to our security.”
Dread coiled inside Smith. Buchanan hadn’t looked as if she’d suffered any torture for information. He couldn’t see her voluntarily coming forward with this new and startling information, particularly if it cast her in a negative light.
“Really. That’s an interesting development. Why don’t you tell me what happened?”
“She told Levi Winters that his sister had sent her here. Buchanan was tasked with coming here to rescue him. The information she fed us was nothing more than a distraction to cover her real mission.”
“I’d like to question her again,” Smith said. He stood as if the recommendation had already been approved. “I’m confident I can get her full story.”
Prentiss held up a hand. “No need. A final decision has already been reached. We’re turning her over to the others. Levi Winters, as well.”
Smith kept his surprise to himself. “You selected Winters for your daughter—”
“The choice was premature. He failed his final test. We don’t need his kind here.”
“We do need more females. Buchanan wouldn’t be the first one we’ve swayed to our way of thinking.” It was the best argument and the most logical one he could come up with at the moment.
The old man eyed him for a long while before he spoke again. “You’ve been her champion since she arrived. Are you suggesting you’ve selected her as a wife?”
Before he could answer, Prentiss went on. “You’ve snubbed each of my daughters, but you would have this traitor? This outlander?”
“As I said—” Smith ignored his suggestions “—she may prove useful in a future negotiation. I have not considered her as a wife, only as a bartering asset.”
Prentiss announced, “The Council wants her out of our midst.”
“I don’t agree, and I have an equal say on Council matters.” Smith held his ground. He had a vote in all matters. Prentiss understood this, no matter that he despised the idea. The bastard would not force his hand.
Prentiss stood and walked over to his desk. He picked up a document. “It is decided. The decree is signed, and the message conveyed to the others. There is nothing further to discuss. You missed a great deal by being out of pocket this morning, Smith. Perhaps you should rethink your schedule in the future.”
“Decrees can be overturned,” Smith said, dismissing the other man’s declaration. “I’ll speak to the Council members.”
“There will be no further discussion on the matter. You will escort Buchanan and Winters personally. Tomorrow morning.”
Smith stared long and hard at him. “What are you up to, old man?”
He held Smith’s gaze, then he smiled. “We make our own beds, Smith. And in the end, we have no one to blame but ourselves for the lack of comfort.”
The slightest hint of uneasiness trickled through Smith’s veins. This was something more than Sadie Buchanan or Levi Winters at play here.
“At sunrise in the morning you will depart,” Prentiss repeated. “You should be back before dark.”
Smith didn’t waste any more time arguing. Instead, he left and walked straight to the detention center. The guards didn’t question him as he entered, nor did anyone attempt to stop him when he walked straight to Buchanan’s cell and unlocked the door.
Buchanan turned to face him. She stood on the far side of the small cell as if she’d been pacing the too-confined space. Before she could school the reaction, uncertainly flared in her dark eyes.
He went straight to the point. “What happened today?”
There were ears everywhere on this compound but questioning her was not going to change what had already been done. As a Council member he had a right to know all the facts.
“What do you mean?” She shrugged. “I was pulled back from the tunnels, given an opportunity to bathe and then taken to the cafeteria.”
His irritation flared. “Do not waste my time. What happened?”
Her arms folded over her chest. “I ran into an old friend. Gave him a message from his sister. She’s been worried about him.”
“What exactly did you say?” Fury had him clenching his jaw to prevent saying more than he should.
She heaved a big breath as if he were the one trampling on her last nerve. “I told him who I was and that his sister had sent me to rescue him. I also told him not to worry because I would be getting him out of here.”
Well, that sure as hell explained a lot. He stared directly into those dark eyes. “So you lied. Your story was a cover for your real mission.”
She gave a succinct nod. “I lied.”
“Get some sleep. We leave at sunrise.”
He turned his back on her but before he was through the door she asked, “Where are we going?”
He didn’t bother glancing back. “To trade a mole for a lost rabbit.”
Chapter 8
Sunday, August 11
They knew.
What was worse, she had told the enemy herself.
Sadie closed her eyes and shook her head. She had royally screwed up this one. Flynn had called her a mole. He was taking her from the compound today to trade her for a lost rabbit. One of the Resurrection’s own, obviously, who had been taken by another group or some other faction involved with their mutual black market business dealings.
Considering she was FBI, it was possible the lost rabbit was in holding with some branch of law enforcement. The local cops? The feds? She had gotten the impression that as far as Winchester and Franklin County law enforcement were concerned—at least until the takedown at the Salvation Survivalist church—the Resurrection was more a local legend than anything else. A bunch of local yokels with guns they picked up at gun shows and MREs they ordered from the internet.
But that was not the case at all. The Resurrection was a long-term, well-planned and -operated organization with powerful contacts and an extensive reach. At this point, local law enforcement was well aware that gunrunning was involved. In Sadie’s experience, drugs and human trafficking oftentimes went hand in hand with the smuggling of weapons. Maybe these daughters of Prentiss’s weren’t his biological children. Maybe they were stolen children he’d raised in this damned compound.
Sadie paced the few steps to the other side of her concrete cell. She had to finagle an escape. There were people in this place who needed rescuing. There was Levi and the ones in the tunnels. And possibly all the women. Though she had only seen a couple, she suspected there were more. She exhaled a big breath. This situation was far bigger and more complicated than she or anyone else had initially speculated.
It was possible another federal agency, like the ATF or the DEA, knew more than the Bureau about this group. The sharing of information was limited to a need-to-know basis for the safety of any ongoing operations and embedded agents.
She needed more information. She exhaled a resigned breath. What she really needed was backup.
The swish and whir of the lock snapped her attention to the door.
Sunrise had arrived.
The door opened and Smith Flynn met her gaze. He didn’t mince words. “Let’s go.”
She walked toward him, expecting the broad-shouldered man to step aside so she could move through the door but he didn’t. He held his ground, staring down at her.
Apparently he had more to say before this party got started.
“From this moment until I tell you otherwise you will do no thinking for yourself. You will do exactly as I say, when I say. U
nderstood?”
Anything to get out of this prison. “Understood.”
“We walk out of here, you don’t look at anyone, you don’t say anything. You follow me and you do exactly as I tell you.”
“I can do that.”
He turned and headed along the corridor. She followed. As they left the cell behind and reached the exit of the detention center, she didn’t spot her guard or any others for that matter. Outside was the same. Her instincts urged her to look back over her shoulder, to look around, but she resisted the impulse. Flynn had told her not to look at anyone. She decided not to test him this early in today’s game. Whatever was going to happen from this point forward, she needed to proceed with extreme caution.
She had resigned herself to the idea that she might not be able to escape this place on her own. If she couldn’t get out, she couldn’t get Levi out. At least if she managed to lose Flynn at some point, she had a chance of getting help back here to rescue Levi.
At this point she was more than a little surprised that Flynn hadn’t restrained her hands. They headed in the direction of where she had spotted all those vehicles parked. The tunnels were in that direction, as well. Her heart instantly started to pound. She did not want to end up back down there. If that was what was about to happen, she had to do something. At least try to escape. A final ambitious effort even if she was shot for her trouble.
She bit her lips together to prevent asking him if that was his intent, simultaneously bracing for fight or flight. He’d said she was being traded. Surely that meant they were leaving the compound. Then again, the guy in the cafeteria had been fired up because he was being sent to the tunnels in her stead. That was a trade, wasn’t it?
Damn it. A rush of dread roared through her veins.
She was stronger than this. If she allowed the dread and uncertainty to get to her now, she would lose all semblance of control over the situation. She might not have much as it was, but she was still hanging on to a sliver. Whatever happened, she had to cling to that modicum of control.
When they reached the motor pool, he opened the rear passenger door of a black SUV. He reached inside for something. When he drew back he had two things, nylon wrist restraints and a black hood like the one she’d worn on the way here with Prentiss and his thugs.
Movement inside the vehicle had her leaning forward just a little. Someone was already in there. The black hood concealed everything from the shoulders up, making it impossible to say if the passenger was male or female.
Flynn held out the nylon restraint and she offered her hands, wrists together, for him to do what he had to do. When her wrists were bound tightly together, he dropped the hood over her head. A hand rested against her upper arm, ushering her toward the open SUV door. She climbed in and settled into the seat.
“Where are we going?” the other prisoner asked.
Sadie recognized the voice. Levi. Apparently, he either hadn’t received the same lecture she had or he chose to ignore the order.
The door closed and a few moments later the front driver’s-side door opened, the SUV shifted slightly and then the door closed again. She resisted the urge to lift her hood and make sure it was Flynn who had climbed behind the steering wheel. He’d secured her hands in front of her so she could certainly do so but, again, she resisted the impulse. If the situation went downhill from here it wasn’t going to be because she gave it a shove.
She wanted out of here far more than she wanted to satisfy her curiosity. That Levi was with her was a genuine stroke of luck. If she could salvage this rescue operation, all the better.
The vehicle started to move. About a minute later there was a brief stop, then they were moving forward again. Sadie imagined they had stopped long enough for the doors or gate or whatever to open, allowing them out of the compound. Though she couldn’t see to confirm the conclusion, her heart hammered at the idea that they could very well be beyond those suffocating walls.
For the next ten minutes by Sadie’s count, they drove fairly slowly. The ride was smooth, making her judgment of the speed not as reliable as it could be. Again, the urge to lift the hood and look around nudged her. She wrestled it away.
At least for now.
“Get down on the floorboard!”
The shouted order startled Sadie and for a split second she couldn’t move.
“Get down!”
She tugged at Levi’s arm and then scrambled onto the floorboard. Thankfully he did the same.
The shattering of glass and the pop of metal warned they were under assault.
“Stay down as low to the floor as possible,” she whispered to Levi. She felt his body flatten in an attempt to do as she said.
The SUV’s engine roared and the vehicle rocketed forward. The momentum of the driver’s evasive maneuvers swung their weight side to side, made staying down increasingly difficult.
“Stay down,” she urged the man hunkered between the seats with her.
The SUV barreled forward, swaying and bumping over the road. Sadie concentrated on keeping her body as low and small as possible. This vehicle likely wasn’t bulletproof. The shattered glass she’d heard earlier all but confirmed as much. A stray bullet could end up killing one of them.
If the driver was hit...they would probably all die.
The SUV suddenly braked to a hard, rocking stop.
Another shot exploded through the rear windshield and then a detonation of new sounds. Ripping, cracking, scratching...then a hard crash.
The SUV suddenly lunged forward.
“You can get up now.”
Flynn’s voice, definitely his voice though it sounded muffled. Sadie recognized it was the blood pounding in her ears that smothered his words. She scrambled upward, swept the glass she felt from the seat and then righted herself there.
“We okay now?” she asked. After what they had just gone through, she figured the rules had changed. Asking if they were out of danger seemed reasonable.
“For now.”
“What’s happening?” Levi demanded, his voice high-pitched and clearly agitated.
“We’re okay,” Sadie told him, hoping he would calm down rather than grow more distressed.
She felt his arm go up. She grabbed it, hung on. “Don’t do anything until he gives the order,” she reminded. “We need to get through this.”
At this point, she trusted Flynn on some level whether he deserved that trust or not. But they weren’t in the clear yet. She couldn’t be sure of his ultimate intent. There was a strong possibility that she and Levi were only valuable if they were still alive. His risky protection measures might be self-serving.
The SUV braked to another sudden stop. Sadie’s pulse sped up again.
The hood covering her head was abruptly yanked off. “Get out,” Flynn ordered.
He whipped Levi’s hood off next and issued the same order to him. Sadie hurried out of the SUV. Levi came out behind her rather than getting out on the other side. The road was not paved. Dirt and gravel. Muddy. It must have rained last night.
She looked up, squinted at the rays of sunlight filtering through the thick canopy of trees overhead. They were deep in the woods but they were out of that damned prison. The dirt road seemed to cut around the edge of the mountain. To their backs was the mountainside, in front of them was a steep drop-off. As she and Levi watched, Flynn stood outside the driver’s-side door and guided the still-running SUV to the edge of the road. He jumped back as the engine roared and the vehicle bumped over the edge of the road, crashing through the trees.
Exactly like the one that had been firing at them, she realized, as the familiar sounds echoed around them. That was the reason for his sudden stop back there. The other driver instinctively attempted to avoid the collision, whipped the steering wheel and ended up going over the edge of the road and down the mountainside.
Sadie
watched the man walking toward them. It wasn’t until that moment that she noticed the backpack hanging from one shoulder. She didn’t have a clue what was in that backpack, but what she did know was that they had no transportation.
She asked, “What now?”
“Now.” He pulled a knife from his pocket and sliced through the restraints on her wrists and then did the same to Levi’s nylon cuffs. Flynn’s gaze locked back on hers. “We run.”
* * *
The Council had voted.
Fury roared through Smith as he moved through the dense underbrush as quickly as he dared. Buchanan had no trouble keeping up with him, but Winters was slowing them down more than anticipated.
“Keep up,” he shouted over his shoulder. Buchanan shot him an annoyed look.
He imagined she had some idea that they were in trouble but he doubted she fully comprehended the magnitude of the situation. The Council had decided to terminate Smith’s position within their ranks and, apparently, him. They would want him and the people with him dead as quickly as possible. No loose ends. No way to trace the murders back to them.
This was Prentiss’s doing. No one else on the Council would have dared to speak against Smith. The old man had grown worried that the rest of the members preferred Smith’s style of progressive leadership.
He had suspected this was coming. Smith had kept his cover intact far longer than anyone expected. Funny thing was, it wasn’t until Buchanan showed up that Prentiss found the perfect leverage to use toward this very end.
Smith had two choices: save Agent Sadie Buchanan’s life or attempt to salvage his cover.
His cover was shot to hell.
He led them deeper into the woods. Merging into the landscape was the only way they would make it off this mountain alive. For now, they had a head start. The three-man crew Prentiss had sent after them was down. If one or more survived, it was only a matter of time before he climbed up that ravine and called for backup. Staying on the road was out of the question. There were lookouts at certain points along this stretch of road and there was no other drivable egress in the close vicinity. Disappearing between scout stations was the only option. Moving back and forth and in a zigzag pattern was their only hope of outmaneuvering the enemy.