“It’s gonna be all right,” I soothed.
“Yeah, I know, just stay close.”
“Please, buddy, I’ve got your back.”
He nodded fast and then rushed to the front and led us down the back stairs from the deck and away from the house. It was dusk, the perfect time to try to escape, and I really hoped we’d be lucky. I wasn’t ready to lose Ian or have him be without me. My life was just getting started—having it end was not in my plans.
WE JOGGED until we reached the tree line and then, because there was a six-foot incline, slowed as we all scaled the snow-covered slope.
Drake held Cabot’s hand, walking in front of him, making sure he didn’t fall, and telling him, over and over, how great he was doing.
“Mr. Jenner!”
We all turned to see one of his men—who had managed to live after all—come running after us, rifle in hand. “We need to hand Drake over!”
I drew my gun and leveled it at him.
“Abernathy,” Holley snarled. “This is all your—”
“Now, Jenner!” the ex-deputy ordered, raising his weapon.
“Drop it!” I demanded.
It was like he was so focused on Jenner that he didn’t hear me, even from so close.
“Drop your weapon!” I shouted again when Abernathy didn’t obey.
The second floor of the Jenner cabin suddenly exploded into flying wood and glass and steel, and only the fact that we were a good hundred yards away saved us from getting hit with flying debris.
It was a big yes on the rocket launcher.
The blast startled Dalton Abernathy, and in his confusion, I bolted forward, grabbed the muzzle of his gun, wrenched it from his hands, and used the butt of the rifle to hit him in the face. He fell back into the snow, out cold.
The crappy rifle Abernathy was using had an attached strap, so I slung that over my shoulder. I ran past Holley to stop at the top of the slope and waited for him and Jenner to climb down ahead of me. Once they were safe, I holstered my Glock and checked around, not wanting to turn my back on any more men.
Ian stood below us in a ravine, on a fallen tree in the middle of a shallow creek. “Hurry the fuck up!” he bellowed, and I could hear the frustration and anger in his voice.
“Go!” I called out.
He turned and ran with Cabot following, then Drake, Jenner, Holley, and finally me. A succession of explosions boomed through the woods as we scrambled over loose rocks, dirt, and ice, to climb the embankment. Once we got out of the ravine, the terrain changed. There was no gradual slope and no place to simply stand. The ground underneath me was solid with no give at all, and when I punched through the frozen soil, my boots kept slipping. It was slow going as we trudged through snow that was calf deep, with no open space, just pine trees growing one on top of another.
“Why didn’t your fucking partner ask me if there are any ATV paths or—”
“Because we don’t want anything they can move fast on,” I took the time to explain. “We need to make it difficult for them to reach us.”
We went silent after that, zigzagging our way up the side of the steep hill, slogging through, the men between Ian and me grunting and puffing with exertion. I was in better shape, but my jeans were soaking wet and doing nothing for the cold.
The sun had set, and between that and the higher elevation, the temperature fell even more. When the freezing rain started, Ian stopped and had everyone huddle together as he climbed one of the trees to look down at the house from our new vantage point.
“When will the missus start missing you, Chief?” I asked Holley.
He shook his head. “Divorced.”
“Sorry,” I muttered. “What about wives or girlfriends of your people down there?”
“It’s Kershaw and Lautner back at base,” he told me. “They’ll start wondering where we are in another hour.”
“Okay,” I said gently, taking hold of his shoulder. “I’m sorry about your men.”
He covered my hand with his. “Thank you.”
“There was nothing you could have done.”
“M!” Ian said sharply.
Moving over directly under him, I peered up through the branches.
“There’s a lot of lights moving around down there.”
Meaning men with flashlights. “Shit.”
He looked down at me. “We’ve got, what, another forty minutes or so before our two hours is up and we’re supposed to check in?”
Kage. “Yeah.”
“Okay, so once we miss it and he can’t get us on either of our phones, we’ll have state troopers here in another hour.”
“Let’s say two to be safe.” I stepped back as he jumped down, landing in front of me. “And then how many will come? Like how many cars?”
“I dunno,” he huffed, and I couldn’t miss the worry on him: the crumpled brows, pursed lips, corded muscles in his neck all spoke to his concern over our present situation. “More than one, because it’ll be reported as an emergency.”