After they left, Brandon decided he needed to relieve himself, too. He chose a tree not too far away, circled behind it, and unzipped.
“Brandon!” It was Miss Collins. She sounded odd.
“Just a sec,” he said.
He finished and zipped up. He circled back around the tree, but immediately stopped.
Miss Collins was standing not too far beyond the spot where they’d parted a few minutes earlier. Behind her was a man holding a gun to her head. Two other men were behind him.
The man with the gun grinned. “So, you’re Brandon?”
Brandon’s mouth went dry. “Um, yes,” he said, barely loudly enough to be heard.
“Brandon Ash?” the man said.
It wasn’t a chill that shot up Brandon’s spine. It was an arctic blast.
Once they discovered that the kids had gone down the road, it didn’t take long before Judson and his men heard them ahead.
Judson ordered three of his men to quietly follow the kids, while he and the other two moved into the forest, intending to arc around to get in front of their prey and overwhelm them from both sides. But the kids stopped in the middle of the road before Judson’s small squad was in place.
“Hold,” Judson whispered, crouching down behind some brush.
Through the branches, he examined the group of children. Ten kids. No, eleven. But only one adult. A woman. Judson had figured there would be at least two, if not three. This would make things even easier.
“Williams?” he said softly into his mic.
“Go for Williams.” He was one of the three left behind the kids.
“Get ready to move in.”
“Copy.”
“Let us—” Judson cut himself off.
The woman and a small girl were heading into the woods in their direction. As they drew nearer, he could hear them talking.
“…than that,” the woman said. “It won’t be much longer now.”
“My feet hurt.”
“I’m sure they do.” The woman paused. “Let’s go right behind that bush.”
“Okay.”
‘That bush’ was only fifteen feet ahead and to the left of Judson’s position.
“Everyone hold,” he whispered.
The woman and the girl circled around the bush and stopped.
“Here?” the girl asked.
“Here’s fine.”
The woman turned her back to Judson to help the girl. As soon as the girl finished going to the bathroom, the woman leaned down to assist her again.
Judson took that as his cue and moved out from his hiding place, motioning for the two men with him to follow. He was able to get in right behind the woman a moment before she stood up.
The little girl sucked in a breath when she saw him. The woman started to turn, but Judson grabbed her and placed his gun against her back.
“Quiet now,” he said. “If you cooperate, no one will get hurt. All right?”
She nodded.
“Let’s go back to your other friends.”
“Come on, Ellie,” the woman said, holding her hand out to the girl.
“These are the bad men,” Ellie said.
“It’s okay,” the woman told her. “Come on.”
Ellie hesitated a second, then took the woman’s hand.
Keeping the gun at her back, Judson guided them over to the other kids.
“Which one’s Brandon?” Judson asked.
The woman looked around. “He’s not here.”
He moved the gun to her head. “Don’t lie to me. Which one?”
“I’m not lying. He was here, but he’s not now.”
“Call him.”
The woman said nothing.
“Call. Him.” He twisted the gun’s muzzle against her temple.
“Brandon!” she yelled.
“Brandon!”
Chloe and Miller froze.
The voice belonged to a woman, and had come from fifty yards away at most.
Chloe and Miller moved into woods to cut down the chance of being seen, and continued on. As they got closer, they could hear another voice, a man’s. Though he was too far away for them to understand him, his tone suggested he was giving orders.
Another twenty feet on, Miller grabbed Chloe’s shoulder and pulled her to a stop. He pointed back at the road. Three soldiers had stepped out of the trees on the other side. They paused in the middle, talked for a moment, then two headed toward the voices, while the third stayed where he was.
There was no question in Chloe’s mind about what was going on. The Project Eden team had found Brandon and the others. The man waiting on the road was the safety net in case someone tried to escape.
That was something they could use to their advantage.
Chloe whispered her plan into Miller’s ear. He nodded, and made his way silently to a point about forty feet deeper into the woods, nearly level with the man’s position. Chloe went in the other direction, stopping just inside the forest.
Right on schedule, Miller scraped a foot across the ground, and walked in place loudly enough for a few footfalls to be heard.
The guard whipped his head to the right, peering into the darkness.
Miller waited a second before he scraped the ground again.
The guard glanced down the road where his friends had gone, then looked back into the woods.
“Someone’s out here,” he said.
Radios, Chloe thought. Crap.
She would have to be extra careful.
The man was quiet for a few seconds, then nodded. “Copy.”
Holding his rifle tightly, he headed into the woods. The moment he passed Chloe’s position, she moved in behind him.
His first indication that something was wrong was her hand on his mouth. His second was the knife plunging into his chest.
Chloe dropped him to the ground. Two down.
“You’re Captain Ash’s son, right?” the man with the gun asked Brandon.
Brandon remained silent.
“That’s a yes, I take it. My bosses will be very interested to talk to you.”
“You don’t have to hold your gun against her like that,” Brandon said. “I’m not going to run.”
The man smiled, and pulled the gun away from Miss Collins’s head. “All right. But if you do try, I’ll kill her.”
One of the kids started to cry, while a few others looked on the verge of doing the same.
“I said I won’t.”
The man smiled at Brandon, and looked at the others. “Listen up. This is what’s going to happen. I’ll give you another…” He paused. “Two minutes to rest, then we’re going to walk back to the house.”
“What happens then?” Carter asked.
“That depends on how well you behave.” The man surveyed the kids. “Any other questions?”
No one said anything.
“Good,” he said. He let go of Miss Collins. “You should rest, too.”
He took a step back, and motioned for his two men to spread out. He touched something on his shirt and said, “Williams?” There was a pause. “Two of you come in. The other stays out there in case someone tries to sneak by.”
He must be talking on a radio, Brandon guessed. Sure enough, seconds later, two more soldiers arrived.
Suddenly, the main guy cocked his head to the side. After a moment, he said into his radio, “Check it out and report back.” He took a step forward. “Time’s up, everyone. On your feet. We’re getting out of here.”
The kids slowly got to their feet.
“Who’s missing?” the man asked Brandon.
“What?” Brandon asked.
“Who’s missing? There’s someone not here.”
Brandon looked around. All eleven kids and Miss Collins were there. “I don’t know what you mean. Everyone’s here.”
The man took a step closer. “Don’t lie to me!”