Suddenly gunfire erupted all around me—a mixture of rapid fire and single shots. I expected every shot to be the one that hit me—the one that killed me—but I was never touched. When an eerie calm finally settled on the valley, I heard a voice about twenty feet to my right. It can’t be. I opened my eyes and turned toward the voice. There she was, gesturing at me. Am I dead? Flynn?
Blake was right behind her, his gun trained on the valley below.
“Hayley.” Flynn was still waving at me. “Crawl over here.”
I reached out and grabbed my bow and then turned to crawl from behind my rock. Rock and dirt exploded beside me, and I shrunk back to my original hiding place. Another shot resonated from the rocks over my head. I glanced back at Flynn and Blake, and this time Blake was looking at me.
“He got him,” Blake called over. “Get over here, Hayley. Run.”
I stood up and sprinted toward them. One more bout of automatic gunfire sent more dirt chipping up and hitting me, and one final loud crack echoed above me. As I slid across the ground into Flynn’s arms, Blake stood and looked up the wall of rocks above us. I followed his eyes to a boulder and watched Danny step out from behind it. Danny didn’t immediately look down at us—he was probably looking for more soldiers—but when he did look down, our eyes locked, and I’m certain the gratitude was evident in mine.
A few minutes later, he was standing beside me, and I was wrapped in his strong arms. Ava stood a few feet behind him. I wasn’t quite sure what had happened to the Rambo Barbie I’d seen back in the Cheyenne Mountain tunnel. This girl looked scared to death. I pulled away from Danny finally and asked her if she was all right. She didn’t answer. Instead she reached out for Danny’s hand. A half hour ago I’d have considered this a play for attention—and it would have pissed me off—as I watched Danny take her hand. Now, as he began leading her down the hill, it was clear this was no act—she’d been deeply shaken. I needed to cut her a little slack.
I grabbed Danny’s arm as he stepped away from me. “Where’s Eddie?”
He turned and looked at me. “Saying goodbye to Cera.”
Oh no! The shock had to be evident across my face. “What?”
“Sniper shot,” he answered, shaking his head. “She was standing right beside Ava.”
I took a better look at Ava now and could see the bloodstains on her shirt and her heavily matted hair. Her hands were shaking, and her lips were trembling. I understood the sudden change in behavior now. That’s Cera’s blood all over her!
“Did I—was it—”
“No.” Danny shook his head. “She was shot from behind—other side of the peak. They were coming up that way too. Cera and Eddie had just caught up to us. There were two more guys with that sniper. They never even saw you.” Then Danny nodded at Blake. “It was he and Axel who saved you. I only took out the last two guys.”
I turned toward Blake and could see he was looking down too. No. “Axel?”
“He didn’t make it.” Flynn stepped up beside me and took my hand.
“That one might—” Danny cut himself short, turned away, and led Ava down the hill toward the stream.
“That one might, what?” Those three words cut through me like a cold knife. “Danny.” Was he going to say that one might have been my fault? That had certainly been the insinuation.
“Hayley.”
I heard someone say my name, but I was staring after Danny. He was going to say that.
“Hayley.” Blake grabbed me and shook me. “Hayley, forget about it.”
“But—”
“No, I mean it. I need you to hear this—this is God’s honest truth—if you hadn’t come down the hill like you did, they’d have come all the way up the hill and killed all of you. You drew their fire and allowed me to not only follow the gunfire here to you but to get in position behind them to pick them off. They gave up their advantage for a quick kill, and they didn’t get it. They didn’t get you.”
“But Axel—”
“I know, Hayley.” Blake was right in my face now. “It’s terrible. Axel, Cera, Keena, her brother…” Blake pointed at Flynn. “We’ve lost a lot of people in this… but this is all because of Lazzo. None of this is on you.”
Blake was suddenly silent, and that was what finally made me look at him. He was looking behind me. I turned and watched Eddie slowly approach us, sadness painted across his face. “He’s right.” Eddie looked at me, nodding his head. “This isn’t on anyone but Lazzo.”
Eddie walked past us, and we followed him down the hill to the stream, where Danny was helping Ava clean the blood off. He and Danny exchanged a quick hug, and Danny said, “I’m sorry.”
I watched Eddie nod, and I sat down on a rock by the stream. No matter what Blake had said, I knew I’d been careless. Danny wouldn’t even look at me now. He was probably mad at me for how I’d treated Ava and definitely for Axel’s death. Blake was going to talk to Danny for me, but I didn’t know how much difference that would make. I’d been stupid. Part of the blame for this was always going to be mine.
Flynn sat down beside me with a cup of water. “Drink,” she said. “You need it.”
“What have I done?” I whispered to her.
“Hayley, you have to listen to Blake,” she reasoned. “He’s right. If you hadn’t drawn them out, you’d probably all be dead. You’re extremely lucky you’re not!”
I knew that, but I wasn’t entirely grateful for that fact right now. It took me that long to ask her about her fall from the plane. I apologized to Flynn for not asking sooner.
She smiled. “Don’t worry about it. It hasn’t exactly been uneventful on your end either.”
“So what—what happened with your chute?”
“Obviously it didn’t open all the way. Somehow it got stuck. I thought for sure I was gone. Then suddenly Blake is beside me, and I’m wrapped around him, and he’s pulling his own chute. We were so low to the ground when his opened, probably only two hundred feet up or so, and we hit the trees so frickin’ hard. We crashed through the trees and hit the ground. Blake shielded me from almost everything. He has to be a lot more hurt than he’s letting on.” She stopped and looked over at him as he splashed water on his face. “It was really… incredible.”
I took the cap off the canteen Flynn had handed me and leaned over to fill it. Suddenly a large trout swam by. Whoa! I tapped Flynn, and she turned to watch it wiggle away. “I could so eat that right now.”
I laughed. “I’ve got some string here somewhere… but I’d need a hook.”
There was a lengthy pause as I drank from the canteen. I glanced up and saw Flynn nervously looking around. A slight smile twisted the corner of her lips. “Did you say you need a hooker?” She nodded toward Ava—mocking her earlier pillows comment. “Cause you can have mine.”
I almost snorted water out my nose. Inappropriate timing or not, I couldn’t help it. By the look on her face I knew Flynn didn’t know if it was okay to say that now—even to me. I smiled and raised an open palm up to her. “High five.”
She extended her own hand and clapped it against mine.
“That was perfect, Flynn.”
Blake came over to us then. “What was that all about?”
“Nothing.” I couldn’t look at Flynn. “What’s the plan, Blake?”
“I don’t know. Dan, what’re you thinking?”
Danny walked over to us. Eddie came with him. “Ava told me the Anaheim safe house is at Disneyland, about a hundred miles from here. I think we’ve got to try to get there. It’s a bomb shelter like all the others…we just have to figure out exactly where it is.”