“We’re prepared…but are we really?”
She didn’t know the answer to that, and she wouldn’t know until the real thing. Lara prayed none of them had to find out tonight.
One more day. Until Will and Danny come back.
And then what? We do it all over again, because Kate isn’t going to stop. She’s going to keep coming, and coming, because what’s one or a dozen more human sellouts to her?
“This island is a paradise, Lara, but it’s not worth dying for,” Keo had said.
Maybe he was right. Maybe…
Her radio squawked and Carly’s excited voice came through. “Lara. It’s your boyfriend on the radio. Should I tell him you’re busy?”
Lara smiled and ran down the patio, then across the grounds toward the Tower. She felt ten years old again and didn’t care.
If she was going to die tonight, at least she’d get to hear Will’s voice first…
30
Will
Once they realized they weren’t going to catch up to the Bronco, the technicals slowed down, then stopped completely. An hour after that, they resumed traveling cautiously up Route 13, showing surprising patience. Then again, he guessed they could afford to take it slow and easy — the night was their ally.
Will checked his watch for the third time in the last hour: 3:16 p.m.
Three and a half hours before nightfall, give or take.
Josh’s soldiers were a kilometer out before he could actually see their vehicles as more than just flickering mirages under the sun. One was a bright cherry red mid-size Toyota Tacoma. The other was a gray full-size Nissan Titan. Both trucks moved on large tires and each had a soldier in the back positioned over an M240 machine gun (Where the hell did they find those, and where can I get one, too?) mounted on the roof by bipods. There was a driver and a passenger in each vehicle, making the total number six, unless there was additional personnel in the truck beds that he couldn’t see from his position. That was unlikely. It was way too hot to be lying down back there.
Not that he could see everything from the side of the ditch where he had been positioned for the last hour, bathing in his own sweat. Wearing the assault vest didn’t help, but Will was used to discomfort, especially with the smell of upcoming combat lingering over the horizon.
He lowered the binoculars and keyed his radio. “They’re on approach. One klick.”
Danny’s voice came through Will’s right ear. “Two little piggies went to market, while the other little piggies stayed home. Two little piggies in trucks, with more little piggies in the back with machine guns. Two little piggies are about to get shot, and they’ll be crying wee wee wee all the way home.”
Will opened one of his pouches, pulled out a granola bar, and took a bite.
“What are the chances we’re making it to the island today?” Gaby asked through his earbud.
“Not while they’re out here,” Will said.
The problem was the flat terrain around them. It didn’t matter where they drove, on or off the highway, because the soldiers would be able to spot them from a safe distance. That would lead to a car chase and a running gunfight. The Bronco was a decent vehicle, but it wasn’t going to stand up against two trucks with mounted machine guns. And those were just the bad guys they could see. There were probably (likely) more waiting closer to the interstate. A radio call later and they could easily run into an ambush without realizing it.
No, they weren’t going to avoid this. That much was clear now. The soldiers knew exactly where the Bronco had turned off the road, and it was there they were moving toward at the moment. Hopefully, they hadn’t also seen him and Danny making their way back up Route 13 on foot using the ditches as cover.
Hopefully.
“Better to shoot our way through, anyway,” Danny was saying. “Funner.”
“‘Funner’ isn’t a word,” Gaby said.
“You’re wrong and I’m righter,” Danny said.
Will imagined Gaby rolling her eyes back at their temporary base, where she was staying at the moment with the girls and Lance and Annie. The farmhouse was the best they could do in a pinch, since retreating all the way back to Dunbar was a non-starter. Gaby had mentioned a cemetery, but that was too far back, though he was impressed when she told him she had stayed in a crypt the previous night.
The enemy trucks were close enough now that Will could hear the sounds of their engines, even at their current slow, almost painfully deliberate pace. He swallowed the last piece of nearly stale granola down.
He didn’t have to use the binoculars to see them this time, with the Tacoma in one lane and the Titan in the other. The men in the back were swiveling the mounted LMGs around, looking for targets. They were scanning the ditches, fully expecting some kind of an ambush. The bipods holding up the weapons looked firmly attached to the roof.
He slipped the binoculars into his pack and scooted backward until the curved angle of the ditch allowed him to slide all the way down to the floor. He unslung the M4A1 and leaned back against the cool earth wall and waited.
“They’ll be on top of you in five,” Danny said in his right ear. “Try not to screw this up like you always do.”
“I’ll do my best.”
“That reminds me of a joke…”
“Of course it does.”
“Two high school best friends are sick and tired of being virgins, so one day they cook up a scheme to both get laid at the same time. One of the boys comes up with the perfect girl to seduce. So they go on the Internet and watch hundreds of videos about what girls like. When they’re finally ready, they plot their move. One day, as their target is walking home from school, our virgins jump out of a bush and both shout at the same time, ‘Hey, you wanna have hot sex? We guarantee we’ll please you!’ The girl squeals, ‘Ew, gross!’ Then she points at virgin number one and says, ‘I’m going to tell mom, Rob!’ And runs off. Virgin number two is understandably confused. He turns to his buddy and says, ‘Dude, we are so screwed! Why didn’t you tell me she was your sister?’ To which virgin number one replies, ‘Well, her room’s right next to mine and she’s always screwing guys every night, so I figured she’d be pretty easy!’”
“Gross, Danny,” Gaby said.
“You gotta be there, I guess.” Then, “Speaking of which, one minute until they’re on top of you, Kemosabe.”
“Roger that,” Will said.
Not that he needed Danny to tell him. He could hear the tires crunching against the hard asphalt. He guessed they were moving ten, maybe fifteen, miles an hour. From this distance, the drivers could see the bright red barn and the two-story house where Gaby was currently watching from, along with the Bronco parked in the front yard.
“I counted six,” Will whispered into his throat mic.
“Sounds about right,” Danny said. “Four inside, two in the rear. Speaking of rears—”
“Be careful, guys,” Gaby said, cutting him off. “I don’t like the look of those machine guns.”
“Neither do I,” Danny said. “950 rounds per minute is not my idea of a fun prom date.”
“What’s the range on that thing?”
“Don’t worry; they’re not going to be shooting at the house until they’re way closer.”
“That doesn’t make me feel better, Danny.” She sighed, then, “Where did they get something like that, anyway?”
“Probably the same place they got the rifles and ammo, and army boots, and MREs…”