The bullet had gone clean through, taking a big chunk of muscle with it. It was an ugly sight, made impossibly uglier by the sheer amount of blood loss. But it wasn’t fatal, and the carotid artery was intact. All she had to do was stop the bleeding, and Carly would live.
Let me be right. Please, let me be right.
She became aware of Danny’s voice, as if from a distance: “Lara? How is it? How does it look? Tell me she’s going to live. Please, tell me she’s going to live.”
“She’s going to live,” Lara said.
Please, God, I beg you, don’t make a liar out of me.
In the background, far away, the pop-pop-pop of assault rifles continued unabated…
CHAPTER 33
JOSH
Pros and cons: What were they?
Pros: He was with Will. That was a hell of a pro right there. When there were men with guns around, he preferred to have the guy next to him be an ex-Army Ranger. Then Blaine had showed up. Josh hadn’t really gotten to know Blaine except for that brief time in Lancing, but he seemed like a good enough guy. And he was huge. As someone who had spent his fair share of time learning to escape bullies, Josh appreciated size in his friends. Blaine probably didn’t consider him a friend yet, but they were on the same side, so it was all good.
Cons: They were on enemy soil. Or close to it, anyway. Behind enemy lines would probably be the better description. Either way, there were people across the inlet with guns who probably wouldn’t like it if they discovered Josh and the others were in the marina. Never mind that they were only taking what was theirs. The men in the house had tried to attack the island and gotten repelled. They were probably not very happy about that, either.
Conclusion: As long as they stayed invisible, got what they came for, and left with no one the wiser, Josh had nothing to complain about. But that was the trick, wasn’t it?
Josh was hiding on the right side of the garage at the end of the marina, next to a side door. He watched Will and the others jog over to him, keeping low and sticking to the four-foot-tall grass. He wouldn’t have spotted them if he didn’t already know they were there.
Just to be sure, Josh leaned out from behind the garage and looked toward the house. There was no one on the roof or looking out from any of the second-floor windows, but he was alarmed at the sight of two men walking around the front yard of the house. By the time Will, Blaine, and the other two reached him, the two men had walked from one end of the yard to the other and were now moving up the driveway toward the road.
Where the hell are they going?
Then Will was next to him. “Josh, you remember Blaine.”
“Hey,” Josh said, and exchanged a nod with Blaine.
“Hey, kid,” Blaine said. He indicated a short woman with dark hair and a guy in his twenties next to him. “This is Maddie and Bobby.”
“Hey, Josh,” the woman named Maddie said.
Bobby just nodded at him.
“Bobby doesn’t speak,” Maddie said.
“Oh,” Josh said.
Wait, where’s Sandra?
The last time he had seen Blaine, he was going in search of Sandra, the woman who had helped Josh and Gaby escape from Folger. He remembered Sandra — tall, beautiful, and hell on wheels when the chips were down. They would never have escaped Folger without her help. He also remembered how desperate Blaine had been to find her.
So where was Sandra now?
Something about Blaine’s face told him this was probably not the right time to ask. Blaine could be intimidating. No, Blaine was intimidating. Josh decided to save his questions for later. Maybe he could find out about Sandra through Will.
Will spared him the awkwardness by tapping his shoulder. Josh moved back and Will took his place. He leaned out and scanned the house for a moment.
Blaine moved to stand alongside Will. “Trouble?”
“Probably not,” Will said. He looked back at the rest of them. “The priority is the equipment inside the garage. We’ll come back for your stuff the first chance we get. For now, we have enough to work with.”
“I hate the idea of leaving all that silver and guns out there,” Blaine said.
“Can’t be helped.”
Will walked over to the garage door and opened it soundlessly, then slipped inside. They followed him in, Josh falling in behind Maddie, with Bobby coming up behind him.
The garage was mostly dark, with a few spots brightened by shafts of light poking in through holes in the walls and roof. Will flicked on his flashlight, using a wide beam to illuminate where the sunlight couldn’t reach. Over the months, rainwater had seeped inside, leaving patches of wetness under their shoes as they walked across. The whole room had that aroma of abandonment and occasional flooding. It made Josh gag a bit.
The old boat they had seen parked inside when they had first arrived was still there, parked across half of the available space. The crates of food, water, and supplies were also where they had left them, stacked along one corner of the warehouse.
“There,” Will said, pointing at the crates. “We’ll take what we can in the first run and come back for the rest later.”
The equipment Will and Danny had been using to melt down and recast bullets was stored in separate crates at the very bottom of the stack. They had to remove the others — filled with food, water, and clothes — first before they could get to the ones they were after.
Josh had to admit, Will had the right idea. Anyone raiding the garage would definitely poach the food, water, and clothing first, and when they finally got to the bottom and saw the smelting pot, the pairs of rubber mallets, the dies and presses, the urge would be to leave them. Who wanted to drag around someone else’s heavy tools? Josh hadn’t even known what these things were when he had first seen them. But then again, he hadn’t known people even made their own bullets.
The silverware and jewelry were all bundled up in another crate, also at the very bottom of the pile. More things that your average raider wouldn’t have bothered with, not with jewelry and gold and other precious metals waiting to be taken in almost every house and building you went into. There was a time when Josh was awestruck by the sight of gold lying around. He got over that real quick. Gold was less valuable these days than a bag of chips that hadn’t yet gone stale. Plus, bags of chips didn’t weigh a ton.
Will pointed at the crate with the silver. “Maddie and Bobby, that’s yours. We’ll follow you with the tools. Head northwest for 200 meters and the boat should be below the ridgeline.”
Maddie and Bobby slung their weapons and picked up the crate. Josh could tell it was heavy by the way they were straining. The crate was stuffed with so much silverware that, in the old world, it would probably have fetched a few hundred thousand. Now, though, it was only useful to people who understood its significance.
Maddie and Bobby grunted as they moved the crate over to the door one foot at a time. Josh hurried past them and opened the side door for them.
“Thanks, kid,” Maddie said.
Josh nodded back. “We’ll be right behind you.”
“Take your time,” she grinned back.
Maddie stuck her head out the door first before leading Bobby out. Josh watched them lug the heavy crate between them through the grass, keeping as low as possible. It wasn’t easy, but they seemed to be managing well enough.
He closed the door and hurried back over to the other side of the garage, where Will and Blaine were re-stacking the crates into an orderly pile against the wall, having removed the one they needed.