Page 58 of Every Which Way

“We found something out back you’ll want to see.”

She reached the lobby just as a clang sounded at the front door.

Ramon turned back. “That just locked on its own.”

Maizie, at the back door, let out a squeal. “The door!” She had it open and was standing in the doorway. “It’s closing!” She turned to push on the door, the weight of it sliding her feet back into the building.

Stairns ran to her and pushed at the door. The rest of them followed, and Kenna slipped between, bringing Maizie with her.

Ramon and Bruce came through, pulling Stairns with them.

“What on?—”

Bruce kept moving, his approach causing her to stumble back. “Go. Go.”

Thunder erupted deep in the building, the throaty sound of an explosion rumbled through the structure, and it started to collapse.

“Go!”

Kenna turned and dragged Maizie with her. Then Maizie was dragging her.

The ground began to crack between her feet.

Bruce stumbled, and Ramon hauled him up.

Kenna jumped a log and kept going, reaching the trees at the far end of the back lawn before she stopped and turned back. They stood together, and she watched the building collapse in on itself.

“How did you know it was going to blow?” She had to talk loudly over the rumble of the building collapsing.

“Instinct,” Bruce said. “And…no, it was just instinct.”

Maizie didn’t let go of her hand. “Uh, Kenna.”

She turned from watching the building fall into the ground. “A fail-safe?”

Bruce nodded. “Most likely. Because, like I said, it’s what I would have done. If I knew people were coming after me, I’d leave a tasty morsel, and then I’d wreck them so there’s nothing left.”

Ramon eyed him. “It’s a little scary when you say it like that.”

“I did hear a sadistic tone in your voice.” Kenna gave herself a second to catch her breath.

“Guys.”

Kenna turned back to where Maizie stood behind her. The teen had all her attention on the woods behind them. “What is?—”

“Just look,” Maizie said. “Otherwise, I have to say it out loud.”

Kenna scanned the trees, looking for someone who might wish them harm. She saw no one between the dead trunks—Bruce had been right that nothing was alive out here.

Ramon let out a curse.

“Can we all stop swearing!” Kenna sucked in a sharp breath as the evidence before her began to make sense. The periodic mounds of dirt where the ground was raised, each one between a couple of trees. Two feet by six. “Shallow graves.”

“We spotted them from the upstairs windows.” Stairns said, “There are so many.”

She scanned as far as she could see, spotting the mounds of dirt often. Even at the edge of what she could make out, the graves continued.

Maizie squeezed her hand. “How many people did they bury out here?”

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