Page 20 of Once a Hero

They went east, into the forest in the thick of night, with rain all around them and very low visibility.

“She’s faring well is all I can say.” Earl drank his cappuccino.

“The cabin’s worth half a million dollars. Who do you think paid for it?”

“Paid in full, no less.”

“Maybe Helen can tell us more secrets in the morning.” Jake checked his phone. Out of juice again. He charged it in the USB socket in the car. “Must be nice to have this. My old stick-shift has nothing but AC.”

“Cassette player too?”

Jake nodded. “It’s broken though.”

The rain eased up as they drove on a winding road heading east through the forest. The GPS on both of their phones was intermittent. All they could see around them were tree trunks. The tops of trees were three hundred feet into the dark night of California.

If the headlights on their rental SUV stopped working, they’d have to wait until daybreak before they could find their way off of the long road.

“I want to know why this can’t wait until morning,” Earl asked.

“We’re several steps behind Molyneux already. Don’t we want to get ahead sometime?” Jake wasn’t sure they would ever get ahead of the terrorist, who seemed to have known their every move. How?

Helen Hu’s contacts had informed them that the dead sniper at Fisherman’s Wharf was undocumented and they had no idea who he was. However, his weapons were military-grade, meaning that he was probably not there to just shoot at the crowd.

He probably had someone in mind.

Which led Jake to wonder if Molyneux had sent him.

“Am I a target again?” Jake mumbled.

Apparently, Earl heard him. “Don’t think so highly of yourself. For all we know, Molyneux might be going after Beatrice Glynn and her team as well.”

“No schadenfreude for me. I don’t want her killed. We know that Molyneux can—”

Crunch! Pop!

The SUV stopped dead in its tracks.

Nothing Earl did moved the vehicle forward.

“Something on the ground?” Jake asked.

“I’ll go check.” Earl unbuckled, palmed his Sig Sauer, and went outside.

Except for the SUV headlights, the entire forest was dark around them.

Earl came to Jake’s side of the vehicle. He rolled down his window.

“Someone put a spike strip on the ground,” Earl reported. “The two front two tires are blown out. I think we only have one spare tire.”

“A prank?”

“Whose bright idea was it to take this shortcut?” Earl asked.

“There’s no shortcut. There’s only one road. You saw the map. Check your GPS.” Jake opened the glove compartment and retrieved more ammunition. He put it in his backpack pocket—

And heard a twig snap.

Earl went around the back of the SUV, turned off the lights, removed the vehicle key, and then retrieved his messenger bag from the back seat.

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