Page 45 of Take a Hike
The footsteps paused, and Charlie stopped breathing. Had she been exhaling too heavily? Had her boot sole squeaked against the concrete step? Was her heart loud enough to be heard outside her body? It had to be her who’d given them away. Kieran was silent as a rock next to her, so she knew he hadn’t made a sound. She tensed even more, knowing this would be a hundred times more difficult if her opponent was ready for herattack.
Ten
Instead of an ambush, she heard the click of a latch. The footsteps continued, but after the thud of a door closing, they grew faint.
All her breath left her in a silent gust. Just another person who had to use the bathroom. Kieran leaned heavily against her for a fraction of a second, as if relief had drained his strength right out of him, before he collected himself and climbed the stairs on silent feet. She followed, knowing there’d be a time to collapse in relief and that was when they were fully clear of the compound. For now, she concentrated on being as silent as a ghost—one of the good, incorporeal ghosts, not a nasty poltergeist.
At the top of the stairs, Kieran paused for a second to scan the area before making his way through the big, shadowy room. Charlie followed, allowing him to lead for now, mainly because he’d just saved her bacon in the basement by yanking her out of sight of the bathroom visitor just in time. She’d give him a few minutes, then take over the lead.
They moved a lot faster than they had when they’d come through the first time, since they knew the way now and getting out was their priority. The dining room and kitchen were thankfully still empty, and Charlie wondered where everyone was. They’d only heard Terry and possibly one other person return to the basement when they were in Gabrielle’s bedroom, so the majority of the militia members had to be wandering around the compound somewhere.
She strained to listen, but she couldn’t hear if anything was happening outside the house. Either their distraction-makers had left, seriously toned down the noise levels, or been captured. Charlie’s stomach lurched at the last option, so she pushed it back into a dark corner of her brain.No sense in worrying about something that probably didn’t even happen, she told herself.
They crept toward the exit on the far side of the kitchen. Kieran cracked open the door and paused as Charlie’s phone vibrated against her leg, startling her. She grabbed it out of her pocket and checked the screen, which seemed dangerously bright.
“Are you checking your phone?” Kieran hissed, making her glance up from the text she was reading. He’d stepped outside and was holding the door for her.
Responding with a quickOK, she dropped her phone back in her pocket and slipped through the doorway. “Fifi,” she said with just the tiniest bit of condescension. He deserved it for the scorn in his whispered words though. Did he think she was scrolling social media during their break-in? “They’re out.”
As she said the hushed words, a thrill of danger coursedthrough her. She and Kieran were on their own inside enemy territory. There’d be no help from her sister and brother-in-law. The idea was both unnerving and exciting, and her view of the compound grounds suddenly sharpened from a rush of adrenaline hitting her system.
Kieran gave a tight nod before turning the simple knob lock and closing the door silently. Charlie listened, hearing not-so-distant voices and a faint roar and crackle she was pretty sure was fire. As if to back up her guess, the acrid burn of smoke hit her nose. She couldn’t see anyone, so she joined Kieran as he made his way along the building, staying in the deeper shadows along the exterior wall.
As they reached the end of the building, Charlie saw a flicker of movement to her left. Kieran took a step away from the cover of the wall, as if to cross the open area between the main building and the closest outbuilding—a ratty-looking pole barn that, by its smell, housed some kind of livestock. Grabbing two handfuls of the back of his jacket, Charlie yanked him back.
A man emerged from another, smaller building to their left, letting the door slam closed behind him. Jogging down the porch steps, he looked around before heading toward the now-faint voices. Charlie’s heart pounded as she froze, her hands still keeping their hold on Kieran, feeling horribly visible, like she glowed with light, even when she knew they were hidden in the darkest shadows.
Hopefully they were hidden.
Charlie didn’t even breathe until the man disappeared around the corner of the building he’d come out of. Thenshe had to fight to not let every bit of air out of her lungs in an audible rush, but it was hard. Relief made her limp. If she hadn’t yanked Kieran back, the man would’ve seen him for sure. Something told her that these militia guys had a bit of a nervous trigger finger, especially right after Fifi and Bennett’s distraction.
Right on the tail of the wave of relief, annoyance followed. If Kieran wasn’t going to protect himself, she was going to have to do it. With her still-tight grip on his jacket, she hauled him back and stepped in front of him. He must’ve been feeling a little sheepish from his error in judgment since he let her bodily rearrange their order.
After taking a look around that was likely unnecessarily thorough, she led them quickly across the open area to the close shadows of the livestock shelter, then to a hay barn that was listing to the side, then to an old well house that was so small it barely provided any cover. The front gate was within sight, lit by a sodium security light, and, to her frustration, manned by two guards.
When they’d waltzed in through the front gate earlier, Charlie had arranged the chain and padlock to appear as if it were securely locked. Once they reached the gate, they’d need to remove the unfastened padlock and pull off the chain before they could get through. That was going to take time—not much, but enough for the gate guards to tackle them…or shoot them a bunch of times.
Kieran nudged her shoulder and pointed in a different direction, away from the front gate. She knew immediately what he was wordlessly suggesting, that they make their way tothe unmanned section of fence and climb over it. She made a face. If she had to, she’d climb the fence, but it was ten feet tall and topped with razor wire. Even with gloves and wire cutters, it’d be a beast to go over.
Besides, she had a better idea. Well, adifferentidea.She couldn’t guarantee that her plan wasbetter. Definitely more fun though.
With a short shake of her head, she pulled her secret weapon from one of her pockets. Pulling the pin, she launched the grenade toward the two guys standing next to the gate.
“Wait!” Kieran hissed, but it was too late for that kind of back-seat strategizing. The plan was in motion, and it was going to work perfectly. She hoped.
Squeezing her eyes closed, she turned and reached up to clamp her hands over Kieran’s ears, feeling a little guilty for not giving him any warning or earlier instructions on what to do if she spontaneously introduced a flash-bang into their getaway.
“No, cover your own—Charlie.” He bit off his words as he flattened his hands over her ears, which was a really nice thing to do, something that she definitely would get sappy over later. Beneath her closed eyelids, the world lit up a painfully bright white. Even with his huge hands covering her ears—and basically her entire head—theboomfilled her head, making her whole body ache with the force of it.
Not giving herself time to recover—since that would defeat the whole purpose of a stun grenade—she dropped her hands and turned to run for the gate. Even though her eyes had been closed when it went off, the flash had still completely ruined hernight vision, so she hoped there weren’t any holes or rocks in her path to trip her up.
In the illumination by the gate, she saw that the men had managed to stay on their feet, although they were both bent over, one pressing the heels of his palms against his eyes, and the other with his hands flattened against the sides of his head, as if he could retroactively protect his ears.
Charlie hit the gate, grabbing the chain link with one hand to keep from bouncing back while reaching for the padlock even before her feet had stopped moving. A twist and one side of the chain was released, falling against the gate with a clatter that sounded muffled since her ears were still reeling from the explosion.
She yanked the chain but it caught, the end tangled in the links, and she had to use a precious three seconds to free it. Even with her compromised hearing, shouts were audible, and she hoped they were from the two still affected by the flash-bang, rather than backup militia guys who hadn’t been knocked silly by the blast.
The chain slithered free, and she shoved the gate open and began running down the dirt driveway. She glanced behind her to check on Kieran, skidding to a halt when she saw he wasn’t behind her. He was still at the entrance, messing with the gate.
