“Not then. Now I am.”
I got a rash of goose bumps. Could that be possible? Cody was a pretty resourceful kid, but in building this fort he had outdone himself. Could it be that the pouch gave him the idea? Like in the last hour or so when my brain knew exactly what to do. I shook my head. That was a pretty heavy concept.
Frustrated, I dropped my head in my hands and massaged my temples. After a few moments, I picked up the pouch and laid it on my lap. Did you do that? I ran my finger along the nine letters that formed the pouch’s name. Are you the inspiration behind this fort of his? Come on, Nanny, spit it out.
I instantly regretted the thought. And it wasn’t just because I knew Grandpère found that nickname offensive. Considering all that had happened recently—from the speed limit sign changing, to the toy pistol blasting off bullets, to being temporarily invisible—to refer to the pouch as Nanny seemed like a mockery, almost a sacrilege. Maybe Le Gardien wasn’t as bad a name as I thought it was. It sure seemed to fit tonight.
“Danni?”
“Yes?”
“Were we really invisible tonight?”
After a moment I shook my head. “No, Code. Dad and Mom could both see us, and I think Grandpère could, too. It was just that—” I took a deep breath. “Somehow, the others had their eyes blinded to our presence.”
“Yeah. That big guy was so close to me I could smell his breath. Pee-yoo! It was awful. When he stuck his face up close and looked right into my eyes, I thought I was going to pee my pants.”
I giggled. “Me too.”
“Tell me about the gun. How did you do that?”
I reached out and laid a hand on his arm. “Code, I know you have a hundred questions, and so do I. But right now I don’t have a lot of answers, and we can’t sit around here talking about it. We’ve got to get out of here.”
He was quiet for several moments, and I thought I had hurt his feelings. But then, in that slow drawl he used because he knew it drove me bonkers, he said, “So, are you saying you don’t know?”
I couldn’t help it. I burst out laughing. He started to giggle too. In moments we were laughing together on the floor, hands clamped over our mouths, so we wouldn’t make too much noise. It felt good to laugh, and when it finally subsided, we lay there together, shoulders touching, enjoying the chance to relax for a moment.
Cody reached out and took the pouch from me. He hefted it, then ran his hand across the flap. “It’s warm.”
“It’s a warm night.”
“No, it’s really warm.”
Surprised, I took it back. He was right. It was definitely warmer than when I took it off my shoulder. Remembering that it had been almost hot before, I had a sudden idea. Maybe this was part of how it worked. I also remembered how sometimes, when I was holding it, thoughts came into my mind. I clutched it to my chest and immediately felt the warmth penetrate my shirt. I held it close for almost a full minute.
“Cody?”
“Yes, Danni?”
“We’ve got to get out of here now. We’ve got to find Mom and Dad and Grandpère.”
He rocked back. “But how?”
“Stay here. Watch old Gordo out there. If he starts coming, call me.”
“Where are you going?”
“Not far. I need to get some things from Dad’s truck.” I took a quick breath. “And a couple of things from the house.”
Chapter 27
I was in and out of the house quickly, using the back door and keeping the barn between me and Gordo. The primary thing I was after was my phone. El Cobra had wanted me know that he was leaving it and the charger on the counter. Why? Because it was his way to let me keep in touch with my family. I guess it said something that he thought I would figure that out on my own. It was like we were playing a game of cat and mouse. I didn’t turn the phone on, of course. First, because it needed charging, and second, because I didn’t want him to know I had it yet.
Since they had locked the house, I had to go in through the window. I hoped he had also left the “toy pistol” behind, but wasn’t surprised when it was gone. I thought about grabbing some food from the fridge—one Kit-Kat wasn’t doing the job—but the sense of urgency I was feeling about getting out of there changed my mind. I turned off the lights and exited the way I came in.
On the way back to the barn, I stopped at the truck and climbed up in the back. With a little effort, I found Dad’s rifle, two boxes of shells, and my overnight bag. I also grabbed a few other essentials: two sleeping bags, our water jug, a pair of binoculars, and what was left of our food. Then, in a low crouch, I headed for the trailer. I lowered the side ramp, careful not to let it drop. Then I unhooked the rear ATV and rolled it off the trailer. Fortunately, when they brought Dad’s truck and the ATVs around behind the barn, they were no longer on gravel and the four-wheeler came down with very little noise. I lashed our stuff on the back, took a quick peek around the barn to make sure Gordo was still in place, then went inside.
Things were coming together in my mind, except for one primary obstacle: Cody. Though we were brother and sister and raised by the same parents, Cody’s mind and my mind worked very differently. Cody’s mind was very precise, very mathematical. He once told me that the reason he’s so good at math is because he breaks the problem down into smaller parts, then works on those one at a time. When he’s done, the problem is solved.
Me? My mind is more like a ping-pong game. My thoughts bounce off one another in rapid succession, first one direction, then another. And if I’m not careful, sometimes they flash right past me. And right now, my mind was playing ping-pong at breakneck speed. An idea was forming. It felt good, but I already knew Cody wasn’t going to like it.
When I climbed back up the ladder into the loft, Cody didn’t need the moonlight to see what I was carrying. I heard his sharp intake of breath.
“Where did you get that?” he cried in dismay.
“Shh!” I leaned Dad’s rifle against a bag of grain. “From Dad’s truck.” I took the pouch from my shoulder and took out two boxes of shells. I set one down, then opened the other and started to load the rifle.
He gaped at me. “Are you going to shoot that guy?”
“No,” I said. “But we need something to make him listen.” I was only half concentrating, my mind already wrestling with the problem of going up against an assault rifle. After a moment, I saw that Cody kept glancing up at me, his eyes wide. “What?” I asked.
“Did the pouch make these boxes of shells?” he asked in awe.
“No, silly. They were in Dad’s duffel bag with the rifle.”
“Oh.” He seemed disappointed.
“We can’t just hang out here ’til they give up, Code. The longer Mom and Dad are gone, the harder it’s going to be for us to find them.”
“You mean us and the police.”
“No way. You heard what El Cobra said. We bring anyone else in and they’ll shoot Mom and Dad.”
“So we have to stop them—just you and me? That’s crazy.”
I didn’t say anything. It was hard to disagree with that assessment. I put the last shell in the magazine, left the chamber empty, then made sure the rifle was on safety. Done, I set it aside. I turned to face Cody. “The first challenge is to get away, and that won’t be easy because we need transportation. We either take the truck or one of the ATVs.”
“You are crazy!” he blurted. “The minute you start either engine that guy will know we’re here and come running.”
“Yep! That’s why we’ve got to do something about him first.”
He threw his hands up. “We have to call the police, Danni. We have to.”
“Shh! Keep your voice down.” I knew shushing him would only upset him more, but I felt my irritation rising. I had enough on my mind without having to fight him. “Who would you have me call, Code? Deputy Carlson?” The Wayne County sheriff’s office was in Bicknell, over fifty miles away, but Deputy Carlson was assigned to the eastern part of the county, and
he and his wife rented a little house in Hanksville.
“Why not? We can slip out of here and go to his house. And . . . and he could call the Utah Highway Patrol for help, and . . . and they could come and arrest that guy out there.”
“And what if that guy out there sees him coming and calls El Cobra and tells him we’ve called the cops? You can bet they left him a radio.”
He looked away.
“Besides, you heard El Cobra say they’ve got a local contact in town. That’s how they know so much about us. I know it’s a long shot, but what if that contact just happens to be Deputy Carlson?” I reached out and touched his arm, pleading now. “We can’t take any chances on that, Code.”
“What about the FBI? Can’t they help when it’s a kidnapping case?”
I hadn’t expected that. I hadn’t even thought about the FBI, and it was an option that made a lot of sense. But even so, I shook my head. “Maybe later. We’ve got to get out of here first. And to do that, we’ve got to take the fat guy down.”
“So you are going to shoot him.”
“You’ve been watching too much TV, Code. Way too much.”
In response to that, his jaw set, and he folded his arms and looked away, ignoring me.
I felt like yelling at him. Him and that precision mind. But then I suddenly knew that this wasn’t going to work if we were fighting each other every step of the way. I took a deep breath and tried something else.
“Cody, do you remember when I came home from that camping trip on my thirteenth birthday? I told you all about it that night. Do you remember me telling you about that guy named Aron Ralston?”
“The guy that cut off his arm?”
“Yeah. And do you remember the lessons we learned from that story?”
“Never go camping alone in the desert without telling anyone where you are.”
“Well, that too. But more important, we learned that we can never give up.”
There was no answer. I nearly grabbed him, wanting to shake the answer out of him, but I knew he had to come to this conclusion himself if this was going to work. He pulled his legs up, hugging them tightly, and rested his head on his arms. I crossed my fingers. Finally, his head lifted. “All right, Danni. I’ll do whatever you say.”
Eyes burning, I threw my arms around him. “I love you, Code. You’re the coolest bro ever.”
“I know,” he said, pushing me away. “Be sure you tell Mom and Dad that when this is over.” He flashed me one of his silly grins. “So what do you want me to do?”
I felt a rush of gratitude. He was seriously cool. Taking his hand, I began to talk. Though his eyes got wider, he said nothing more until I finished.
I checked on Gordo again. For a moment I couldn’t see him and panicked. Then I saw a tiny pinpoint of glowing red. He was smoking a cigarette, clearly convinced that we were long gone. All the better for us.
When we were down in the main part of the barn again, I looked around, going through it all again in my mind. Finally, I turned to Cody. “You ready?”
In the dim light of the moon, I saw him swallow quickly, but he nodded without hesitation. Gripping the rifle firmly, I moved over to the side door that opened toward the equipment shed; Cody was right behind me. “Okay, Code. I’ll be right here. Once you see him start to move, you get back in here fast. You hear me?”
“Yeah.” I thought I heard a tremble in his voice.
I touched his shoulder briefly. “Go.”
He turned on the flashlight and stepped out the door.
I had positioned myself so that I could watch Gordo through the crack of the door. Though I couldn’t see him, the red glow of his cigarette was clearly visible. For several moments, it didn’t move. Some sentry, I thought. If El Cobra was here, he’d probably shoot him. If Gordo didn’t look over here and see Cody, we were going to have to run over there and hit him with a baseball bat. But suddenly the cigarette arced away, and I saw his dark shape step away from the Hummer. He grabbed for something, stepping out into the moonlight. The assault rifle was still over one shoulder, but both hands were up to his eyes, looking through his own binoculars.
“Hey!” he shouted. “Hey, kid. Stop right there!” He broke into a hard run toward us.
“Now, Cody!” I hissed. “Hurry!”
That was unnecessary counsel. Cody flew through the door, and I slammed it shut behind him. He ran to the nearest stall, then stopped, turning to face the barn door, chest heaving. Just like we discussed.
I guess maybe I had been watching too many crime dramas on TV, because my first thought was to wait until Gordo stepped inside, then, in a gruff voice, command him to drop his weapon. Seeing how fast he was coming, though, I threw that idea out the window.
I heard his footsteps slow as he drew close. Through one of the cracks, I saw a momentary flash of light. Good. He had a flashlight, one of those with a high-powered beam. There was a whisper of sound, then the door slowly opened. A rifle barrel appeared, followed by Gordo himself. He stopped, letting the flashlight beam sweep across the barn’s open space.
The light caught Cody. His hands shot up. His eyes were wide, his mouth twisted with fright. There was no faking that. “Don’t shoot, mister,” he cried.
“Don’t move,” Lew barked. Moving carefully, he took another three steps forward. And that’s when I lifted the butt of Dad’s rifle and smashed it against the back of his head. He dropped like a sack of beans, the assault rifle and his flashlight clattering to the floor.
I stepped back and leaned against the wall of the barn because my legs were suddenly shaking so badly I thought they were going to buckle under me.
Cody ran over, grinning like a fool. “Way to go, Danni! Way to go.”
Chapter 28
Though I was visibly trembling and felt like I was going to puke, my mind was back in the mode where everything was coming at me with perfect clarity, but, oddly, it was mostly coming as correction, rather than inspiration.
For example, as soon as my legs stopped shaking, I dropped to one knee beside the body. I reached to remove the ski mask, but I had the strongest feeling to leave it alone. Then I realized why. If I revealed Gordo’s face, then I could identify him. El Cobra had stressed that when this was over we would be safe because there was no way we could tell who they were. So instead, I pressed my fingers against his throat to feel for a pulse.
Good. There was a strong beat.
“Should I get some rope?” Cody whispered.
“Yeah.” Then again, I got a nudge. “No, wait. Don’t touch anything. Leave the rifle and his flashlight where they are. Don’t even turn off the light. He needs to think we hit him and ran. When he wakes up, he’ll contact his boss, and I want El Cobra to think we’re panicked and running blind.”
Then I remembered something else. El Cobra had promised to send help for Lew. “We’ve got to get out of here. Let’s go.” We sprinted for the other door and burst out into the night. I ran to the four-wheeler and climbed up, motioning for Cody to join me. But the sonar started pinging again. Danger. And close. Then came the voice.
WAIT!
I jerked around and looked into the barn, half expecting to see Gordo back on his feet with his rifle pointing at us, but he was still sprawled out and not moving.
“What is it?” Code asked in a hushed whisper.
“I’m not sure.” And then I heard it, the soft sound of a vehicle out in the lane. I was off the four-wheeler and to the corner of the barn in about three jumps. From that vantage point, I could see the hundred-yard stretch of our lane that led out to the highway. My heart plummeted.
Coming up the lane, clearly visible in the bright moonlight, was a large pickup truck, probably a Ford F-350 or a Dodge Ram. Its lights were off, and it was moving slowly. My first thought—or hope—was that it was one of our neighbors passing by; the lane wasn’t exclusively for our house—but instantly I knew that wasn’t the case. A neighbor wouldn’t be driving without lights.
There was
a crackle of sound from inside the barn, and both Cody and I jumped. “Lew, where are you?” We both ran back to the door and peered inside. Gordo hadn’t moved. But his radio crackled again.
“Lew, do you copy?” Out in the lane, we heard the truck roll to a stop.
“What do we do?” Cody asked, voice tight as a wire. “Do we answer him?”
“No.” There was no way we could ever pass for Lew. I had the binoculars around my neck, so I grabbed them. Mentally I crossed my fingers. Please, let it be only one man.
“Lew, do you copy? Over.”
I heard the sound of a door opening and saw a figure get out of the truck. To my dismay, a moment later, another man got out of the passenger’s side. Both men were carrying rifles.
My stomach twisted. How like El Cobra. Never leave anything to chance. I suddenly wanted to sit down. My knees were turning into rubber again.
“Let’s get out of here,” Cody whispered urgently, poking my back. “There’s two of them.”
“We can’t. They’ll hear us the instant we start the four-wheeler.”
And then my brain kicked into inspiration mode. “We need some kind of a diversion,” I whispered.
“What kind of diversion?”
“I don’t know.”
“We’ve gotta hurry, Danni,” he wailed. “They’re gonna come looking for Lew.”
“I know, I know,” I said, feeling increasingly desperate. I was chewing on my lip like crazy. “What we need is something that will draw their attention away from us, but something loud enough to cover our escape.”
I grabbed the rifle. It was the only thing I could think of. “Get on the four-wheeler. Wait until I open fire, then take the four-wheeler out through the pasture and wait for me up on the ridge. I’ll try to keep them pinned down until—” But even as I spoke, that same sarcastic voice in my head mocked. Come on, McAllister. This isn’t the movies. And you’re not some female super-chick who can best two really, really bad guys in a gunfight. I shook my head. “They’ll still hear the motor.”
“Try the pouch.”