Chapter 46

An hour later, Rafe made it to the back of the manor. As suspected, the SAT phone didn’t work this far in.

He’d run the entire way with Gerald’s sniper rifle strapped to his back, a nine-mil in his waistband, a knife in his boot, and a machete on his hip. He appreciated the cooler night air clearing his head. It was always this way before killing a man. He needed time and space to process the horror of who he was and what he had to do.

The full moon hid behind storm clouds, and he whistled low. No answer.

Since he couldn’t cross the thickets or jump the mud flats, he found the tree near Juliet’s balcony and climbed. When he landed on the balcony, it swayed beneath his weight. He knelt on one knee, a hand pressed to the floor. The shaking timber felt like a giant exhale, as if the manor was relieved to see him.

Holding his breath, he slipped into the hallway, avoiding rotted floorboards. He didn’t hear any unusual sounds, but he knew she was here. He could feel it.

When he reached the balcony over the foyer, he saw Deke standing near Samantha. An armed man guarded the front door. Another stood on the porch. Rafe retreated to the front bedroom. After taking off his T-shirt to clear away broken glass on the front-facing window, he set up his position. He was locked, loaded, and ready.

* * *

Balthasar gripped Juliet’s arm and pulled her around the dining room. Her feet stung from tiny cuts and splinters, her head ached, and her lips were cracked. “Where is it?”

Balthasar yanked her arm. Pain shot from her shoulder to her wrist. “I don’t know.”

He threw her to the ground, and she skinned her knees.

Eddie used a flashlight to illuminate the stained-glass windows. “Freaky.”

Balthasar dragged her to the window with Anne handing the box of two vials to the men. “Where. Is. It.”

“I don’t know.”

He slapped her, and her ears rang. “Look harder.”

“It’s too dark.”

Balthasar motioned to Eddie, who dropped the light to the lower part of the window.

She remembered the vials and the warrior, but she didn’t remember Anne’s depiction. In this window, unlike the others, Anne wore a Roman-style dress with her hair in ringlets. Two trees stood in the background, each sending out vines that wrapped around Anne’s bare feet and ankles as well as her bare arms from her shoulder to her wrists.

Juliet touched the glass oak leaves entwining Anne’s feet. The leaves around her arm were from a yew tree. Similar to the leaves carved on the mantel. The newel posts.

And drawn on her map.

Daddy, she spoke silently and turned his ring on her thumb. Help me. Studying the band, she realized the worn engravings weren’t words. They were oak leaves.

“Sir.” An armed man appeared, his rifle cradled. “ETA fifteen minutes.”

Balthasar yanked her hair again. “Ten minutes or Samantha dies.”

“I don’t need ten minutes,” she said confidently. “It’s upstairs.”

* * *

Nate whistled low, and Pete responded from the other side of the open field. The house sat three hundred yards on his left on a small hill. Rafe had been right about how hard the trip would be and wrong about the number of armed men. Two protected the house while three more walked the perimeter between the woods and the lawn.

Although it was dark, it would be foolish to cross the area without cover. Even more so if the full moon appeared. Nate whistled again. No response. Garza’s team hadn’t arrived.

Nate adjusted the rifle against his shoulder and felt for his nine-mil at his side. He hated having no comms and borrowed weapons. He would’ve given anything for a shoulder-mounted grenade launcher and decent ear radios.

Grady knelt next to him. An owl hooted near the house. “Ain’t no owls sounding off this time of year. If they ain’t breedin’, they ain’t hootin’.”

“Huh.” Nate used binoculars to scan the house. So much harder without night vision. “Watch the upper floor, toward the left end.” Flashes of light, like a punch of a laser pointer, shone in short dashes and dots. Morse code. “Run. Cover. Oorah.”

Grady chuckled.

“Grady? Were you a Marine?”

It was too dark to see a smile, but Nate heard the pride as Grady said, “Task Force Ripper. Me, Pops, and Gerald. We signed up together and fought together.”

Operation Desert Storm. Diversionary battle in Kuwait along the Persian Gulf while the main Marine force attacked from behind. A hundred-hour blood bath.

“Guard’s coming,” Grady whispered. “And the moon’s coming out.”

The armed man passed ten feet in front of them. The moonlight showed the man all in black with no insignia or markings and heavy body armor. Private security all the way.

Once the guard was out of sight, Grady took off and Nate followed. They moved quickly and silently until a guard appeared on Nate’s left. A shot ripped through the night, taking out the soldier. Thank you, Rafe.

Grady stopped suddenly. “Mud pits.”

A river of mud surrounded the house. One of the perimeter guards yelled behind Nate, and he turned just as Rafe’s sniper bullet took the second guard down.

“Cover me.” Grady dragged the dead body over and shoved it into the mud. Crosswise. “Come on!”

The mud was thick and the body dense, so they were able to make it with a leap at the end. Nate had done a lot of things in his years as a Special Forces soldier, but he’d never crossed a human bridge. This wasn’t something he needed to remember.

The third perimeter guard fired, and another sniper shot dropped him. Nate kept running, he and Grady jumping over the body. Grady headed toward a window while Nate met Pete in the bushes below the porch. Pete was breathing heavily and shouldering his weapon. Pops was hunkered down with a pistol between his hands, his gaze on the open area behind them.

They’d all changed into combat pants and T-shirts covered in infrared tape before this adventure. Except for Pops. He wore his overalls.

“Where are Garza and the sheriff?” Nate asked.

“Not here yet,” Pete said. “We found the boat Balthasar and his goons used. Tommy’s protecting our ride home and disabling theirs.”

Grady appeared, out of breath. “Two guards in the manor, along with Eddie Marigny and some guy with a broken nose and bandaged ear.”

“Deke.” Nate really hoped never to see that guy again. “Juliet?”

“No sign. But there’s a woman lying on the floor. Blond hair. Unconscious.”

“Samantha.” Pete raised his head to check out the situation.

“What’s that?” Pops lifted his face to the night sky.

Nate shut down his own breathing to listen. It took a moment, but then he heard the air rustle. “You gotta be kidding me.”

“Fuck,” Pete whispered. “Who ordered a helo?”

“Pete and Pops, cover us.” Nate checked the rifle’s load. “Grady and I’ll go in.”

Nate led Grady up the steps to the porch. It was clear. Through the window Nate saw Samantha on the ground with Deke crouched over her, a gun in his hand. Time to roll.