Call of the Wild (22 page)

Approaching the road, they all stayed at least four trees deep within the tree line to keep from being seen by any watchers while they waited for the owl’s signal. When the signal came, they would all cross the road at once. Twenty-five people standing arm’s width apart was less than a city block. The line of children who were waiting behind them was even shorter. Marsha figured, even with a few stumbles, they could get across in less than five minutes. Five minutes could be an eternity when a watcher could turn his head and see them. She didn’t urge them to run, only to walk fast. If they tried to run there would be more stumbles and falls with the faster children pushing past the slower ones. And when children fell, they cried. They needed to get over the highway quickly, they also needed to go quietly.

She hoped the owl would be able to distract the watcher for that long; if he managed to knock him from the tree, so much the better. Marsha was starting to worry about the children getting anxious when she heard a car approaching. Signaling everyone to duck down, she waited for it to pass. She was horrified when it slowed to a stop and several men stepped out of what turned out to be a large black SUV.

Shit! She hoped they didn’t stay. Even as she prayed none of the children made a noise to alert the men, she recognized one of them. It was Matt Donahue, Aaron’s uncle, now her uncle. Motioning for the others to stay put, she slowly worked her way through the trees until she was close enough to call out in a soft voice and have the men hear her.

One of the men was trying to get a signal on his cell phone. He was walking into the middle of the road, holding his arm up as he moved around. Another man ragged on his friend and pulled a paper map out of the glove box. He and two others spread it out over the hood.

“I’m going to take a leak,” Matt said in a loud voice, heading toward the trees.

Marsha couldn’t believe her luck when Matt entered the trees close to where she was standing. When he called out in a quiet voice, she knew it was more than luck. The fact that his call was followed with him making a sound similar to the hoot of an owl, clinched it. She stepped forward.

“Hey, Uncle Matt, I’m guessing you knew where to find us?” Marsha asked him before stepping back.

“Yeah, imagine my surprise when an investigator I know with the Environmental Protection Agency called me while I was on my ‘fishing trip’ and said me and my boys needed to come to these coordinates, walk into the trees, and hoot like an owl. I’m kind of going along with things right now. So, what’s up? I thought you and Aaron were west of here,” Matt said.

“Yeah, I’ll tell you all about that.”

Marsha explained everything that had happened since Monday. When he found out about the children, he started thinking furiously.

“We knew they were planning something at the river. It sounds like you’re already aware of the circumstances. I can give you a couple of my men, they’re armed and experienced. They can also act as witnesses when the shit goes down. I need to stay here; something else is about to happen,” he said.

“Okay, then go talk to your guys over that map. When you see us start crossing, send your guys to guard our rear. I know Aaron will be happy with the backup. I’ve already made arrangements for buses to meet us up north in Parcoal. We’ll have the children away from here and on the road. We don’t know yet how long it will be before they can go home. Or even if they ever will go back to this home.”

Matt nodded his understanding; there was nothing he could say. They both went back to their people. An owl in the trees hooted just as Marsha arrived back so she gave the signal to proceed across the road. When several of the adults looked at the men, she whispered, “They’re with us—spread the word.”

It took them four and a half minutes to cross the highway and make it into the trees on the other side. They all set out immediately to get to Aaron and the others. True to his word, two of the men from the truck followed behind.

Aaron was about to go looking for Marsha when she finally returned. After he saw how many children there were, he wondered briefly if they were up to the task. Joan Hendricks, the Alpha Marsha introduced him to, had more resources. That was one less worry on his mind. Still, from everything Marsha said, the timetable had been moved up. They needed to get all these kids to safety in the next twelve hours or less.

He decided not to wait until he got the all clear from David. He would trust his brother to get the job done and head out with the kids. They were going to have to move a lot slower now. Since he didn’t want to take the time to brief all of the group leaders on the new route, he put the children he already had into the groups Marsha set up. All of the leaders had been the ones going over the maps with him; they knew the route and would pass it along to the others as they went.

As soon as they counted heads, to make sure no one was missing, they started out. Benji had returned before Marsha, so the way was clear for at least five miles, half the distance they needed to travel. Aaron sent him back out as soon as he’d made his report, showing him where they were going to veer from the original route.

Benji’s Navy SEAL skills were being put to use as he moved through the woods. At the hoot of an owl, he’d automatically looked up and seen the watcher high in a tree. The man hadn’t seen him; he was looking out through field glasses held to his eyes. Knowing his mission, and what he was helping to protect, he had no problem eliminating the target. It was no more than he’d done on missions overseas.

Now, he was fighting terrorists on his home soil, and he found it made a big difference. He had found and eliminated two other tree watchers since the first. He didn’t share that news with Aaron. He simply reported a clear route. Those kills would remain on his conscience alone. The only witness—a lone owl.

When Aaron gave him the new route, he nodded and headed back out again. If there were more watchers, he wanted to make sure and take them out before the children came through. Defending his brother and his brother’s wife added to his determination to succeed. He used all the skills he’d honed in his years of service to clear the way as any good point man would.

And the owl? After that first hoot, it kept the man in sight while hiding its own location, its coloration acting as a natural camouflage. Something about this man intrigued the owl. He had understood her hoot.

Aaron led the children. Marsha and the other team members, now including the two men added by Matt, kept themselves on the fringes making a loose perimeter. They made sure none of the children wandered too far off the track as they worked their way through the woods. They were spread out, similar to the way they had crossed the road. Still, there were places, some bottlenecks, where they had to move through by twos or threes. Aaron told himself what they lost in time they made up in safety using each bottleneck to recount, making sure any stragglers were found and brought back to the main group. He assumed their enemies wouldn’t expect them to cross gullies or squeeze through dense trees when there were easier trails.

It was also necessary to give the children rest breaks. The bottlenecks provided the perfect opportunity for that as well. The children had to sit and wait, sometimes up to an hour, for their turn to move. On the second hour of the journey, they smelled smoke, it was a little bit past noon on Wednesday; the fires had been started a day early.

Aaron got in touch with David, because they couldn’t tell which direction the fire was in. David could only say it wasn’t coming from one of their targets. One of Matt’s men was who told Aaron the fires were on the other side of the highway they had left. His comm was still tuned to the frequency of his original team. For now, it was at their backs and the road acted as a fire break. That could change if the fire grew too big. The wind was already blowing in this direction. The smoke spurred them on while scaring the little ones, and Aaron had to weigh his options. Speed and possible danger from The Society in one direction, versus safety from the threat of a swiftly moving fire in another.

Marsha could tell her mate was troubled. She worked her way around until she was at his side. They were moving through a narrow pass between two ridges. Fires moved up hills faster than they moved down them. Plus, they gained heat as they moved. If possible, Aaron wanted to avoid climbing hills with a fire at his back. It was a sure recipe for disaster.

“What’s wrong?” Marsha asked him.

“I think we’re going to have to go back to our original route. If that fire crosses the highway, we won’t be able to get to safety fast enough. I know we put several fire departments on alert to a possible fire. I would like to believe they’re putting out the one we smelled even as we speak. We can’t take the risk of being trapped between two fires.”

“Have you contacted David?” Marsha asked. “Maybe the rest of the team has news.”

“I didn’t want to contact him again until our next pre-arranged check-in. When we first smelled the smoke I did speak with him. He says so far none of his targets has lit. We’re close enough now that if they did, I think we’d hear the explosions. The Society has obviously moved up their timetable and so they’re likely monitoring frequencies. The more we use our communications, the greater chance of our signal being hijacked,” he said.

“Yes, I understand that. I just think we need to get as much Intel as we can before we make such a big change in our plans.”

“When we made our plans, we didn’t know there would be this many. It’s taking five times as long to move them. At this rate we won’t make Parcoal until after dark. If the fire gets out of control, we have little to no chance.”

“That’s all the more reason for us to get additional Intel. What about Benji—has he checked in? If we change course, he’ll have to know about it,” Marsha said.

“The fact that he hasn’t reported any problems so far does work in our favor. Actually, he should be meeting up with David soon. We might be able to kill two birds with one contact.”

When David called to check in, it was with some more bad news. They had found additional brush firebombs. They discovered the detonators were radio activated. To counteract that and give them more time to disarm them they had been climbing high in the trees. The team had activated a net of jammers at the right frequency to prevent detonation.

Aaron put the radio down. “It looks like our way is going to change after all. Benji wasn’t there yet, and he’s not answering his radio. I hope he hasn’t run into a problem. If he has though, it’s just one more vote on the side of changing our route again.”

“I agree with you. And we need to keep trying to reach Benji—not only because we need the back-up, if he’s in trouble, I want to know about it,” said Marsha. She had no clue what she would do if he needed help, that didn’t stop her from wanting to know. She wasn’t going to lose her new family the way she’d lost her parents and siblings. She sent a prayer to the goddess to keep him safe.

Aaron pulled out his map. “Okay, here is where we are.”

He pointed to a spot, and then moved his finger over and up, showing Marsha where he planned to go. The newest route would keep them off the mountains and close to water as much as possible. A good tactician, he always had a Plan B and a Plan C in mind.

“It’ll be at least a half an hour before we veer off. We should make sure and contact Benji before, and then try to stay as silent as possible after that,” said Marsha.

“Good idea. I’ll tell Benji to let David know so we won’t have to call him again.”

Aaron was proud of how much Marsha had learned. She was already good at analysis; now she was becoming equally good at tactics. They made a good team. He was looking forward to the future. He still needed to find out what had set her off earlier. Well, he knew what had set her off—Kylie. No, he had to find out what she needed. Then he’d give it to her. There wasn’t anything he wouldn’t give her.

For now though, right at this moment, he had to help Marsha save these children, just like he had saved Kylie so many years ago. He also needed to stop worrying about his little brother. Benji hadn’t missed a radio check-in all the years he’d been in the Navy. He must be in some deep shit to go radio silent at this time.

Aaron was right; Benji was in some deep shit. He’d heard another owl hoot; but this time, when he looked up, he saw a man looking down at him. He could have dealt with that. The hunting rifle and scope made things more difficult. He dove to the right, but wasn’t quite fast enough. The bullet found its mark, and he heard the crack of the rifle as he hit the ground. He now had a bullet lodged in his shoulder.

What was worse, he had a tango with a gun, who was healthy and wanted him dead, not good. Asshole could even now be setting up for another shot. He pushed himself behind a tree and assessed his injury. It had caught the edge of his vest, he was lucky it could have been much worse. Though the bullet was lodged, it was only bleeding sluggishly, not freely, so he hadn’t nicked any arteries and his vest had slowed it down. He didn’t think it had penetrated too deeply.

The guy was going to have to climb down from his tree. Then he would have to hike the quarter mile to Benji’s position. Unless he had a fast rope—and Benji didn’t think so because of the branches. He had a little time. Maneuvering around, he pulled his own rifle around and put it in his lap. He also had a sidearm if he needed it, and a knife, and a garrote, and some explosives, just in case. Sue him, he liked to be prepared for any eventuality.