Chapter 25

Running on adrenaline, Jenna bounded over the uneven ground toward the red-brick building. “Seek Dave, Duke. Seek Tauri.” The dog moved out in front of her, Bear running alongside him sniffing the air.

In the distance she’d spotted one man walking from the truck parked outside to what was left of an old barn. One section was intact, the other half damaged. Bars covered a boarded-up window, and a passageway inside was evident. Was this where they were holding Kane? Where was Tauri? The field ahead was covered in waist-high wheatgrass. Once inside, it would be difficult to see the building, but the grass offered them cover. Panting after the sprint led by Styles, Jenna pushed on, moving through the space in the wheatgrass cut by Styles. The wet blades soaked her jeans and the seed-covered tips stuck to her clothes or whipped against her face. Underfoot, the uneven ground made the way difficult. Behind her, Wolfe pounded along, his heavy medical bag swishing through the grass as he ran. Rain spots hit her hot cheeks and ran down her neck but as they broke out of the wheatgrass, the view ahead was clear and Styles slowed, held up a hand, and scanned the area. She went to his side. “Can you see anything?”

“There’s a chopper parked some ways from the building and two trucks close by. We don’t have any cover. If they come out and see us, hit the ground.” Styles moved forward. “Keep behind me, Jenna.”

One man appeared, lit a cigarette, and walked around to one side of the building. They all moved forward in a line, trying to cover the ground as fast as possible before the smoking man came back. The next moment, someone burst from the passageway, stopped and tossed something, and then ran yelling toward a chopper, sitting about thirty yards away from Jenna but a hundred yards from the men trying to reach it. Ahead of her, Styles stopped moving and drew his revolver. She ran to his side. “Don’t stop.”

“Grenade.” Styles pushed her down into the wheatgrass and Wolfe dropped beside them. “Bear, down.”

Jenna snagged an arm around Duke and grabbed his harness. “Down.” She tugged hard and the dog flopped, panting beside her.

Slapping hands over her ears as an almighty explosion shook the ground, Jenna rolled into a ball. Moments later she opened her eyes as dust climbed into the sky in a cloud of blood red. Bricks and debris flew into the air. Before she could react, a wall of heat rushed over them, sucking up the air around them. Gasping for breath, Jenna coughed. The smell of gunpowder and burning wood and flesh filled her nostrils and coated her tongue. Fragments of bricks and mortar fell from the sky, thumping into the ground all around them. She covered her head as flaming splinters of wood cartwheeled in all directions in a fireworks display of flaming embers that sizzled out in the soaked wheatgrass. Horrified and shaken to her core, Jenna crawled to her feet, oblivious of the falling debris. Where the old barn once stood was a blackened hole surrounded by broken walls and twisted metal. “Nooooo.”

Wolfe’s arms came around her waist and she struggled against him. He was saying something but the ringing in her ears obliterated his voice. She needed to get to Kane and Tauri. Styles took one arm and Wolfe the other and they hightailed it back into the long grass. The next second, automatic-weapons fire cut up the grass around them. She hit the ground hard and all the air rushed out of her lungs. Bullets pinged above them, slicing the tops from the long grass and sending up clouds of chaff. When silence fell, she tried to move but Wolfe was pinning her down. Beside her, Styles crawled forward, went to his knees, and poked his head up.

“FBI. Put down your weapons.” More gunshots peppered the ground around them, and Styles lifted his heavy revolver in both hands and took aim. “Stay down, this ain’t going to be pretty.”

The sound of the revolver boomed and the men’s chopper exploded into a fireball. More gunshots hit the ground around Jenna, but pinned beneath Wolfe, she couldn’t move. Sobbing, she tugged at his arm. “Fire back, for heaven’s sake. They’ll get away.”

Two more booms came from Styles’ 351 Magnum and his face poked through the long grass in front of her. “Both men are down.”

As the ringing in her ears lessened, an eerie silence descended on the quiet landscape. Beside her, Duke trembled and she rubbed his ears. “It’s okay, Duke.”

Desperate to look for Kane and Tauri, Jenna wriggled to get free. “Let me up, Shane. Duke, seek. Find Kane, find Tauri.” Duke took off toward the pile of rubble.

“Let me go in first.” Wolfe’s hand closed around her arm. “Please, Jenna.”

She stared into Wolfe’s concerned face and dragged her arm free. “No. Look at Duke. He hears something.”

Before he had the chance to argue with her, Jenna pushed to her feet and ran, tripping over pieces of broken bricks and dodging smoldering pieces of wood. She stopped on the edge of the blacktop and stared in horror at the pile of smoking rubble. Refusing to believe the inevitable, she ran across the road. “Dave, Dave. Where are you?”

Behind her, Wolfe grabbed her around the waist and she hammered at his arms. “Let me go. I must go to them.”

One corner of the building remained standing, the jagged broken bricks and blackened walls the only sign a building had once stood there. The rest was little more than a pile of rubble. Two bodies with parts missing had been tossed around like rag dolls. She moved closer with shaking legs and stared at them. She choked back a sob. Neither was Kane. Shocked to her core, Jenna pointed a trembling finger toward the remaining wall and pile of broken bricks. “Something moved. I saw it. Look there.” She raised her voice. “Dave, we’re here. Call out.”

Duke took off with Bear at his heels. Both dogs stopped and barked at the pile of rubble. Duke made a mournful whining sound and started to dig furiously at the smoldering pile of debris.

Running, Jenna stared at Styles. “They’re under the rubble. Help me.”

The bricks slid, tumbling away from the pile, and a metal plate sparkled in the watery sunlight. Wolfe and Styles ran across the road and plunged into the smoldering ruins, tossing bricks in all directions with their bare hands. Duke was going crazy, barking and trying to move mountains. The metal plate moved again and then slowly rose spilling bricks in all directions. Jenna ran toward the shaking pile as the top of a metal table speared up through the bricks. Styles and Wolfe ran forward, pushed away bricks, grabbed it, and tossed it aside. Jenna gaped in disbelief as Kane, dust-covered and hardly recognizable, uncurled and straightened, lifting Tauri into his arms. The little boy was liberally coated in red dust, but waved at her. Stumbling through the rubble, she fell against Kane and wrapped her arms around them. “Oh, thank you, Lord.”

“We’re okay.” Kane kissed Jenna and then shifted Tauri onto one hip to hold her against him, but the long chains attached to his manacles were pinned under the rubble, preventing him from moving far. “A few bruises maybe and my ears are ringing some, but the metal table protected us and they’d locked us in a room with a metal door. That wall took most of the impact. The door flew straight past us and then the roof caved in.” He looked at Styles. “Thanks for coming. Can you get me out of these things?” He passed Tauri to Jenna.

“Yeah, sure.” Styles pulled out a small leather kit from his pocket and went to work on the locks.

Unable to stop the tears from flowing, Jenna checked Tauri all over. “Are you okay, sweetheart?”

“Daddy saved us from the baddy man.” Tauri snuggled against Jenna. “I bit that man hard.”

Jenna brushed the dust from his head and shoulders. “You were very brave. I’m so proud of you.” She looked at Kane. “And Daddy too.”