Page 77 of Peace Under Fire

“Those are our orders,” Squish said.

Fabio grunted, relief clear in the sound.

Squish eased down on the accelerator and the Land Rover crept forward. He turned the SUV in a wide circle and headed back the way the vehicles had come. It was easy to see their earlier path. Wide, deep tracks cut across the snowy landscape.

He wasn’t sure how much of the driveway they’d covered when the first sign of trouble hit.

“You hear that?” Ajax asked.

Yeah, he heard it too. The high, shrill buzz of snowmobiles. More than one from the sound of it. They weren’t alone. Not any longer. He turned off the headlights.

He eased his foot off the gas and glanced in the rearview mirror. The headlights of the second SUV had blinked out too. Ajax and Fabio, were both sitting up, methodically sorting out the weapons in the cargo area.

Odds were good that the bastards on those snow machines were Mandy’s cockroaches. Did they know the compound had been searched? Not that it mattered. They’d find the Rovers, or at least their tracks, as soon as they swung by the buildings.

“We have company.” Crusher’s flat, tinny voice came from the phone resting on Mandy’s thighs. “Options?”

“Hunkering down and circling the wagons isn’t an option,” Squish said, his boot pressing down harder on the accelerator. “Not when those bastards have access to gas canisters that can knock us out from a distance. We need to keep out of range.”

“Outrunning them isn’t an option either,” Crusher reminded him. “Some of those heavy-duty snowmobiles can reach two hundred miles per hour.” There was a pause. “They’re coming from the west, but no headlights yet. From the map Tex forwarded, there’s a section up ahead that’s less wooded. There’s a good chance they’re coming through there. We should be able to reach it before them and drop a couple of men with RPGs.”

Squish shoved a hand through his hair. “What if it’s just a couple of good old boys out for a midnight ride?”

“There’s that.” Crusher’s voice turned grim. “We’ll avoid a direct hit. Force them to rethink their plans for the night. If they keep coming, we’ll know for certain they’re after us.” Crusher’s voice disappeared for a moment, and Squish heard voices in the background. “You’ve got the motherlode on board,” Crusher said, his voice fainter, like he’d set the phone down and was talking into it from a distance. “We’ll hold them off. You get Grumpy and our packages out of here.”

“On it,” Squish said, his mind spinning through risk assessments.

The driveway was the most obvious escape route, which made it the most dangerous too. They’d identified the snowmobiles coming from the west, but the smart supervillain would plant someone along the driveway.

If his team had been made, there were probably snowmobiles parked ahead, hiding in the trees, waiting to intercept. They needed to get off the driveway, which was going to be problematic. The woods around here were too dense to drive a vehicle through.

He churned past the area Crusher was planning to stake out. Every instinct he possessed was screaming get off the driveway.

“We need to abandon the driveway,” Squish said.

A quick glance in the rearview mirror showed emptiness behind them. Crusher had pulled off. Still no headlights up ahead. But then, if he were up there setting a trap he’d shutter his snowmobile to avoid detection.

“Is there a section of the forest up ahead that’s thin enough for us to go off road?” he asked.

“No,” Mandy said, her voice tight. “It’s tree on tree from here to West Lake Road. We wouldn’t make it through.”

They’d have to hike out then.

He eased off the accelerator. “JoAnn, is Grumpy stable enough to carry out?”

“I don’t know.” JoAnn leaned forward to peer at him. “He’s still sleeping, so he hasn’t completely healed. But I have no way of knowing how far along he is.”

Squish scowled. Carrying Grumpy out on the mechanic’s dolly would take at least two men. Which meant they’d only have one man weaponed up and ready for action. Hauling him out over the shoulder would give them an additional man on guard duty, which might make all the difference to their continuing health.

Damn it. He’d just have to hope that Grumpy was stable enough for a shoulder ride.

“I’ll take Grumpy,” Squish said. Up ahead was a shallow opening in the forest wall. “Ajax, Fabio, you’re on guard duty. Mandy, JoAnn, when we bug out, stick on me like latex on wet skin.”

“Why can’t we just stay in the car?” JoAnn asked, her tone tense. “We’ve only got another half mile and the driveway will merge with West Lake.”

“Because if these are the bastards after you, they won’t leave the driveway unguarded. And we can’t afford to get within range of their gas canisters,” Squish said as he eased the SUV off the driveway and weaved his way into the trees.

He didn’t get far before thick branches and tall trunks closed around them.

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