Page 68 of Operation: Chosen

“Interested like Deputy Blake?” Eric asked.

Herb rolled his eyes. “I had him taken care of. We don’t need security there, so when my ticket taker sent me an urgent message about the police, I sent Clayton after him. I’m sure he won’t be a further issue.”

Ali touched his arm and squeezed. She hadn’t had a chance to tell him about Deputy Blake yet, but he hoped that squeeze meant the officer was going to be okay.

“So, the offer is that I work for you, or you shoot me?” He wasn’t going to help Herb commit crimes. End of story.

“Oh, no. I’ll shoot her so it’s over quickly for her. But you… I have much more drawn out and painful plans for you to give you plenty of time to change your mind. Agree to my terms and you save both of you. Say no, and you both die. Now,” he turned his cold stare on Eric, “what will it be?”

ChapterTwenty-Seven

Aplan formed quickly in Ali’s mind as she linked her arm around Eric’s elbow in what she hoped Herb would think was a show of support or fear. All that lifting she’d done in the gym was about to come in handy. Slowly, while Herb was focused on Eric, she gathered a handful of hay dust in her opposite fist.

“What do you say, Eric? You know there’s only one choice.”

Eric wasn’t powerless, just hindered, and she wasn’t about to let both of them die because he’d been trampled. But she couldn’t accurately throw dust in Herb’s eyes from her position on the floor. She closed her eyes for a second and felt peace like she’d never felt before. All of the questioning and worry disappeared as she tightened the muscles in her legs in preparation to push them both up off the floor.

Eric weighed more than she did, and she hoped that as she rose, he’d help too and lean against her. With his uneven weight distribution because of the cast, he’d need her help to stand from the floor at all. Getting up quickly would take faith.

Suddenly her peace made all the sense in the world.Okay, I get it. I’ll ask Eric more about You when we get out of here.

With a silent count to three, she braced her arm tightly and gave Eric’s arm a slight squeeze to warn him, then forced her body to rise as quickly as she could. Eric was surprised, but only for a fraction of a second before she felt him add his momentum. She made it to her feet and flung the dry dust in Herb’s eyes.

He tried to block her with his arm, but that meant he was no longer aiming a gun at them. Ali raced to the door and flung it open, Eric right on her heels. “Go!” He put pressure on her back to get her moving.

She didn’t know what or who was out there. Would there be more people to shoot at them? A bullet whizzed by her, and she fought against the urge to drop to her belly and just give up. Eric gripped her arm and took off running for the trees.

The area looked so different from where they were, but they’d been taken to the same little ranch holding area where they’d found Skyfall. Ali ran past trees as branches cut into her cheeks and pulled on her loose shirt.

Eric gripped her arm as she raced by and yanked her behind a tree. He let go of her arm and held a finger to his lips for quiet. They weren’t going to just let her go. Not Eric either, but for sure not her. Even if he’d said he would take the job, they would’ve had to kill her because she could report them.

“We have to keep going,” she whispered without making a sound. The hair on her arms stood on end, and she could hear men walking toward them. Just ducking out from behind the tree would be dangerous. Staying there would mean certain death.

Eric nodded, looked over his shoulder, waited about three seconds that seemed to drag on forever, then ran for another tree. Ali followed, taking a slightly different route. If the men shot at them, she didn’t want both of them getting hit. If they stayed apart, they both had a better chance.

She heard the sound of cars and remembered the four-lane highway that was on the other side of the small pasture. The area wasn’t that big, but it was open. The men chasing them would be less likely to shoot or come after them if there were witnesses to catch them in the act.

Reaching Eric, she silently motioned for the road. He looked confused since she was pointing in the direction they’d come, but she had to make him understand without giving him the whole play by play of what she’d just thought about and turned over in her head. She gripped his cheeks tightly, feeling the roughness of the stubble coming in so many hours after his morning shave. She kissed him, trying to put every ounce of feeling for him in that one kiss.Lord, if you’re there and only one of us can make it out, make it him. Just reconnecting with him has been the fulfillment of a lifelong goal. Thank you…

She broke free of his hold and raced back into the trees.

* * *

Eric openedhis mouth to scream her name, then swallowed it back. If he made noise, he’d draw attention to them. Where could she be going and why? He dodged behind a wide tree and looked back at the men slowly hunting through the trees to find them.

He counted three men, none of them Herb or Clayton, meaning there were at least five men available for the chase. Five against two, and they were all armed. He and Ali weren’t. Eric tried to make his mind work like Ali’s, but he couldn’t think of what her plan might be. They had to get off this property, not race back onto it.

Eric followed her, picking his path carefully. His cast, though dirty now, was still a huge white mass in the middle of a densely treed area. Not the easiest to hide. Someone behind him shot what sounded like a small caliber pistol, and he held his position, turning his search toward Ali.

He couldn’t see her anymore, so there was no way the men could’ve been shooting at her, but that didn’t mean a bullet couldn’t manage to get through. Trees were pretty good at stopping bullets, but he refused to trust completely in their ability to protect him. He dodged ahead, trying to keep out of the men’s line of sight.

Road noise from the freeway made hearing the men’s movement almost impossible. If he couldn’t hear them, he had to be even more careful. A little white outbuilding that looked like it might house ATVs sat to his left. He barely caught a glimpse of Ali’s brightly colored boots as she ducked around the corner.

He raced after her, needing to know that she was protected. She could be walking into a trap, and he would never be able to get her out. His phone was gone, so he couldn’t call for help. Hopefully her text to Lacy was enough to get someone on the way. If they weren’t, rescue was up to them.

How could he communicate with her without making a noise? He caught up to her as she slowly crept around the building, scaring her.

“I wasn’t sure where you went,” she whispered with almost no sound.

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