Page 60 of Operation: Unify

Cole drew something out of the back of his jacket and tore off the end. He took the end that he tore off and struck the long stick. It flared immediately, illuminating everything within a few feet.

Three shots came from the trees and Cole threw the road flare onto the driveway about twenty feet behind him. He then ran across as the men fired on him. Connor gripped the tree; unsure what Cole was doing. He could be volatile and when he felt cornered, would rely on no one but himself.

The men followed him, running toward the light. The moment they ran for the trees, Connor clotheslined one of the men who tried to run past him. Edwyn tackled the other. He let Edwyn deal with his own man as Connor wrestled to get the attacker’s gun from him. Cole returned and raced over to help Edwyn. Once they had him subdued and his hands tied, they came over to wrestle the man Connor had trapped.

“That leaves four.” Connor looked toward the house. He could barely see it through the trees.

“We’ll get these two locked away. Where should we go?” Cole asked as he led the two men they’d caught slowly toward the house.

They had an area in the barn where Sam occasionally locked dogs that were too untrained to be part of his kennel. That made the most sense to use for now until they could gather all of them and get a hold of some police force.

“Message from Brendon. There’s a team of FBI agents on the way. Viceroy is a big fish, and they want him,” Edwyn relayed the news.

“Great. They’re only an hour away. Let’s get as many rounded up before they get here as possible.” At least Lacy was safely inside and the only thing those men who’d been headed for the barn could’ve found were horses, hay, and feed.

“Let’s stow these two in the barn and see what Junior was after.” Connor headed left though the house was to the right along the driveway. His heart might be there, but he couldn’t follow it until the work was done.

At the baseof the haystack, Lacy glanced around for inspiration. She needed something to make noise on the other end of the barn or to distract the men hunting for the light switch.

“By the time we find it, they’ll be gone,” one of the men said.

She heard the click of the switchbox flipping open and she knew they’d found the light. They didn’t use the fluorescents often, but they took a minute to come on fully. Lacy headed for the first stall. Maximus, a massive gray workhorse, stomped in his stall. She carefully slid to the front along the wall and quickly released him.

As she backed him out, the men noticed her. “Hey! What are you doing?”

Lacy whispered a command, telling Maximus to go to the house. One of the biggest issues with that particular horse, that Eric couldn’t break him of, was once he was given a command, he would trample anything in his way to complete it.

Maximus headed off at a trot, right toward the men. Lacy grabbed Adam’s hand and ran out the back of the barn. There was no time to cover their tracks, so she swung Adam up on the top of the fence, then started helping the others over. She had a vague idea where they could go, but her main objective was to get away from the men.

“Wait, don’t shoot!” the strange voice yelled.

Junior’s voice answered. “Hands in the air where I can see them.”

That was two of the men down, but she had no idea how many there were in total. Connor had always told her she should keep going until she knew she was safely away from danger. “Keep going!” she encouraged her group.

Ahead of them was a dark pasture that led to the Homestead. Most people outside of Wayside didn’t know it was there. Viceroy and his men might still think the whole place was a burned-out shell. Even people in town didn’t know they’d built homes there, since the Homestead was heavily wooded and private.

Moira waited with Adam on the other side of the fence until Lacy climbed over. A volley of shots from the lodge scared her into moving quicker.

“Do you think they got in the house?” Moira glanced quickly at her and they ran as fast as they could through the snow.

“I hope not. I don’t think Connor would intentionally lead them that way.” It was hard to talk as she ran. Some of thewomen were already slowing down. They wouldn’t make it the full mile if they kept at such a pace.

Lacy kept her voice as low as she could. “Everyone, stay together. Slow down so we don’t lose anyone.” She watched behind her, waiting for dark forms to follow them.

Slowing down was a risk, but no one in the group was used to speeding through snow on foot. She didn’t want to risk anyone having a heart attack from fear and strain. There were other risks though, too. Animals wandered around in the dark, ones that might not take on a full grown horse but would think a person was easy prey. Especially with the scent of fear on them.

“Watch around you. Keep your eyes open. Help me look for anything that moves.” Maybe engaging them in doing more than moving would keep them focused.

Moira kept her pace slow to accommodate her son who, at ten, had lots of energy but short legs. He also swiveled his head back and forth, watching for anything. The dark line of trees Lacy was aiming for seemed further away the longer they walked, not closer.

More shots made one of the women scream. She couldn’t help it. These poor women had seen the worst of humanity. Some had seen death, beatings, starvation, and worse. Hopefully, Connor would get the men who’d attacked them, and they wouldn’t have to be afraid in their home anymore.

“There’s someone coming,” Adam whispered to her.

“Where?” She’d been trying to watch everywhere.

“Behind us. He’s alone, but I can see he has a rifle. We should hide.” He looked behind him again.

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