Page 87 of Trapped

Chapter Sixteen

Headlights knifed down the road. Were more guards on the way? What?

Cash waited with his heart pounding, but the car sped by and he grabbed Sophia’s hand. She held on tightly as they crossed the two-lane road. She took the lead, running down a wide path, and he saw that indeed, huge bushes covered with masses of blooming flowers were towering over them.

After twenty yards, she veered off onto a narrow track leading uphill between eight-foot-tall azaleas. When she found a small opening, she plunged under the foliage on the left, wedging herself in and making room for Cash—if they curled around each other.

“How did they figure out we came here?” she whispered.

He made an angry sound. “Unfortunately, it looks like they put a transponder on the car.”

“Like I used to track you around the bunker?”

“Yes.”

He looked out, wishing he’d driven the car over the side of the parking area before they’d crossed the road. It would have plunged down into the stream valley below the dam, and the bad guys might have thought that he and Sophia had gone over the edge. But it was too late for that now.

The noise of the helicopter was almost above them.

No wait. He could hear two helos. One right here and the other a little farther away.

Across the road, he could see lights moving back and forth—confirming his assumption about the transponder. The bad guys were starting with the car. When they realized it was empty, they’d begin widening their search.

As he expected, the helicopter began to circle, the light striking pink, red and white bushes, making sudden splashes of color leap out of the blackness. The wind from the rotors whipped the branches, sending blossoms swirling into the air.

He brought his mouth to Sophia’s ear. “Don’t move.”

Reaching for his Sig, he worked his hand into firing position as he wrapped his free arm around her and pressed his lips to her cheek.

The spotlight wove through the wooded area, still illuminating the blooming bushes, still tearing the blossoms off their stems. On its first pass, it missed them. Then it swung back, and he tensed, waiting for the light to strike their hiding place.

When it did, he stopped breathing.

The machine hovered, and he was pretty sure the spotters had found them.

He brought his mouth to Sophia’s ear. “Stay under the bushes, but see how far you can get from this spot. If you can make it to the reservoir without being seen, maybe you can swim across and get away.

She turned her head. “What about you?”

“They can’t land in the trees. They must use the open space in the parking lot. I’m going to take out as many of them as I can.”

Before she could object, he left her, wiggling through the bushes and slithering out. Climbing to his feet, he started running back up the trail toward the road, the air thick with blossoms that had been ripped from the azaleas.

He reached the fence that marked the edge of the wooded area as the helicopter zoomed toward the parking lot. It was still a hundred feet in the air when something happened. The rotors choked and sputtered, and the machine came crashing down to the blacktop—where it burst into flames.

Cash leaped back, his gun at the ready. Someone clamped a hand on his shoulder. “Relax. You’re safe.”

Was he?

“Sophia?” another voice called. “Are you there? Are you all right? Come out. It’s Hunter Kelley, from Decorah Security.”

“Here. I’m here.” Sophia came running up the path, her eyes wide.

The man who was holding Cash let go, and he stepped quickly toward her.

Sophia ran to Cash. “Are you all right?” she asked.

“Yes.”

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