Page 24 of A Gathering Storm

“Your mother and I both have very dangerous jobs, Sadie. She was doing what she thought was best to protect you.”

Sadie dropped her head and kicked the ground.

Cole glanced up at Eva with so much love in his eyes. “With God’s help, you and I will have time to get to know each other, and we will be a family. You and me and your mother.”

The promise in those words warmed Eva inside.Please,God.

Sadie slowly turned toward Eva. With tears shimmering in the child’s eyes, she wrapped her tiny arms around Eva’s waist, her body racked with sobs.

Eva knelt and gathered the child close. “It’s okay, sweetie.” She held Sadie while she cried and regretted her decision again. Time was short. She’d have to find a way to let go of the regret.

When Sadie’s tears finally subsided, Eva wiped her face and lifted her baby into her arms. “Let’s go get you something to eat,” she whispered, and Sadie nodded against her neck.

As she and Cole continued toward the lodge, a noise above captured her attention. The sound of it sent terror through her. Planes flew overhead. She stopped dead in her tracks and spun toward Cole. “Do you hear that?”

The concern frozen on his face confirmed he had. “Let’s hurry inside and let the others know.”

“How did they find us so soon?” she asked, her breath coming in gasps as they ran the rest of the way to the building.

Cole grabbed the door and opened it. “Let’s hope they haven’t.”

The door closed behind them. They raced toward the war room when Jen stepped from the kitchen. “Hey, what’s going on?”

Eva did her best to explain. “Would you take Sadie to get something to eat?” She set the child on her feet. “Honey, go with Jen, okay? I’ll come find you soon.”

Sadie was only too happy to spend more time with Jen.

Several people turned as they entered the war room.

Victor spotted the fear on both their faces and hurried to their sides. “What’s wrong?”

“Planes are flying over the camp,” Eva pushed the words out.

The truth dawned quickly, and Victor turned to James. “Can you tell what’s up there.”

James typed in some commands. “I set up a cloaking protection for this entire property as soon as I arrived. We have a monitoring system in place that is similar to what is used by air traffic controllers. It lets us know what’s flying over our air space.” He brought up the program and studied it intently. “Four planes.” He typed something else. “They appear to be small ones.”

Eva didn’t like it. It was too much of a coincidence. “Why would four small planes be flying over the area at one time?”

James appeared as skeptical as she did. “Good question.” He typed some more and sat back in his seat. “This is interesting. There’s a forest fire on the other side of the mountain range.” James looked their way. “This is the first I’m hearing of it, and we keep a close watch on what’s happening around the area. An odd time for a forest fire, don’t you think?”

James continued to observe the screen showing the planes’ flight path.

“They appear to be heading toward the fire.” Cole pointed to the location. Eva was close enough to feel his tension.

“We monitor the skies twenty-four seven,” Victor announced. “And come first light, we need to set up some protective measures to keep people from just happening onto the camp.”

Eva agreed. “It would be a good idea to do a recon around the place and into the mountains to see what’s there in case we have to evacuate.”

The very thought of evacuating so many people was staggering, especially if their only option was crossing the mountains covered in snow.

“Let’s hope it doesn’t come to that, but it’s a good idea,” Cole interjected. “I’ll set up a recon team. We’ll leave at first light.”

“I want to be part of it.”

Though he wanted to protest, everyone’s lives were in danger, and she and Cole worked well together. “All right.” He peered at Victor. “I’ll take Kaid, Ben, Will, and Lincoln with us if that’s okay.”

Victor agreed. “I’ll work on putting precautions in place. Keep watching the skies. I’m not one to believe in coincidences, and this is certainly a strange one.”

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