“If it comes to that, Kyle and I—”
An explosion rent the air, and I fell back onto my ass. Billows of smoke and dirt erupted from the spot in front of me where the mystery man had buried the bomb.
Were explosives the new weapon of choice in the post-pandemic world? First the dam, then the cabin, and now this. The man in the hoodie had been busy.
Smoke tickled my throat, and I buried my mouth in the crook of my elbow to stifle a cough. I heard men shout and the sound of running feet as the congregation descended on the location. The bomb blew a hole ten feet wide in the chainlink fence.
Dropping onto my stomach, I wriggled backward, deeper into the woods, ready to jump up and run if they decided to search the forest.
At the blast site, confusion reigned. Men were shouting and pointing, waving their arms, but nobody looked to be in charge. Pastor Bill, Deacon Gary, and Deacon Morris strode toward the breach in the fence. Looked like all the men in the congregation had gathered in one spot.
In one spot. Huh. Was that the mystery man’s goal?
My walkie-talkie crackled, and I had to hold it close to my ear to hear Sahdev’s voice. “Nicole and Hannah are at the back of the camp. Nicole is helping the girl climb over the fence.”
Yeah. Just what I suspected. The bomb was a diversion.
I retreated into the cover of the forest, then began to sprint toward the back of the property, planning to intercept the pair. Spied them up ahead, running away from the camp.
Hannah held her long skirt up with one hand and clung to the bomber’s hand with the other.
How the hell did a teenage girl get mixed up with a bomber? And why was Nicole helping her?
When I drew closer to the pair the man stopped, shoved some branches out of the way, and pulled a dirt bike out from behind a tree. He mounted the bike and the girl climbed on behind him. She balled her long skirt up and tucked it between their bodies, then wrapped her arms around his waist and buried her face in his back. She was trembling so hard I figured she might fall off the bike.
The man turned his head to say something to her and spotted me running toward them. He pushed the hood back from his face and scowled, his expression angry and defiant.
I was looking into the face of a pissed off teenager. Kid couldn’t have been more than seventeen, maybe eighteen.
“Tell Pastor Bill he can go fuck himself,” he shouted.
Wait. The kid thought I was one of Pastor’s Bill’s men?
After a split-second hesitation, I closed the distance between us.
Had a lot of questions for the kid.
With one swift kick, he cold-started the dirt bike and tore away from me, racing up a forest path. I could never catch up with a bike on foot, so I gave up the chase.
What the ever-loving fuck was going on?
TWENTY
Ripper
The dirt bike disappeared from view.
I stared after it. A kid. How could a kid possess the wherewithal to blow up a dam?
Don’t be a dumb shit. He blew a hole in a fence. Doesn’t mean he knows how to blow up a dam.
Voices rang out behind me. Pastor Bill’s men spilled into the forest, hunting for either the bomber or the runaway teenage girl.
I took off, heading in the direction of the Road King. Yanked the walkie-talkie out of my pocket and called Kyle.
“You and Sahdev meet me at the service road where you parked. The forest is crawling with the pastor’s men, chasing after either Hannah or the bomber. Be careful. Over.”
I stuffed the radio back in my pocket so I could focus on the uneven landscape. Didn’t wanna trip over a branch and face-plant on the forest floor.
If any of the pastor’s men were trigger happy, sprinting away from the explosion painted a target on my back. Kept out of sight and ahead of any pursuers as I ran. The dumb luck I despised favored me this time. Found the bike without attracting attention and raced toward the rendezvous point.
Kyle and Sahdev jogged through the trees a few minutes later.
“The kids got away on a dirt bike.”
“Kids?” Kyle frowned. “What kids?”
“Hannah and the bomber. He couldn’t have been more than eighteen. From the way he and Hannah were hanging onto each other, I bet he’s her boyfriend. Probably set the bomb to create a diversion so she could escape.”
“This way,” a man’s voice called out from nearby.
Too close. I scanned the trees for any sign of the pastor’s men. “We’ll talk back at Nicole’s cabin.”
Sahdev and Kyle nodded and jumped into their vehicles. Waited for them to safely pull away before I followed. Half an hour later we met up at Nicole’s cabin.
We marched into the cabin and took places around the small kitchen table, the most improbable war council ever. An outlaw biker, a spoiled college boy, and an idealistic doctor. Improbable, yeah, but we were all more than our archetypes, and we were going to take down an armed cult.
“Tell us what you saw.” Sahdev opened our deliberations.
“Last night I watched a tall man wearing a hoodie bury something by the fence. I assumed he was an adult. After it exploded, I figured he was probably the man who blew up The Dalles Dam. I mean, how many men are running around setting explosives right now?”
“One’s more than enough,” Kyle muttered.
“Long story short, the same guy met Hannah after she went over the fence. He’d stashed a dirt bike nearby, so they were able to get away clean. Before they rode off, he pushed back his hood so I could see his face. Shocked the hell outta me. He was a kid. Yelled ‘Tell Pastor Bill he can go fuck himself.’ Then they took off.”
A pause while they mulled over my words, then Sahdev broke the silence. “Because you were chasing him, he presumed that you were one of the pastor’s men.”
“Yeah, insulting as fuck, but guess I can’t blame him. If Hannah had turned around and looked, she would have recognized me, but she kept her face buried in his back.”
“So, what do we know for sure?” Kyle held up one finger. “First, Nicole helped Hannah escape from the camp.” He held up a second finger. “Second, a teenage boy planted a bomb and blew a hole in the fence. Everything else is conjecture.”
“You’re right. There’s more that we don’t know than we do.” Following Kyle’s lead, Sahdev raised one finger. “Why did Nicole help Hannah flee from the camp, and why did the girl want to run?” Another finger. “Assuming the teenage boy planted a bomb in order to help his girlfriend escape, did the same boy blow up the cabin and the dam? And if he did, what was his motivation?” He raised a third finger. “And most importantly, is Kenzie being held in that camp? And if so, how can we rescue her?”
Sahdev and I were on the same page with that last one. That was the most important question, although I suspected that everything was bound together in one not-so-tidy little bundle.
“We need information. We gotta find Hannah and her boyfriend before the pastor’s men do. Find out if she knows where Mac is. Find out what’s going on with Nicole—if she’s still Team Bill or if she’s flipped. Find out what the boyfriend’s deal is, if he’s just a new and improved version of Caleb going for bigger targets, or if something else is going on.”
Both men nodded.