I waggled my brows. “You know it.”
He offered me a private grin, then strode off into the night.
Not so long ago, I’d asked Ripper if we would have found each other before the pandemic wiped out most of humanity. I couldn’t imagine myself fitting into his world. I don’t drink. I’d never do anything sexual in public. I’m not a wild party girl. He’d shrugged off the question. We fit now, and that’s all that mattered to him.
I was the least likely person to end up passed out, naked, and drunk on the floor, and Ripper knew it.
Sahdev set up the Parcheesi board, and we introduced Hannah and Levi to the game. Levi lasted for more than an hour before fatigue got the better of him, and he retreated to the bedroom he shared with Hannah. Hannah and I curled up at opposite ends of the sofa. I read one of the romances from my e-book library while Hannah leafed through a magazine she’d found in the defunct bathroom. Sahdev sat at the kitchen table, playing solitaire.
My eyes started to droop. Since I’d be taking second watch, I decided to go to bed and snatch a few hours of sleep before I had to get back up. When I stood and stretched, Hector trotted over to the front door and looked at me expectantly.
“Hector needs a potty break,” I said, yawning. “I’m on my feet. I’ll take him out.” I slipped on my boots and a jacket—the nights were chilly—and opened the door. While Hector went about his business, I tilted back my head and gazed up at the clear night sky. Without city lights to diminish their brilliance, millions of stars sparkled and winked against the inky canopy. A shooting star flashed across the heavens.
Was it just three nights ago that I couldn’t think of a single thing to wish for when I saw my last shooting star? How quickly things had changed. “Bring Ripper and Kyle safely back home,” I whispered. “And let us take back Valhalla and save Bear.”
A flash of movement in my peripheral vision drew my eyes to the ground. A rabbit twitched his ears, then dashed away. Hector cocked his head. I tripped over my feet in a vain attempt to snag his collar before he bolted after the bunny.
Too late. He slipped through my fingers and tore after the rabbit. Giving chase was an irresistible impulse for the normally well-behaved boy, as old Mrs. Mowbray’s ginger cat could attest.
“Hector,” I shouted, as he disappeared from view into the night.
I ran back into the house, slamming the screen door behind me. “Hector took off after a rabbit.”
“Which way did he go?” Sahdev asked, rising to his feet.
“Toward the road, I think.”
The commotion woke Levi, who stumbled bleary eyed into the room. “What’s going on?”
“Hector ran away,” Hannah explained, tying the laces on her sneakers.
“We’ll never catch up on foot,” I said.
“If he’s heading toward the road, we might be able to intercept him.” Sahdev grabbed the jeep keys from the kitchen counter and pulled a sweatshirt over his head. Hannah and I followed him toward the door.
“Hold on,” Levi said. “I’ll come, too.”
“We can’t leave the house and weapons unguarded,” Sahdev said. “You stay here. With any luck, we should be back as soon as Hector gives up the chase or wears himself out.”
“Hannah, how about you stay here with me.”
“No.” She scrunched up her face and shook her head. “I love Hector, and I want to help. We won’t be long.”
We ran to the jeep. Hannah and I climbed into the back. At the end of the long driveway, Sahdev paused. “East or west?”
I had absolutely no intuitive sense of direction. “Go left.”
I rolled down my window. As Sahdev slowly drove down the road, I swept a flashlight beam over the arid, rolling hills, while Hannah and I called Hector’s name. After ten minutes of fruitless searching, I switched off the light.
“Maybe he can’t hear us. Maybe we should get out and try on foot, in case he ran away from the road and into the hills.”
“Hector is a smart dog,” Sahdev said. “Chances are he’s already turned around and made his way back to the house. We—” He cut off abruptly, slamming on the brakes.
Straight ahead, a pickup was parked sideways across the road, obstructing our path. The jeep’s headlights illuminated the words Valhalla Ranch on the pickup driver’s door.
“Oh, shit,” I breathed.
“Back up!” Hannah shrieked.
Sahdev threw the jeep into reverse and hit the gas, then just as quickly braked so hard that I banged my skull against the headrest. I twisted around, squinting at the dark shape that blocked our retreat.
Sahdev hit the gas again, turning the jeep sideways on the road. He backed up until the rear tires left the gravel and sunk slightly into the uneven soil. A cluster of juniper trees hugged the road, obscuring the back of the jeep.
Sahdev swung his head back and forth between the vehicles that had hemmed us in. “We’re boxed in.” He didn’t turn his head to look at us as he spoke. “Climb out the back of the jeep. Grab two go bags. Close the tailgate as quietly as you can. Then run and don’t stop until you’re well away.”
“Sahdev, we can’t leave you alone to face the Wilcox Brigade.”
“They already have me,” he said, his voice utterly calm. “If I run with you, they’ll follow and catch us all. There will be no one to tell the others what happened. There’s no time to argue. Go. Now.”
“Sahdev.” I choked out his name, horrified by the prospect of abandoning him to the mercies of a group of white supremacists.
“Kenzie. Now.” He barked out the words, startling me into action.
I nodded and met his eyes in the rearview mirror. “We’ll come for you. We won’t leave you behind.”
Hannah and I climbed out the back of the jeep, slung go bags over our shoulders, then gently closed the tailgate. Holding hands, we bent over and scuttled through the trees, running blindly away from the road. We didn’t stop running until sweat ran down our faces and we were gasping for breath.
I dropped down onto my knees and braced my hands against the dirt, panting.
Sweet Jesus.
Sahdev. The Wilcox Brigade had Sahdev.
TWENTY-SEVEN
Kenzie
We flew over the dark, uneven landscape, putting maximum distance between ourselves and the members of the Wilcox Brigade. Panic fueled our flight, and adrenaline gave our feet wings. By sheer luck, we avoided tripping over a rock or a depression in the rough land. Now—adrenaline exhausted and limbs trembling—we took stock of our situation.
We were in trouble.
I sat down hard on the rocky dirt, and Hannah flopped next to me.
Glittering stars illuminated the sky, but on the ground, darkness pressed in from every side. The gloomy silhouettes of rolling hills surrounded us in all directions. Not a single light broke through the curtain of black.
“Shit,” Hannah said, craning her neck to scan our surroundings.
“Yeah, shit,” I agreed.
“What do you think they’ll do to Sahdev?” Hannah’s voice trembled.
A brown man in the hands of white supremacists? My blood chilled. We had to get back to the others, to let them know. Our mission to seize Valhalla just took on a new urgency.