Page 88 of Deserving Ryleigh
“I don’t know. It doesn’t make sense,” Ryleigh said with a small shake of her head.
“I agree. Why threaten to blow up everything at The Refuge, only to make her play a game?” Brick said.
“Does heneeda reason? He’s sick,” Owl pointed out.
“What matters now is getting everyone somewhere safe,” Pipe said. “If Ry makes a mistake, this wanker coulddecide to punish her by blowing up another cabin. We have no idea what he might strike next.”
“We could all go to Los Alamos,” Alaska suggested.
Spike shook his head. “Tiny said that Lodge mentioned the vehicles. He could have put a bomb in one or all of them, for all we know. The second we try to get everyone out of here, he could blow them up.”
The women’s faces all leached of color.
“So what do we do?” Cora asked, gaze going to her foster kids, who were standing with the other guests, huddled around their sister Joyce, who was holding onto them as tightly as if she was their mother.
Tiny met Brick’s gaze, then looked to his other friends. They’d made a vow years ago never to disclose their secret to anyone. But that promise seemed pointless in the face of the current threat.
Brick cleared his throat. “The bunkers,” he said.
Immediately, the owners of The Refuge all nodded.
Ryleigh squeezed Tiny’s hand. He returned the pressure but didn’t look at her.
“Bunkers? What bunkers?” Maisy asked.
“When we had this place built, we had seven bunkers installed. Out in the woods. Underground. One for each of us. As a precaution. When we first arrived, we were all paranoid and still dealing with our own versions of hell that we’d been through. I stashed Alaska in one when I was hunting a man who was here to kidnap her, and it was where Ry stashed Jasna when she’d gone missing, until we could get to her,” Brick told the group.
“Holy crap,” Reese said.
“You knew about them?” Cora asked Ryleigh.
She nodded but didn’t elaborate.
“Ry found evidence of the bunkers easily enough, maybe her father did too,” Tonka said.
“Maybe. But I swear I erased any mentions of them on the web that I could find,” Ryleigh countered.
“It’s a chance we’ll have to take,” Brick said. “They’re our best option. The bunkers aren’t huge, but they should be large enough to fit everyone. We can make an even split between women and men, keep everyone safe for the time it’ll take us to search all the buildings and make sure there aren’t any more bombs. While Ry does her thing, that is.”
Ryleigh straightened. “No, youallneed to go to the bunkers. There’s no telling what my dad has up his sleeve. He could set off one of the bombs right when you go into a cabin to search it.No oneis safe. You have to go with your wives and friends to the bunkers.” Her voice was hard and unbending.
“I’m not sure the Wi-Fi will reach the bunkers,” Tonka said. “Sometimes it gets flaky even down at the barn.”
“That’s okay, because I’ll be right here,” Ryleigh said.
Everyone immediately protested. Loudly.
But she held up a hand. “We don’t have time for this,” she hissed, looking at her watch. “My dad gave me twenty minutes to get online. There’s only twelve minutes left. You guys have to get everyone to those bunkers. I need to get my laptop from the cabin. You go. I started this, and I’m going to end it. I’ve put each and every one of you in enough danger. I won’t do it anymore.Please. Get everyone to safety.”
Tiny’s friends weren’t happy. They were used to taking control of any kind of dangerous situation. They were used to action, not hiding. But Ryleigh was right. No one coulddo what she did. They couldn’t pretend to be her, couldn’t go online and face down her father.
Their lives were, literally and figuratively, in her very skilled hands.
“She’s right,” Tiny said. “Take the others to safety. I’ll stay with Ryleigh.”
“No, Tiny, you can’t.”
He ignored her protest. If she thought he was leaving her here to face Harold alone, she hadn’t been paying attention to the kind of man he was. He might not be smart enough to go toe-to-toe with Harold Lodge on a computer, but he damn well could have Ryleigh’s back while she was fighting for all their lives.
