Page 84 of Twilight Tactics

“Check over there,” the first man said. “She can’t have vanished.”

Ollie squeezed her eyes shut. Forty-seven times thirty-two. One thousand five hundred four.

The light moved away. “Let’s try that way. Maybe she doubled back toward the road.” The footsteps receded.

She waited until their voices faded before daring to move. Her legs trembled as she stood. She had to warn Sully and Elena about Piper. They trusted her. They didn’t know she was working with the enemy.

The creek had to be close. Ollie took a deep breath, pictured which way she’d go according to the stars, then forced herself to move from her safe spot. Sully and Elena needed to know the truth. Piper was the traitor. And she was still out there, pretending to help.

She took one step and a heavy hand pushed her to the forest floor. “Got you, you little brat.”

17

Elena and Sully pressed on through the forest. The undergrowth grabbed at her boots and ankles, but muscle memory was a real thing, and she managed to walk with quiet steps. Sully? Not so much. He sounded like a bear raiding a trash can.

The beam of their flashlights cut through the night in narrow sweeps, illuminating just enough ground to follow Ollie’s trail. Every few steps, Elena held up a hand and they paused to listen, straining to hear anything beyond the whisper of wind through pine needles.

“There,” she whispered, touching Sully’s arm and pointing ahead. “You hear them?”

Men’s hard voices carried through the trees. “You know the trouble you’ve caused us? I’m going to have to calm down in order to kill you!”

Ollie screamed, and Elena exchanged a glance with Sully, who nodded once and drew his weapon. They ran.

Seconds later, they burst into a clearing to find Ollie backed against a tree. Two men loomed over her—one holding her arm in a vicious grip, the other pointing a gun at her head.

“FBI! Drop your weapons!” Sully shouted.

The men whirled. The one holding the gun swung it toward them. Fired.

Elena dove to the ground,weapon clenched as she rolled behind a fallen log. More shots followed. “Get the girl!” The shooter’s shout pulled Elena’s head up. She spotted Ollie scrambling toward the underbrush.

“Stay down, Ollie!” Elena called to her.

The night erupted with new shouts and the beam of powerful flashlights cutting through the trees from the east. “Sheriff’s department! Drop your weapons!”

The one who’d been firing at them turned his weapon toward the new threat and popped off three shots. Answering gunfire sounded and he crumpled to the ground.

“Don’t shoot! Don’t shoot!” The second man threw his hands up, his gun falling to the forest floor. “I’m unarmed!”

Deputies swarmed the clearing, weapons trained on the other would-be kidnapper-slash-murderer. “Secure that weapon! Elena, Sullivan—you all right?” Sheriff Donovan’s voice rose above the commotion.

Elena pushed herself up, her left wrist throbbing once more. She’d landed on it. Great. “We’re okay.” She searched the area. “Ollie? Where are you?”

“Here.” The girl’s voice came from behind a thick pine. She stepped out, shaking but unharmed. “I’m okay.”

Relief flooded through Elena as she hurried to Ollie and wrapped her in a tight embrace.

The girl clung to her, trembling but standing on her own two legs. “They shot Agent Gowen. You have to help him.”

Elena met Donovan’s eyes. “Where?”

“I ... I don’t know how to explain how to find him. I’ll have to show you.”

“It’s okay, I’m here.” Agent Gowen stepped out from the tree line, holding his side, blood seeping between his fingers. He went to his knees. “She’s okay?”

“Chris!” Sully bolted to his friend and Elena rushed to join them.

“Lay down,” she said. “I’ve got you. I need a first aid kit!” Seconds later, someone pressed one into her hand. She found gauze and tape and did what she could on the spot. “He needs a hospital.”