Cooper didn’t wait to hear the rest.
“Go!” He shrieked in Dranko’s ear and grabbed the steering wheel, locking it straight ahead.
Dranko gassed the Jeep, lurching forward. Just as suddenly, he slammed on the brakes. Cooper’s mouth fell open, ready to scream at his friend once again.
“Look!” Dranko yelled, pointing forward.
Cooper tore his gaze from Dranko and looked toward the parking lot. Hodges had disappeared and the Escalade was careening away from the parking lot. Already, at least forty men had come spilling out of the store and were deploying into defensive positions.
“We can’t!” Dranko yelled, his face, inches from his friend’s. Cooper’s eyes were wild, his ears unhearing.
He began to climb into the driver’s seat, trying to push Dranko out of the Jeep. The two men grappled. Cooper’s muscles strained, emotion making him much stronger than Dranko. He shot out a hand and opened the door. Dranko was halfway out when Cooper caught a flash out of the corner of his eye. The rest happened in slow motion. He got a glimpse of Angela’s tormented face, tears streaming down it, just before the rifle butt smashed into the side of his head. Cooper felt the shock of pain, his vision went white, nausea washed over him and then darkness found him.
Cooper awoke, woozy, when they were halfway to the cabin. Dranko clenched the wheel, driving like a man possessed. The tires squealed at the slightest twist in the road. The Jeep would lean precariously to the side as they did so. Dranko expertly pushed it to its limits.
Cooper shook his head to clear it.
“I’m sorry,” Angela said from the backseat, leaning into the front.
Cooper waved her off dismissively.
“You woulda got us all killed, brother,” Dranko added in between navigating an S turn.
“Just get me there,” Cooper seethed.
“We will get your boy,” Calvin added from the back, his voice matter of fact.
Cooper looked back at him. The resolution in Calvin’s eyes broke through. It was reassuring. His father had often told him there was no better feeling than knowing someone had your back. Cooper felt it just then. His father had called it solidarity. The military called it camaraderie. Right then, Cooper just called it good.
“Thank you,” he more mouthed to Calvin than said it.
Calvin inclined his head.
Tires belched gravel as they sped up Dranko’s driveway. Cooper was out of the vehicle before it had even slowed appreciably. His rifle was at the ready as he scanned the property. His stomach somersaulted as the thick smell of cordite assaulted his nostrils. No smoke lingered. Gunfire here, but it was
a bit ago. A figure stumbled out of the shed and Cooper’s rifle was up and aimed in an instant.
It was Buck. His hands were zip-tied and he staggered. Blood ran down from his scalp and sheathed half of his face in crimson. Cooper lowered his rifle. The door to the cabin had been blown off its hinges. Black burn marks and splintered wood told him that.
“On my ass,” he commanded Dranko as he moved in a low crouch to the entryway.
Dranko fell in step behind him, his M4 tightly gripped in his hands.
Cooper entered the cabin, swinging his rifle to quickly scan the inside. Timothy’s body lay at his feet. His head had caught either the blast from the explosives used on the door or a shotgun shell. There wasn’t much left of it, except the side of it and one perfectly preserved eye.
“Jake!” Cooper called out.
Silence.
He moved over Timothy’s body and proceeded to search the cabin’s main floor and then the basement. Dranko kept watch. Nothing.
Cooper bounded up from the basement. His face told Dranko the search had been fruitless.
“Freddie’s here!” Calvin called from outside.
Cooper brushed past Dranko as he raced to exit the cabin. Angela was kneeling next to Buck, tending to his wounds. Calvin was pointing to the tree line just past the garden area.
Freddie was ambling towards them, slow on his feet. The three men sprinted toward him.
“What happened?” Cooper shouted as soon as he was within earshot.
Freddie looked up, seeming surprised. He collapsed where he stood. There was no sign of any wounds, but he fell into an awkward seat on the ground. His hands clasped to his face, hiding it.
Cooper knelt beside him and shook him, “What happened?”
“They came. Too many… happened… so fast,” he stammered.
“In cars or on foot?” Dranko asked.
“On foot. From the woods. All sides. Two pickups… right after.”
“They took Jake?”
“Huh… Jake… I don’t know,” he said, lowering his hands and looking up at them. His face was dirty, tear-stained.
Cooper grabbed him by the shoulders, shaking him, “What do you mean you don’t know?”
Fear and shame clouded his eyes, “I… I… ran.”
Cooper’s eyes blazed and threw him backward, jumping on him, “You ran! You let them take my boy!”
His right hand reared back to smack Freddie in the face, but a steely grip caught it. Cooper glared over his shoulder to find Dranko constraining him. Dranko used the leverage to throw Cooper off of Freddie.
“C’mon Cooper. Knock it off!” Dranko yelled at his friend. The two men stood facing other, both falling into natural fighting stances.
They began circling each other before Cooper lunged forward, trying to get past Dranko and get his hands once more on Freddie. Dranko caught him and stood him up. Then, Calvin jumped into the fray and they wrestled Cooper to the ground, each pinioning an arm to the ground.
Cooper struggled mightily before exhausting himself and then collapsing.
“OK, I get it. Let me up!”
Calvin and Dranko eased up cautiously. Cooper sat up, with Freddie across from him.
“I’m sorry, Cooper. I panicked when I saw how many there were.”
Cooper glared at him.
“I didn’t know they were coming for Jake. I just thought they were coming to kill everyone,” Freddie continued pleading.
Cooper dropped his gaze to the ground and waved an open palm towards him, “Fine. I get it.” His shoulders dropped and he took a deep breath.
He sat there for several moments, letting the situation absorb him. When he got up to stand, he rose slowly and heavily. Calvin reached in and offered him a hand up. Cooper took it gratefully.
“Sorry, Freddie.”
He climbed onto his own feet, “No worries. Me, too. Do we know who took Jake?”
“Hodges’ men,” Dranko informed him.
“What are we going to do now, boss?” Dranko asked, turning to Cooper.
“First, I’m going to talk to him to get Jake back.” Cooper trailed off.
“And, then?”
“Then, I’m going to kill him.” The deadly mirth in his voice made the other men shiver.
Cooper and the others staggered back to the cabin, rifles sloppily slung over their shoulders. Freddie’s banged up and down as he dragged it along the ground. Cooper didn’t have it in him to chastise him. He was back in a daze, overwhelmed by all that had happened so suddenly. When he reached the porch, he clung to one of the poles and stared blankly ahead.
Suddenly, his eyes flashed, “Where’s Julianne?”
Dumbly, heads jerked to survey their immediate surroundings. Bewildered, they then looked at Cooper blankly.
“You see her?” He snapped at Freddie.
“No,” Freddie said, eyes downcast.
“Where is she?” Calvin asked.
“Where haven’t we searched?” Cooper asked and then answered his own question, “The Airstream.”