“Wait here, I’ll be right back,” Lexi whispered to them both, then disappeared as fast as she had shown up.
“What the hell was that?” Rubio whispered.
“And they used to be against women in combat,” Gordon joked.
Lexi hustled back with her equipment and all her clothes on. “Let’s do this, boys.”
Gordon opened the door, and Lexi and Rubio followed behind him. Lexi peeled left and Rubio headed to the right. The layout of the building was unknown to them, but they assumed based upon the setup of the desert compound that Rahab would be located upstairs.
They found themselves in a large great room. On the right side of the room there was a long counter, and in the back, dozens of small tables and chairs were strewn everywhere. From the looks of it, this had once been a hotel, not exactly the “religious compound” that John the barkeep had mentioned.
A door to the left of the front desk opened. All three stopped, pivoted, and took aim.
From behind the door a little girl walked out rubbing her eyes, flashlight in hand. She headed to the back, behind the tables, and opened another door.
Lexi scurried toward the door that the girl had come from. The other two followed her instinct. They all stacked up against it, with Lexi next to the door. She grabbed and turned the handle, slowly opening it. Gordon stepped out from the wall and peeked his head around the corner. He entered a dark, empty hallway. To the left was a door with a sign above it that read STAIRS. Gordon made his way in that direction but froze when the door opened. A tall man dressed in pajamas stepped out and made a right out the door, walking briskly down the hallway. Gordon’s heartbeat quickened as he quietly crept up behind the man. He let his rifle drop to his side on the two-point sling and pulled out Gunny’s knife. Placing his hand across the man’s mouth, he swiftly thrust the knife into his neck and upward. Blood squirted out from the wound and sprayed all over the walls and all over Gordon’s face. Gordon could feel the life exit the man as he went limp. He steadied the man’s weight and lowered him to the ground. Gordon exhaled in relief.
Rubio came up behind Gordon and touched his shoulder to signal that he was going around him and into the stairwell. Lexi followed close behind, vanishing into the darkness of the stairwell.
Gordon wiped his face with his sleeve and spit a few times to get the metallic taste of the dead man’s blood out of his mouth. Gordon had a strong constitution, but he had to stop from gagging. The blood in his mouth was too much.
Suddenly the door behind him opened up and the little girl they had seen before stepped into the hallway with a glass in her hand. Gordon froze. He couldn’t run or hide quickly enough.
The girl stopped instantly when she saw him standing there. His presence startled her so much that she dropped the glass of water and beamed her flashlight into his eyes.
The light hit his night-vision goggles and blinded him for a moment. “Argh!” he yelled out as he ripped them off his face.
The girl, who was no more than eight, screamed.
Gordon spun around, ran into the stairwell, and began his ascent up the darkened stairs.
Lexi and Rubio both stopped once they heard the girl scream. Seconds later, Gordon sprinted past them on the stairs and reached the second floor. They ran up after him.
“Okay, Lexi, this is how Marines do it!” Rubio said excitedly as he pulled a grenade loose and held it up. The stalking was over; now it was time to smart smashing and blowing things up.
Gordon placed his hand on top of his and said, “Rubio, we can’t. There are kids here. We need a new plan. I’m going left, Rubio, you go right. Lexi, you’ll go… wherever you go, anyway.”
The girl was still screaming and crying down below. The sounds of people yelling and running made it clear that their fight was coming sooner than expected. Once they opened the door to the second floor, all bets were off. They didn’t know what to expect on the other side.
Gordon placed his hand on Lexi’s shoulder and said, “Let’s do this. Lexi, on three open the door. One, two…”
“Your damn uncle must have contacted all of these people on his ham radio chain,” Sebastian said bitterly as he crumpled up the paper that Samuel had given him. The first location they attempted to visit in Ogden had turned them away when they approached. Sebastian tried to reason with the group, but it was hard to have a conversation when a shotgun was being pointed at his face.
“You don’t know Uncle Samuel did that,” Annaliese challenged him.
“Then I guess it was purely a coincidence,” Sebastian mocked her. He rubbed his leg. It was healing, but all the activity was causing it to hurt.
Tensions were growing high between them. Though Annaliese had forgiven Sebastian, her exhaustion had made her snippy. And it didn’t help that Brandon was still acting up.
Failing to find a warm, safe place to sleep after the confrontation in Ogden, Sebastian had driven them off road to the north end of Willard Bay Reservoir, where they found an isolated spot to camp out. Sebastian was beyond frustrated with how this trip was progressing. It was not the simple, fast-paced journey he had had imagined. He knew that this was partly his fault, which only made him angrier. Had he not lashed out at Samuel, they at least would have a warm place to stay
“Brandon, Luke, break down your tent. We need to get on the road!” he commanded the boys. They were busy tossing rocks into the water.
Brandon grumbled, as expected. Luke got right up, brushing off his pants, and headed over to the tent.
“C’mon, Brandon, I need your help,” Luke said.
“One sec. I need to go to the bathroom. I’ll be right back.”
Luke rolled his eyes and continued breaking down the tent. Luke was growing weary of Brandon and his attitude. The temptation to say something often popped into his head but he would stop short because Brandon intimidated him.
Sebastian had loaded everything and saw that Luke was now in the truck.
“Where’s Brandon?” he asked Luke.
“I don’t know. He never came back to help me after he went to the bathroom,” Luke mumbled.
A look of irritation came over Sebastian’s face. “Why didn’t you say anything?” Sebastian scolded.
“Go look for him, Sebastian,” Annaliese ordered.
Sebastian shot her a look and said, “Remember what he did yesterday? We don’t have time for this.” With a huff, he jumped out of the car and headed in the direction that Brandon had wandered off.
The terrain was mostly flat and treeless, making it easy to spot anyone. He walked along the shoreline and saw a few buildings located on the state park.
“Where the hell is he?” Sebastian muttered.
A cry from someone that sounded like Brandon came from one of the buildings he had seen.
Sebastian didn’t know whether to be concerned or whether he should chalk this up to Brandon playing a trick on him again, but he didn’t want to take a chance just in case. Ignoring his leg, he took off in a sprint, pistol drawn, and kicked the door in. He heard a door in the rear exit of the building slam closed. There he saw Brandon on the floor with his pants down, with several cuts to his face. Sebastian ran over to him and asked, “Shit, Brandon, are you okay?”
Brandon sat up. His nose was bleeding and his lip was cut. “Yeah.”
Sebastian helped him to his feet and asked, “What happened?”
Brandon shrugged off his grip and said, “Nothing, don’t worry about it.” He pulled up his pants and wiped the blood from his face.