The gates closed behind the mini-van. The newcomers were quickly ushered into the hotel. Just like that, the excitement was over.
Jenni watched through the binoculars as the man who had been watching the fort turned and vanished into the darkness. She never saw the stranger’s vehicle leave town.
She dutifully reported in to Nerit, then settled in to wait.
She waited…and waited.
They all waited.
Everyone in the fort, on pins and needles, waited.
The minutes, full of tension, full of fear, ticked by, right until they turned into hours.
“What do you think is going on” Travis asked Nerit at around four AM in the morning. His eyes were bloodshot. He was gulping coffee.
Nerit was taking slow, luxurious drags off her cigarette. “I have been thinking about it and I have a theory. ”
“What is it?” Bill asked.
They stood on a sentry platform near the gate.
“Their plans went awry,” Nerit said simply.
“And?” Travis arched an eyebrow.
“That is all for now,” Nerit answered. “They're done for now. ”
Morning came.
The shifts rotated. Travis and Katie fell asleep in their clothes, guns nearby, a tangle of limbs as they held tightly to each other.
Jenni slept fitfully and woke up to prowl the roof again with Katarina.
Still, there was nothing.
And the day slipped away without incident.
Then another.
Followed by another, then another.
“Time to see if my theory is right,” Nerit said after another day passed. “We leave in the morning. Bill, Travis, and Jenni are coming with me. ”
The next day, the gates slid open and Nerit's new pride and joy, the Mann's H2, roared out into the town. The Manns had been furious when they were told in no uncertain terms they needed to relinquish the vehicle to assist in the security of the fort. Nerit had fastened her steely gaze on them and said, “Do you really think you can just jump in it and go shopping? Because you can't. ” Finally, they had handed over the keys.
Nerit drove, Travis at her side, Bill and Jenni in the back. It was far too luxurious for Nerit's taste, but it drove well and would get them to where they needed to be. If the bandits did
arrive, Nerit's crew had a vehicle they could take off the road with relative ease. She was glad that the Mann's had bought the top-of-the-line H2. It would survive off-roading with ease.
“I could so get used to driving something like this. ” Jenni grinned.
She was happy to be out of the fort and doing something and not just sitting around waiting for something to happen.
“Up ahead is where they went off the road, Nerit,” Bill said solemnly.
Travis sat in the front seat, rubbing his brow. He looked haggard, the stress eating away at him.
“Keep a look out,” Nerit said. “We don't need them sneaking up on us. ”