Something Kellie had said bothered him, though.There are other cabins close by, and this time of year, some may be vacant.They couldn’t search them all nor verify that the current resident was the one who was supposed to be there. Maybe it was time to get the hell out of here. Find another place to hole up where there wouldn’t be as many opportunities for the enemy to hide or the possibility of so much collateral damage.
“We’re fucking blind without night vision equipment. They could be parked right next to the road and we wouldn’t see them in this damn storm.” Travis closed his window. “We can go on down the hill—see if we can spot their vehicle. What do you think?”
“Let’s go back and make sure everything’s okay at the cabin. Tomorrow we can look for tracks.” MacGyver started the motor. “We’ll find a wide spot and turn around.”
There was a pull-out around the next corner. Just beyond it, a large tree had fallen, blocking the road. “What the hell?” MacGyver stepped on the brakes, flipped on the lights and surveyed the damage.
“With all the rain and the high winds, I’m surprised more of them haven’t come down. Charlie probably has a chain saw. Maybe he needs some wood for the fireplace.” Travis snickered as he glanced toward MacGyver.
As he swung a U-turn, MacGyver caught a flash in his peripheral vision. A millisecond later, Travis’s window shattered.
He jerked and grabbed his arm. “Shit! Step on it!”
MacGyver saw several more muzzle flashes near the downed tree as he stomped on the gas and slid the SUV around. At least two bullets hit the right rear panel. “Get down,” he yelled. He straightened the wheel and floored the gas pedal.
The headlights caught something shiny between the trees to their right, and he let off the gas.The black pickup.The driver ducked out of sight…but not soon enough.
Another barrage of bullets hit the tailgate. “Sonofabitch! They must be using silencers.” MacGyver spun out, throwing gravel in his wake. It had to be Palazzi. They hadn’t been there long enough to make any other enemies. He glanced at Travis. Blood seeped between his fingers as he applied pressure to the wound. “How bad is it?”
“Just a scratch. Stings like hell, though.” Travis was gritting his teeth, despite his words.
“I’ll fix you up as soon as we get to the cabin.”
Travis leaned back. “Did you recognize the driver?”
“Yep.” Anger seized MacGyver. His friend, Blake Sorenson, was behind the wheel, and that could only mean one thing. The sonofabitch was working for Tony Palazzi.
* * * *
MacGyver finished bandaging Travis’s arm, tossed a handful of bloody rags into a plastic bag and carried it out the back door of the cabin, across the small yard, to Charlie’s garbage receptacle. The bullet had grazed Travis’s forearm in a long, shallow swipe. He could use some stitches as soon as they got close to an urgent care clinic, but Travis had been lucky. It could have been so much worse. Like a couple of Tadpoles just starting SEAL training, they’d driven right into the trap Palazzi had set for them, with the help of MacGyver’s good buddy, Blake.
He slammed his fist into the garbage can’s metal cover, his fury spiking again. Something had definitely been stuck in Blake’s craw—something to do with Kellie—but MacGyver would never have believed his friend would double-cross him, if he hadn’t seen it for himself.
Daylight was breaking to the east, the sky foretelling another day of storms.Red sky at morning, sailor take warning.His father had sworn by the old adage and proved it true more times than not. Today it didn’t matter. He turned and strode back to the cabin.
“We need to leave here right now, this morning.” MacGyver started in as soon as he walked through the open door, directing his words to Kellie. When she flinched, it was all he could do not to cover the distance between them and wrap her in his arms.
Charlie got there first, coming up behind her, his hands squeezing her shoulders as she sat at the kitchen table. “He’s right. That SOB knows where we are, and it sounds like the coward brought plenty of hired guns with him.”
“How did he find us?” Kellie’s voice was hollow, but anything was better than the silence she’d maintained since MacGyver and Travis returned.
She’d paled as he ushered Travis into the cabin, his shirt and pants stained with blood. MacGyver was guessing that quiet, in this case, wasn’t a good thing. It was hard to tell what kind of new plan she was hatching.
He pulled out a chair and sat next to her, rubbing the back of his neck. If only he didn’t have to tell her what he and Travis had learned. “Blake Sorenson was driving the black pickup.”
Kellie’s gaze jerked toward him, and the blond ponytail she’d scooped her hair into bounced with the abrupt movement. “What?”
“Great! Just great!” Jeremy pivoted from the window, where he’d been keeping watch. “Dozens of people you could have called for help, and you choose a guy who’s working for Palazzi!”
Anger flashed across Kellie’s countenance as she pushed to her feet. “Don’t, Jeremy. There’s no way MacGyver could have known. I’m not a huge fan of Blake’s either, but he was a respected naval officer who saved hundreds of lives and sacrificed far more than anyone ever should. He was awarded a Purple Heart, for God’s sake.”
Clearly, Kellie knew more about Blake than she’d let on. MacGyver stared at her, and he wasn’t the only one in the room apparently surprised by her defense of Blake. Travis, Charlie and Jeremy gawked at her, too.
Except, she hadn’t really been defending Blake. She’d jumped all over Jeremy and stopped him in mid-rant because he’d been trashing MacGyver’s judgment. That small show of trust pleased him, and he didn’t try too hard to figure out why.
She turned back to him. “Are you sure?”
“Ninety-nine percent.”