The Hero (Thunder Point #3)(79)

And suddenly she feared the worst. If he didn’t escape, he would be on a suicide mission. She had known for months it was possible he was a thundering lunatic and might do something desperate, but she wasn’t sure what...or how. “Jacob, where are the men?” she asked suspiciously.

“Yes, where are the men? Well,” he said, turning his head right and left as if looking for them. “Where are they?” he asked facetiously. “Not with me. And if they’re not with me, then they’re against me.” And with that he left her there and went back toward his house.

So this would be it, she thought. It was going down. She ran for the house and burst into the kitchen where Charlotte and Pilly were cooking. Liam was in his high chair and four-year-old Abe was sitting at the long table. The room looked strangely forlorn, one small boy sitting at a table that could comfortably seat twenty to twenty-four. Jacob’s dynasty; Jacob’s legacy, down to two women, two small children and one undercover FBI agent. She was panting. Charlotte and Pilly looked at her in shock. It could have been their surprise at seeing her or maybe surprise at the condition of her face. “Jacob kidnapped Mercy. I don’t know what he might’ve done to Devon. He’s keeping Mercy at his house. He’s talking crazy. He says the police have blocked the road and he’s not giving up his home, this home. He’s talking about his legacy if they take him down. You have to get the kids out of here.”

Charlotte put a hand over her mouth but Pilly looked enraged. “I won’t leave Jacob,” she said. “He needs me!”

“Needs you?” Laine said. “Did he even tell you he had Mercy? Do you even know what he’s planning? Pilly, I’m afraid for you and Liam!”

“I’ll leave if he tells me to go,” she said indignantly. “But he won’t!” And leaving the pan she was stirring on the fire, she stormed out of the kitchen through the back door, headed for Jacob’s house across the river.

Laine looked at Charlotte. “Take the children, Charlotte. I’ll show you the way out—follow the road to the police. Jacob said they’re blocking the road.”

“What are you going to do?”

“I’m going to try to get Mercy out of his house. I don’t know how, but I’m going to try. If Pilly won’t take Liam, if she risks her life and her son’s to stand by Jacob in his craziest hour, we have to get the kids out of here.” She pulled Liam out of his high chair. “Charlotte, if you don’t do this, bad things are going to happen. Now come with me. Come!”

Laine didn’t have wire cutters or tools or weapons, but even though she felt dangerously alone in here, she did have partners. She would walk along the fence with Charlotte from the front of the fence line to the river, kicking and shaking the fence as she went, and she would undoubtedly find a break in the fence for an emergency getaway.

“How do you know this?” Charlotte asked her.

And Laine gave the standard response. “Because I was going to go, but Jacob held me captive in his house and I couldn’t leave!”

They left the house from the front door so neither Jacob nor Pilly would see them if they were coming. They were just beginning their trek along the fence, partially concealed by the trees and bushes, when there was a smell. A pungent and thick smell. Laine knew what it was. “Holy mother of God,” she said, holding Liam against her and running along the fence. “Hurry! He’s burning everything down!”

They were almost to the river before Laine found a break in the fence. She held it open for Charlotte and handed Liam to her. “Go through the woods and pasture to the road. He’s burning the warehouses and he’ll probably burn everything and if you’re here, you’re in terrible danger. Take the baby, hang on to Abe. Just go!”

“What will you do? Will you be safe?”

“I’m going to try to get Mercy. Don’t worry about me right now, just go quickly. And when you get to the police, tell them who’s left here!”

“Jacob will send the men after us!”

“Charlotte,” she said gravely. “The men are gone.”

* * *

Rawley told Cooper where to park in a small stand of trees near the river. He lit out at a pretty fast clip along the riverbank. He had his knife strapped to his waist and anchored to his thigh and he carried a rifle.

“Rawley, how far?” Devon asked.

“I’m not sure, chickadee. Just stay on my tail and don’t slip. If I have to fish you out, it costs time.”

“The odometer said it was six miles,” she pointed out.

“By road. The river is a straight shot.” Then he stopped, listened, sniffed the air. Everyone came to a standstill behind him—first Devon, then Spencer, then Cooper.

“What is it?” Devon asked.

“Might be burning green cannabis,” he said. Then he put his head down and said, “Step it up. This just keeps getting worse.” And he began to jog along the riverbank.

* * *

Laine could see that a fire had been started inside one of the warehouses; smoke was pouring out through cracks in the roof and doors. Any minute the thing would combust and the outer shell would go up in flames. The whole forest could be at risk, but certainly Jacob’s house, the bunkhouse and the other warehouse.

Laine ran past the burning warehouse to the bunkhouse and tried the door, only to find it locked. She assumed weapons must be stored inside, but she couldn’t get in. She reared back and gave the door a furious kick, but it didn’t budge. There was only an old blue pickup near the bunkhouse and now she could see one lone black SUV parked behind Jacob’s house. The rear hatch was open and it looked as if Jacob might be loading up his belongings.