Delaney caught Eli’s eye. “We’re not waiting,” she insisted.
He nodded once. “Wasn’t planning to.”
The minutes and miles crawled by like something was dragging time backward. Eli’s grip on the wheel tightened as the trees thickened around the narrow road. They were close now. Too close for the dead silence on the other end of the line.
Then he heard it. A sharp gasp through Delaney’s phone.
“They’re here,” Ava whispered.
The call cut out.
Delaney cursed under her breath and immediately tried to redial. Eli shook his head. “No. Ringing might give away her location.”
Delaney lowered the phone. Her jaw was clenched, eyes sharp and focused.
Eli pushed the SUV harder, tires grinding into gravel and dirt. They crested a rise and spotted the red-sided barn up ahead. He yanked the wheel and pulled off the road just short of the clearing, killing the engine.
They jumped out.
“Vest,” he reminded her.
Delaney nodded and grabbed hers from the back seat. He threw on his own and opened the rear compartment, pulling out a tactical belt and his backup Glock. Delaney loaded hers, too, andshe didn’t wince or show any signs of pain.
Eli shoved a smoke bomb into his cargo pocket.
Neither of them spoke as they locked eyes.
Then they slipped into the trees, moving fast and low toward the barn. The scent of hay, oil, and sunbaked rust hit him as they crept forward. Somewhere in there, a girl was hiding.
The scent of rust and trampled hay thickened the closer they got. Eli crouched low, scanning the rise above the barn. The broken windmill creaked faintly in the breeze. It was too quiet. No birds. No voices. Just the buzz of adrenaline in his veins and the weight of the Glock in his hand.
Delaney was just ahead of him, eyes narrowed and sweeping. She motioned toward the ridge. Eli followed her line of sight and spotted it—movement. A figure, barely visible through the tree cover, shifting position.
Sniper.
He tapped Delaney’s shoulder and whispered, “One on the ridge.”
She nodded once, then veered left, keeping to the cover of a thicket. Eli moved right. His pulse pounded in his ears, but every step was measured. Controlled.
Gunfire cracked. Dirt exploded near Delaney’s feet.
And then Eli heard.
A scream. Ava’s no doubt, and it’d come from the barn.
“Move!” he barked, diving behind a rusted cattle chute just as another shot came their way.
She dropped behind a low pile of timber. “We have to get to her now,” Delaney insisted.
“Agreed,” he couldn’t say fast enough. But those shooters were an obstacle. Eli counted three more muzzle flashes. “Two on the ridge. One closer. Near the water tank.”
Another bullet pinged off the chute. He ducked lower. So did Delaney, though it slammed into the dirt next to her.
Eli’s jaw locked as he stared at the barn. “They’re not letting us leave with her.”
Delaney’s voice was steady. “Not unless we punch a hole big enough to drag her through.”
She looked at the barn, then back at him. “You go in. I’ll draw their fire.”
