Noah handed Vivian a small earbud next. “This connects to our comm channel. Keep it in. If we tell you to run, you run.”
Vivian nodded, her movements stiff with tension. “Okay.”
Delaney caught her eye. “We’ll be right behind you. You’re not alone.”
Vivian gave a shaky breath and climbed into her car.
Delaney followed Eli to their SUV. Noah and Sheriff Chase moved to their vehicle behind them.
The plan was in motion. And the rain kept falling.
With Vivian ahead of them in her silver Mercedes, Eli and Delaney popped in their own earbuds, and he pulled out of the hospital parking lot, the SUV's headlights cutting a path through the steady rain. Delaney watched through the window as they passed shuttered storefronts and dark houses. The town was quiet, asleep. A few porch lights glowed faintly in the mist, but the streets were empty.
Eli drove in silence, hands tight on the wheel. The wipers slapped back and forth in a rhythmic beat as they turned onto Main Street, passing the diner, the feed store, and the courthouse. The small-town charm looked eerie in the storm, all warmth stripped away by the darkness and rain.
A minute later, they were on the outskirts of town, tires humming over the wet pavement asthey took the narrow road that led toward County Line. Trees crowded close on either side, bending in the wind. Puddles scattered across the gravel shoulder reflected lightning that flashed like a warning.
Delaney’s phone buzzed with a message from Noah. “He says to use the infrared scanner as we approach the facility,” she relayed, already reaching beneath the seat to grab it.
Eli nodded. “We’ll get eyes on whatever’s waiting for us.” He paused, glanced at her. “You sure you’re up for this? Your arm’s got to be screaming.”
“There’s pain,” Delaney admitted, checking the charge on the scanner. It was solid. “But I’m not letting it stop me.”
Their eyes met, his full of worry. “You know what. When this is over,” he said, his voice low, “I want to take you on a real date. No Kevlar. No bullets. Just you and me. Something normal for once.”
Even now, with the rain pounding and the threat waiting ahead, heat curled low in her belly. She hesitated, then glanced at him. “You think a date is a good idea?”
Eli kept his eyes on the road, but his mouth curved. “How else are we supposed to start something personal if we don’t date?”
Her pulse kicked. “The personal has already started.”
His smile faded just a little, his expressiontightening as he looked her way. “Is that a bad-bad kind of personal? Or the kind that messes with our focus?”
“The second one,” she said. “Losing focus could get us killed.”
He gave a slow nod, then flashed her a quick grin. “Then we focus now. Personal stuff later.”
Her pulse revved at that, too, but she shut it down with the snap of the rubber band. A reminder just how fast things could go sideways. Just how fast a girl could die because Delaney didn’t get to her in time.
A flash of lightning streaked through the sky and yanked Delaney out of her own thoughts. Ahead of them, she saw Vivian’s car turn off onto the dirt path ahead. Eli slowed, turned off the headlights and eased the SUV behind her, parking just short of the tree line.
The facility loomed in the distance. Barely visible behind the curtain of rain, it stood like a forgotten relic.
A long, rectangular structure with a rusted metal roof and cracked siding, it squatted low to the earth like it had been abandoned for years. Faded paint peeled from the walls, and a leaning sign near the overgrown driveway had once displayed a name, but the lettering was weathered to near nothing. One of the windows had been boarded over with warped plywood. Another flickered faintly with light, barely noticeable behind rain-streaked glass.
The surrounding grounds were cluttered with broken fencing, old farm equipment, and what looked like a water trough long out of use. Wind snapped through a collapsed section of roofing at one end, and the place gave off a sense of rot and forgotten things.
It didn’t look like a trap. But it felt like one.
Gripping onto the scanner, Delaney popped the passenger door and stepped out into the rain. The scanner, a mid-range tactical model, had a range of about four hundred feet and could spot human-sized heat signatures with decent clarity in low-visibility conditions like this. She powered it on and let it calibrate.
Eli joined her under the cover of a wide tree limb. “Anything?”
“Just coming online now.” She swept the device slowly across the area ahead.
The building stood about two hundred feet away, partially obscured by brush and a rusted livestock gate. At first, everything was a blob. Then three bright signatures blinked to life on the screen.
“There,” she whispered. “Three heat sources inside. One of them smaller.” She zoomed in slightly, squinting at the rain-smeared display. “Could be Ava. She’s close to one of the others. Looks like… she might be hugging him. Maybe Jason.” Delaney paused. “Can’t tell if she’s frightened or under duress.”
