“Good,” Hallie said. “Now you need to go. Although I should tell you there was a warrimel swarm in Reunion the night we got here. The settlement is a mess.”
To her surprise, Donall’s face lit in another smile. “A mess we can deal with. And we’re getting used to dealing with the warrimel. Alright. We’ll head home.” His eyes travelled from Hallie to Girard and back. “Look after yourselves as well, please. The world needs all the good people it can get.”
With that, he turned and headed after his people. It wasn’t long before they disappeared into the forest, completely out of sight and earshot, despite Hallie’s sharp hearing.
She turned to Girard.
“I know it’s dangerous, but I want to see if I can get a look at Jonah’s operations,” she said, before Girard could speak. “Oh, and I should also tell you that I’ve decided neither Nicholas nor Jonah should be allowed to keep running things here.”
Girard surprised her by cupping her face in his hands and giving her a quick, warm kiss that left her wanting more. When he straightened, he was grinning.
“I was having very similar thoughts. Even though it’s not in the mission brief.”
“We’ve been out of contact for more than a day,” Hallie said. “So, Peredur will be worried. Can we get back to the packs and try the radio again?”
“Good plan. I’d like faster transport, though. Even if it’s loud, an ATV would give us more flexibility.”
“There’s the one we left at the gates. The keys were in it,” Hallie said, “and it had about a half tank of fuel, plus spares in the back.”
“It’s likely to be guarded,” Girard said. He wasn’t objecting, more thinking aloud. He looked ahead of them, in the direction Hallie thought would take them to the gates, as if trying to see through the trees and shrubs. “Let’s head that way and see what we can come up with.”
Trusting Girard’s sense of direction, Hallie fell into step beside him through the trees.
They hadn’t gone more than a few paces before strident noise from New Hope made Hallie stop dead in her tracks, turning towards the source of the sound. It reminded her of a cat howling, only much, much louder and as it went on she realised it was some kind of mechanical noise.
“Saints, what is that?” she asked, covering her ears for a moment in case that would help. It didn’t.
“It’s an alarm siren,” Girard said, shaking his head as if he was trying to clear the noise out. “I guess Nicholas has realised that we’re missing. We need to move.”
Mercifully, the siren was cut off after a few moments, although the echo lingered, ringing in Hallie’s ears. When the awful noise ended, she could hear shouts coming from inside the settlement, and see lights here and there. No one would have slept through that noise.
She and Girard kept going through the trees until they reached the edge of the forest outside the gates. The ATV was still there, to Hallie’s surprise. It had been moved a little - turned around and pushed a little further away from the gates, so it washelpfully facing in the direction they wanted to go. Narrowing her eyes at it, she thought she could see the keys still in the ignition.
Less welcome was the sight of four armed men standing watch at the gates. Gunners, Hallie thought, based on where they were standing. In the dark she couldn’t be certain, but it looked like one of them was the burly man they’d encountered earlier.
She and Girard lowered to the ground under the trees, shoulder to shoulder, both of them looking out at the scene in front of them. Hallie was confident, even though she was tired, that she could make it to the ATV before the gunners could. If the keys were still in the ignition, she should also be able to get a head start on any pursuit. The guns were the problem. Even an ATV couldn’t outrun a bullet. But it was dark, and if she huddled down she might avoid serious injury.
Aware that there were a lot of ways that could go wrong, Hallie took a look around the area for anything else that might help, or other dangers, and found more armed men. Outside the settlement this time, farther out from the abandoned ATV. A trio of men off the side of the road, out of earshot of the settlement and possibly out of gun shot range as well. There was another ATV next to them. In the poor light, Hallie couldn’t be sure but she thought she recognised Jonah and Vinny and Vinny’s possible brother.
“Jonah’s here, too,” she murmured to Girard, and pointed.
“I see him.”
“I think we can get to the ATV outside the gates before the gunners, but we’re going to get shot at,” Hallie said.
“The other option is to walk,” Girard said, and she could hear the resistance in his voice. “But there was at least one spare gun in the ATV. So we’d get some defence, at least.”
“Huh. That’s helpful. So, get the ATV, get out of here. Get the packs. Call for help. Then scout Jonah’s base? Or just huddle andwait for back-up?” Hallie asked, partly thinking aloud. She could see why Girard liked the technique. It was helpful.
“Aim for the packs, yes. Even if we can’t get a signal, we’ll have more resources. And if we can get to Reunion, Rhodda can fix the radio.”
“True,” Hallie agreed. “Although I still want to see Jonah’s base. There’s something else going on there and it’s bothering me.”
Girard made a non-committal sound. Not convinced. Hallie could understand. The thought of sneaking closer to Jonah and his base of operations made her stomach pitch uneasily. At the same time, she had too many gaps in her knowledge just now.
“I’d like to have more information to give Peredur and the tactical team so they’re not completely blind,” Hallie added. “Right now, they have no idea what’s going on here.”
“I know,” Girard said, sounding reluctant. He glanced across at her. Hallie turned her head and met his eyes, seeing the determination in his face. “We’re just going to look, right? No sneaking inside.”
