They wove through the trees, no longer bothering to be quiet. The ground was firmer and drier, but she still stumbled and skidded. Tom halted, and she nearly ran straight into the back of him. They’d almost reached the abbey’s western wing, beside the Land Rover garage.
“I can’t hear the drone,” she whispered.
“They might have landed it.”
“What does that mean? It’s out of battery, or…?”
“Yeah, maybe.”
“Or … they don’t need it anymore because they’ve found us and they’re switching to rifles.”
Tom was quiet.
“I hate this,” she said.
“Me too.”
“Shall we run for it?” It was a half-hearted suggestion at best. There was a decent stretch of open ground between them and the house.
He took a deep breath. “You’regoing to run for the abbey, shortly. First, I’m going to create a diversion. They have to be close, and I don’t like our chances of making it, otherwise.”
Something snapped into a big oak beside them, followed a split second later by a rifle crack. Tom cursed, pulling Ameliabehind the tree. “Think you can find the butler’s room, from the outside?”
“Sure. Next to the front doors.”
“Follow the tree line around until you’re directly in front of it, and then sprint. I’ll cover you, keep their eyes off you.”
“You’re going to cover me? You have one double-barreled shotgun against two rifles! I thought covering fire was supposed to be quick?”
“You haven’t seen how fast I can reload. And I expect they’ll see the muzzle flash and home in on that, giving you time. Plus, I have an idea for a distraction that should put both of us in the clear. As soon as I fire, you go, okay? When you see my signal, cut across to the butler’s room window, fast as you can. It’ll take a shove, but you should be able to open it and climb inside. Hide under the desk and wait for me.”
“What’s the signal?”
A tree beside them cracked and swayed, under multiple gunshots. A branch scudded to the ground.
“You’ll know it when you see it. Unless they shoot me,” he added, matter-of-factly. “In which case,that’syour signal. If that happens, get in the house and find a really good hiding place. Ready? I don’t have many shells, so this won’t take long…”
He crawled to a mound a few feet from the tree. At his first shot, she ran, like a sprinter at a starting block. The sound of his second shot was absorbed by a burst from their weapons.
She skidded behind the remains of an old building, almost swallowed by trees, and peered around it, wishing she’d forced him to be more explicit about his plan. More gunfire—the booming potshots of the shotgun mixed in with multiple sharp rifle cracks.
She made out his silhouette backtracking from the tree. He looped around to the stables, carrying a feathery, leafy branch—the branch that had been shot down from the tree—anddisappeared behind his car. The garage flickered with light. It glimmered in the pool of fuel, and then the space erupted into a huge orange flame.
“Tom!” she cried.
The ground under her boomed. Flames leapt over the car. A large boxy object shot into the air. It landed on the hood of the car with a crunch and bounced off. Amelia yelped, partially shielding her eyes. The stables billowed into an inferno—with Tom inside.
Chapter 19
Amelia
Amelia knew she should be running, but she couldn’t make herself. Frozen, again. Was this Tom’s plan, or had his plan gone very wrong? Hehadbeen carrying a lighter. She couldn’t tell which cracks and booms were coming from the stables and which were rifle fire. As she watched, a figure ran from the flames, coming straight for her. Tom.
“Go!” he yelled, pointing to the front of the house.
She found her feet and made it to the butler’s room window shortly before he did. Between them, they hoisted it open. He helped her in and then tumbled in after her. She shoved it closed and twisted the latch, for what little help that would be, but sometimes you needed the illusion of safety.
“That was your diversion?” she said, panting.
