Their only chance was to make it to the section of road where the woods hemmed in from both sides, which would obstruct the aircraft’s view. But they had to get there before the helicopter fixed on their location.
He pushed faster, praying they wouldn’t encounter another sinkhole.
The helicopter hovered over a hilly glade in the distancefor a few moments as Gideon neared the forest. The camper rattled and shook. A few more seconds ...
As if in slow motion the helicopter turned and glided closer, red lights blinking in the gloom, zeroing in on their location.
“Did they ...”
He cut her off. “They’ve already seen us, Zee.”
“Can we outrun them?”
They couldn’t, but he knew they’d both try in vain rather than surrender. “If we make it to the woods up ahead, we could ditch the camper. Slim chance we could outrun them on foot.”
Her eyes were hard, expression grim but determined.
She reached out, took his hand, and squeezed. “Let’s go for it, Gideon. There’s nothing else we can do.”
“Okay,” he said. “Ready?”
She nodded and braced her boots against the floorboard.
He punched the gas.
Fifteen
Gideon didn’t figurethe helicopter was weaponized, but it didn’t matter. The people in it were locked and loaded, and the pilot would instruct additional ground support to press them in on both sides. What were the escape options? The list was painfully short, only one in point of fact.
They’d have to ditch the RV in the forest, lose themselves in the trees. How long could they stay one step ahead of their executioners? With his wound and both of them running on fumes?
The helicopter roared behind him as they shot into the thicket. He practically stood on the accelerator for a half mile maybe, willing the old clunker onward until he pulled the unwieldy RV to a stop amid the dense evergreens. Mackenzie was ready with their packs, but her expression was void of hope. Once more they were forced to ditch the shelter and warmth they both desperately needed.
No more denying it. The net was being pulled tight on all sides. Their best option—to get to the main road andfollow the nearest evacuee out of town—was now off the table.
He thought of survivor stories from soldiers who had been captured after excruciating days and weeks of evasion. The level of defeat they’d experienced, the profound hopelessness, invariably weighed more heavily on them than the physical duress they’d endured.
No. Not while his heart was still beating would he give up and allow that to happen. The last-gasp scenario was his own surrender, but only if it gave Zee a chance to escape—something he’d never share with her. If it came to that, he would make the choice for both of them.
He took the gun and got out, left the vehicle with the engine running, and locked it. The curtains in the back were drawn and would conceal the interior. “They’ll have to assume we’re barricaded inside. It will buy us some time.”
She didn’t answer, surveying their surroundings like he was.
One side of the road harbored a mass of young trees crowded together in a shallow muddy basin, pooled with standing water. The other offered denser pockets of shrubbery and trees that would provide more cover but also slow their escape.
Which way? His side was on fire and his head throbbing.Think, Gideon.
Ahead they saw the gleam of headlights as a vehicle twisted its way along the wooded road toward them. The helicopter thundered overhead, concealed by the canopy.
“They’re coming.” She understood they were trapped.
The aggressors were approaching from the air and landnow. The two of them would have to run, but it would be over soon. They could not escape on foot. It would be moments, no longer, before they were captured. His pulse thundered.
Why did it have to end like this? After all they’d survived? And all they had to live for? But for the first time in his life he couldn’t think of a single alternative that would spare them.
Defeated, Gid?Had they survived, evaded, resisted, only to find there was no escape? It was a bitter reality. Why couldn’t he come up with anything?
He’d let Mackenzie down, and the pain of that was an agony worse than the wound.
