“What do we do?” I whispered. “Do we follow him?”
“Get the bags and restock your weapons,” Jude ordered, pointing to the two military personnel. “Move the snowmobiles out of sight and put the white cover over them to blend in with the snow. The Dogs won’t pick up on three inactive vehicles.”
The three of them nodded, and each went to a snowmobile and turned the keys. As the vehicles roared to life, the guards tossed the heavy bags into the snow before speeding off, leaving a trail behind them. The light around us turned hazy yellow as the sun dipped below the horizon, and the air grew noticeably cooler.
“So are we going with him?” I was too tired to get ambushed by Dogs.
“We have no choice.” Jude strapped one of the bags to his back and threw another forcefully at Gabe. “Keep your distance. We aren’t finished.”
“We certainly aren’t,” Gabe muttered under his breath as he threw the bag across his back.
We trudged up the hill in silence, following the man’s snowy footsteps. The boot steps veered off course, to the left, where the terrain became rocky, and travel became unsteady. We followed them until we came to a narrow passage between two rocky masses, only wide enough for single-file passage. Thewind whipped through the pass, but very little snow reached its innards.
“The wind blew his footsteps away. Let’s keep going to the other side,” Gabe suggested. “They should reappear once we’re back in the snow.”
Up ahead, the man’s round head peeked out from the rock wall itself. “Ah! There yeh are! Come on in.”
A dark cave came into view, its mouth a gaping maw in the cliff face, and the old man stood in its entrance, holding back a heavy, black velvet curtain. “Welcome to mah home, folks!”
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Iwasn’t prepared for what I saw inside the cave. Hesitantly, I stepped inside, every nerve ending screaming that this crazy man was luring us to our death, but the sight before me stole my breath. The roof of the cave was strung with bright orange light bulbs, their coiling filaments casting a hazy yellow light. A large, flat-screen television, displaying a vibrant image, hung on the wall above a plush couch and loveseat. The living room’s perimeter was lined with bookshelves, leading to a full kitchen with stainless steel appliances, ample cupboards, and a large prep island.
“Wh-what is this place?”
The six of us were in shock, our minds unable to grasp how this crazy old man had such an excellent living space. While the world was struggling, he was living a luxe life, it almost didn’t seem fair. To everyone except Gabe and I, this was unheard of.
“Welcome to mah home!” The man smiled. “I’ll start fixin’ ya some food. Yeh must be starvin’. He looked at us huddled together, our mouths agape. “Come on in, yeh don’t need ta be scared. Make yerself at home.”
“Th-thank you,” I whispered. “Why are you being so nice to us? We’re strangers.”
He shrugged. “Don’ see many people up here. Figured I’d help yeh out, yeh’d either freeze ta death or da Dogs woulda ripped yeh apart. My life’s almost at its end, so if bein’ a good person is goin’ to be the death o’ me, it’s a good way ta go out.” The man walked to a beautiful bar separating the living room from the kitchen. Each of the bottles sparkled, their faded labels disguising the liquid inside. He carefully arranged seven short glasses on the polished bartop before pouring a precise ounce of amber liquor into each. “Name’s Pete, I’ve been livin’ here for the past fifty years. Come, have a drink an’ warm up.”
We followed him to the bar, and I took a seat on one of the stools. The last time I was at a bar was The Carlton, right before I got kidnapped. It seemed like so long ago. A different life.
But was it a better life?
The six of us introduced ourselves to Pete, then, with a quick cheers, we downed the brown liquid. The alcohol burned my throat with a searing caramel flavor. Every drop of liquor reached my stomach, but Pete wasn’t wrong—I was warm.
The old man wiped a dribble of alcohol from his mustache. “What brings yeh up here?”
“Our mission is confidential.” Jude’s authoritative voice boomed as he puffed out his chest, his presence filling the room.
I rolled my eyes, and Gabe shook his head. “We’re looking for a large building hidden in the snow within these mountains. Do you know where that may be?”
Jude’s head snapped at Gabe. “Don’t release confidential information! We don’t know if we can trust him!”
“Hetrustedus.” I pursed my lips. Why was he being so difficult?
“Fuck off, dude,” Gabe huffed.
“Yeh mean the laboratory in the valley?” Pete walked to the refrigerator. “The one that fixes the Dogs?”
Once again, our mouths dropped. Would this place cease to surprise us?
A deep guffaw rumbled from Pete’s chest. “Why’re yeh so surprised? Livin’ here for so long, o’ course I know about that place. I steal da food that’s sent ta it. Ain’t no one livin’ up there, so why not?” He opened the refrigerator and rummaged around in the back. “Speakin’ of…care for filet mignon tonight?”
Another surprise: filet mignon!
