The two men climbed into their vehicles, and Pete Delaney followed Zack Hightower back in the direction of the cabin holding his daughter.
Forty-Five
Zack and Pete commandeered a small dusty rental cabin, just under one quarter mile west and on the same heavily wooded hillside as the one Kincaid held. From Google Maps, Zack could see that there was only one more cabin in the woods between the two structures, and he had no idea if it was inhabited or not.
To be safe, the two men drove to the cabin they commandeered with their lights off, and they did not use the electricity inside, in case Kincaid sent out a patrol to check the woods or the neighboring dwellings.
Zack called Court and directed him to take a different route to the target than he had. It was shorter, shaving off a little time, but it also meant twenty minutes of difficult driving, navigating down a steep decline and three-foot boulders covered in ice.
—
It was just past four p.m. when a black Jeep Wrangler turned onto a small utility road, wound its way up and up a hill, and then through thicker and thicker trees and deeper and deeper snow.
Sunset would officially come at four thirty, but gray skies and consistent snowfall, along with the higher mountain peaks all around, made it effectively dark, so the headlights of the Wrangler bounced across the foliage and the precipitation as the vehicle picked its way through.
Court arrived before dusk, climbed out of the Jeep, and then grabbed a pair of thick duffel bags, heaving them out of the backseat. He thought he was going straight into the cabin, but Zack met him outside on the front porch.
“Delaney’s inside. I wanted to talk in private first,” Zack said.
Court dropped the bags as snow fell in fat flakes in the darkening light off the porch. He said, “Easy day, man. We’re gonna get her back.”
Zack did not respond to this; instead, he said, “What can you tell me about Kincaid?”
“What do you need to know? Tactically sound. Crazy as an outhouse rat.”
“Yeah, I picked up on that.” He sighed. “Six, here’s the deal. Don’t know why I didn’t tell you this already. He’s offering to give me the girl back if you go up there unarmed. You for her.”
Court nodded, looked through the trees. “I wondered if that would be the deal.”
Zack said, “But you and I both know how that would play out.”
“He kills me, then kills the kid. Probably goes after you anyway, for the money.”
“Yep,” Zack said. “No doubt. So we’re going to have to hit that place.”
“You able?” Court asked.
Zack sniffed out a little laugh. “Don’t see we have a choice. It’s that or get local SWAT out here, and that’s just going to get Andie killed. I hear SWAT here is top-notch, but Gauntlet is going to get word of it before they can muster, and that can’t happen.”
Court pointed down to Zack’s leg. Even in the poor light, the blood on his jeans was obvious. “I meantthat. Can you operate on that leg?”
“Pete just rebandaged me, actually. This is mostly dried. It will slow me down, but I can still do some damage.”
Court turned to look in the window of the darkened little cabin. “Pete? You been making friends?”
“He’s a good man, actually. He fucking hates me for putting his family through this, I’m sure, but I can’t say I blame him.”
“Let’s fix it, then,” Court said. “How far to the target?”
“Seven hundred yards due east. The target is in a clearing in the woods, right next to a sheer hillside that goes all the way down to the road. Lots of trees. There’s a trail a couple hundred yards east of that, leads down to the road. Looks like a good exfil route for after. The trouble is going to be getting into that property undetected and getting the girl.”
Court scoffed at this. “We’re going to be detected, all right. We hit that house, we own that space, we get that kid, we get the fuck out.”
Court then said, “The guys with Lancer. Jill is guessing there are probably three, maybe four. How good are they?”
“The two I met? Dangerous, but nowhere near tier one,” Zack said. “One thing’s for sure: Lancer only gives a shit about Lancer. He’ll let all the other dudes with him die, and he’ll grab Andie to use as a bargaining chip if he’s outnumbered.”
“Understood.”
