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Chapter 1
The Waters’ Homestead
Outside Ellisville, VA
The first attack came three days later.
After Dianne arrived with the much-needed medication for Jason, she heard the distant sound of vehicles roaring closer and was positive that they would be arriving at her home at any moment. Hours ticked by as she and Mark sat inside near the windows, watching and listening as they tracked the vehicle locations. They had to make do with audio cues only, though, since none of the vehicles were visible through the dense rows of trees surrounding the property. Based on everything they heard, it sounded like the cars had split up and were combing the surrounding area, a fact that did not sit well with Dianne.
For three days she, Mark, Tina and—to some extent, Sarah—planned out what they would do if and when the gang ever arrived at their doorstep. Weapons were cleaned, checked and re-checked, vital supplies were hastily brought into the basement and tunnel from the barns and the driveway, house and outbuildings were further reinforced to hopefully prevent anyone from breaking in. It was the early afternoon of the third day that Dianne, Tina and Mark sat out on the front porch together, all of them armed with pistols and rifles. They spoke in low voices, listening to the sound of the distant vehicles fading in and out of earshot.
“Maybe they’re not coming.” Tina Carson took a deep slurp from her coffee cup before setting it down on the ground and idly rubbing at the handle of her pistol. “Maybe they’re just racing or something.”
Dianne looked at Tina with a tired expression and sighed. “You know that’s not true. They’re searching for us.”
“I don’t see why it’s so hard for them to find us,” she replied. “We’re right off the side road leading into town.”
“There are a lot of side roads. They’ve been going virtually nonstop for three days, though. At some point they’re going to start searching around here.”
“You did kind of set them off, mom, what with killing a few of them and rescuing Mrs. Carson and destroying their camp.” Mark looked at her and smiled as Dianne rolled her eyes.
“I’m pretty sure that if these guys had gotten Tina here in good light they would have thrown her out of the camp—ow! Hey!” Dianne laughed as Tina punched her in the arm, growling good-naturedly at the comment.
“Watch it, Waters! Some of that stuff you brought back’ll give you quite the runs if someone happens to slip it into your coffee.”
Dianne chuckled and then sighed, staring down at her empty cup. “I wish I had put coffee on the list. Blacksburg had a lot of buildings still intact and no one seemed to be there.”
The door behind them creaked open and they heard the shuffle of feet before another voice replied, sounding as though the person behind it was fighting to talk over an immense amount of pain. “Just you wait till I’m all recovered and we’ll head out there and bring back all the coffee we need. Along with everything else.”
Dianne turned, stood up and took Jason’s right arm, guiding him to a chair out on the porch. On his left was Jacob, with Josie trailing behind. “Jason!” Dianne shook her head at him. “You shouldn’t be up and about. Should he?” She looked at Tina, who shrugged her shoulders.
“Eh. Let him get out. He needs the fresh air.” Though her words and demeanor were casual, Mark noticed that Tina’s eyes were sharply trained on Jason’s every move, watching him as he went across the porch and sat down on a nearby chair.
“Fwah. Thanks, you three.” He smiled at Jacob, Josie and Dianne.
“How’s the pain?” Tina asked, still with an air of slight disinterest. “Feeling any better than it was this morning?”
“It is, yes.” Jason nodded. “You’ve been marvelous.”
“Nothing to it,” Tina replied as she pointed at Dianne. “She did all the hard work.”
“You did a wonderful job, dear.” Jason smiled at Dianne and she patted him on the arm as she sat down on the porch next to his chair.
“I’m afraid that I stirred up more trouble than we need in doing it, though.”
“What’s that all about, now?” Jason tried to turn in his seat but winced and clutched at his wound. “I’ve been so out of it with all the drug’s pumping through me that I feel like I’ve missed most of what you’ve all been talking about.”
“Mom killed three or more of the gang who followed her into Blacksburg,” Mark replied before anyone else could, and his brother and sister stood quietly nearby, enraptured yet again b
y the summation of their mother’s activities. “That plus you and her rescuing Mrs. Carson set them off. Now they’re combing the area trying to find us.”
“You know that for certain?” Jason raised an eyebrow at Dianne.
“Logical assumption,” she shrugged. “We’ve been hearing engines on and off for three days, driving all over the place. They were chasing me out of Blacksburg and they know we’re somewhere east of their gas station compound based on the direction we drove when we got Tina back. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to put all of that together.”
“Hm.” Jason frowned, furrowed his brow and scratched at his chin. Even that slight movement made him wince. “Then we should be getting ready for an attack, shouldn’t we?”
“We are, old man.” Tina replied with a slight smile. “While you’ve been lazing about we’ve been getting everything ready.”
“Well, come on then. Fill an old man in on what you’ve been doing.”
Dianne looked at Tina. “You suggested it, you get to show him what we’ve been getting up to.”
Tina gave an exaggerated groan as she stood to her feet. She walked across the porch and held out a hand to Jason, helping him out of the chair and toward the door. Dianne and Mark got up as well, and together with Jacob and Josie they started following Tina and Jason inside. Before they got to the door, though, Sarah was at it, pulling it open with her face as white as a sheet.
“Sarah?” Dianne looked at her in concern. “What’s going on?” Sarah’s response was whispered and frantic, full of fear that turned Dianne’s blood to ice.
“There’s someone out back, down by the lake.”
Chapter 2
Washington, D.C.
“Are you certain the facility was clear? There were more buildings to check.”
Oles Belov, technician and all-around genius, sighed in exasperation as he turned to look at the man speaking to him, deliberately not calling him by any rank or honorific. “Ostap. You and Carl are the guns. Jacob and I are the brains. If we say that the facility was clear, it was clear, understand?”
Spetsnaz officer and expedition leader Ostap Isayev grunted and picked up his pace to catch up with his companion, a fellow Spetsnaz officer by the name of Carl Aliyev. “Do you think they’re lying?” He asks the question in a hushed tone so that the pair of technicians won’t overhear.
“Why would they lie?” Carl raised an eyebrow at Ostap. “You’re far too suspicious. If they said it was clear, then it’s clear.”
“Command told us that was the most likely location of the control room, though.”
Carl shrugged. “Since when has command ever been accurate about anything like that? We have two more locations to check so don’t worry about it. Why are you acting so odd anyway, Ostap? You’ve been jittery since we landed.”
Ostap glanced up at the towering buildings around them, adjusting his gloved grip on his AK-47. “I don’t like this place one bit. I can’t shake the feeling that there’s someone here just… watching us.”
“Thermals showed that the only people here are those thugs driving around.” Carl grinned and slapped his friend on the back. “Are you scared of some American criminals, Ostap?”
“Hey.” The voice came from Jacob Yermakov, the second technician. He and Oles had caught up with Ostap and Carl. “Shouldn’t we be quiet? What if there are people nearby? The Americans might get a little bit agitated if they hear four Russians with weapons talking loudly in the streets of their capital.”
“Hm.” Ostap grunted and nodded. “Yes. We should. How much longer to the next facility?”
“A couple hours, probably, if we don’t stop.”
