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“I see three men,” Mak said.
“Piece of cake,” said Neil.
“Stay hidden,” Brent said. “We can’t see…”
But before he could finish his sentence, Mak pulled a mask over his face and jumped out onto the road, aiming his laser gun at the oncoming cart. He shot, and the cart whirred and dropped down to the ground with a loud thump.
A lot of shouting ensued. Neil jumped out to join Mak on the street just as the fabric covering the shipment of marble on the fallen cart opened to reveal not their hard-earned reward but five armed men.
Nova and the four remaining rebels who had started to make their way forward hid back behind the trees lining the road.
“It’s a trap,” Brent said.
“What do we do?” she heard one of his men ask, his voice dripping with fear.
Brent didn’t answer for several seconds. Mak, still on the road, shot at the men coming out of the cart. They didn’t have a good angle on him yet, but the other three found hiding spots behind their cart and began shooting back, unaware of Neil sneaking up on them from behind.
“We cover them,” Brent growled.
Nova took out the laser pistol she’d been given for the mission and aimed at the men in the cart, then hesitated. She didn’t know who these men were—she barely knew the men she was helping—did she really want to be responsible for their deaths?
On the other hand, if she did nothing, the rebels would be outnumbered.
Shards.
“Shoot,” Brent yelled.
She couldn’t. And she wasn’t a good enough shot that she could risk just pretending to shoot and aim at the ground instead.
Neil snuck up on one of the three men that had guarded the cart, the smallest of the three, and grabbed him around the neck, placing his gun to his temple.
“Stop shooting or I kill him,” he yelled.
Brent and his men stopped shooting first. The others stopped as well but kept their weapons aimed at the trees where Nova and the rebels were hiding.
“Go,” said Neil, looking at Mak.
Mak didn’t hesitate. He ran for the trees, yelling “go” as he ran.
Brent hesitated, looking back at Neil. Nova could just make out the angry expression on his face in the dark.
“Move out,” he said.
* * *
They abandoned the cart in the woods, there was no point in bringing it back now they’d been caught. Brent instructed them all to go home their separate ways and to stay hidden.
Nova moved fast, hearing the others somewhere behind her. If Altair had set the trap, he could be awake when she got back.
The lights were out in the house when she climbed through the window and quietly changed for bed.
She’d laid down only a few minutes when the banging started. It sounded like someone at the door. Heart racing, she jumped off her couch, moved her closet away from the door, and looked out into the living room. Altair had turned on the light and was walking toward the front door. He threw it open, nearly pulling it off its hinges.
“What?”
“Our decoy was attacked.” The man on the other side of the door was practically jumping up and down.
Decoy? Did that mean the real shipment was sent on a different route?
