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She wanted to smile, but with her focus on survival, all she could do was make a grimace she hoped he’d take for genuine. “This kind of thing is mostly illegal. If I had any choice, I wouldn’t be using them. If none of the hunters fall into this, we’ll have to come back later and take it out. I’d hate an innocent person to be injured by the traps.”
She surveyed the surroundings, then pointed out two trees about five feet apart. “Sarah, tie a trip wire between those trees. Make it about three inches off the ground. Close enough to the ground it’s hard to see but high enough to trip the ankle. Jon, you use that little shovel and dig a trench three feet past the trip wire. Dig down about a foot. I want them to trip on the wire and fall onto the punji sticks. If we can mess up a knee, they’ll have trouble following us. Their companions will have to carry them out.”
“You think they will or maybe just leave them until they take care of us?” Sarah asked.
“They’re friends, so I hope they have enough concern for each other so we can rattle them as they rescue their buddy. But with such heartless men, it’s hard to say. I’ll gather leaves and pine needles to cover the trench.”
They all set to their various tasks. Once Annie had a pile of debris collected, she grabbed a pine branch and retraced their steps. She wanted to leave a clear trail to this spot, so once she backtracked and erased her steps behind her, she planted her feet carefully the way she wanted them to go and led them right to the trench.
Did they have enough time? There was no way of knowing how closely the men were behind them. She’d tried to cover their tracks the best she could, but there were three of them and a dog, and it was slow going, even though they’d traveled single file to make it easier. The only comfort she had was that the hunters would also be traveling slowly to try to read the signs in the forest. These men took hunting seriously. They didn’t go charging carelessly when they wanted to make a big sport of it.
That would take away the “fun” for them.
She found it hard to believe anyone could be so twisted and cruel.Evilwas the real word. There was evil in the world, and the three of them faced it right now.
When she reached Jon and Sarah again, the booby trap was nearly ready. She helped Jon secure the stakes in the ground, and then she hid them with leaves and pine needles. Jon and Sarah both watched her quietly, and she could sense the fear from her sister. She wished there was time to reassure her that everything would be all right. Annie wasn’t sure she could say the words with any kind of sincerity.
The odds were against them.
After testing the strength of the fish wire strung between the trees, she nodded. “I think we’re ready. You two go ahead, and I’ll leave tracks in the opposite direction of where we’re headed. You’re going to come to a fork in the trail about a mile up. Keep to the right side. It’s the trail back to their headquarters. I’ll lay a false trail the other way and join you at the cells.”
Jon frowned. “I don’t like it, love. We should stay together.”
“It has to be this way, Jon.” She took her gun from him. “We’ll leave a trail like an elephant if we all stay together, and I need them to think we’re trying to escape, not head back to where we started. I won’t be long. Hurry as fast as you can. When you get there, see if there’s a way to break in to that building and get weapons. Sarah, you check out the cells where they had us locked up. See if there’s anything we can use for weapons in there. I’ll hurry as fast as I can.”
Both Jon and Sarah didn’t budge, and she gave her sister a small shove. “Go. Right now. We don’t have much time.”
With reluctance Sarah turned and trudged up the narrow game trail with Scout trailing behind, and Annie pushed Jonafter her. “I’m fine. Hurry.” She wasn’t sure at first if he’d comply, but he finally chewed on his lip and followed after Sarah.
Annie wasted no time in brushing away any marks they’d left before she circled back toward the fire road she’d seen on Jon’s map. She didn’t want to make it too obvious, so she hopped on rocks, carefully displacing a needle here and a leaf there. She lingered to pull some leaves half off a thick thimbleberry bush before doing it all over again.
She reached the fire road and stared longingly down its length until it disappeared into the green depths of the forest. If only she dared to run for all she was worth for help. But it would be suicide, and she’d promised Jon she’d be right back. He’d be worried. Even if she made it—and she held out no real hope she would—she’d be gone for hours.
Max and his men would kill her and turn back to find the others. No one would escape their net with her gone. She trudged a few yards along the fire trail and found a few rocks leading off into the woods. The perfect spot to slip off and circle back.
Thirty-Six
Would this nightmare never end? Muscles aching, Sarah trudged through the bugs, the humidity, and the stench of rotting vegetation in the final trek to the place where she and Annie had been held. The sight of the metal roof on the block building of cells squeezed her chest.
She trusted her sister, but it seemed insane to her to walk right into the lion’s lair. Sooner or later the hunters would come back here—either with Annie’s dead body or another victim. Sarah didn’t want to be around for either of those scenarios.
Jon made less noise than she did, but his passage along the path was far from silent. The two of them made enough racket to stop the birds from chirping, and anyone nearby would stop and check it out. But Annie had seemed confident of her plan.
Sarah stopped before she stepped out from under the shelter of the trees. “What time is it?” she whispered to Jon.
He glanced at the phone. “Three. Annie’s been gone for two hours. I don’t like it.”
“I don’t either.” She also didn’t like the thought of moving out into clear view of anyone who happened to still be here. But maybe the place was deserted.
She eyed the three buildings spaced around the clearing. All were block style with metal roofs painted green to blend into the surrounding trees. The cinder blocks were the same color. A chopper or plane flying over this area likely wouldn’t notice the structures. The largest one held the prison cells. Another appeared to be a utility shed, and it didn’t have a lock on it like the other two. The third one had two locks and no windows, which was why Annie had thought it might be an armory. Sarah had her doubts. She suspected the men kept their guns with them.
But it might stockpile ammo.
Jon stepped past her as if he was tired of waiting for her to make a move. “I’m going to see if there’s anything in the utility shed to help us gain entry to the other buildings. There might be keys or tools we can use.”
He dashed toward the farthest building and slid open the barn-type door. Sarah waited for a gunshot or a shout to ring out, but only birds chirped in the trees. After a moment, she followed him, but she expected a bullet in her back at any moment.
She stepped into the shed’s cooler interior and glanced around. Sun streamed through the fly-speckled windows and shone on the rough plank shelves holding cans of paint, insecticide, and various cans of other utility items. Several boards with nails pounded into them had been attached to the block walls. Tools hung from the nails. A chain saw leaned on the wall in one corner along with a push mower. Lengths of galvanized and plastic pipe leaned against another corner wall as well as a sump pump. Just about anything she could imagine in a utility shed was in here. It might be a treasure trove for her inventive sister.
