AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Lane unbuckled his seat belt. “I’m coming with you.”
Tim looked at him and nodded. “Got a gun?”
Lane looked at Desi. She didn’t know he normally carried one. “Not on me.”
“Stay behind me then. Leave your door open just in case we need to make a mad dash.”
“Right.”
Desi wanted to grab hold of Lane’s arm and tell him not to go. But she had no right to. Instead, she watched as both men walked towards the house, she was so engrossed in doing so, that she almost missed the unmistakable sound of barking dogs coming in through Lane’s opened door. Several of them. The thought of a black-market animal ring ran through her mind. Without a word, she unbuckled her seat belt and slipped out, intent on finding where the barking was coming from.
She gingerly made her way through the dark into an apple orchard. Against the darkness stood a white building like a beacon, fifty feet away. Heading straight for it, she peeked in the nearest window and saw a row of empty cages. That was a good enough sign if there ever was one that something was going on. Excited at her find, she quickly turned to get back to the truck when she saw something out of the corner of her eye. Ducking behind a tree, she realized she was in big trouble, it was a man, holding a shotgun standing guard at a door. How he hadn’t seen her first was beyond her, but that didn’t matter now as he was blocking her way back to the truck.
––––––––
“SO, WHAT DID THEY SAY?” Kim asked, as Tim and Lane got back in the truck.
“Never mind that, where the hell is Desi?” Lane asked.
“She’s right there...” Kim turned in her seat to look. “Well shit, she was there!”
“Sonofabitch,” Lane muttered. “I gotta go find her.”
He moved to open his door when Tim grabbed his arm. “Not here, they are watching.”
Lane looked towards the house and sure enough the man they had talked to was standing there and had been joined by another. One that Lane recognized...
“Shit...” Never taking his eyes off the man, Lane said, “I can’t leave her there. Back onto the road Mark, take your time shifting into drive. I’ll bail out when you do.”
Tim looked at him as Mark slowly backed up, “What’s going on Lane? Who is that guy?”
“That’s Desi’s ex. If Desi is right, you better call in some back up and now...”
––––––––
“IT’S AUTUMN, WHY THEhell aren’t these things dead yet?” Ava whispered as she swatted mosquitoes away.
“I’m sorry. We shouldn’t have gone this way,” Luke said, as they walked through a swampy area. “It’s just the most direct route to mom.”
They were in a low spot having just come down from a hilly area and were coming up the back way to the emu farm
“At least there isn’t any water,” Dean offered as a way of a buffer.
“Stop for a minute.” Ben pointed at a long white building in the distance, the farmhouse sat off to the right of it. “Is that where the signal is coming from Luke?”
Luke looked at the phone and nodded. “Yeah, it is.”
“Get down!” Ava said, hitting the deck.
“What? Why?” Luke looked around at her and saw a pickup truck pulling into the driveway, the headlights skimmed just over their heads. They watched as two men exited the truck.
“It’s Lane and Tim,” Ben said, as they watched them walk to the house.
Suddenly, they heard dogs barking, and it sounded like it was coming from the white building.
“Wait a minute,” Dean said. “Desi just got out of the truck!”
“Where the hell is she going?” Ben muttered.
