Essential Beginnings (30 page)

“Make do?” Trevor was losing his grip and Henley was the one who was going to get hurt. She looked around the open area; there was nowhere to run to that he couldn’t catch her. Her best bet was to either try for the entrance to the mine in hopes someone saw her or scream bloody murder until someone came to find out what was going on. “I’m not making do,
Dad
. These people think I left when I was eighteen years old. You threw me out the day I turned sixteen. There is no way I’m making
do
anymore. We make this barter happen and we’ll all be in a better position.”

“Son, you’re not thinking clearly,” Stanley said with a bit of despondence. That wasn’t a good sign and Henley felt that wave of panic start to descend over her once more. “This isn’t going to work. They’ll be gunning for your head and—”

“Rat, are you out here?”

Both Stanley and Trevor shifted their gaze onto the entrance of the mine. Randy Bassett was coming their way and this was her chance. Henley quickly stepped away and opened her mouth, ready to scream as loud as she could when Trevor somehow reached her before she could yell. He’d grabbed a hold of her hair and yanked her head back until she swore her neck cracked. He moved fast and was able to get her behind the truck with the knife to her throat.

“Yeah, Randy. I was just looking for Trevor. He ran into town for me to get some things but he should be back shortly.”

Stanley’s voice seemed to fade as he walked farther away instead of standing where they’d left him. Trevor pulled the knife away from her throat and right when she would have turned around to make a grab for her weapon still tucked into his pants…everything went black.

*

“Stop here,” Mav
ordered, the rage inside his blood boiling as he witnessed the vehicle turn left into Ratliff’s campground. Henley was in that car and as of right now, there wasn’t a damned thing he could do about it. The sheriff had turned his lights off once they’d caught sight of the other vehicle. It was a good thing this man knew the roads like he did, or else they’d be stuck in a ditch somewhere for how dark it was without the moonlight escaping through the clouds. “Don’t get any closer.”

“Well, we have our answer,” Truman offered up from the back seat. “I take it this is where Ratliff is holed up?”

“Yes, but I know that man—as bad-tempered as he can get, he wouldn’t have done this,” Ramsey said, drumming his fingers on the steering wheel. “I also know Henley and she wouldn’t have come here willingly.”

“No, she wouldn’t.” Mav watched as the taillights faded around the turn of the road that would lead to the entrance of the old mine. Felix and Kellen continued to talk while Mav thought this through. There was no way in hell he was going to allow them to take over the bunker and it would be over his dead body before they hurt Henley in an attempt to get their way. In all honesty it didn’t matter who had been the one responsible for abducting Henley. The entire group was now accomplices as far as Mav was concerned. He had a decision to make and he needed to make it fast. He glanced over in the seat to see Ramsey’s two-way radio and he grabbed it before holding it over his shoulder for Kellen to take. “Truman, I need you to stay here and monitor the situation. Ramsey and I will head back to camp, getting the weapons and people that we need in order put an end to this.”

Truman took the two-way radio without a word, opening the back door and stepping out into the cool night air. He quietly closed the door until a small latching sound could be heard and then he faded into the dark. Mav hoped like hell he just hadn’t made a mistake.

“I take it you have a plan,” Ramsey said, not even bothering to word that statement as a question. He put the cruiser back into drive and then did a U-turn in the middle of the road, taking them back into the direction of the fishing lodge. Mav was busy going over strategies in his head but he finally nodded his answer. “You realize that we’re under martial law and I still need to do my job.”

“Then do it,” Mav instructed, not wanting to hear about rules and laws. He’d do what he had to in order to get Henley back safely and up to the lodge. “You make sure they pay for the crimes they committed and I’ll do what I have to do to make things right.”

The remainder of the ride was made in silence, Mav still planning and organizing the best way to enter the campgrounds and retrieve Henley without any bloodshed. That probably wouldn’t happen, but it would only be by those who put up a fight. Mav was out of the vehicle before Felix had put it in park. Jeremy came hurrying from his place near the front while Ernie was already waiting for them.

“Rat has Henley,” Mav said, taking the keys that Ernie was dangling from his hands. It was to his entrance into the armory within the bunker. “We’ll go in at daybreak, so switch out Dylan and Jason so they can get some sleep. Jeremy, that means you too. Leave Missy in charge here with the others just in case this is a setup. Give her instructions to do what is necessary to protect what is ours.”

“We might have a slight problem, son,” Ernie said, managing to keep up with Mav’s strides.

They marched into the main entrance to the bunker. The security door was high strength steel alloy with a cypher-lock keypad. The entrance opened up to reveal a well-lit main cavern with several structures built inside. A security office was on the left and a large equipment barn filled the right side. Two major tunnels granted access to the mine. One was leading off to the left where additional shelter could be seen and the rumble of the generators was heard. Heading down the corridor straight ahead, they passed the freight elevator and several golf carts with equipment racks on the back. There were multiple corridors and rooms off the main hall leading left and right, but they bore right around to the security billeting and the armory stores. Mav had hardly managed to pause to unlock the armory vault door when Ernie finally delivered the bad news.

“An announcement was made on the shortwave radio around twenty minutes ago. The wind current has picked up steam and the ash cloud is set to arrive by eight hundred hours.”

Mav clenched his teeth at the glitch they’d have to overcome, but it wouldn’t stop him from tactically carrying this plan out to his satisfaction. It was the best strategy of attack and they needed to be able to see their enemy. He didn’t stop moving because to do so would allow his emotions to break free from the vessel he’d closed them into.

“We stick to the plan—first light.” Mav came to the cage where the equipment racks held the various weapons and equipment that guaranteed their victory. Before them was a fully functional armory. The pistols and tactical rifles glistened in their racks. Magazines and ammo cans were stacked high. A weapon’s smith couldn’t have asked for a better-equipped workbench, stacks of reloading equipment, and two progressing load presses. Cabinets marked several powder types and another listing multiple size primers. Mav began to choose several ammo cans with .223 rounds loaded into stripper clips. He grabbed load bearing equipment and smoke grenades for everyone that would be a part of the recovery team. They already had their M4s except Kellen, and Mav pulled one off the rack for him as well as a magazine pouch with extra loaded magazines and a speed loader. By the time he was done, this act alone gave him satisfaction that this mission would be successful. There was only one thing left they needed to take with them. “Tank, we’ll need those 40mm NBC gas mask filters.”

H
enley blinked, trying
to adjust her eyesight against the throbbing at the back of her head. She took her time, careful not to move in case she jarred the pain worse than what it already was. It wasn’t like what she read in books, where pieces came to a person slowly after they’d been knocked unconscious. No. Not at all. She was well aware of what happened and the emotional toll was wearing her thin. The sharp pain faded her heightened fear and now it fed into an anger that would see her come out alive at the end of this.

“You did what?” Stanley asked, his voice dropping to a rough and somewhat panicked whisper. Henley felt a sense of satisfaction that he was rattled about what his son had done. Rat would have put a stop to this immediately if he’d been any type of man. It was still dark, but it must be close to morning from the way the dimness shined through. “Milton will sell us out in a heartbeat. That ash cloud is arriving sooner than anyone expected and they’re all panicking. We can make it here. I know we can, but you’ve messed this up, kid. You’re certainly your mother’s son. Everything you touch turns to shit.”

“You never had faith in me or Mom and now isn’t any different. Milton took one of the vehicles up the access road and delivered my message,” Trevor said, confidence lining his voice while it only disgusted Henley that he thought this was okay to do. He was exactly the type of people that Mav had always been talking about. Rat was just as bad, letting a boy who’d made some very bad decisions carry out his plan. “It shouldn’t be long now. They’ll come down here with their tail between their legs, begging us not to hurt their
Henley Varano
. I listened to every word you said when I arrived. She’s some kind of celebrity who came home after her mental breakdown, unable to cope with people looking at her all the time. What kind of shit is that?”

Henley could tell from the way their voices carried that they were facing away from her. She finally managed to open her eyes all the way, figuring out that she was lying in the back seat of the pickup truck that they’d arrived in. She leaned her head back, making out the two figures. She took advantage of their distraction and reach down to the floorboard with her left hand, almost crying out when she the pain in her left wrist shot up her arm as if she’d been shot. She bit her lip until she tasted blood, the agony fading bit by bit.

She quietly rolled to her side, all the while keeping an eye on Trevor and Stanley. Henley wasn’t sure what they were looking for, but she hoped they continued to do so. Leaning down, she used her right hand to feel around the floor for anything she could use as a weapon. The only thing she came up with was a box of tissues, which she would have used for her tears had she had time. Mav had to know by now that she was missing and this was the only likely place she could be. Was he out there somewhere? Was he just waiting for a chance like she was?

“I don’t think that darkness coming in from the west is rain clouds.” Stanley took a few steps farther away. Trevor followed and Henley figured she’d have to make a break for it. She wasn’t any good to them dead, so it was highly unlikely Trevor would flat out kill her before negotiations even began. Cradling her left wrist to her chest, she slowly inched her way to the open truck door when something in between the front seats caught her eye. Was that a pocketknife? “We heard on the shortwave radio that the ash cloud would roll in sometime this morning.”

“Then my timing couldn’t have been more perfect.” Trevor turned back around only to find Henley standing next to the vehicle. She’d caught herself from fleeing just in time and stood her ground, keeping her right hand behind her back. “Look who’s awake. It sucks having that pounding headache, doesn’t it? Jeremy Jenkins got in that lucky shot and I can tell you that it hurts like a bitch from personal experience.”

“There was never another man that day, was there?” Henley asked, taking her eyes off of Trevor long enough to see Rat turn around. She purposefully ignored the ominous dark cloud that Stanley had referred to because it would only sidetrack her with more fear. It was becoming a constant thing to be afraid and she was grateful for the sanctuary Ernie had provided. She just needed to do her best to get back there before that ash cloud descended on them. “You made it up as a distraction to get the focus off of you.”

“What do you mean Jeremy Jenkins was responsible for your injury?” Rat asked angrily, putting a hand on Trevor’s arm and turning him around. “You couldn’t even take that boy down by surprise?”

“What’s going on? The others are making their way deeper into the mine before the ash cloud arrives,” Jarrett Moore said, his voice coming from the other side of the vehicle. She glanced over her shoulder, his surprise at seeing her evident. “Henley? What are you doing here?”