Hannah (The Coven's Grove Chronicles #2) (14 page)

A thought occurred to Hannah now that she was about to confront someone with a machine gun: She had no idea how she was going to take out someone with a machine gun. Magic wasn’t really an option, unless she got the gunman closer to the trees. Casting the more powerful spells outside of her innate ability required components, which, in her haste to find Dominic, she’d left behind. For this part of the rescue, she was on her own.

Brilliant
.

Panic reared its ugly head again. This time, urging Hannah to get up and make a break for the woods. Biting hard on her lower lip, she forced herself to remain still. She rummaged through her pockets in the hope of finding some form of salvation. Her fingers dug relentlessly to find...

Nothing.

Hannah squeezed her eyes shut.
The universe hates me
.

A thunderous noise, much louder than the constant thump of the strange machine in the other clearing, dropped from the night sky. The sound was actually familiar. It was a helicopter. A big one. The bulbous belly of one of those double propeller choppers lit up as the spotlights from the other site pointed upward. The giant helicopter slowly descended until it was about fifty feet off the ground, and then stopped, hovering in place above several pallets of oil barrels.

Hannah gawked at the flying monstrosity. She’d never actually seen one of those, either.
Dead bodies and giant helicopters. It’s starting off to be one hell of an evening
.

“Move it, move it, move it!” someone yelled from behind the oak stump. “C’mon, we don’t got all night!” Men in black rushed past Hannah’s hiding place toward the other site. They must have come out from the other tents. There were fifteen of them in all, and, thankfully, they hadn’t seen her.

Hannah had curled into a ball, trying to make herself as small as possible. Her attempt at becoming a mouse worked as the men continued to jog over to the other site. They joined the workers that were busy hooking chains and cables to the heavy lines dropped by the mega-chopper.

So that’s how they did it
. Realization dawned on Hannah. All of that equipment had been brought in by air. The weird pumping machine was a drill. It had to be. Despite the horrid implications this new invention posed, Hannah couldn’t help but be impressed. Dongle Inc. had found a way to sneak in and take what they wanted without anyone being the wiser.

“Son of a bitch,” Hannah whispered, shaking her head. Her fear turned to anger as she finally understood what was going on here. She got to her feet, ready to stomp her way over to the men in black and workers alike. A lesson needed to be learned, and Hannah was going to teach it to them.

“Hey,” someone from behind her said. “Don’t move.”

“Shit,” Hannah replied, peeking over her shoulder.

She’d missed one. The first guy in black, who had gone to the latrine, stood at the front of the tent, pointing that nasty machine gun at her.

“Turn around, and get on your knees,” Latrine said.

Hannah turned, but didn’t get on her knees. “You really should be more careful. There’s no telling who might mosey into this place.”

“Shut up, and get on your—” he began. Latrine’s command was cut short by Rhea’s jaws. The black wolf had been sneaking up behind him before Hannah had even turned to face him. Her barks and growls were almost whispers compared to the sounds of the mega-chopper. No one but Hannah heard as Rhea tore the guard to pieces. Massive fangs sank into soft flesh. The man screamed, and tried to fire his weapon, to no avail. Within seconds, Latrine laid dead, his throat a bloody, gaping hole.

Hannah averted her eyes and hurried to the tent. Once inside, she was rewarded with the four remaining members of Dominic’s crew, including Dominic himself. They were bound and beaten—Monica didn’t even look conscious—but they were alive. Dominic’s eyes lit up at seeing her. He mumbled through his gag, and tried in vain to get to his feet.

Hannah rushed over to him, and tore the gag free. She kissed him deeply before he could talk. The taste of blood and lust filled her mouth.
Thank goodness he’s still alive
.

Something kicked the side of her leg. Hard.

Hannah reluctantly tore herself away from the kiss to glare at her assailant.

Nancy’s brows were drawn down in anger, and she mumbled something behind her gag that sounded a lot like “Really, bitch?”

Heat came to Hannah’s cheeks. Nancy was right. There was a time and place for a proper reunion, and this wasn’t it.

“You shouldn’t have come,” Dominic said. The urgency in his voice was laced with appreciation. “But I’m glad you did.”

“We have unfinished business. I’m not about to let someone else kill you when I might do it myself,” Hannah replied, half jokingly. If they made it out of this mess, she was definitely going to give him a piece of her mind. She looked down at the restraints wrapped around his feet and hands. “How do I get these ropes off?”

“Over there.” Dominic motioned to the other side of the tent with his head. “In our packs, there should be a knife.”

Hannah scrambled over to the packs, tearing the first one open. Camera equipment and protein bars were all she found.
Next
. The second one had similarly useless stuff in it. The third however...
jackpot
. She reached in and pulled out a large, black knife. The blade must have been ten inches long. Why someone needed a knife that big she didn’t care to think about. She unsheathed it, and hurried back over to Dominic to cut him free.

“How did you find us?” Dominic asked as Hannah cut his bonds.

“Long story that we can talk about later,” Hannah answered. “We gotta get out of here first.” Once Dominic’s restraints were removed, she went straight to Nancy.

“Did you see Kevin?” Nancy asked, once her gag was removed. “He got away when we were first captured. We heard gunshots.” The look on her face was grim, as if she suspected what Hannah already knew.

“No,” Hannah lied. She wasn’t sure how Nancy would handle Kevin’s death, but she wasn’t about to find out right now. “I brought a friend, though. She’s waiting for us in the woods.”

Dominic shook his head as he removed the gags from Nathan and Monica. “I’m so sorry about this, Hannah. You’ve put yourself and your friend in real danger coming here.”

“We were already in danger, according to you,” Hannah replied. “So, what’s the point of waiting around until it comes to get us?”

“Well said,” Nathan chimed in, once he was able. “Thanks for savin’ our bacon.”

Hannah suppressed a chuckle and gave him a nod. “No problem, but you owe me.”

“Understood.” Nathan got to his feet, and then knelt to pick up Monica. She actually was unconscious, as Hannah had suspected.

Dominic went to the tent flaps, and peeked outside. “We need to move.”

“I’m ready,” Nathan said, shrugging Monica’s weight onto his shoulders. He grabbed several of their packs on his way over to stand behind Dominic. Nancy was quiet as a mouse, which was odd. Well, maybe not odd given the situation, but not what Hannah had expected from the woman. The usual bubbly snark was gone. It seemed reasonable to think that at least some of that personality would come out during a stressful situation. Perhaps, Hannah hadn’t been convincing enough when she lied about seeing Kevin, or maybe Nancy just knew he was gone. Either way, it didn’t matter now. They had to go.

Dominic looked over at Hannah. “You’re leading this show. We follow you.”

Hannah nodded. “There are two ATVs to the east…” She pointed. “Back in the woods a hundred or so yards. That’s where we’re headed.”

“How are we all going to get out of here on just two vehicles?” Nathan asked.

“That’s a question for later,” Dominic said. “Right now, we need to haul ass.”

Hannah peeked outside. The distance to the tree line looked a lot further away than when she’d crawled her way to the tent. A trick of the mind, no doubt, now that sneaking out of the camp wasn’t going to be an option. With Nathan carrying Monica, they were going to have to run for it. “There’s a trailer attached to one of the ATVs,” she answered. “We should all fit.”

“Even Kevin?” Nancy asked.

Hannah hesitated, caught off guard by the question. She had already done the math in her head when she had first seen Kevin’s body, and knew there would be plenty of room without him. “Yeah,” she finally replied.
Man, that sounded like bullshit
. There was no time to make it sound any better. The way was clear for the moment. If they were going to go, it had to be now.

“Let’s do this,” Hannah said, and then sprinted toward the woods.

Time does weird things to a person when under stress. Hannah knew crossing that clearing couldn’t have taken more than five or six seconds, but it felt like time had stopped once she took that first step out of the tent. Every stump she ran past marked another mile in their journey to safety. The forest seemed to pull away the closer they got. Even the wind was against them, gusting so hard it forced their frantic run to a crawl. Any minute, the guards would spot them and the chase would be on.

Hannah finally breached the first few trees of the forest, and relief flooded through her.
We’re going to make it!
The ATVs weren’t that far, and, with the cover of the forest, they would escape unseen.

That’s when the first gunshot echoed in the clearing. That’s when everything sped up. That’s when Hannah knew they were screwed.

Nancy yelled, “Run, Nathan!”

More gunfire ripped through the air, this time full auto.

Hannah came to a skidding halt. She expected Dominic to slam into her, but he didn’t. She turned around and found herself alone.
What the hell?!
Panic surged, and she ran back to the clearing.

Dominic and Nathan took cover behind two large stumps quite a distance from the edge of the woods. Monica laid next to them, still unconscious. Nancy however, was closer but blood leaked out of a nickel-sized hole in her calf, forcing her to take cover as well. The bullets from their attackers sent up fountains of dirt and debris as they struck everything around the sheltered area. Dominic and his crew were completely pinned down.

Seven of the men in black walked slowly, but purposefully, toward Hannah’s trapped friends. They alternated reloading in a practiced fashion so that at least two of them were firing the whole time.

Hannah had to do something. The guards were still too far away for her to use the forest, which meant she either had to provide cover for her friends, or wait until the machine-gun-toting men got closer.

Cover it is,
Hannah decided. She just wasn’t sure how to go about it.

The wind was blowing pretty hard, not to mention the helicopter continued to hover not more than fifty yards away. An idea came to her, and she looked up at the trees. Using her innate power over nature, she reached out to every pine, maple, and oak she could touch with her mind.
Shed your leaves for me,
she pleaded.
Shake them free!
The ground beneath Hannah’s feet rumbled. She sank to her knees, and continued to call for aid.

The trees began to vibrate, and a sprinkle of leaves floated into the air, dancing across the clearing. The quivering trees began to sway, building up speed, until the tops thrashed about as if caught in a hurricane. Leaves poured from the forest and filled the man-made glade.

The guards became lost in the wave of leaves, and even Dominic and Nathan were hard to see. Nancy, however, was close enough that her wide eyes and gaping mouth were easily seen.

Hannah ran out to her. “Nancy!” She grabbed hold of the shell-shocked woman. “C’mon!”

They staggered into the cover of the forest. Once they were a safe distance into the woods, Hannah stopped and helped Nancy to the ground. She glanced at the wound on the woman’s leg. It looked pretty bad, but she didn’t know much about medicine. Perhaps Troy could do something if they made it back.

“Help the others,” Nancy said, waving Hannah away. “I’ll be fine.”

Hannah didn’t need to be told twice. She got to her feet and ran back, looking for Dominic, Nathan, and Monica.

The leaf barrier was fading—trees only have so many—but the guards were still obscured enough that Hannah couldn’t make them out in the distance. Dominic and Nathan were further along than they had been. They dragged Monica between them, her head bobbing uselessly with each step.

Hannah didn’t hesitate when she reached the edge of the forest. She kept running out into the clearing toward the lumbering trio.

“Get back!” Dominic yelled.

Gun fire sounded again, this time much closer. Bullets buried into the earth near them, sending more funnels of dirt into the air.

Hannah still couldn’t see the guards, and hoped they couldn’t see her as she grabbed hold of Monica. “There isn’t time for safety!” she yelled at Dominic. “We have to get to the woods. Now!”

Bullets continued to wiz by Hannah, Nathan, and Dominic as they carried the unconscious redhead into the woods.