Zach pulled a small piece of carpet out of his backpack and gave it to his colleague. He had no idea why the paladin had told him to bring it but was reluctant to test the senior agent’s patience by asking for an explanation.
Erik stood up and walked toward the fence. After climbing the ladder, he scanned the grounds on the other side. Apparently satisfied that all was quiet, he folded the carpet in half and threw it over the barbed wire before straddling the top of the barrier. Pulling the ladder up after him, he reversed the grappling hook so it hugged the opposite side. As he stepped onto the ladder, he threw the carpet back down to Zach. Then he lowered himself into the compound.
Zach immediately assembled his own set of stairs and clambered up to the top. He hoisted Erik’s ladder back outside the fence and then adjusted the range of his binoculars to check the guard tower at the front of the property. Its floor-to-ceiling windows made it easy to see what its occupants were doing. There were two men seated in front of surveillance consoles. Two others were standing and talking. Each of them carried assault rifles slung over their shoulders. Zach gulped. He scanned the woods at the back of the property but couldn’t detect anything moving, not even Erik. The tyro sighed, hoping that Daniel and Hannah would be able to slip out unnoticed. He knew the next ten minutes were going to be the longest of his life.
***
Hannah could hear the lock on her prison door give a small click.
A shadowy figure slipped inside and a voice barely above a whisper announced, “It’s time.”
She looked at the clock. Three in the morning. Well past the point when members of the congregation should have fallen asleep. Only a handful of security personnel at the main gate would be awake. She bit her lip apprehensively, scarcely believing that this was actually going to happen. It was a miracle. Although Zach and Granny Faye cared about her, she hadn’t thought they could do anything to solve her predicament. Apparently, they knew people who could. The ones Daniel called “the three thieves” clearly had some experience with Hannah’s type of problem. That Daniel had agreed to help his enemies secure her freedom was the biggest miracle of all.
The scion, who was dressed entirely in black and wearing a baseball cap, handed a sack of clothing to Hannah. “Put these on.”
She ducked into the bathroom to change. He had brought her jeans, a turtleneck, sneakers, and socks—all black. She almost wept with joy at the feel of normal clothing from the real world against her skin. She reached into the sack one more time to retrieve a final item. It was a black baseball cap like the one Daniel wore. The front had been fitted with two rows of what looked like small Christmas tree lights above the visor. She had been told that these battery-powered LED lights would temporarily blind the cameras. If they chanced to catch her on their surveillance feeds, the guards wouldn’t be able to identify her. The lights would create a sunburst effect around her head and shoulders even more effective than a mask. Tucking her blond hair under the cap, she studied the effect in the mirror. Not a trace of the Nephilim remained.
“Hannah!” Daniel’s voice hissed through the door. “We must leave now.”
She snapped out of her reverie and joined him. “I’m ready.”
They cautiously exited her room, taking care to press themselves against the wall.
“Keep low,” Daniel advised.
She sank down and inched along a few feet, finally standing upright when she was slightly behind the camera which guarded her hallway.
Daniel peeked around the wall of the intersecting corridor then motioned her to follow him. His co-conspirators had identified a way to get out of the building without being detected by the monitors. Hannah followed Daniel and mimicked his posture, first crouching, then pressing herself against the wall to stay out of the range of the cameras. After several tense minutes, they finally arrived at a service door leading to the utility buildings at the rear of the property. They slipped through soundlessly. The cool night air brought welcome relief. Hannah’s nerves were stretched to the breaking point.
“We need to stop here,” Daniel instructed. “Erik knows the blind spots of the perimeter cameras. He’ll guide you the rest of the way.”
They waited for five minutes, but nobody appeared.
“Are you sure he’s coming?” she whispered.
Daniel nodded.
They both squinted anxiously into the darkness but saw and heard nothing.
Hannah happened to glance toward the compound fence off in the distance directly across from her. She saw something gleam. It was an object reflected by the yard lights. The girl kept her eyes fastened to the spot. It was too far away for her to make out the shape of the object, but she knew it must be near the top of the fence. She had been told Zach would be acting as Erik’s lookout. It had to be him. His binoculars must be the glint she’d seen. She was filled with a flood of relief. She had truly thought she’d never see him again. Surely, he’d seen her as well. She wondered why he didn’t give her a signal that he was waiting to take her home. “Zachary!” she murmured. Without thinking, she took a step forward.
“Hannah, no!” Daniel gasped. He jerked her back against the side of the building and put a hand over her mouth.
They waited. It only took a minute before they both heard the sound of boots clattering down the metal stairs of the guard tower by the front gates.
“You must have been caught on-camera,” the scion whispered. “They can’t see your face, but they know somebody is out here who shouldn’t be. We need to go
