Then a thought struck him. What if there were more than one person working as a team to maneuver on him like the men who’d killed Dwight. Jared had always been accompanied by either Bart or John in situations like this, but now he was not only without either man, but he had Stephani to think of. Jared swung the optic around, searching the street in the direction they’d come from. Again, he saw nothing but a dead neighborhood.
Maybe it had been an animal, Jared thought. Some wild or formerly domesticated animal knocking around inside some house, looking for food or hunting rats. Jared pushed this thought from his mind, not wanting to become complacent. If it was an animal, he would still operate as if he and Stephani were in trouble. If he was wrong, no harm would come, but if he was right about there being a legitimate threat, the two would stand a far better chance at survival if they took action and did it now.
Chapter 33
John once told Jared as the two sat on the OP back at the ranch house that small-unit operations were the most dangerous. Jared considered his predicament a small man and woman operation. He wielded very little firepower and didn’t carry much ammunition, which didn’t bode well should he and Stephani get themselves into a long-drawn-out gunfight.
John had explained that when he was involved in these types of operations, he and his men would hide and avoid contact at all costs. John also added that if they ever were contacted, he and his men would fight with the ferocity of a Bengal tiger.
John further explained that violence of action would create space and time in a situation like the one Jared was starting to feel he was about to experience. Jared decided he would run, hide, and if he and Stephani were contacted, he would be wildly violent in his actions against whoever was out there.
“Someone is out there, and they know we heard them,” Jared whispered close to Stephani’s ear.
She nodded; her eyes were dilated after the adrenaline dump she’d received upon hearing the clank.
“We’re going to move through the yards now, get off the street, but it’s going to be harder and make more noise. Try to be as quiet as you can, but—” Jared twitched his shoulders “—we have to climb some fences.” Jared knew traversing through yards would be noisier than hoofing it down the sidewalk, but it would serve two purposes. The first would be to place obstacles between himself and whoever was slinking around behind them. The second thing was if they were actually being followed, their pursuer would make noise as well. Jared would feel better knowing for sure he was being stalked than being left to wonder what lurked out in the night.
Jared stowed the optics in his pack and felt a shiver not consistent with the ambient outside temperature. Jared led Stephani down the side yard of the residence they’d stopped in front of in order to scan their surroundings. When Jared reached the fence line in the backyard, he swung the rifle to his back and leaped at the barrier, catching the top of the fence with both hands and using his momentum to heave himself to the barrier’s top.
Once atop the wood fence, Jared peered down into the darkness as Stephani struggled to get her rifle to a position that would allow her to negotiate the obstacle.
“Push it to your back,” Jared hissed into the darkness as he nervously glanced at the corner of the house, half expecting some shadowy figure to appear out of the darkness.
Sitting astride a wooden fence was not a position Jared preferred to fight from. If someone with hostile intentions made contact while he sat astride his elevated wooden stead, Jared would have one of two choices. He could drop onto the opposite side of the fence and make a run for it with an every man and woman for themselves attitude, or he could drop back into the yard with their assailant and fight.
Jared shook the thought of leaving Stephani from his mind. He was no knight in shining armor; however, he did possess a conscience. Jared’s mind was his best attribute, but haunted him during times like this. He couldn’t bear to hear Stephani’s screams were she to be taken or killed. The thought alone rattled Jared so badly he was sure he would die for the woman rather than have to live with what he’d just imagined.
Stephani was finally able to push the rifle far enough around to her right side to allow her the ability to grab the top of the fence without the weapon getting in her way. Jared reached down and grabbed the woman by the left forearm and pulled as she floundered against the face of the obstacle. Her rifle swung free and crashed into the fence, making a dull thud that sounded like a car accident to Jared in the quiet night air.
Slowly, with Jared pulling and Stephani clambering with her feet, she was able to clear the fence and drop into the neighboring yard. Jared quickly dropped off the fence, pulled his weapon to the front, and moved towards the street in front of the house whose yard they were in now. As the two cleared the side yard, Jared guided them through the front yards, trying to use the dead or dying landscaping features of each home to mask their movement. They moved past three houses when Jared stopped and withdrew his binoculars.
