Was that fear in his voice?
A shiver slid down her spine. If the bad guys were afraid, whoever controlled them must be truly dangerous.
Would they really take her to Mexico? What then?
Mr. Smith flipped back to the Base Camp live feed. “What the hell? Look at those women!”
Avery leaned forward. There was Riley, Savannah, Nora, Addison, Hope, Renata, Samantha, Eve, Win and Leslie standing between the bulldozers and the tiny houses. Was that Jess joining them? Sure looked like it. Her stomach cramped with fear.
“They’re all going to die!” Owen crowed.
“This is getting good,” Mr. Smith said, but he flipped to C-SPAN.
“Aye,” said a senator. The speaker read another name, and a man stood up. “Nay,” he said.
Mr. Smith flipped to the live feed.
“The bulldozers are moving!” Owen said.
Avery’s mouth went dry. He was right; the bulldozers were advancing, eating up the ground between them and the tiny houses—with all her friends in between.
“Run,” she called at the screen. Run! Run! she willed at them in her head.
“There’s not enough of them,” Owen said. “Most of those bulldozers can go right around them and get at the other houses.”
Mr. Smith flipped back to C-SPAN. “Aye,” said a woman. “Nay,” said a man.
Flip.
Avery nearly screamed when she saw how close the bulldozers were. Suddenly a roar went up from the screen, and people started flooding into view.
“What the hell?” Owen cried. “Who are those people?”
Avery wasn’t sure. Wait—wasn’t that Autumn Cruz, who ran a bed-and-breakfast at her ranch in Chance Creek? And wasn’t that Marta, the librarian? And if she wasn’t mistaken, that was Elle Hall, who used to be a movie star and now ran an equine rehabilitation program over at Crescent Hall.
Women were pouring in from all directions. Chance Creek women. They were swarming the space between the bulldozers and the tiny houses. No—
They were climbing up into the bulldozers.
Pulling out the drivers. Dragging them away.
“Go!” Avery cried. “Go! Go!”
Mr. Smith flipped back to C-SPAN.
“The votes are in,” the man on the screen was saying. “The ayes have forty-nine, the nays have fifty-one. Bill 134 has been defeated.”
Avery cried out in relief, then fear as Owen spun around to face her, the Glock in his hand again.
“There goes our money,” he snarled at his friend.
“Fuck,” Mr. Smith growled. “Fuck, fuck, fuck! We’ve got to go. Tie her up.”
“She’ll slow us down!” Owen trained his weapon on Avery. “Bye-bye, little girl—”
Avery shut her eyes and ducked.
“I haven’t seen anyone,” said the man at the door of the seventh house Walker had knocked on. “It’s been quiet all night. I heard there was a search for your friend. We checked the house and the garage, just in case. You’re welcome to check again.”
“Is there anything for rent on this block?” Walker was losing his patience. Anything could have happened to Avery. It had been hours since she’d been taken from the Russells’. She could be hundreds of miles away. She could be—
No, he wouldn’t let himself think that.
“I don’t think so.”
A woman appeared behind the man in a faded bathrobe. “Yes, there is.” She shoved her husband aside with her hip. “Right at the end of the block. They made that old blue house into a vacation rental. The outside isn’t much to look at, but the inside is done up quite nicely.”
Walker’s heart pounded. Vacation rental? That was it. It had to be. “Thanks!”
He dashed down the front steps and across the street to where Boone was talking to another homeowner. “I got it!”
“Thanks for your help,” Boone called as he raced to join Walker. “Where?”
“End of the block. Brand-new vacation rental. It’s got to be where she is.”
“We’ll find out.”
Walker heard sirens wailing in the distance. Cab coming to join them? He didn’t want Avery’s captors alerted. “Call Cab. Tell him to knock that off!”
Boone stopped to do so. Walker kept going. When he reached the house in question and found the small plaque by the door, he was doubly sure this had to be the place. There was a car in the driveway with rental decals. The lights on the first floor were out, but the second story was blazing with lights in every room.
She must be up there.
Boone joined him again.
“I’m getting in there. Take the back door, in case someone makes a run for it.”
Boone nodded.
When he was gone, Walker got to work on the front door. His SEAL training came in handy, but it wasn’t difficult. Maybe the homeowner had spruced up the interior, but this keypad lock was as cheap as they came. Once inside, Walker crept toward the stairs, listening intently.
He could hear a television playing upstairs and had a momentary qualm; if he walked in on some poor, unsuspecting couple watching TV in bed, he was going to hate himself.
Still, he had to find out if Avery was there. He stopped at the bottom of the staircase to listen.
Whoever had control of the remote was flicking from channel to channel, the sound changing every few seconds. Walker crept step by step up to the second floor.
“What the hell is that?” a man said.
Walker froze and didn’t breathe easy until another man replied, “Gotta hand it to these guys; they know how to put on a show. They tell you ahead of time they’re going to do this?”
Was he talking to Avery? What were they watching?
“This is a surprising turn of events.” A different voice—from the TV.
Walker knew that voice, but from where?
“The women of Base Camp, most of them pregnant, have just arrived back.”
Was that Star News? It had to be. They were still reporting from Base Camp.
There was a yell, still on the television, but Walker recognized that voice, too. Savannah. What was happening?
“They’re linking their arms and standing in front of the tiny houses,” the Star News announcer said. “They’re actually going to try to stop the bulldozers.”
“No!”
Ice sliced through Walker’s veins. That was Avery!
“Riley, get out of there!”
What the hell was Riley doing? Trying to block
