Rachel touched his arm. “You’re no help to Janice if you can’t focus and remain calm. Go with them. Get your bag, maybe change your clothes, and get something to eat. Just try to relax. In the meantime we’ll get the plane ready.”
Michael, eyes wide, seemed temporarily paralyzed, but then he seemed to get a grip on himself. With a nod, he let Browne and Solomon lead him from the room.
As soon as he was gone, Matt said, “Has anyone checked the Bluff’s security feed? Is that still running, or did that get cut off, too?”
“Have it here, sir,” a young guy three terminals away said.
Matt walked over, and everyone else followed.
“It cut off about ten minutes ago, sir. But something was definitely going on.”
“Show me.”
After the man clicked a few keys, surveillance footage from near the Bluff’s front gate appeared on screen. “This is from sixteen minutes ago. Two intruders were spotted, a couple that Bluff security calls Adam and Eve. Apparently they’ve hopped the fence before and have been caught messing around on the property.”
On the monitor, the young couple-Adam and Eve-ran playfully down the road before turning into the forest. The operator then skipped ahead forty-five seconds to when a security team appeared from the other direction. When the men reached the same point in the road, they turned after the couple.
“Do we have anything showing the woods?” Matt asked.
“No, sir. No one turned a camera in that direction.”
“Why not?”
“I don’t know.” The operator said nothing for a moment, then pointed at the screen. “Here. This is the important part.”
Suddenly one of the Bluff guards staggered into frame and collapsed on the road. A few moments later, the man and woman appeared, and dragged him back into the woods. Less than thirty seconds after that, the picture went dark.
“That’s it?” Matt asked.
“Yes, sir.”
“What about from inside?”
“All the footage inside was normal.”
“Then perhaps the building is still safe.”
“No way to know at the moment.”
Matt looked at Pax. “Fire up the plane and get a team ready. I want you out there now.”
“On it,” Pax said, moving over to a phone on an empty desk.
“Billy, go grab what you think you’ll need and meet out front.” Matt looked at Ash. “Sorry, we’ll have to continue this later.”
“I’m going.”
Matt cocked his head. “You sure?”
“I’m sure.” Janice was one of the people who had saved Ash’s life. He owed her and Michael at least this much. “I just need to let my kids know.”
“Make it quick.”
Ash found Brandon inthe kitchen, sitting at the long table eating dessert with Bobbie.
“Where’s your sister?”
Brandon had just put a spoonful of chocolate ice cream in his mouth, so Bobbie said, “She’s in the library.”
Careful not to say too much, Ash told her, “You should check in with Pax.”
Bobbie grew instantly alert. As Ash left the room, he heard her get out of her chair and head over to the phone.
The third-floor library was three times the size of the conference room downstairs. Floor-to-ceiling bookshelves lined all four walls, breaking only for the windows, door, and the large fireplace at one end. A rolling ladder attached to a rail allowed access to the upper shelves. There were two long tables with wooden chairs around them in one half of the room, and in the other, a lounge area with overstuffed chairs and sofas near the fireplace, where flames were working their way through a couple of thick logs.
He found Josie on one of the sofas, reading.
“Sweetie, I need to talk to you.”
Without looking up from her book, she said, “You’re leaving, aren’t you?”
Of course she would guess that. “Just for the night.”
“Where are you going?”
“California.”
That caused her to look over. “California?” It was where they’d been living when the Sage Flu struck. Where her mother had died.
“Some friends need help.”
He knew she was conflicted. It was written all over her. For months she’d been vacillating between acting like a disinterested teen and a rebellious youth, but neither fit her. She was too smart, too compassionate. Too old for her age.
“What…what happened?”
“Some others have tried to hurt them.”
“And you’re going to stop that?”
“If I can.”
She considered this for a moment. “You’ll be back tomorrow?”
“Yes.”
“You promise?”
“Pinkie promise.” He held out his little finger to her as he said it, like they’d done when she was younger.
She frowned as if that was only for little kids, but after a second wrapped her pinkie around his. A single shake, then a pull in opposite directions, breaking the link.
“You have to now,” she said.
“I know.”
Brandon was easier. When Ash returned to the kitchen, he simply told his son he was going to go help Matt and Pax with something, and that Bobbie would take care of him until he got back.
“Don’t worry,” Bobbie said. There was tension in her face that hadn’t been there when Ash came through earlier. “We’re going to have plenty of fun here. You ever ridden a horse, Brandon?”
Brandon lit up. “A horse? No.”
“Maybe we’ll go out for a ride tomorrow.”
The phone on the wall rang, and Bobbie answered. She listened for a few seconds, then said to Ash, “Meet in the front common room in three minutes.”
He nodded, and looked at his son. “Be good, okay?”
“I will, Dad. Have fun.”
Ash gave his son a smile and a hug.
The common room was a large open area, two stories high, just inside the front door. There were two giant stone fireplaces on both sides of the room, each with logs blazing. More of the overstuffed furniture was arranged into several small sitting areas. On the walls were two oversized paintings of the nearby mountains-one a winter scene, and one a summer.
Pax was the only one present when Ash arrived, but less than half a minute later, Michael, Browne, and Solomon arrived. They were followed seconds later by four men Ash had never met. Each had a hard edge to him, something Ash had seen a million times before. Former military, had to be.
Matt and Rachel arrived next. As much as they both wanted to come along, they would be staying at the Ranch. Though they said the reason was because someone had to stay and keep an eye on things, Ash guessed
