But Lorraine had always been on the crazy side. She’d fallen in with bad groups before, but had gotten out before they went down or dropped out. Not this time. Not with Cameron leading the charge. Yet so much more was at stake. Her freedom and her life.
Then everything happened so fast Nora thought she was dreaming. But it was so vivid she knew she’d never forget.
“Change of plans,” Cameron announced.
“Shut up or I’ll kill you.” He meant it. “We run low along the fence until we reach the cooling pools, then turn and move along the base of the north cliffs. It’ll get us closer to our destination without increased risk.”
Change of plans? What if the FBI didn’t have people everywhere? What if they only covered the area where Nora had told Andy they would be? What if Andy was wrong and Cameron could get into the reactor and set off something that would kill not only them, but thousands of people?
Terrified, she followed. She had no choice.
It took nearly ten minutes to reach the base of the cliffs. There were lights everywhere, but Cameron was right. Running along this section of the fence, they remained just out of sight.
They paused only briefly before crossing a small open space to a warehouse. Nora saw a pair of maintenance workers, but they were heading in the opposite direction and didn’t look their way. Nora glanced at Cameron; his hand was on his gun. She knew he’d kill. Her, Lorraine, strangers. His brutal determination was in his stance, in his eyes. Why didn’t Lorraine see it? What was wrong with her mother?
“On three,” Cameron said.
As soon as they moved from their hiding place, blinding floodlights snapped on and she couldn’t see.
“FBI! Down!”
Nora dropped, just like Andy had instructed her.
Cameron dove behind a stack of wooden crates only feet from her. Lorraine and Ken ran behind a large maintenance truck. Nora felt like she was in the middle of a war.
“Lovitz! Surrender. You can’t get out,” a voice boomed over loudspeakers. Nora couldn’t tell where the sound was coming from.
She heard Cameron swearing, then he called out, “Are you ready?”
“Yes,” Lorraine said.
“Do it!”
Do it? Do
Lorraine moved from behind the truck and threw something over Nora’s head. It rolled away from her.
It looked like a bomb. Just like the bombs Nora had helped her make. Oh, God, it was over. They were all going to die.
“Cover!” Lorraine shouted at her.
Nora scrambled behind the crates closest to her. Seconds later, the bomb exploded.
“Run!” Cameron told her.
Nora didn’t move. She had to stay here. She wasn’t one of them, she didn’t know if whoever was out there knew that she was helping, that she wasn’t a terrorist. She didn’t want to die. If she just stayed here, she’d be okay. Don’t move. Don’t breathe. Where was Andy? Did he know where she was? Would he come for her?
Cameron grabbed her arm and dragged her with him.
“It was you,” he whispered in her ear. “You fucking bitch traitor, you talked.”
“N-no,” she cried.
“We’ll see who’s lying.”
He held the gun to her neck and walked her out into the open. She squinted against the intense brightness of the industrial lights. How could Cameron see? From the corner of her eye, she saw he’d put on glasses, then remembered how he always wore sunglasses backward, around his neck. Even tonight. As if he’d anticipated what would happen.
“We’re leaving!” Cameron called out to the unseen federal agents. “You won’t stop us. We have more grenades; we will use them!”
The hand grenades were homemade, and Nora had always been terrified of them. Lorraine didn’t seem to think there was anything wrong with having her daughters measuring sulfur, charcoal, and potassium nitrate to create black powder for homemade bombs. The bombs, Lorraine said, were never to hurt anyone. They were to save people from themselves.
Nora realized Cameron had brainwashed her mother. Murder was okay, as far as they were concerned, if it advanced their cause.
Cameron started moving away from the building, across the open yard toward where they had come in.
The FBI would never let them leave.
“Cameron Lovitz!” the voice shouted. “Put down your weapon.”
“I’m leaving!”
Cameron continued walking backward, dragging a stumbling Nora with him.
“You’re dead, Nora,” he growled. “You’re a traitor to the cause.”
The barrel of the gun dug into her neck and she cried out.
Cameron called out, “Lorraine! Now!”
Another mini-bomb flew over their heads, landing at the edge of the lights.
The explosion knocked them both to the ground. As they fell on hard pavement, Nora realized that Cameron hadn’t expected such a powerful blast.
Nora thought she was dead, that Cameron’s gun would discharge right into her neck. Clean through, in and out, and her only thought was whether anyone would find Quin and the Jeep.
Cameron fell on top of her, but his hands instinctively reached out to brace himself.
The gun dropped from his grip.
Another explosion, then shouts from everywhere at once, and she thought she heard her mother scream. Cameron reached for the gun. Nora’s hand shot out, trying to bat it out of the way, hitting his wrist.
“Freeze! Don’t move or I’ll shoot.”
Cameron slammed her head into the concrete and everything spun out of control. Nora’s mouth filled with blood.
“Fuck you, pig!” Cameron screamed, his hand on the gun, and his arm jerked up and fired without hesitation. Once. Twice?
The report was deafening. Nora’s ears rang. So much noise, in her ears, in her head, around her, everywhere. And blood, everywhere blood, she must be dying. The pain was all-encompassing, her head spun, she was suffocating. Someone was on top of her.
She opened her eyes, barely able to draw a breath as a heavy weight pinned her down. She saw only Cameron Lovitz’s dead eyes. Lifeless. He had her trapped.
Four hands pulled her out.
Her head was too heavy to hold up. Her eyelids closed.
“Was she hit? Nora? Can you hear me?”
“Andy.” She thought she spoke, but she wasn’t sure.
“It’s ASAC Rick Stockton. Nora, where were you hit? Nora? Can you hear me?”
Hands all over her. Shouts and orders, but nothing she understood. Someone was crying. A scream. An ambulance in the distance. No, it was close. Flashing lights everywhere, but her eyes were closed.
“She wasn’t hit,” someone said.
“She’s not okay!” Stockton snapped. He shined a light in her eyes. Stockton. Stockton. Andy’s boss. Partner? She didn’t know. She didn’t remember.
Someone touched her chest and she cried out. Her shirt was ripped open. “Ribs. Cracked?”
“Are they in custody? God fucking dammit, what’s going on? Status report!”
Stockton sounded worried. Where was Andy? Why wasn’t he here? He promised. He promised everything would be all right …
“Andy,” she whispered. It was hard to speak.
