Runaway. Part 21

Chapter Ten.

Maddy was awake shortly after dawn. She would normally choose to sleep in. She was a teenager, as she often had pointed out to her parents, and teenagers were programmed to stay up late and sleep late. Noon was the crack of dawn, really. But she reasoned that everything was going to be different here in Idaho, and she needed to take advantage of every bit of daylight here.

It sounded as if she was the first one awake. Kristi was sound asleep as Maddy put her pen recorder into her pocket and slipped out the door. The underground house was dark. No one was up; no lights were on. No dawn's early light coming through the windows. She shined her flashlight on the door of the storeroom, but it was still padlocked. She went to the kitchen and made coffee and brought two mugs back with her to her room. Kristi stirred in the upper bunk.

"Get up," Maddy whispered. "I brought you coffee."

Kristi's face appeared at the side of the bed, looking down at Maddy in total confusion. "I don't even know where I am right now. Am I still drunk or something?"

"You're not drunk. Here." She pa.s.sed a mug up to Kristi and then sat along the wall opposite the beds. They both drank.

"Is it coming back to you now? That we're in Idaho?"

Kristi grinned. "Yeah. I'm not quite sure what to make of it, though."

"I know. It's pretty weird."

"It feels like the middle of the night. What time is it?"

"Six thirty? It's not that early."

They were quiet for a bit. Maddy wondered what the h.e.l.l they were supposed to be doing with themselves.

"Why don't we go for a hike?" she said. "Get the lay of the land."

"Just the two of us?" Kristi sounded hopeful.

"Absolutely."

They got dressed and grabbed some protein bars from the kitchen and quietly climbed up the stairs and out into the world. Maddy felt like a mole emerging from her tunnel. The daylight, as muted as it was, felt blinding. Kristi crammed her cap ever further down on her head and peered out from under it.

"Where should we go?"

"Let's head north, away from the road. I think our land spreads out some that way."

The clearing for the working area of the ranch was about a hundred yards end to end, with the underground house located smack in the middle. They walked north, past the barn and the vegetable gardens, a corral, and then into thick, dark woods. It was disorienting. Maddy pulled a compa.s.s out of her pocket and got her bearings.

"Geez, you are a Girl Scout," Kristi said.

"I got kicked out of Girl Scouts. But I took orienteering at the stupid summer camp. This is the same compa.s.s I got back then."

"Cool. You can keep us from getting lost."

There was no path to follow, unlike the only forest Maddy was acquainted withthe suburban Chicago kind where trails intersected each other all over the place, like the interstate system heading into the city. There was no way to get lost or even to feel like you were in the forest. Here the feeling was completely different. The weak sunlight tried to poke through the treetops. Their forward progress consisted of stumbling and lurching through the ground cover and fallen branches. She realized they were making a terrible racket and stopped for a moment.

"What?" Kristi said.

"Quiet. I want to hear what the forest sounds like."

They stood quietly for a few moments before Maddy started picking up the sound of the birds scattering about from tree to tree, the squirrels racing up tree trunks, the crack of a falling branch.

"I wonder if we'll see any animals," Maddy said.

"As long as it's not a bear."

"I hadn't thought of that. We could run into a bear. But probably not, right? I just want to see something."

"A moose would be good," Kristi said.

"Let's be really quiet. Like the Indians. I mean, Native Americans."

They went into a sort of stealth crouch and tried to tread lightly as they moved forward.

"It's kind of like what we did in training," Kristi whispered. Then she stepped in a giant pile of scat and swore loudly.

"Maybe there are moose here," Maddy said. She didn't know moose scat from bear scat. It could be bear, she thought.

Maddy had no idea how far they had travelled, but after an hour heading straight north they took a break and sat with their backs to an enormous tree trunk. Its top seemed impossibly high above them, but she could see a sharp blue sky between the trees, filtering light to the forest floor around them. Maddy took her jacket off, twisting her body as she tried to free her arms. She froze when she looked behind them and turned quickly back, scrunching down against the tree trunk.

"Get down!" she said, pulling Kristi by the arm. She put her finger to her mouth and then pointed behind her. Kristi twisted herself around so she could see where Maddy pointed and then quickly turned back and scrunched down beside her.

A man had appeared about thirty yards away, walking toward them. He was wearing a camouflage uniform and carried a gun on his shoulder, walking lazily and kicking at the fallen leaves. He started whistling. He seemed completely unaware of their presence. Maddy slowly twisted around to have another look and was relieved to see he had turned and was slowly heading away from them. Then he stopped, looked at his watch, and stood at parade rest. If he turned 180 degrees, he'd be able to see their legs sticking out in front of the tree, their blue jeans and white sneakers like a neon sign. Maddy tried to tuck herself in against the tree as tightly as she could. Kristi did too, but with less success.

They heard the crashing sound of boots on the ground, or at least it sounded like a cannon to Maddy. Her heart leapt to her throat thinking the man had spotted them and was marching over. But then she remembered that they weren't doing anything wrong. Didn't they own this land? What was this guy doing in their woods? But maybe they were trespa.s.sing. She really had no idea. The noise stopped. When they heard voices, both Maddy and Kristi twisted around to look.

Now there were three men standing there, all of them armed. The first man, who looked fairly young, a middle-aged guy who'd just arrived, and a really old, grizzled guy who clearly seemed to be in charge. The first guy was standing at attention. He stepped forward and switched positions with the middle-aged guy. She couldn't hear what they were saying, but soon the old guy and the first guy marched off, to the east. They watched as the new guard used his radio. They could hear it hiss. Then all was quiet again.

Kristi gave Maddy a look that said, "What are we going to do?" and Maddy signaled for a little more time. They lay quietly for ten minutes or so, and then heard the guard begin moving north. When he was out of sight, they slipped away and moved as quickly as they could back the way they came.

"What the h.e.l.l was that?" Kristi said. She was ahead of Maddy, moving at a blistering pace. She looked behind her shoulder to see if Maddy was keeping up.

"I don't know. Looks like militia guys, I guess. I know I didn't want them finding us if we were on their land."

"How the h.e.l.l do you even tell out here? I thought it was our land."

They made it back to the ranch and Maddy took a deep breath when they entered the clearing. Since arriving on the land the day before she'd felt nothing but constricted and afraidby the windowless walls of the underground house, the impenetrable darkness of the nights, the dangerous looking men in her new home and, it now seemed, the threatening forest.

She saw the group of men as soon as they pa.s.sed the barn. David was standing by the entrance to the house with the same men as the night before, with the addition of Sergeant Drecker and Major Jacovich from the Michigan militia.

"s.h.i.t," Kristi said. "I was kind of hoping we wouldn't see much of those guys."

"I didn't know we were going to see them at all. Come on, let's go to the barn."

They ducked back to the barn and squeezed through the partially open door. There were so many holes in the roof that the interior was well lit. There was one window at the far end of the building, boarded over, and one high above, smeared with grime. The barn was empty, except for a few rusted bits of equipment. Maddy hadn't the faintest idea what they were meant to be used for. She headed to the stairs up to the hayloft.

"What are you doing?" Kristi asked. She followed Maddy up the stairs.

"I just want to watch them for a bit. This window should look out over the other buildings."

They crawled along the hayloft to the grimy window and peered out. Maddy could see the group moving toward one of the cabins. They were taking a tour, as if they were at Monticello or something, with David acting as docent. They made their way through the two cabins, examined the solar power station, and started heading toward the barn. Maddy grabbed Kristin and pulled her as far back into the hayloft as they could go. She didn't think they were visible from below. She hoped they weren't.

"Now what are you doing?" Kristi asked. She was laughing, as if Maddy were planning to start kissing her in the hayloft.

"Quiet. I don't want them to know we're here."

"Why? I don't get why you're so against these guys."

"I'm not against them. I just don't trust them. I want to hear what they say."

The door to the barn was pushed further open. It screeched as it sc.r.a.ped against the cracked cement flooring. They heard David's voice as they entered.

"This will have to be cleaned up some, but it should be fine. I hope to have horses in here one day."

"What about the armory?" one of the men asked.

"You can't have the armory in the d.a.m.n barn. It's not secure." Maddy thought this might be Jacovich. He sounded mean.

"I think David's on the right track." She recognized Drecker's voice. "We have the regular ranch life open for anyone to see who comes on the land, and the rest we'll have well hidden."

"What I was thinking of for the armory is that we do something like the house. We just build it underground, but not visible at all to anyone not looking for it."

It was David speaking and Maddy's heart sank as she realized he'd been thinking about armories, and G.o.d knows what else, as part of his plan for their ranch.

"That's going to take a lot of labor," another man said.

"We've got plenty of that," Jacovich said. "We're here to build a place that will last, that will serve our cause for a long time to come. We can spend the time seeing it's done right."

They poked around the barn for a little while longer, talking about the right time of year to purchase livestock and how much it costs to feed them. Then they headed out of the barn and pulled the door closed.

"Well, f.u.c.k me," Kristi said.

Maddy stared into s.p.a.ce, holding her spy pen in her hand. She didn't think she'd need to plant it in the storeroom. She'd just gotten more information than she wanted to have.

Jan was anxious for an early start in the morning, She'd mapped out the first three ranches that seemed likely candidates. All had sold in the past month and were among the listing sheets found in David Conlon's house. But there were a couple hundred miles between the first and the third ranch, and just checking these would take all day. Catherine, however, was on a conference call to London that seemed endless. Jan pointed to her watch. Catherine held up a finger.

Jan took their bags out to the car and had finished loading them when Catherine emerged from the motel room.

"Sorry, sorry. They need lots of hand holding back home, and I didn't want to make them suspicious that I'm not in the Chicago office."

Jan was folding herself into the car and unfolded herself to stare at Catherine. "They don't know you're in Idaho?"

"No, they don't. It's just simpler this way."

"You mean they wouldn't approve of you joining the hunt for a teenager your first week in Chicago."

"Or any week, I suppose. But that's what I hate about this job. I'm not meant to be a desk person. Not at all."

Catherine got into the car and threw her purse in the back. "And anyway, there's nothing I need to do in Chicago over the next couple of days that I can't do by phone or computer. It'll be fine."

Jan pulled out of the motel and headed north. "Your chief job right now is navigator." She pointed to some sheets of paper lying on the console between them. "There are the directions to the first ranch."

"Yes, ma'am. Maybe we'll get lucky and she'll be at the first place."

Jan looked over at her. Catherine was dressed in jeans and a sweatshirt, but it was the kind of sweatshirt that probably cost a couple hundred bucks. You wouldn't wear it to the gym. She looked relaxed and happy, as if she didn't have a care in the world.

"If she's at the first place, or even the third place, it will be almost too good to be true. But still, the whole thing will be a lot easier than trying to find Saddam Hussein," Jan said.

Catherine laughed, but didn't comment.

"Doesn't this seem a little boring to you? Being in the field with me is a lot different than with MI6."

"The last thing I am is bored." Catherine leaned over and kissed Jan on the cheek, moving her hand down to her thigh, which immediately tensed. "I have you here with me and this lovely country we're driving through. And we're going to find a missing girl, who's every bit as important as Saddam Hussein, don't you think?"

Catherine's phone rang and she took another call from the office, where Vivian was running point for her. Jan drove. After an hour or so they found the dirt road that led to the first property, and Jan b.u.mped the sedan along for a mile before they saw the ranch house. She pulled up in front of it and slowly got out of the car to look around. The house and the surrounding buildings looked abandoned. If someone recently bought the place, they hadn't yet moved in. Jan walked up to the door of the house to double check, but she was certain no one was around. There weren't any vehicles in sight either.

Catherine had gone to the barn to look it over and Jan watched her as she walked back to the car. Jan's phone rang and she answered it as her eyes stayed locked on Catherine.

"It's Penny Harper," the woman said. "I think I've found the ranch you're looking for."

"You've got something new?" Jan asked.

"I just talked to a broker I hadn't been able to track down until this morning. He had the listing for a ranch that closed last week, but the big thing about it is that he said the buyers were from Michigan."

"Bingo," Jan said.

"Looks like. Where are you now?"

Jan gave her their location and Penny looked up directions to get to the new place. It was fifty miles north of them. She waved Catherine over and got back in the car. "Great job, Penny. I appreciate your help."

"It's a missing kid. I'm glad to do it."

Jan filled Catherine in as she turned the car around and headed back to the main road.

"What do you think we'll find there?" Catherine asked.

"I don't know. Not a welcome wagon, though."

"Do you think Maddy will be fully against us? I would think a young girl like that might start wishing she were back home, now that she's had a bit of adventure."

Jan shrugged. They were speeding up the road, but even with the scenery going by in a blur she could feel something settle on her with an awful familiarity. Deja vu, she supposed it was. There was nothing in particular that she'd recognized since arriving in Idaho the night before, but the farther they travelled north, the more closely the feeling wrapped around her.

"I can practically hear you thinking," Catherine said. "Your brow is all scrunched up."