Poe

Chapter Thirty-Four

“Where the hell are they?” Deuce said.

It wasn’t the first time he had said it, or even the third, so Cooper didn’t bother to reply.

From their vantage point on the hill, Cooper watched the prison, while Deuce kept an eye on the abandoned building in the ravine. The moment Alex and El-Hashim appeared, the two men would head for the rendezvous point.

So far, there had been no movement at all in the ravine.

“I don’t like this,” Deuce said. “Maybe we should go see if we can—”

“Just relax,” Cooper told him. “We’re still well within the scheduled time frame.”

Deuce grunted his dissatisfaction, but said nothing more.

Cooper slowly scanned the complex again. It looked exactly as it had when they arrived. Quiet. Tucked in for the night.

He lowered the glasses and was reaching for one of the energy bars in his pocket when a sudden siren pierced the stillness.

There was no question where it was coming from.

The prison.

As Cooper snapped up his binoculars, spotlights came alive in the guard towers, some sweeping their beams through the prison yard, others lighting up the landscape outside the facility walls.

“I told you I didn’t like this,” Deuce said.

Cooper ignored him, his attention caught by movement in the parking area in front of the prison. Several people were running toward the facility’s entrance. From the angle of their approach, he figured they were coming from one of the outbuildings. The barracks, no doubt, guards who’d already been awake rushing to help. Others would soon follow.

“This is not good,” Deuce said. “We need to go get Alex.”

Cooper kept his eyes on the prison.

“Cooper! Hey, are you listening to me? We need to go get Alex!”

“Do you see her yet? We can’t risk getting any closer until she shows.”

“But if we wait, we’ll waste time we probably don’t have anymore. We need to be down there when she shows up.” When Cooper didn’t say anything right away, Deuce added, “The purpose of us being here was to keep an eye on the prison in case anything happened. Well, something has! We don’t need to stay here any longer.”

Cooper pulled away from the binoculars and looked at Deuce. “We do need to know if anyone is heading in our direction, and this is the best place for that.” He paused, knowing there was also merit to Deuce’s argument. “Stay here. I’ll go see if she’s getting close.”

“No way. I go. She’s my partner!”

Cooper could sympathize, but he was the running the show. “No, you stay. Is your radio on?”

“Yeah,” Deuce grumbled.

“Good. Let me know if anything more changes.”