Private Rogue

Chapter 87

We followed Andreyev’s convoy along Highway 209, keeping half a mile behind them, so there was less chance of being spotted. No one said much because we all knew the stakes. Floyd was particularly grim-faced, and I wondered how difficult it had been for him not to shoot the men who’d taken his wife and children. But if he had killed Andreyev and his accomplices, there was a good chance we would never have found Beth, Maria and Danny, so he’d restrained himself in the face of the scorching desire for vengeance that burned bright in his eyes.

I steered the Toyota off the 209 onto the Glasco Turnpike, a rural road that led toward Overlook Forest. We were in the New York wilderness, a few miles from Mount Marion. We drove through a white landscape, taking care to stay out of sight of the convoy. The road was deserted and the frozen landscape eerily still. I couldn’t help but feel the nausea of anticipation as we rolled on, and somehow the silence in the car made it worse. I looked at Justine, who sat next to me, and she gave me a strained smile. Jessie, Mo-bot and Floyd were in the back, each of them lost in their own world. Floyd caught me looking at him in the rear-view and nodded somberly. I recognized his expression; it was that of a warrior ready for action.

Ten miles from the 209, Mo-bot spoke. “They’re turning off. Left, in about eight hundred yards. From the satellite imagery, it looks like a farm. There’s a trail for about a mile and then some buildings.”

I slowed as we approached the turning.

“That’s it,” Mo-bot said, and I nodded and took a left that led me between two huge stretches of tall trees.

After a while, the forests either side of us thinned and gave way to rolling farmland. I slowed down, stopping just before the brow of a slope.

“Wait here,” I said.

I got out and ran along the icy gravel track to the crest of the hill. I crouched as I approached and peered down into a broad hollow to see the SUVs parked beside a farmhouse. Three large barns flanked a courtyard set a short distance away from the house. I saw two men standing guard outside one barn.

The corrugated-steel building seemed the obvious place to start looking for Beth and the children.

Andreyev stepped out of his SUV. His men did likewise. They removed their ski masks and chatted; some lit cigarettes. Andreyev examined the Bull and said something to the men around him before heading away from the house toward the barns. My heart sank. I hadn’t expected things to move this quickly.

He crossed the yard and signaled to the guards standing outside the farthest barn. One of them turned to open the door.

I had hoped we would have more time for surveillance, but it seemed we would have to act immediately.

I edged back from the brow of the hill, got to my feet, ran to the Toyota and leaned inside.

“We’re going to have to move now,” I said. “I think he’s going for Beth and the children.”