Chapter 4 - The Second Traitor
Nine minutes passed.
The tenth never came.
No attack.
No cars advancing.
Nothing.
Damian hated it.
“They changed plans,” Vincent said.
Evelyn was washing dishes.
“Or they’re waiting for you to panic.”
Damian looked at her.
“You always have an opinion?”
“Yes.”
“About everything?”
“Pretty much.”
Vincent muttered, “I’m beginning to see why her husband had heart trouble.”
Evelyn pointed a wet dish towel at him.
“Careful.”
Vincent raised both hands.
Damian almost smiled.
Then Noah screamed from the kitchen.
Everyone moved.
Evelyn reached him first.
The young man was struggling to sit.
“There was somebody here.”
“What?”
“In the kitchen.”
Damian’s expression changed.
“Who?”
“I couldn’t see.”
Evelyn looked at Noah’s IV bottle.
She had rigged basic fluids from the diner’s emergency medical kit.
The line had been disconnected.
“Someone tried to move him,” she said.
Vincent turned toward the room.
“Doors locked. Windows watched.”
Damian looked at the seventeen remaining men.
“So our second traitor is inside.”
Nobody breathed.
He spoke quietly.
“Empty your pockets onto the tables.”
One by one, wallets, keys, phones, knives, medication, and ammunition appeared.
Evelyn watched.
Then she noticed something.
“Wait.”
Damian turned.
She pointed toward Cole.
“Your boots.”
Cole frowned.
“What?”
“They’re dry.”
Everyone looked down.
Most men had arrived soaked from the storm.
Cole’s coat remained damp.
His boots did not.
Vincent approached him.
Cole stepped backward.
“What does that prove?”
Evelyn looked toward the kitchen corridor.
“There’s a floor vent beside the pantry.”
Damian understood.
“A basement?”
“Storage cellar. Opens outside behind the building.”
Vincent drew his weapon.
Cole ran.
Damian shouted, “Alive!”
Cole slammed through the kitchen.
Vincent and two men followed.
Evelyn’s face went pale.
“The propane tank.”
Damian followed her gaze.
If Cole reached the rear yard, he could give their location away—or worse.
Damian caught Evelyn by the shoulders.
“Stay here.”
“My cellar.”
“Evelyn.”
“My diner.”
“Please.”
The word surprised both of them.
Damian Cross did not sound like a man accustomed to saying please.
Evelyn nodded.
“Fine.”
He disappeared into the kitchen.
Seconds later came shouting.
A crash.
Then silence.
Vincent returned with Cole restrained between two men.
Cole was furious.
“You don’t understand!”
Damian entered behind them.
“Explain.”
“They took my brother.”
Damian stopped.
Cole’s anger cracked.
“They have Daniel. They said if I didn’t give them your movements, they would kill him.”
Vincent’s expression hardened.
“So you gave them Noah?”
“I gave them routes!”
“You gave them all of us!”
“I had no choice!”
Damian stared at Cole.
Then surprised everyone.
“Yes, you did.”
Cole’s eyes filled.
“What would you have done?”
Damian answered immediately.
“I would have told my people.”
“They said they’d kill him.”
“And now they have your information and your brother.”
Cole looked shattered.
Damian crouched in front of him.
“Fear makes bad men reckless. It makes good men secretive. Both can get people killed.”
“What happens to me?”
“That depends.”
“On what?”
“Whether Daniel is alive.”
Cole stared.
“You’ll help him?”
Vincent stepped forward.
“Damian—”
“Yes.”
Cole looked confused.
“Why?”
Damian glanced toward Evelyn.
“Because apparently tonight we are remembering people matter.”
Evelyn heard him.
She said nothing.
But Damian saw her expression.
Then the telephone rang again.
Vincent answered.
His face changed.
He handed the receiver to Damian.
A voice spoke loudly enough for Evelyn to hear.
“We have Daniel Cole.”
Damian said nothing.
“We also have three more vehicles coming from the south.”
Damian looked toward Vincent.
South.
The bridge was supposed to be washed out.
The caller continued.
“You have twenty minutes.”
“For what?”
“Walk outside alone.”
“And everyone inside?”
“Lives.”
Damian looked toward Evelyn.
The caller laughed.
“Especially the widow.”
His face went completely still.
Evelyn knew immediately something had changed.
Damian’s voice lowered.
“Say that again.”
“You heard me.”
“No. Say her name.”
Silence.
Then the caller said:
“Evelyn Carter.”
Damian slowly hung up.
Vincent looked at him.
“What?”
“They know who she is.”
Evelyn felt cold despite the hot kitchen behind her.
“So?”
Damian faced her.
“So this is no longer just my problem.”
“Then what do we do?”
He looked at the storm.
Then at the clock.
Then at the woman who had fed his men, challenged him, helped Noah, and refused his money.
“We leave.”
Vincent stared.
“How?”
Evelyn answered before Damian could.
“There’s another road.”
Everyone turned toward her.
She pointed toward the mountain behind the diner.
“Old logging trail. Robert used it with rescue crews.”
“In this storm?” Vincent asked.
Evelyn nodded.
“If your drivers are good.”
Damian’s eyes narrowed.
“Where does it go?”
“County Route Nine.”
Vincent stepped toward the map on the wall.
“That gets us behind them.”
Damian looked at Evelyn.
“You just gave us a way out.”
“No.”
She removed her apron.
“I gave us a way out.”
Damian frowned.
“You’re staying.”
“They know my name.”
“That’s exactly why you’re staying with us.”
Evelyn shook her head.
“You misunderstand.”
She grabbed Robert’s old rescue jacket from a hook.
May you like
“I’m driving.”
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