He stomped on the floorboards until they finally gave way. He dropped into the crawl space below and scrambled for the shack’s edge.

He peered outside. From there, he had a straight shot to the forest, but he’d have to cover thirty unprotected yards first.

He heard more vehicles arriving at the front of the house.

Shit. The situation certainly wasn’t going to get any better for him.

Caleb kicked out the crawl space panel and rolled outside. He jumped to his feet and ran for the forest.

So far, so good.

He’d almost made it to the trees when someone cried out behind him.

More shouts, then gunshots.

He sprinted into the forest. Great. Now he had fifteen or twenty armed killers on his tail. Just another day in the life.

He tried to find a path that would offer him the most cover, but he could already hear Bohdan’s men fanning out behind him. And did he just hear a dog back there?

No, two dogs.

Awesome.

Time to signal for the escape hatch he’d told Palik to have ready.

He pressed the power button on his phone so that he could be tracked. Then he was running hard and fast through the forest. For the next ten minutes, Caleb bobbed and weaved through the brush, wondering where the next bullet would land or when the order would come to release the hounds. Either way, not a great position to be in.

Uh-oh.

Up ahead, he could see that the forest was ending. No more cover, no more protection from the trees. He appeared to be at the edge of a tall ridge.

He turned back. Bohdan’s men were closer than ever.

His options were dwindling. It appeared his only choice might be to—

An engine roared in front of him. Ah, Palik to the rescue. A Bell LongRanger helicopter rose over the ridge!

But it wasn’t Palik piloting. He’d tapped Henry Galdon, an expert pilot he used in touchy situations. This certainly qualified, Caleb thought grimly. Henry frantically motioned back toward the open side panel door.

Yes. Caleb leaped from the ridge and landed hard inside the copter.

“Hang on!” Henry shouted.

Caleb gripped a support bar with one hand as the helicopter banked hard right and roared over the valley.

Bohdan’s men—and a pair of barking German shepherds—appeared from the clearing, then stood there stunned as they saw the helicopter. A few of the men fired at the copter, but most of them just stared openmouthed as it flew away.

Chapter 14

Chapter
14

MacDuff’s Run
1:05 P.M.

The helicopter was coming over the horizon.