“I left it at St. Tom’s.”

“Get it. I’ll collect as much help as I can in the next minute.” McCrea made it a point never to be more than a few steps from his M4. In this case, it was propped up against the interior wall of the cabin he was working on. He snatched it up by its sling and shrugged into it.

“Caine! Kyle!” The Foster boys had proven to be pretty good carpenters once they learned the basics.

They both looked up from their work.

“You got your rifles with you?”

They answered in unison. “Yessir.”

“Grab them and come with me.”

The twins seemed relieved to have something else to do. They grabbed their ARs and jogged to him.

“Vicky and Caleb are in trouble,” McCrea explained, and he took off at a jog up the road.

The twins followed.

Movement down the street to the right caught McCrea’s eye. “George!”

George Simmons was walking from Maggie’s, back toward his ruined station.

McCrea pointed at his own rifle and beckoned George to join them.

“Two minutes!”

“I don’t have it. Catch up. We’re going that way.” He pointed up the road.

“What happened, Major?” Caine asked.

“Grubbs has Caleb. Gonna kill him, we think. Vicky and Mike Underwood and Luke are on their way to—”

“Won’t let it happen, Major,” Kyle said. “We’ll get ’em all back.”

Copley was waiting as they jogged past St. Thomas’s.

* * *

Brandon-Lee slipped a leather belt over Caleb’s head and pulled it tight around his neck. “I don’t have no whip for you, pussy boy. But I got this great belt. I’m gonna beat you till you’re blue all over.” He yanked up and Caleb scrambled to get his feet under him so he wouldn’t be hanged.

“Remember what I told you,” Grubbs said. “Nothin’ twisted. Have fun with him, but I want him back here alive.”

“Why?” Brandon-Lee asked. “We’re just gonna kill him, anyway.”

“You don’t know that,” Grubbs said. “I don’t know that. I don’t know how far I want to escalate this thing with the townies. And take him somewhere. I don’t need to hear the noise.”

Brandon-Lee changed his grip so his fist around the belt was nearly touching Caleb’s throat and yanked. “This way, pussy boy.”

Caleb struggled to keep his balance without the use of his hands. He kept stumbling and nearly fell every few steps. The terrain out here was treacherous for ankles. Gray rock erupted from the ground everywhere. Big rocks too. Some of them looked razor sharp.

Brandon-Lee laughed each time Caleb stumbled. “Oh, yeah, this is gonna be fun. I wonder how we’re gonna kill you when I’m done. Hell, maybe I’ll just kill you myself, and then apologize later to the family.”