“You should take Gelder Pond as slow as possible. It’s a private road, and everyone that lives back here is private about their money,” said Kate.
They turned left at the three-way intersection, a quarter of a mile into the thick forest, and headed down the eastern side of Gelder Pond Road, which formed a rough circle around Gelder Pond. The Fletcher compound had been built on the first of twelve planned lots along the road, facing the pond. Facing difficult economic times after the Jakarta Pandemic, the Gelders—one of the oldest families in the area, finally decided to yield on a five-decade-old commitment to do their part to keep the rich city folk out of Limerick. The Fletchers paid the asking price in cash for two of the plots in late 2014, and started clearing a two-and-a-half-acre area within the twenty-two-acre enclave as soon as the winter broke. The Fletcher family compound was fully operational by the end of the year, housing Alex’s parents and their two nephews.
“How far down is it?” asked Samantha.
“Half mile at most. It’s the only driveway on the eastern side of the loop. Impossible to miss.”
“We’ll have to do something about that,” said Linda.
She was definitely putting Linda in charge of security. At least until Alex returned.
“There it is,” she said. “There’s a gate about a hundred feet down the driveway. You can’t see it from the road.”
“Who plows this road in the winter?” asked Linda.
“Homeowners’ association pays the town. You can imagine what we pay to keep the road cleared up to our driveway.”
“You better hope the town gets their shit running again before winter,” said Linda.
“We have a plow for the ATV and riding mower,” said Kate.
Linda cast her a doubtful look.
“And snowmobiles,” added Kate.
Linda guided them onto a gravel driveway carved through the thick pines. Peering into the dense forest, she saw no hint of the clearing one thousand feet due west in the direction of Gelder Pond. The opaque stand of conifers would continue to shield them during the winter months when the leaves fell throughout the region. Tree type had been one of their primary considerations in selecting the plot.
The gate appeared after a slight turn, another purposeful design to keep the casual observer from drawing any conclusions about the driveway from the road.
“We’re here,” Kate announced. “Hopefully they’ll have the hot water working, or you can cool off in the lake. There’s a dock, a little beach, even a rope swing into the water. Whatever you want.”
Nobody said a word. She figured most of them would crash out as soon as they settled into the house. She wished she could do the same, but it wouldn’t be an option. Whatever they had left behind on the street in East Waterboro wasn’t finished. The apple rarely fell far from the tree. There would be little rest.
“I assume the punch code won’t work with the power down,” said Linda, lowering her window at the touch pad in front of the gate.
“Try it,” Kate said.
Linda pressed a few buttons, but the LED screen remained blank.
“No problem. It’s not connected to the auxiliary sources at the house, and power goes out all the time out here,” Kate said, fishing a set of keys out of one of the backpacks in her lap.
She stepped out of the vehicle and fought her way through the scrub on the left side of the black aluminum gate, emerging on the driveway behind the gate, and walked to the other side, locating the manual override box on the back of the gate’s electric sliding motor. She inserted the key and opened the box, which gave her access to a small handle. Kate pulled the handle to disengage the physical connection to the electro-mechanical operator and slid the gate far enough along its track to allow the SUV through. Once the SUV crossed the threshold, she reversed the process, locking the gate. No sense making it easy for an angry posse to drive up to the house.
Gravel crunched underneath the SUV’s tires as they eased left and entered a protracted stretch of shaded driveway. A bright patch of light appeared at the far end of the dark corridor.
“Christ. How far back is the house?” asked Linda.
“About a thousand feet.”
“You gotta be kidding me? How much gold did you buy before the pandemic?”
“A lot.”
“Wait till you see the compound,” said Samantha, uttering her first words since the shooting.
The road brightened as they approached another gate near the edge of the clearing. Through the trees to the right, Kate could see the outline of a gray house and red barn. An occasional shimmer of sparkling light penetrated the tree line toward the back of the clearing. Linda slowed to a stop in front of the gate, and Kate hopped down from the SUV with her keys. She stopped after several steps, craning her head in the direction of a soft rustling sound beyond the gate. She pocketed the keys and eased her pistol out of the holster.
“Kate? You made it!”
A man dressed in jeans and a gray polo shirt emerged from the foliage and stepped onto the road behind the gate. Tim Fletcher slung a scoped M-14 rifle over his shoulder and grabbed a green handheld radio clipped to his belt.
“Amy, they made it! They’re here!” he yelled into the radio, running toward them.
Kate holstered her pistol and hurried to the gate.
“Let me get the gate for you! Holy shit, I can’t tell you how good it is to see you. Now I’m talking like you. See what you’ve done. Oh, God—Amy’s gonna scream when she sees everyone,” he said, fumbling with the key to unlock the gate.
“We tried the satphone and—”
“Alex isn’t with us, Dad,” said Kate.
Tim stopped for a moment and continued without looking up.
“He left to get Ryan out of Boston.”
The gate slid open, and Alex’s father rushed forward to crush Kate with a hug.
“Everyone’s alive. That’s all that matters,” he said, his eyes watery and his voice pitchy. “We thought we lost all of you with the boat. We were going to give it forty-eight hours, and then I was heading to Boston on one of the ATVs.”
“I don’t think you would have made it very far on one of those things,” she said, reciprocating tears.
“I would have tried. Alex will bring Ryan back, Kate. He planned for this kind of thing.”
“I know,” she said, hugging him again. “Ethan’s fine. He’s in the back.”
“How many do you have with you?”
“Nine, including me. Good friends from Durham Road. You’ve met the Walkers,” she said, signaling for Linda to drive forward.
“I remember them. Three kids right around your kids’ ages?” he said, pulling her out of the road.
“Right. Samantha and two of her kids are with us. Her husband is with Alex. They have a daughter in Boston, near Ryan.”
“I seem to remember Ryan and her having a little thing,” said Tim.
“That’s not public information, Tim,” she said, smiling.
“Really? The kid fawns all over her anytime I see them within a couple hundred yards of each other. Boston University wasn’t his only choice of schools,” Tim reminded her.
“Boston College would have been too obvious,” she said. When the SUV pulled even with them, she made introductions. “This is Linda Thornton. Her two daughters are crammed back there somewhere. Her husband, Charlie—”
“I’ve heard all about Charlie. It’s a pleasure to finally meet one of you, Linda,” said Tim.
“The pleasure is all mine. I can’t thank you enough for having us out here,” said Linda.
“We’ll have none of that. Any friends of Alex and Kate’s are friends of ours, and you’re all welcome to stay here indefinitely. That’s an unconditional offer,” said Tim.
“That’s very generous of you.”
“This isn’t an offer of charity. Your husband volunteered to go with them to get the kids?”
“Well, he’s a little touched in the head,” said Linda.
Tim laughed. “I bet he is, but that doesn’t change anything. My house is yours. Simple as that. Where’s Samantha?”
The back driver’s-side window lowered.
“Good to see you again,” he said, shaking her hand through the window.
“Call me Sam. You remember my daughter, Abby?”
“Sure do. I’m just surprised Ethan didn’t manage to squirm his way into the back seat here with her,” said Tim.
“Grandpa!” yelled Ethan from the cargo area.
“Behave yourself, Tim,” said Kate. “Sorry, girls. He’s really pretty harmless.”
“I’ve been called a lot of things before. I don’t remember harmless on that list.”
“I’m just doing my best to keep them from turning the car around and taking their chances on the outside,” said Kate.
“I’ll behave. Promise. Let me get this gate locked, and I’ll meet you back at the house. I have one of the two-seaters,” he said, raising the handheld radio to inform his wife that they had guests and update her on the missing family members.
“I’ll keep him company,” said Kate. “We’ll be right up.”
Tim slid the gate across and locked it, giving it a pull to be sure.
“How did you know we were coming?”
“The camera is out, but the buzzer still goes off when the gate is opened. Some stuff works, some stuff doesn’t. Most stuff doesn’t. I’m over here,” said Tim, motioning toward the olive-drab ATV nestled into the forest on the edge of the clearing.
He cranked the engine, and they lurched in their seats as the ATV broke out of the brush into a brown grass field. Kate grabbed the nearest vertical upright bar with her right hand, but immediately pulled the hand back to her side.
“Hit a rough patch on the way?” Tim inquired, eyeing her bloodied hand.
“We need to keep the car out of sight,” said Kate vaguely.
“I figured as much with the out-of-state plates. What happened?”
“Two drunk kids stopped us on Route 5 in front of the Hannigans. One of them mentioned a toll and kept staring at the girls. Claimed to be part of a militia. We didn’t wait for them to explain the details.”
“I don’t blame you. Locals with an out-of-state car?”
“The real owners are probably dead. I took the kids’ ID. Waterboro addresses,” she said, pausing. “We should sink the car in the pond tonight.”
“We might need it in an emergency. Does Alex have a car?”
“They took the Walkers’ Jeep. It was the only car working between the three families,” she said.
“How did you get out here?” he said.
“Rode our bikes until Waterboro.”
“You’re kidding me,” said Tim.
“We’ve had a long day,” Kate said, stepping off the ATV.
“Well, it’s over,” Tim said.
“For now.”
Tim parked in front of the house next to the BMW SUV. A wide farmer’s porch extended the full length of the gray colonial, wrapping around the right corner and connecting to the mudroom stoop. A gray-haired woman wearing jeans and a purple blouse yelled from the door and ran down the front steps. Ethan’s brother, a thin, dark-haired boy in swim trunks, followed.
Kate hopped off and opened the back of the SUV.
“Finally,” said Ethan, untangling his legs from Daniel’s.
“No shit,” said Samantha’s son.
“Watch your mouth, Daniel,” scolded Samantha.
“You can blame that on me. Grab your stuff and drag it inside,” said Kate, catching a glimpse of Ethan’s hands. “Let’s wash those off before your grandma gets a hold of you,” she added.
“Wash what off? Where is he? Where is Ethan!” said Amy Fletcher.
“Come on, Nana. Not now,” he whispered, glancing into the back seat behind him.
“I won’t smother you in kisses in front of your girlfriends,” she said.
“Someone help me,” muttered Ethan.
Daniel patted him on the back. “You’re on your own, man.”
Ethan dropped to the crushed rock and grabbed his rucksack, trying to delay the inevitable hug, which hit him before he could turn around.
“Your brother was worried out of his mind,” said his grandmother.
Ethan’s face flushed red, but he returned the hug and stuck his hand out to grab his brother. The three of them clung together for several moments before Kevin pulled away, examining Ethan’s hand.
“What’s this?”
Amy grabbed Ethan’s hands and gasped.
“It’s not his,” stated Kate. “We ran into a problem on the way.”
“I’m just glad you guys are all right,” Amy said, holding her arms open for Kate.
“I’m a little ripe,” Kate warned.
“I don’t care,” said Amy Fletcher, starting to cry. “Thank God you made it!” She rushed forward and held her.
“Alex is on the way to Boston,” said Kate. “I’m scared.”
“I am too, honey. We’re all scared. But he’s the best hope of getting Ryan back,” said Amy. “He’s a very capable man.”
“He is,” Kate agreed.
“And he has help?”
Kate nodded and walked toward the house, motioning for Amy to follow. Her mother-in-law got the message and joined her near the garage door.
“Ed Walker and Charlie Thornton went with him. They left early this morning. Ed’s daughter is at Boston College.”
“That’s right. Aren’t those two an item?”
“That’s not something we advertise.” She winked.
“I’m not the one you have to worry about,” said Amy.
“Believe me, I’ve already had a talk with your husband,” she said, smiling.
“And Charlie’s with them?” Amy asked, raising an eyebrow.
“He volunteered. What could Alex say? He’s been a great friend,” said Kate.
“I know. It’s good that you’re all together. I just hope they don’t slow him down,” whispered Amy.
“I’m sure he planned for it somehow,” said Kate.
“I wouldn’t be surprised. Let’s stop looking suspicious and get everyone cleaned up. You guys smell like sewage,” said Amy.
“You have no idea.”
Chapter 32
EVENT +33:39 Hours
Haverhill, MA
Alex studied the GPS plotter for a few seconds, looking up to compare the digital map to the real world. Emerging from the shelter of the dashboard, a stiff wall of air buffeted his face from the damaged windshield, causing him to involuntarily raise his free hand to block his face. He felt a quick sting on the palm of his hand, followed immediately by another on the top of his left ear. At least he could duck down momentarily to escape the onslaught. Ed didn’t have that option.