“We’re going after him,” Teddy said.
“It’s hide-n-seek time and it looks like we’re it.” A sinister smile brightened Sydney’s eyes.
Jolts of energy soared through him. “The hunter becomes the hunted.”
As he and Sydney took off into the woods, she whispered, “I knowexactlywhere he’s hiding.”
SYDNEY
Cradling the rifle,Sydney inhaled a calming breath. She needed to focus-up. There would be plenty of time to analyze the gruesome situation, days and days to gather evidence and unearth bodies. She needed to find her cousin and neutralize him.
After she whispered Robby’s likely location to Tank, he’d figured out a plan in seconds, his brilliant mind working like a computer.
“Love it,” she murmured. “But I don’t like that you’re risking your life. Why don’t I?—”
“It’s a go,” Tank whispered through the comm as they continued forward. “I know what I’m doing.”
She pushed through the woods, her main concern the crunching beneath their feet. It was impossiblenotto make a sound. The forest floor was heavy with too many inches of leaves and twigs. She continued toward her favorite tree on the property.
At least a dozen kids—sometimes as many as twenty—spent many-an-afternoon playing hide-n-seek. While everyone ran around the woods, Robby would stay well hidden in the treehouse her dad and uncle had built for them.
One time, Sydney had climbed an oak tree thirty yards from the treehouse and spied her cousin hiding there. Rather than tell him she’d seen him—or tell him her own excellent hiding spot—she kept the secret to herself.
To her relief, the stunning oak she’d once claimed as her own still stood tall and strong against the star-studded sky. With her gaze on the upper branches, she turned to Tank.
“Boost me,” she whispered.
One strong lift, and she was climbing like a monkey. Tank took off into the woods.
When she’d reached her old perch between two large branches, she eyed the treehouse through her night goggles. If Robby was hiding there, she couldn’t see him, so she set her sights on the surrounding trees. No Robby in any of those either.
“Tank, I don’t have confirmation,” she whispered into the comm.
“Neither do I,” he replied. “You ready to lure him out?”
“Do it,” she said.
“Robby!” Tank yelled. “I can see you!”
BANG!
Robby fired Tank’s Glock, the gunshot shattering the silent night, like a cannon ball.
“You missed, asshole,” Tank’s booming voice now coming from a different location.
High in the oak, Sydney was level with the treehouse. The structure looked unchanged from what her dad and uncle had built all those years ago.
Using the night goggles, she peered around, but still couldn’t locate her cousin. “Where is he?” she whispered.
“He’s ontopof the treehouse.”
She focused the goggles on the treehouse roof, homed in on her target. Robby was crouched on the top of the treehouse, clutching a nearby branch, his folded body obscured in darkness.
Gotcha.
BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG!
Like a madman, Robby was firing the Glock in every direction.