Page 56 of Guarding Truth
Caleb could only rationalize one reason these terrorists would blanket a bunch of sophisticated drones across the backyard of the safe house in three-foot intervals.
“Bombs,” Caleb said. “They’ve strapped these drones with something. Probably C-4. We’re going to be walking through land mines to get out of the yard.”
“You’ve got to be kidding me.” Juliette’s wide eyes conveyed the danger of this situation, because if Hazard Pay was spooked, Caleb was downright terrified.
He watched Juliette shield Ivy from the fallen agent on the patio with her body.
Armed drones in the front yard. Landmine drones in the back. They were sandwiched in the safe house.
“They’re FPV drones,” Ivy whispered, staring at the sky. When Juliette’s mouth hung open in confusion, Ivy clarified. “FPV stands for First Person View. No radio frequencies or GPS. They’re being piloted by remote control. Which means the bad guys are close. And probably more drones are coming.”
“But what do they want?” Juliette scanned the sky for more signs of trouble. “Do they want to trap us, flush us out into the open, or kill us?”
“At this point,” Caleb said, “it’s a toss-up. If they think Ivy knows something, they wouldn’t strike this hard. But my gut says they want to chase us out of the house.”
Whirring propellors announced the arrival of more gun drones, confirming Ivy’s guess. Caleb counted three of them. But more could be waiting on the other side of the house. “They’re trying to drive us out of the house and through the yard.” He racked the shotgun. “You’re going to have to take Ivy and run. The second you step into that yard, the gun drones will go after you. I’ll take them down, but you’ll have to dodge the land mines. Unless we can stop the drone pilot, our only other option is to get to safety.”
Juliette hesitated, then nodded. They both knew this was their only chance.
Caleb prayed. Because if anything happened to either Ivy or Juliette…
With one hand, Caleb counted down. Three…two… On one, Juliette hoisted Ivy onto her back and moved toward the edge of the stone patio. Caleb and Noelle aimed shotguns at the sky and watched for any signs of movement.
Dear God, please let this work.
Juliette took off at a fast clip, and Caleb watched her weave around the first drone. The buzzing intensified, and Caleb turned his head to watch behind himself. One of the drones gave chase, heading straight for Juliette and Ivy.
Juliette sped up, mindful of where the drones were strategically placed throughout the yard. She wouldn’t be able to steer clear of all of them. Caleb aimed and fired at the one stalking Juliette and Ivy, taking off two of its four propellers. The machine lilted to one side and tumbled out of the sky before it could get off a shot.
Caleb’s head throbbed from the gunshot explosion. This was their lives, not some video game. He lowered the gun and flexed his fingers, itching to get his hands on the drone pilot. But these cowards hid behind screens.
Juliette weaved through the drones on the ground, and he followed in her trail. She slowed to avoid stepping on a drone. Noelle hung back by the house, patrolling the skies.
“I don’t like this,” Caleb said. “What if they detonate all at once?”
Juliette grunted and shifted Ivy’s weight on her back. “Don’t even say that.”
Another thump-thump-thump and Caleb’s heart stopped. Behind them, two more gunship drones rose over the house.
“Run!” Caleb yelled, and Juliette took off while Caleb spun and faced off with the two warships. A crash sounded as Noelle’s shot took down one of the drones.
The drone chased Juliette, and Caleb shot at the descending invader. It exploded in the air. Juliette had made it halfway through the land-mine drone maze, and Caleb needed to help her. He didn’t trust that one of these bombs wouldn’t detonate, and that might set off a chain reaction. He couldn’t watch the sky and the ground.
“Go,” Noelle said. “Watch Juliette’s back, and I’ll defend from here.”
He was so thankful for all of the Elite Guardians. “Don’t forget about the man prowling about. And we still don’t have eyes on the drone operator. Be careful.” He took off running after Jules, following the same path. But before he reached her position, he stopped short. One of the drones nearest him on the ground lit up with a red blinking light. He changed direction and ran away from the activated drone.
The earth rumbled, and heat seared his back. The drone exploded in a fireball, taking out the yard around it but not touching the other drones. At least the others hadn’t detonated. These guys wanted to play with Caleb and Juliette to drive them out into the open. How had they figured out where the safe house was?
Caleb’s skin pricked with goosebumps at the sound of more beeping, and several other red lights appeared.
“Keep moving!” Caleb yelled. Booms rang out from Noelle’s shotguns while she took down more drones.
They sprinted for the back fence, weaving in and out of the land-mine drones. Trees dotted the fence line and might give them some semblance of protection from the air attack. Another explosion sent them ducking from falling debris. Gunshots rang out, and Caleb didn’t even stop to look. They hit the six-foot picket fence, and Caleb climbed up first. At least the horses had scattered, although they might have made good getaway transportation.
He reached back and grabbed Ivy from Juliette, hoisting her to the top of the fence. Ivy hopped up and over, and he reached a hand to pull Juliette. Bullets pinged off the side of the fence.
Juliette’s feet hit the ground with a thud, and while Caleb straddled the top of the fence, he took aim at the last air drone. Firing twice, he nailed it center mass, sending splinters of plastic material flying. The fragments took a nosedive and crashed onto one of the land-mine drones, creating a yellow and red fireball.