Free Stealing Second (The Amendments Book One 1) by Nicholas Antinozzi Page B

National Guard is arresting anyone who tries to get across. Least, that’s what we heard,” he then got back inside his pickup truck and closed the door. “I’m sorry. I wish we had better news for you. If you have to make it to Pine City, I’d steer clear of Mason.”
    The old man wished us luck as he slowly drove away. Violet began pedaling and Cathy followed her. I began to have serious reservations about our chances of making it out to the farm. To get there, we would have to cross the freeway. If what the old man was saying were true, we would have to jump the fence and cross against the traffic. We could do that, but we would have to cross under the cover of darkness and only as a last resort. I began to pedal after Cathy.
    I hated riding the little bike , and my knees were already beginning to ache. The revolver in my belt had chafed the skin on my back and the spot burned. I hadn’t pedaled a hundred yards when I became aware of a buzzing sound. Cathy turned her head to look at me as the sound grew in intensity. She and Violet were just ahead of me and were nearly at the sharp corner in the road. The road cut through a grove of trees and I waved her into them. “Get off the road!” I shouted. By that time, the buzzing sounded as if it were almost on top of us. I glanced back at the green pickup, which was just a small dot on the horizon.
    Cathy and Violet dismounted and quickly wheeled their bikes down into the ditch. I joined them a few seconds later. After unstrapping the duffel bags from the handlebars, we dropped the bikes in the tall weeds and jogged for cover under a tall canopy of oaks. We had no sooner dropped to our knees when we spotted the drone. The little plane was flying high in the sky and seemed to be following the highway behind the green Ford, and Cathy gasped as it bore down on the unsuspecting couple. Suddenly, something began to whistle and I looked up to see a jet stream looping down from the sky. The missile took only a few seconds to reach the pickup. I’m sure the old couple never knew what hit them. At least, that’s what I tell myself.
    “Dear Lord,” moaned Cathy.
    I watched as the drone flew over the burning pickup, and I was about to say something when I felt a presence behind us. I had no idea what it was, but I pulled my revolver from out of my waistband and spun around. I found myself staring into the muzzle of a shotgun. “Don’t shoot,” said a man’s voice. “Just get away from the goddamn road. You’re going to give us away!”
     
     
    Chapter 6
     
     
    Cathy let out a small cry as she turned to see the gun, but the man quickly dropped the barrel and motioned for us to follow him deeper into the woods. With the drone still buzzing menacingly in the distance, we rose to our feet and ran after him. He didn’t run far, perhaps fifty yards, before he disappeared behind a tangle of downed tree limbs. We found him waiting on the other side, holding open a trap door.
    “Hurry,” he said, sweeping us over and down into the hole. “Those things have infrared cameras.”
    Cathy turned to me for approval and I nodded my head. I followed her down a crude set of stairs and into a dugout, which roughly twice the size of my bedroom at the apartment. An electric lantern cast light on a tapestry of roots woven into the earthen walls. The man followed me down and slammed the hatch down behind him. He was ruggedly handsome with broad shoulders and thick brown hair that was parted in the middle and hung to his shoulders. He was dressed in camouflage cargo shorts and a matching tank top over combat boots.
    “Thanks,” I said. “My name is Gary.”
    He gave me a wary look before leaning his gun against the wall. He shook my hand. “I’m Todd,” he said, dryly. “I hope like hell that drone didn’t spot you people. We’ll be dead in a few seconds if it did.”
    I turned to face Cathy. She stood with Violet tucked into her arms and she stared up at the plywood ceiling,