Free Evacuation (The Seamus Chronicles Book 2) by K. D. McAdams

whatever happened to Liam, the same thing happened to Dad.
    The Maserati I selected as my car is close by, so I get in. I stop at the commissary and look for Grace but she is not there. I’ll check the shed for Mom, but it is starting to get late and it’s rainy. There is not a lot of time to mess around. If she’s not there, I am going off to find them.
    Mom and Grace are both ransacking the shed. Their fear and energy is just short of panic. Dad and Liam are not just nice members of our little community. We need them like we need no one else. The food and water they make sure is readily available are obvious. The support and encouragement we get from them to keep going everyday is almost of equal importance. Tearing apart the shed is not going to help. The note would have been left on the whiteboard, if there were one.
    “Have you seen Liam’s fishing gear?” I ask. My presence startles them both.
    “I don’t think so.” Grace answers first.
    “I think they are fishing. I’ll go find them,” I announce. There is no room to discuss my conclusion.
    “Seamus, wait. If something bad happened to them, why do you think it won’t happen to you?” Mom asks. It’s clear she wants me to slow down.
    “Because I am careful and on high alert.” Bravado is not a typical attitude from me.
    “Take Grace with you,” Mom says as she walks over to the gun safe. “And take this, too.” She inserts the clip in a Glock nine-millimeter handgun. She hands it to me grip-first.
    I grab the gun and turn to Grace. “Let’s go.”
    At the end of the runway, you can make your way out to the marshes and eventually some open water. I know that this is where Liam likes to fish. We discussed it on the day I had to wait for him to clean all those fish. So I point the Quattroporte toward the end of the runway and pin the accelerator to the floor. In a matter of seconds, we are at 160 miles per hour. We will be at the end of the runway in no time.
    In the distance but approaching quickly I can see Liam’s parked Land Rover and Dad’s Bentley. They are in the middle of the runway and I can see no movement around them. I look to the left of the runway and then the right. One of the nice things about an airfield is the availability of good sight lines. There is no motion on either side. If this is a trap, they are still in hiding. 
    On my left a shape whizzes by in a blur. It was not human. I would like to think it was a dog or a deer, but it was too tall and thick to be either of those. I take my foot off the accelerator and think about the damage a wild animal could do to the car and myself if I hit them at this speed. But I’m committed and we can only go flat-out for another few seconds, so I stomp on the throttle.
    After another few seconds, I apply the brakes aggressively but we still wind up shooting past both cars. Deceleration turns out to be more difficult to judge than the acceleration. I think this is a good thing if there was anyone expecting us to arrive and pull in next to them. “Fooled ya!” I think to myself until I see the marsh approaching too quickly. I push harder on the pedal until I can feel the anti-lock mechanism kicking in. We come to a stop with our front wheels just off the runway. I slide the transmission into reverse and backup to stop next to the Bentley.
    With the engine off, I chamber a round and undo my seatbelt. “Grace, get in the driver’s seat. If you hear a gunshot, take off out of here and go tell Mom there is trouble at the end of the runway.”
    “Got it.” Grace can be all business when she has to be.
    The door is open on Dad’s Bentley and the keys are in the ignition. There is no bell ringing and the dashboard clock is still. I walk around to the Land Rover and find the front end peppered with holes that look to have been caused by a shotgun. I feel something move behind me and spin around. Nothing. But then I faintly hear it. “Seeeeaaaamuuuuusss.” It sounds like Dad but I can’t