Crawling toward the fringe of woods that bordered the road descending from the manor house, Larson witnessed part of the impromptu meeting between the driver of the Mercedes and a bodybuilder type. He wondered if it had anything to do with him. The brief flash of terror in the driver’s eyes had felt good.
A moment later the driver spoke into his cell phone, and within a few seconds, two other men sped down this same hill at a run.
At great risk of being seen, Larson rose and cut through the woods and paralleled these two, now confident that they’d been ordered to beef up Penny’s security. A trap for Hope and whomever she brought with her.
His shoes soaked through, wet from the ground cover. He caught a glint off the two black leather jackets as the road snaked gracefully down the long throat of the hill.
At the bottom of the decline, the paved road crossed a noisy creek before rising again. Larson stopped short as he came across a formidable obstacle course-wooden walls with hanging ropes; car tires lashed together and suspended over a sand pit; a series of low stone walls; a shooting range with standing targets. It looked like something from an army boot camp.
He slipped through the course, using it as cover, keeping the two guards in sight. As they approached a double-wide trailer home, a floodlight came on, triggered by a motion sensor.
The guards arrived at the top of a set of raw-lumber steps and knocked.
Larson drew closer, careful now of each footfall.
The door was answered by a guy in a T-shirt and black jeans. Larson saw the blue flicker of television light. That, in turn, told him the windows were blacked out from the inside, just like the farmhouse. That alone told him he probably had found Penny.
A sense of triumph and fear mixed in him as a cocktail. He felt the first trickle of sweat catch up to him. His mouth was dry.
He glanced at the face of the Siemens, wondering if Hamp and Stubby were on their way.
Larson needed a look inside the double-wide. But he didn’t want to walk into their trap. Instead, he needed to set one.