The Oracle (Fargo Adventures 11)

Her eyes downcast, she clasped her hands together. “To stay in the shed, that he was coming.” When she looked up at Remi, it was as though she was hoping for forgiveness. “But the screen turned black before I could tell him about the farm and I couldn’t hear him anymore.”

Zara leaned forward, her expression imploring. “How will Mr. Fargo know to warn my father?”

“He’ll know,” Remi said. She didn’t have the heart to tell Zara that the warning was for Sam. If Makao’s men were holed up down there, chances were good that Zara’s father was already a prisoner—assuming they hadn’t killed him first. “Sam’s very resourceful.” She indicated the hook. “Nasha, the keys to the truck.”

Nasha glanced up at them, then back, clearly troubled. “Do you think Mr. Fargo will be very mad that I didn’t tell him?”

“No. Of course not.” Hoping to get Nasha back on task, Remi was about to remind her of their mission. But when she looked outside, she saw Makao bearing down on them fast. “You need to hide.”

“But the keys.”

“Now,” she whispered and hurried back to the corner, sliding against the wall and to the floor. Remi slid the scissors toward Amal and looked over at the girls, their eyes wide as they watched Nasha scurrying beneath the desk.

“Look away, girls,” Remi whispered.

None too soon. Makao stormed in, pulling Remi to her feet. “Where is she?”

“Where’s who?”

“The girl. The little one.”

“There’s just us. Everyone else is gone.”

His eyes bored into hers. “What were you doing by the desk?”

“Nothing,” she said. “I heard the goats and wondered what was going on. That’s it. I was worried they were getting loose.”

“I don’t believe you. There were five girls outside. One was sitting between you and her,” he said, nodding toward Amal. “Where’d she go?”

“Makao.”

He turned to see one of the men walking in, carrying a cardboard box. “Look what I found sitting by the round building.”

Makao shoved Remi against the wall, grabbed the box, then tossed it onto the desk with such force it tipped over, scattering road spikes across the floor. “Why would I care about that?”

“I don’t think it was there earlier. I saw something moving by the cars.”

“Something moving?” He pointed out the door. “There’s a lot moving out there. Goats. Everywhere.”

The man looked, nodding. “But—”

“But what?”

“I saw a bunch of buckets there, too. They weren’t there before. And someone was throwing eggs at our cars.”

Eggs? Definitely not part of Remi’s plan. Apparently, Nasha had been busy, using the distraction with the goats to move around the compound without being seen.

Makao strode toward the door, looking out, glaring at Remi as he pulled her along with him. “Where … is … the … girl …?”

“I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

&n

bsp; He pointed out the door. “Then who did that?”

“Did what?” She stepped forward, drawing the attention toward her instead of the desk where Nasha hid. “You realize we have a lot of chickens? They lay eggs all over the place.”

“On our windshields?”