“Not here. They all went out the back as soon as we got here. They left me and Panda.”
Sam’s insides twisted. “They left?”
Frederico read the fear in Sam’s eyes. “You can’t beat Caine. Him and Drake, they have it all scoped.”
“I found tape,” Dekka said. “You want me to tie him up?”
“It’s a diversion,” Sam said. He punched Frederico in the nose, hard enough to distract him. Frederico roared in pain.
“Now tape him up. Fast.” He keyed the walkie-talkie. “Astrid.”
Her voice was barely audible. “Sam. Oh, my God.”
“What’s happening?”
Her answer was too garbled to understand. But in snatches of static, he heard fear.
“I screwed up,” Sam said. “It was all a trick.”
FORTY-TWO
02 HOURS, 23 MINUTES
“QUINN. QUINN.”
“Is someone yelling my name?” Quinn wondered.
Brianna pointed at the steeple. Quinn squinted and saw Astrid in dark silhouette waving her arms like a crazy person, pointing, gesticulating, yelling something.
“I’ll go see what she wants,” Brianna volunteered. She blurred, then she stopped suddenly, having just reached the top of the ladder. “Oh, my God, look.”
Racing through the street, coming up from the south, pouring down the alley, came a swarm of rough, yellow canines. They threaded through parked cars, bounded over fire hydrants, paused briefly to sniff at garbage, but overall moved with shocking speed.
They were going straight for the day care.
Brianna began pulling the ladder up. Quinn jumped to help her. They slid it up and out of the way as the first coyotes passed beneath.
“What do I do?” Quinn cried.
“Shoot them,” Brianna said.
“Coyotes? Shoot coyotes?”
“They’re not here by accident,” Brianna yelled.
One coyote, hearing them, glanced up.
“Quiet,” Quinn hissed. He crouched behind the wall and clutched the machine pistol to his chest.
“Quinn, they’re going after the littles,” Brianna said.
“I don’t know what to do.”
“Yes, you do.”
Quinn shook his head violently. “No. No one told me to shoot coyotes.”
Brianna peeked over the side and sat back down very suddenly. “It’s him. Drake. And he’s…there’s something wrong with him.”