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The area was surrounded by trees and scrub brush. The pathway was well-worn, which meant vehicles used this stretch a fair amount since it wasn’t gravel or pavement. That might be a good sign they weren’t totally off base with the theory.
“Since this thing has a light on it, I’ll have to maneuver it through the trees instead of over them,” Busted began as he exited the driver’s side. He retrieved the drone from the back as Darren slipped out the passenger side before helping Reese out.
That was the hope.
Darren took in a deep breath before releasing it slowly.
“Before we move ahead, I just want to thank both of you for everything you’re doing,” Reese whispered. “I do realize this isn’t just for me, but that doesn’t take anything away from my gratitude.”
“You’d do the same,” Buster said, waving her off.
Darren reached for her hand, and then squeezed for reassurance.
Buster motioned toward the fence line. “I’ll head down this way with the drone. Do you want to follow or stay by the pickup?”
“We should keep watch here until you find something,” Darren said. “In fact, you might want to hand over the keys in case we need to get away fast.”
Buster reached into his front pocket and then tossed them over. This pickup was old enough to need an actual key. “I’ll give you a shout if I find anything.”
“Got it,” Darren said. “Good luck.”
If Tandra was being held here, he hoped they were in time. It was late at this point, long past midnight. They’d visited hours ago and might have caused the Archers to panic. Would they lie low? Would they ramp up? Would they kill her and dispose of the body? Once again, the property was large. But there were only a few areas that might be good for dumping a body. They wouldn’t do it near water, so as not to contaminate it as the body decomposed.
Darren stopped himself from going down too morbid a road. Waiting for Buster to return was the pits.
Thankfully, they didn’t have to wait too much longer. Darren came running, waving his arms in the air.
Darren immediately jumped into the pickup, as did Reese, and then cranked the engine. Buster hopped into the back and rolled, keeping a low profile.
“Stay low,” Darren said to Reese as he backed down the drive without headlights. He didn’t plan to stick around long enough to find out what had spooked Buster. They could regroup when it was safe.
Reese ducked down in the seat and he made himself as small as possible. Not an easy feat for someone his size and stature. In fact, he was the biggest target in the vehicle.
Half-expecting gunfire to break out and half-expecting someone to jump out from behind a tree, he was surprised when nothing happened for a couple of miles until he made it onto the farm road.
Buster knocked on the glass, so Darren took that as a sign to stop. He joined them inside the cab.
“What did you get?” Darren asked.
“They were patrolling on that side,” Buster said. “I had to get out of there.”
“On foot?” Darren asked.
“They must have anticipated us, or this is their normal routine,” Buster said. “One of them heard the drone but didn’t know what it was.”
“No one would be out walking around this time of night unless they were concerned we would come back and find something,” Reese interjected.
Darren nodded. “We can go back to the other side to the entrance area and watch.”
“It’s the best we can do for now,” Buster said. “I didn’t see any buildings on this side of the property, anyway.”
“Do you know how many of them were out there?” Darren asked.
“I’m pretty sure it was the pair from earlier,” Buster said.
“Seems like they would send someone else to cover this side if they had them,” Reese pointed out. She wasn’t wrong. Darren made the same assumption.
“At least we can reasonably assume we aren’t dealing with a small army here,” Buster said.
