“Here you go. Six hundred rounds of .223.” Ben heaved the ammunition can up onto the concrete, near Emmett’s feet.

  The man smiled. “All right.”

  “I have thought of something else we need. Two things, really. Water and a spare gas tank or jerry can. We lost one of ours a little ways back.” Ben climbed the steps up to the warehouse floor; it was easier on his knee than hoisting himself up onto the waist-high loading dock.

  Emmett rubbed his chin and thought for a second. “Yeah, I think we can do that. I might have a jerry can out back. Let me go look.”

  Ben wanted to tell him to grab one of the nice heavy-duty metal ones he’d had in his hands just a little while ago, but he couldn’t do that. Emmett turned and headed off just like he had when fetching the Jeep parts. Ben wasn’t initially going to ask for the jerry can but changed his mind at the last second. They were already here, and passing up an opportunity to replace the damaged fuel container wouldn’t change anything about what Emmett and Amelia were up to.

  CHAPTER FIFTEEN

  Ben took advantage of Emmett’s absence and made his way back to the living area of the building. Sandy was on her feet, and so was Amelia, with her two personal bodyguards faithfully at her side.

  The kids were moving but not fast enough.

  “I’ve got a project for you guys,” Ben said. Maybe if he could get them talking, they’d pick up the pace so they could get out of here.

  “A project?” Joel rubbed his back as he tried to stand up, but instead, he ended up right back down on the couch next to Allie.

  “Joel?” Ben took a step forward but stopped when he heard the unmistakable sound of an AR-15 charging handle being racked. He turned to see Emmett coming out of one of the aisles to his right, his weapon pointed in Ben and Sandy’s direction. Ben fought the urge to go for his Glock. Amelia was less than twenty feet away and wielding her AR-15 as well, not to mention the two bloodthirsty guard dogs at her side, ready to do her bidding.

  “Passen auf.” Amelia barked the sharply spoken order, and the dogs deployed like she’d flipped a switch. They left her side and put themselves between her and Ben and Sandy. Teeth bared and snarling loudly, the dogs inched their way toward them.

  A few seconds later, Gunner appeared from behind the couch, with Sam right behind him. Gunner’s lip curled and he showed some teeth, letting a thick cord of saliva fall to the floor. Sam put out her own brand of warning: raised hackles and a wrinkled nose and lips. The old yellow Lab was far from her prime, but she was no pushover.

  Bajer was nowhere to be seen. Then again, neither was Amelia’s other dog, Charlie. Knowing Bajer, Ben thought she’d run off to hide somewhere as soon as things went south. But that was just as well. Things we’re getting complicated fast, and there were already enough moving parts to keep track of.

  “Gunner, Sam, stay.” Ben spoke sternly.

  “Gunner.” Joel reached out from where he was sitting and grabbed the dog’s collar. Allie pulled herself out of a daze and managed to catch Sam’s collar as well. The kids were still in an obvious fog, but they were slowly coming around enough to realize what was happening. This was more than exhaustion or heat-related fatigue, and Ben began to suspect their sudden drowsiness wasn’t natural.

  “I’m sorry, Ben. We were going to let you guys go but… we can’t. We know you saw what’s in the back.” Emmett sighed and shot his wife a nervous glance.

  “I don’t understand.” Sandy moved toward Ben and away from Emmett as he came closer. Ben stepped between them, pushing Sandy behind him slightly. He didn’t want to say what the old couple was up to here out loud.

  “You’re about to,” Amelia answered.

  “What’s going on here?” Allie’s words were sudden and slurred as she struggled to sit more upright next to Joel while maintaining her grip on Sam’s collar. At the far ends of the couch, Brad and Emma were starting to come around now, too.

  “What did you do to the kids? What was in the ice pops?” Ben knew something was off about the old couple from the start. He felt like a fool for not trusting his gut about these people. He’d never forgive himself for that, but right now, he was concerned about how the kids were behaving. They’d been drugged; he was sure of it. Fortunately, he and Sandy had turned down the ice cream when it was offered.

  “Nothing you need to worry about.” Amelia took a few steps toward the front of the store, relaxing her aim slightly as she spoke. “It won’t matter for long, anyway.”

  “What’s that supposed to mean?” Sandy raised her voice, causing Samson’s growl to intensify by a few decibels.

  “I wouldn’t make too many sudden moves, dear. Either one of you, for that matter. My babies haven’t eaten in a while,” Amelia warned.

  “Amelia.” Emmitt looked embarrassed and a little scared.

  “No, Emmett! This is the way it has to be. You think they’re just going to drive off into the sunset and leave us be?” Amelia wagged her finger in the air. “No! I know what them and their kind are all about.” She turned her attention away from her husband and shot Ben an evil glare. “You’re all the same. You’re gonna come back and try to kill us and steal our supplies, aren’t you?” she shouted, letting small bits of spit fly through the dusty air.

  “No, you’re wrong. We have what we need. We just want to get home,” Ben explained.

  “He’s right. We don’t want anything, I swear. We just want to get home. You’ll never see us again,” Sandy promised, her tone softer this time. It didn’t matter, though; the dogs continued snarling as they made their machine-like advance.

  Ben held his hands up. “Call the dogs off and let’s talk this over. You’re making a big mistake. We have a lot of supplies to barter with. I have silver coins.” He knew his offer was worthless; the couple would kill them and take it all.

  “We won’t tell anyone about this place, either,” Sandy added.

  Amelia’s eyes glassed over at Sandy’s remarks, and her face turned bright red. “Liars. You’re all liars.”

  Ben knew they were running out of time—and fast. This woman was unhinged, and whatever power she wielded over Emmett was enough to keep him in line. She had the man trained as well as her two dogs. It was clear she was the one running the show around here. Ben almost felt sorry for the guy, but he didn’t. These two were as evil as anything Ben had ever seen.

  He could feel himself slipping over the edge of what he was willing to tolerate, but he needed to keep his cool if they were going to get out of this. It was a miracle the couple hadn’t spotted the Glock concealed in the small of his back. Ben wasn’t sure if Sandy was armed or not. She should be, and so should Joel and Allie, but he couldn’t count on the kids for much help in their condition. And he wasn’t sure he’d want them shooting at anything right now, anyway.

  Not only were Ben and the others outgunned, but they had the two Cane Corsos to deal with. Ben didn’t doubt Gunner’s or Sam’s resolve when it came to a fight, but the truth was, they were out of their league against these two muscle-bound killing machines. The best Gunner and Sam could provide would be a distraction. But at what cost?

  Sandy was standing next to him now, both of them moving backward in an attempt to keep Amelia’s killer dogs at a distance. Ben’s foot hit something. There was nowhere to go. The two dogs had them backed up into the makeshift kitchen and were closing the last ten yards between them.

  Amelia seemed content to watch things unfold without further interference. A sadistic smile crept across her face, growing larger with every inch the dogs advanced. Ben should have dispatched the dogs earlier when he had the chance. In hindsight, he should have killed them all as soon as he made the grim discovery. Sandy clenched his arm and pulled him close to her side, taking his hand and forcing it around her waist. He wasn’t sure what she was doing until he felt the .38 tucked in her waistband. She was armed.

  “Get ready. Go for the dogs. I’ve got Emmett,” Ben whispered. He wasn’t sure who was the bigger threat: the dogs, Emmett, or Amelia. The crazed woman didn’t have her weapon pointed directly at them, but it wasn’t far off. And what about the kids? Ben was trying to make eye contact with both Joel and Allie, but they were too doped up to focus for very long. It was taking all they had to restrain Gunner and Sam.

  So this was it. This was what all their efforts over the last few weeks had amounted to: getting mauled by a couple of dogs. But Ben wasn’t going down without a fight. And he was sure Sandy agreed. Ben felt the rough pistol grip press into his hand as images of the kids arriving home without him flashed through his mind.

  CHAPTER SIXTEEN

  Ben was about to draw his 9mm when a volley of gunshots sounded off from outside the building. Several bullets tore through the front wall, creating new shafts of intersecting light that cut through the dust laden air above the living area.

  “They’re back!” Amelia screeched as she dropped to the floor. The attack stopped the two advancing guard dogs in their tracks. Their attention shifted back to Amelia, who seemed to have forgotten about Ben and Sandy for the time being.

  Emmett snapped into action, taking a position at the front of the store near one of the boarded-up windows. The old man pulled back a section of hinged plywood, exposing a small hole large enough to shoot through.

  Crack… crack… crack… crack. Emmett began returning fire blindly through the opening. Amelia found a spot at another window and opened up a flap of wood to uncover a second shooting position, but she turned to look at Ben and Sandy before she joined the fight.

  Amelia’s gaze shifted to her dogs. “Fassen.”

  Ben wasn’t sure what the command meant, but it couldn’t have been good. Samson and Delilah turned their attention back toward him and Sandy, who were now crouched in the kitchen.

  “No!” Sandy shouted.

  Samson lunged at them, but in the chaos, Gunner and Sam had broken free from the kids. Gunner crossed the small living area with the sort of speed he usually reserved for chasing wildlife from their property or retrieving ducks. Samson was focused on getting a piece of Ben and never saw Gunner coming.

  Within a matter of seconds, the two dogs were nothing more than a blur of teeth and black and brown fur tumbling across the floor. Sam was right behind Gunner and wasted no time taking on Delilah, interrupting her advances on Ben and Sandy as well.

  “Gunner, Sam, no!” Emma screamed in vain as the dogs became even more entangled in a dizzying clash of snapping jaws and flying saliva. Ben tried to get a bead on Samson, but the dogs were moving too fast and he was afraid he might hit Gunner. Sandy had her pistol drawn, too, but her sights were leveled on Amelia.

  Pop… pop. Sandy squeezed off a couple of rounds from the little silver .38, putting two bullets into Amelia. One of the shots hit the old woman in the thigh, while the other struck her mid-body. Amelia took a few steps back until she was against the boarded-up window. She stared at Sandy in disbelief, slowly raising her AR-15 to return fire.

  At that moment, more gunfire sounded from outside, resulting in a couple of bullets punching holes in the plywood covering Amelia’s window. Both rounds hit her in the back but didn’t go all the way through. Ben knew she’d been struck by the wild look in her eyes and the growing bloodstains on her shirt.

  The old woman’s face went blank, and she looked down at her wounds, dropping her AR-15 on the hard concrete. Ben turned his attention to Emmett while Sandy kept her pistol trained on Amelia.

  Crack… crack. Emmett was only twenty yards away, and Ben had no trouble putting two rounds into the man’s chest. Emmett went down without a sound, landing on his weapon. With the couple down, it was time to deal with their attack dogs. Ben hoped it wasn’t too late. The skirmish among the dogs had been peppered with yelps, and Ben was afraid Gunner or Sam might already be hurt.

  Thankfully, Joel and Allie had the clarity of mind to gather Emma and Brad at the far end of the couch and were doing their best to shelter the younger kids with their bodies. With the dogs fighting dangerously close to the kids, getting off a clear shot was extra difficult.

  Then Samson and Gunner broke contact with each other. Both dogs stepped back and began circling. It was now or never, and judging by the dogs’ stances, Ben figured it was only a matter a seconds before they were locked in battle once more.

  Crack… crack. The 9mm rang out inside the hardware store, sounding like a much larger caliber than it was, but it wasn’t loud enough to cover the high-pitched yelp Samson let out before his legs buckled and he collapsed to the floor. Gunner stood over the body, looking exhausted and confused. Delilah broke away from her fight with Sam and ran to her brother’s side.

  “Dad, no, please.” Emma barely had time to get the words out before Ben pulled the trigger two more times, putting the last round into Delilah’s head, killing her instantly.

  The store was suddenly quiet, except for Sam, who was whimpering and nursing a bloody leg. Gunner was the first one to her side and sniffed at the wound. Ben noticed that Gunner was walking with a limp as well, but he didn’t seem to be bleeding.

  “Sam!” Emma squirmed out from under her brother and stumbled to Sam’s side, still a little off balance from whatever Amelia had drugged them with. The woman was dead—there was no doubt about it—but Emmett was still drawing breath. Ben made his way to the old man, pulled the AR-15 out from under him, and slid it across the floor toward Sandy.

  “Take that and grab hers, too. And get the kids to start drinking water. They need to flush their systems out.” Ben had no idea what the old woman had given the kids to make them so groggy, but he intended on using Emmett’s last few seconds of life to find out. “Tell me what your wife gave them. What was in the ice pops?” He pulled Emmett up off the floor by his shirt and held him at eye level while crouching over his body.

  “I’m sorry,” Emmett choked out.

  “What was in the pops?” Ben shouted this time. He felt himself being slowly consumed by rage over what had happened here.

  “Just sleeping pills. They’ll be okay.” Emmett drew in a labored breath as the life faded from his eyes. Ben lowered his body to the floor and stood up, looking around the place and trying his best to calm down. But before he could gather his thoughts, there were more gunshots outside and a few more bullets needled the metal skin of the building. One of the shots made it inside and ricocheted off the back wall with a reverberating zing.

  Ben ran to the boarded-up window Emmett had been shooting through. “They’re dead. We killed them. The dogs, too. You can have the place. We just want to leave.” He stepped away from the window and glanced back at Sandy and the kids while he waited for a response from outside.

  Allie was helping her mom wrap a rag around Sam’s left hind leg, while Emma held the dog’s head in her lap. Ben could see blood oozing through Sam’s light yellow fur. Gunner stood close by, watching with interest. He looked tired and was favoring his right paw but otherwise seemed no worse for wear for his tangle with Samson. Ben thought both dogs were lucky to be alive.

  At least the kids seemed to be coming around from their sleeping-pill-induced daze. Ben hoped Emmett was telling the truth about what his wife had used to drug them. He’d never thought about the possibility of the Good Humor pops being laced with something, but why would he? Especially after Emmett had been so helpful with the Jeep.

  Ben heard a voice from outside. “How do we know it’s not a trap? Lay down your guns and come out so we can see you.”

  He looked at Sandy, who was shaking her head. “We can’t trust them.”

  “No, we won’t be doing that, but I have an idea that might buy us enough goodwill to get out of here.” Ben holstered his pistol and made his way over to a row of knobby-tired utility wagons meant for gardening. “Joel, can you give me a hand?” He pulled the wagon over to the two dead dogs and waited for his son to join him.

  Joel made his way over slowly. He was still a little unsteady on his feet, but Ben was encouraged to see him improving.

  “Help me get them on the wagon.” Ben grabbed Samson’s front paws while Joel awkwardly handled the other half, struggling to maintain his balance. “One, Two, three,” he counted down, and then they both lifted the big dog onto the wagon. They repeated the process with Delilah, and as soon as they were done, Joel staggered to the couch and sat back down.

  Ben took a moment to think things through and catch his breath. He stared at the dogs, their massive paws hanging over the edge of the overloaded garden cart. Until now, he hadn’t appreciated their true size and heft. He’d seen smaller black bears in the yard at home.

  He wasn’t happy about having to shoot the two Cane Corsos. In fact, he felt worse about killing the dogs than he did about killing Amelia and her husband. They were beautiful animals, but unfortunately, they were victims of circumstance. Amelia had turned them into monsters.

  Things might have turned out differently if Emmett had found the courage and moral fortitude to stand up to his wife, but he didn’t. And in Ben’s book, that made the old man just as guilty as his wife.

  CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

  Ben glanced at Emma. She was focused on helping Allie and Sandy treat Sam’s wound with a medical kit Allie managed to find in the bathroom. He was glad his daughter was occupied at the moment. He knew she was upset that he’d shot the dogs, but what choice did he have? It was Amelia’s fault and yet another reason to hate the older couple for what they’d done.

  Ben maneuvered the heavy wagon through the store until he was at the double front doors that emptied into the main parking lot.

  “Everybody stay down for a minute,” Ben warned the others before pulling the braces off the set of plywood-reinforced glass doors. He pulled one of the doors open and kicked the stopper down with his foot, propping it open and doing his best to stay out of sight from the outside.

  He already had the wagon in position and got it moving quickly. He gave the dog-laden cart one final shove, sending it out into the parking lot. Ben kicked the door stopper out of the way and forced the automatic door closed just as quickly as he’d opened it. As the door closed, its weather stripping smeared the blood drippings from the garden cart.