"Agreed."

Brock drove fifteen miles over the speed limit to reach the next house or business. They kept encountering wooded bends. He kept reminding himself the sign said it was twenty miles until they reached Blue Hills. Hannah was about to complain about how long they had been driving when the next turn directed them to a paved road, and up that road, the woods cleared. Soon, they parked at a business called "Conquer the Mountains." It was a one-story retail store that sold hiking expeditions into the local Appalachian mountains with guided tours and access to rental supplies. Brock was grateful the front was packed with cars. That meant people were here.

He parked in the open spot closest to the sign showing a cartoon climber hiking up a steep incline. They got out of the car. Brock opened the business door for her. Inside, shelves of mountain packs, tents, souvenirs, and both cash registers were ransacked. The place looked to have been robbed.

"Oh my G.o.d, what happened here?" Hannah winced when she found the phone near the register had been smashed into too many pieces to be of use. "G.o.d, the phone."

"It looks like this place suffered a riot."

"You'd be right." A fl.u.s.tered man in his early thirties approached them from the back room. His hair was slicked back, shining in the light with a gelled sheen. The rest of him was dressed as a mountain climber, wearing a blue and yellow windbreaker and pants. He seemed to be in muscular shape, though his color was sallow in the face and he was despairing in the eyes. "Somebody knocked over my registers, stole my merchandise, and then they decided to bust up my displays. You'll have to excuse me, this just happened. I'm a bit fl.u.s.tered."

"We understand," Brock said, stepping closer to him and shaking the man's hand. "We just had a man from the road wave a gun at us. He was an older gentleman."

"That's got to be Ned Barnes." He accepted Brock's handshake. "I'm Michael Sands, by the way."

"How did you know who the man was?" Hannah neglected to introduce herself. "Was he the one who robbed you?"

Michael paced the store, checking the corners, righting up displays, trying to piece them back together so he could restock the mountain packs, clothing, and apparel that was strewn on the floor. After stressing over his merchandise, he addressed Hannah's questions.

"No, that old fart couldn't unlock a door, never mind rob me. He's probably drunk. And did he flash a gun at you? It's empty. It's his way of getting tourists and strangers to listen to him. It's all for attention. He's thrown in jail every other night. If his grandson wasn't the sheriff, that a.s.shole would be facing serious jail time. Small towns, go figure." He eyed the dinged up metal shelving units with disdain. "They took baseball bats to my shelves. Why didn't they just burn it down while they were at it?"

Brock understood the man was distressed, but he couldn't take the chance the old man did have a loaded gun and would harm or scare someone else. "Listen, do you have a working phone?"

An apology spread on the man's face. "You probably want to talk to the police. I'm sorry, why didn't I think of that? Yes, we have a phone, but let me call him. I know the sheriff pretty well. My dad and him are good buddies. I can clear this up real fast so you folks can be on your way."

"That would be great." Hannah stepped closer to Brock, holding his arm. "Thanks for your help, Michael. And I'm really sorry about your store."

Brock watched him for a moment, and then Michael made to step to the back room when he snapped his fingers as if he just remembered something. "Hey, I forgot, my only working phone is a pay phone. During the heist, whoever cleaned me out even took all of my quarters. It costs fifty cents to make a call. I hope you have some change."

Hannah dug into her purse and handed him the coins. The man's face lit up as he accepted the coins. Michael hurried into the back with quick steps. After a long moment of silence, Brock turned it over in his head. "Can't you call the police for free?"

She thought on it. "Yeah, you can."

"Maybe he forgot. It looks like he's having a really bad day."

"I would be too if my business was robbed."

"Or if an old man aimed an empty gun at me."

"No kidding."

Brock remembered staring at the GPS screen before spotting the old man. They were less than ten miles from The Piedmont Inn. At least he would have a story to tell Angel to break the ice, he thought, instead of jumping right into drug addiction and how terrible of a brother he'd been.

Thinking aloud, "I'm still nervous about Angel."

"I bet you are. Once we get this out of the way, we'll drive out to her. Do you have the phone number of the place she's staying?"

"When what's his face comes back, we'll ask him if we can make another call. I wonder why Angel's here in this town. Maybe an old friend lives here, but I hope, I hope, she isn't shacked up with some drug dealer on the run. Why else would she be so far away and in the middle of nowhere?"

"You can't say, so don't. We don't know anything yet."

That's when they heard a sharp clap and then the turn of a lock. The place was silent, suddenly no cheesy store music.

"What was that?" Brock took quick strides to the back area. Hannah stayed right behind him, clutching his shirt, as they moved pa.s.sed the boys and girls restrooms to a set of double doors. "Hey, Michael? Are you back there?"

"Brock, he said there was a payphone. So where the h.e.l.l is it?"

"Maybe it's in back."

"n.o.body keeps a payphone in their stockroom."

"Let's just check out the back room and find out what's going on. We don't jump to anymore conclusions until then, okay?"

She whispered it, "Deal."

"Michael," Brock called out again, more insistent this time. "Where are you, buddy? Mike, you there? Come on."

Throwing open the doors, the back room was a small access with shelves of back stock and an emergency exit. No other rooms, Brock deduced. "It's obvious what happened. The man took off."

"Why would he do that?"

"Maybe he wasn't the store owner."

"But why would he make up that story about being robbed and then asking for change for the payphone."

Brock's words sharpened. "I don't know, but we should leave."

He opened the emergency exit door and grabbed Hannah's arm, and they both left the building. The moment they entered Blue Hills, the events kept getting stranger.

Brock took the lead. "Stay quiet, I'm going to take a look out front to make sure all's clear."

Hannah forced him back by his coat. "You're not going without me."

Brock kept his eyes on the edge of the wall. "I'm just going to stick my head out and take a glance. That's all. I promise. Just stay here. I'll be two feet from you. You keep your eyes glued."

Though the store was in a clearing, they were a sprint's distance away from the woods. It would be a quick way to hide if anything weird happened.

Brock leaned forward, pivoted his body so only part of his head would stick out, and he spied the huddle of people around their car. Two were men, each of the guys working a coat hanger down into the window. A woman was watching the road with a double barreled shotgun in her hand and a scowl that would deter any pa.s.serby from stopping the obvious crime from happening. Each of them were dirty and ragged as if they'd been hiding in the woods. One had popped open the pa.s.senger side door, and all three of them began frantically rooting through the glove compartment, under the seats, and another popped open the trunk and checked out the goods.

"What do you see?" Hannah asked. "I hear something going on out there."

Brock kept watching them and noticed a fourth woman. She was approaching the storefront with a large rifle in her hands.

"s.h.i.t, this isn't good," Brock whispered, trying to figure out what they should do next. Their phones didn't work. Michael had run off and left them behind. They still had a mile or two before they reached any lodgings or the public. "I think we should run, and I mean right now."

Hannah was about to speak up, but he clamped his hands over her mouth, stole her arm, and they took off running to the nearest group of trees. Brock wanted to tell her there was no time to explain, but watching the woman strut up to the building with the gun in her arms and the bad intentions on her face, he knew better than to ignore his better judgment. After running far enough, they hid behind a group of chestnut trees. They hunched down on their knees and Brock pointed at the building.

"They're coming. We needed to run. They're armed."

Hannah bunched up against Brock as they watched the building. Moments later, the emergency exit door was kicked open. The same woman with dark auburn hair with the rifle scoped the terrain with the barrel. Brock forced Hannah to duck even lower. "Stay still."

They could hear the four people talking: "They saw us."

"You think they're gone?"

"Can't see them in my rifle's scope."

"That'll save us a few bullets."

"Did you set the car on fire?"

"The rag's burning. Give it a few more seconds. They won't be getting far on foot."

"The woods will swallow them up."

"I'd rather take my chances out there than in the streets."

"So we just let them go?"

"Saves us bullets. Besides, you got to worry about ol' Chuck and his axe more than anything. He'll get them before they get us."

"All right, let's go. Forget them. We got everything we can take."

"It's not f.u.c.king much."

"More than the other times."

"Still not enough."

"Better than nothing, so get over it. Let's move before Chuck shows up."

It wasn't more than two seconds before the large explosion of an erupting fuel tank called an end to the quiet. With a ma.s.sive shattering of gla.s.s, the hood was thrown up, spinning in the air like a broken bird's wing. Falling down, it rattled against the street. Smoke filled the sky, the proximity reeking of burning gasoline and rubber.

The four cheered as the car burned, and with a slew of excited words, they bounded from the building to find another group of people to exploit.

All Brock could do was wait for them to leave and feel Hannah's body rock with terror.

SEARCH FOR SHELTER.

Brock knew they couldn't stay out here for much longer. It was late afternoon, and the sun would only be up for another two or three hours, and then it would get dark. Their transportation was destroyed. Time was short to make a move into town. He feared running into the four people on the main road. Frustrated and fearing for Hannah's safety, he made the bold move to stand up from their hiding place. He tried his cell phone when Hannah dug hers from her purse, and they were both alarmed at the change in each device. A thin metal covering covered up the digit keys. And in the center of the covering was a thin slot centimeters wide. Purposeless as far as he could tell. The biggest concern was how the change could've occurred. The d.a.m.n thing had been in his pocket during the whole day.

How did a metal covering get there?

Hannah gripped her phone as her face shrank and turned powder white. Horrified by the phone, she heaved it into the woods. "You should do the same, Brock. Something really isn't right here. It's more than a feeling. I don't want that cell phone near me. It did that on it's own. How is that possible? It's, it's insane."

"We can't throw away our only lifeline."

"There's a metal sh.e.l.l over it. Did you feel it change in your pocket? Mine was in my purse."

He traced his finger down the cold steel, silver like the chrome covering of a Magnum pistol and as impenetrable as body armor. He used his fingernail to try and pry it from the plastic covering and ended up chipping his nail. "No use. It won't come off. It's stuck on there good. And no, I didn't feel it change in my pocket. It just happened."

"Well that doesn't make any sense. Throw it away."

"I can't just toss it. Think about it. Besides, I want to show it to somebody else. They won't believe us unless we can show them."

Before he could react, she seized his wrist, pried the phone loose, and heaved the cell phone into the woods. "There's something wrong with it, and I don't want it near me, you got that? It scares me!"

Brock turned in the opposite direction of her, checking the bunches of trees and making sure n.o.body had heard them. Then he appealed to her before he lost his temper. "You just threw away our only potential lifeline. You realize that?"

Hannah's face was burning red and wet with tears. She let them roll down her cheeks. Softly, "This place is scaring me. I say we leave. We leave right now."

He would've agreed, but now Brock had another worry. Where was Angel, and how had she been affected by this? "This could still be a huge misunderstanding."

"Our f.u.c.king phones changed by themselves. It's not a misunderstanding. It's creepy. Something's very wrong here."

Brock had to step away from her and collect himself. He breathed in and out, pretending he had a paper bag against his face. Hannah leaned against a tree, shaking her head, denying what had happened had actually happened. Then she perked up. "Hey, I see a house. Do you see it?"

Through the thick of chestnuts and poplar trees, the terrain shot up a steep incline, like the hump of a foothill. At the top of it, he caught the outline of a chimney and a yellow house.

"Yeah, I see it. What do you think?"

"I can't imagine walking on the road into town," Brock said. "We don't know where those people went. Besides, it'll get dark soon. The house is our best option. And the phone thing is freaking me out too. I know it's a delayed reaction, but I'm just trying to process this one thing at a time."

She hugged him close, drawing what comfort she could squeeze from his body in that moment. "Me too, Brock."

Brock kissed the top of her head. He was forced to give up the idea that this would be a simple retreat to save his sister.

The way to the house took much longer than they first imagined. Brock guessed the trip was a mile, but the terrain was hidden by treetops, random dips, inclines, and the trail with its many potholes that had threatened to turn both their ankles on numerous occasions. He expected to run into a group of racc.o.o.ns, opossums, white-tailed deer, or a coyote, but the area was desolate of life.

On the way to the house, he kept thinking about the changes in their cell phones. "It's interesting how Michael said there was a pay phone in the place, yet we didn't see one."

"We could've missed it."

"Why didn't he have a cell phone? Everybody has one these days."

"True." Hannah shivered against the cool winds. "That guy was wigged out. Who knows what he was thinking?"

"And what the h.e.l.l did he do with your fifty cents?"

"No kidding." She was grateful for something to laugh at. "What a cheapskate, huh?"

Brock enjoyed watching her smile. It was a return to how it was only three hours ago before they entered Blue Hills and all was normal. They were the missionaries coming to save Angel and to enjoy Virginia's foothills.

He considered how it would sound to an outside group if they told them about their cell phones. "Until we can find someone to talk to, until the police are involved, I say we remove any talk of cell phones growing metal coverings on them. We make sure Angel's safe, and then we get the h.e.l.l out of here. As beautiful as it is out here, I'm about to jump out of my skin."