The Battle: Alone: Book 4 Read Free Page A

have to abandon the farm to get reinforcements, and a gang of marauders takes over the house in your absence, is there a way you can sneak back in without being spotted so you can take it back?”
         It was typical Sarah, always playing devil’s advocate. And always thinking outside the box.
         Tommy had looked at Karen, then shrugged his shoulders. It was something he’d never thought of.
         And Sarah’s question had generated a long brainstorming session over dinner that night.
         “I suppose that if it looks like we’re being overrun, and if we have to abandon the farm temporarily, we can take the power cords to the computer system with us.”
         Again, Sarah pointed out the obvious.
         “But isn’t that power cord the same one that’s on your other PCs? Will you have time to gather all of them?”
         “You’re right. The cable leading from the camera array to the back of the computer is unique. We’ll take that one instead.”
         Dave had his own idea. It was something Sarah wouldn’t have thought of. Because Dave was a guy, and guys like all things dirty. And little boys have an obsession with digging tunnels that some never outgrow.
         “Why don’t you dig a tunnel, from the woods and into one of your barns or your tool shed? If you camouflage it well on both ends, nobody will know it’s there except for you guys. And you can use it to sneak up on the marauders if you ever need to.”
         Dave remembered seeing the sparkle in Tommy’s eyes. He was another, apparently, who’d never lost that little boy urge to dig.
         “It would be a lot of work. But it’s a great idea!”
         Dave wondered whether he’d ever actually done it. That had been over three years before. He had plenty of time to finish such a project.
         But if a tunnel existed, how would he find it? And where would it lead? And how could he use it to his advantage?
         Dave ducked down as a rider on horseback came over the horizon.
         He checked his watch. It had been almost exactly twenty minutes since he’d broken out of the woods to find the farm in front of him. Almost twenty minutes since he first saw Sarah being forced at gunpoint to do laundry for the bastards who were holding her.
         He stayed down as the sentry slowly passed him by.
         This one wasn’t the same man as the first sentry. That made sense, for the farm was much too large to get around in only twenty minutes. They had at least two sentries. Probably more, to make such frequent rounds.
         Were they on high alert for some reason? Or did they have so much manpower they could patrol their perimeter several times an hour, twenty four hours a day?
         Dave started to wonder if he was up against an Army.
         He turned his attention back to Sarah. She hung up the last of the men’s shirts, and stood talking to the man with the gun.
         The conversation appeared cordial. She didn’t appear to be afraid or cowed. Dave hoped that meant that she and the girls weren’t getting beaten or physically assaulted.
         Sarah walked back into the house, followed closely by the guard.
         He fought the urge to call out to her, to let her know he was there.
         Instead, he counted the number of shirts on the clotheslines. It was information he’d be able to use when forming his game plan.
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
    Chapter 3
     
         Dave stayed in that spot, just inside the woods and out of view of the sentries, until just after nightfall.
         He was hoping to get another glimpse of Sarah, when she came out to get the dried clothes, and half hoping she didn’t come out. He was half hoping that his daughters would be sent out to get them instead. At least then he’d know they were still alive as well.
         But that wasn’t the main reason he’d