Without any prodding, all four of them started up the rest of the ridge toward the summit. Lily urged them all forward, and stopped to look down the hill. She wondered what was happening with Peabody. Remembering the camera, she got out the FLIR and scanned the scene below. She could make out a warm figure moving swiftly away toward the road. She watched as it paused, then started moving back toward the open yard behind the barn. Again, it rushed out to the middle of the yard, then stopped.
It was hard to get an accurate measure from this distance, but the image seemed to shift several times. Lily considered that Peabody could be pacing back and forth trying to decide where his prisoners had gone. She started to drop the camera, when a sudden shift caught her attention. She pointed it again, and saw Peabody heading toward the ridge.
"I think he's figured out where we went," Lily called softly over her shoulder. She tucked the camera away, and bolted for the base of the cell tower 500 feet away. The ground was mostly flat by this point, so she was able to move very quickly. She hoped that they had moved far enough over the ridge to be obscured from below.
The cell tower had a large base, with a chain link fence surrounding it. Cassie was shepherding Grace and Denning around one side, making good progress toward the access road. Lily was concerned that Denning was moving so slowly, but could think of no way to speed up their progress.
They came around the enclosure and found the access road. Breathing a sigh of relief, they started walking out. Lily strained to hear any sound from the Peabody farm. Was he going to chase them up the ridge? Or would he duck around to get in a car and try to cut them off on the road? What if he found their car before they reached it? They were not out of difficulty yet, but she feared that the others might relax, thinking they were.
"We're not out of the woods yet," Lily said as she caught up with them all standing on the road. "If Peabody comes up that hill, he'll have us. We need to get out to the main road."
They all began to move down the road which took a broad swing out, then doubled back toward the main road.
"Lily, what if he calls those other two, Clark and Johnson?" Cassie asked. "Do you think they'll come back? What if they have guns?"
Lily paused and looked back toward the top of the ridge. Cassie wasn't wrong. She tried calculating how long they'd been in the barn compared to when the car had left. It had left before they reached the barn, then they'd waited while Peabody taunted Grace. They had a fair amount of time before they came back. But Peabody...
She turned and hastened up to stand before Grace and Denning.
"Tell me about Peabody?" She demanded. "Does he have a gun on him? How likely is he to chase us with one?"
They looked at each other then back to Lily. Denning shrugged his shoulders and spoke.
"Not that I'm aware of," he said. "He likes that whip of his, thinks he's a regular Indiana Jones."
"He hasn't shown one since I've been around him," Grace added. "He seems a bit mad, so I wouldn't be surprised if he followed us. I think he's more likely to send those goons of his to do his dirty work."
"True, true," Carter added. "He'll send them in for sure."
Lily had a serious look on her face. "I'll need to slow him down..."
She turned to look at the road. They might be able to cut off some of the loop by heading straight down the ridge to where it came back through. She motioned to Cassie who came rushing over to stand next to her.
"Do you think you could lead them straight down through here to the road and skip that switchback?" She asked Cassie, who nodded. She turned to speak to Grace, "think you'll have any trouble following the road out to the main road?
