Night of the Crane | By @WendyyWolfe

28. Come Hell or High Water

"MMMMMMMAC! SHUT THE VENT NOWWWWW!"

The strangled shout from above was so loud Lacy jerked violently almost screaming and Macallan breathed a torrid curse from between clenched teeth.

They looked at each other as fear quickly replaced the throes of passion, and jellied weakness encased both of them. Another shouted sentence finally jolted them to action as Macallan jerked around and slammed his hands on the wall vent. He was shaking so hard he could barely grasp the tiny arm.

Lacy whirled around immediately looking for Tibbs and seeing him sitting like a statue just staring at the ceiling stopped her in her tracks. She followed his gaze upward but there was nothing there so she swiped the puppy into her arms as Macallan wrapped his arm around her waist and ushered them to the stairwell. Neither said a word as they took the steps two at a time and headed up.

James was waiting for them at the door.

"Holy shit James what's wrong?" Macallan squeaked out.

James' face was stoic. "It's a shit storm Mac. And it's right on top of us."

"Sorry to interrupt your classified meeting but listen up soldiers!" Reese's baritone voice filled the room like a bullhorn bringing all eyes on him.

James gave him a shadow of a smirk but bit off what he had been about to say to Macallan. Unfortunately. He wanted to take the kids minus Macenna, and head for his cabin because they didn't need to be in the middle of all this. Well, the truth was he didn't want to be involved but it looked as though the universe was not going to give him a choice.

Reese was already throwing out orders, even if they were not exactly his. His next statement proved James right.

"Alright. Our new Commanding Officer, Linda, has informed us we're heading out. For what it's worth I'm not too fond of AI Officer but hell what can I do about it?"

"I don't see why we can't just stay here Reese," Dingo shot back. "How's this Linda gonna know what we did or not!"

A grumble rolled across the small room as others who agreed with Dingo kicked up a fuss and Reese stood there with his hands on his hips frowning.

"By God people, did ya ever think they might be bringing us all in to get us to a safe compound? Eventually it was gonna come to that boy's. Our MREs are only gonna go so far now that we have extra mouths to feed, no offense but truth is truth. So that being said, brings me to how, we're going to do this."

A sudden explosive sound echoed. It sounded distant and muffled by the ground they were beneath but when the floors shook from the shock wave, most of the naysayers were quickly changing their minds.

Reese muttered a curse. An alarm in the comms room went off.

Lacy grabbed Macallans arm.

Sargeant Reese jerked into action.

"It's serious now, boys. Our time-line just changed. Evac begins now. Solo, Tilley, Dingo you'll be designated drivers. Silvers hit the weapons safe and pack every last thing you can! Carolyn and the rest of you follow me!" Reese commanded. "Macenna! Gather any last Intel and meet us below!"

Macenna headed for the comms room and Reese waved everyone else to follow him.

He slammed the emergency door release and entered the long hallway. James prodded Macallan and Lacy ahead of him, Dylan and Carolyn followed by Krisslyn and Silas. Only a few feet down the dimly lit corridor it went dark.

"Holy shit," Reese muttered. "Keep moving people. I'll stop us at the stairwell."

They heard the door slam behind them and Macenna's voice reached them. "It's gone dark Reese! I lost comms!"

"Bloody hell," Reese griped, feeling his way down the wall, and hearing the murmurs of anxiety behind him wasn't helping matters. Just when Reese opened his mouth to shush them, the lights in the hall flickered and came back on. Above them deafening crashes sent shock waves through the facility. Reese reached the iron stairwell and took off down the long catwalk calling the others to run as well. They heard the echo of running behind them as the rest of the crew entered the hall weighted down with duffels full of guns and ammo.

Reese barreled down the stairs to the lower floor where Lacy and Macallan had been earlier followed closely by James and his crew and Reese's men right behind.

"Alright you non-combatants listen up! Silas! You'll be riding with me and James! I need two Silvers in each vehicle! Dingo! Tilley! You know the protocol. Stay tight!"

With those directions Reese slammed a red emergency door release and Lacy, still holding Tibbs tight under her arm watched with awe as a door that had been formerly hidden from sight as the back wall, slid open to reveal a huge open chamber and housed three massive military Humvees.

Reese's men immediately ushered inside and each went to a vehicle seemingly as if preselected.

An explosion rattled the walls and Macallan grabbed Lacy by the arm and they ran following Reese to the closest Humvee. Everyone made haste to load as Macallan and Lacy watched from the middle seats as a high roll up door rose, James started the engine and they all glided smoothly out and down a long tunneled exit.

"This place is an endless complex Mac," Lacy whispered.

He nodded, and took her hand, bringing it to his lips. She squished herself closer to his side and rested her head on his shoulder with a deep and troubled sigh pulling Tibbs up under her arm where the pup was content to snuggle. Next to her, Carolyn worried herself about their safety and hugged Krisslyn who sat next to her. Dylan, Silas, Murfee and Tac rode in the very back.

Reese and James were silent until they reached the end and the door to the outside. Reese got out and used a key to trigger the door which slowly slid open and waited as the three vehicles were all the way through before accessing an identical key to lower the door, then he trotted back and got inside slamming his door.

Dusk was settling over them and a light fog hung in the mountainous terrain.

Reese took the satellite phone and put in a call to Admiral Basinger. He needed to let them know they had already evacuated and would wait for them at the designated locale. With that, the Humvee fell into an apprehensive silence as they each contemplated what the future held.

James drove steadily through the forested, winding roads knowing, come hell or high water their fates were now sealed.

He hoped those kids were ready, because it was anybody's guess what lay ahead.