Ambushed
They had stopped for barbeque and continued on their way to the cabin, which was an hour to the south of St. Louis near Leadington. The cabin was actually more remote and rough-looking than he expected. Painted rusty red and peeling, with a small porch that wrapped across two-thirds of the front. A small table and two rickety wooden chairs adorned the porch, and small flowerbeds were filled with crabgrass and sunflowers. Weeds and tall grass sprouted up all over the large plot of land, and part of the fence was down. Woods dotted the southern end of the property, filled with shadows, crickets and birds.
She’d parked the car under a carport near the back and walked around towards the front door, the promised bag of barbeque in hand. He grabbed their bags from the backseat of the car and followed her towards the house. It was evening now, and crickets chirped in the distance. Tall grass swished at his jeans and boots as they walked up towards the small porch.
She gestured around the small plot of land “A friend of mine maintains the place to a point, the local people think I’m his niece so we shouldn’t have any trouble. His names’ Vinnie an’ he drives out here sometimes in a rusty pickup ta chat. He brings me fresh eggs an’ pies when he knows I’m here.” She smiled fondly. “He has a sketchy history so doesn’t ask questions he wouldn’t want people askin’ him…He’s good people, so don’t go breakin’ his neck for me, yeah?”
She raised her eyebrow at him again and he nodded. She nodded back and pulled at a board on the porch. A key glinted in her hand before she pushed it into the lock and swung the door open. “Ugh, musty. Gonna have ta leave some windows cracked open tonight. But here we are.” She reached in and flicked a light switch then motioned for him to enter. He obeyed, eyeing the inside warily.
The main room was surprisingly comfortable and welcoming, if cramped. A fireplace with a sofa across from it. End tables with silk flower arrangements. Wooden plank floors throughout. Cream-colored curtains hung from the two small windows, one near the door and one over the kitchen sink that he could see. A wooden table with 2 chairs and a red checkered table cloth stood in the tiny dining area. Two separate doorways opened into what he assumed was a bedroom and a bathroom. A small loft area above their head was packed with a few boxes.
Anwyn strode forward into the tiny kitchen, set the bags down on an equally tiny counter and pushed the table and chairs into the far corner. He watched her as she opened a drawer and stuck her stuck her hand inside. He heard a soft click as she pressed something and the floor slowly pulled back where the table had been, revealing stairs. She beckoned to him and he moved forward cautiously,
“It’s alright, just wanted ta show ya how ta get into the dark room. The button ta close this from the inside is right at the foot of the stairs an’ this has another opening in the shed…another way out if we need it. I don’t plan on us needin’ it.” she informed him. She pushed the button inside the drawer again and the hole disappeared as the wooden floor slid back into place.
He would not have known it was there if she hadn’t shown him…someone had been very, very careful with this place. Idly, he wondered how many places the Sentinels had littered all over the globe and if they had taken the same careful security measures at each. He helped her pull the table back into it’s position over the dark room. “Hopefully we don’t…looks like it’s probably filled with brown recluse spiders and God only knows what else.” Bucky murmured at her. She shot him an amused glance and returned to the kitchen.
He watched her turn on a small water heater and turn to pull plates from the small cabinet above the sink. Bucky took his cue and began pulling containers of barbeque from the bag and skirted around her to the other counter. Anwyn glanced at him and passed him a few forks and spoons. “Wanna fill these plates up an’ pop em in the microwave? I’m gonna check the place out, make sure we don’t have any surprise guests.” He nodded at her and began loading baked beans, pulled pork and mashed potatoes onto the plates she’d pulled out.
Cicadas hummed in the trees and the heavy smell of damp, loamy earth filled Anwyn’s nostrils. The cool air smelled of moisture and clouds were building on the horizon. “Rain soon, or I can fly.” she thought as she walked in the shadows near the tree line. “Hope he can handle thunderstorms…” She didn’t truly believe they were being followed at this point, but she hadn’t stayed a shadow for seventy years by NOT being slightly paranoid. Eying the ground as she skirted the perimeter, she saw no tracks beyond that of a raccoon.
“Stormy? Any unexpected heat signatures or interesting radio chatter?” she whispered. “Nothing abnormal found, ma’am. There is a fire in Park Hills; the cause seems to be teenagers with illegal fireworks.” There was nobody around for miles, except Vinnie down the road about a mile. “Thanks Stormy. Go ahead an’ activate security measures, let’s make sure things stay this quiet.” A soft grid of lights lit up along the perimeter the vanished as the motion sensors activated and the buried chloroform gas canisters armed. It was easier to incapacitate an enemy and escape than to kill one an escape. The latter tended to bring law enforcement out of the woodwork if one wasn’t careful.
Bucky had prepared her plate and was halfway through his own when she returned. A soft smile pulled at her lips as she observed him sitting at the tiny table, dressed in jeans and a loose blue long sleeved shirt. He’d been careful to hide his left arm when they were out but had abandoned the glove and rolled up his sleeves to eat. Barbeque sauce was smeared on his hands and chin as he beamed at her. “I think this was worth the aching butt…and almost makes up for that awful cardboard gas-station pizza we ate in West Virginia.”
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It was well after midnight when a buzzing sensation on her wrist and a soft “blip” yanked Anwyn from the arms of the light doze she was in. Instantly she was on her feet and skirting the walls until she reached the small window above the kitchen sink. She’d let Bucky have the bed and opted for the sleeper-sofa to keep an eye on things. A second “blip” set every one of her nerves on edge as she peered out of the dark window in the kitchen. Someone was prowling around near the tree line.
“Stormy? I need your eyes an’ ears.” “Four on the southeastern corner of the property. All armed and wearing gas masks. No discernible insignias on their clothing, ma’am.” Probably Hydra then. And her chloroform gas was going to be about as useful as a box of rocks.
“Fuckin’ fantastic…” she growled. “Seal the door in the bedroom. QUIETLY. Bucky needs ta stay out of sight. Seal everything else when I exit.” She heard the softest clicking sounds as the door was reinforced, thankful the bedroom didn’t have a window. She wasn’t concerned about the walls, they were also reinforced with several inches of titanium, sandwiched between the logs.
Burning things never tired her out, but manipulating dark matter and jumping from shadow to shadow did. And quickly; she knew it would be worse since she had been depriving herself of sleep to stand guard. Unlike her sister, she had only the most rudimentary control over the skill they shared and referred to as “jumping.” Eira could open multiple jump points and sustain them, move multiple people though them...and it never wore her out. Anwyn would have preferred to move herself and Bucky to their destination with a jump, but she didn't trust herself to move them both safely after the past few weeks.
"Wish Eira was here now, would make this easier." Anwyn growled under her breath as she fished a bowie knife out of a drawer. Internally, she was lamenting that she didn’t have her staff. On edge, she wanted to wait until the four hostiles split up before she made her move. “Disposing of four bodies is going to be loads of fun.” She groaned. She watched until they split and sprang into action. Jumping, she found herself behind a man near the shed and padded up on bare feet, slitting his throat from behind before he was aware of her presence.
Easing the body down so it didn’t make a sound, she sought her second target. There, near the carport. ”He’d better not touch my car, the stupid shit.” She snarled inwardly. A brush of her hand across the back of his head boiled his blood and dropped him as she passed by him, plucking the gun from the holster on his hip.
She was about to slice the throat of the third man creeping along near the east side of the cabin when she heard the faintest banging from inside. The man she was stalking swung around towards the sound and she rolled her eyes towards the heavens. “God-dammit…apparently he is now awake. And angry, by the sound of it.” She cursed inwardly. The third Hydra operative caught sight of her before she winked into the shadows and he whistled a warning at his remaining partner.
Bucky was still banging on things inside the cabin when Anwyn snuck up on the fourth man, who was crouched on the rickety porch near the door. She grabbed his throat and boiled his blood, letting the body drop with a soft thud. She was about to return her attention to the final man when a muffled pop, followed by a burning sensation in her shoulder told her she’d been shot.
“Son of a…ya inbred, knuckle-draggin, communist arsehole! Fuck me sideways!” she hissed in pain and jumped into the shadows as a much louder gunshot came from the corner of the property. The third assassin dropped to the ground as the bullet pierced his side, and she whirled around towards the direction the gunshot had sounded from. A shadow lurked near the edge of the yard, beneath the maple tree. Anwyn lifted the pilfered gun, knowing she’d lost the element of surprise for sure now.