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linen truck as quietly as they could. He could see the feet of the restaurant’s employee up near the front of the truck. It didn’t take him long to pay, and within moments he was walking back toward them.
    Chelsea was already inside, worming her way under the mounds of soiled linens.
    Jacob motioned to Kelly to hurry, and when she wasn’t fast enough, he grabbed her legs and hurled her inside, wincing at her grunt of surprise.
    He glanced again under the truck and saw the employee was almost to the back of the truck. Jacob threw himself into the back of the truck and landed hard right next to Kelly.
    â€œGet the towels on top of us,” he whispered. “Hurry!”
    They pulled dirty tablecloths and soaking wet hand towels over their bodies, covering up just as the employee rounded the corner and slapped the button to close the back. Jacob peeked at the man, who looked bored and far away, and prayed for a break.
    As the man pushed the button that raised the mesh screen over the back end, two of the soldiers came up on either side of him.
    Jacob had Chelsea on his left and Kelly on his right. Both women turned stiff with fear. Chelsea was breathing so fast and so hard, Jacob thought for sure the men would hear her.
    For a moment he thought of drawing his pistols. What harm could it do at this point anyway? They’d see the movement under the towels, but at least he had a chance of getting the jump on them.
    â€œI haven’t seen anybody,” the restaurant employee said.
    â€œHow long have you been out here?”
    â€œI don’t know. Ten minutes, maybe.”
    â€œAnd you didn’t see anybody at all out here?”
    The man shrugged. “Nobody.”
    One of the soldiers stepped away from the truck and started to scan the alleyway. His partner hit the button to open the metal screen and, as it came up, pulled his pistol.
    Jacob braced himself for the fight he knew was coming. He started to mentally rehearse drawing his gun, getting it on target.
    The soldier poked at the mound of towels with the barrel of his gun, and even lifted a few of the towels out of the way. Beside Jacob, Chelsea felt like she was about to rattle herself to pieces. Jacob breathed in shallowly through his mouth, so as not to make a noise, the way Sheriff Taylor had taught him when he was first learning how to be a deputy and they were trying to sneak up on somebody who didn’t want to be caught. He figured, if he had to, he could kick the gun away, which might buy him enough time to pull his own weapon.
    He could probably squeeze off a shot on this guy, but after that, he’d be fucked.
    The other soldier would blast him into a muddy red crater before he could even climb out of the truck.
    â€œYou got something in there?”
    The soldier standing at the back of the truck poked the barrel of his weapon into the mound of towels again, then turned away. “No, nothing.”
    â€œAlright, secure the back door of the restaurant. I’ll get us some more eyes out here.”
    The two soldiers split up, leaving the restaurant employee standing there by the back door of the truck. The man glanced from one soldier to the next, gave a barely noticeable shrug, and walked around to the front of the truck.
    The next instant, the truck lurched forward, picking up speed. As the truck rumbled away from the restaurant, Jacob leaned forward just enough to watch the soldiers continuing their search.
    For the first time, he thought they might actually be able to pull this off.
    Beside him, Kelly sat up. “Are we clear?”
    â€œFor now,” Jacob said. “But we need a plan.”

C HAPTER 6
    Two hours later the laundry truck lurched to a stop. It shook a little as something latched on to the front end, and then it settled with a pneumatic sigh. The vehicle had made four other stops after leaving the restaurant, with more linen heaped on them at every drop, so that now Jacob and the others were