Read Omen Operation for Free Online Page A

beside Rayce.
    Brooklyn watched the small group disappear into the bus and listened to it roar to life.
    Gabriel had to physically pull Brooklyn to get her to move—every hair on her body stood on end.
    They were leaving.
    Brooklyn’s face crinkled into a grimace when she lifted herself into the back seat of the truck. Her hip ached, but the adrenaline coursing through her veins made it easy to ignore. Excitement. Terror. Curiosity. It was hard to focus. It was hard to breathe.
    The vibration of the truck made her sink further into her seat.
    Porter rode in the front while Dawson drove.
    No one said anything. No words of encouragement. No late protests.
    The back seat was spacious. Brooklyn glanced over her shoulder and looked out the window. Julian sat on one side and Gabriel on the other.
    They turned the corner down the long dirt road toward whatever paved highway was waiting for them. The camp disappeared into the darkness, and the trees swallowed the image of it whole.

 
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
    Chapter Six
     
     
    A dark wooden sign sat on the base of light grey boulders at the end of the dirt road. Letters curved and swirled in an inviting display, white and vibrant against the darkness.
    “Mt. Hood National Forest.” Dawson leaned over the steering wheel as he read off the name.
    “Oregon,” Julian said. “We’ve been in Oregon.”
    “We need to head north, then,” Dawson said.
    The wheels gripped the asphalt. That sound—the crunch of thick rubber smashing pebbles into concrete—it was so strange to hear again.
    “It’s almost morning; it’ll take us until noon to get there.” Brooklyn yawned.
    Porter glanced in the rearview mirror, catching Brooklyn’s eye. “I’ll need to change out your bandages in a few hours. Let me know if it starts to itch or if you feel any sharp pain.”
    Brooklyn looked down at her stomach and wrinkled her nose, annoyed by the tiny circle of red in the middle of the thick white bandage. She found his eyes reflecting back at her again in the mirror.
    “It seems okay, just sore,” she said.
    Porter nodded, leaning his head back against the seat. “Lemme know when you get tired so we can switch,” he said to Dawson.
    Brooklyn watched Dawson’s eyes flash in the rearview mirror as the bright blink of the bus’s headlights appeared behind them.
    Rayce’s scratchy voice came over the speaker of the walkie-talkie on the dash. “A couple hundred miles to go?”
    Dawson pressed his thumb down on the green button and said, “We’ll be there in half a day.”
    The road was wide and dark with the exception of the lights that cast a dim glow on the traffic barriers.
    Julian stretched his arm over Brooklyn’s seat, and Brooklyn leaned into the warmth of his chest. He laid his chin on the top of her head while Gabriel shifted so that Brooklyn’s legs were draped over her lap. Long fingertips danced lazily over Brooklyn’s shins until Gabriel reached out and grabbed Brooklyn’s hand.
    It was easier to fall asleep than she imagined.
     
    ***
     
    Brooklyn woke to the sound of Gabriel’s loud laugh and the tap of her nails against the window.
    “Apparently people are still driving to and from work,” Gabriel said.
    Brooklyn’s eyelids pulled apart, and she hissed at the overwhelming brightness from the sun. It was hidden behind a sheet of thin grey mist that only helped amplify the morning light.
    Gabriel was right, though. People were driving next to them on the freeway. A woman was eating an apple while she drove to their left, and a man with an SUV full of kids sipped a cup of coffee on the right.
    Normalcy.
    Blatant, surreal normalcy.
    “We’re coming up on Portland,” Dawson said. “We’ll make a stop there, eat something, try to get some cash for gas, and then keep going.”
    Brooklyn pawed at her eyes with the back of her hand.
    Julian shifted underneath Brooklyn. “You’re all soft and warm like a kitten,” he cooed playfully.
    Brooklyn smirked and