by Dee, Cara
The sky was clear blue, and the ground was yellow. Brown hills and mountains in the distance. Joshua trees. Cacti and shrubs and sand.
“Aye. We should reach the park in half an hour, give or take. I took a wrong turn outside of Barstow, but it might’ve worked out for the best.” They passed a sign, letting Gray know they were driving along Route 66. Rather, about to get off of it. Darius slowed down and turned onto North Amboy Road. “I wanna avoid Twentynine Palms, and now we’ll be coming at Joshua Tree from the north instead.”
“Got it.” Gray dug out a water bottle from one of the coolers in the back. “Want me to make you some breakfast?”
“I’m good.” Darius gathered Gray’s hand and kissed it. “I thought we could eat when we get to the campsite.”
That sounded better. “Cool.” He took a swig of water and glanced over at the temperature reading on the dash. “Only sixty degrees? I thought it’d be hot.”
Darius nodded at the mountains ahead of them. “Joshua Tree should be behind that mountain range. The elevation makes it cooler.” He paused and smirked a little. “Next time you see Ryan, ask him to tell you the story of when he and his battalion were thrown out into the desert in skivvies—it was thirty degrees, by the way—armed with nothing but knives and Santa hats.”
“Oh God,” Gray laughed. “Had they fucked up, or are the Marines just creative with their training operations?”
“One doesn’t negate the other,” Darius chuckled. “The motto of their regiment is ‘Prepare to March,’ and someone pissed off the wrong superior.” He smiled, maybe at a memory, and scratched his bicep. “Ry was fucking fuming. This was right before he was transferred to another base. He’d already gotten his papers—everything was ready. But no dice. He had to join the others for a march through the desert.”
Gray shook his head in amusement and, frankly, a bit of amazement too.
It did get warmer, though nowhere near the triple digits Gray had expected. His phone showed seventy-two degrees before he lost reception. By then, they were in the national park, and they shared the long road with campers, a few walkers, and some on bikes.
Good thing he’d already texted Jayden and Adeline about not being able to get out of bed.
The park had invisible perimeters and was merely an extension of what they’d already seen of the Mojave Desert. With the exception of marked-out hiking trails, tourists, and neat signs with information about various rock formations, death-defying plants, and critters.
With the windows rolled down, Gray breathed in the dry desert air and imagined a future of them bringing the boys to places like this one. He could picture Darius being a great camping companion. He would show Jayden how to start a fire and teach Justin about some rodent. Then Gray would interject when Darius went on about how to roast and eat it.
“What was that little snicker for?” Darius asked.
Gray shook his head and grinned out the window. “Nothin’.”
“Now you gotta tell me.” Darius threaded their fingers together on the armrest between them.
Gray lolled his head along the headrest and smiled lazily. “I hope we’ll take the kids camping.”
“Of course we will.”
“I also hope I’ll be able to interfere when you try to teach them what bugs and rodents are edible.”
Darius scoffed, and they passed another tourist spot where people were taking pictures of rocks. “Camping can’t be just about s’mores.”
“I’m pretty sure we’ll prove that this weekend,” Gray joked.
“True.”
They arrived at their campsite some twenty minutes later and went through the registration right away. Not many people had come this far yet; it was still early, and it was only Thursday. People were working. But a handful of trucks and cars were parked in the visitors lot, and Darius and Gray weren’t the only ones with an ATV.
Massive rock formations shielded part of the area, and one guy was climbing up the smooth, rounded boulders with his kid.
There were signs pointing in the direction of restrooms, water, the lot for RVs, and those traveling with tents.
They continued toward their designated spot, and they passed some cheerful campers along the way. Gray knew the type. Having worked at Mom’s inn for years, he could spot a waver coming from a mile away. Hikers and boat people always wanted to wave.
In the far back, Darius pulled in next to another truck. Gray had already caught sight of a picnic table and a fire pit, so he was ready to get cracking. At this point, he was fucking starving.
Darius seemed to be staring at something, though.
Gray followed his gaze out his own window and to the truck next to them. “What’re you looking at?”
“The campers next to us.”
But they could barely see them. The truck was blocking the view. Gray saw an older man with shaggy hair and a green ball cap that had seen better days. He couldn’t see what the man was doing.
So, Gray got out and grabbed their tent from the back. He’d been assured it was a state-of-the-art pop-up tent that took almost no time to assemble.
Darius joined him shortly after, and they got the four-man tent up relatively quickly. It was Gray who had asked if they could pack a larger tent, just in case they’d have to bring Jackie back here.
“I should go introduce myself next door,” Darius said, wiping his forehead. “Can you get a fire started? I left two bags of firewood in the bed of the truck.”
“Yeah, sure.” Gray squinted at Darius, confused. “Since when do you care about neighbors?”
“If you can’t beat ’em, join ’em,” Darius replied and lit up a smoke. “I’ve been listening to the dad, and I saw the bumper stickers on the back of their truck.” He exhaled some smoke and glanced over his shoulder. “It’s the kind of family that travels across the country from campground to campground. Always chatty fuckers with a million stories to share.” He quirked a wry smile at Gray. “Either you spend a weekend hiding from them and become ‘the strange fella who didn’t say much,’ or you come up with your own story and become nothing but a fond memory from the time they visited Joshua Tree.”
Darius’s ability to profile and cover tracks would never cease to amaze Gray. It made sense that once they had freed Jackie, the authorities would circle the area and ask if anyone had seen anything suspicious.
“You’re brilliant. Go do your thing,” Gray said, grabbing one of the bags of firewood from the truck. “I’ll listen in and fix us some food.”
It felt hotter than seventy degrees, possibly because there was no wind whatsoever, so the first thing Gray did was shed his hoodie. Then he got started on the fire and heard Darius strike up a random conversation about the other man’s truck.
Said man practically exploded with excitement and talked Darius’s ear off.
While waiting for the fire to settle, Gray stowed their bags in the tent and rolled out their camping mats. He didn’t know if they were spending the night here or out in the bush, but he couldn’t picture them hauling the mats with them on the ATV. Minimal gear, Darius had said. And he’d also called camping mats a modern luxury…
“I’m Hank, by the way,” Gray heard the other man say. “My wife and daughter are out hiking, so it’s just me and my boy Max here.”
“Good to meet you, Hank. I’m James,” Darius replied. He’d put a hint of a drawl in his voice that was sexy as fuck. “Your first time in the park?”
“Nah, fifth year in the row,” Hank said proudly. “You? You have a boy with you too, don’t you?”
Gray stifled a laugh and opened one of the coolers to find the hot dogs.
“My nephew.” Darius’s response made Gray snort under his breath. “My brother and sister-in-law are city folk, and someone’s gotta teach the poor kid to do somethin’ other than play video games.”
“I hear ya,” Hank agreed. “It’s all they do these days if we don’t drag ’em out every now and then.”
Safe to say, th
ey’d found something to bond over.
If Gray didn’t know better, he’d accuse Darius of being social, but he could hear that this was just a necessary evil. Darius used his time to cement their cover and drop enough details about their weekend plans in the bush that Hank and his family wouldn’t come knockin’. We don’t know if we’re sleeping here or somewhere out there, he’d said. Then he’d added a joke at Gray’s expense, claiming it was up to the kid if he got scared of rattlesnakes.
Hank thought that was hilarious.
“Uncle James!” Gray hollered. “I think the hot dogs are done!”
“Ah—I should get some grub before we head out,” Darius told Hank. “Let’s have a beer later if our paths cross.”
“Absolutely, man!” Hank was all for it.
Nineteen
After they’d eaten, they changed into more appropriate clothes and hiking boots for their mission. Cargo pants with multiple pockets, long-sleeved tees—both blending in with the desert surroundings—and sunscreen would protect them from the elements as well as from being spotted by anyone.
Darius’s backpack fit in the compartment under the seat of the ATV, and Gray threw his own on his back. And when all was said and done, Darius revved the engine and headed straight out into the dead basin that lay ahead of them.
Gray hugged Darius’s midsection and rested his chin on his shoulder.
Darius didn’t drive around in any cheap shit that would fall apart after a mile of rough terrain. It was a sturdy utility ATV that could break eighty miles an hour and go seventy miles on one tank of gas, though that was on paved roads. The landscape they drove into consisted of sand, smaller rocks, and cacti, and Darius had to be somewhat mindful of where he steered the vehicle.
From the campsite, it was fifteen miles to Chester Warren’s house, and they did not want to get stuck in the middle of nowhere.
Darius eased up on the throttle when they reached a narrow pass between two mountains, and he maneuvered them through the underbrush and over the low boulders that came up from the ground. Then he turned left, following the bend of the mountainside, until he came to a stop.
Gray blinked and rubbed his hands over his eyes.
The dust settled around them, and the first thing that struck him was the silence.
Utter and complete silence.
Holy hell, he’d never experienced this before, not even during their road trip through the desert in Texas. It was as beautiful and tranquil as it was eerie and frightening. Right then and there, they were alone in the world.
Darius took a deep breath and let it out slowly.
No car sounds, no rustling, no wind, no background buzz of electricity.
Just silence and mountains and vast flatlands of sand.
Gray hugged Darius from behind a little harder and kissed his neck.
Darius sighed contentedly and leaned back against Gray.
After a moment of enjoying the peace together, Darius lifted his arm and pointed toward the horizon. “The hills over there—that’s where the park ends. Highway 62 should be right behind them, and that’s where we’ll find his house.”
“Got it.” Gray estimated they’d reach the hills in five to ten minutes, depending on how fast they could go.
They continued their journey after chugging some water, and Gray watched the hills come closer and closer. He couldn’t decide if they were green or brown, and the color bled into the yellow of the ground below.
Once they reached the low mountains, Darius found a passage to go through.
The highway appeared out of nowhere and looked out of place.
Not a car in sight, but Gray knew the nearest town, Twentynine Palms, was mere minutes away. The road wouldn’t be deserted for long.
“It’s up there.” Darius pointed in the opposite direction of the town, up the road, and Gray squinted.
The heat was liquid along the ground, but he could see it. Far away. There was a house.
“We’ll get behind the mountains again and drive closer,” Darius decided. “We’re sitting ducks out here.”
So, they went back, and Darius sped up. He drove along the back of the mountains until they came across another passage, and that was where he stopped.
“We’ll hoof it from here.”
Gray dismounted first and adjusted the straps of his backpack.
Darius unpacked a pair of binoculars before throwing his backpack onto his back. Then they trekked in silence, and Gray found himself studying Darius more than he observed his surroundings. Darius was all about the latter. He scanned the mountainside, the basin they’d left behind, and even the sky.
“Searching for chemtrails, baby?” Gray asked casually.
Darius coughed around a laugh and threw him a look over his shoulder. “Fucking brat.”
Gray grinned.
“No, I’m not searching for chemtrails,” Darius chuckled. “I just don’t wanna scout a kidnapper’s location and get spotted by a buncha Marines out on a flight op.”
“I guess that would suck,” Gray conceded.
“A bit.”
It took a lot longer to walk in this rugged, uneven terrain of sand and loose rocks than to drive across it, and by the time they’d gone through the passage, Gray was wiping sweat off his forehead and wondering if they’d brought enough water.
Darius walked about thirty feet up a hillside to a collection of boulders. There, on the flattest of them, he set down his backpack and crouched behind a low rock. He wiped the lenses of the binoculars on his shirt and then peered through them while he adjusted the scope.
Gray checked his phone and felt a rush of triumph when he noticed he had reception.
He took the opportunity to text Adeline, saying they missed the boys.
“We have a small problem,” Darius said. “There’s a man in the backyard, and I don’t think it’s Warren—or Jackie, for that matter.”
“Shit, really?” Gray climbed up on the boulder as Darius extended the binoculars. The house had to be at least two hundred yards away, so when it appeared so close in the scope that he could detect the color of the curtains in the window, he almost jumped back. Instead, he swallowed the surprise and refocused.
It was a small house, one story, and was surrounded by a low picket fence. A trailer stood in the backyard. One car in the driveway, and not the one listed in Willow’s profile on Warren. This one was a rusty Civic.
Chester Warren was wealthy, and this was a fucking shack.
The man in the backyard didn’t come across as someone who befriended doctors either. He had a dark ponytail, ratty jeans, no shirt, and he was mowing the lawn with a machine that belonged in the eighties.
“Are we sure this is the right place?” Gray had to ask.
“I don’t think my sister’s ever been wrong in this regard, but I admit I wondered the same thing,” Darius answered contemplatively. “The address is listed in his name, though.”
Gray hummed and checked the house again. No bars on the window, although only one was visible from this angle.
Yellow curtains with flowers on them.
In front of the old car were a wheelbarrow and a freaking doll stroller.
“What do you wanna do?” Gray returned the binoculars.
“I want to get closer, first and foremost,” he said. “We’ll wait till it gets dark, and then I think we can drive the ATV to the last passage.” He nodded toward the house and the last two mountains. “Either way, we have to be ready for anything. Warren arrives tomorrow if Willow’s predictions are correct, which they should be. I wouldn’t assume anything else based on the info we have. But we’ll prepare to enter tonight in case that becomes the best option.”
Gray nodded in understanding.
They’d been planning on entering before Warren’s arrival regardless, though they were supposed to wait until tomorrow afternoon when they knew the son of a bitch was on the way. Mainly because they didn’t know what kind of security system they were dealing with, a
nd if Warren was somehow tipped off—say, if he got a security alert sent to his phone that an alarm had been triggered—he could escape much easier if he was at home in LA. Whereas if he was already on the road and he got an alert, Willow would be able to see his exact location.
“Let’s go find a place where we get service,” Darius said. “I want to call Willow.”
“I have reception right here,” Gray replied. “I sent Adeline a fever report and asked her to pass along a message that we miss the boys.”
“Good call.” Darius pulled out his phone.
When the last light faded from the horizon, Gray and Darius had managed to close the distance between them and the house further. The ATV was parked behind a couple boulders, and Darius and Gray were shielded as well. And the best part of their new location was the direct view of the back of the house, instead of the side.
They’d deduced it was a two-bedroom house. The living room and one other area faced the back. The latter had to be a bedroom, but they couldn’t be sure. The lights were off in there. Meanwhile, the ponytail man was watching TV in the living room.
Where Jackie could be held was anyone’s guess, and Darius had a few. Possibly one of the bedrooms, possibly a basement, possibly not here at all.
Gray dreaded the idea of the last one being true.
After they’d filled their pockets with the essential items they needed, they left their backpacks on a boulder and began their trek across the flatland that rested ahead of them. And in the dark, Gray couldn’t say he was thrilled about walking there.
Rattlesnakes, scorpions, and tarantulas were no fucking myth, and all the dangerous animals were nocturnal.
Gray may have bitched about it a little as they walked.
“You can rule out all scorpions and spiders right away,” Darius told him. “Your boots are too high for them to even get to you—and if you were ever stung or bitten, it’s usually no worse than a damn bee sting.” He paused. “Rattlesnakes would be the only threat. They’re all over this place.”
Gray shot him an incredulous look in the dark. “There you go with your fucking bedside manners again. They’re the worst!”