The Dark Road Series Collection

by Bruno Miller

  Ben found a good location between two trees. He set the rifles and the bag down and gathered a few low branches from some nearby saplings. He organized the branches between the trees and settled in behind them. Lying on the ground, he got the M24 in position and looked through the scope at the Bronco. He was only 300 yards away. An easy shot with the .338 Lapua.

  Ben sat up and got both radios and his Nalgene bottle out of the bag. He laid the radios side by side in the leaves next to him while he took a much-needed drink. The water wasn’t cold but it was wet and felt good on his parched throat. He’d better let the kids know what was going on before he got this underway.

  “Joel, come in. Over”

  Joel’s response was immediate. “Go ahead. Over.”

  “I’m in position. Any activity on the bridge? Over.”

  “Negative, don’t see anything. Over.”

  “Roger that. I’m getting ready to kick this thing off. Stay alert and let me know what you see. Over.”

  “Got it. Over.”

  Ben put one radio down and picked up the other. He also grabbed some dry leaves with the other hand and held them over the receiver. He paused as he held it in his hand, trying to decide what to say.

  Then he took a deep breath and squeezed the call button.

  “Having radio trouble. We got ’em at the second bridge. Come quick. Lots of supplies. Need help. Over and out.”

  The whole time he spoke, he rubbed and crinkled the leaves over the receiver in an effort to simulate heavy static. Ben almost added something about bringing the loader with them but decided it would sound too suspicious and left it out. He hoped they bought it. The plan was set in motion now, and there was no changing it. All he could do was wait for a response.

  Ben set the radio down and stared at it for a few seconds before it crackled to life with a female voice. “Levi says you boys aren’t to touch nothin’ until we get there. You hear me?”

  There was silence followed briefly by another attempt by the same woman to contact Ben’s radio. “Hey. You hear me?”

  Ben had originally planned on not answering back, regardless of what they said, but he decided to play along a little bit by simply holding the call button down and crunching the leaves into the receiver randomly a couple times.

  Then he put the radio down, this time for good. They would figure the radio was out and it would get them over faster—at least, that’s what he hoped. He was sure they would be anxious to get here and get in on the score, not wanting the “boys,” as the woman on the radio had referred to them, to hoard it for themselves.

  People like this didn’t care about each other, and he was sure there was no trust within their group.

  “Joel, come in. Over.”

  “Go ahead. Over.”

  “They’re on the way. They took the bait. Get ready. Over.”

  Chapter Eleven

  Now it was just a matter of time, and all they could do was wait.

  “Roger that. I’ll let you know what we see. Over,” Joel responded.

  Ben was proud of Joel for using proper radio etiquette and could tell he was trying his hardest. He’d seen quite a transformation in his son recently.

  That didn’t keep Ben from second-guessing his decision to leave Joel and Allie up by the bridge alone. He thought that would be the safest place for them, but now his imagination was running wild with possibilities and scenarios where things might not go as planned.

  What if there were more than two people coming? He tried to settle down and accept the fact that it was too late to change anything now. They would have to see this plan through, for good or bad. But he reminded himself that he, Joel, and Allie were prepared for this.

  Those coming their way were not.

  “Dad, come in. There’s a loader driving around on the other side of the river. Over.”

  “Wait! Now there’s a car. Over.” Joel sounded anxious.

  “Okay, keep me posted. Over.”

  A few minutes passed before he heard from Joel again. “They’re both out on the bridge now. The loader is moving the cars out of the way. Over.”

  “Just two of them? Over.”

  “Yeah. The car is just sitting there, waiting.”

  “Let me know when they get through. Over.”

  “Roger that. Over.”

  Ben looked through his scope one more time and stared at the wooden crate filled with dynamite. He couldn’t help but wonder if he should have taken a chance and attempted to blow the roadblock open.

  Was it worth the risk to deal with these people? Or was he letting his pride get in the way of their safety and his making practical decisions?

  He shook his head as he thought about it. No, he was doing the right thing. He had thought this through, and it was time to put any doubts aside and get ready to end this.

  “Two more vehicles pulled out of the quarry. They’re heading this way! Over.”

  “That’s okay. Stick to the plan. Over.”

  “Looks like a pickup and a small dump truck. Over.”

  “Roger that. Over.”

  Ben had a feeling the dying man’s last words were as worthless as he was. This was precisely why Ben had laid the trap the way he had. As long as they all came to him and were close together, it wouldn’t matter if there were 100 of them. He just hoped he had been convincing enough on the radio for them to buy into the plan.

  The last thing he wanted was for the people to get off the bridge and split up.

  “The loader moved the last car. They’re through the roadblock. Loader is parking across both lanes blocking the bridge. Now the driver is out and getting into the first car. Here they come. Over.”

  “Good. Let me know when they pass your position. Over.” Ben was glad that this part, at least, was going according to plan.

  The loader was crucial to them getting out of here, and he’d been afraid they might drive it all the way over to him. He didn’t want the loader anywhere near the explosion for fear the blast would destroy it. A ruined loader wouldn’t be the end of the world, but it would mean going all the way back over to the quarry and having to find another working loader to use.

  That was time Ben would rather spend putting miles between them and this place. He was already disappointed at the amount of time this whole ordeal had cost them.

  Please, God, let this go as planned. Ben took a few deep breaths and got ready for what was about to go down.

  “They’re all coming, but the car is way out in front of the others. Going fast. It’s a guy and a woman. Over,” Joel said on the radio.

  “Roger that. Over.” It must have been the woman on the radio, and Levi, who Ben presumed was the leader of this sick bunch of criminals.

  “The car is passing us now. Pickup and dump truck not far behind. Over.”

  Ben turned the volume down on both handheld radios. Hopefully the man and woman wouldn’t get here too far ahead of the others. He needed them all in the same spot for this to work.

  “Pickup and dump truck passing now. Over.”

  “Roger that. Now sit tight until you hear from me. Over.” Ben’s eyes were fixed on the road as he waited for the first vehicle to come around the bend.

  He didn’t have to wait long before he could hear the rumble of a vehicle approaching. It was a black Trans Am with a big gold eagle on the hood. An older woman smoked a cigarette in the driver’s seat. Next to her in the passenger’s seat sat a man who looked about the same age.

  They began to slow down, and Ben was sure they had spotted the Bronco sitting in the middle of the road. Then the Trans Am stopped moving altogether and parked. The pair was talking back and forth until the man motioned with his hand for the woman to keep going.

  They slowly approached the Bronco and parked about 10 feet away. Neither one got out of the car immediately. The man held the radio up to his face, and Ben heard him instantly come through on the radio next to him.

  “Where are you guys? We’re here at the truck. Come i
n.” There was a long pause before he continued. “I thought you were at the bridge. What’s goin’ on?”

  Ben watched through his scope as the man grew visibly frustrated and eventually threw the radio down. He swung the door open on the Trans Am and pulled himself up and out by the door. Standing there for a minute, he looked around suspiciously at the woods on both sides of the road.

  The woman joined him, getting out of the car on her side.

  They both turned as the pickup came into view, followed by the small dump truck. The pickup drove up next to the Trans Am and parked. A middle-aged man got out right away and walked to the front of his truck and stood. He looked at the Bronco before turning to the older couple.

  “Well, where are they?” Ben heard him ask.

  “No idea, and they ain’t answering the radio.” The older man threw his hands up and turned to watch as the dump truck came to a stop.

  The guy driving the truck didn’t bother getting out and instead leaned out the window. “Where are they?”

  The pickup driver shook his head and walked toward them. He looked in the front seat first and then made his way around the back. “Nothing in here but the box of dynamite.”

  “I told them not to take the whole box! Idiots. Grab that and bring it here, will you?”

  Ben tensed up as the guy grabbed the wooden crate out of the back of the Bronco. It had to feel a little lighter, but the guy didn’t act like anything was amiss as he walked toward the Trans Am and the dump truck.

  “Give me the keys so I can open the trunk. I left mine in the loader,” the driver of the Trans am yelled.

  The woman tossed the keys in his direction but missed him by a mile. Ben heard him curse as he walked to where the keys had landed.

  Meanwhile, the guy carrying the dynamite shook his head and set the wooden crate down by the rear tire of the Trans Am.

  “You put it in the trunk. I’m going up to the next bridge to see if they’re up there,” the pickup driver said.

  “I’ll follow you,” the dump truck driver called out.

  Ben couldn’t believe what just happened. Here, he had been worried about getting them close to the dynamite. Now it was sitting on the ground in the middle of them all.

  Ben thumbed the radio call button twice and took aim. He thought about the faces on the stack of bloody licenses as he pulled the trigger.

  Chapter Twelve

  BOOM!

  The shock wave from the explosion passed over Ben as the ground shook. He instinctively curled up and covered his head and ears with his arms.

  Seconds after the explosion, dirt and gravel showered him. The sound of the explosion still echoed in the distance like rolling thunder. He brushed himself off and looked up to survey the damage. The devastation was awe-inspiring.

  The remains of the Trans Am and the pickup truck lay intertwined and burning in the median some 50 yards from where they had been parked. Both vehicles were unrecognizable and completely destroyed.

  The dump truck fared better but not by much. It was pushed back 20 or 30 yards and had much of its cab blown off. Metal parts littered the highway like crumpled-up pieces of paper, some of them still burning. The only recognizable piece remaining of the truck was the solid steel dump body.

  The Bronco was badly damaged and lay on its side. Although not totally destroyed, it had some serious body damage from rolling over several times and was beyond salvaging.

  Ben got off the ground and brushed more dirt and bits of asphalt from his hair. He quickly gathered his gear and headed back to the road.

  As he got closer, he could see he’d made the right choice in not using the dynamite to deal with the roadblock. Ben eyed the crater left by the explosion. The dynamite had blasted a hole through several layers of blacktop to the dirt below. The hole in the road almost spanned the entire width of the westbound lanes. The explosion would have destroyed the bridge or at the very least made it too unstable and risky to cross.

  He dug the radio out of the bag and reached out to Joel. “How about coming to get me in the truck so we can get out of here? Over.”

  “We heard it! On our way. Over.”

  A wave of conscience hit Ben. He had just blown four people up. He looked around for bodies. He doubted there was much left of the older couple or the pickup driver but thought the guy in the dump truck might be around somewhere.

  He walked around the wrecked vehicles for a few minutes as he surveyed the damage a little closer. If there were any remains or bodies, he’d like to find them before the kids got there. But there were none to be found, and before long he heard the familiar exhaust note of the approaching Blazer.

  Joel stopped the Blazer well outside the blast zone and got out of the truck. He had a look of astonishment on his face. “Wow! That was a big explosion!”

  He eyed the damaged vehicles. Allie hopped out of the truck on her side but stopped before she closed the door and held her hand up to a whining Gunner. “Stay here, boy. There’s too much stuff on the ground.”

  Gunner reluctantly sat down in the passenger’s seat and hung his head out the open window.

  “That really did a lot of damage. We could feel it from where we were,” Joel said, his eyes wide.

  “Yeah, well, that was a lot of dynamite,” Ben said.

  “So… I guess they’re all dead?” Allie tentatively eyed the remains of the dump truck as she walked past.

  “Don’t feel sorry for them, Allie. They were terrible people. Murderers.” Ben thought about the licenses again. “I found more evidence in the Bronco to confirm that. Trust me when I say the world is a better place without them.”

  “At least other people will be able to travel through here safely,” she said.

  “That’s right. Who knows? It could be us. We may end up coming back this way at some point. You never know.” Carrying his gear, Ben headed for the Blazer but handed off the newly acquired hunting rifle to Joel.

  “What is it?” Joel asked.

  “A .243 short mag,” Ben answered.

  Joel partially unzipped the soft case and peeked in at the rifle. “Looks nice.”

  “Yeah, it’s in good shape. I found a box of ammo for it also. It’s there in my bag. I figured it was too nice to leave, and it may come in handy down the road.”

  “Cool.” Joel zipped the case up and headed to the truck as he took one more look around at the aftermath of the dynamite.

  Allie had already started walking back to the Blazer but Ben and Joel quickly caught up to her. She was standing on the shoulder of the road and staring up in silence.

  “What is it?” Joel asked.

  Allie remained silent and frozen in her tracks for a moment before she pointed up into a nearby tree.

  There, some 20 feet off the ground, hung the body of the dump truck driver. The corpse was draped over a large limb, its appendages dangling like those of a rag doll. One of the legs was missing from the knee down. All that remained in its place were dangling ribbons of flesh.

  Ben was glad the body had at least landed so that the face wasn’t visible. He hadn’t even noticed it when he was searching earlier—not that he could have done anything to hide the body, even if he had seen it.

  Joel put his arm across Allie’s shoulders and forced her away from the gruesome scene with a gentle whisper. “Come on. Let’s go.”

  Chapter Thirteen

  Ben was worried by the blank expression on her face. Was this death and destruction going to be too much for her to cope with? Other than following Joel’s lead and heading for the truck, Allie didn’t respond. She didn’t say anything until they got back to the Blazer and greeted Gunner with strained enthusiasm. “Hey there! Did you miss me?”

  Gunner wagged his tail and hopped into the back seat, where he anxiously waited for her to climb in and join him, which she did.

  Ben and Joel loaded the gear into the truck as they talked out their next steps.

  “So how about you run me back to the loader and the
n follow me to the next bridge? It shouldn’t take too long to clear a path and we’ll be on our way.” Ben took a big drink from his water bottle.

  “Sounds good to me. Do you know how to drive one of those things?” Joel asked.

  “Yeah, it’s been a while, but I’ll manage.” Ben got situated in the passenger seat while Joel got back behind the wheel and started the truck.

  “I still can’t believe how loud that explosion was,” Allie chimed in from the back seat.

  “You could probably hear that for miles,” Joel added.

  “Yeah, that was pretty impressive,” Allie said.

  Ben was glad Allie was back with them and at least engaging in conversation again. He didn’t dare confess his fears that the explosion could have possibly drawn too much attention to their location. There was no need to bring it up anyway. They already had enough of a reason to keep things moving and get out of there.

  Ben ached all over. He was close to pushing his physical limit for the day and exhausted from the morning’s activities. The only thing keeping him going was his determination to save the day from being a total loss.

  But for as hard as he was pushing himself and the kids, the day still seemed to be slipping away impossibly fast. It was already past noon, and they still had a lot of work ahead of them before they could get back on the road.

  Providing everything went well with the loader, he hoped they could be underway in an hour. Maybe less. That might give them a few hours of actual driving time. They’d throw in a pit stop for gas and he’d consider it a success to get into Illinois tonight and find a good, safe place to sleep.

  “How far do you think we’ll get today?” Allie asked.

  She must have noticed him looking at his watch. “A hundred miles or so into Illinois, with any luck.” Ben turned in his seat to face her for a second. “We’ll be really close to Pittsburgh by the end of the day tomorrow.”

  Allie forced a crooked little smile, but uncertainty danced in her eyes.