Impact Series Box Set | Books 1-6

by Isherwood, E. E.

  “I knew I went too far when I accidentally killed traffic officer. But by then, I was committed to protecting my mother as well as my darling Valentina. Problems arrived when you saved my life.”

  “Twice,” Grace reminded him on the spot.

  He smiled. “Twice. I know. Two times you prove to me you were better person than man I worked for. Two times you reminded me I was working hard to protect bad man. The problem, I realized too late, was I was only one link in long chain of operatives working for him. Some were compromised, like me, but some were in it for power.”

  “Like Nero,” Asher added.

  “Nerio,” Misha corrected.

  “Right. Her. She’s one who likes what she does, isn’t she?”

  Grace gave him a curious glance.

  Asher acknowledged her concern. “I figure any husband and wife hit team has to be fully committed to the cause. Either way, she didn’t seem too concerned about collateral damage. She sprayed the entire train yard. If we’d been around a lot of people, they’d all be dead.”

  “He is right,” Misha continued. “Nerio and her husband are having fun. It would not surprise me if she is in tank the next time we see her. Anything is possible now that Tikkanen mining is in charge of large areas of your country.”

  She glanced over her shoulder, around her Chevy truck and beyond the train. The flat grasslands of boring Wyoming were back. If the woman had a tank, they’d see it from miles away.

  When she turned back, Asher put his hand on her leg, prompting her to place her hand over his. He smiled broadly at her. “We’re in this together,” he said. Her curly-haired friend spoke to Misha. “We both thank you for what you’re doing, but if you try to hurt Grace, you’ll have to go through me.”

  Misha laughed, then slapped him on the back. He was taller and huskier than Asher. If he’d wanted, he could have probably slapped him right off the back of the train. “I like you better as park ranger. Is much better look than in your cheap business suit.”

  “Hey!” Asher replied, sounding a little hurt.

  Grace stifled a laugh, not wanting to give anything to the ex-hitman. But he was right. Asher had been a fish out of water when she’d first met him. He wore his business suit and stylish dress shoes as if he’d come off the last subway stop from the big city. Now, with his crumpled and worn park ranger uniform, and the rifle slung over his shoulder, she bought into the image of him as a partner.

  At the same time, Asher was correct. She couldn’t really trust Misha, no matter how sincere he seemed about finding his purpose.

  She squeezed Asher’s hand, glad to have him by her side.

  “I like you, too, Ash. Thank you for being here.”

  “I wouldn’t—” He froze mid-sentence.

  She saw it, too. Far in the distance, roughly above the train tracks they’d already traveled, a black speck coasted through the air.

  A helicopter.

  Arrow Rock, MO

  “I can’t leave her with you. I just can’t!” Haley had taken a few steps back, as if the woman was going to steal the cat.

  “She doesn’t have to be alone. You could leave the puppy, too. He and Jabba the Mutt are having a blast.”

  Haley stood there for several moments, but abruptly stepped away from the group, almost on the verge of tears. Ezra guessed she might have been rethinking jumping on the boat with her pets in the first place. He might offer for her to stay in Arrow Rock to keep an eye on her pet friends, but he didn’t want to push her away. And there was no denying TKM had their sights on the three of them. If they tracked her down, and he and Butch weren’t there…

  Butch sidled up next to him. “What do you think she’s going to do? I have to admit I was scared to death her pets were going to eat a bullet. Almost as much as I was worried about myself. But we can’t protect them. Not unless we have a bulletproof bunker on the boat.”

  Ezra was thinking along the same wavelength. “Yeah, you and I need to figure out a way to stop having men shoot at us. I don’t want to lead all these dangerous men right to Grace. Then I’ll have put her in danger, too.”

  “But it’s fine for me?” Butch chuckled, hitting Ezra on the shoulder.

  Sobering, Ezra glanced toward Haley. “It’s not fair to any of us. Law and order has broken down a lot faster than I ever imagined before this started. It sounds like it isn’t going to get better in Kansas City. It might be a while before our journey becomes safe again.”

  “You mean like that one ten-minute stretch we had on the water two days ago?”

  He turned to his friend. “You can stay in this yard too, mister.”

  “What? Are you going to turn the boat around if I don’t behave?”

  Butch cracked up, as did he, at least until Haley returned.

  She wiped away a lone tear. “I heard what you two said. Do you really think it’s going to get more dangerous than it already has?”

  He and Butch shared a world-weary look. Ezra answered. “Those men on the bridge are looking for the three of us. We’re probably in some federal database they’ve tapped into. I’m afraid we’ll be pursued by this group until one side is totally gone.” Ezra didn’t need to spell it out any further.

  He continued. “You and Butch are welcome to disembark. Hide out in a forest. There’s no way they can search the whole state. However, my daughter is counting on me to get to her in Denver. I can’t stop now.”

  Josephine spoke up. “Maybe those men won’t be able to catch up to you. No one is supposed to be on the highways right now. They might be stuck in Boonville.”

  Ezra doubted the TKM trucks would be stopped by anything for very long. The company had become the law in St. Charles. They probably had a similar arrangement with other cities. Maybe the whole state. “We have to assume they’re coming. We can’t let our guard down.”

  “So, totally dangerous?” Haley asked, as if seeing the light.

  He nodded grimly.

  Haley turned to Josephine. “Would you really take care of them both for me? It’s an awful lot to ask for a few gallons of gas.”

  The older lady scoffed. “This isn’t about gasoline. This is about helping a fellow woman in her time of need.”

  Butch snickered. “You aren’t going to eat them, are you?”

  Josephine and Haley glared at him with double-barreled power.

  He put up his hands. “Sorry. It was only a joke.”

  Haley eased up. “Don’t mind him. I’ll slap him later.”

  The woman softened. “You know it’s the right thing to do for your furry pals. They shouldn’t be out on a boat for days on end. They shouldn’t go to Kansas City, either. None of you should. But most of all, they shouldn’t be put in danger. I promise I’ll take care of them.” She scowled at Butch. “And I promise not to eat them.”

  Butch wore a sheepish grin.

  Liam chose that moment to run in a circle around Haley. She choked up as she scooped him in her arms. Her puppy voice was almost hoarse. “Would you like to spend some more time here at this lovely place? This nice woman wants you to visit with her boy. Victoria would be here, too.”

  Haley laughed a bit, looking to the group. “It’s not a big selling point. Liam is scared of Victoria. She swiped at him a few times when he tried to play with her.”

  Josephine took her hand and walked her over to the pet crate, leaving him and Butch to themselves. They swapped out their jug of gasoline for one from the shed, then walked the heavy five-gallon container to the gate. Standing there, he thought he heard the sound of engines from the distant two-lane highway.

  “Haley, I’m so sorry, but we’ve got to go. We don’t want to endanger anyone if those men come through here.”

  “I know,” she replied with sadness. She spent a few moments talking to her orange cat inside the box. She also allowed a few seconds for hugging Liam. To the pup’s credit, he ran off and got back to the serious business of chasing the bigger retriever, rather than moping around Haley.

>   Ezra waved to Josephine. “Thanks again for your hospitality. We’ll be back for them, and when I do, I’d love to visit your town more. If everyone’s as nice as you, this would be a lot like my home in Kentucky.”

  “We have a big fall festival in October. Come visit us then!”

  Josephine had just closed the gate when he heard multiple engines revving. It didn’t sound like normal traffic driving past the town on the two-lane highway. The vehicles were on the residential streets.

  “Run for the woods!” he shouted.

  “See you soon!” Haley yelled back to Josephine, once again on the verge of tears.

  “Looking forward to it, sweetie!” the woman yelled in return.

  Liam and Jabba the Mutt barked happily.

  They’d brought their rifles, and Butch had given Haley a five-minute tutorial on using it. He’d even let her fire it off the side of the boat a few times. However, they weren’t ready for battle. He also didn’t want anyone to get between them and the boat.

  As they went over the wooded hillside where they’d come up from the river, the TKM trucks arrived on the woman’s street. The flash of blue was unmistakable, even through the leaves of the trees. He didn’t think they’d been spotted, but he couldn’t be sure.

  “Nobody stops until we’re on Susan’s Grace,” he ordered.

  They had to work to keep up with Haley. She wasn’t only running away from men with guns. She’d been forced to run away from her four-legged friends.

  Chapter 8

  Near Cheyenne, WY

  As soon as the helicopter appeared on the horizon, Grace and her allies gathered their weapons, secured Shawn and Diedre inside her truck, and positioned the Lahti anti-tank gun so they could fire it off the back of the train. There was some arguing between Logan and his father as to whether he would be inside or outside the vehicle, but the boy eventually relented and stayed with his dad. However, by the time everyone was situated where they were supposed to go, and they had all their plans together about how to fight against a moving target, the aircraft was gone.

  Grace was afraid of where it went, but Misha seemed to take it in stride.

  While still lying on his stomach under the back axle of the Suburban, he waved her over. “I think they found us on the tracks to establish our route. Now they are going to fly around us. Next, they will set up an ambush. Probably when the terrain allows them to stay hidden.”

  She surveyed the grass fields on both sides of the tracks. “So, it will be a while?”

  He made a face suggesting he wasn’t sure.

  “Well, what do we do about it? We can’t exactly take an alternate route.” Robert had explained there was only one set of tracks cutting across the southern half of Wyoming. It wouldn’t get them all the way to the dig site, but it would get them within fifty miles.

  “I have been thinking of how to help you. Does your wrecked truck still operate? I can see sunlight from under it.” He pointed up and down, to a hole that went into the floorboard of the Chevy, as well as the big divot in the wooden car beneath.

  Grace couldn’t say for sure. The woman in the helicopter had put several rounds into the rear bed, opening up six-inch holes in the roof and at least one hole on the bottom, but she had no idea what damage the bullets had done to the insides. She’d started the engine to be sure it was intact, but there was no way to move it while it was tethered to the flatbed. There wasn’t time to slide out the ramps and drive it around.

  “It should work, yes.”

  Misha rolled sideways, out from under the vehicle. “Then I can use it to scout ahead. She will not expect us to do such a thing. I would not expect it, if it were me in helicopter.”

  He hopped up off the deck, rubbing his hands together as if anxious to get the truck operational. She might have to defer to his expertise, but she wasn’t going to let him go off alone. Not in a vehicle under her supervision.

  “How about we both go? That way if one of us gets into trouble, the other one can help. Safety in numbers, you know?” She was glad the clanging of the rail cars and the drone of the diesel train engine made it harder for those inside her truck to hear them speak. Shawn would probably tell her she was nuts for even suggesting a partnership.

  “I’m going, too.” Asher stepped into the discussion. “There’s no way I’ll let Grace out of my sight. No offense,” he added, looking directly at Misha.

  “None taken, my friend. The more, the happier, no?” He scooted the Lahti from its position, leaving her and Asher a moment to themselves.

  “Are we really going with him?” he asked, suddenly not so sure of himself.

  “I think so, yes. Aside from keeping an eye on him,” she tilted her head toward Misha, now shoving the big rifle in through the back door of the truck. “We can help your sister and the Crow men by drawing the female assassin to our truck, rather than the train. With a little luck, the train can sneak through while we deal with the helicopter.”

  “It sounds like an impossible plan.”

  She couldn’t agree more. “It’s the only plan we have. Misha was right. If we sit on the train and wait to go into a trap, we’ll all be at the woman’s mercy. I don’t think she’ll be so easily fought off again, even with our special gun. Our only hope is to do the unexpected.”

  Asher turned thoughtful. “But Misha made one logical error. He said he wouldn’t have thought of it if he were in the helicopter. However, he did think of it. This was his idea. Doesn’t it mean the woman might have thought of it, too?”

  It was a gamble from start to finish.

  Grace put her best face on it. “I’m putting your words to the test. We need to stick together, whatever happens. Hopefully, nothing will.”

  “Fat chance!” he blurted, laughing.

  She laughed a little, too.

  Glasgow, MO

  After getting back to the boat and filling the tank with all five gallons, he hit the throttle as hard as he dared. They had to cover the next ten miles as fast as possible. Haley seemed subdued after giving up her pets, and even Butch laid off the jokes while she stared off into the brown water of the Missouri River. However, they all came alive when they reached the bridge at the town of Glasgow.

  The small town was situated on the eastern shore of the river, though, like Arrow Rock, tall trees made it difficult to see the shops and homes. A line of ten or twelve grain silos rose above the far side of the bridge. The other side of the river had facilities for barges, and six of the flat boats were moored over there. The place struck Ezra as more industrial than touristy.

  “She steered us right.” Ezra pointed to the shoreline at the south edge of town. He slowed to idle speed and went for a boat ramp and a small marina with a gas pump. The big sign above the door of the wooden shack said Stallman’s, as Josephine had promised. However, as soon as they pulled up alongside the dock, a police car sitting at the nearby parking lot flipped on his lights.

  “Oh, crap. You think he’s here for us?” Butch was half out of the boat, laden with multiple weapons.

  “Maybe drop the long gun,” Ezra whispered.

  Butch hopped back in, doing as instructed. Ezra shuffled some of the packs around to cover the rifles. He and Butch retained their concealed pistols. They were hidden under their shirt tails.

  The big guy got out and went right to the pump.

  An officer in a blue uniform strolled the dock until he came close. He looked at Susan’s Grace, then at Butch. “You wouldn’t by chance be the three people who just left Arrow Rock, would you?”

  Ezra’s pulse thumped. He wasn’t sure what to make of the question, but there couldn’t be many pontoon boats on the water. He’d only passed a handful of working boats over the past few days. They were a trio of people hard to mistake for anyone else. Ezra decided on being honest. “We did stop in Arrow Rock. We needed gas. We took five gallons in trade.”

  The officer held up his hands. “Oh, you misunderstand. I got a phone call from a woman named Josephine
McAdams. She said there would be a boat coming through with a crew who were being harassed by armed men on bridges. She was very keen I show up and make sure you passed through town without incident.”

  Haley choked up.

  “You okay, miss?” the officer inquired.

  She nodded through the tears. “I want to hug Josephine, is all. She’s done so much for us. I can’t even tell you. It was so nice of her to help one more time.”

  The policeman had a few extra doughnuts around his beltline. As he stood there, he hitched up his trousers, as if proud at being a part of such a poignant encounter. “Never let it be said we don’t take care of our citizens here in Glasgow.”

  Ezra hopped out to talk to the officer. “Sir, those men who have been shooting at us from on the bridges are with Tikkanen Kinetic Mining. They’ve been after us since St. Charles, where they shot up the town’s police force, as well as people like the three of us.”

  The man’s badge said his name was Curtis. “TKM? I highly doubt it. Since this business with the statewide lockdown, their company has given more to local sheriff’s departments than we’ll ever be able to say. I was able to buy four new police cars with cash.” He leaned closer. “And I only have three officers.”

  Ezra had the man figured out in seconds. He would never believe those same benefactors would do anything as underhanded as shooting at their boat. He immediately changed tack. “I keep hearing about this lockdown. You didn’t come here to arrest us, that’s apparent, but what can you tell us about the statewide order?”

  Curtis chuckled. “It’s mostly for the big-city folk. Don’t want them rioting and all. Out here, we’re a bit more relaxed. Out on the river…” He shrugged. “Stay out of trouble and you’ll be fine.”

  Ezra couldn’t contain his own laughter. “Sorry. This boat used to be on Kentucky Lake. It survived passing through the broken dam. So did he and I.”

  “The dam broke?”

  Ezra nodded with enthusiasm. “We got a Biblical amount of rain after the first rock hit Paducah. Too much for the lake to hold. Anyway, my laughter is because me and my friends have seen nothing but trouble since we left. I’d expect we’ll find it once we leave your town, too.”