Impact Series Box Set | Books 1-6

by Isherwood, E. E.

  “It means your right eye is dominant. It’s good you were already using your right eye for the scope. If your left eye were dominant, I’d have you close it.” He laughed.

  The young lady shot through a few more rounds before Butch cried out. “You hit it!”

  “Yes!” she exclaimed.

  “Now, shoot the rest of your mag. We’ll be out of range, soon.” Ezra hadn’t slowed for them. The sign was falling behind, and it was also no longer facing them, making it a narrower target.

  While Haley fired, a distinct echo came from across the river. At first, he thought it was coming from her rifle, but when a tuft of Haley’s empty seat erupted, he knew what it was.

  “Down!” he shouted.

  He gunned the motor to full throttle, and veered to the right, toward the bank with the river marker. A quick scan of the opposite side revealed three TKM trucks parked on a levee fronted by trees. He figured they were at least two hundred yards away, maybe three.

  No other shots hit their boat. The engine’s roar masked the sounds coming from the levee and soon they were beyond the effective range of the shooters. Using his mental map, he figured they were over halfway to the bridge. The TKM men had found plenty of time to pick a road that ran close to the waterway. If he’d been driving closer to the left bank, rather than in the middle of the river, they might have made easy targets.

  Haley and Butch were in a pile in the middle of the boat. As he let off the gas and returned to cruising speed, he leaned over to them. “You can both get up now.”

  Butch had thrown himself on top of the young lady, but her face was visible to Ezra. She looked to Butch and smiled. “You were saying something about not letting anything happen to me?”

  The big guy rolled aside. “Yeah, sorry if I hurt you. It’s habit.”

  “No problem,” she replied, rubbing her arm. “Next time, let me knock you down, m’kay? Or, better yet, let’s shoot back.”

  Butch got to a crouch and held out his hand to pull her up, which she accepted. “If you’re going to shoot back, we need to get you reloaded. Let me show you how.”

  Ezra sat back in his seat, exhaling the tension of the last two minutes. He was happy to see the two kids cooperating, but he was afraid the shooters had figured out they could attack his boat anywhere along the river they could drive. It gave him plenty of new things to worry about.

  And the bridge was only ten miles ahead.

  “We need a new plan,” he said dryly.

  Chapter 10

  Somewhere in Central Wyoming

  Grace stayed ahead of the train for almost an hour, and, hoping to hone her skills, she kept trying to guess where the experienced hitman was going to have her stop. She saw hills similar to the one they’d visited earlier, but Misha didn’t seem interested. They passed isolated patches of forest scattered along the grassy frontier, as if someone had planted the trees in tight groups a hundred years ago. Each seemed ideal for lying in ambush. Still, he didn’t ask her to pull over.

  After a certain number of guesses, she admitted to telling herself every new thing on the horizon was where he would point them next. Eventually, she was right.

  “There. We must drive there.” He gestured toward a hundred-foot-tall ridgeline covered with grass, perhaps two miles long, and a hundred yards to the left of the roadway. The train tracks went into a tunnel on one end of the rise. The location seemed windswept and isolated, not very good for hiding, at least compared to the clumps of trees they’d passed. As they neared, she wondered why dozens of sections of tall wooden fences had been set in parallel rows outside the train tunnel.

  “Why there?” she asked, truly interested in his reasoning.

  “We can climb to top. It will let us look ahead as well as see how far back train is. We do not want to get too far ahead of engine, or Nerio could swing around and attack without us knowing about it.”

  Asher spoke up. “Ah, that’s why we haven’t been speeding ahead.”

  She’d been thinking the same thing. Whenever she started going too fast, Misha would ask her to slow down. She’d assumed it was so he could look at the terrain as they moved, but waiting for the train made sense, too.

  “You are correct, Alex Trebek.”

  She laughed out loud, despite her deep-seated fear of Misha. “Correct-Trabek? Did you intentionally make a rhyme?”

  “Did I?” he asked with surprise. “English is not first language, in case you did not know.”

  Asher chuckled. “And I think he just made a joke.”

  She parked the truck on a gravel service road leading to the train tunnel. As soon as she exited her door, a gust of wind nearly stole her ranger hat. “Whoa!”

  Asher left his hat on the front seat, so she did the same. There was no sense fighting the wind in addition to being wary about the helicopter. It went without saying they took their rifles, as they had to be prepared to fight. However, she also reached behind her seat and grabbed Misha’s backpack. He’d put a few of the remaining bottled waters inside, and she figured they might need them.

  As she caught up to the two men, she realized it might have been better to hold the hat on her head, if it’s what it took to keep it on. The wind blew constantly from the west, smacking her blonde locks in and out of her eyes like annoying bugs.

  “This is crazy!” she yelled into the gusts.

  Asher’s curly hair shifted back and forth, like kelp grass in turbulent seas.

  Misha had cropped hair. The wind didn’t seem to affect him at all.

  Asher spoke when she got close. “The wooden barriers spaced everywhere out there are snow fences. They keep snow off the tracks during the winter. It must be brutal on this hill if this summertime wind is any indication.”

  They walked up the hill until they were above the tunnel where the double set of train tracks entered. She thought it might be neat to sit there and watch the train approach and go into the tunnel, at least until a stout gust nearly pushed her over the edge.

  “Okay! Let’s take a few steps back!”

  Misha was already higher on the hill, so it was only her and Asher moving from the edge. When they got up to his position, his radio surprised them all by warbling.

  “The engine must be close,” she reasoned.

  Misha seemed conflicted. “This was not his ring. This is someone else.”

  Everyone glanced around, searching for who it might be. It wouldn’t be unreasonable to find other travelers on the same channel, though not as many people were out on vacations these days.

  “I will answer,” Misha declared.

  “Be careful,” she said, knowing it sounded trite, given where they were.

  “Hello?” he said into the radio.

  “Delighted to hear your voice, my dear Misha. You know who this is.” She spoke with flair, even through the tinny-sounding speaker.

  “Nerio,” he said with an even tone.

  “Oh, I’m so happy you remember my name. I’m sure you’ve told your new chums all about me. But I wonder if I should tell them all about you?”

  Misha cocked his head, looking at them both. “Everything this woman says is lie.”

  The lady’s voice spoke clearly. “I was the one who helped Misha break out of his jail cell. Did he mention it?”

  Grace met Misha’s cool blue eyes.

  The hitman sighed. “That part is, unfortunately, true.”

  Miami, MO

  “We’ve got decisions to make about how to plan for the next bridge.” Ezra had the map out so Butch and Haley could see where they were. His dirty fingernail pointed near the town of Miami, but more specifically to the upside-down U-shaped bend in the river a couple of miles short of it. “We’re here, at the start of this turn. Maybe eight miles on the water to Miami. We can be sure these guys chasing us are going to be waiting there. The place barely looks like a town on this map, so there aren’t going to be cops we can call. How we approach the bridge, and survive, is entirely up to us.”

&n
bsp; Butch looked up. “Remember our plan back at Kentucky Lake, before we were swept up by the draining waters?”

  “How could I forget?” he chuckled.

  “We were going to help those ladies get past the roadblock by coming at the men from behind their position. A sneak attack.”

  Haley held up her hand. “Wait a second. How many women have you helped on your journey? Is this a regular thing with you guys?” There was underlying sarcasm she didn’t try to hide.

  Ezra didn’t miss a beat. “Lots. Maybe a dozen. I drive the boat, but Butch brings ’em on board like nobody’s business.” He kept his expression focused and serious. As he expected, Butch was mortified.

  “No, wait a second. It wasn’t how it happened at all. Those women were married.”

  “Married women?” Haley scoffed, sliding back from the map. “Is that really your game?”

  Ezra cracked a smile.

  Butch went on, looking only at Haley. “We were helping them, yes, and they were married, but—”

  Ezra bellowed with laughter.

  “What?” Butch asked in surprise.

  He winked at Haley. Butch caught him doing it.

  “Oh, I get it. You two are joking with me.”

  Haley came back to the map. “Of course we are. I told you I was going to have fun with you. Do you honestly think I would believe this is some kind of post-apocalyptic booze cruise, full of fun, frolic, and married women?”

  “No, not when you put it like that.” Butch shook his head, but was smiling, too.

  “I really needed a laugh.” Haley oriented on Ezra. “Thank you for playing along.”

  He’d been happy to oblige. The next few minutes were decidedly unfunny as they looked at the map and tried to figure out what they were going to do to protect themselves on the passage underneath the bridge. They discussed building defensive measures, such as using driftwood to construct a shelter. They also considered finding an iron sewer lid, which would make a bulletproof shield, but they were far from any town where they could steal one. Neither method was foolproof. Both were defensive, which was their biggest drawbacks.

  “It’s about five miles from here to here,” Ezra pointed at the near side of the U-shaped bend and then at the town of Miami on the far side. “Like Butch said before we had a laugh, our plan in Kentucky would work here. What if we walked along the bank and then snuck onto the bridge? We could shoot the men while they’re waiting for us.”

  Butch snapped his fingers. “One of us could go up each bank. We could pinch them from two directions.”

  Haley became excited. “I could drive the boat up the middle. Distract them.”

  “Absolutely not,” Butch said immediately.

  “Why?”

  He seemed to think on it. “Because we’re going to drop E-Z off here. Then you and I are going to park the boat on the other shore and go together.”

  “Don’t you think she should watch the boat?” Ezra suggested.

  She glared at him. “Don’t try to pawn me off as nonessential. I made the decision to travel with you two. I want to contribute. I can’t learn how to do it if I’m watching paint dry on the boat.”

  Ezra wanted to argue it was important to keep the boat from falling into the hands of passersby, but he didn’t think anything would change her mind. There was also the risk of backing himself into the corner of guarding the boat, which he didn’t want to do himself. It couldn’t be Butch, either. He was the tip of the spear.

  If Butch wanted to take Haley, he thought it was a good compromise. “You’re right. Butch will keep an eye on you. And, yes, I think getting the pinch on these guys is the only way we’ll ever be free of them. There’s likely to be more TKM people closer to Kansas City. We don’t need them getting reinforcements there.”

  Everything came together in the next few minutes. They each took a rifle and extra ammo. Only Haley’s rifle had a spare mag, so they needed to lug boxes of rounds in their new backpacks. The major item he changed in Butch’s plan was electing himself the one to drive the boat around the U-shaped bend. It would be his responsibility to park and hide it.

  “Good luck, you two,” he said, waving at them as he backed the boat away from shore. As he spun the wheel and adjusted the direction, he imagined the blonde girl was Grace instead of Haley. He sincerely wished his daughter was part of the expedition. Of course, having her with him would negate the reason for the trip in the first place, and he admitted he’d be more cautious about letting her go off with Butch. However, given the available pool of manpower, he honestly believed the young girl would be safer with the experienced warrior rather than him.

  The pair headed up the bank and into the woods.

  They’d synchronized watches. He had ninety minutes to hop off his boat and run to the bridge. That’s when they both planned to start shooting.

  Ezra tapped the bobber keychain, making it sway on his dashboard.

  Susan wouldn’t even recognize the violent man he’d been forced to become.

  Denver, CO

  Petteri spent much of the afternoon moving pieces on his chessboard, which was how he’d come to think of all the dig sites around the nation. When he wasn’t talking to his staff personally, he was considering which of the sites he was willing to give up to the feds. When Stricker had said the president was going to demand two sites if he didn’t give up the first, he was resigned to the fact he didn’t have a viable choice. He needed Stricker to keep the National Guard off his back until he’d collected his ore. Losing one site was worth keeping the larger arrangement.

  However, he was going to make Stricker pay for his betrayal at some point down the line. The man had made him look like a fool, and for that there was no forgiveness.

  When the phone rang again, he reached for the handset, but instead jolted in place as the floor moved under him.

  “What the hell?” He picked up the phone. “Hello?”

  “Sir! I’m the lobby security supervisor. There’s been a breach of the building. A group of armed police are inside the lobby.”

  “Did they blow us up?” he replied.

  The man sounded frantic. “They used explosives to come through a concrete wall. They’re shooting at us and now heading upstairs!”

  “For me?” he asked with surprise. Catching himself, he continued. “Of course they’re heading for me. Stop them! That’s an order.”

  The line went dead before he got confirmation, giving him heartburn. He imagined the security man hanging up and pretending he didn’t hear the order. The guy was probably more interested in his own safety than protecting his boss. Petteri expected the man to lay down his life for him. He certainly paid enough to demand such a minimal level of dedication.

  An instant later, Mr. Aarons ran through his office door. “Sir? You okay?”

  He stood up. “You better have a plan. The lobby said the police are breaking into this office building.”

  The bearded man nodded grimly. “We have a plan, sir. I need you to come with us right now.” He stood aside, inviting Petteri into the hallway.

  His heart fluttered. A sudden wave of extreme anger bubbled up, directed exclusively toward the Denver mayor. She must have betrayed him to allow her police to attack in such a brazen assault. That feeling was followed up by sheer panic, as he suddenly realized the police might not be interested in arresting him.

  “My safety is in your hands,” he said, hating how vulnerable it made him.

  “Follow us, sir,” Mr. Aarons advised.

  Other security officers were down the hall. One man held the door to the stairwell, as if inviting him to lead the charge toward the police ten floors below.

  Mr. Aarons waited for him to reach his door, then the security chief ran toward the stairwell entrance. He followed at a brisk walk but hesitated at the final doorway.

  The guy waited on the first step down.

  “We’re going toward them?” Petteri asked.

  “We need to get onto the eighth floo
r. It’s where I have everything set up. You have to trust me, sir. It’s going to be all right.”

  Howard had once trusted the man. It was time to do the same.

  Chapter 11

  Somewhere in Central Wyoming

  Grace and Misha stood on the grassy slope of the tall hill in the middle of the big blue sky of Wyoming. A moody storm front loitered on the distant horizon, threatening someone dozens of miles away. As majestic as the scenery was, her attention was consumed by the realization Misha hadn’t escaped from his captors. He’d been released from his prison by the crazy woman trying to kill them.

  “Hello? Is anyone there?” Nerio’s voice inquired on the radio.

  Misha didn’t hold the talk button. He spoke to her and Asher. “Petteri Tikkanen was going to kill me last night. I told you he brought me from the Yellowstone dig site. That part was true. Only fact I left out was Nerio opened my cage and helped me out of the building. I swear to you on my dead family I am not working with her. I found you because I knew you were in danger.”

  Asher crossed his arms. “Or she let you go so you’d lead her right to us.”

  Misha actually seemed surprised. “This is not possible. I am professional. Do not make mistakes.”

  The radio came to life. “Is he explaining away his role in my finding you? I guess I should thank him. He did lead me right to you people.” She sounded like she was having fun talking to him.

  Misha became angry. He keyed the mic and held it close to his mouth. “You know what you say is not true. You let me go, yes, but I was not followed. I was careful. I knew you were a crafty sooka.”

  “Ouch, my dear Misha. We don’t have to argue like a pair of lovers, do we?”

  Misha held the radio as if it had turned into a hornet. He shot a horrified look to Grace. “I am not her lover.”

  “It’s not for me to say,” she replied.

  Nerio went on. “If you take out both of the targets while we’re on the radio, I’ll put in a good word with Peter the Tick when we get back to Denver. That would be nice, wouldn’t it?”