Escaping Vegas

by Dennis Elder

  “What you gonna do?” asked Beaver, as Harold came forward with his gun ready.

  The big Russian pulled out a dirty white handkerchief from his back pocket and tied it to the muzzle of his rifle.

  “I will distract them,” said Ivan. “Long enough for you to get to best places and kill them.”

  But nobody moved. Ivan looked at both of his scouts

  “What you need invitation?” shouted Ivan. “Go!”

  That was all it took. The men split up like they had earlier and followed Beaver and Harold down into the ditches running to each side of the road. The men kept their heads down as they crept along. As soon as they were moving forward, Ivan raised the barrel of his rifle over his head and waived it slowly. Then he began walking toward the barricade, while doing his best to smile.

  “Smiling is always best disarming strategy,” mumbled Ivan to himself. “When you need to kill someone.”

  Chapter 155: Stay away from the blinds

  Highway 18 was the first major St. George crossroad where Mark and his Marauders saw a couple decent hotels. They chose a hotel on the North side, a little back from the freeway and got themselves settled by 4 pm. Then Mark sent out three scouting parties to look for food, ammo and bikes for the new recruits. They also needed automatic rifles for their new additions. They found food and bikes, but the gun store they visited had been cleaned out. Maybe the guys at the barricade had taken it all to their hideout. The scouting parties and had just returned to the hotel when they hear shooting coming from back down the freeway. It was automatic fire mixed with single shots. Most of the gunfire happened in the first ten seconds. Then it quickly died down with a few single shots before it stopped completely.

  Mark was cooking his dinner inside his hotel room when he heard the shots. He grabbed the big binoculars from his pack and moved outside to the Southwest corner of the balcony outside his room. Tyrone and Connie had watch duty and were already standing at the railing. Tyrone was looking through his SmartScope. From there Tyrone had a clear view of I-15 running South. The shot had definitely come from the South.

  “See anything?” asked Mark as he came up next to Tyrone.

  “Nope,” answered Tyrone. “Too far.”

  He peered back down I-15 through the big binoculars. It was getting dark but after he flipped the focus a bit, the back of the barricade became clear. Just then he saw two flashes from a handgun and a figure fell back onto the ground. A second and a half later they heard two more shots. Then a large number of people came rushing around from both sides of the barricade and surrounded the man who had just shot the man on the ground. There were several others lying on the ground.

  Mark realized this must be the convicts from Vegas. They had followed them after all. The gunshots had brought everyone from Marks group out of their rooms to the edge of the railing. Mark’s head swam with possibilities, all of them bad. The Marauders were caught unprepared and couldn’t make a run for it. The men down the road would be where they were in 15 minutes.

  “Heads up everyone,” began Mark. “Pay strict attention to what I’m going to tell you. Cause I probably won’t get another chance to talk to you until later tonight or early tomorrow morning.”

  Everyone crowded close together.

  “I’m pretty sure the same group we’d hoped would not follow us has just arrived down by the road barricade,” said Mark. “Maybe 30 or 40 men. Looks like they killed everyone there.”

  That brought a few gasps from the kids and women.

  “No time for panic,” barked Mark. “Now listen up.”

  That got them all focused.

  “We are not prepared to make a run for it. It would take us at least 15 minutes to get ready to ride and its nearly dark anyway.”

  “What are we going to do?” asked Sylvia.

  “Nothing,” said Mark.

  “Define nothing,” questioned Mary.

  “It means, for now, we hide,” replied Mark.

  Nobody responded. But Mark knew the group was scared.

  “What are your orders, Major?” asked Frank.

  Mark thought for one more second and then began.

  “Jake and Jacob go around the back of the Hotel and make sure all of the bikes and trailers are out of sight from the road. Tuck um up tight against the back of the building. Tyrone you get take one of radios. You’re room has the best view South, so you’ll report what you see from inside your corner room. Everyone else goes back to their rooms. No lights, no cooking food, no sounds, no flushing toilets. And no parting the blinds. If just one of those men sees your blinds jiggle, then we’ll all be in a world of hurt. So, stay away from the window blinds. Eat and drink what you can, but again, no stoves. It’s critical that you sleep. But stay in your clothes and be ready to ride later tonight, with minimum notice. Once we’re sure we can move again someone will knock on your door. When you hear a double knock, you will move silently and quickly to your bikes. Stay by your bikes until everyone is accounted for and we are all ready to move. There will be absolutely no questions and no talking until we are well down the road. Is that clear to everyone?”

  Everyone shook their heads and there were no questions.

  “Then its hide and seek time people,” barked mark again. “Move!”

  The group split up and went quickly to their rooms, quietly closing their doors behind them. Once inside, almost immediately everybody started looking for something they could eat. After that they would make sure they were dressed and packed before lying down on their motel room beds. Under the circumstances, sleep would be hard to come by, but they had learned the benefits of following their leader’s direction to the letter.

  Jack and Jacob made fast work of the bikes and trailers behind the motel and were back in their rooms inside of seven minutes.

  Trevor had both the big binoculars and his SmartScope ready. He opened his blinds just enough to provide a view of I-15 and the side road their motel sat on. He got himself comfortable in one of the room’s leather chairs. It was dark in his room so nobody would be able to see inside.

  “They’re moving now,” said Tyrone into the radio. “Coming North.” He had the volume way down. “Getting pretty dark, hard to see.”

  “Roger that,” said Mark, back over the intercom. “Just keep an eye on um.”

  “Understood,” said Tyrone, as he put down the big binoculars and reached for his SmartScope. Tyrone toggled one of the buttons on the scope and his view turned green. A moving number of bobbing heat signatures suddenly appeared through his scope. He started counting as the men drew closer.

  Mark struggled having to stay blind in his room. Information was critical in situations like this. Tyrone would do a good job watching the approaching men, but Mark wanted to know what was going on. Waiting for reports always drove him crazy. After a few minutes he decided to run through various exit strategies – time of departure, ride or walk, freeway or side streets, and each with its pros and cons. And there was Susie and the baby to consider. Before he knew it fifteen minutes had clicked by and Tyrone was back on the radio.

  “Major,” whispered Tyrone over the radio. “Your there, over?”

  Mark sat up and pulled the radio to his lips.

  “I’m here,” said Mark. “What do you see, over?”

  “I count 43 men on bikes,” replied Tyrone. “All armed, riding bikes and carrying large backpacks, over.”

  “10-4,” said Mark. “What’s their position, over?”

  “That’s the bad news,” said Tyrone as he reduced the magnification setting on his SmartScope. “They’ve decided to stay the night in the motel right across the street, over.”

  “What?” Mark whispered as loud as he could into the radio. “You mean across the freeway, over?” asked the Major.

  “No,” responded Tyrone. “I mean the motel right across the side street from us, maybe 150 yards away, over.”

  There was silence for a few seconds. Mark’s head was suddenly calculating about a mi
llion new variables. Slowly he collected himself and then spoke.

  “’They were probably just as tired as us and picked the first off ramp and motel they spotted, over,” said Mark.

  “Bad luck, over,” added Tyrone.

  “At least they didn’t choose our motel, over,” said Mark.

  “Amen to that, over,” replied Tyrone.

  “They staying put or going out, over?” asked Mark.

  “They’re still getting into their rooms, “said Tyron. “Give me a few minutes and I’ll let you know, over.”

  “Roger that,” said Mark. “Call me in 30 with an update, over.”

  “Understood, over and out,” replied Tyrone.

  Both men turned off their radios to preserve battery power. Tyrone went back to his SmartScope and watched the men drag their heavy packs and weapons into the motel rooms. Mark started thinking about a best exit strategy again. Having his enemy so close would make it even harder to get away clean.

  Chapter 156: Can’t sleep

  By 10 pm the men were all asleep. There was a bar close by and several of the men had found enough booze for the night. After a few warm drinks, combined with the hard day’s ride they’d all either passed out or gone to bed by 9 pm. But Ivan was still awake and stood just outside his room at the railing on the second floor balcony of the motel. His eyes had adjusted to the darkness. But with no moon, it was hard to see much. The breeze was refreshing. He was smoking and took a long drag on his cigarette. The big Russian suddenly heard a door crack open to his right and noticed Harold come outside his room. The old Boy Scout noticed Ivan and walked over and stood next to him.

  “You should sleep,” said Ivan in his thick Russian accent while expelling smoke from his lungs. “Tomorrow we may catch up to women. You will need rest for hard ride ahead.”

  Ivan knew they were close now. Just before he shot the last man behind the barricade, the man confessed that there was another group of men and women who had come through the barricade about three hours ahead of them.

  “Can’t sleep,” replied Harold. “Never been much for sleep. Hard to turn off my brain I guess.”

  Ivan smiled. He’d never had any problem sleeping. Never worried about much once his head hit the pillow.

  The two men shared a few more minutes of small talk. Then Ivan excused himself and headed back to his room. Harold went back to his room a few minutes after that. But he couldn’t shake a feeling that somebody had been watching him while he was on the balcony with Ivan. Harold was famous for his intuition. He was a sensitive boy in his younger day. That was before he’d been arrested and convicted for murdering a family in the mountains above Reno, Nevada.

  Chapter 157: Knives only

  Mark and Tyrone had spoken together several times until about 1250 hours or 9:30pm. Tyrone reported that a few men had gone out for something but returned shortly. But by 9 pm things were dead quiet and it appeared that everyone was sleeping.

  Tyrone would have stood watch all night but Mark needed him fresh for something important in the morning. So, he ordered the big man to sleep, but to keep his radio on. Mark would wake him at 5 am.

  The Major slept a little, but not much. He didn’t have an alarm and was afraid he’d sleep past 0500 or 5 am. At 0500 on the dot, Mark crept out of his room. He was dressed to ride and placed his bike bag on the floor by his room door. Then he crept slowly forward to Tyrone’s door and knocked softly. The door popped open 20 seconds later. Tyrone was rubbing his eyes but he was up and ready.

  “Got your light bulbs,” asked the Major.

  Tyrone nodded and softly touched his jacket pockets. Mark had taken four similar bulbs from his room and placed them carefully inside a large plastic garment bag he found in his room. The bottom of the plastic bag was lined with a bath towel to cushion the bulbs. Tyron slipped his four bulbs into the garment bag.

  “I’ll wake the ones downstairs and you get the ones up,” whispered Mark.

  They both peeked around the corner and peered into the darkness toward the motel across the street, laden with sleeping ex-convicts. But it was too dark to see any detail.

  Mark took off first toward the outer stairs and Tyrone went back along the balcony and begin waking people. They both agreed they’d would keep knocking on the doors until each room’s occupant were up and moving.

  Most everyone was ready and waiting for the knocking. Nancy and Patti took a full five minutes to wake up to Tyrone’s knocking. But soon everyone headed down the stairs with Tyrone behind them.

  Everyone else was down and waiting by their bikes by the time Nancy and Patti arrived. There had been no talking until then.

  Mark motioned Susie, Sam, Tyrone and Teresa over to his side.

  “Susie,” whispered Mark. I’m changing your two partnerships for the next few days.”

  Susie was sick as a dog this particular morning. She had decided not to eat anything the night before so she would not throw up during their morning escape. And the lack of food had made her a little grumpy too. Mark’s words didn’t sit well with her.

  “Why,” asked Susie.

  But Mark just shook his head at her.

  “Not now Susie,” continued Mark. “I need you, all of you,” as he looked at all those around him. “To obey my orders, not question them. Understood?”

  Mark let that settle in before continuing.

  “Tyrone and Susie will match up,” began Mark again. “Tyrone will attach a rope to your bike, Susie, and pull you for the remainder of our ride.”

  Susie tried to object, but Mark cut her off with a raised hand.

  “Orders Susie,” said Mark. “Right now, I need you to follow orders.”

  Susie took a deep breath and shook her head up and down. She hated to be coddled, pregnant or not. But she also realized that she’d never be able to keep up with the team in her current state.

  “That’s too much weight for Tyrone,” objected Sam.

  “Don’t worry about Tyrone. You’ll be carrying more weight than usual too,” said Mark, as he turned back to Sam and Teresa. “Sam, you will pull little Sally and your trailer. Teresa you will pull your trailer and Tyrone’s trailer.”

  The looked around to make sure everyone understood.

  “Any questions?” asked Mark.

  Susie raised her hand slowly.

  “Yea,” whispered Mark, suspiciously.

  “Can I at least pedal a little?” ask Susie.

  Mark didn’t reply at first. He was weighing the potential of having to stop again because Susie might overexert herself.

  “I’ll allow it only as long as you don’t get sick,” offered Mark.

  “OK,” accepted Susie.

  “But girl,” said Mark. “The progress of the entire group is tied to how well you can tolerate the road ahead. So, we don’t need a hero rider for half a mile only to be stranded on the side of the road for two hours with no cover and that convict army closing in on us.”

  Mark dipped his head and looked hard into Susie’s eyes. He needed to make sure she understood the critical importance of what he was saying.

  “Are you absolutely sure you understand?” asked the Major.

  “Crystal clear,” replied Susie, as she struggled to keep small amount of burning bile from rising in her throat.

  Mark then spoke to the group of four. “Then slowly and quietly make the changes to your equipment.

  It took ten more minutes for the equipment changes and partner swapping. Tyrone took a few seconds to check on Little Sally and explained to her that for a while Sam was going to pull her along in her trailer, but that after a few days they’d be back together again. Sally took the news surprising well and gave Tyrone the thumbs up sign they’d come to exchange on a daily basis.

  Mark collected a few more light bulbs from others in the group and handed them to Jake for safekeeping. He also explained in general terms to everyone how they would move out. Nobody asked any questions. The group had learned to trust their leader and foll
ow his direction. Even Billy, Patti and Nancy were quiet and attentive. Thankfully Mary had taken the three new recruits to her room for the night and spent several hours exposing them to riding procedures, cooking drills, rotating guard duties and etc. They were pretty tired by the time Mary finished her long lecture and were grateful to hit the sack around 10 pm. Mary gave the three teenagers the bed and she slept on the short couch.

  Inside his windowless bathroom, Mark had studied his map carefully by the light of his headlamp. He knew there was a service road that ran along the West side of the freeway. They’d use the service road to make their escape and then get back on the freeway at the next overpass.