by H. L. Wegley
“You're in control, Jeff. I trust you.”
Allie still didn't get it. He was just a man. And most people didn’t think he was a good example of one.
The gunmen’s pickup lights came on and the truck spun a one-eighty in front of his house, then accelerated toward them. Farther back toward town, the lights of a second vehicle appeared in the rear-view mirror. It also raced their way. More goons and more guns.
“Allie, they've got us cut off from town. Our only option is to take the dirt road into the mountains, but there's no way to get back to town, to the police. The roads get continually smaller until, eventually, we have to abandon the truck. My truck is smaller than theirs, and I have four-wheel drive. Maybe we can go farther up the trails than them, get a big lead.”
Allie placed her hand on his shoulder. “What about the FBI?”
“The evidence at the house will tell them what happened. But they won't know exactly where we are … unless we can get cell service. But where we're headed there won't be any.”
He accelerated to nearly eighty on the dirt road, heading toward the spot where he had first met Allie.
Far down the road he spotted lights. Reality hit him like a punch in the solar plexus. A third vehicle emerged from one of the mountain roads. It was speeding toward them.
“Another vehicle? They must be communicating, coordinating every move. We're up against an army.”
Her words haunted him. “I trust you.” He couldn't deliver on that kind of trust. “Allie?'
She squeezed his shoulder.
“Allie, I've gotta focus on driving. Would you pray for us … for me?”
“Yes. Well, at least I'll try. But, Jeff, I still trust you.”
There were limits to what Jeff could be trusted for. Allie needed to aim a lot higher to find the object of her trust. But this wasn’t a time for that discussion.
He took the only road left available to them, the road up the mountain toward Bolan Peak. Several roads forked off from the main one. If Jeff could keep his truck out of sight, the cartel punks would eventually make a wrong choice and they could lose them, at least for the night.
Jeff had to make sure he didn’t take a wrong fork. He needed to stay on the Bolan Mountain road. There were many places to hide on the mountain, and the shelter of the lookout crowned the peak, giving them a view of the entire area for miles in any direction.
The road to the peak was steep and rough, with thousand-foot drop-offs in places and no guard rails. But worse yet, the road had washed out badly last spring. He prayed there would be no slides to stop them.
Regardless, at some point, they would be forced to run up the mountain on foot. Maybe, with a little bit of luck, his cell could pick up a signal on the very top of the peak.
Jeff’s pickup bounced across ditches in the road, deep erosions from the melting snow and heavy spring rains. In places the eroded road jerked on the wheel so hard he had to slow down to maintain control.
When the road leveled and smoothed, Jeff could hit fifty-five on some of the straight stretches. By maintaining speeds bordering on disastrous, he should be building up a buffer big enough to shake the gunmen.
The speedometer read sixty when the headlights hit a curve ahead, a much sharper turn than Jeff anticipated. He hit the brakes but entered the turn going far too fast. When Jeff cranked the wheel, the truck slid sideways. The driver’s side rear wheel dropped off the road.
“Jeff, we’re going over the—”
The rear wheels hit a rock that jutted out of the mountainside, bouncing Jeff out of his seat. His seatbelt yanked him back down.
The truck landed with all four wheels on the road. But the dangerous slide continued, sending the pickup sliding along the edge of the drop-off.
He punched the gas pedal. With wheels churning up clouds of dust, the truck clung to the roadway and inched back into the center of the road.
He glanced at Allie.
Her right hand squeezed the passenger-side handle and her left hand clutched her blouse in the vicinity of her heart. Allie’s gaze was locked on the road ahead of them and her lips appeared to be moving.
“That was close. Were you praying, Allie?”
“Does screaming ‘help’ count as a prayer?”
“Yeah. He’s used to hearing that one.” Jeff blew out a sigh, trying to calm his racing heart. “When this road dwindles to a trail, we'll have to ditch the pickup. But I'm afraid we'll back to the same place where you started, running through the mountains with those goons in pursuit.”
“No, Jeff. It’s not the same. This time I have you with me.”
She was still putting too much stock in Jeff Jacobs. Not a good thing for anyone to do—to rely on someone with disgrace and failure on their permanent record.
Please, help me. I can't let Allie down.
Chapter 6
“Allie, I don't know the roads very well from here on. I want to get as far up the mountain as we can before we have to leave the truck. But I need your eyes. Tell me if you spot anything that looks dangerous.”
Allie touched his shoulder. “I'll watch.”
“And I'll slow down little.”
Jeff's pickup bounced up the rough road, climbing the mountain. The road had obviously seen little traffic in recent years and the forest had encroached, narrowing the roadway.
The headlights lit up a fork in the road. The branch on the right climbed higher up the mountain. It would bring them closer to the peak and the lookout where he planned to spend the night.
From the lookout, he and Allie would be able to see the cartel thugs long before they arrived. He could watch their movements and hide if any of the gunmen got too close. And, if the FBI chopper flew within two or three miles, it would likely spot them.
Jeff turned right at the fork and the road immediately steepened. He shifted into four-wheel-drive and steered around a sharp corner.
“Stop!” Allie's voice pierced his ears.
Jeff stomped on the brakes.
A trestle bridge spanned a deep ravine thirty yards in front of them. The bridge was a relic from the past, from a time when vehicles were much smaller. It was barely wide enough for his truck, certainly too small for the cartel’s big pickup to cross.
The real question was could Jeff’s truck make it across, safely? The old bridge showed no signs of recent traffic. Crossing it could provide them more protection or put a permanent end to their worries.
“Allie, if we cross the bridge, we can drive a stretch of road that the gunmen will have to walk. We can lengthen our lead. Shall we try it?”
“Can you walk it first. You know, test it?”
“That will cost us some time. Besides I don't think I'd see any more than the headlights are showing us.”
“I'm not sure about this, Jeff.”
“Then you get out here. I'll drive across by myself. You can run across and join me.”
Allie shot him a glaring glance. “You mean, if you make it across. If that bridge goes down, I'll be stranded on this side of the ravine, the goons' side, without you. No, I'm going with you.”
Jeff pushed lightly on the accelerator and the pickup crept out onto the bridge. The span was only twenty-five or thirty yards. And he saw no problems. But as he rolled onto the bridge, his truck seemed to be swaying side to side.
“I don't like the feel of this. We’re swinging like we’re on a footbridge.”
Allie clamped a hand onto his shoulder. “Jeff, I think you need to get off—”
A loud crack sounded.
The truck dropped then hit hard, jolting them.
Jeff, instinctively, pushed the gas pedal to the floor.
The truck shot forward.
Another crack.
The rear end of the truck dropped a couple of feet. A harder jolt.
“We're falling!” Allie's voice blasted in his ear. She leaned into his shoulder.
Jeff drove uphill on whatever remained of the bridge, holding the pedal to the floo
rboard.
His truck exited the bridge with the rear wheels spinning.
Off the bridge now, he stopped and took a calming breath.
Allie had buried her face in his running shirt.
After his evening run, he needed a shower. No telling what he smelled like. It couldn’t be good, but Allie wasn't complaining. She wasn't complaining about anything except possibly being separated from him.
The bond between them had grown incredibly strong for such a short amount of time. Jeff could feel it. Everything that Allie said and did indicated she did, too. But this was not the time to analyze their budding relationship. They must survive or his speculation about them was moot.
Allie pulled her head out of his shirt. “Jeff, you know something?”
“Yeah. I’m ripe as a pomewater. Uh, more like a rotten one.”
“A what? Jeff, did … I mean … are you okay after that bridge—”
“Forget it. It’s Shakespeare, but it was a really bad analogy. And we can’t do anything about how we smell, anyway.”
“Shakespeare? I think you’ve lost it,” Allie mumbled.
“The only thing I want to lose is those goons chasing us.” Jeff opened the door of his truck, stepped out, and shined the flashlight behind them.
The middle section of the bridge had buckled where the trestle gave way. The bridge formed a large V over the ravine. The men chasing them would not be crossing it in their trucks or on foot.
He slid back into the truck.
They drove further up the road. The trees and bushes now brushed the sides of his pickup. With the windows down, they would soon be brushing Allie and him.
“Is this going to end well?” Allie’s shadowy face appeared focused on him.
“End well. What? The road or our … touché. I get it. Shakespeare.” Jeff slowed for a sharp turn.
“Both.” Allie spoke softly and rested an arm on his shoulder.
Both? The road? This run for their lives? Their relationship? The softness in her voice said “both” included what was happening between them.
Jeff rounded the turn and slammed on the brakes. A pile of dirt and rocks blocked the old road.
“Well, the road didn’t end well. I’m surprised we got this far after the storms from last winter.” He took Allie's hand. “How sore are you from your mountain marathon?”
“I'll be alright, as long as I don't have to do this alone.”
There it was again, the bond. Would it vanish, replaced by their former lives, once she was safe? Currently, all wasn’t well. But this could end well if Jeff did his job protecting her. And, for the first time in years, Olympic gold had a formidable competitor vying for Jeff’s heart, Allie Santiago.
Allie and Jeff slid out of his truck. He leaned the seat forward and grabbed his emergency pack. He wasn't sure what might be left in the pack after his last outing, but surely there were some things they could use. Jeff slung it over his shoulder.
The pile of dirt and rocks covered all but a yard of the roadway. They skirted the slide and walked around the next corner. The road ended, abruptly, at a partly collapsed building.
Jeff shined the light behind the pile of boards. A few feet in, a tunnel in the side of the mountain ended in a pile of dirt and rocks. “That explains why there was a trestle bridge this high up on the mountain. This is one of the old gold mines that played out in the thirties.”
He took Allie's hand. “The moon's up. Let's see if we can go without the light. We don’t want the cartel creeps spotting us if they get around to our side of the mountain.”
He glanced at his watch and hit it with the light before turning the flashlight off. “It's 11:30 and we need to get to the top of the peak before we stop for the night. I've never been on this part of the mountain. Only looked at it from a distance. But I think if we cut directly up the mountain, the peak is only a half-mile away. But it’s a steep half-mile.” He squeezed her hand. “Are you up to that?”
She squeezed back. “If you think it's the best way to go, I can make it.”
They climbed the steep slope steadily for fifteen minutes, threading their way through scrubby bushes, clusters of fir trees, and big rocks. Rocks seemed to be everywhere now and weaving around them on a forty-five-degree slope was rapidly claiming both his legs and his lungs.
Allie’s breaths came in deep gasps, too. But she hadn't complained. Allie Santiago was stunningly beautiful and as tough as women came. Not a common combination, but one that would make any man proud.
Jeff needed to rest even if Allie didn’t. And he needed to focus on more than the woman beside him. “Let's stop and take a look at where we are.”
In the valley below them there were no lights, only darkness. “Our friends are probably around the mountain from us and quite a way below. That's why we’re not seeing any headlights. Time to go again, Allie.”
The climb grew steeper, if that were possible, and the mountainside was now mostly rocks with only a few scrubby trees.
Jeff led Allie through a stand of small fir trees. When they emerged, a huge rock face stood in front of them, blocking their path. The dim moonlight didn’t show him if it was climbable. He pulled his flashlight from a pouch in his pack and pushed the switch.
He guided the beam up the rock to the top. “It's at least a hundred feet high.”
Jeff shined the light to the right side of the rock face. It didn’t end, just wrapped around the mountain. He checked the left side. Same result. “This isn't good.”
“What’s wrong, Jeff?”
“That cliff has us cut off.”
He again studied the top with the light. The corner of a man-made structure appeared on top of the cliff. “So that's where we are.”
“And that is?”
Jeff hit the structure with the flashlight beam again. “That’s the lookout tower, Allie. A good place to stop for the night. We'll have shelter and we can see them if they are anywhere in the vicinity.” He paused. “How are you at rock climbing?”
“I don't do rock climbing.” She stepped close to him.
“That's okay. It's dark. You won't be able to see—”
“Jeff, you're not serious are you?”
“I've never been more serious. I don't see any other way up, and I do see shelter for us at the top. Are you coming?”
Allie put her arms around him. “You need to understand. I'm afraid of heights, acrophobia. I don’t flip out or anything. But sometimes I get terrified and I freeze. I'm not sure I—”
“I'll help you, Allie. Each step of the way. If it gets too difficult, we'll back down. But look.” He pointed the light at a V-shaped notch in the rock. “I think we can go right up the notch and you'll feel less exposed.”
“Just go. I want to get this over with.”
“Wait here first, and I'll go up a short way to make sure we can climb to the top.”
“Great. We're climbing a mountain that you think may not be climbable. Didn't they make a movie about that? Two people fell and—”
“I won't let you fall. Promise.”
He took off his pack, turned toward the rock face, and climbed steadily up to the fifty-foot level. It was a quick and easy climb. But there was one difficult spot about three quarters of the way up the face. They could make it unless Allie froze.
Jeff climbed back down, slipped on his pack, and pulled her toward the rock. He moved beside her and climbed with her, maintaining contact, guiding her hands and feet to good holds.
The first twenty-five feet of the climb went well. Allie began to climb with more confidence.
He stopped her at the three quarters mark. A long slab of limestone had broken loose and wedged in the notch, filling the gap they had been climbing.
Jeff climbed around Allie up to the base of their obstacle. He slipped to the side the slab of rock and was able to pull himself on top of it, a maneuver Allie would probably not be able to replicate. But they could do this if she didn’t freeze or freak out.
; “It's flat up here, Allie. I want you to come up to the base of this rock, then reach as high as you can with your right arm.”
“I'm left-handed, Jeff.”
He hadn't noticed, except for the crushing grip on his hand back at the house. “Okay. Stick up your left arm.”
“What then?”
“If we can lock wrists, I'll pull you up beside me.”
“I can't do that, Jeff.”
“Can't or won't?”
“Both!”
“I wouldn't try this if I couldn't hold you. You just keep climbing with your feet as much as you can, supporting your weight with your feet, and I'll pull up the rest of your weight.”
“But Jeff, I weigh too—”
“I know how much you weigh. I carried you for three miles. Remember?”
“No, I don't remember. I was unconscious.”
They needed to be in the lookout surveying the area for their pursuers, not on the side of a cliff arguing. But the only way to stop her stonewalling was to convince her he could pull her up this stone wall.
“I can hold you, Allie. I can hold all of your weight if I need to. This is no big deal.”
“It is to me.” She looked up at him and stood silently for a moment. “If I do this, I need you to … to hold me after I get up there, because I—”
“I'll hold you as long as you need me to.” Jeff knelt and reached an arm down to her. “Allie?”
“I'm coming. But you'd better not slip off that rock when I pull on your hand or I'll kill you Jeff Jacobs.”
“If I slip, you won't have to.”
“That's enough. Why am I even having this conversation with you?”
“Because you're scared.”
She stepped beneath the limestone impediment and stood staring at it.
“Allie, give me your hand.”
She raised it, slowly.
Jeff grabbed her wrist as soon as he could reach it and pulled.
Allie’s feet pawed and dug at the rock She was a runner with strong legs. Only for a second or two did Jeff have to support all of her weight. He gave a final pull and Allie shot over the outer edge of the rock, landing on her knees beside him.