State of Rebellion

by Gordon Ryan

  “If we reach the mountain road, I think I can outdistance them. It’s about four miles farther on.”

  Reaching the mountain road, Dan bounced the Blazer over the cattle guard and started the steep climb up toward the narrow pass on a road that became more of a switch-back the higher they went. He could still see the headlights behind them, sometimes across a canyon as they continued to outdistance their pursuers.

  “We’ve got two choices. I can probably outrun them over the mountain, or we could take one of the side roads and lose them in the dark. They’d pass us, and we could retrace our steps back down toward Highway 29 and run on down to Calistoga.”

  “It was stupid to leave my cellular in my car,” Nicole exclaimed.

  “I’ve got one in the glove box—probably a dead battery, but there should also be a car cord in there. Who’re you going to call?”

  “Have you got a Forest Service map?” Nicole asked.

  “Under the seat.”

  “Great. We just may have a way out. Keep heading up the mountain, and I’ll call the cavalry.”

  Nicole rifled though the glove box, retrieving the phone and car battery cord. In moments, she had Pug Connor on the line.

  “Colonel, I’m sorry to bother you so late, but we’re in a predicament. I’m with Dan Rawlings in the mountains west of Rumsey Valley. We haven’t got much time to explain, but we’ve recovered some computer disks that should shed new light on the elections issue. We’ve been spotted, however—probably by some of the brigade boys—and we’re getting boxed in up here. I’ve got a forest service map and can give you approximate coordinates.”

  “Uh, oh,” Dan said, followed by a soft whistle.

  “Hold on, Colonel,” she said. “What’s wrong, Dan?”

  Dan pointed high up on the mountain trail, and Nicole spotted the small headlights of another vehicle, coming toward them from the east, still miles across the multiple canyons they would have to cross to reach Rumsey Valley.

  “We’re really boxed in now, Nicole. We can hide, but by morning, this mountain will be swarming with brigade troops, if indeed that’s who’s in those vehicles.”

  “Not much doubt of that, is there?” She returned to the phone. “Colonel, our situation has changed. We’re traveling east on . . . let’s see.” She paused, studying the map.

  “Whispering Pines Road,” Dan said.

  “Whispering Pines Road. We’ve got company about three miles behind, and we’ve just spotted a vehicle high up on the mountain, headed our way. It’s a single-lane dirt road, Colonel. They’ve got us boxed in, but Dan knows several side fire trails, and we can probably hide through the night. But in the morning . . .”

  “Understand, Nicole,” Connor replied. “Can you take the phone with you?”

  “Dead battery, Colonel. As long as we can stay with the car, I can keep in touch.”

  “Give me some idea of your coordinates, and I’ll get help out at first light.”

  Nicole read off several adjacent coordinates paralleling Whispering Pines Road and gave Connor Dan’s cellular number.

  “If we have to leave the vehicle, Colonel, I’ll advise.”

  “Okay, Nicole. Good luck to you both. I’ll get right on it.”

  “Thanks, Colonel. We’ll be watching for you. Dan said he’s got a couple of emergency flares, and we’ll use ’em if we spot you.”

  “Right.”

  Nicole pressed ”end,” but left the phone plugged in to accept what charge the phone battery could take in the short time remaining before they might have to leave the vehicle.

  “Nicole,” Dan said, watching the headlights up ahead, “they’re about twenty minutes away, and the vehicle behind can’t catch us on this road unless we stop. But we have one other option. You could take the disks and what cold-weather gear we have, and I could find a good hiding place for you, then continue on until I meet the oncoming car. I could plead ignorance, at least for awhile, and they might think I’m alone.”

  “No good, Dan. They have no other way of knowing about the cabin except from Stevenson. We have to assume they got to him sometime this evening after I spoke with him. I should never have agreed to drop the tail. If they got to him, they know I’m out here too, and if they find you first, they’ll just keep looking for me.”

  Dan nodded at Nicole’s deduction. “It’s off the road, then, and into one of the hiding spots until first light. We’ll be surrounded and dependent on Connor to get us out.”

  This time Nicole nodded. “We can take one evasive measure, though,” she said, quickly developing a plan. “We can hide these disks and let Colonel Connor know where they are in case we’re captured. Know of a good place?” she asked.

  “Yeah, as a matter of fact, I do,” Dan answered. “About a half mile before we turn off this road onto the fire trail.”

  “Well, let’s do it,” Nicole said, reaching into her purse and checking her pistol, then putting the two extra clips in her jacket pocket.

  “Start to put all your warm clothing on, Nicole. We’re gonna have to leave the car at some point and scramble on foot. It’ll likely get cold up here tonight.”

  Nicole smiled briefly at Dan, receiving a reassuring smile in return. “We’ve had several fun dates, Dan, but we haven’t been camping yet,” she said, trying to ease the growing tension.

  “You’ve chosen a great time for it,” he said, smiling at her.

  “Dan?”

  “Yeah?”

  “I’m sorry I got you into this—but I’m glad you’re here with me.”

  “I am too, Nicole.”

  * * *

  General Del Valle answered the phone on the second ring, glancing quickly at the bedside clock, which read 12:45.

  “Hello.”

  “General Del Valle?”

  “That’s right.”

  “Sir, I’m sorry to disturb you. This is Colonel Pug Connor calling from Virginia.”

  Del Valle’s senses alerted immediately. “What’s up, Colonel?”

  “Sir, I know you’re convalescing from your injuries, but I believe some action is required to provide help for a couple of people both of us would like to see safe and sound.”

  “Go on, Colonel.”

  Chapter 33

  Coastal Range Mountains

  Rumsey Canyon, California

  Dan and Nicole reached the end of the fire trail several miles up the mountain from where they had left Whispering Pines Road. In Nicole’s last call to Connor, she had advised of their location and the precise identification points where they had hidden the disks shortly before turning off the mountain road.

  “Now where?” Nicole asked.

  “E&E, on foot, I think.”

  “What?”

  “Military jargon for escape and evasion. We’ve got to avoid these guys for the night and hope Connor brings the cavalry in the morning.”

  “Have you got a destination in mind?”

  “I think so, although I’m not sure holing up in any one place is a good idea. We ought to keep moving.”

  Fifteen minutes later, Dan found the way to a rocky outcropping from where they could oversee the lower region, including the stretch of Whispering Pines Road where the two pursuers would most likely meet. It was still dark, though the moon now occasionally broke through the cloud cover and provided some light. A whisper of a breeze began stirring the trees as they watched the two sets of headlights converge on what Dan said was an intersection of Whispering Pines Road and a fire trail.

  “They’ll know now that we turned off, and they’ll have to take the time to check each of the side roads they passed. It won’t take ’em long to find the Blazer, especially if they’ve got someone who can track and spot our fresh tire tracks. We could pray for rain, I suppose.”

  “I feel like we’re in an old western movie,” Nicole said.

  “Well, Butch,” Dan said, looking over the outcropping, “which one of us should jump first?”

  “Not me, Sundance,” N
icole grimaced. “There’s no river down below.”

  “Minor point.” Dan rose and took a compass bearing, replacing the instrument in his breast pocket. “That way, I believe.”

  “You believe?” Nicole asked.

  Dan leaned closer to her face, the moon now being hidden behind a bank of clouds. “The movies make things look too simple. I’ve been wandering these hills with Jack for most of my life, but in the dark, with no real landmarks to go by, it’s only dead reckoning and a rough compass direction. We’re going to head for an old Boy Scout hut I’ve stayed at before.” He looked up as the moon broke through briefly, and the wind that had been building began to gust. “If the weather forecast was right, these clouds are going to provide us some moisture pretty soon—the sooner the better,” he added. “It will be uncomfortable for us, but it will also be disruptive to them.” He looked back toward the headlights, now moving apart again, searching for separate trails.

  “Lead the way—I’ll try to keep up.”

  “Don’t worry about keeping up. We’ll be moving very slowly in the dark. And Nicole,” he whispered, taking her face in his hands, “don’t be sorry. I’m still glad you invited me.”

  She kissed him briefly, then pulled her hood up and tightened the drawstring under her chin.

  Rain began to fall just before 2:00 a.m., slowly at first, then more heavily, making the going slippery and difficult. They’d been unable to observe any movement from the brigade searchers since cresting the ridge over an hour earlier. The last compass heading Dan had taken left him fairly certain the searchers had found his Blazer and were concentrating their search along that one fire trail. The brigade was still left with multiple directions they would need to consider. Dan hoped that in the dark and wet conditions, he and Nicole would be able to avoid being spotted until daylight. Nicole had followed in his muddy footsteps without complaint.

  “Not much farther, if I’m right. The cabin should be about half a mile down this ravine. There’s a small stream running this side. Once we spot that, we can just follow it to the cabin.”

  “Still think we should hole up in the Boy Scout hut?” she asked.

  “No.”

  Nicole pulled his arm, stopping his progress. “No? But I thought—”

  “We aren’t going to hole up, Nicole. I am.”

  “Dan, I thought we agreed that—”

  “There’s a small cave—not a cave, really, just a rocky overhang where I’m going to leave you. It’s only about four hundred yards from the Boy Scout hut, and you can see the cabin from there at first light. I’m going to hole up in the cabin.”

  “No, Dan, we should—”

  “Listen, Nicole. I’ve been thinking about it, and it makes sense.” He squatted down, wiping the rain from his face and tugging at Nicole’s hood, shielding her eyes from the rain. “If I’d thought this through better, I would’ve dropped you off at a suitable spot back on the main highway before I headed back up the mountain. After their truck passed, you could have flagged down a car and gotten a ride into town with the disks safely in your possession. I just didn’t think ahead and certainly didn’t plan on another brigade bunch coming from the other side of the mountain. What I’ve realized is that I’m not the only one raised in these hills. Several of the brigade boys know them quite well, also. I’m afraid they might know about the Scout hut, even though it’s been out of use for many years.”

  “But then they’ll come directly to you.”

  “Possibly. But even if they do, I should be able to stall them until morning. They won’t take any action against me until they get orders from their commander. And besides, the cabin is located right in the middle of the last coordinates we gave Connor.”

  “I can’t let you do that.”

  “Nicole,” he said, “I know this is your case, but this is my territory. The brigade’s not stupid. They won’t just kill me without trying to determine where the disks are. I plan to tell them I left you back on Highway 53 and that by now you’ve got the disks safely at FBI headquarters in San Francisco.”

  Nicole thought for a moment and began to see the merit of the argument. “All right, Dan. But if you get caught—”

  “I probably will, but that’s our plan. Remember?”

  Hunkered down beneath a rock outcropping, the rain no longer dripping from her hooded jacket, Nicole listened as the sounds of Dan’s retreat diminished. Lightning had begun to streak across the sky, and in the quick flash of those natural floodlights, she thought she caught a glimpse of the cabin in the direction Dan had indicated. Holding her coat tight around her, she tried to get comfortable in the face of a long wait.

  Less than thirty minutes after Dan left, she was astonished to hear faint voices approaching. Dan had felt they had a good hour-and-a-half head start from the time the brigade would find the Blazer. Nicole squirmed back farther under the rock overhang and tried to still her breathing. She listened as the voices approached and came to a stop only yards away from her position, conferring on the other side of a cluster of rocks. She could make out three or perhaps four voices, and after several seconds of garbled speech, the talking ceased, leaving only the sound of falling rain in the darkness.

  * * *

  Dan had been in the Boy Scout hut just over half an hour when he heard the first sounds. It had seemed like hours, during which he had second-guessed himself several times, concerned that should Nicole be captured, he’d never know it—and even if he did, he wouldn’t be able to do anything about it. The flaw in the plan was his ignorance of what was happening outside. He was trapped, somewhat like a rabbit run to warren, waiting for the fox to find the entrance.

  The door burst open, and two men dressed in full camouflage gear entered the shelter, one wearing goggles Dan recognized instantly as a night-vision device. That accounted for how they had been able to cover the ground so quickly. Dan had started a Coleman lantern after entering the cabin—part of the emergency Boy Scout equipment left behind in the hut. That lantern provided the only light, far too much, however, for the man with goggles. He removed them just as a third man came in the doorway. Mild surprise showed on his face as he recognized Dan, a fact that eluded Dan until the man stepped farther into the light. It was unmistakably Jackson Shaw. As soon as he stepped into the dimly lit room, the even more familiar face of Roger Dahlgren appeared in the doorway.

  “Well, Mr. Rawlings,” Shaw said, “what a pleasant surprise. Camping on such a night, or are you just earning a few more Boy Scout merit badges?” Shaw stepped farther into the small cabin and turned to face one of the men who had not taken his eyes or his weapon off Dan since he entered. “Sergeant Krueger, secure the perimeter.”

  “Yes, sir,” he replied, leaving the cabin.

  Shaw pulled a stool out from under a rickety table and sat down facing Dan, who was standing with his back up against the far wall of the hut. Dahlgren entered and sat on the edge of an old, wooden bunk bed.

  “Lose your companion, Mr. Rawlings?”

  Dan maintained a blank stare, holding Shaw’s eyes. “Companion?”

  “Rawlings,” Shaw said, spitting on the floor of the cabin, “save the tap dance for someone else. Where’s the girl?” he demanded.

  “You must mean Agent Bentley,” Dan replied. Glancing casually at his watch, Dan looked again at Shaw. “By now, she’s probably back at her office in San Francisco.”

  Shaw smiled. “Right! Beam me up, Scotty. Is that it, Rawlings? You expect me to believe that?”

  Dan shrugged his shoulders. “Believe what you will, Shaw. If she’s not there yet, she’s at least well on the way. Look, we can save each other a lot of time. We saw your men at Stevenson’s cabin and when we made a run for it, I left her out on the highway, intending to hide until your men passed. I then took the fire trail back over the mountain to lead them off. By now, she will have flagged down a passing car and made it into the city, or at least to a police station.”

  Shaw remained expressionless, evaluatin
g this bit of information.

  “We might as well all hike back down to our vehicles and go home,” Dan said, pushing his luck. “There’s nothing I have that you want, Shaw.”

  Shaw slowly shook his head side to side, a sneer forming on his face. “Rawlings, you just don’t get it, do you? We’re at war. And you’re not even one of the enemy—entitled to POW treatment under the Geneva Convention. You’re a Californian and a member of our legislature—a traitor, as I see it.”

  Dan remained silent, trying to evaluate Shaw’s mood. If he decided Dan had outwitted him and gotten Nicole away, it might serve only to infuriate Shaw, who seemed quite content to take his victories where he could find them. Sgt. Krueger reentered the room and whispered something to Shaw, who stood, kicking the stool over. Krueger handed Shaw a cellular phone, and Shaw stepped out through the door.

  * * *

  Shaw’s earlier report to Wolff, that they had Agent Bentley caught in a trap, had brought explicit instructions: Get the disks, kill her, and dispose of her body.

  Wolff’s anger at the news that Bentley hadn’t been found, though Rawlings had, brought a change of instructions: “Hold him until daylight, and then we’ll move him. Leave two men with him and check out Bentley’s place. She is, after all, a woman. She might have gone home to get cleaned up and change clothes. Follow those orders, Shaw. Stay in touch, and don’t go off half-cocked!”

  Shaw tried to convince Wolff to let him dispose of Rawlings, but Wolff was adamant.

  “Not yet. I’ll tell you when.”

  * * *

  As Shaw reentered the cabin, Dan and Roger Dahlgren were involved in a silent staring contest. Shaw whispered something to Krueger, who stepped outside again, and Shaw resumed his seat facing Dan.

  “You really don’t get it, do you, Rawlings? I’m surprised, because your own book has some parallels.”