by Jenna Night
Nate ended his call.
“That was Elijah Morales I was talking to,” he said as he made the turn north. The two-lane stretch of asphalt would take them across an expanse of scrubby high desert that looked flat but actually rose steadily in elevation. After crossing it, they’d reach the bottom of a winding road that would take them up into the thickly forested mountains and eventually to the small town of Painted Rock.
“Elijah brought Vanquish back to life about three years ago after he returned from serving in the Middle East,” Nate continued. “He was an army ranger.”
Lily was no expert in military affairs, but she knew what a ranger was. “That alone earns him respect.”
“It does.” Nate checked his mirrors. He’d constantly checked them and kept an eye on surrounding traffic from the moment they’d left the Blue Spruce Ranch. It was midafternoon and traffic outside of Copper Mesa had been sparse. Just a few cars and scattered big-rig trucks.
“I’m a little concerned that this guy doesn’t just pass me out here,” Nate muttered.
Lily glanced in her side mirror. Even though Nate drove faster than the speed limit—a habit she’d already noticed—a car stayed impatiently close to their tail. Some kind of customized SUV with fat tires and darkened windows.
After a couple of tense minutes it finally did pass them. Once it was several car lengths ahead of them and accelerating, Lily could see Nate’s arms and shoulders relax. Then he set a handgun on the bench seat between them. He must have had it tucked somewhere under his coat.
“We’re in Gaston’s truck and we didn’t see anyone behind us driving down the road from the ranch. Do you really think someone could already be following us?” she asked, hoping for some reassurance to help throw off the sense of dread that had settled over her when they’d passed by the Starlight Mart as they made the turn to head north at the crossroads.
“Criminals aren’t always dumb or lazy. Or without law-enforcement connections,” Nate added grimly.
“So why exactly is Painted Rock safer than anywhere else?” Lily asked. “There are lots of places we could go. Maybe even a different state. And what do you know about Vanquish the Darkness? That’s a pretty dramatic name.”
Up ahead the SUV that had just passed them hit its brakes and then turned off the highway. Typical. People were always in such a hurry even when they only had a mile or two to go before they turned.
Or maybe he was going to come back up behind them. Lily kept her eyes on her side mirror, hoping the SUV wouldn’t reappear. There were plenty of nearly invisible paths leading off the highway out here. Some were private roads leading to houses or trailers not visible from the main road. Others meandered out to illegal dump sites, spots where people liked to camp, or in some cases improvised race tracks.
“A person could have a staging area for stolen cargo anywhere out here,” she muttered. “You’d never find them.”
“Don’t be so sure. There are plenty of men and women out fighting the good fight who are smart and relentless. I got out and rode around on some of these trails back when I was younger and didn’t have anything better to do. I could track somebody out here if I had to.”
Lily shook her head. “It’s overwhelming.”
“Not if you have help,” Nate insisted. “Let me tell you about Vanquish the Darkness. Joe and Julie Morales started it about thirty years ago. They and some of their friends from church liked to ride and wanted to do something good for people. They formed an outreach group that visited shut-ins and people in the hospital, raised funds for children’s programs and made sure veterans knew they weren’t forgotten.”
“Sounds like a great idea.” Lily still had her eyes on the mirror. She could see for a long distance behind her and the road was still empty.
“They went like gangbusters for a few years but at some point their activities slowed down and finally stopped. I don’t know why, but my guess is the members started their families and riding motorcycles most weekends didn’t work well with raising little kids.”
“I can see that.” None of this explained how they could help her and Nate stay safe.
They had crossed the flats and were heading up into the mountains.
“Joe and Julie’s son, Elijah Morales, was an army ranger and came home after serving a couple of tours in the Middle East,” Nate continued. “He wanted to keep serving in some capacity. At first, he just got together with friends from church to visit veterans in hospitals and other facilities and make sure they were okay. But then they stumbled across people who needed serious help, people who were in danger.”
“Okay, but why not call the cops?”
“Oh, they do. But not everybody gets a personal protection plan.”
She glanced over at Nate. He looked pointedly at her and she felt her face flush. She turned back to the mirror. Apparently he didn’t think of himself as a family man. If Lily got involved with a man again, he would have to want a family like she did. And he’d have to be a lot more reliable than Kevin.
“The resources aren’t there to protect citizens around the clock and some people don’t have family or friends to take them in until the situation is safe again,” Nate added.
Thank You, Lord, Lily prayed. She did have family and friends to help her out. She stole another look at Nate. Right now she had her own personal protector. A very attractive one, to boot. Not everybody got that.
“Specifically, we’re heading for the Morales Ranch,” Nate continued. “Not only does the Morales family live and work there, it’s also the central hub for Vanquish. They have a network of riders and support people who will show up at a moment’s notice. And the main ranch house has a pretty extensive security system, which is why I’m taking you there.”
“Do you ever ride with them?”
“When I have time.”
It was easy to imagine Nate on a motorcycle. He’d certainly had the look when he first showed up at the Starlight Mart.
“I met them after I got transferred out here about a year ago. I got a call on a traffic incident. A woman had been driven off the road. She was on her way to visit her great-aunt in Painted Rock, who happens to be a neighbor of the Moraleses. She was coming from Las Vegas, where she’d angered a mob attorney. Elijah and some of his Vanquish riders came to her rescue.”
The road wound along the side of a mountain. There were stretches where Lily could only see pine trees or exposed rock, but then there were open stretches where she could get a clear view. The ground to the side of the road fell away to a steep drop. Beyond the edge, the flatland where they’d just driven spread out below them. Vibrant red and orange mesas jutted into the skyline in the distance.
“Did the woman from Las Vegas survive?” Lily asked, feeling her throat thicken just a little. Maybe this story had a bad ending.
“She’s fine. Her name is Olivia. She and Elijah got married.”
A loud bang, like an explosion, rocked the truck.
Lily screamed, her fingers digging into the seat beside her.
Nate fought for control as they swerved across the narrow road.
NINE
The truck slid until its right front tire hit a jut of rock and sent them ricocheting back across the highway, where they finally came to a stop. At least they were on the side of the road that pressed up against the mountain. Heart pounding in his chest, Nate looked over at Lily. The sight of a spray of blood across her cheek stole his breath for several seconds. Then he saw that her side window had been completely blown out.
“Ha,” Lily said. Not a laugh, but a stunned exhalation. It sounded as if she was reaching for a word but couldn’t grab hold of it.
“Where were you hit?” Nate quickly unbuckled his seat belt and moved toward her.
Her face was drained of color, her dark brown eyes looking bigger than
usual behind the glasses that sat slightly askew on the bridge of her nose.
When she didn’t answer he started checking her for injuries, carefully brushing aside the bits of safety glass from her side window. Fortunately, it had done its job and not splintered into deadly shards. The blood on her cheek came from a small cut just in front of her ear.
“I’m not hit,” she finally said, her voice oddly calm. She had to be in shock. He glanced at the windshield and saw a hole surrounded by a spiderweb of cracks just above the dashboard where the bullet had passed through.
Ambush was Nate’s first thought. But from where? There were foothills with off-roader riding trails etched all through them down below this stretch of the highway. Maybe someone had shot at them from one of the foothills. Or maybe from the side of the road. He twisted in the seat to look in every direction around them, but he couldn’t see anybody. He turned back to Lily. “I’m going to unfasten your seat belt.”
“Okay.” Her voice sounded robotic. He didn’t blame her for being scared. He was scared, too. Maybe they were surrounded. Maybe somebody was getting ready to close in on them.
He unbuckled her seat belt and gently tugged down on her arm. “Slide to the floorboard and tuck down as low as you can. Stay out of sight.”
“Okay.” This time she started to move. She was getting her wits back. Good for her.
Nate already had his phone in his hand. His door was facing the mountainside, nearly pressed against the wall of rock. He opened the door, slid out and crouched down, holding his pistol in one hand while he dialed 911 with the other.
Nothing happened with his phone. He glanced at the screen. No bars. No reception. No surprise. He knew there were stretches along this switchback up the mountain where it was impossible to get reception without a satellite phone. And he hadn’t gotten one yet because the radio in his patrol car worked just fine out here.
Watching him, Lily reached into her purse on the seat for her phone and tried it, too. She looked up at him and shook her head. No reception, either.
The coughing sound of a struggling car engine followed by the squeal of brakes caught Nate’s attention. A weathered blue van had rounded the bend behind them and slammed to a stop a few yards shy of Gaston’s battered truck.
“Put your head down,” Nate commanded, keeping his voice calm while his heart raced in his chest. He pulled out a backup pistol he’d placed under the front seat before they’d left the ranch. He set it on the seat and looked at Lily. “If anything happens,” he said, “use it.”
“Hey, man, are you okay?” The driver of the van got out and started toward him. He was a tall, skinny guy, not much more than a teenager, dressed in a plaid flannel shirt and ripped jeans. He flashed a friendly smile. The passenger in the front seat, a chubbier fellow, got out and followed him holding a soda cup from the Starlight Mart and sipping from a bright orange straw.
They looked harmless. Which meant nothing. They could be shooters who knew exactly how to blend in with their surroundings, how to appear innocent.
“Stop right there,” Nate called out, still trying to assess the situation and figure out what had happened to him and Lily in the truck. Somebody must have taken the shot with a sniper rifle from a good distance away. Maybe it was one of these guys and they were here to confirm the kill. Or maybe it was the missing Eddie Drake and he was nearby, waiting for his chance to shoot again.
The good Samaritans dropped their smiles at Nate’s less-than-friendly greeting. They exchanged confused glances. When they turned back to Nate, they both looked afraid. Which didn’t mean that they actually were. That could be an act.
Nate watched their hands. He didn’t see any guns, but that could just mean they kept them tucked away out of sight.
He lifted his hand so they could see the pistol he held. Just in case they had any ideas.
“What’s going on?” Lily asked in a soft voice.
“Two men are walking up the road,” Nate quietly answered.
“If you really want to help,” Nate called out to the men who’d stopped and now stood staring at him as if they were afraid to move, “go back down the mountain until you get cell reception and call 911.”
“Okay, that’s cool.” The skinny guy vigorously nodded his head and held up his hands in a placating gesture. Then he glanced at his friend, who’d pulled the soda straw out of his mouth, and they both backed toward their van, keeping an eye on Nate the whole time. Once inside it, they made a panicked attempt at a U-turn and had to back up and move forward a couple of times, then they burned rubber and raced back down the mountain.
Their response was not necessarily good news. If neither one of them was the shooter, it meant the shooter was still out there. Maybe even nearby. Possibly with a fix on Lily or Nate right this very minute.
“Are they gone?” Lily asked.
“Yes.” Nate turned back toward Gaston’s truck. It wasn’t going anywhere under its own power. One of the fenders was bashed in far enough that it got in the way of the tire. So the question plaguing Nate now was whether Lily was safer tucked down in the truck, where the shooter couldn’t see her, or if having her stay in the truck made her an easier-to-find target.
“Staying scrunched down here is making my thigh hurt,” Lily grumbled. “Can I get up now?”
“Sorry.” He’d forgotten about her injury. But getting shot would be worse. “Try to stay down there for a few more minutes.”
Meanwhile, he scanned the trees around them, feeling uneasy. Not the best cover, but if they could make it just a little farther up the road they’d have cell service again. He’d have to carry Lily. It might be slow going, but it was starting to look like their best option.
Nate’s decision was made for him when he heard another car rumbling up the mountainside. He watched until he saw the customized SUV that had passed them earlier. It stopped a few car lengths down the road, idled for a few seconds and then slowly backed out of sight. The driver cut the engine.
Weird.
Nate stepped around the truck, closer to the driver’s side door he’d left open, so he could take cover behind it if he had to. Then he waited to see if this was another, more cautious Good Samaritan. Nate couldn’t see what was happening and that worried him. A lot.
Lily shifted her weight and started climbing up from the floorboard onto the truck’s bench seat.
“Wait,” Nate said quietly.
“For what?” Lily snapped. “My leg hurts.”
“I think someone else is coming up the road.”
Either she didn’t hear him or she didn’t realize the danger she was in. She kept her head down but she still continued to climb up onto the seat. Nate moved into the juncture where the door was attached to the truck, positioning his body so that anyone or anything would have to go through him to get to her.
A bullet pinged off the exposed rock on the mountainside just behind his shoulder, sending rock fragments flying. Nate hadn’t even heard the report of the shot being fired. The shooter was using a silencer.
“Get down!” He lunged into the truck, throwing himself on top of Lily and wrapping his arms around her head.
“What’s happening?” she cried out in a tearful voice.
Nate rose up and looked out the back window. Someone was walking toward them, but he stayed in the shadows by the side of the road. It looked like the figure of a man. Eddie Drake? He couldn’t tell. The man was dressed in camo, a bandanna tied across the lower half of his face and a black beanie pulled down low across his forehead. He was carrying a rifle.
Nate slid out of the truck, staying low and using the truck to keep his body hidden from the gunman. He flicked the safety off the pistol in his hand, mentally kicking himself for not having brought a rifle. He would have to let the man get closer before he’d be in range of Nate’s handgun. The last thing he
wanted was for Lily to get caught in the middle of a gunfight, but he had no choice.
Lily shifted so she could see Nate.
He nodded toward the other gun on the seat. “Do you know how to use that?”
“No.”
He reached for the gun and made sure the safety was off. “If something happens to me, use it. Do the best you can.”
“I will.”
This time he could hear the steel in her voice, the courage that had saved her life more than once before. It made him feel better.
Nate watched and waited to see what the man with the rifle would do. There was no telling what other weapons he might have or who else might be with him. But the second he pointed that rifle toward Nate, Nate would take a shot at him. He couldn’t risk getting hurt and leaving Lily unprotected.
Wind stirred through the tops of the pine trees, making a sound similar to waves reaching the shore. Nate kept watching and listening. Someone else could also be closing in on them from a different direction. He concentrated so hard he could hear his own heartbeat thumping in his ears.
And then he heard something different. An engine. More than one. Motorcycles.
The man with the rifle must have heard the sounds at the same time Nate did. He backed away in the direction he’d come from, and a few seconds later Nate heard the SUV’s engine start up and fade away. Shortly after, a string of shiny black-and-chrome motorcycles came into view on the road up ahead.
Nate breathed a sigh of relief and stood up.
The man riding the lead motorcycle and a second rider just behind him pulled up close to Nate. The others pulled off to the side and waited, engines idling.
“You all right?” The leader glanced at the truck. “What happened?”
“That’s Lily in the front seat,” Nate said in response to Elijah Morales. “Take care of her.” He turned to the other, younger, man beside Elijah. “Jonathan, give me your bike.”
“Why do you want my brother’s bike?” Elijah asked, calmly crossing his arms over his chest.