Rattled

by Kris Bock

  “It’s your stomach.” Camie pulled half off the road to avoid a rough patch left by a washout, and the Jeep lurched. The road narrowed and got rougher as the hills closed in on either side. They curved around a low hill that cut off Erin’s view of the highway, and she sighed with relief. The black SUV had not returned, and no other car had turned behind them.

  Erin braced herself as the Jeep skidded through a sandy patch. The wheels caught on harder packed dirt, and the engine growled as they shot ahead. Then the Jeep slowed. Erin glanced over as Camie stopped and slid her plastic window sideways to open it. A large reddish-brown cow gazed back at them from beside the road. Camie let out a low, long moo that sounded surprisingly bovine. The cow didn’t react, except for the twitching of its tail.

  Erin laughed. “What did you tell it?”

  “Just hello. There’s no point in getting into a deep discussion. Cows only have two neurons.”

  “That many?”

  “It’s one too many. Sometimes they both fire simultaneously and the cow starts running in a random direction without even knowing why.”

  Erin shook her head, smiling. Why was she getting so uptight about this adventure? It was supposed to be fun. It was going to be fun. She just had to forget about all the trouble of the last few days, convince herself that camping in the desert would be great, and stop worrying about what she had or didn’t have with Drew. She was on an adventure with her best friend. An adventure that might lead to one of the greatest discoveries in the American southwest. She needed to find the enthusiasm she’d felt when she first discovered the final clue, less than a week before. She remembered a tip about public speaking—tell yourself that’s not anxiety you’re feeling, it’s excitement. Well then, she was excited.

  She gave one last glance over her shoulder as the Jeep bounced forward. A puff of dust rose over the low hill. Erin stiffened. She couldn’t see very far back on the road, but as the faint haze of dust billowed forward in a line, she knew it could only mean one thing. A vehicle was coming down the road behind them.

  “Wait!”

  The Jeep lurched to a stop, the engine purring loudly.

  “No, keep going. No, wait—” Erin shook her head. “I don’t know. I think someone is following us after all.”

  The women stared at each other. “We have to know,” Camie said. They turned and gazed back. Tiger lifted his head from his perch on a stack of large rubber tubs and gave an inquiring meow. The seconds ticked by.

  A black SUV rounded the corner behind them.

  The SUV stopped, fishtailing and kicking up sand. Sun glinted off the windows, obscuring the passengers inside. The dust settled around the SUV, with the two vehicles poised like some bizarre game of chicken.

  “Damn it,” Camie muttered. “Have they been watching everything we do?” She frowned. “I can’t outrun them. They could follow us all the way and we won’t be able to do anything to stop them.” She studied Erin’s face. “You okay?”

  Breathe, Erin told herself. Just breathe. It was only a car. Don’t think about the people inside. They didn’t get you last time. You survived the accident, the break-ins, everything so far. You’re winning. She managed to draw in a shuddering breath. “I’m okay. Just—”

  Camie grasped her arm and gave a squeeze. “They can’t afford to hurt us. Remember that. They haven’t been able to find the clue to the treasure, so they need us. They need you.”

  Erin nodded. “But they’re not going to get me. We have to get away from them.”

  Camie frowned. “We could just go home. Start over some other time. Or go to your mother’s after all. Spend a few days, hope they get bored.”

  “I don’t think I can keep waiting,” Erin said. “Besides, they might get tired of waiting and try something.”

  “All right. Then we need to move faster than they can. We need something they can’t follow.” She started to smile. “I’ll tell you what we need. We need a helicopter.”

  Erin stared at her. “Drew? You want to call Drew?”

  “You have a better idea?”

  “No, but what if he’s one of them? Or what if he’s after the treasure too, on his own?”

  Camie gazed into the rearview mirror, her hands tapping restlessly on the steering wheel. “I don’t think he is, but in any case, we don’t have to tell him the exact location. We’ll just have him drop us nearby.”

  “All right, but I don’t want to... I mean....” Her mind felt choked and sluggish, like wading through mud. She shook her head, trying to clear it. She had to keep the panic at bay and stay rational. “I don’t want to ask him for a favor. I don’t want to owe him any more than I already do.”

  “So who’s asking? We’ll pay him. He’s a pilot for hire, right?”

  “Yes, all right.” Her heart fluttered. She would see Drew again. He’d make everything all right. She pushed that thought away. She didn’t need a man to rescue her, to solve her problems. They were solving their own problems. Drew would just be doing a job. Best not to think of it as more than that. But if she felt warmth spreading through her at the thought of seeing him again, no harm in that.

  Camie swore and the Jeep leaped ahead with the engine roaring. Erin whipped around to look behind them. She gasped as the SUV barreled toward them. “What are they doing?”

  “Trying to cause an accident, disable the Jeep, kidnap us, ask us for a date? I don’t really care. Let’s get out of here.”

  “You said you couldn’t outrun them.”

  “No, but I can make it difficult for them. Call Drew. See when he can leave.”

  Erin fumbled for her phone as the Jeep bounced over ruts. She braced a hand on the dashboard and found his number, glad now that she’d programmed it in last night, though she’d felt a bit foolish then. She pressed the phone to her ear, trying to hear over the engine sounds and rattling plastic windows. What if he didn’t answer? What if he was out on a job? What if he was in the SUV behind them?

  “Morgan air charter. Drew here.”

  “Drew! It’s Erin.”

  “Good morning! Did you sleep well?”

  “Yeah, okay.” Erin winced as the Jeep bounced, throwing her against her seatbelt. He thought she’d called just to talk to him. She felt like dirt.

  “Where are you? What’s that racket?”

  Erin braced her feet on the floorboards and pushed back against the seat, trying to keep stable, and pressed a hand over her ear to hear better. “I’m in Camie’s Jeep. Uh, Drew, we’re in a bit of trouble here.”

  “What’s wrong?” His voice sharpened with concern.

  “We’re being followed, and—oh, I can’t explain everything right now. The main question is, can you fly somewhere? Are you available for hire?”

  “Right now?”

  “As soon as possible. I realize you have—”

  “I’m at the airport. I’ll be ready when you get here.”

  “Thanks,” she whispered, unsure if he could hear her over the background noise, and hung up.

  Erin glanced back. The SUV loomed large in the rear window. It swung to the left and pulled forward, trying to get up beside them. Erin realized that Camie had been wrong about one thing—the bad guys might not want to kill Erin, but that didn’t mean they couldn’t hurt her. Or kill Camie, if only to make a point.

  “Hang on!” Camie shouted, jerking the wheel to the left. They heard the scrape of metal on metal, but they cut off the SUV. Camie winced. “I hope that was just the bumper.”

  “This is crazy!” Erin screamed. “What are they thinking?”

  “I’m not going to stop and ask them. Oh man, hold onto your hat.”

  The road ahead vanished where an early flash flood had washed away a 20-foot section. A steep slope dropped three feet down into the arroyo left behind by seasonal flooding. Camie slammed on the brakes and they skidded.

  The SUV bumped them from behind.

  The Jeep shot over the drop, slamming into the sandy arroyo with a thud that threw Eri
n forward and knocked the breath from her.

  Camie wrenched the wheel and the Jeep swung left. Erin bounced off the side door, gasping as her sore shoulder hit. The Jeep seemed to hover for a moment as the wheels spun, then they grabbed and the Jeep shot forward down the arroyo.

  “What are you doing?” Erin yelled.

  “We can’t outrun them on the road, but I’ll bet I have better traction in this sand. Maybe we can pull ahead.”

  “But you’re in an arroyo!”

  Camie grinned, hunched over the wheel. “It’s not the first time. Now we’ll see if these guys can drive.”

  Erin wrapped her good fingers around the door handle and tried not to bump the broken one. She braced her left forearm against the side of Camie’s seat and concentrated on staying in her seat as the Jeep bounced and skidded. She glanced at the speedometer. Thirty? It felt more like 90 on the rough ground. She gasped as a tree loomed ahead and instinctively ducked as branches slapped the windshield in front of her face.

  “Let’s see them squeeze through there!” Camie exclaimed gleefully.

  Erin turned to see the SUV pushing past the tree, twigs and leaves scattering through the air, the left side of the vehicle scraping against the rocky arroyo wall. “Didn’t stop them.”

  “That will leave a mark, though,” Camie muttered. “Uh oh, rough spot ahead.”

  So what do you call the rest of this? Erin wondered, but she was too busy holding on to speak. The sandy arroyo bottom changed to rock, swirls of sandstone washed into smooth mounds and rounded pockets by centuries of seasonal floods. Camie downshifted and slowed.

  Erin glanced back. “They’re gaining.”

  “Not for long.” They bumped up onto rock. “And if we’re lucky, they’ll slam into one of these holes and break something.”

  “I haven’t been feeling that lucky lately.”

  Camie grinned and tossed her head. “Then it’s time for a change.”

  The Jeep tilted crazily as Camie pulled halfway up the sloping side wall in order to avoid a large pothole in the rock. Erin gasped as she slid against the door, expecting any moment that the Jeep would tumble sideways. The piles of gear in the back shifted and clanged. A demonic yowl filled the car.

  “Tiger!” Camie yelled. She pulled back to the center of the arroyo and the Jeep slammed onto solid ground.

  “He’s all right.” The big orange cat crawled over Erin’s right shoulder. He crouched in her lap, his claws digging through her jeans. She didn’t have the heart to insist he let go, especially since she couldn’t spare a hand to hold him in place.

  The Jeep flung Erin from side to side. The gauges that showed the angle of tipping and rolling rotated crazily. Her stomach churned as nausea built up. They shot off the end of the stone wash and dropped a foot into a sandy patch. Erin’s head smacked back against the headrest and she blinked to clear her vision while her head throbbed.

  “Come on, baby,” Camie coaxed as they headed toward a steep, three-foot rise. The engine growled as they eased up the slope. For a moment blue sky filled their view through the window. Then the world shifted crazily, they flattened out, and the Jeep shot ahead.

  Erin squirmed, trying to find a stable position. Her sides hurt from the effort of holding herself upright against the tossing and lurching. The ground was mostly sandy now, but with a scattering of large rocks. Sand flew out behind them in a graceful arc.

  A clang echoed through the car, loud enough to make Erin’s ears sing. She shrieked and ducked. “What was that? Are they shooting at us?”

  “No worries,” Camie yelled over the noise of the engine and the rattling gear. “Just a rock on the skid plate. How far ahead are we?”

  Erin grabbed the door handle with both hands for balance and craned her head around. “That steep part slowed them down, but I think they just made it over.” She blinked, trying to hold back tears, as her breath caught in her chest. Those people knew her plans, had come into her house, were following her. It was like they had taken over her life. And she didn’t even know who they were.

  “There’s the highway!” Camie said.

  Hope leaped in Erin’s heart, until she looked ahead. The arroyo led between huge metal pillars. A pickup truck crossed in front of them, its cab visible above the highway’s cement side barriers a hundred feet away—and 20 feet up. I-25 crossed above them. The walls of the arroyo, six feet high and steep here, offered no escape. “But we’re going beneath it!”

  “It’s a start. Where are they?”

  Erin pulled her gaze away from the semi crossing above their heads and looked behind. “They’re pretty far back, but still coming.”

  The Jeep shot past the highway’s metal support beams. Camie hunched over the wheel, muttering to herself. Erin just had time to notice a muddy patch ahead before the Jeep gave a lurch and mud splattered across the windshields.

  The arroyo grew shallower, the sides sloping more gradually, as they came out onto a flat plain. A few buildings in the distance showed that they were nearing a small town. Erin knew from prior visits that their arroyo must parallel the I-25 exit ramp and then the main road through town.

  “Hold on.” Camie pressed back in her seat and slammed on the brakes. Erin slid forward as Tiger tumbled off her lap with an aggrieved yowl. He crouched between her feet, tail lashing angrily.

  “Don’t blame me, buddy,” Erin muttered. “I’m just along for the ride.”

  Camie turned the Jeep and started grinding up a 45 degree slope of fist-size rocks. The engine growled. The Jeep jerked like an amusement park ride as rocks slid under the wheels.

  “It gets a lot flatter ahead,” Erin pointed out.

  “And easier for them. I’d like to see that yuppie car get up this.”

  “I’d like to see us get up this,” Erin said as the Jeep slid back a foot. She glanced over her shoulder. The black SUV was 30 feet away and closing fast. Erin sat up straighter. “I’d like to see us get up this right now!”

  Camie swore, shifted gears, and wrestled with the steering wheel. Erin watched the SUV loom closer. It swung around behind them, still moving fast. “They’re going to ram us!” Erin wailed.

  The sight of the SUV filled their back window. A bump shook the Jeep and it lurched forward. Erin couldn’t see the ground ahead with the angle of the Jeep. She felt like she was falling backward and had maybe left her stomach somewhere along the way. She wriggled so she could see the SUV behind them.

  The doors were opening. “They’re getting out!”

  In seconds they would reach the Jeep’s doors. They would pull her and Camie out. Then what? They were too far from town for anyone to notice, too far below the highway for anyone driving past to understand what was happening. They would be prisoners. At the mercy of men who had already attacked her, who obviously didn’t care whether she lived or died, so long as they got the treasure. No one even knew where they were going. Drew might realize something was wrong when they didn’t show up at the airport, but what could he do? What could anyone do?

  The Jeep swayed side to side as the back wheels shifted, but finally they started to level out and Erin could see the highway entrance ramp 20 feet ahead. The Jeep hit flat ground and shot forward. “Ha, thanks for the push, suckers!” Camie cackled.

  Erin looked back. She got a glimpse of the SUV, but the open doors mostly hid the two people standing on either side of it. They scrambled back in and slammed the doors before she could see enough to recognize them. As the Jeep rocketed toward the highway, Erin could see the top of the SUV lurching up and falling back—once, twice—and then it disappeared, hidden down in the arroyo.

  Erin was gasping for breath like she’d been running. She hadn’t even noticed until now how hard her heart was hammering. Her whole body ached from the tension of hanging on. She thought it would take days for the knots in her stomach to relax. But they had gotten away from the SUV. This time, it hadn’t touched her.

  She settled more comfortably in the seat with an exh
austed groan as Camie turned up the ramp to the highway. Erin looked back again, trying to spot the SUV down in the arroyo and wondering how long it would take them to navigate that slope. From this higher angle, she could see part of the arroyo bottom, but no SUV. Frowning, she scanned the area. As her gaze moved toward the small town, she spotted the SUV turning onto the road. They had gone farther on, until the slope flattened out, and were still coming.

  The highway crash barrier cut off her view. Erin turned around and stared ahead. The people in the SUV had to know where they’d gone. The highway didn’t have another exit for 10 miles. The SUV would find them again before they reached the airport.

  Chapter 14

  “They’re going to catch up.”

  Camie glanced at her. “You all right? You look kind of....”

  Erin realized she had her hand pressed to her stomach. Muttering softly, Tiger crawled up into her lap and curled in a ball. Erin stroked his back and felt his purr, though she couldn’t hear it over the wind rushing through the gaps between the plastic window panels. She sighed, feeling a little of the tension ease.

  “I’m all right, I guess. Just shaken. And after all that—” She ducked to study the side mirror and saw the black SUV coming up fast. “They’re already behind us.”

  Camie shrugged. “If we thought we could lose them entirely in the Jeep, we wouldn’t need the helicopter. But they have to watch their step now, since we’re back around other people. On that back road, they could have—” She shook her head. “I don’t want to think about it. We meet Drew, get out of here, and leave them standing.”

  “Still on the run.”

  “Better than being a sitting duck.”

  Erin sighed. “We could go to the police. We have evidence this time. At least, I imagine there’s damage to your back end and their front.”

  “We could,” Camie said.

  “And you don’t have to bother telling me why that’s a bad idea; I’ll do it myself. The police would want to know why these guys were chasing us. We’d have to answer a lot of questions. At best, we get a long delay. At worst, the goons escape, we don’t know where they are, and we have even more people who know about the treasure.”