by Brook Wilder
Viper nodded agreement, looking annoyed at being forced to stop.
“Yeah, but the town they mentioned, Kellisburg, we’re driving straight towards it. It’s a little flyspeck town, no more than three or four hundred people. That’s why I figured it would be fine to drive through it. But if there’s gonna be cops there it’s too risky. Strangers are going to stick out like a sore thumb. We’ll have to go another way.”
“Can we go around them?” Tucker asked slowly, his deep voice thoughtful and serious. Sparkplug started to shake his head, then stopped abruptly.
“You still got that map?” the man asked, directing the question at Hot Wheels and she hastily jogged back towards the car, grabbed a large folded piece of paper, and ran back to hand it over to him. Their fingers brushed and they shared a long, intense look until Joel roughly cleared his throat. They both jumped apart and Carla glanced curiously from one to the other, her suspicions from earlier growing.
There was definitely something going on there, but that thought was pushed to the back of her mind as Sparkplug started speaking again.
“Well, there is a way around them but we’ll have to ride through here,” he pointed a large, tattooed finger at a route far more treacherous looking than the one they had already planned and Joel whistled through his teeth as he mentally traced the obstacles, the pitfalls they would encounter.
It was a steep, roundabout climb full of switchbacks and gravel roads that would be hazardous for the cars and downright deadly if they slipped out on one of the bikes. Joel glanced from the map, to the man holding it, one dark eyebrow raised in question.
“You sure about this? Is this the only way?”
“Yeah, it’s the only way. Otherwise we have to backtrack all the way to the border and get on a different highway.” Sparkplug gave him a serious look, “We can make it. It’s only another hour after the turn off here.” He pointed again at a spot on the map several miles still ahead of where they were stopped.
“Alright,” Joel finally said after a lengthy silence, “we can’t go back. That means we can only go forward. Sparkplug, you lead the way. Then Tucker and Viper. Me and Carla will ride next, and then Hot Wheels last. Remember everybody, keep your bugs on and check in every thirty minutes. We can’t have anybody running out of gas or something out here. Got it?” Everyone nodded, check the little ear buds in everyone’s ear. For Sparkplug and Joel, it was a speaker and microphone wired into their helmets. Something like a fancier walkie-talkie. But it kept everyone connected, and if something happened and they had to split up, it would still allow them to communicate with each other.
After everyone had done a quick check of their bugs, they all headed back to their respective vehicles, taking off in the order Joel specified with Sparkplug in the lead. There was a new tension in the air and it made Carla’s neck prickle in unease. It felt like a storm was coming even though the sky around them was still nothing but bright, clear blue.
“Hey bluebird,” Joel said over the intercom, his voice ringing loudly in her ear, despite the wind and the sound of the engine drowning out all else.
“Yeah, Joel?” she answered, yelling because she was still unused to the ear piece and how sensitive it was and Joel flinched a little in her arms as her words exploded in his ear.
“You don’t have to scream, sugar,” Joel said teasingly and Carla blushed as the muffled chuckles from everyone listening in came over the bug. She shifted uncomfortably but didn’t say anything else as she waited for him to speak.
“Listen, Carla,” Joel finally said again, his voice intimate this time and it was like it was only the two of them wrapped up in their own world. “I want you to hold on real tight, okay? And no matter what happens, don’t let go. Just trust me. You can do that right?”
His words washed over her and she did as he bid, holding him even closer in her arms before she answered.
“I can do that,” she was careful to speak softer this time, “I trust you.” As soon as the words were out of her mouth, it hit her. She meant them, every single one. She knew she could trust him with a bone-deep certainty and she had said it without any sort of hesitation. He must have sensed some of what she was feeling too because he half turned to her. The brief look he sent her was full of heat and emotion and words that neither of them could speak out loud. Especially not with half of the gang listening.
But that look was enough. It was enough to carry her through into the foothills of the Utah mountain range, up the narrow road as it grew ever windier, twisting and turning back and forth on itself in a dizzying maze as they neared cliff edges and jagged rock formations.
That single look in his flashing silver eyes was enough to fill her heart to near bursting, filling the rest of her right along with it with a warmth that washed over her in wave after wave and, as she clung to him, she hoped he could feel it too.
As the winding curves took them deeper into the Utah mountains, her thoughts drifted to just how much her life had changed since that fateful day they had first met. Just how scared and uncertain she’d been as she’d driven that big semi-truck full of weed she’d planned on stealing, only to turn around and have it stolen from her.
But the anger and helplessness from that moment had faded so quickly as he’d kept her safe, and then later as she’d come to know them not as ruthless members of a biker gang but as people. People with hopes and fears, goals and aspirations and love just like her.
Love, what? her mind stopped cold at the thought, everything inside her going still as the truth of it sank deep. But we barely know each other, the rational part of her brain tried to argue, but Carla was certain that she knew Joel better than anyone else, that he had opened up parts of himself that he never shared with anyone else. And she had done the same.
Even Elle, her best friend over the past year, wasn’t as close to her as Joel had become in the last few weeks. There was an instant comfort between them, as if she’d known him her whole life and her heart responded wholly, and undeniably.
“Shit! We got a problem.” Hot Wheels’s sudden curse jolted her out of her thoughts and they were all on instant alert.
“What have you got, Wheels?” Joel asked harshly over the speaker.
“We got a tail,” her voice sounded panicked as she spoke and Carla arched her neck around to try and see, but the car was blocked by Hot Wheels’s and she couldn’t make it out.
“What’s the make and model?” he asked suddenly, softly, and Carla’s stomach clenched. She knew the answer even before Wheels said it out loud.
“It’s a tan Toyota four door. That’s all I can tell.”
“Maurice,” Carla whispered as nausea threatened, bile rising in her throat. She didn’t know how, but she knew that her boss had somehow tracked them, somehow found them. Again.
“Are you sure Carla? Are you positive it’s him?” Joel’s question was deadly serious and she remembered his threats against them. Carla craned around once more, squinting backwards to make out the car. It was closer now, just close enough for her to make out the round, pudgy face and dark beady eyes. Eyes that burned with hatred, and malice, and victory.
“Yeah. It’s him. It’s definitely him.”
Joel was silent for a long, tense moment before spitting, “Well, fuck.”
Chapter 21
Panic hit her hard as she tried to cling to Joel for dear life as he threw the throttle and sped down the dangerous mountain roads. She looked behind her, trying to keep Maurice’s car in her sight. It was frantic chase as the two cars full of weed and the two bikes sped, sliding precariously on the loose gravel as the road twisted violently from one direction to the other.
Carla bit back a shriek at one particularly harrowing turn as Joel cranked the handle bars roughly to one side, throwing them in that direction and leaning so close to the gravel path during the turn that she was afraid she would get road burn. But she held on tight, and she never let go. Because she really did trust him. She knew he would take care of he
r.
But what the hell were they going to do about Maurice? her thoughts screamed. They weren’t outrunning him. They could only go so fast on the treacherous road and even though it seemed like he wasn’t gaining, he wasn’t letting up either.
“Joel, we need to move,” that came from Tucker, his voice deep and slow from the second car, the one in front of him
“You’re right. Hold on, let me think for a minute, just keep gunning it,” Joel rattled off distractedly as he focused on keeping them upright, and forming a plan at the same time.
“Alright, alright, I think I got something. Okay everybody, listen up. According to the map we are coming up on a spider web network of dried up ravines. I think they should be just big enough to drive through. We can drive far enough to lose him, then backtrack and meet up at the contact’s location.” Joel took a deep breath that Carla could hear over the speaker, and feel through her chest where she was pressed skin to skin against him.
“Okay, everybody ready?” he finally said.
“Ready, boss.”
“Check.”
“I’m good.”
“Alright,” Joel finished after everyone had chimed in, “It should be coming up, Sparkplug, so keep a sharp eye out for it.”
“Yeah, I know where it is. It’s just over the next bend in the road. Remember guys, don’t go too far. If you get lost in these mountains it could be days, weeks before anyone finds you.”
“Oh, great. Just great,” Viper added from where he was riding shotgun with Tucker. “Great plan. Fabulous, really.”
“Shut up, Viper,” Hot Wheels snapped, “Just do your job, keep an eye out, and we’ll all circle back to the meet up spot.”
Sparkplug spoke up, interrupted, “Alright I’m coming up on it. I’m turning off now.” Carla peered ahead of her on the road, gasping as he seemed to just disappear. One minute he was there, and then the next he was gone as if my magic.
“Okay, Tucker, you’re next.”
“No problem, Joel. See you guys soon,” Tucker’s low voice rumbled before the next turn hit, and he too was lost behind a giant wall of rock. It looked like he’d driven straight through the side of the mountain, but as they passed it, she could just barely make out the narrow, rocky path he’d turned off on, even if the car itself was lost to sight beyond the jagged cliffs.
Joel pointed up ahead.
“That’s where we are turning off. Hold on tighter than you’ve ever held on to anything, Sugar, it’s going to be a bumpy ride.”
Carla squeezed, her whole body tensing, but just as Joel jerked the front wheel to make the turn, Hot Wheels’s voice came over the speaker.
“Joel, we’ve got another problem here,” there was true panic in her voice this time and Joel righted the bike, slowing slightly.
“What is it?”
“Cops, Joel. I can hear the sirens. Shit. They’re right behind me!”
“Just keep punching the gas, Wheels. We’ll get you out of this,” Joel said, his voice hard enough to crush the gravel they were riding on. He followed his own advice and sped up once more, putting more distance between them and the oncoming cops. Carla gasped as they hit a loose pile of gravel and started to slide for a precarious second before Joel regained control of the bike and she heard him bite off a curse.
“You okay, Carla?” he asked, his voice worried.
“Yeah, yeah I’m okay.”
“Well, I’m fucking not, Joel!” Hot Wheels chimed in from the racing car behind them. “They’re getting closer.”
“Don’t worry. I’m not going to leave you. We got this. No worry.”
“No worry! No worry!” she shouted back, exasperation thick in her high-pitched tone. “I think there’s definitely reason to worry, here.”
They both grew silent again as the chase continued, growing more and more dangerous the higher they climbed. The turns came more suddenly and the cliff drops were steeper. So steep that, as they turned around one particularly sharp curve, that Carla felt a moment of vertigo as she peered over the edge. It just dropped into…nothing. Nothing at all but a blur of trees and rocks and razor sharp cliffs.
“Don’t look down,” Joel ordered harshly. “Just close your eyes and hold on to me. Trust me, Carla.”
“I trust you,” she said faintly, doing as he said and squeezing her eyes. It instantly eased some of the panic inside her and she was able to relax her body enough not to fight Joel’s as he leaned deeply into the next turn.
As soon as they straightened, Joel’s voice rang out, “Tucker, Sparkplug, are you guys hidden?” He waited a long moment for their answer. “Guys, check in!” he ordered, but still there was only silence.
“It’s probably the reception, Joel. We’re too far for the signal to reach.”
“Fuck,” was his only response.
“Joel,” Hot Wheels reached out again, pausing for a moment where both could hear her deep, indrawn breath. “Joel, they’re right on my tail. There’s no way I’m getting out of this. You have to split. Take Carla, and get out of here. You can still meet up with Sparkplug’s contact and he can lift most of the weed.”
“No, Hot Wheels!”
“Joel! Listen to me! You have to get out of here, Now! Otherwise it’ll be all three of us behind bars, you, me…and Carla. I know you don’t want to see that,” she shouted out above the sound of sirens that were growing louder and louder behind her. “Just go, take the next turn off and get the fuck out of here. I can take care of myself, you know I can.”
“Damn it,” Joel ground out, “God damn it, Wheels.”
“I know, I know. Swear at me all you want, sweetie, just go. Go, alright!” the last was a testy shout in her southern drawl and Carla could feel Joel shaking his head.
“Fine. I don’t fucking like it.”
“You don’t have to like it, Joel. Just disappear. Now!”
“Just hold tight, Wheels. Whatever happens, we’ll get you out of it.”
“I know, I know,” she repeated, then paused for a long tense moment. “Joel? Can you do me a favor?” she finally asked, her voice almost drowned out completely now by the police cars that almost had her surrounded.
“Anything,” he said hoarsely.
“Can you tell Sparkplug…just tell him that I didn’t mean it. Everything that I said before. I was wrong. Will you tell him that? Tell him that I was wrong.”
“Of course I’ll tell him. Of course,” Joel said softly and Carla could feel the bitter pain in his voice at the thought of leaving one of his own behind. He felt it deeply. Nothing more was said as they drove on in silence. Well, silence except for the police sirens. Suddenly, Joel turned sharply to one side, breaking off from the main highway.
Carla bit back a scream at the abrupt movement, her arms instinctively tightened around him even as her mind was still back with Hot Wheels. They could hear everything as her car was forced to a screeching halt. As the officers shouted for her to step out of the car, and as she was brought to the ground, handcuffs clicking around her wrists.
There were more sounds, more shouting, and Carla recognized the awfully familiar voice of Maurice as he shouted at the police to go catch the rest of them, his tone frenetic, and Carla had to wonder once again how he had even tracked them in the first place. It seemed too much of a coincidence, but the image of Hot Wheels being arrested held her focus and her heart broke for her new friend.
Joel faced straight ahead, never looking back, never showing any sign or effect at what was happening with Hot Wheels. It was only after they had made it deep enough on the narrow, rock strewn path that he started to slow to a more normal pace and shortly after that, the signal when dead. Carla felt it then, the small shudder at the loss of communication, and held him even tighter, offering what little comfort she could for the sacrifice Hot Wheels had made so they could get away. Joel still didn’t say a word, and they rode on.
Chapter 22
Joel grit his teeth at the emotion tearing through him and he drove
up the rocky path until it leveled out. He saw the car first, the one Tucker and Viper had arrived in, and then Sparkplug’s bike parked next to another one. The unfamiliar motorcycle must belong to his contact. At least he had gotten there, at least one goddamn thing had gone right in this whole mess.
It ate at him that he’d left Hot Wheels, one of his own, back there to face the music alone but she hadn’t given him a choice. It had been a low blow bringing Carla into it, painting the picture of her beauty and grace and innocence locked away in a cell. A bluebird trapped in a cage. No freedom. No life.
He hadn’t been able to do it, he hadn’t been able to give himself up if it meant giving Carla up along with him, so he’d taken the cowards way out and let Hot Wheels take the fall while he’d ridden away to hide in the foot hills until the cops and Maurice had passed.