by Tijan
“What do you want us to do?”
Verónica was stirring, and I prepared myself for her horror at realizing I was beside her. She didn’t do that this time, only blinking her eyes at me, bags under her eyes and her eyes took in the phone in my hand.
I asked Abram, “What are you thinking?”
“I can’t see that being one of Marco’s. It’d be a whole team or he’d go ahead, call it in and then a slew of vehicles would swarm in.”
“They’re behind our vehicle, not yours.” That was from Jake.
Ash said, “I was on that hill.”
That’s what I was thinking, too. “Fall behind us. Let’s see what that car does.”
“And if he keeps going?” Jake.
“We take the next exit and haul ass. Stick to county roads.”
“Got it.”
“Leave the line open, just in case.”
“Will do. I’m falling back now.”
We hit the passing lane.
The green kept on them.
As we passed, the truck fell in behind us and then went ahead of us.
The green car, it stayed.
“They’re sticking to us.”
I said to Abram, “I want to drive.”
“What? I got skills.”
“Now.”
He growled, but then nodded to Verónica. “Move over, V.”
She didn’t say anything, but then I opened the back window and crawled out.
Abram and I had done this before, a long time ago so he knew the procedure.
Opening his window, he moved over as much as possible, but still held the wheel.
I poised on the edge of the truck, grabbed under the door and then flipped around and back inside. My feet went first and went down immediately, touching the ground as I grabbed the wheel from Abram.
The truck had started to slow, so I hit the accelerator.
After that, I went back to the passing lane and hit the brakes.
I wanted to see who was in that green car.
“Raize!” Ash was yelling from the phone. “You’re fucking insane!”
I smothered a chuckle. That’d really piss her off.
Abram chuckled. “Your blonde’s still loca. I like that.”
I flipped him my middle finger, and I was shocked to hear my sister let out a small giggle. Looking over, she had her head pressed into Abram’s arm. She was holding the phone up as he had his gun pulled out, laying on his lap.
From the phone, I could hear Jake. “How’d he know your hair used to be blonde?”
“Shut up. One crisis at a time here. Did you not just see that Raize crawled out of their truck and crawled back in through the window?!” Ash’s voice was rising.
“Yeah.” Jake laughed. “That was awesome.”
Cavers snorted, but must’ve taken the phone. His voice was more clear, closer. “What do you want us to do, boss?”
“I’m going to ram him, see what he’ll do. If you see an exit, take it.”
“You serious?”
I got behind the green car, hit the turn signal, and said, “Yes.”
Then I hit the accelerator.
ASH
I did not like this. Not one bit.
Panic was rising up in me, clawing over my throat.
I’d just watched Raize go out of their truck and slide back inside, from the outside. Which meant he’d been on the outside of a moving vehicle. And we weren’t taking a Sunday drive here. Speeds were interstate speeds. That meant hella-freaking-fast!
It was insane.
Crazy! Abram was right.
I wanted to murder Raize myself.
And then we proceeded to watch as he hit the back of the green car.
A bump, then he fell back and I knew he was waiting.
My heart was trying to pump out of me. “Oh my gawd, Raize. I’m going to kill you.”
I couldn’t handle this.
The green car swerved, ran onto the shoulder, then over-corrected and went into the passing lane. All the while, Raize’s truck held back, waiting, being so controlled.
Once the green car was back on the highway, Raize was right behind it. Another bump, not as gentle as the first one. And again, he fell back to see the reaction.
He didn’t wait long.
A gunshot sounded from the green car, and after that, it was over for him.
Raize rammed the car sideways, herding it off the highway and into the ditch. He kept pushing it. More gunshots came out and Raize’s front window shattered.
Someone was screaming.
Probably me.
I could just make out the tops of Abram and Raize’s sister’s heads. They were crouched down, but Abram had a gun pointing over the dashboard, aimed out. I could see Raize directing him where to shoot, and I saw him say, “Now!”
A shot went out.
I couldn’t watch this.
No way.
My hands were over my face, my fingers spread wide.
Oh my gawd.
Oh my God!
The green car jerked to the side, then Raize backed off and let it ram to a stop at the bottom of the ditch. There were giant rocks on the side. The car scraped against them. Once the car stopped, Raize braked abruptly behind it, the truck half blocking the car from any onlookers, and he was out and running to check on the driver.
His gun was drawn, pointing.
Abram ran out from the other side. As Raize approached from the far side, Abram moved in from the south.
Cavers was cursing, wheeling our own truck over and we all piled out.
“Clear!” Raize yelled at the same time as Abram and both went into the car.
The door was yanked open.
Raize was checking on the guy, but as I started to stop and see what I could do, Cavers grabbed my elbow. He pulled me with him.
Jake was ahead of us.
Gus—GUS! Where was Gus? But he was right beside me. Then he was darting forward, barking by Jake’s heels.
That’s when I got what Jake and Cavers were doing. They were grabbing anything that was in Raize’s truck. His sister started screaming at the sight of both of them, but they ignored her, grabbing the bags and sprinting back to the truck.
Raize had pulled the guy out, laying him on the side of the road by now.
Abram was inside the car.
But then I was at the opened side door and Raize’s sister was staring at me, tears streaked over her face. She was trembling.
Two hands reached inside my chest, took hold of my heart, and began squishing it together.
I was almost crying for her.
She was muttering something in Spanish. I couldn’t make it out, but I edged closer and held up a hand. “I’m a friend of Raize’s. Abram’s, too.”
At Abram’s name, she quieted and looked at the car.
She blinked a few more times and straightened with each one. I knew what she was seeing. She was seeing her brother, but she was seeing Jake and Cavers running behind him and her brother not being alarmed by them. And he’d had us on speaker so she knew they were traveling with another vehicle.
I edged closer, my hand steady. “Come with me? Por favor?”
Jake darted in, grabbed a bag around me, and sprinted right back.
Cavers did the same from the other side of her, and by the time they were back for another trip, her hand was in mine and I had her out of the truck. We ran to the other one and climbed in.
After that, Cavers grabbed some gasoline. He went back and doused the other.
Raize and Abram were carrying the other guy with them, putting him into the back of ours and Cavers was dousing the car, too.
Blankets were pulled out, and spread out in the back. The guy was hoisted up.
Jake yelled at Raize, “Who do you want to drive?”
Raize was still bent over the guy, but looked up, checking out where we were.
He grimaced, then motioned for me. “You need to be on the outside. V on the inside.” He hopped
off the truck and grabbed the keys Jake was holding out for him.
I motioned for her to step out. She did, barely reacting. As soon as my feet touched gravel, she was going around me and into the middle. I hopped up, shutting the door.
He came in, starting the engine. “Lock your door, Ash.”
I did.
V blinked again, looking between him and me.
I had no idea what was going on in her head.
Jake and Abram both hopped into the back, and Raize started edging forward.
Cavers had been waiting, but he lit a spark and tossed it into one car, then another.
Both were steadily smoking when he jumped in the back.
Raize hit the acceleration and we gunned forward.
We’d gone half a mile when the first car exploded.
A second one followed almost right after.
Then we were off, because who knew who that would attract.
57
Ash
We were off on the first exit, and driving as fast as we could down the back roads.
Once we hit the next big city, Raize pulled into a run-down motel. We got a room, and he pulled the truck to the back. No one said a word, Abram included. He was moving right along with everyone as bags were taken in. They brought the guy in, hands tied, duct-taped and a bag over his head, but he wasn’t moving. He was breathing so that meant he was still unconscious.
Jake was sent out to buy another cheap vehicle with cash. The faster the better, and once inside the room, Raize hit the showers first. I went with him, but we were all business. A few slips might’ve happened. He might’ve needed me to get a couple extra spots, and vice versa.
Both of us were grinning when we stepped outside, but then we were changing into new clothes.
Abram jumped in after.
V waited, sitting in the corner on one of the beds.
Cavers was after Abram.
I didn’t know the extent of how much English V might know. I was assuming she knew some since she understood me earlier, and also Raize, but still, I was going with what was the simplest action. I took out some extra clothes and handed them to her, giving her a nod and a small grin when she looked at them.
Raize rattled off something in Spanish.
She took the clothes from me, a returned smile back, then went to stand outside of the bathroom.
Cavers made quick work, and she slipped inside after.
Abram said something to Raize, and left the room.
“What was that?” I asked him.
He glanced at the closed bathroom door, but shook his head. “He’s just making sure.”
“What?” But I looked and … that didn’t make sense.
Make sure what?
Abram left…
A thought came to me and I almost gasped. “She’d leave?”
His words came out tight and clipped. “At this point, we don’t know what she’ll do.”
I touched his arm and moved in close, lowering my voice. “She knows you saved her.”
He paused, mid-packing his bag. “Did I, though?”
I squeezed his arm. “Yes.” Feeling his bicep bulge under my touch, I slid my hand down, touching his and sliding my fingers through his. “Give her a beat. She’ll come around.”
He moved into me. His hand went to the back of my neck before sliding up into my hair. He murmured, his words husky as his forehead bent to mine, “Not everyone’s you.” Then his lips touched mine before he stepped back.
Cavers had stopped whatever he was doing, staring behind us.
I whirled.
Raize lifted his head.
His sister was in the opened bathroom door, my clothes on her, and a towel wrapped around her hair. She was staring right at us, her eyes back to not blinking, but then she did and she lowered her towel. “Dónde está Abraham?”
The hotel door opened and Raize nodded toward it. “Aquí.”
Cavers took in the room and cleared his throat. “I’ll—uh—I’ll see if they have a vending machine.”
He started for the door.
Raize said, “Wait.” He bent, grabbed something from the bed, and tossed it to Cavers.
It was his wallet.
“There’s fast food next door. Grab as much as you can carry.”
He dipped his head. “Got it,” and was gone.
Raize spoke, “You guys should both try to sleep. As soon as they’re back, we’ll be taking off again.”
V congregated to the other bed, resuming her previous perch. She kept drying her hair, studying Raize, myself, and Abram, but she didn’t respond.
Abram sighed. “When are you thinking we’ll stop again?”
Raize didn’t comment right away, but I felt how tense he was. After he finished repacking his bag, he zipped it up and tossed it to the floor by the door and then regarded Abram. “When I feel like I can breathe a little easier. That’s when we’ll stop.”
Abram held his gaze for a long while.
I noticed that V had stopped drying her hair. She was now just holding the towel, but Raize was on the move again.
He went to the chair, tipped it back so he could see outside, and he tugged me with him. He pulled me on his lap, his gun on the table, and he moved the curtain to watch outside. He said without looking, his hand settling on my thigh, “You guys, sleep.” He said this and urged my own head down and onto his shoulder, so I was figuring he meant me as well.
I wasn’t going to argue.
I brought my legs up, curling into Raize’s lap more comfortably. His arm moved up around me, anchoring me securely to him.
It wasn’t long before I was sleeping.
The smell of fast food woke me up, making my stomach growl.
I was being carried and then lifted into the back of another vehicle. Blinking, pushing past drowsiness, I saw that we were in a Suburban. With seats. And no one was on the outside.
Praise to the Gus.
And speaking of, his wet nose pushed into my face and I was given a Gus bath.
I took stock.
Cavers was driving.
Raize was next to him, and going through something in his seat.
I was in the next seat. Gus was with me, his tail thumping my seat and leg.
I looked back and Raize’s sister and Abram were in the seat behind me. In the back was Jake, and with how he was sitting, I was betting the other guy was back there, too.
I went back to sleep.
We drove through the rest of the day and night.
At one point, V, who I overheard was actually Verónica, but she told me to call her V, and I were stretched out in the second seat. Her head was at one side, her feet toward me, and I was the opposite. Our feet intertwined, but after a few hours, it didn’t matter.
The ‘guy’ woke up a couple times, but he went unconscious right away.
When we stopped at a gas station, Raize brought me a coffee after I came back from using the bathroom.
I was sitting up, my coffee in hand, and I looked out.
Another car was just turning in, a few girls that looked like they were in college.
It took me back, to another time I saw another car with college girls inside, but I felt different this time. I was different. I was okay with where I was, who I was with.
If I’d lived that life, I wouldn’t have met Raize.
In that moment, with that acceptance, I knew I’d never see my father and sister again. There might be a situation where I could go and view her from afar, but going up and talking with her—that was done. I was now fully accepting it. Raize had a guy keeping tabs on them for us, and I’d gotten a report that her charges were changed.
She was getting help now. Counseling.
But there was no going back for me.
Yes.
I lifted my coffee for a sip.
I was okay now.
Raize was getting in behind the wheel. It was his turn to drive and he turned back to me. He gave me a look, asking if I was all
right.
I gave him a smile, settling in and taking another sip.
I felt him continue to study me, but it was fine. I was used to it. I wanted it.
Jake got in the front seat and he took in the exchange. He flicked his eyes upward, but he had a soft smile on his face as he did so.
Cavers grunted from behind me.
I knew Verónica and Abram were witnessing all of this, but it didn’t matter.
I just kept sipping my coffee.
Gus jumped up and settled against me, stretching out and taking the rest of my seat.
No one argued with Gus.
58
Raize
“Where are you?”
We’d settled, finally, and I’d taken my phone outside with me as everyone was getting comfortable in a house that Jake rented for us.
I answered him now, “I was going to stop in Colorado, but we kept going. We’re in Montana.”
He was quiet for a beat. Then, a grating, “Where?! We’re in Boston. Why the fuck are you in Montana?”
“Because Marco is going to send men after me. He already sent one and I want my sister to have disappeared before his next crew gets to me.”
I was throwing a lot at him and I knew he was upset.
I got it. I did.
I was a soldier, but I was taking my own orders and I was explaining after the fact. Any other soldier, I’d be dead by morning.
I was banking on a whole lot that Roman wouldn’t do that to me.
“He sent one after you already?”
I told him about the highway, what happened and added, “We have the guy with us, but we’ve not questioned him. He has no ID, but his phone has an outgoing Mexican phone number. He had a police radio on him, too.”
“You think he’s a cop?”
“More like I think he was listening to the police scanner. We’ll know more once we interrogate him.”
“Right.” He sighed. “Your sister. What’s your plan there?”
“There’s a network I know about. They hide people. I’d like to make contact, see if they’ll hide Verónica.”