“I’m scared. I’m just sitting on edge waiting for something to happen. It’s not nice to feel like that. I wish we had some idea of what’s going on with my father. We don’t though. He’ll be looking for me, Xander. He has access to stuff. Things beyond my imagination.”
That was what concerned me. “Don’t worry. We just keep moving. Where we’re going we should be safe.” We would be. Jack was Jack but he had contacts too and I supposed I had Ethan. I definitely had Wes. I just needed to be on my turf. That was it, my turf. If something happened there then I knew I’d be able to handle it.
“Jack sounds nice.”
I’d talked a little more about him last night. It was not only going to be strange to see him because according to him I was presumed dead and had died five years ago, but I was going to be bringing a woman to the house that I was interested in. To him that person for me had been his daughter, Claire.
It was going to be a very awkward reunion. One that had to take place though.
“He’s nice.”
She nodded. “Okay, let’s… do this.”
Let’s do this.
I would have definitely felt better though if I’d had my full strength.
I planned it out well.
Frankie readied the truck and we left before four. It was good to get as far as we could under the darkness.
By five we were just going by Coyote Springs. The road had been clear and we covered a lot of miles in the space between, putting us ahead of the traffic.
Now it seemed like we were approaching it.
Frankie glanced at the rearview mirror but he wasn’t looking at me, he was looking at something I couldn’t see. Something on the road. Behind us.
“What’s up?” I asked.
“Car and a bike. They been following us, I’m sure of it. Picked ‘em up about half an hour ago. They followed even when I took the shortcut at Dry Lake,” Frankie answered.
His eyes darted between the road ahead and the mirror.
Jia straightened up, worry instantly filled her face.
I looked behind me and gazed out the back window to try and find the car and bike.
“It’s the black Kawasaki and the black Porsche,” Frankie clarified.
I saw them. They were a few cars back. Just from looking I couldn’t tell if they were actually following, but if Frankie thought they were then I wouldn’t doubt him. He would have been paying more attention to something like that.
Jia looked too. “I can’t tell if it’s one of Pa’s people,” she stated.
I just couldn’t tell.
“I’m gonna divert down Wells. There’s no reason for them to turn off with us. If they do then I think it’s safe to say we’ve been found.” Frankie sped up a little more.
“What are we going to do?” Jia asked.
“We can’t get the cops on our ass. That would not be good. I’d really hoped we wouldn’t draw attention to ourselves. The number plates must have popped up on the radar.”
“How far out will Wells put us?” I asked. I didn’t know the roads here very well. Just the central routes I’d taken over the last month.
“Completely off, but it’s that or stay on Route 93 for longer than we have to, and if they start shooting…” He quirked a brow.
That would not be good. It wasn’t all that busy but it would get that way soon. Shooting meant civilians could get caught up and shit, it meant us being dead, dead, dead.
“Gotcha.”
“There’s a gun under your seat.” Frankie glanced over his shoulder. I reached down and pulled out an impressive looking shotgun. I had to say that Frankie most assuredly didn’t pack light. He’d packed the ammo that could get the job done with one hit.
“Got it,” I told him, with a firm nod.
He nodded back then glanced at Jia. “Jia baby girl keep your head down. Please, and buckle up. This could get real nasty.”
While Jia strapped herself in and tightened the belt to more than comfortable, Frankie sped up even more.
I looked behind us and damn it to fuck, the bike and car sped up too.
It was enough for me to agree on them following us for sure. The other surety was them turning too when we turned off the road to Wells.
“We definitely got company,” I shouted.
Thank God the road ahead was clear. No after five traffic yet. This road looked like it was taking us back to desert land.
Jesus Christ I didn’t know why I’d bothered to hope this part could run smoothly. Of course it wouldn’t, it made me wonder about alternative routes, providing we made it out of this.
Fuck they were speeding up when we sped up and gaining on us. The bike was very close.
Frankie accelerated and pulled out a revolver from his jacket pocket. Jia put her head down when she saw that and curled next to me. I hated putting her in danger.
Again.
The biker pulled a gun from his backpack and fired a shot. It hit the back of the car and jerked us.
That lanced me up for action. I’d get this motherfucker before he got the chance to do that again. I got to my knees, lowered the window and became the daredevil I was by sticking my head out.
Frankie was a real demon on the road and his brain seemed synced to mine. He swerved across the road to give me a direct line of passage with the biker who was getting ready to shoot our wheels off.
When he saw the shotgun aiming at him though he switched up, but not fast enough. One shot and I took him down. The bullet went straight to his head, blew him backwards off the bike and the bike and him went tumbling over the side of the road.
One down, one car to go and it didn’t look like these guys in the car came to mess around.
I saw a machine gun and pulled my head back in just before they opened fire.
Fuck! They hit us. Jia screamed.
“Frankie try and drive faster if you can! Get as much space between us,” I shouted.
Frankie did as I said putting his gun down so he could focus on driving.
That was best. He’d have to do that while I did the shooting.
More shots were fired and all I could do was hope the wheels stayed intact. Now was not a good time to lose our ride.
There was no good time to lose our ride.
I thought of a plan as I conjured up the image of the men in the car. I was pretty certain I’d seen three men. They’d looked like shadowy figures against the tinted windows and the bright morning sunlight.
On three I’d stick my head out again and aim for the driver. Hitting him would cause their car to swerve off-road and take them out.
One. Two. Three.
I bolted up again, stuck my head out and fired a shot. It echoed and got the car but fuck, it didn’t get the driver. They were still coming for us, still driving to us.
The guy in the passenger seat put his head out again with the machine gun. I fired a shot and missed.
I went back inside the car and Frankie frowned.
“Hold tight guys, let’s get down here. Thousand Spring Creek.” He motioned to our left. There was a thicket of trees in a woodland area, it was perfect.
He bumbled down the road and sped off. Jia screamed again, cowering against the noise, the gun shots, the panic and terror.
The car followed us and started firing shots again.
Jesus if we weren’t careful this could really be it. It could be it.