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“Not hardly. When they lit me up I ran into the side-cut and climbed out on top and doubled back to watch them. They were already moving out double-time, and I mean in formation, Hunter. These guys weren’t just a group of mules, they were pros.”
“You see any weapons?”
“Uzis, M-4s, one shotgun. Just the ones not carrying bundles. I didn’t see they were armed at first, carrying ‘em like they were, strap over their shoulder and muzzle down, but one of them was in the moonlight when you stopped them. When they turned on their lights I saw everything backlit.”
Hunter said, “You yelled then because they had me, huh?”
“Doesn’t mean we’re going steady or anything.”
“Which way did they go?”
“Downstream. One of them looked like he was using a walkie, but I couldn’t be sure.”
“Sounds like they had a Plan B.”
“That’s my guess.”
“Well, we’ve got one, too. I bet we can get to the vehicle and find them before they can get to pavement.”
“Lead on, but keep that shotgun handy, just in case.”
***
Raymond drove and Hunter tried to radio Sector, but they couldn’t get out. She finally hung up the mike in frustration. They were several miles north of the encounter area, and Raymond drove with his lights out, using moonlight to follow the road through the hills. When they saw the reflection on distant moving metal Raymond said, “Somebody was here to pick them up.”
He sped up to close the gap. The road was as crooked as a gnarled tree root, and side roads intersected at odd places.
Hunter took the shotgun out of the rack and made sure the magazine was full and there was one in the pipe. “If they start shooting, I’m going to empty this at them as fast as I can while you get us out of here, right?”
“Yeah, if we can stop them, fine, but we’re too outgunned for anything else. Be ready, because the road goes into a big banana curve right up here and that’s when I’m going to close on them.”
“They can’t have everybody in that Suburban, can they?”
“I figure half of them went back, crossed the river. We’ve probably got seven or eight in there. Okay, the road’s straightening,…Here we go.”
Raymond pressed the accelerator and was within twenty yards of the Suburban when another vehicle shot out of the night and struck the driver’s side - hard.
Glass shattered and metal screeched as Hunter and Raymond bounced from the impact. Their Tahoe slid sideways and rolled up on its side, leaving Hunter with greasewood and dust hitting her in the face as Raymond dangled in the air, hanging on by his seatbelt and the steering wheel. Dust was thick. Hunter wriggled out of her seatbelt and stood up so she looked out of Raymond’s window. She had lost the shotgun in the impact, so she drew her pistol and waited for the ambushers while she whispered to Raymond, “You hurt? Can you get out of there?”
Raymond was bleeding from a cut on his forehead, but said, “Yeah, just give me a minute.” He worked the seatbelt latch until it released and he almost fell on Hunter’s legs, but held onto the wheel to ease himself down. “You see anybody yet?” He asked.
“Not yet.”
“You’re going to have to take a peek. I’ve got blood running into my eyes. It looks like we’ll have to go out the window, or else try and kick out the windshield.”
Hunter eased herself up, turning her head so only one eye was above the edge of the door. A light lit up the overturned vehicle and Hunter jerked her head back.
“Hey, are ya‘ll all right?” It was Wayne Rockman.
Hunter raised her eyebrows as she looked at Raymond. She stood up and saw Rockman standing by the open door of the Sheriff’s Ram Charger that had hit them.
“God-o-mighty,” Hunter said as she shook her head. She climbed out and helped Raymond. Rockman came over and gave her a hand.
When the three of them were standing in the Ram Charger’s headlights, Hunter said, “What in the hell are you doing, Wayne?”
Rockman took a long look at her and said, “I was in the process of catching some drug smugglers, until we crashed. Ya’ll sure messed this up.”
“We did? We’ve been on them since they crossed the river,” said Raymond.
