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Once at the metal building, Judge rounded to the back entrance and tried the doorknob. It was locked.
“I’ve got this,” she said and pulled her file out of the sheath holding her knife. In seconds, she had the door unlocked, and they were able to slip inside.
Judge grabbed the rechargeable flashlight from its holder on the wall and switched it on. He hurried to the far corner where the four-wheelers were kept alongside snowmobiles used in the winter.
“One or two?” she asked.
“Have you ever operated one?” he answered her question with a question. “And if you have, how confident are you with one?”
“Yes, and very confident,” she said. “We had one growing up. I spent most of my summers either on horseback or one of these.”
Facts he tucked into his knowledge base of PJ. “We’ll take two. That way, if they do manage to follow us, we can split up and, in so doing, split them up as well.”
“Or we can take one and not lose each other in the forest,” she suggested.
“True,” he nodded. “That could happen all too easily. And for this plan to work, we need to be together when we face Augustus.”
She nodded.
He preferred that they stayed together. He’d walked away from her once. He didn’t want to do it again.
He slipped the strap of his rifle over his neck and one shoulder so that the rifle was behind him and out of the way. Then he shifted the ATV into neutral and pushed it to the overhead door. “Hop on. You’re driving.”
She shoved her rifle into the scabbard mounted on the side of the ATV and slung her leg over the seat. After familiarizing herself with the controls, she turned the key in the ignition. With her finger poised over the start button, she nodded. “Let’s roll.”
Judge slammed the locking lever open on the overhead door, grabbed the handle and shoved the door upward.
At the same time, PJ hit the start button. The engine roared to life.
As soon as the door was high enough for them to drive under, Judge hopped onto the back of the four-wheeler and wrapped his arms around PJ.
He’d barely lifted his feet when she gunned the throttle. They rocketed out of the maintenance shed and headed across the parking lot toward the road leading away from the lodge.
They’d just cleared the parking lot when the crack of a rifle echoed loud enough Judge could hear it over the ATV’s engine.
PJ turned sharply, heading into the forest with only starlight to guide her way. Though she had to slow down as soon as she left the road, she didn’t slow down too much. She zigzagged through the trees, moving deeper and deeper into the forest.
Judge looked back, expecting the tactic of disappearing into the forest to be a good one. One the TCW wouldn’t be equipped to follow.
Until they did.
Three lights appeared in the darkness behind them, all moving fast, seeming to jump, dodge and speed after them faster than any four-wheeler could ever go.
“They’re on motorcycles,” Judge yelled over the roar of their engine.
PJ swore and pushed the four-wheeler faster.
Judge pulled his handgun out of the shoulder holster, careful not to drop it or lose his hold around PJ’s waist.
He turned as much as he could on the seat, aimed as best he could at the nearest headlight and fired at the approximate location of where the rider would be.
The light jerked to one side, slammed into a tree and blinked out. Whether he’d hit the rider or not, he was out of commission.
One down, two to go.
The other two quickly caught up with the four-wheeler, flanking them on both sides.
Judge aimed at the one on the left. Before he could fire off a round, PJ released her hold on the throttle and gripped the brakes, bringing the ATV to a sudden stop.
