Jared shook the thought of leaving Stephani from his mind. He was no knight in shining armor; however, he did possess a conscience. Jared’s mind was his best attribute, but haunted him during times like this. He couldn’t bear to hear Stephani’s screams were she to be taken or killed. The thought alone rattled Jared so badly he was sure he would die for the woman rather than have to live with what he’d just imagined.
Stephani was finally able to push the rifle far enough around to her right side to allow her the ability to grab the top of the fence without the weapon getting in her way. Jared reached down and grabbed the woman by the left forearm and pulled as she floundered against the face of the obstacle. Her rifle swung free and crashed into the fence, making a dull thud that sounded like a car accident to Jared in the quiet night air.
Slowly, with Jared pulling and Stephani clambering with her feet, she was able to clear the fence and drop into the neighboring yard. Jared quickly dropped off the fence, pulled his weapon to the front, and moved towards the street in front of the house whose yard they were in now. As the two cleared the side yard, Jared guided them through the front yards, trying to use the dead or dying landscaping features of each home to mask their movement. They moved past three houses when Jared stopped and withdrew his binoculars. He was breathing heavily after the short but strenuous movement from the street a block over.
Jared searched the end of the block in the direction they’d come and saw nothing. He directed the optics in the opposite direction and cupped his hands over the sides of the eyepiece lenses, effectively blocking out any light that might find its way into the eyecups of the binoculars, thus eroding the optics’ nighttime effectiveness.
His heart nearly stopped as he caught sight of two men, one kneeling, the other standing over the top of the kneeling man. In the darkness, Jared could only see the two human figures, but not much else. He strained and wished for the night-vision goggles he’d left behind as he studied the kneeling man. By the way the man seemed to be kneeling, Jared felt fairly certain he was armed with a rifle of some sort.
As Jared was attempting to discern whether or not he was facing men armed with rifles or pistols, he heard the clambering sound of someone scaling one of the backyard fences not more than two or three houses to their rear. His mouth immediately went dry as he felt Stephani’s hand clamp his arm in alarm. For a brief and almost comical moment, Jared realized she was scared half to death and didn’t even know about the two men at the far end of the block.
“Two guys up there,” he said, pointing up the street. “We have to get to the other side of the street; we need to run,” Jared urged.
Stephani squeezed his arm in the darkness, indicating she understood. Jared grabbed her hand, knowing he wasn’t going to stand out in the middle of the street and shoot it out with whoever was trying to contact them. Jared fostered no doubt whoever was out there only intended them harm, so he planned on making him and Stephani a very fast-moving target.
He took her hand like they were on a date walking through the park and not by the wrist, as he was sure John would have done. Jared didn’t know why, but he wanted Stephani to feel an equal in this escape. Somewhere deep in his mind, he felt it would assist her self-confidence going forward, knowing she and Jared survived together because of what they’d both done and not only what Jared had done.
Stephani felt Jared draw a large breath and knew it was time. She coiled her legs like a giant serpent in preparation for the sprint across the street. As Jared exhaled, he leaped to his feet, dragging Stephani to her own feet. The two sprinted across the yard and into the street. As the two reached the midway point of the residential street, a voice boomed out from behind them.
“Hey! Hold up there!” came a man’s voice from behind them, presumably the cause of the clambering they’d heard just as Jared spotted the other two men up the street.
Neither Stephani nor Jared slowed their pace, which prompted a gunshot from the man. The sound of the shot sounded deafeningly close as Jared raced for the safety of the side yard of a small dilapidated green house on the opposite side of the street. Jared heard a loud clatter as shot impacted the fronts of several homes. This told Jared the man was armed with a shotgun. Jared briefly had a fleeting yet comical rumination that were he to be killed, these men would be sadly disappointed to find his pack stuffed with tampons, hair bands and a teddy bear.
Jared was amazed that in in such a short period of time, he was now able to know the man was using a shotgun based on the sound of the impacting ammunition. Were the weapon a hunting or assault rifle, there would have been a single impact and not the clatter of multiple projectiles striking the house fronts. Jared was also reasonably sure that if the man were armed with an assault rifle, there would have been several additional shots fired.
Tragically, Jared’s knowledge regarding the munition’s impact came from hearing the shotgun blast that killed Dwight. Other than the two pellets that found their way to Dwight, the rest had clattered in much the same manner as the ones tonight.
As if to confirm his opinion, Jared heard the distinct sound of a shotgun racking additional ammunition into the weapon’s chamber. He knew what was next, and the man did not disappoint. Just as Jared and Stephani cleared the side of the green derelict home, the shotgun roared again, and for the second time, Jared heard the clatter of shot colliding with the siding on the house.
“You okay?” he said over his shoulder as the two ran down the side of the house towards the back fence. When Jared reached the side yard, he’d let go of Stephani’s hand and darted down the narrow confines of the side yard.
“Scared,” came her terse response.
Jared almost turned and smiled. If she maintained the wherewithal to give him that response, she was doing good enough. As they approached the six-foot-tall wooden fence separating the property’s rear yard from the property on the next block, Jared wished he’d told Stephani to ready the rifle before they started their mad dash for safety.
“You first this time,” Jared called out as they closed on the fence.
Neither of them had trained for this moment, nor had they enjoyed time to rehearse, so as Stephani grabbed the boards at the top of the barrier, pulling herself upward, Jared planted both hands directly on her butt and pushed as hard as he could. He was surprised at how easily Stephani went up and over the obstacle. The woman could only have weighed one hundred and five pounds at the very most, he thought as he latched onto the fence and hauled himself over.
When Stephani didn’t slap him for getting handsy with her, relief washed over him. Jared again snatched her hand in his and sprinted down the side yard of this new house and out across the next street without stopping to check for any sign of danger. At this point, Jared was attempting to create time and space so he could slow their escape-and-evade exercise and start making more educated decisions on how to overcome their predicament.
Jared remembered Bart teaching him how if someone thought they were being followed, they could set up an ambush and wait for their pursuers to walk right into their sights. Hell, Jared thought. This method worked just the day prior.
“We need to get back to John.” Stephani panted as they ran.
“No, we can’t just lead these guys back there. We could end up getting one of them killed. We need to get close, then signal them somehow.” Jared kept running, his pace flattening off slightly as he spoke to Stephani. “I know there are at least three, maybe more, I don’t know for sure.” His mouth was dry and in need of a drink it would not be getting anytime soon.
Half a block up the street, Jared turned to his left and dogged it down a new street. As far as he could tell, their fence-jumping maneuver had placed all three of the pursuers to their rear, which was better than having them in a position to flank him and Stephani. Jared was scared, but the adrenaline was dulling the fear just enough to allow him rational decision-making abilities based on things he’d learned over the past three tumultuous months.
Jared made several more turns as he wound his way back in the general direction of Solar Green. He knew the business was on a major street that lay to their left, so he continually moved forward and slightly left as he jogged through the deserted streets of San Jose. As they drew nearer Solar Green, Jared came upon the street the business was on. He immediately veered off on a side street, remaining off the main street as his mind raced for an answer on how to contact John without leading their pursuers back to Solar Green.
The idea hit Jared like a sledgehammer, almost causing him to exclaim out loud. He hoped John would understand what he was about to do. Back when their small party had been attacked the day prior, the attackers used whistles to communicate. One whistle was meant to identify a persons’ exact location, while three whistles summoned another party. Jared turned back toward the main street and, when he reached it, turned in the direction of Solar Green. When he was three blocks out, Jared gave three sharp whistles before turning right on the next side street.
No return whistle came as he and Stephani chugged along the side street for a block before turning left to parallel the main road. Jared knew his assailants would also hear the whistle and begin to close on his position, but if he could get John up and running, this would greatly increase his odds of making it through this ordeal alive. Jared gave three more shrill whistles and kept moving as his ears waited for a return on his whistle investment.
No one whistled back, which threatened to push Jared’s panic button as he moved along a portion of the road he guessed was nearly directly to the rear of Solar Green. Jared was becoming desperate as no return whistles came, and began to formulate an alternate plan to possibly save Stephani. He could have her hide while he led their pursuers away—if she agreed. Jared held serious doubts Stephani would cooperate with his alternate plan and knew they didn’t have time to quarrel about it. Jared’s mind wandered for a moment, trying to sort out what could have become of their Solar Green party. Had they simply left when Jared didn’t return the night before? Jared wondered worriedly.
He didn’t have the answers, but the thought brought forth the realization he and Stephani hadn’t slept in nearly twenty-four hours. Jared wasn’t sure he could keep going at this pace and was even more fearful of Stephani’s physical condition. The woman had recently spent the better part of a month chained to a wall with zero exercise, and now he was asking her to run what was quickly amounting to a 5K. His only saving grace was the fact that the two had partaken in a spectacular dinner just a few hours before, giving them the much-needed nutrients for a long-distance run loaded with packs and weapons.
Jared was about to give three additional whistles before heading towards the ranch house when, to his delight, one crisp whistle rang out like a heavenly trumpet. Jared instantly shot a glance over his shoulder, where he saw Stephani mouth an exhausted smile of relief. He mouthed back the word yes, then blew three more loud whistles and kept moving away from John and the rest of their friends. Jared and Stephani ran another block before Jared blew three more sharp blasts from his lips. A single blast rewarded his three and seemed to be coming from their right now when Solar Green was on their left.
As Jared continued moving forward, he wondered what John was up to. Every half block or so, Jared would send John three loud signals and keep moving. He felt himself slowing and was starting to worry about Stephani even more, when he realized she looked in better shape than he felt. Her face was flushed with fear, but to her credit, Stephani hadn’t lagged back even half a step. As he was giving the woman a quick study, Jared heard John blast out three whistles of his own.
Jared frowned at Stephani as they ran, slowing his pace even more. What is John up to? he wondered inwardly. Jared was nearly half a mile past Solar Green by this time, with John’s signals coming approximately a quarter mile to his rear and south maybe an eighth mile; then it hit him.
Jared reached back and grabbed Stephani by the hand, pulling her up even with him. He was so excited he forced himself to relax so he didn’t come off as giddy when he explained to her what they were about to do.
“John has set up an ambush for these guys and wants us to come to him now. Remember the guys a couple of days ago and how they used whistles to move on us?”
Stephani didn’t seem to understand what Jared was talking about and had until now thought Jared and John were just whistling in order to come together. “No, I don’t know what you mean.”
“They used whistling to communicate, and so are we.”
Stephani nodded hesitantly, but didn’t ask for any further explanation, which suited Jared, who turned right and moved at a brisker pace till he felt he was at least within a street or two of John’s southernly position. Jared veered right again, pushing their pace a bit harder now that he knew they were within a few blocks of reaching John. Jared held off whistling until he was sure his pursuers couldn’t cut him off. Jared tried to remember his physical education class and how long it had taken on average to complete a quarter mile. He couldn’t remember for sure, but knew a couple of things were different today than back in high school. He’d never attended PE class carrying six hundred rounds of ammunition and a rifle, not to mention the heavy pack pulling at his fatigued shoulders. Jared estimated four or five minutes at the very quickest to cover the distance in his current state.
Chapter 34
A few minutes later, Jared almost keeled over when he heard John’s voice from the front window of a house.
“Don’t look, bro, it’s me. Keep going up this street. I saw three guys following you earlier. Just keep going, and hopefully they’ll follow right behind you.”
Stephani didn’t so much as flinch as far as Jared could tell, but it took every ounce of self-control Jared possessed not to glance over at John as they passed his position.
Inside, Stephani was so incredibly overwrought, it wasn’t hard to stare straight ahead and listen to John’s voice off to their left. She had been scared in the past where the slightest noise would send her jumping out of her own skin. At the point John spoke up, Stephani was well beyond that point. She was now more in a state of dread, following Jared and expecting to die at any moment. She’d seen Jared jump when John called out, and this propelled her deeper into a state of terror. If Jared, who seemed like he had done this a hundred times before, was on edge, things must be as bad as they could possibly get.
Jared and Stephani continued up the street at a slow jog while John sat coiled like a viper in the living room of some family who was likely dead, waiting to eliminate three men who just four short months prior might have been the coaches of their kid’s soccer team or sat on their child’s school board. Now they were out in the darkness of the early morning, hunting a man and a woman they knew nothing of other than the two might have food or water the men seemed to think they had a right to. Jared’s skin crawled as the thought entered his mind that the men might take a shot at them before John had them in his field of fire.
This thought gave rise to Jared turning to look over his shoulder. John couldn’t possibly be compromised by this move; it was a perfectly normal thing for one being pursued to have a look over their shoulder now and again. When he turned his head, Jared saw three of them, maybe an eighth of a mile behind. They moved in the middle of the street with the confidence of people used to preying on the weak.
The men were running just like Stephani and him, only they seemed to be moving quite a bit faster. The men had without a doubt adopted the mentality that they would simply wear their prey down, then take what they wanted and move back into their neighborhood. None of the three men took the time or effort to shoot at them, so Jared figured the distance must seem as futile a shot as it seemed to him.
Jared continued furtive glances back, not remembering the exact spot John lay waiting for the doomed men to cross into. The darkness was beginning to lighten, but only a little as morning descended on the earth, and still Jared was barely able to make out the three lone figures doggedly gaining
on him step after step.
When it happened, it happened fast and spectacularly. Jared heard the low snaps of John’s suppressed rounds as they tore into the men. Two of the men fell like dropped sacks of flour. Sparks flew from the street and even the men’s gear as John’s bullets glanced off the men’s weapons and any other metallic gear they were wearing. The third man never attempted to engage John, instead choosing to flee, but was gunned down from behind. Jared knew what was coming, but still the sparks from bullets impacting metal and asphalt was like an unexpected fireworks death show, all too reminiscent of yesterday’s slaughter. As fast as it all started, it was over as the three fallen men’s bodies lay twitching briefly before settling into what was assuredly going to be their aboveground graves.
As the fireworks show started, both Jared and Stephani spun, watching the insanity behind them. When the third and final man dropped to the hard road’s surface, Jared started, realizing he was standing frozen in the center of the street. He elbowed Stephani, and they both moved off the road, into a front yard, where he dropped to the ground behind a large landscape stone.
“Watch the road,” Jared ordered, gesturing in the direction the two were originally headed. Jared remained fixated on the pile of dead bodies, waiting for John’s form to appear and ease the tension Jared was experiencing. The minutes ticked off the clock and still no John. Jared was becoming impatient while a little uneasy at the same time. The mixture was like warm gin and whiskey—not one bit good.
The dead men hadn’t moved yet. John’s whereabouts remained a mystery to Jared and Stephani.
“Where is he?” Stephani whispered, the strain in her voice reminding Jared of his own worries.
“Never know with that guy. He might be lying low, or maybe he took off to make sure there wasn’t more of them.” Jared looked over his shoulder at her and shrugged. He truly had no idea what John was up to.
The Jared Chronicles | Book 2 | Tears of Chaos Page 26
