by Dennis Elder
For this critical leg of the ride Mark had changed the order of the riders. He put the bulk of the men and boys at the back of the line. They would provide a good rear guard. However, he kept Tyrone in the middle with Little Sally. Mark and Frank took the first and second positions in the line. This would give them some ready firepower if they ran into something up front.
From their starting position, they would be able to ride pretty fast down the canyon and into the flats of Las Vegas city. But once they got back on I-15 they faced a long twenty mile leg that was all uphill. After that things flattened out a bit the rest of the ride to Mesquite.
“Hope we make it,” thought Mark before starting off.
“Everyone ready?” shouted the Major.
“Hoora,” shouted back the team in unison.
Mark had coached them to keep their speed in check on the downhill sections of any road. And they wouldn’t get to Mesquite much faster today if they ripped down the canyon for only the next four miles – especially if somebody crashed.
So, Mark would make good use of his brakes, and so would everyone following him.
The team made it to their first turn in about 25 minutes – a very good pace. Then they headed North on road 612. It was flat now and Mark set an aggressive but sustainable pace. He and Frank would take turns riding in the very front. Switching out the lead rider really reduce fatigue on the team as a whole. Susie was right behind Frank, and Mark asked her to also take turns riding in the lead position. Susie agreed. It wouldn’t be hard for that girl. She was one of their strongest bike riders. To make it to Mesquite tonight, they’d need to average nine miles an hour over the next nine hour window of daylight.
The good news was nobody was getting any flats. Seemed like there was hardly any traffic on the roads North of Las Vegas. When the radiation hit it was early in the morning and very few cars were traveling away from or North out of the city.
But sooner or later someone in the group would get a flat – just the law of averages kicking in. They’d gone at least 16 miles before they finally heard that all too familiar and dreaded hissing sound. Gracie’s front tire had found some glass.
Flat, flat, flat!” she shouted, as the group quickly pulled over and took a knee while Gracie and Mark worked as a team on her punctured tube.
Frank looked through his scope and scanned the I-15 freeway up onramp just ahead.
“Looks like were back on the I-15 in about four miles, people,” said Frank.
Most everyone was resting on the road, but they all craned their necks and squinted North when Frank mentioned I-15.
Randy was at the back line, right behind Sam. Both men took the opportunity to pull up their own SmartScopes and check the roads and buildings to the South. The sun was almost above the rim of the Eastern mountains now, and things were getting pretty bright.
Chapter 135: Gotcha
Thin man had been standing along the South rim of the Planet Hollywood rooftop for about an hour. He decided to wait for the sun to come up so he could fully evaluate the Southern end of the Vegas valley. Once the sun was up he spent another 15 minutes looking, but then finally gave up.
“One more check up North and then I’m goin down for some sleep,” whispered Thin man. “Eyes and ears or not.”
He dragged his starving and dehydrated body back to the Northern rim of the building and raised his big binoculars one more time.
Back and forth he swept across the North end of the valley. He scoured roads and corners and empty lots. But nothing was out there. So, the man dropped the heavy binoculars and drew a sad long breath.
“Guess that’s it then,” said Thin man.
Then, just as he was about to turn toward the stair well door, he thought he saw a reflection. Just a distant glint, and then it was gone.
It startled him because he wasn’t ready for it, having finally given up moments earlier.
“What the…” said Thin man.
He quickly pulled up the binoculars again and tried to locate the place where he thought he saw a reflection.
“I’d swear it was right there,” he thought to himself, as he scanned the general area over and over.
“You are my eyes and ears,” mumbled Thin man, gaining a final bit of strength from the memory of Ivan’s words.
It took him few minutes more but then he definitely saw something moving. It was a good twelve miles away, but he had it now and could see well enough to know it was a group of people moving West. He tried to fix the distance in his head and also noted that they were very close to the I-15 freeway.
Thin man dropped the binoculars and let the strap finally carry the weight. He’d rarely put them down since taking his post the previous evening.
Then Thin man smiled.
“Gotcha,” he said out loud. “I am the eyes and ears and I gotcha!”
He turned abruptly and sprinted for the stairs. He got down to the main street level in less than 4 minutes.
He ran out of the front doors of the Planet Hollywood Hotel screaming at the top of his lungs.
“I found um,” shouted Thin man. “I found um, I found um,” he repeated over and over.
It was 7:50 am in the morning when Thin man arrived at the Bellagio hotel. The remaining men in Ivan’s Army of Vegas were sleeping in. Last night’s road exercise had taken a heavy toll on their bodies.
“I found um,” shouted Thin man again as he climbed the Bellagio’s entrance stairs. He was breathing hard after entering the building. Then he raised his hands into the air in triumph, prancing around like a prizefighter.
Thin man’s voice was weak when he was outside. But when he yelled inside the Bellagio’s main lobby the noise echoed magnificently.
With each repeat, and the sound carried up and into the large building complex.
Ivan lived on the first floor and was one of the first men to hear Thin man’s shouts. He’d been sleeping fitfully since finally falling asleep just before dawn. The moron yelling in the lobby had woken the mad Russian, and the ongoing noise was angering him.
“Shut up!” screamed Ivan, after he pulled his soiled pillow up and around his ears.
But the yelling and echoing continued. Finally, the big guy pulled on his Gucci shoes and grabbed his diamond-handled knife. He opened the door to his room and slammed it hard behind him. Two other men had come out of their rooms and were milling around in the hallway.
“What the hell,” said a man as he looked over the balcony and down at the old guy below.
“I found um,” Thin man continued to shout.
Ivan’s mind cleared slightly. Once he was outside his room, the muffled yells of Thin man became clearer. Suddenly he understood what the man was saying and rushed forward toward the first floor banister.
“His eyes and ears,” shouted Thin man. “I found um, I found um.”
The other guy, already standing at the balcony, continued to stare down at Thin man in confusion.
“Hey old man!” the guy screamed. “Shut the hell up!”
But Thin man just kept on screaming and prancing around.
“What did he say?” barked Ivan, as he came up behind the man leaning over the banister.
I’m not sure,” said the young man, as he turned back to see Ivan coming right at him.
The men had been calling him Ivan the terrible ever since they’d heard how he’d sliced up Ralphy with a knife. Since then, everyone went out of their way to keep a safe distance from Ivan the terrible. The young guy panicked a bit when he realized it was Ivan.
“I couldn’t understand…” mumbled the young guy as he froze in place.
Ivan shoved the guy to the side and leaned over the balcony, immediately scanning the ground below him.
“I found um,” shouted Thin man again.
Ivan spotted the man below and bellowed a reply.
“Found who?”
“I found um, I found um” continued Thin man.
“What did you find?” shouted Ivan again.
But the little man below was living in fantasy world of temporary success and didn’t respond.
“Perhaps they didn’t get by us after all,” wondered Ivan to himself.
Chapter 136: Mile markers
One of the best things about America’s interstates, is the consistency of the average road grade. Not so much the pavement grade, but the consistency of the steepness of the road over distances. Road crews blasted through hills and filled in gorges to keep the road level and the grade as consistent as possible. This allowed traffic to travel at much higher speeds.
It was also good for riding bikes. After they got back on the I-15 freeway, Mark chose to ride in the North bound lanes. Since leaving LA, they’d found the South bound lanes had less traffic on them and hence fewer automobile crashes and finally less glass.
Once they started traveling North out of Las Vegas, vehicles were virtually nonexistent in the Northbound lanes. They’d come across a car or truck every mile or two now. This gave everyone hope that reaching Mesquite in one day might be achievable after all. Flats were the exception now.
They successfully traveled ten of the twenty miles of uphill grade leading North out of Vegas without stopping. This section of the road was straight as an arrow and after a mile or two the riding became monotonous. Every once and a while you could hear someone pulling a drink from their water bottle or spitting to the ground. Sweat began to pour off everyone as the miles passed. Up ahead a number of dark clouds were forming. Mark had to remind Susie to slow down a bit whenever she took the lead rider position. Susie could easily pull away from the group.
Each person in the group dealt with the boredom in different ways. Connie tried to match her exerted breaths with each rotation of her bike pedal. William played an old Eric Clapton song over and over in his head. Jake watched the yellow line in the middle of the road. He passed the time by counting the small reflectors glued to the roadbed between two landmarks. It was a like a game for him. After a while he figured, “so many reflectors add up to a mile. Then multiple that number by the 80 miles to tonight’s destination and you’d be there before you knew it. Only 1,421 more reflectors to go before Mesquite.
Boon would have counted the mile markers to help time pass. He taught Jeremy it was an easy way to keep track of the miles when they were back in Hemet California. Boon was like that. It was easy for him to find the best and most efficient way to do just about anything. Now Jeremy counted the mile markers alone.
Most everyone else just kept their heads down and pounded their pedals like soldiers on a long march. Sweat moved continually from their heads and dripped down like a leaky faucet from the tips of their chins and noses. Every so often a pool of it would collect on a rider’s neck and then run down the center of the spine with a feathery tickle.
Mile after mile they rode, grinding it out. Nobody talked on this portion of the ride. You needed every ounce of air for your lungs and legs.
Tyrone and Teresa were the only ones who could still talk and pedal at the same time. Everyone agreed, but them, that their “genetic abnormalities,” as Jake put it so eloquently, were completely unfair. But on this steeper stretch, even their back and forth banter was limited.
“At the top of the hill we’ll take a water and pee break,” shouted Mark, between breaths.
That brought up the heads of everyone for a second. They all looked forward to see how much farther it was to the top of the hill.
“About two miles,” thought Susie, from her front riding position.
Chapter 137: Found um
Ivan confronted the little man by grabbing him by the shoulders and shaking him. That got Thin man to break out of his fantasy.
When Ivan first got down to the lobby, he tried shouting at the man to get him to quit dancing around and acting like a lunatic. But it didn’t work. Ivan wanted to kill the man at first, but when he got closer he realized it was the same man he’d sent up to the top of the Plaza Hotel the night before.
“You found what?” shouted Ivan.
That brought Thin man back to reality. The sudden image of Ivan’s face in front of him forced a broad smile across his face.
“Your eyes and ears,” mumbled Thin man, as a small tear formed in his left eye.
Ivan wasn’t the kind of man to ask a question twice but he had to know what the old fool had seen. So, he clasped his big meaty hands over the ears of Thin man and held his head in a tight grip.
“What did you see?” shouted Ivan. “Did you see the women?”
The ten or so men who had slowly come down to the lobby to find out what the screaming was about, now stood in a loose circle around Ivan and Thin man. The word “women” instantly peeked their baser interests.
Thin man had slowly gone from a state of ecstasy to a sense of dread. He had located the people Ivan had charged him with finding, but now the same man was hurting him for trying to tell him exactly what he wanted to know. And the harder Ivan gripped Thin man’s head the more confused Thin man grew.
“You said you saw something,” shouted Ivan. “What was it? Did you see someone out on the roads?
The last part of Ivan’s question registered slightly with Thin man. He wasn’t able to hear the question, but he recognized the word, “road.” That and a feeble effort to survive brought up Thin man’s hands as they gripped Ivan’s wrists in an effort to understand what the big man wanted.
“Yes,” squeaked Thin man. “Yes, the road.”
Ivan barely heard the man’s reply, but he sensed the guy might finally understand what he wanted. He also realized that he was probably making it difficult for the guy to hear him because his hands were tight around his ears. So, the big Russian relaxed his grip slightly. But all the time he kept his eyes focused hard on Thin man’s eyes. He smiled at Thin man in an effort to calm him.
“You saw the women, didn’t you?” asked Ivan.
Thin man understood and immediately shook his head up and down. Then he broke down and began to cry.
“I was just bein’ your eyes and ears,” whimpered Thin man. “I found um heading for I-15 going North and was just tryin to tell you.”
Ivan had what he wanted now. He let the man go and Thin man dropped to his knees, continuing to sob quietly.
“I found um,” said Thin man through his tears. “Eyes and ears. Eyes and ears.”
Chapter 138: Rain
Twenty miles further North on I-15, an incoming storm’s first drops of rain began to hit the team of bikers. They’d never been rained on since they left LA. Mark ordered the group to a halt.
“Ponchos everyone,” he shouted, as they all began searching for their ponchos. Because they hadn’t used their ponchos yet, it took a few members of the team a couple of minutes to locate and don their waterproof gear.
Mark marched up and down the line checking everyone.
“Make sure your baggage flaps are down tight,” shouted Mark over the now pouring rain. The mix of cool air and suddenly wet weather make everyone a little chilly.
“We’ll heat up soon enough once we get moving again,” added Mark. “Water break too,” he added.
So, people also took the time to get a good long drink. They were back up and moving in five minutes.
The wind and rain drove into them from the West. It was gusty at times and would push the riders slightly off course. Thankfully they didn’t have to ride into a direct headwind. The ponchos kept the water off their heads and shoulders, but their pant legs and shoes were soaked inside of fifteen minutes.
On and on they pedaled.
“Neither rain, or snow, or dead of night,” whispered Sylvia between breaths.
Chapter 139: Rumors
Ivan pounded on Claudio’s door several times before his second in command unlocked the door and swung it open.
“What,” shouted Claudio, as he faced Ivan. He was still dead tired and needed more sleep. Claudio loved his sleep time.
If Claudio’s burst of insubordination offended Ivan,
the Russian didn’t react. He simply pulled Thin man’s scraggly body into the doorframe and said, “We found the women.”
Thin man stood there for a moment, and then turned to Ivan.
“I found um,” said Thin man. “Eyes and ears.”
“Found what?” barked Claudio.
“He found the women,” said Ivan, impatiently. “He saw them riding toward I-15 about 30 minutes ago.”
Claudio didn’t react. But he was concerned he and the men hadn’t had enough rest yet.
