***
A few minutes later the NSA gift squad came plodding down the pathway. They walked in single file with Darlene in the lead. She carried the Vril. Joan was next and cradled the other jug. Because they needed both hands to hold the jars, their guns were holstered. The three men had their guns out but held them loosely by their sides. The last thing they expected was an ambush.
“What do you think is in these jars?” Joan asked.
“They didn’t bother to tell us,” Darlene replied half-hardly. She was thinking about Colton Banyon and trying to remember something she knew about him, but couldn’t put her finger on it. She was looking forward to confronting him in the morning and getting some answers.
“Do you think it is something biological, maybe a weapon and the scroll describes the directions on how to use it?” Joan had a PH.D in biology and assumed the worst.
“You watch too many Indiana Jones movies,” Darlene replied with a laugh.
“Well, what do you think it is then? Maybe it is some kind of super plant food then,” Joan huffed sarcastically.
Suddenly, Darlene stopped and stared ahead. About ten feet ahead of her stood a black apparition. “What the hell,” she roared.
“Give it back to me,” the shadowy figure yelled out in a ghostly voice. It quickly darted off into the grass.
“What’d you see?” Joan asked with concern.
“There was…” She didn’t get to finish what she was saying as the same apparition now popped up to their left.
“We want it back,” that one said.
“How could anyone move that fast and silently,” Darlene questioned as fear started to grow in her chest. But before she could think farther, another apparition appeared on their right side.
“It doesn’t belong to you. We are going to take it back now.” The apparition said and then disappeared.
“Ambush,” Darlene screamed.
Darlene and Joan bent down to place the jars gently on the ground so they could draw their weapons. But at that second Eric enacted his part of the plan. He came crashing through the grass with the shovel held horizontally. He ran into all three men at the same time and hit them broadside. They became airborne and flew into the pond making a big splash.
Pramilla darted out from the weeds and sprayed a little bit of pepper spray into the bent over Joan Kane. She howled in pain and put her hands to her eyes.
Darlene turned her head to see what was going on behind her, but felt a presence beside her. Before she could react, something hit her on the neck. The karate chop by Previne collapsed Darlene to the ground. She couldn’t make her legs move.
Previne scooped up the Vril and Pramilla grabbed the other jar. They took off down the trail. Maya and Eric were right behind them.
About a minute later the first of the three male agents reached Darlene. Water dripped off of him as he helped her to her feet. Joan was still in pain and was on the ground, but had produced some eye drops from her pocket and was applying it to her eyes. The other two male agents stormed into the group and they were very mad.
“What the hell happened,” the first man screamed.
“I only know one thing,” Darlene fired back as she rubbed her neck. “It wasn’t ghosts that took the jars.”
“Come on,” one of the men said. “Let’s see if we can catch up to them.”
Chapter Fifty-Four
The Patel clan raced to their car. It was a couple of hundred yards past the suburban which belonged to the agents. They knew this would cost them some valuable time, but believed the agents would be delayed by the hurt women and they were all fast runners.
When they reached the corn field they quickly found their car. They piled into Previne’s Mercedes thinking they were home free. Previne and Pramilla sat in the back and placed the two jars between their legs to protect them. Eric started the car and slammed it into gear, but something was wrong. The low slung foreign car couldn’t get any traction. It was stuck in the loose dirt of the cornfield. He jockeyed the car back and forth, but it wasn’t moving.
“Crap,” Eric yelled out. “Everybody get out. We are going to have to push it to get it free from this dirt.”
Pramilla and Previne moved the jars to the floor of the sports car and jumped out to help.
“Okay,” Eric said. “We are all going to push at once. But first we’ll rock it back and forth and when I tell you, push with all your might.”
“We’re strong, we can do this,” Pramilla said as encouragement.
All four of them took up a position on the trunk and pushed when Eric gave the order. At first, nothing happened, but slowly the car began to roll free. As soon as the nose of the car reached the road, Eric yelled for everyone to get back in.
Eric knew the speedy sports car could easily run away from a big lumbering suburban on a paved road, but he also knew that the heavier truck like vehicle could maneuver on the dirt trails they had to follow better than the sports car. It was several miles to the nearest paved road.
He dropped the gear shift into drive and pulled out, going as fast as he could over the bumpy road. After about ten seconds, headlights appeared in the rear view mirror. “They’re after us,” he yelled out.
Chapter Fifty-Five
“I see them,” Darlene yelled from the passenger seat in the front of the suburban. One of the men on her team was driving — at break-neck speed. Joan sat in the back as her eyesight still had not returned, but the good news was that it was improving.
“Can you see the license plate?” Joan shouted back. She might not be able to see clearly but she could still think.
“I can’t make the plate out yet, but we are closing on them pretty fast,” Darlene hollered over the seat. “Guys, make sure your guns are in working order. We’ll ram them and then take them.”
“As soon as you get the license plate number, I’ll call it in,” Joan promised.
The big vehicle bounced and swerved all over the dirt road. The gift squad and their equipment were tossed around like they were inside a washing machine. Darlene hit her head on the window and cried out in more pain.
“How far is it to a surface road?” Darlene asked as she held her aching head.
“About two miles,” the driver yelled back.
“Wait, I think I can read the rear license plate now,” Darlene shouted over the roar of the engine.
“Call out the numbers. I’ll punch them into my phone,” Joan wailed back. But Darlene didn’t give her any numbers. She just sat back and huffed.
“Damn it!” she suddenly shrieked. It was uncharacteristic for her to show such frustration.
“What’s wrong?” Joan yelped as she leaned forward in the seat and touched Darlene on the shoulder.
“We’ll never be able to trace the plates,” Darlene said with dejection. She slammed her fist into the dash.
Chapter Fifty-Six
“They’re getting closer,” Pramilla yelled from the back seat. She dreaded what would happen if they got caught. They had to escape. They couldn’t let the container of Vril be captured by government agents.
Previne suddenly became agitated. “Oh My God! What if they get close enough to read my license plate?” Previne screamed and through up her arms. “They will know who we are in minutes.”
“Don’t worry about that,” Eric replied. “They won’t be able to identify your car that way.”
“Why?” Previne shouted back.
“Eric, what did you do?” Pramilla asked as if scolding a child.
“Before we left the house, I put Pramilla’s plates on your car, Previne,” Eric calmly replied as he swerved to avoid a pothole.
“But I have diplomatic plates,” Pramilla yelped.
“Precisely,” Eric explained. “Even the NSA would have to go through channels to run the plates. It could take days and you would get a call from the Indian government before they would ever give out your name. You’ll just tell them that the plates must have been stolen. We will be in Ind
ia by that time.”
“But we are leaving my car at the airport. Won’t they find it there?” Previne quickly pointed out.
“I have your real plates in the trunk of this car,” Eric said. “I’ll switch them back as soon as we get to the airport and put the diplomatic plates in the trunk. Nobody will be able to connect us to this getaway. There are probably a hundred thousand cars like this one in the metro Chicago area alone.”
“Very clever, Eric,” Pramilla complimented her husband.
“This isn’t my first rodeo sweetie,” He replied happily accepting the attention from his wife.
“So all we have to do is keep ahead of them and we’ll be home free,” Previne said feeling a little more comfortable.
“Well, that might not be so easy,” Eric said and spoiled her good mood. “There is a good chance they will catch us,” Eric told them. “We need to be prepared if we get caught.” He noticed that the headlights were larger in his rearview mirror. They were closing in for the capture.
“What do we need to do?” His wife asked frantically. This was foreign territory for the clan. They were usually the ones doing the capturing.
“Don’t let them stop us, Eric,” Previne said as she considered the consequences.
“How will they try to stop us?” Maya quickly wailed with concern.
“The first thing they’ll try to do is ram us. If that doesn’t work they’ll attempt to shoot out our tires. If they can stop us we’ve the choice of fighting or giving up,” Eric replied like it was a formula.
“We’re not going to shoot it out with federal agents,” Pramilla quickly dismissed that option.
“If we give up, what will happen?” Maya asked.
“They’ll want to identify us, so be prepared to jettison all your identification before we stop. Throw it out the window if our capture seems imminent,” Eric continued. “It will buy us some time.”
“But we didn’t bring any identification,” Pramilla shot back.
“Yes, you did,” Eric retorted. “We all have our cell phones.”
“Wait,” Previne shrieked. “Maybe Colt can help us?” She immediately turned on her phone and called Colton Banyon.
***
The Patel clan waited tensely as Previne urgently talked to Banyon. Suddenly she yelled out. “Eric, Colt says to take the left turn coming up.” She pointed ahead.
“Roger that,” the ex-SEAL replied calmly. When the car reached the turn, Eric slammed on the brakes and spun the wheel. The sports car slid into the turn and fishtailed around the corner. Eric expertly countered the momentum and kept the car from going off the road. It stabilized and regained traction just as the much heavier suburban flashed past the turn unable to stop.
“That will buy us some time,” Eric reported. “It’ll take the agent driving the suburban a few seconds to stop and then he’ll have to back up to make the turn.”
“But isn’t this dirt road taking us away from any paved roads?” Maya asked in confusion. “How does that help?”
“Colt’s just trying to buy us some time while he works on a better solution,” Previne said to everyone. “He said he would call me back as soon as he has more information,” Previne said as she ended the call.
“Let’s hope that it’s in time,” Maya said what they all were thinking.
Previne gave Eric more directions. “Now when you see a big tree, take a right turn.”
“I wonder what Colt has in mind?” Pramilla uttered.
Chapter Fifty-Seven
Colton Banyon leaned against the side wall outside the Joey Brownwater ranch house. No one could see him there. Loni was wrapped tightly around his waist with her head placed against his broad chest. She could hear his rapid heartbeat. She was very happy to see him and had much to tell him, but tried to understand that the Patel clan urgently needed his help. She resolved to be patient.
Banyon had arrived just minutes before and hadn’t even made it inside the building before his cell phone rang. He noticed the call was from Previne. As he answered the phone he saw people hustling about both outside and inside the building. He knew they had about twenty minutes before Goblin would attack the ranch. He needed to find out what Chase was planning. The sensible thing to do would’ve been to retreat, but Chase had refused to do that. He said the defenses were adequate. That was not a word that Banyon wanted to hear when it came to protecting people.
As soon as Banyon’s car had pulled up, Loni had run from the ranch house and attempted to show off her cute Indian outfit by posing with a smile. When the phone rang, Banyon grabbed her in a big bear hug. He dragged her around the corner of the ranch — so he could talk to Wolf — as he listened to Previne urgently speak with her precise English accent.
“I’ll be right there,” Banyon yelled to the others.
“We know what you are doing,” Heather teased like a school girl would do. “I like the outfit Loni,” she added with a giggle.
“Wolf, can you help Previne?” Banyon spoke. The spirit replied immediately. Banyon passed the directions on to Previne.
“Okay,” he heard Previne say. He then heard her scream out, “Eric, Colt says to take the left turn coming up.”
“After you take that turn, go about a mile and you’ll see a big tree,” Banyon said into the cell phone. “Take a right there and you’ll be headed back to the highway. It’s three miles from there.”
“Got it,” Previne said.
“This’ll only delay the gift squad for a little while though,” Banyon explained. “They could still catch you.”
“Then what else can you do?” Previne asked with concern.
“I have an idea. I’m going to try to stop them,” Banyon continued. “I’ll call you back.” He hung up the call.
Loni immediately asked a question. “What is going on, Colt?”
He quickly explained that the clan had the Vril container, but were being chased by the NSA gift squad. They were same group which they had encountered on Lake Mead. Her mouth hung open in shock.
“I’ll fill you in on the rest as soon as I can get this situation under control,” he promised. “I have to make another call right now.” Banyon hit the speed dial on his phone.
The President answered after two rings. “Colt, why are you calling me right now?” the big man blustered into the phone. “I’m on my way down to the situation room to meet Marlene Moore and get ready for the Goblin takedown.”
“Sir, this is a critical emergency,” Banyon said. “I need your help right now.”
“Well, let’s hear it then,” the President replied without hesitation.
“I need you to call off the NSA gift squad immediately,” Banyon said.
“You mean those same guys that were after you last year?”
“The same,” Banyon acknowledged. “But they’re not chasing me. They are currently trying to intercept some friends of mine who are headed down a dirt road in Wisconsin. My friends have a vital piece of evidence which we could use to crack open this Goblin crisis,” Banyon lied. “If they get stopped the whole mess might blow up in our faces.”
“Why do I get the feeling you’re not telling me the truth?” The President said with suspicion. Banyon knew the politician was an intuitive thinker and could smell a lie from a mile away.
“Stop them first before it is too late, Mr. President. I can explain everything,” Banyon pleaded.
“Well, you’ve helped me enough times in the past. I guess I owe you one,” the President replied with finality. “Hold the line.”
Banyon could hear the President in the background. He was ordering the Secretary of Defense to tell the gift squad to immediately stand down, no matter what they were doing and proceed to their next project. He added that there were to be no reports written either and he wanted the Secretary to make the call himself. He added that it had to be done within five minutes. The President then came back on the line.
“We’ll get them off your back, Colt. Don’t make me regret this
,” he warned.
“I won’t,” Banyon promised with relief.
Quickly switching gears, as the President was prone to doing, he asked. “Are we still on for the takedown at the Goblin warehouse at 9:30 tonight?”
“I’m afraid that there is a problem there too,” Banyon said as he winced.
Chapter Fifty-Eight
“We’re gaining on them,” Darlene yelled to the people behind her. “When we get close enough, I’m going to shoot out one of their tires, that’ll stop them,” she said with satisfaction. She opened her window and began to find a comfortable position to take a shot. She was halfway out the window when dust thrown up by the first car forced her back inside.
“If you fire your gun, you’ll have to relinquish it and file a shots fired report,” Joan warned from the backseat. “Are you sure you want to do that?”
“Very,” Darlene replied with revenge in her voice.
“They’re turning again, right this time,” the driver called out.
“Don’t miss the turn like you did the last one,” Darlene chastised the driver as she wiped the dust from her face.
“Well, they might have finally made a fatal mistake,” Joan yelled from the back seat. She had recovered enough to work an IPad. She had called up google maps and was studying the picture on her screen.
“Why do you say that?” Darlene shot back.
“The dirt road they just turned onto runs for about three miles and is straight. We should have no trouble closing the gap so you can take a shot.” Joan replied as she focused on the map. It was hard to do as the suburban kept bucking and swerving.
“Go faster,” Darlene screamed at the driver. She was become more obsessed with catching the grave robbers.
“If I go any faster I might break an axle,” he replied hotly. “This vehicle might be built like a truck, but it was made to carry people on open roads not backwoods dirt roads.”
A Dubious Race: The Phoenician Stones (A Colton Banyon Mystery Book 14) Page 17
