by Jeff Shelby
“Yeah they were,” I said. “The tent's right there.”
He cut his eyes to me. “I didn't ask you.” His voice was thick with warning.
“But I'm telling you,” I said calmly. “I can't speak for Aaron, but we were all under the idea that he was camping. If he was doing something else, we weren't aware of it.”
“Come on, Nick,” Jillian said. Her words took me by surprise. She was cautious, cool, a professional. Why did she use his name? Like us and our situation, the less we knew about them, the better. We already had her name—there was nothing she could do about that since he’d called out looking for her—but she’d just dropped her partner’s name. An innocent slip-up or intentional? I didn’t know.
“They don't know anything. I've already checked,” she continued. Her voice was calm but something about her was off. She was nervous about something; I could tell. “We don't need the hassle. Let's let them go and we'll keep looking.”
Nick pursed his lips, the gun still held nonchalantly at his side. He glanced up at the quickly darkening sky, then made a face. “I don't think that's the best idea, really.”
I looked skyward. Dusk wasn’t the only reason the sky was dark. The storm clouds that hovered in the valley for much of the day were racing east, heading toward us. The sky was streaked black and gray, long tendrils of angry-looking clouds spreading like tentacles, moving closer.
Jillian sighed. “Come on. We don't need this. It's a complication.”
“Unless they can take us to our good buddy, Aaron…”
“We can't,” I said, shaking my head for emphasis. I wasn’t a good actor, but I was doing my best to sell our innocence and the fact that keeping us around was a really bad idea. “We already told you that. We've been looking for a while and we don't know where he is.”
“They were leaving,” Jillian said. “They don't know where he is. There's nothing here. Let's just send them on their way.”
He squinted hard at me. “You got cars, you say?”
“Up top,” I said. “In the lot. We hiked down from there earlier in the day. That's where we were headed. To leave.”
“I'm sure you were,” he said, smiling thinly. His teeth were yellow, one canine chipped almost in half. “Tell you what. How about if we escort you up to your rides? Just to make sure you get there safely.”
I wasn't sure what his play was, but getting us closer to the cars felt like it would be getting us closer to leaving. I was hoping that the woman might be able to convince him that that was the best idea.
“I don't have a problem with that,” I said. “We just want to leave.”
Nick's grin grew bigger and he lifted the gun, gesturing for us to start moving up the hill. “I'll bet you do, sir.”
SIXTEEN
The walk up the hillside took maybe twenty minutes. The sun disappeared completely behind the peaks, leaving an ocean of storm clouds in its path. Thunder rumbled in the distance, lightning flashing occasionally. The heat had stirred up the atmosphere and was bringing something missing from Southern California during most days of the year.
Rain.
Tim led the way up the hill, with Nick behind him, then Elizabeth, then me, and then Jillian. I tried to go a little slower, hoping the woman might have something to say to me, but she remained quiet during the hike, just a step or two behind me but not so close that I could attempt to do anything to her. She radiated professionalism, which I also classified as dangerous. Nick seemed like a thug to me, a guy who thought he was tough because he had a gun.
Jillian felt like something else.
We reached the top and Nick immediately made his way to both of the vehicles, checking the windows and the bed of Tim's pickup. He circled each one carefully, bending down to look under the front of each one, then checking below again on each side of each car. Then he came around to us.
“Open 'em up,” he said, nodding at the cars.
We did as asked and he rooted through both cars while we stood to the side, Jillian next to us, her gun still at the ready. She made no move to conceal it, even though we were standing right next to the highway, clearly visible to any passersby. But I knew why. No one came to these parts after dark. We were pretty much on our own out here.
Elizabeth glanced at me nervously when Nick got into our car, sat down, and started opening compartments. I gave her a tight smile.
I wasn't worried about our car. We had nothing in there to hide. He wasn't going to find much other than some old registration paperwork and the manual to the vehicle.
Tim's truck was something else, though, and I wasn't sure what he might find in there.
He finished with our car and moved to the truck. He checked out the bed again, then got inside. He opened the glove box and pulled out all of the contents. He sorted through the paper inside and shoved it back into the compartment. He closed the box back up, then got down and started checking beneath the seats and the floor mats.
Tim stood there with his hands at his sides, watching him. He wasn't fidgeting and he didn't look panicked. I took that as a good sign.
After he'd finished pilfering through the driver's side, Nick shut the door and walked back over to us.
“Nothing that'll get you arrested,” he said with a smirk. “Always a plus.”
“So we can go then?” I said. “We let you look at the cars for whatever you're looking for. You didn't find anything. Now we can get out of here.”
Nick licked his lips. “You are in an awful big rush to get out of here, Mr. Joseph Tyler. Why exactly would that be?”
He talked like he was in an action movie, and it was taking all the self-control I possessed not to get irritated with him. I was in a hurry because two people had guns—big guns—pointed at me and my daughter. Two people with said guns were looking for my daughter’s boyfriend, and they clearly weren’t happy with him. And I was in a hurry because we were within touching distance of a vehicle that could get us safely the hell out of there if this oaf would just get out of our way and stop being a poser.
“Because I want to get these two home,” I said instead. And then, because I couldn’t stop myself, “And because I don't like having guns pointed at me.”
He grinned, and that broken canine made him look like a cartoon character, like a pirate sidekick or a villain from one of the old Saturday morning cartoons. But then I glanced down at the gun, the gun he was sliding toward his chest, subtly aiming in my direction.
I held my hands up. “Whatever your business is, we don't want any part of it. You don't need us as baggage.”
“He's right,” Jillian said. “Come on. Let's get back.”
“But I feel like...” He paused, as if searching for the right words. I didn’t think his vocabulary extended much past that of a fourth grader. “I feel like it would be…unneighborly of me to let the three of you hit the road with this ugly storm approaching,” he said, his eyes locked on me.
As if on cue, a flash of lightning streaked the sky.
“We'll be fine,” I said.
“These desert storms are tricky,” he said, as if he hadn't even heard me. “Flash floods, washed out roads. It can be dangerous.” Nick squinted at me, a half-smile on his lips. The tooth wasn’t visible and he suddenly didn’t look comical at all. “I don't think that would be the safest thing for anyone right now.”
“What are you talking about?” Jillian said, not bothering to hide her annoyance.
He motioned toward the sky. “Think we need to get everyone indoors.” He filled out the smile. “You know. For everyone's own good.”
“We'll be fine,” I repeated. “I know the highway and where we're going.”
Nick frowned. “I just don't want to take that chance,” he said, shaking his head slowly. “I wouldn't want that on my conscience. If anything happened to you, I mean.” His concern was so fake, so insincere, I almost laughed, but there was nothing funny about our situation. “So you'll come with us.”
Jillian made a face th
at left no doubt that she disagreed but she stayed quiet.
I didn't want to go with them. We'd walked into something worse than anything I’d envisioned, and these two clearly had an issue with Aaron.
But I didn't see what choice we had. They had guns. Aimed at us. They were telling us what to do. They held all the cards. I couldn't read the woman very well, but it was clear that Nick saw us as a threat to whatever he was protecting and he wasn't going to let us go that easy. I didn’t know why he’d want to take us away from the canyon, but I also knew that moving us was a very bad sign. The odds of escaping went down with every extra minute we spent with them, and forcing us to a new location further decreased the likelihood that we’d come out of this unharmed.
“You don't want to do this,” I said. “Whatever you're into, you're making it far worse by taking us with you.” I pointed at Jillian. “She obviously gets that. You need to listen to her. There's no way that taking us anywhere is going to help you out. It'll only make things worse.”
He kept the squint on me. “When you say things like that, Joseph Tyler, it makes me think maybe you do know where our friend Aaron is. Like maybe you're trying to protect him or something.”
“I don't know where he is.”
“Because if you did, you'd tell us, right?” he said. “You'd tell us where our good buddy Aaron was?”
I thought about the gun in his hand and Elizabeth’s boyfriend, and what would happen to her if I knew where he was and I handed him over to these thugs.
“That's what I thought.” He lifted the gun from his side and gestured with it toward the bottom of the canyon. “Let's go.”
SEVENTEEN
“You seem to have some sense here,” I said, quietly. “You need to let us go.”
We'd been walking for half an hour, the rumbles of thunder louder behind us, and we'd passed the original campsite and the areas Tim, Elizabeth, and I had searched. The trail downward was steep and narrow, and we walked single-file as we descended. Nick led the way with Tim and Elizabeth in step behind him. I'd purposely slowed my pace again, trying to create a little space between myself and Elizabeth so I could talk to Jillian.
“You need to be quiet,” she said, her voice also low.
“No, what I need is for you take the lead here,” I said, over my shoulder. “You know that bringing us to wherever you're bringing us is a bad idea. Nothing good is going to happen.”
She didn't say anything.
“I don't give a shit about your weed operation,” I said. “I just want to get these two kids out of here.”
“How do you know about that?” she whispered, her voice suddenly hard, on edge. “Have you been lying this whole time?”
“It's all over the canyon,” I said. “I was practically tripping on it. And I haven't lied about a thing. But anyone with two eyes and minimal knowledge of what it looks like would've spotted it.”
She didn't respond.
We walked for a few more minutes. In the distance at the bottom of the canyon, I could make out faint lights. I couldn’t tell if they were houses or cars, or both, but I put us at less than forty-five minutes to reach them. The thunder behind us was louder and I wasn't sure we'd beat the rain to the lower rim of the canyon.
“Don't say anything about seeing it,” she finally said, her voice barely audible.
I slowed my steps again. “Why?”
“Just keep your mouth shut.”
“You already know this is a mistake,” I said. “We don't have anything to do with whatever's going on or with what Aaron's involved in. Let us go.”
“Keep walking,” she ordered. “Don't slow down so much. You're being obvious.”
I kept a steady pace, focused on Elizabeth’s back. I could tell she was tired by the way she moved: her shoulders sagged, her arms barely swinging as she put one foot in front of the other. I wanted to scoop her up into my arms, even though she almost rivaled me in height. I wanted to wrap my arms around her and put her head on my shoulder and tell her everything was going to be alright, even though that was a promise I knew would prove to be false. Nothing was okay about the situation we were in. And I felt completely powerless.
Jillian was breathing heavily behind me. The rifle she was carrying was no lightweight firearm; if it was loaded with ammo, it could easily tip the scales at 8 lbs. She was in good shape, though. She looked like a soldier, clearly knew how to handle her weapon. Having it aimed at me as we trekked through the canyon was no easy feat and might wear out a normal person, but her? I doubted it. Was she laboring because she was stressed? Worried about the outcome? I didn’t know. I couldn’t quite figure her out. Why had she been willing to engage with me when her partner was so clearly not? She was at odds with Nick over how to handle us, but either she didn't have the guts to stand up to him or she lacked the power and authority to pull it off.
“I'm not stupid,” I said, keeping my voice low. “I can put a few things together. But we aren't interested in any of it. The longer you keep us, though, the more a part of it we become.”
“I'm aware.”
“So let us go.”
“Not that simple.”
I glanced over my shoulder. “If I took your gun from you, it would be.”
I hoped she understood what I was implying. If she really wanted to help us, she could hand the gun over to me. We didn't need to fight it out. But if I had her gun, I could strip Nick of his weapon and we could be on our way and no one would be the worse for wear.
“That isn't happening,” she whispered. “Just shut up.”
I closed my mouth so I could think.
They had to be part of the grow operation. They clearly knew Aaron. I wasn't sure how yet, but there were two realistic options. He either worked with them or he bought from them. Those two things made the most sense. I wasn't sure how he'd gotten intertwined with them, but it was irrelevant. He was connected to them and they'd known he was there.
The thunder exploded behind us just as lightning danced across the sky. Elizabeth jumped, startled by both the noise and the flash. Electricity sizzled in the dry air, crackling and hissing.
“It's okay,” I said, offering her a smile of reassurance. “We'll be fine when we get indoors.”
She turned halfway as she walked. “Where are they taking us?”
“I don't know.”
“I'm scared, Dad.”
I wanted to hug her so badly my arms ached, but I knew moving closer to her was a bad idea.
I forced another smile on my face. “We'll be fine. I'm working on it.”
She didn't look like she believed me. She opened her mouth to say something but tripped, dropping to one knee. She gasped as she went down and Nick whipped around, his gun leveled at her head.
“What the fuck is going on?”
“She tripped,” I said, throwing my hands up so he could see them. “It’s dark and she’s tired. We all are.”
Elizabeth got to her feet. I searched her leg for signs of injury, but it was too dark to make out much of anything.
“You okay?” I asked, my voice barely audible.
She nodded.
“Keep going,” I told her. “Walk slow. Watch your step.”
She nodded again and sniffled, and I wondered if she was crying because of her fall or because of our situation. I hoped it was her knee.
I slowed my pace again, letting the gap widen between us.
“You should take your own advice and keep going,” Jillian whispered from behind me.
I slowed even more, just enough so that Jillian almost bumped into me.
I was going to take my own advice, because inside, a voice was screaming that I needed to do something to get us out of this before something worse happened to Elizabeth.
“Let's talk about Aaron,” I said.
EIGHTEEN
I watched the black shapes move in the darkness in front of me as we continued our descent down the hill.
“Does he work with you?” I whispered
over my shoulder. “Is he part of this?”
“I don't know what you're talking about,” Jillian said.
“Yeah, you do. You're already being stupid by taking us. Don't be stupid by playing dumb, too.”
“Who exactly are you?” she said. She was close enough to me that I could feel her breath on my neck.
“You heard my name,” I said. “Just a guy who came up here with his daughter to help a friend. Who are you?”
“How do you know the kid?” she asked, ignoring my question.
“They both go to school with him,” I said. “I don't know how you know him or what he's told you, but that's it. That's our connection to him. There's nothing else that I'm aware of.”
Thunder exploded behind us again and lightning lit up the entire canyon, as if someone had turned on a massive flashlight. Elizabeth sucked in her breath again but she didn’t stumble and she didn’t stop. I did, though, and Jillian bumped into my back, the barrel of the weapon pressing into my spine. It was a quick reminder, intentional or not, that even though she didn't seem to want us there and had been willing to let us go, she was still dangerous.
“When did he get here?” she asked, shifting the gun away from me.
“Yesterday,” I said. “Everything we've told you is true. I don't have any reason to lie to you. He got here yesterday with his buddy. He called my daughter this morning and he told her he was missing. She was worried and talked me into driving up here to look for him. That's it.”
“What's your daughter's connection to him?”
“They're friends.”
“Has she been up here before?”
“No.”
“You know that for sure?”
I turned over my shoulder. “Yeah, I know that for sure.”
She jammed the gun again into my back, this time on purpose. “Stop turning around.”
We walked in silence for a minute, the thunder working as background music as we got closer to the bottom of the canyon. There were no other sounds except for our footsteps as we navigated the path, no crickets, no branches blowing in the breeze. It was eerily silent and still.
