The Dane Maddock Adventures Boxed Set Volume 1

by David Wood

  “He blind-copied this to you,” Saul said. “So Jade doesn’t know anyone else has the information. And we have the missing piece to the puzzle. If Jimmy can take care of the translation, we might have a small advantage.”

  “Saul,” Amanda said, “what is it that the Dominion wants? What are they trying to achieve with all of this?”

  “I don’t know everything, and I can’t be one hundred percent sure. It’s a long, unbelievable story that I can tell you while we drive” Saul said. He sprang to his feet, almost toppling his chair. “I’ve made a scan of the artifact. We’ll send it to Jimmy, find a car, and get the hell out of here. Maybe there’s time to save Maddock.”

  “What do you mean, ‘save’?” The disbelief that numbed Bones’ senses was melting into anger.

  “It’s the endgame,” Saul said. “Maddock was helpful, but Jade doesn’t need him anymore. The Dominion won’t let him live once they have the prize… if he lasts that long.”

  They didn’t waste any time gathering their things. Bones grabbed Maddock’s belongings as well. We’ll catch up with them, he thought. Amanda was right. The woman is bad news.

  Saul was back in their room in five minutes with his laptop in hand and his backpack slung over his shoulder.

  “I e-mailed the scan to Jimmy,” he said. “They don’t have cabs out here in the middle of nowhere, but I checked and there’s a rental agency a couple of miles from here. We’ll be their first customers of the morning.” His smile was grim.

  Bones looked up at the dark sky and imagined the time slipping away as Jade drove Maddock right into the hands of the Dominion while the three of them hoofed it down the highway in search of a rental car. A single pair of headlights sliced through the darkness. As the vehicle drew closer, it slowed, then cut a sharp right into the hotel parking lot. Tires squealed and kicked up a cloud of the fine dust that coated the asphalt. His instincts told him that something was wrong. He grabbed Amanda and yanked her down as he ducked behind the nearest car. He opened his mouth to warn Saul, but he was too late.

  A wet, slapping sound that Bones knew all too well preceded the muffled pop of silenced pistol. Saul grunted and staggered back. As if that first shot were a starter’s pistol, a torrent of bullets sizzled through the air. Glass shattered, bullets ricocheted off of the brick wall, and Saul slid to the ground, his blood pooling around him, looking black in the dim light. The Dominion had arrived.

  Trying to keep low and remain out of sight, Bones led Amanda along the row of parked cars. There were only four. The car that had zipped into the parking lot, a dark sedan, screeched to a halt. All four doors burst open and men poured out.

  The last car in the row was an old mini-van. “When I start shooting, you run,” he whispered to Amanda. She nodded. He held his Glock in his right hand and with his left he reached into his ankle holster and withdrew the snub-nosed .22 magnum mini-revolver that he carried for special occasions. He placed his left foot on the front bumper and launched himself onto the hood. A second leap and he was on the roof. He opened fire, dropping the two closest Dominion men, who were still scanning the parking lot and didn’t expect an attack from above. The other two returned fire, their reckless shots well off-target. Lights were coming on inside many of the hotel rooms, but no one came outside.

  Bones dropped down into the bed of an adjacent pickup truck and squeezed off two more shots, causing the men to hit the ground and roll. He was taking a risk exposing himself to gunfire like this, but he had seen how few shots had hit Saul, and concluded that these were not soldiers. Hired killers they might be, but these sorts of toughs never found themselves in real combat situations. He’d take the battle to them. Lying flat on his stomach, he slid to the end of the truck bed, raised up, and peered over the edge. The remaining two men had vanished into the shadows. Where were they?

  A spare tire lay loose in the bed next to him. Cautiously, he tipped it up on its side and gave it a shove. It bounced once and rolled across the darkened lot. Dull pops sounded and bullets sprayed the blacktop all around the rolling tire. Bones spotted muzzle flash from a dark corner near the ice maker and squeezed off three quick shots. He heard a shout of pain and surprise. He had hit one of them. He ducked and rolled out of the truck just as bullets tore through the side of the truck near the spot he had just vacated.

  Staying low and keeping to the darkest shadows, Bones crept forward, keeping a sharp eye out for any movement. Which way to go? A loud crash behind him made him whirl about, dropping to one knee, both guns at the ready. Instead of someone about to shoot him, he saw a man sprawled face-down on the ground, a hotel maid’s cart lying on top of him. Amanda came charging down a nearby stairwell.

  “Their car is still running!” she shouted. “Let’s go!” Sprinting past the stunned man, she took Bones by the elbow and tugged him toward the waiting vehicle.

  Bullets zinged past Bones’ heel. One of the guys was still alive. He fired toward the hollow sound of the silenced pistol, which bought them enough time to leap into the Dominion car, slam it into reverse, and hurtle backward through the parking lot, zigzagging as bullets whizzed past. One pinged off the roof and another shattered the passenger side mirror, but nothing hit the windshield. Every moment took him farther from danger. He kept half an eye out for his assailant to come after him. Bones wished he would try it, but the guy was at least bright enough to remain hidden.

  He didn’t bother to slow down or turn around when they hit the highway, but kept it in reverse and floored it, hurtling backward down the narrow, two-lane highway before taking it into a controlled skid and bringing the front end about.

  “Do you like my fancy driving?” he asked as they barreled down the road.

  “That,” she breathed, “was closer than the hospital. I didn’t know what I was going to do. I couldn’t just run away and leave you there, so I went up to the second floor and tried to keep a lookout, but I lost sight of you. And then that guy came out of the shadows, and the maid cart was there, so I…” She broke off, burying her face in her hands.

  Bones reached over and laid a hand on her shoulder. He hated it when women cried, and hated it even more when it was his fault, which was frequently the case.

  “It’s okay,” he said. “I’m all right.”

  “You’re an ass is what you are,” Amanda said, slapping his hand away and sitting up straight. Anger had replaced the fear in her eyes, and Bones was stunned to see that she was not crying. This woman was something else. “You could have given me one of those guns and I could have shot him instead.”

  Bones was momentarily speechless. She wanted to do what?

  “Forget it,” Amanda said. “I know you’re trained and you can probably shoot better on the run with your left hand than I can when taking aim with both hands. I just wanted to help you. It sucks being scared for someone, and it’s worse when you can’t do anything for them.”

  “You were great,” Bones said, trying to deal with the torrent of emotions that surged through him. “Tell you what. When this is all over, I’ll take you sidearm shopping. I’ll even train you.”

  “Promise?” Amanda’s tone made it clear that she would hold him to it. “And you’ll let me use it to shoot people?”

  “Do you have certain people in mind, or just random people?”

  “You know what I mean. If something like that,” she tilted her head back in the direction from which they had come, “ever happens again, are you going to let me fight, or are you going to make me run away?”

  “I…” His first instinct had been to tell her what she wanted to hear. He knew, though, that Amanda would detect his lie. She was the sharpest woman he’d ever known. Plus, for the first time in his life, the idea of lying to a woman really bothered him. “I promise that if it makes sense for you to… shoot people, I’ll let you fight. But you’re going to have to promise me that you won’t argue if I tell you otherwise.” He could tell she was going to protest, but he raised his voice. “I’m not old-fashione
d about much, but your safety comes before mine. Always.”

  “Why? Because I’m a woman?”

  “Because I like having you around. It would kind of suck if something happened to you.”

  Amanda unbuckled her seat belt, scooted up next to him, and wrapped her arms around his neck.

  “You really are an ass,” she whispered, and laid her head on his shoulder. They stayed that way, silent and content as they hurtled through the darkness toward the unknown.

  Chapter 22

  The bouncing vehicle jolted Maddock to full alertness. He scanned the barren landscape. Red rocks and sparse hills surrounded them, morning light casting their surroundings in a faint, golden hue. There was no road in sight.

  “Sorry. Didn’t mean to doze off on you,” he murmured, rubbing his eyes. It was not like him to fall asleep like that, especially after the startling revelations from earlier. “Where are we?”

  “We’re close to Zion,” Jade said. She sounded oddly subdued, so unlike her excited, almost manic behavior of earlier. Of course, she had been driving since early morning and was operating on very little sleep. “I had to go off-road a bit. This will take us in through the back door. Assuming, of course, you’re up for a bit of a hike.”

  “Always ready,” he said, though his head still felt thick from his nap as if his brain was filled with molasses. “Just need to finish waking up.”

  “If you don’t have any coffee left, you can have the rest of mine.” Jade inclined her head toward the two Styrofoam cups in the console.

  Maddock swirled the contents of his cup before drowning the three remaining lukewarm swallows. One glance at the clock told him he had been asleep for only about a half-hour.

  Jade brought the vehicle to a halt and hopped out before reaching into the back seat and grabbing a paper bag she had brought from the convenience store. Maddock assumed it held bottles of water for their hike.

  They started walking. There didn’t seem to be any distinct landforms by which to pinpoint their location, but Maddock trusted that Jade knew where she was going.

  “There’s a cleft in the rock over there.” She indicated a spot in the distance where a dark, vertical line cleft the sun-illuminated stone.

  He had to turn sideways and exhale in order to squeeze through the narrow opening, but on the other side it widened enough for two people to walk abreast. The way was strewn with loose rock and choked with cactus, but the slope was gentle and the path straight.

  He shook his head, trying to clear the cobwebs. The moment of alertness he had felt when he first awoke was long gone, replaced by a feeling of increased heaviness as if his head was slowly filling with cement. He stumbled and barely caught himself before his face hit the path.

  “You all right?” Jade asked. His sluggishness and heavy feeling made her words sound cold and flat.

  “Yeah,” he replied. “I think… I think I need to sit for a minute.”

  “There’s an outcropping up here where you can get out of the sun. Come on.” She took him by the hand and guided him like a child up to the sheltered overhang where she settled him against the bare rock. “Close your eyes,” she whispered.

  He fought to stay awake, but his eyelids drooped, and Jade faded from sight.

  It was hot… dry… he was in the depths of a canyon. A winged, skeletal figure hovered over him, spreading its arms to welcome him into its deadly embrace.

  “Aaah!” Red light flashed across his vision as he bolted upright and cracked his head on the low-hanging rock. “Stupid!” He rubbed his head and looked around for Jade, but there was no sign of her. He searched the defile, calling her name. No luck. Had she gone on ahead? Surely not, but who could say? Perhaps she had left a note in the car.

  Utterly confused, he made his way back the way he and Jade had come earlier. Heat ripped up from the parched earth, the late morning sun hung angry in the sky. He rubbed a dry palm across his equally parched forehead. He was dehydrated. The single cup of coffee he had drunk hours ago was not remotely enough in this climate. On the positive side, he felt much more alert than he had upon arrival. His relief was short-lived, as he squeezed out of the rocky cleft to discover that their car was gone.

  His mind raced. What had happened to her? She wouldn’t have just left him. They must have found her, and she had hidden the fact that he was with her. That was the only possible explanation. So what was he going to do about it?

  He considered his options, which were few. He didn’t know how far it was back to the road, or exactly which direction they had come. For that matter, there was no telling how many back roads Jade had taken before leaving the road entirely. Were he to make it back to any sort of road, he wouldn’t know where to go from there. The wide open spaces of the American southwest meant one could seemingly go forever without a glimpse of civilization. That had, for the most part, appealed to him until this moment.

  The only thing that made sense to him was to keep on going. Jade had indicated that their destination was within walking distance. His limited examination of the map on the way here, and his estimation of the distance they had traveled provided a degree of confirmation. If Jade had been kidnaped, they would expect her to lead them to whatever waited in Zion. His only chance was to find her there. He checked his cell phone just in case, but he had no coverage, as usual.

  His thoughts flew unbidden to a moment, years ago. He remembered the sound of Melissa’s voice, the scream the crash… He had stood there staring numbly at his phone, knowing his wife was dead, and he could do nothing about it. It had been completely beyond his control, but this was not beyond his control. He would find Jade and bring her back. Setting determined eyes on the horizon, he set off.

  It was not long before the intense sun led him to tie his handkerchief over his head like a turban. The thin fabric was of little help in the heat, but it did serve to deflect the worst of the sun’s rays. The wise course would be to find a bit of shade in which to wait out the hottest part of the day, and travel in the evening and at night, but he could not spare the time. He did not know exactly how far he was going, or where for that matter, but the fact that Jade had brought no water with them when they left the car indicated that she did not expect it to be far.

  The shimmering waves of hot air seemed to resist his every step, as though he was swimming in molten lead. Sweat beaded on his forehead, and he wiped it off and licked it off his palm. I need to conserve every bit of moisture I can, he thought. He hoped it would not be far. He did not know what he would find when he caught up with Jade and whoever had taken her, but he was certain he would need every ounce of strength he could muster.

  The path he walked was not truly a path at all, but a low area among the hills and mounds of rock, where water flowed through during the rare downpour that touched the desert with its brief, violent kiss. He came upon a bit of shade and rested for a moment, leaning against the rough, dry rock. His eyes searched the grounds for any bit of vegetation he could chew on for moisture, but he found nothing.

  He continued to walk. The baked stone beneath his feet seemed to melt the soles of his shoes, and he imagined he was walking in mud, though it was only fatigue that made him feel like his feet were sticking to the earth. He came around a sharp bend, where the ground fell away to a narrow cleft where rocks and debris choked the bottom of the passage. His eyes fell on dark sand, and his heart pounded a hopeful beat. He half-climbed, half-fell to the bottom, and tumbled to his knees. He burrowed deep into the sand, working his way deeper until… yes! Moisture!

  He continued to dig until his fingers struck rock. He twisted his arm back-and-forth, digging a tiny well for water to gather. He scooped up a bit of dirty, tepid water and carefully poured it into his mouth. He resisted the urge to gulp the water, instead letting it trickle back into his throat, keeping the grit and sand on his tongue. The hole yielded no more than another thimbleful, which he dribbled onto his swollen tongue. The moist sand he patted onto his sunburned arms and face. It did no
t come anywhere close to making him feel refreshed, but the worst of the heat seemed to dissipate. Renewed, he scooped up a couple of small, round, pebbles and popped them into his mouth before continuing his trek.

  His pace grew torpid as he trudged across the unforgiving land. Concerns over lack of water and directions lay thin above the underlying fear that he might already be too late. What would they do with Jade once they found whatever it was they were looking for? He couldn’t permit those thoughts. She had to be all right. She had to be.

  By the angle of the sun, it was well past noon. He hadn’t the energy to even consult his watch. For the first time, he felt hope wane. Had he missed a turn? Was there a sign of which Jade had been aware that he had not? His fatigue and thirst made it increasingly difficult to fight off despair. He needed something to drink. He remembered his survival training and groaned at the most immediate possibility. He could drink his own urine. It would be disgusting, and he had nothing in which to collect, but it would keep him going a bit longer. He really didn’t want to do that. What would Bones say if he knew? The thought of his friend made him chuckle, and his spirits lifted, if only a shade.

  What about food? He supposed he could poke around under some of the clefts and try to surprise a rattlesnake. If he could find one, and if he could manage to kill it without being bitten, he could eat the meat… raw. Of course, he would waste vital time and energy in what might be a fruitless quest. He would push on a bit further before making that decision.

  He glanced up at the hazy, blue sky, the waves of heat rolling up like breakers on the sea. A lone wisp of cloud drifted lazily across the horizon, taunting him with the thought of the dark, heavy-laden storm clouds that visited his home in southern Florida every afternoon. Not a chance of that in this arid clime.

  Something glimmered on the horizon. In his state, he could not tell if it was anything more than a mirage, but he continued to move toward it. His head swam, but he kept moving. Jade… Melissa… Jade… He stumbled but maintained his balance. He had to keep going.