Duke glanced across at her. “I’m sure he’s worth it.”
“Weird thing is, if you hadn’t scared me, the box might not have gotten smashed and I might not have found his number.”
He tossed her a quizzical smile. “That is weird. I don’t believe in religion or fate, but sometimes… Things like that make me wonder.”
Lizzie saw headlights coming toward them through the softly falling snow. Her heart leapt. The road sign said the next exit was Bountiful. Lizzie smiled. She felt pretty bountiful. Now that she was almost with her father, she realized she wanted that more than anything.
They were driving on the wrong side of the highway. Zach’s idea, of course. It made sense. Then they couldn’t miss her dad and Jess.
“Oh, shit.” Duke slammed on the brakes, the truck slid sideways, threatening to go over on its side. “Look at that.”
29
ZACH STAYED AHEAD OF DUKE on the freeway. What the Hell was up with Lizzie? Hooking up with the brother of the guy she murdered? The guy had been “trying to kill her” last time Zach heard. Seemed like a pretty screwed up relationship.
He had really wanted to finish what Spike started.
Nev reached across and touched his thigh; he knew she sensed his frustration.
Headlights ahead of them shone in his eyes. He smiled. It had been his idea to drive on the wrong side of the highway so they wouldn’t miss Mannie and Jess in the snow.
He let his foot off the gas as the lights got closer. Then the lights split into three sets.
“What the hell?” He rolled to a stop. He glanced in the rear view mirror. Duke’s truck had stopped too. “I don’t think that’s Lizzie’s dad.”
The three sets of headlights surrounded the Tank. Each truck had guys with guns hanging off the roll bars. Nev’s breath escaped slowly. “Nope. It looks like the official asshole welcoming party.”
Spike growled and Charley whispered a reassurance to him, but the uncertainty in his voice did nothing to soothe Spike.
Zach saw red taillights in the rearview mirror. “Shit.” Turn tail and run, Duke. Take care of Lizzie.” Maybe they could get away.
“Step out with your hands up. Now.” A balding redneck with a mullet fringe in Carhartts gestured with his gun.
Zach looked over at Nev. She nodded to him, set her jaw, and opened the door. Guts.
“Okay. We’re coming out. We got a dog-man and a kid in the back. We’re harmless. We don’t want trouble.”
The rednecks patted them down. Zach felt his phone and knife lifted from his pockets. Charley and Spike were herded out of the Tank.
Spike fought, sinking his teeth into one of the hicks. One of the men pistol-whipped him. Charley cried out as Spike stumbled into the snow.
“He doesn’t know any better,” Zach shouted.
“Spike, Charley. It’s okay,” Nev said in a strong soothing voice that even made Zach feel better. “Everything will be fine.”
“Listen to the lady,” said a grinning man with long blond hair, out of place in this crew. His appearance and his California accent were more surfer-dude than redneck. He ran his hand across Nev’s shoulder and down toward her breast as he finished patting her down. Zach gritted his teeth.
“Hey!” Nev turned around and slapped the surfer dude. “Watch your fucking hand. You already got everything.
“What’s the trouble?” the man with the mullet, the Bossman, demanded.
Nev sniffed. “He’s reaching places he doesn’t belong.”
Bossman cuffed surfer-dude on the back of the head. “Don’t mess.” To Nev he said, “Turn around and be quiet.”
Surfer-dude backed off, sulking.
“Jim, get these people burning at the stake.” One of the men grabbed Zach’s arm.
“What the fuck?” Zach asked, twisting out of the grip. The guns came back up.
The Bossman laughed. “Just a figure of speech. Need to keep you warm. You freeze to death we don’t get paid.”
Jim led them around a gas heater and handcuffed one to another into a circle. Then he turned the heater on and it got red hot. They could only get about four or five feet from it.
“Let’s sit. Might be a little less hot,” Zach suggested. They sat in a circle.
“What are you going to do with us?” Nev asked.
“Take you to The City tomorrow,” the Bossman answered. “Collect our reward. Ain’t gonna be much with only one girl and all this sausage, but there was three girls in the other group we collected tonight. So we’ll have a good sum coming to us all told.”
Nev whispered, “Jess? And Lizzie’s dad?”
The Bossman had started walking away, but he came back. “You know ‘em? Jess was the girl’s name.”
Zach shrugged.
The man grinned. “Well, you oughta see ‘em tomorrow. They’re probably already on their way into The City.
“Salt Lake City?” Nev asked.
“Nah. Provo. The only place in the country that’s got things figured out.”
“What’s that mean?” Zach asked.
“You’ll find out soon enough.” Bossman placed three guards on the perimeter.
“Lizzie’s still free,” Nev whispered when they were alone
“Yeah, with a baby and a teenager and an asshole.”
Lizzie looked where Duke pointed. Ahead of Zach’s truck were three sets of headlights coming toward them.
“You said your Dad and your friend were in one rig, right?”
“Yeah.” The lights formed a wall, foglights above and below the main beams. She couldn’t see anything behind them and they lit up Zach’s truck.
“I don’t like this.” He grimaced at her. Without waiting for input, he shoved the truck in reverse and spun in a one-eighty on the slick road.
Lizzie’s stomach churned. “What are you doing? My dad’s back there.”
“I don’t think that’s your dad.” He reached down below his seat and pulled out a rifle with a giant scope on it. “See what you can see, but I’m not taking chances.”
“But Zach and Nev—”
“Will have to take care of themselves.”
Lizzie looked behind them and squinted through the sight. Duke was right. “God damn it.” Three big trucks had surrounded the Tank. Lots of young men with guns in the back. Zach and Nev were getting out of the truck with their hands in the air. One of the trucks pulled around and came after Duke’s truck. “They’re coming after us.”
Rachael’s groggy head came up. “What’s going on?”
The engine in Duke’s trucked groaned; they were really moving. Duke pushed it harder.
“Shit.” Lizzie saw a second set of headlights pull away from the Tank. “Two.”
“Describe the trucks.”
Lizzie squinted. “I don’t know. Big tires. Gun racks. Confederate flags probably. They’re trucks and I couldn’t see much, but they’re full of guys with guns.”
“Guys like me and my brother?” Duke asked.
“Yeah.” Lizzie felt adrenaline rushing. “Hopefully more like you.”
“Those big tires are not great for speed. Glad I got this truck with something other than mudding in mind.”
She glanced away from the scope and looked into the back seat. Saj was slapping his hands on his car seat, happy and oblivious.
Rachael stared back at their pursuers, “Oh, God.” She turned to Lizzie, her eyes and mouth wide open, her hands knuckled and white on the car seat.
Lizzie reached her hand to touch her shoulder. “We’ll be all right, Rachael.”
“Not planning on dying today.” Duke hit a switch that turned off the headlights. The truck went dark, and so did the road. He took the next off-ramp.
“Don’t we need the lights?”
“Moon’s almost full.” The off-ramp ended under an overpass. The rigs were coming up the freeway. Duke braked and slid to the right and slammed to a stop through the overpass. He grabbed the rifle from Lizzie and jumped out of the truc
k. “Drive.”
“Okay,” Lizzie said. Where? She climbed into the driver’s seat, fastened her seatbelt and stepped on the gas enough to get around the corner, then she let it roll forward. Where was Duke?
She saw him jogging toward her, not too fast. She let the truck slow to a stop. Duke grabbed the door and jumped in the passenger seat. “Let’s go. They went past.”
“Uh, Duke. I don’t really drive.” The moonlight sparkled on the snow-covered road.
“You didn’t wreck it last time. Drive thataway. Can you see?”
“Yeah. Well enough.”
“All you need is well enough.” He lifted the rifle and put his eye to the scope. “Get us out away from the freeway. I’ll keep an eye out for them.”
Lizzie drove. Everything was surreal. She had almost made it to her father. And now everything had gone to shit. She pulled off onto a road where they had a clear view of the freeway, and shut off the engine. “What now?” She looked at Duke.
“Call your friend.” Duke handed her his phone.
“Good idea.” She hit redial.
A male voice answered, “May I help you?”
“Dad?”
“I don’t think so. Who is this?”
“Shit.” Lizzie hung up. She scrolled up to her dad’s number and pressed call. It rang.
“It’s still me,” the voice answered again, “Tell me who you are.”
“Let me talk to my dad.”
“This drunk spic? ‘Fraid he’s out cold. Drunken stupor.” There were sounds of laughter in the background. “But you have a friend who wants to talk to you.”
“Lizzie?” Jess choked off a sob. “Don’t come.”
“Jess?” Lizzie’s voice edged toward hysteria. “Where are you? Are you safe?”
The male voice was back. “We’re north of Salt Lake City. Mile marker 317. Come on down and hang out with your friends and family. In the morning we’ll take you all into the city. For safety.” The connection ended.
“Shit. Why’d all the assholes have to survive?”
“They’re too mean to die,” Duke said.
Lizzie dialed Glen, maybe he could help. “How are you?” she asked when he picked up.
“Starving.” Glen sighed, his voice was a little louder than the last time. “Not that I couldn’t lose a few pounds. These guys don’t give up easy.”
“I’m sorry. Look, Glen, I’ve got some more shit going down. Can you get access to Utah highway cameras too?”
“Yeah, I can get ‘em. Where are you? What’s up?”
“Bad guys. Things got worse instead of better.”
“Yeah, I hear you.” She could hear him breathing as a keyboard clacked. “Okay. I’m on the website. Exit number?”
“We took the exit north to Farmington. Don’t know the exit number.”
“322.” Duke said.
“Exit 322. I think my dad’s near mile marker 317 on Highway 15.”
“Camera at 316.84. There are a number of vehicles in the distance. People standing around. It only updates every five minutes.” His breathing stayed steady. “Nothing visible on the other cameras near there.”
“Thanks. Glen.” She sighed in disappointment.
“I’ll keep the windows open and call you if anything changes.”
“I owe you.”
“Yeah, you do.” He chuckled wryly. “I accept payment in Mountain Dew and information.”
“Right. I’ll pay when I can.” Lizzie laughed. She closed her eyes and tried to calm herself. Let me wake up and find out this is all a really, really bad dream. Her fingers traced the scars on her arms.
“Lizzie.” Duke’s voice was gentle.
“Fuck you,” she said, but only half-heartedly.
“Let’s switch back.” He scooted back toward the driver seat and Lizzie climbed over him numbly. “Those guys drove back south. Slower. One on each side of the highway. Spotlights.” He backed up. “Luckily, they’re lazy or incompetent or both. Let’s head south by the side roads. Maybe we’ll think of something on the way.”
A light flashed above Nev’s heart and her chest buzzed.
Zach’s eyes bulged. She had a phone concealed in her cleavage. He was impressed considering she only wore an A-cup.
“Two phones.” She grinned. Lizzie’s obsessive collecting of cell phones had finally paid off. The men had taken away one phone from each of them and hadn’t thought to look for a second.
Zach leaned toward her as she jerked his hand over so she could reach into her shirt. He kept watch to make sure none of the men were coming to check on them.
“It’s Lizzie,” Nev said. “She says hang tight.”
“She better not try anything crazy.”
“You know Lizzie.” Nev tucked the phone into her pants’ pocket.
Zach smiled, enjoying her devious skills, but then he sobered. None of this would have happened if they stayed in Bellingham. The end of the world had been going so well. “Still glad you came?” he asked.
“Yeah.” Nev held his hand to her face and kissed it. The cold of the hard cuffs connecting them bit into his wrist but he enjoyed the soft caress of her lips on his skin.
She examined the metal encircling her wrist. “I can get out of these, I think. Double jointed. ‘member?”
Zach grinned. “I love you, Neveah.”
Her lips formed a kiss and blew it. “Too bad our first experience with handcuffs wasn’t under more pleasant circumstances.”
A warm glow heated him more than the heater ever could.
Lizzie stood in the trees with Duke. The snow fell sparse and light. Rachael and Saj were safely stashed in a house away from the freeway. Duke had his rifle to his shoulder and squinted through the scope toward the highway.
She strained to see her friends through the trees; they were chained in a circle around a heater. “Okay. Do we need to go through the plan again?”
“Nope.” Duke didn’t take his eye from the scope. “But you still haven’t told me what you’re doing for a diversion.”
“Wait and see,” Lizzie said. The corners of his mouth twitched downward. He wasn’t happy about her putting herself in danger. “They’ll bite the bait. Trust me. They’re not going to hurt me.”
Duke grunted and brushed aside the snow accumulating on his eyebrows.
She rubbed her hands together to keep them warm. “I wish I had a frickin’ cigarette.”
“Me too.” Duke took his eye away from his rifle scope and squinted at her. “No guns? You sure?”
“When you’re in place I’ll go.”
He nodded. “All right. Be careful. And—“
“Don’t do anything crazy?” Lizzie cut him off. “I am Crazy Lizzie. Crazy like a fox.”
Duke laughed. “I was gonna say, good luck.”
Half of her wanted to kiss him, but she said, “You, too. Now go.”
Duke crouched and scuttled toward the freeway.
She sent a text to the phone Nev had responded on. Now. Then she pulled off her shoes and socks. Then her pants and underwear, and finally her shirt and bra joined the pile. She shivered.
You are crazy, Lizzie. She walked forward in the moonlight, not bothering to be stealthy. Rocks underfoot bit into the soles of her feet and so did the cold. She let the pain focus her.
The lights of the truck and radiant heater, with her friends sitting around it, came into view. She imagined being next to that heater, but it didn’t help. So much for the power of the mind.
She walked briskly, her feet going numb. Pretend you’re drunk, stoned, or near-dead crazy. She passed the guard with long, wavy blond hair sprinkled with snow. He was supposed to be watching. Nothing. So she kept walking. And walking. Shit! I go streaking and nobody notices.
“Hey, miss?” asked a puzzled voice behind her.
Bingo. Keep walking, Lizzie.
“Hey, come back here.”
The wind had died or it would have been colder. Lizzie heard steps crunching in the snow. S
he let her neck go loose and she looked back at the fire and the guard without appearing to see anything. The guard walked toward her.
She kept her face blank and fearful. She ran clumsily a few paces. Dog-girl. Scared and confused. Her nipples hurt in the night cold. This was a fucking bad idea.
She made her eyes wide and wild as the man approached, and then turned and ran away down the highway. The sound of slow, deliberate pursuit came from behind. She ran across the lanes, trying not to skid on the icy asphalt. On the crunchy grass of the median she had better footing. She looked back to make sure he was following her. The ground wasn’t slick but it was stony again. She felt the lumps of rocks underfoot, but not any pain—probably a bad sign.
“I won’t hurt you, miss.” His breath puffed in small clouds. “Please.”
She slowed a little, letting him get closer. Then she stopped and looked uncertainly at the approaching guard, keeping up her ruse. Behind him she saw that Zach, Nev and the others had disappeared. Mission accomplished! But she better give them more time.
"Are you okay? Come here, miss.”
Lizzie cocked her head to the side like Spike did.
“I’m here to help you. I have a nice warm heater and a coat." He coaxed her like an injured rabbit. His face showed genuine concern. If he and his friends had not kidnapped her companions, she might have been convinced.
More time. She rolled her eyes upward into her head and collapsed toward him. His arms caught her as she fell. Fainting was a trick she’d learned in the psych ward to get out of things she didn’t want to do. This had not been part of the plan she’d told Zach or Duke, but these people had her dad. Now she had gotten her friends out of the jam, nothing else mattered.
30
ZACH SHOT AWAKE, ADRENALINE ANSWERING in his veins. Nev’s phone buzzed glowing through the jeans on her hip.
“Okay, this is it,” Nev said.
Zach tried to sense everything in every direction. Lizzie had said there would be a diversion. What the hell was going to be the diversion? “Nev?” he whispered. “Are you ready?”
ALL IS SILENCE Page 25
