Wilderness Secrets, page 14
“We better get out,” Jesse said. “The farmer needs to be able to find his tractor when he comes looking for it.”
They climbed out of the cab. In all directions, they saw rolling hills. She saw no fences. No power lines. The tractor was the last sign that they were anywhere near people. The farms and ranches in this part of the world might be thousands of acres.
Jesse clamped a hand on Abigail’s shoulder. “You’re the one who knows how to navigate in the wilderness.”
Maybe so, but she was used to reading mountainous terrain. She looked around, trying to get her bearings. From the rest stop, they had run west. “I say we head in the general direction of where that main highway is that leads into the Bakken, but do a wide circle around where that field was so we don’t risk running into those men.”
“Lead the way.”
Minutes after they started walking, raindrops pelted her skin. In the distance, she saw what looked like a cabin or a barn, weathered gray by time and leaning to one side. They ran across the grassy field toward the shelter of a building that had probably not been inhabited for a hundred years.
As they drew closer to the building, she saw that it had once been a homestead. What might have been a wooden trough was off to one side, and there was a pile of logs and gray boards behind the house, which was maybe some sort of outbuilding. The drizzle of rain turned into a downpour as they slipped inside.
Though it was overcast, some light shone through the holes in the roof, and rain dripped from the rafters. She chose a corner of the room that didn’t seem to be leaking.
Jesse remained standing, staring at his cell phone. “I can’t get a signal.”
Abigail slipped down the wall to the floorboards that seemed relatively stable. Though it didn’t surprise her, not having a cell phone signal made her feel even more hopeless. Dale couldn’t reach them to say what he had found on his maps.
She peered out the opening where there used to be a door. Though the rain reduced visibility, she couldn’t see the men anywhere. Chances were, they would have sought shelter from the rain, as well. Maybe they would even hike back to the rest stop, but she knew better than to count on that.
Feeling a sense of despair, Abigail took in a breath and closed her eyes. “So what do we do now?”
* * *
Abigail sounded weary. He didn’t blame her. He was battling a loss of hope himself. They might as well be stuck back up on that mountain, for all the good the cell phone did them. He sat down beside her, close enough that their shoulders were touching.
He closed his eyes and listened to the soothing sound of the rain.
Her hand rested on top of his. “Maybe the first thing we should do is pray.”
Her hand was smooth as silk against his rough fingers. “Yes, I’d like that.” Seeing her faith in the face of such adversity had restored some of his.
She closed her eyes and prayed, asking God for guidance. A tender silence fell between them, with only the whispering whooshing of the rain coming down.
She squeezed his hand. “Amen. I’m glad you decided to pray with me.”
He opened his eyes and turned toward her. Her lips curled up in a faint smile. She leaned toward him. Though the sky was grey and cloud covered, there seemed to be light coming from her. He recognized the glow of affection in her features. His chest felt like it was being squeezed in a vise. Could he open his heart to her? After Melissa’s death, he had felt as though his heart had turned to stone. Never again did he want to experience the helplessness of loving someone and not being able to save them.
“Thank you for all you’ve done for me, Abigail. You’re amazing.”
She pulled her knees up toward her chest. “Not too bad for a small-town girl, huh?”
He loved sitting beside her. Even in such trying circumstances, being with her nourished him. “Not too bad at all.”
She kicked at the floorboards. “What if we hid the hard drive here? They would never think to come look here. We could come back for it when you’re ready to make your case.”
“I like the way you think, but could we even find this place again? I was hoping we could pass it to Dale for safekeeping.” He stared at his phone again.
“Then we should head out. Those men are either slowed or stopped by the rain,” she said. “We’ll get to a spot where we can get a signal sooner or later.”
He listened to the downpour outside and the dribbling off the roof. “Abigail, you’ve got a lot of spunk and nerves of steel.”
“It would give us the head start we need. Besides, what’s a little rain?” she said. “I’ve guided people to safety in freak snowstorms.”
He gazed at her and nodded. “Okay.” He jumped to his feet and held a hand out for her. Her fingers clasped his and he pulled her to her feet. They stood for a moment facing each other, their noses nearly touching. The electric charge of attraction pulsed all around him, enveloping him like a warm blanket.
“We should get moving,” she said. Her turning away seemed to cut off the intensity of the moment.
They rushed out into the downpour. Because the terrain was so flat, he could see the rain coming from the sky in solid gray sheets for miles. There were pockets where no rain was falling.
Abigail walked with a determined step. “We should head due south. That way we’ll be moving parallel to that field. When we think we’ve gotten past it, we can turn east, which should put us out on the road.”
“I’m glad you’re the navigator,” he said.
As they walked side by side, he found himself sneaking glances at her. Then his hand slipped into hers. She held on tight as if to confirm that she had the same feelings.
Through the murkiness of the downpour, he could see another figure moving toward them. A man alone in dark clothes. It could be a farmer, or it could be one of the thugs still searching for them.
As they walked, the faraway figure turned and headed in their direction, closing the distance between them. Though they were at least a mile apart, it was clear now that he was headed toward them, and it probably wasn’t a farmer coming for a friendly chat. The blurred figure changed his stalking pace into a jog.
Though there were clusters of trees, there was really no place to conceal themselves. They quickened their pace, their feet squishing in the mud when they came to a different field, where the soil had also been plowed for planting. The man edged steadily toward them until he was close enough they could see it was the dark-haired man.
As his clothes got wetter, a chill permeated Jesse’s skin and settled into his bones. Abigail still had her waterproof jacket, though her pants looked soaked. They hurried across the flat terrain. He had to let go of her hand so they could run faster.
“I think we can go ahead and make a turn toward where the road should be.” She was out of breath as she spoke, glancing over her shoulder at their pursuer. “There’s no way to shake him, is there?”
Jesse kept jogging as he talked. “We’ve just got to keep moving faster than he does.”
The figure was still coming toward them, showing an impressive amount of stamina. If they could just stay far enough ahead so the man couldn’t get a shot with a pistol, they might be able to make it to the road alive and call Dale.
His muscles felt fatigued as they jogged across an open area with tall, lumpy grass weighed down by wind and rain. Abigail slowed, as well.
She stopped, bending over to rest her hands above her knees. “I just need to catch my breath.”
The thug kept coming toward them, never slowing down, never tiring. Jesse tugged on her sleeve. “Abigail, we’ve got to keep moving.”
She took in a ragged breath and nodded. Their run had slowed to a jog, though they kept moving despite being soaked to the bone, despite the fatigue that was overtaking both of them.
Jesse willed himself to keep moving. Across the wide, flat plain, he saw the road up ahead. The gray of the paving was so distorted by the rain that it almost looked like a mirage.
Seeing the road gave him the incentive to keep moving. Maybe a car would go by and they could catch a ride. When he glanced over his shoulder, the thug had stopped. He was close enough that Jesse could make out that he had pulled out his phone and was making a call.
Jesse’s brief moment of thinking they could make it to safety was shattered.
Now that the thug had a clear location on them that he could communicate to the others, it meant even more men would be coming after them.
FOURTEEN
Abigail’s lungs were sore from breathing so intensely. As she forced herself to keep moving, her leg muscles felt leaden. Her clothes must weigh an extra five pounds from all the water they’d absorbed. The road was closer, but getting to it had been a sort of false hope. The thug was only jogging toward them. Now that he’d made his phone call and had ushered even more manpower down on them, he didn’t have to catch them, only keep an eye on them, which was easy enough to do when the flat land stretched for miles.
She recalled how the dark-haired man had brought the dogs into the mountains via helicopter to track them. Clearly, whoever was behind this, probably the Agent Frisk the dead man had mentioned in the video, had all kinds of resources beyond just the three men who had chased them from the rest stop.
Jesse stopped and pulled out his phone. “If he had a signal, then we have one, too.” He pressed the keypad as he walked. “Keep running, Abigail. I’ll catch up.”
She jogged ahead. The road was within twenty yards, though there was no sign of a car coming in either direction. Maybe that was a good thing. It meant the thugs weren’t close by—but it also meant there was no one who might give them temporary refuge in the form of a ride.
As her feet pounded the ground, she glanced over her shoulder. The dark-haired man was looming dangerously close to Jesse as he jogged and talked on the phone. Would Dale even be able to get to them in time?
She ran faster. A gunshot sounded behind her. All the air left her lungs. She craned her neck. Jesse was lying on the ground with the thug bearing down on him, his gun raised. Time seemed to stand still. She slowed and turned. She couldn’t leave Jesse. If they both died here, so be it. She picked up a rock and ran toward Jesse. It was no match for a gun, but it was all she had.
Jesse bolted up from the ground and ran toward her. Relief spread through her like a burst of sunshine on a cloudy day. He hadn’t been hit. He’d avoided the bullet by dropping to the ground.
Jesse gestured that she needed to keep running. She turned back around and headed toward the road. She stumbled when another shot was fired, but when she craned her neck, she saw Jesse sprinting toward her.
The thug who had to stop to fire off the shots was some distance behind him. Jesse caught up with her just as her feet touched the pavement of the road.
“Dale has been looking for us on the road.” Jesse never slowed in his run. Because he was out of breath from running, his words came slowly. “We need to find a mile marker, so he knows where we are. Keep running.”
The long straight road stretched before them. Maybe a mile away, the road rounded up over a hill and dropped out of sight. Up ahead, she saw the little green metal sign that would tell them where they were. The thug remained at their heels. They’d be slowed down when Jesse made the to call Dale again. Her only prayer was that Dale could get to them before the thugs did.
The green metal sign indicated they were at mile marker fifty-seven. She was pretty sure they were headed in the direction of the rest stop, though she had no idea how far away they were from it. She hadn’t paid attention to the mile markers when they’d ridden with Tony.
Jesse kept running. “That guy is too close for me to slow down to make the call to Dale.”
She still held the rock she’d picked up. Not much of a weapon. Though they weren’t armed, there were two of them and only one thug. Was there a way to ambush him before he had a chance to aim the gun at them? There were clusters of trees not far from the road, but the thug would be able to see them running toward them for cover.
“What if we slow down?” Her feet pounded the concrete of the road.
“What?”
“So he thinks he can hit us. Then he’ll use up his bullets.”
“Good idea. But I’ll do it. You stay ahead of me.” Jesse’s run turned into a jog.
Abigail slowed but increased the distance between herself and Jesse. There was no time to argue with him over who should be the target.
How many shots had the man fired so far? Three, maybe?
The tactic was a dangerous one. What if the dark-haired man wounded Jesse?
Two more shots were fired. Each time, Abigail’s heart stopped. She kept running but looked over her shoulder. Jesse was still behind her, still moving.
She prayed that they would both get out of this alive.
Oh, God, please help us.
Without warning, the downpour turned to hail the size of quarters. She put her arms up to shield herself from the pelting. The storm was so intense she couldn’t see more than a few feet in front of her.
Jesse was by her side, grasping her elbow and leading her off the road toward the shelter of the trees. Her skin stung from the hail hitting her. He pulled her beneath the trees, which provided only partial shelter.
When she peered out, she couldn’t see where the thug was because of the intensity of the downpour.
“You all right?” Jesse wrapped his arms around her shoulder and drew her close.
“I feel like I’ve gone ten rounds with a prizefighter.” It was nice to have Jesse’s protective arm around her.
The storm sounded like a million pieces of bubble wrap being broken at the same time. Visibility was so reduced, she couldn’t even see the road.
“Yeah, I’m pretty beat-up, also.” Jesse leaned forward, looking all around. “That guy must have run for cover, too. I don’t see him anywhere.”
He squeezed her shoulder. She peered up at him, looking into his deep brown eyes. The moment was only a brief reprieve, but she relished it all the same. They’d be on the run again as soon as the storm let up. Even though their situation was tenuous and escape from harm felt like a long shot, she realized there was no other place she’d rather be than here with Jesse.
She peered out again. The clusters of trees were barely discernable through the onslaught of hail. “I wonder where he went.”
Jesse stood beside her, their shoulders touching. He shook his head and pointed at a dark patch across the road through the thick sheets of hail. “That would have been the closest place for him to run.”
The intensity of the hail hitting the ground changed as the downpour let up a little. Headlights glared through the haze of the storm up the road.
Jesse pulled out his phone and clicked the screen. “I’m texting the mile marker number.” He clicked the screen and then brought it close to his face to read Dale’s response. “Dale says he’s close.”
They waited while the hail continued to spill out of the sky. In the distance, the murky glow of headlights appeared on the road.
Jesse held up the phone, turning the flashlight on and off. The vehicle slowed and flashed its headlights.
“That’s the signal. It’s him.” Jesse burst out from the shelter of the trees.
Even as the driving hail stung her skin, her spirits lifted. They ran toward the headlights as the vehicle slowed and pulled over, though Dale kept the headlights on.
A gunshot cracked the air around them. Abigail startled into alertness. The falling hail distorted noise so much, she wasn’t sure where the shot had even come from.
Jesse grabbed her hand and guided her toward the soft-focus headlights of Dale’s vehicle.
On the other side of the road, she saw a dark, moving blob. That had to be the dark-haired man with the gun.
In the distance, she spotted another set of headlights coming toward Dale’s vehicle.
Dale’s SUV was in motion once again, heading toward them even as the other car closed the distance between them.
Another shot was fired, though it seemed to fizzle as soon as it left the gun. The dark blob became more distinct.
The other set of headlights was within yards of Dale’s car. The body of the blue SUV Dale drove materialized out of the storm. The car slowed to maybe five miles an hour.
Her hand reached for a door handle and she fell into the back seat. Jesse had yanked open the passenger-side door in the front.
She was soaked, and it felt like she’d been beaten with a thousand tiny sticks. All the same, the worn muddy interior of Dale’s back seat brought more relief than a soft bed or a hot bath.
“Boy, are we glad to see you,” said Jesse.
The car behind them hit Dale’s rear bumper with intense force, sending a new wave of terror shooting through Abigail’s body.
* * *
Jesse’s body flung forward toward the dashboard. His chest hit something solid, and then, as if he was being lifted by the back of his coat, his back banged against the seat. He was fumbling for the seat belt when a second jolt hit the back bumper again, though this one wasn’t as jarring. Dale pressed the gas and gained some speed.
Dale’s windshield wipers worked furiously to clear the hail and provide some visibility. Jesse stared through the windshield. At best, he could see only a murky impression of the road. Over and over, the center yellow line popped into view for a fraction of a second.
The hail hitting the metal of the SUV made it feel like the body of the car would split into a thousand pieces. The intensity of the assault surrounded them.
Jesse craned his neck to glance at Abigail and then out the back window. The headlights of the other car were two out-of-focus circles. The other car slowed down and then stopped, probably to pick up the dark-haired man. Jesse rested his gaze on Abigail, who had a stunned expression on her face as she buckled herself in. “You all right?”
