Page 96 of Homestead

17

Less than thirty minutes later,I’m squeezed into the cab of Cal’s pickup truck, doing my best to remember where I left Jimmy so I can direct the others to the right spot.

Cal is driving, and Rachel is sitting beside him. Then me and Mack. Four of us is one too many for a comfortable ride on this bench seat. If I weren’t the only one who knows where to find Jimmy, I wouldn’t be invited along on this rescue at all.

It’s completely understandable. While Jimmy did teach me to use a gun, I’m not an expert by any definition, and I have exactly zero experience in gunfights. I’d be little help coming along no matter how much I would have insisted.

Ben and Greta even tried to get me to describe his location to them so I could stay at the house—they were anxious because they so clearly understood that Jimmy would want me to stay where it’s safe—but I was so exhausted and flustered and breathless that I couldn’t get out any clear explanations.

So I’m tagging along to give directions with a promise that I’ll stay out of sight unless things go bad and I’m needed for backup. Ben, Greta, Amelia, her father, and Cy Santiago are in the bed of the pickup.

We’re getting Jimmy back.

It’s a miracle Mack and the others are here at the right time for us to use their vehicle in the rescue. Otherwise it would take us much longer, and we might be too late.

The moon is still bright in the sky, and thank goodness the landscape comes back to me as we drive so I can give appropriate directions on how to find Jimmy.

I’m so nervous about what’s waiting for us that I can’t stop trembling, but none of the others in the cab appear remotely anxious. Cal is tense and silent, but that’s obviously his normal demeanor. Rachel is calm and matter-of-fact, and Mack is relaxed and encouraging, telling me that the numbers sound promising and that the bad guys won’t have had time to call for reinforcements and that Jimmy knows what he’s doing, so he was probably able to hold out.

It helps but not enough. There were more bad guys than just the three in the SUV, and I have no idea what happened to them. They could have found Jimmy already.

Anyway, nothing is going to fix me until I can see for myself that Jimmy is alive.

“Have you never done this before?” Mack asks after I direct Cal to skirt around a large cluster of trees and then ascend a grassy hill. I’m pretty sure I left Jimmy in the valley beyond it.

“Done what?” I’m still having trouble focusing after my extended physical exertion, and my throat is painfully scratchy. “Been in a gunfight?”

“Yeah.”

I shake my head. “I’ve never done anything like it. I didn’t even know how to fire a gun until Jimmy taught me earlier this year. I’m pretty useless.”

“You aren’t either.” Mack’s eyes are dark and kind. “You ran all the way back in record time, and you’re still holding it together. Damn impressive.”

I give him a wobbly smile. “Thanks for saying that. But I guarantee I’m not going to be any help once we get there.”

“That’s okay. You just crouch down on the floor here and stay low. Don’t get out or do anything stupid. If things go bad, we’ll need you to help then. But I don’t think it’ll come to that.”

I hope not. I pray silently to anyone who might hear that it won’t.

“It’s just over this hill, I think,” I tell Cal.

I sure hope I haven’t led everyone in the entirely wrong direction.

I didn’t. As soon as we crest the hill, the Jeep with the blown tire comes into view, exactly where I left it.

But nothing else looks the same.

There are a lot more men, positioned on various sides and all shooting at the SUV.

Jimmy is still in the back, but he must have at some point managed to get out to collect the weapons off the original three men whose bodies are now lying on the grass. He’s got an assault rifle and keeps ducking out from behind the back hatch to shoot toward the men attacking him.

He’s still alive. That’s my first clear recognition.

But he’s outnumbered by about ten.

The rest of the group who originally attacked us on the road must have been following on foot. They caught up before we could reach him and are scattered around, holding protected positions behind different trees and one big boulder. They must have just recently arrived because Jimmy couldn’t have held out against so many for very long.

I didn’t run fast enough.

---