Page 36 of So Far Gone

“Good. I’m glad. I like Bethany very much. Poor, troubled soul. I should’ve reached out to her after her mother passed.” The pastor smiled and gestured to the house. “I’ll tell you what, why don’t you two come inside. I’ll put on some tea, and we can talk about this.”

“You know what,” Chuck said, “I feel like we just talked about it.”

The kids came out then, returning to Kinnick’s side with their backpacks.

The pastor gave a disarming smile. He craned his neck to look past Chuck. “Leah. Is this your grandfather?”

“Yes, Pastor Gallen.”

“And you’re comfortable going with him.”

“Yes, sir. Our mom wanted us to stay with him.”

“How about you, Asher?”

“Yes, sir.”

“I see.” He smiled. “Well then. Maybe you kids can ask your grandfather if he’d like to come inside and have a cup of tea with me. If some of my church members have been disrespectful, I would like to hear more about it. Then we can call your father. I’m sure we can get this whole thing settled.”

Again, Chuck interrupted. “Like I said, Padre, I think it’s been settled.”

That’s when Chuck heard the whine of a distant engine. Over a dip in the fence, he could see, on the other side of a thick stand of pines, a dirt trail running along the hill below the Rampart, dust rising from the trees. One of the ATVs must be returning—probably a mile away but coming fast. The pastor must’ve called them before he came outside. Chuck walked purposefully to his truck, leaned in the passenger door, and opened the glove box. He took out the gun case.

As he opened it, he turned to Kinnick. “I want you to take the truck.” He set the key fob on the driver’s seat.

“What—”

“I’ll be fine. I’m just gonna talk to these guys. Slow their roll. Buy you a little time.” He got the gun out, popped the magazine in, and tucked it into the back waistband of his pants. He walked over to Kinnick. “Take the kids and go.”

Kinnick stood there, frozen.

“Rhys.” He spoke quietly but firmly. “Take your goddamn grandkids. I’ll catch up to you later. I promise. Now would you please go.”

Finally, Kinnick nodded and hurried the kids into Chuck’s pickup.He jumped in the driver’s seat, started it, and began driving toward the gate.

Chuck watched the taillights on his pickup flash once, like a warning, and then his truck passed through the open gate and turned onto the dirt road leading down the hill.

Strangest thought popped into his head then: two more payments and that truck would be paid off.

Through the same dip in the fence, Chuck could see, below the Rampart, the ATV had cleared the tree line and was coming up the hill on the other side. Chuck turned back to the pastor. “I don’t suppose you have herbal tea, Padre. I probably shouldn’t have any more caffeine.”

***

Kinnick drove quickly down the dirt road, Chuck’s pickup truck jostling in the ruts. He tried to go easy, but his adrenaline was spiking, and he kept thinking the wordescape. Asher and Leah were silently double-buckled in the front seat next to him. As he descended the Rampart’s hillock, Kinnick saw another pickup emerge from the tree line, coming toward them on the narrow road. Rhys slowed and pulled over to the side to let the other truck pass. The young man driving wore a dim smile underneath a baseball cap. He nodded and waved, Kinnick nodding and waving back, then watching the truck go by in the dusty rearview mirror. Rhys continued along slowly until he reached the woods, then stepped on the accelerator.

“Where are we going?” Leah asked.

“Not sure yet,” Kinnick said. They quickly descended the forested part of the hill, insistent pines seeming to close in and crowd the road on both sides, scraping the side mirrors, until, finally, they came out into a clearing where the dirt road met the two-lane highway. He let out a deep breath.

“Okay,” Kinnick said, “okay,” thinking maybe they were safe now.

“Your black eye is turning green,” Asher said.

Kinnick looked over at his grandson. “Is it?”

And that’s when Kinnick heard what sounded like thepopof a distant gunshot, echoing in the forest behind them.

He looked back over his shoulder, at the dirt road disappearing like smoke into the trees.Shit!Should he go back? Try to help? He looked over at his grandkids. Closed his eyes:think!What was the best course of action in a situation like this? But, of course, he’d never been in a situation like this. Nothing even remotely close.

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