Page 119 of Durango

“Someone is shooting at us. We’re not sticking around.”

“Dammit. Drive this way. If she follows you, we’ll catch her on the road,” Harding says.

“I’ll try,” I say. “But they shot out my tire, so we’ll be on foot soon.”

The road out of the park is windy with a lot of speed bumps, which isn’t good for my tire. We head south on the highway but only make it a few miles before I have to pull over.

“There!” Willow says, pointing.

It’s a forest service road. I take it and hope there is a place to hide the truck from view. The road we are on turned from gravel to dirt, and we are kicking up a lot of dust behind us. I’m afraid we’re going to be easy to follow.

We bump down the road until I find an opening behind some bushes. I turn in order to face any incoming traffic. Although we are blocked enough that no one can see us until they are right up on us. We need a strong breeze to blow this huge dirt cloud away.

I grab my gun from the console as an engine grows louder. There is the distinct sound of gravel crushed under tires. They just turned onto this road.

“They’ve turned off the highway. We need to get into the woods,” I say.

We exit the truck, being careful not to slam the doors shut. There are no paths into the woods, but fortunately, the undergrowth isn’t too thick.

“This way,” I say as I lead us south.

We’ve made it about one hundred yards when we hear Sylvia.

“This is his truck!” she yells.

We move faster and keep running for about a mile. I’m impressed that Willow hasn’t had any trouble keeping up with me. Finally, I spot a large tree, and we both get behind it, listening for any sound to indicate they are coming after us.

No twigs break, but soon, the loud engine grows closer. We are near enough to the highway that we can hear it but not close enough to be seen.

The loud car is driving slowly but growing closer.

“Do you see them?” Sylvia yells out.

“Not yet!” a man yells back.

We instinctively duck.

“I’m going to try to get eyes on that car,” I say. “We need to know if all four are in it or if they are out here, hunting us.”

Willow nods.

“Please stay right here.”

“All right,” she says.

I don’t have to go far to get a view of the road and the car. Sylvia is driving, and a man is sitting in the passenger seat, staring out the open window. The back seat appears empty.

Shit. They are in the woods.

I make my way back to Willow. “Only two in the car, which means the other two are coming up behind us. Sylvia and the man will likely come at us from the other way.”

Willow nods. “So, we need to cross the highway.”

“We do.” Fortunately, it’s a two-lane highway and easy to cross as long as Sylvia and her henchmen are out of sight.

As we make our way to the road, voices carry from behind us. The two men are close.

I turn to Willow and place my finger to my lips. She nods. I take her hand and lead her out of the forest onto the highway. There are no cars around. We run across and into the forest on the other side, continuing to walk south.

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