“Like I said. We can talk later.” She looked in the rearview. “How long has that tourniquet been on your buddy?”
Bodie glanced back. “Buck?”
The man — Buck — looked down. “Twenty minutes.”
Rowan huffed out her next breath. “He can’t wait all night if it comes to that. We’ll try the main line. If we can avoid a tail…”
Lights.
Glowing in the fog behind her. What looked like a pair of heavy-duty trucks. Eating up the distance. Floating over the ruts.
Rowan punched the gas, taking the next bend faster than usual, spraying mud and gravel across the underbrush. Bodie grabbed the handle next to his head, hissed out a breath.
She shifted her gaze to his leg. Fresh blood dotted his black cargo pants, what looked like shrapnel laced down his thigh. Another damn reason she should have brought her dad’s bag instead of her usual one. “There’s a med kit in the back?—”
“I’ll worry about my leg once I know we’re all gonna stay breathing.” He tapped the GPS on her dash. “This road’s not even on the map.”
“These tracks were decommissioned years ago. But I know my way around here better than I do my own apartment.”
He chuckled. “You say that as if it’s comforting.”
“It might be once I do this…”
She killed the headlights, nothing but gray fog filling the windshield, only a hint of the gravel road showing a few feet in front. Bodie inhaled, his knuckles blanching white as she dodged another corner, then fishtailed the SUV around a hard right, bumping down a narrow track only a few diehard locals knew existed.
The trailing vehicles shot past, their headlights glinting off the mirror in a flash of motion. She kept driving, finally flicking the beams back on once she’d gotten clear of the main line.
Bodie stared out the rear window, lips pressed tight, brow creased. He didn’t question her choice, barely registering the branches slapping the side of her rig, or the way she straddled a washout, the tires rolling along the edge before finally catching solid ground.
He glanced at his phone. “I’ve got a bar… damn it. Gone.”
“It’s intermittent at best until we reach the top of this spur. With any luck…”
Rowan’s breath hitched as a massive alder appeared in the twin beams, the tree spanning the road, a few of the branches stabbing toward them. She hit the brakes, skidded sideways across the scree before finally stopping amidst a cloud of dirt and stone.
She shoved the vehicle into park. “Wait here a moment.”
Rowan hopped out, the engine still idling, that door chime dinging in the background as she surveyed the blockage before racing back. “The tree’s been freshly cut. This wasn’t a blowdown. I’d need a chainsaw to get through it, and it’s too risky to chance going back with those assholes milling around.”
She ran through their options in her head. “I think Beckett’s team is on call for Raven’s Watch today. From what I’ve seen and heard, he’s not the type to leave us hanging, despite the incoming storm and possible hostile greeting.”
Bodie scoffed. “Foster Beckett would fly through a cyclone before he left someone behind. And none of his crew shies away from a fight.”
“Good, then we‘ll head for the top — hope we can catch a ride.” She darted to the back, opened the hatch, and grabbed the gear bag she’d shoved to one side, stuffing a few countermeasures in her pockets before snagging a rolled orange sheet. “I’ve got a SKED litter. We’ll combine our med kits, bundle your friend?—”
“Wade.” Buck’s voice rasped beside her. “Wade Stone.”
“We’ll bundle Wade and hike the rest of the way.” She paused. “Unless one of you has a better idea?”
The men jumped out before she’d removed all the gear — had Wade secured, weapons at the ready by the time she’d turned off her Tahoe, mapped out the route in her head.
They each took a corner, started hiking, Bodie setting a blazing pace despite his limp. The increasing patches of blood on his leg. They climbed through a few switchbacks before Bodie stopped.
He looked down the hillside, eyes narrowed, chest rising rhythmically despite the exertion. “Looks like we didn’t fool them for long.”
Rowan followed his gaze. Twin beams barreled through the fog, closing in on her abandoned vehicle. More brightened the mist half a klick behind, flashing in and out of view as the truck wound along the narrow track. “We’ll keep moving. If they manage to close the gap, I’ll take defensive measures while you boys continue towards the top.”
The men grunted in unison before Bodie shook his head.
