“Who are you?” he asked.
“Doesn’t matter,” Hallie told him, scrambling to her knees, still holding on to his wrist and elbow, dragging him with her so he flopped onto his stomach, face down in a thicket of the thorny plants. He howled, pain and anger combined, and she pulled him further away from where Vinny and Girard were wrestling in the midst of more of the thorns. She could see fine cuts across Girard’s face, but he was more than capable of dealing with Vinny.
Hallie took a firmer grip on the unnamed man’s wrist and reached back, puling the coil of rope off her belt. She spared a tiny moment to wish she had her own flexi cuffs with her, butthere was no use wishing for things like that. The rope would have to do. She made a loop around his wrist, putting her knee in the small of his back as he tried to get up and wriggle away, then grabbed the other hand, pulling it back and tying his wrists together behind him, making sure the knots were tight and there wasn’t much give in the rope.
Satisfied that the rope would hold him, she got back to her feet and picked up the gun he’d dropped.
Girard was in the process of tying Vinny up as well. He glanced across to Hallie and nodded once in satisfaction. “Get Rhodda to the ATVs, will you? We’ll borrow one.” He tilted his head to indicate the direction.
“Alright,” Hallie said. She turned to Rhodda. “Ready to get out of here?”
“More than,” Rhodda answered, stepping cautiously away from her shelter. Her eyes darted from one prone, tied up man to the other. She seemed astonished. “I’ve never seen anyone get the better of Jonah’s men before,” she told Hallie, voice tinged with something that sounded like awe.
“Well, we had the advantage of surprise,” Hallie said. She waved for Rhodda to keep walking, and led the way through the dense forest. She glanced back after a few paces and found Rhodda lagging behind. “I know you’re probably tired and sore, but we don’t have long. Can you move faster?”
“I’ll try,” Rhodda said, and picked up her pace. “What do you mean? That we don’t have long?”
“The rope ties won’t hold Vinny and his sidekick forever,” Hallie said. “So we need to put as much distance between us as possible.”
“Right. Yes. That makes sense,” Rhodda said.
Hallie could see the trees thinning out ahead of her and breathed a sigh of relief when she saw that the two ATVs and themotorbike, its engine still idling, remained on the road, with no one else around.
“Do you know a quick way to disable the ATVs?” Hallie asked.
“What? Oh. Pull something out of the engine. That should do it,” Rhodda said. She stumbled as she walked up the small bank from the forest to the road surface and leant against the side of the nearest ATV, breathing hard.
Hallie took a quick look at each of the vehicles. The thugs had left the keys in the ignition, which was something. The one Rhodda was leaning against seemed to be in marginally better shape than the other one, and when she turned the key, its fuel gauge read almost full. That would do. She turned to the other vehicle.
Pull something out of the engine, Hallie told herself. It sounded simple enough, except Hallie had no real idea what she was looking at when she managed to pry open the primitive hood that covered the engine. There were a few wires leading into what she thought might be a battery. That would do. She pulled the wires, and managed to wrestle the battery, which was a lot heavier than it looked, out of the engine, dropping it into the cargo compartment of the ATV Rhodda was leaning against.
The ATV would hold all of them, Hallie knew, and turned her attention to the motorbike, with its sputtering engine. She pulled the key out of the ignition and tossed it into the ATV’s cargo compartment as well, welcoming the quiet that followed the engine dying. She knew even less about motorbikes than she did about cars, but she hoped that would at least slow Vinny and his men down.
“Why don’t you get in?” Hallie suggested to Rhodda, as she got into the driver’s seat and had a look at the controls. No sooner had Rhodda got into the passenger seat than Girard emerged out of the forest, moving at a steady jog. He vaulted up into the cargo section with no complaint.
“That way,” he said, pointing. It was the way Hallie had been planning to drive, but she was grateful for the confirmation. She started the ATV engine and winced at the noise it made, then turned it around and headed the way Girard had indicated.
“Wait, shouldn’t you get your packs?” Rhodda asked.
“No time,” Girard said.
“Well, at least get some supplies out of the boxes,” Rhodda said, twisting to look behind her. “There’s always a stash of protein bars and water in the governor’s vehicles.”
“I will, when we’re at a safe distance,” Girard promised.
Hallie risked a glance over her shoulder and saw that Girard was focusing on the road behind them, gun in his hand, as if waiting for Vinny or one of the others to appear. As she turned back to the road ahead, she caught Rhodda’s expression and a chill ran over her. Asking about the packs had been a perfectly reasonable question, but there was something in the other woman’s face that told Hallie it hadn’t been an idle query.
Now was not the time or place to interrogate the other woman, but Hallie made a mental note to have a very serious conversation with Rhodda very soon. There was something going on here that she didn’t understand, and every instinct she had told her that it was potentially dangerous.
For now, they needed to get away from Jonah’s armed men. She pressed down on the accelerator. New Hope wasn’t that far away.
Chapter fourteen
Thedirtroadmadea sweeping turn that took Hallie by surprise. The road builders had apparently decided to go around a thicket of ancient-looking trees with sturdy trunks that looked big enough to build a house in and arched, spreading branches that dripped down to the ground. Even as she fought to keep the ATV on the road, she found herself glad that they had left the ancient trees where they were. She wanted to stop and walk through the arched branches, touch the bark of the enormous trunks and breathe in what she was quite sure would be scented air. But she had two people with her. She suspected Girard would be happy to indulge her curiosity, but she couldn’t be as certain about Rhodda. And the woman was injured, too.
“Pull over for a moment,” Girard said, making Hallie jump. They’d been travelling in silence for a while. “We’re far enough away from Vinny and the others to be safe for a moment, and New Hope is just over that hill.”
“How do you know that?” Rhodda asked. Her voice was slightly dull, but her eyes were sharp as she looked at Girard.
