Britt couldn’t see his brother’s expression. But he could hear Knox’s misgivings vibrating through his voice.
“This is our best chance to get you to safety and clear your name.” Britt covered his brother’s fingers with his gloved hand. “Trust me. I got this.”
Knox’s words were hoarse with emotion when he whispered, “Thank you, brother.”
And there’s that damn lump back in my throat again.
Britt squeezed his brother's fingers one more time. Then, he swung around to tell Hew, “If I don’t end up in cuffs, I’ll meet y’all at the cabin once I know it’s safe.”
“You can get there without the GPS?”
“Studied the route so many times I could find it with my eyes closed.”
“That’s the Britt I know and love.”
“W-were you a Boy Scout or something,” Sabrina asked quietly.
“Nope.” Britt shook his helmeted head. “But I’ve always taken their mantra about being prepared to heart.”
Hew snorted. “Britt’s reckless as hell with his own life, but he’s the most dependable man on the planet when it comes to looking after everyone else.”
“Aw, shucks, Hew. You lookin’ to take me up on that kiss now?”
“Fuck off.”
“Right back atcha.”
“Copy that,” Hew said, and Britt smiled as he clicked on Hew’s Maglite, thumbed on the flashlight taped to his wrist, and cranked over Haint’s engine.
He hoped the flashlights would give the illusion of three headlights. The trees were dense, so he felt confident the deception would work unless the feds used infrared.
Flipping down his visor, he twisted his wrist and was off in a flash of spinning tires and dust-covered chrome.
Haint cut through the humid air as easily as a hot knife through butter, hungrily eating up the crumbling asphalt. Britt kept one eye on the road in case of potholes while the other was trained on the side of the road and the turnoff he’d spied moments before he’d nearly plowed into the herd of deer.
There.
He caught sight of the speed limit sign next to the detour and grimaced. Now that he really looked at it, he could see the road was a little more than a double-wide track topped with gravel. Weeds and saplings grew up along the sides. And there were spots where rain runoff had washed out the center of the route.
Beggars can’t be choosers,he thought as he planted a boot, swung Haint’s backend around, and quickly turned onto the narrow track.
The smell of vegetation and decaying plant matter was strong enough to slip under his visor and fill his nose as he pushed Haint as fast as he dared over the uneven ground. The canopy was lower than it had been on the larger road. It brushed the top of his helmet in spots and made it impossible to see more than a dozen feet in front of him.
He cleared a mile in less than three minutes. A second and third mile slipped by easily. By the time he watched the fourth mile tick over on his odometer, he could hear thewomp-womp-wompof the helicopter blades racing to meet him.
Follow the pretty lights through the trees!he thought as he narrowly avoided a large rock that had rolled into the middle of the road.
Haint’s engine growled with impatience at the speed. He didn’t dare push the motorcycle much over thirty mph, or the gravel would take him out.
He couldn’t have that. Not yet. He needed to put more miles between himself and where Hew and his brother sat hidden in the dark.
Just a little bit farther,he thought as his tires bounced over a particularly uneven section of road. It was like someone had carved ski moguls into the track. By the time they smoothed out, he was surprised all his teeth hadn’t rattled out of his head.
Another mile rolled over on his odometer. Then another and another.
He realized he was smiling triumphantly when dust from the road made his teeth feel gritty.
Go, Hew!He willed his silent thoughts through the night.Now’s your chance!
