Chapter 13
They didn’t take the truck this time. Dylan stowed his duffle in the four-by-four and patted his sidearm, safely strapped to his waist and covered by his light black jacket. Nikki, similarly dressed in dark blue jeans, wore a dark knit shirt with a long-sleeved dark shirt over it. She’d started to wear her work jacket only to have Dylan shake his head at the light tan color. “We need to blend in.”
“On a four-by-four?” She asked doubtfully. The four-by-four”s engine wasn’t known for its quietness.
“We’ll be as quiet as any other group out there. Besides, I’m not planning on driving that much.”
They headed out with the headlights taped to the point that Nikki couldn’t see anything, seated behind Dylan. When she yelled into his ear that he’d wreck them, he assured her he could see. When he shifted to adjust to the small rut they ran through she could just locate the sliver of light that shone from the headlights. Still, she held on and prayed he could make out the terrain enough to keep them upright on the trip.
They’d traveled to the wire fence that made up the border in the bootheel section of the state. Alighting from the ATV, Dylan opened the satchel and removed a couple of items. When he held out a pistol to her, Nikki shook her head. She’d used a rifle in the past to kill snakes and the occasional wounded animal and she still took it in the truck when she left the ranch, but she refused the sidearm now. Dylan didn’t complain or comment but put the gun in his jacket pocket then held out another device. At her hesitation, he explained. “It’s night vision glasses.”
She took them and put them on, amazed at the desert in red. “I thought you had to have goggles to see in the dark.”
“Most of the time they’re better, but these help as well.” Dylan put his own on. “They’re still pretty new and not as effective, but they’ll do. Just don’t look into a light with them. You’ll be blinded for a while.”
She nodded, wondering where he thought they’d see a light in the desert. They walked the perimeter of the fence, seeing a whole lot of nothing in the way of people. Even the migrants were staying away this morning, Nikki thought.
She walked, looking down for the odd rut or snake, feeling the slight chill in the air and her tired feet. How long they’d walked when Dylan suggested they turn back she didn’t know but suspected it hadn’t been more than a mile.
They were near the ATV when everything broke loose. First Nikki heard an engine, then yelling. Dylan grabbed her hand and started sprinting toward the four-by-four, just a few yards away. As she ran, Nikki became aware of movement in her peripheral vision. She turned to look toward it and stumbled into Dylan.
He grabbed her by the waist and lifted her off her feet, carrying her a few feet before putting her down again and pulling her behind him. “Get on and start the engine,” he said shortly before turning his back to her.
As she turned the key, Nikki glanced around and cried out. A headlight had come on just as she turned to look and everything turned green. She blinked but couldn’t make out anything then remembered the glasses. As she pulled them off, she tried to make out features with no success.
Dylan climbed on the ATV behind her. “Go.”
“I can’t see,” she said.
He cursed then and scrambled off. As she scooted back, Nikki apologized. “It’s okay, just hold on.” He gunned the motor and turned the ATV as tightly as he could, heading off to follow the other off-road vehicles.
As they trailed the group, Nikki made out four different vehicles. There was an ATV like hers, a small truck, and a Jeep. The other vehicle was a motorbike, a dirt racing bike from the looks of it. She hadn’t seen one around the area, so she didn’t expect to recognize the driver and didn’t, with his head covered with a concealing helmet. The other men wore dark clothes as they did but the Stetson on the man driving the Jeep, she recognized. Wayne.
He glanced over his shoulder and though she knew it wasn’t possible, Nikki felt like he met her gaze as Wayne turned the steering wheel toward a scraggly group of people, causing them to break into a run. Dylan yelled and tried to speed up but the ATV was at full throttle and couldn’t keep up with the Jeep.
Nikki shouted as Wayne almost clipped a woman running with a child in her arms. How could he? “He’ll kill them,” she shouted. “Slow down.”
“No,” Dylan shouted back at her and tried to get in between Wayne and the woman. He’d managed to wedge them into a small opening when Wayne recognized him and guessed at his passenger. The Jeeps slowed until Wayne was beside Dylan, his face fierce in the faint light cast by the headlights. “Get her out of here.”
“Stop this, Wayne,” she yelled in desperation.
“Get out of here, Nikki!” he swerved away from them and toward a man who was running along the fence line. Dylan followed, his focus on Wayne.
The first contact felt like they’d hit a rut. Nikki tightened her hold on Dylan and glanced around for the hole she was sure they’d hit. What she saw turned her blood to ice.
The small truck she’d spied earlier was close enough she could reach out and touch it. As she squinted into the glare of the headlights, she could make out in her peripheral vision two dark images in the truck. A yell and a whoop followed by another bump sent her into Dylan’s back with a thump.
He cursed again, this time not under his breath, and turned away from the truck, this time away from the border fence. Nikki held on and kept her gaze on the truck but yelled at him, hoping he’d hear. “They’re following us.”
“I know,” he yelled back and started weaving. As she jerked left and right, Nikki sent up prayers of thoughts rather than words. She had no words, right now. Only terror and pleas.
She thought they’d make it out of danger when the truck’s headlights grew fainter. Nikki took a deep breath and started to let Dylan know when everything tumbled into darkness and pain.