Chapter Twenty-Eight Sabra Runs
CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
Sabra Runs
The attack came for one person.
Sabra.
Tollhouse riders hit the prisoner truck first.
Not the water.
Not the convoy engines.
Rhett recognized the pattern immediately.
"Keep her secured!"
Gunfire split the quarry.
Eden grabbed the rifle from the lead rig.
Mina moved wounded people behind stone.
Esme's Glass Road drivers took the west line.
For the first time, no one had to decide whether the other convoy counted.
Tollhouse made the decision easy.
A pickup rammed the prisoner truck.
Metal screamed.
Sabra's guards went down.
The rear door opened.
Sabra stepped out into gunfire as if leaving a meeting.
One of her riders threw her a coat.
Pale.
Of course.
Rhett ran.
"Eden, stay—"
He stopped himself.
Wrong.
She was already moving east to cut off a second truck.
Good.
Rhett pursued Sabra.
She climbed into the Tollhouse pickup.
A Glass Road rifle shot broke the windshield.
The driver ducked.
Rhett reached the door.
Someone hit him from behind.
He fell.
Pain tore through his side.
The Tollhouse pickup accelerated.
Rhett rolled clear.
A second vehicle followed.
Then a third.
Tollhouse retreated north.
Sabra escaped.
Rhett pushed up.
He could hear Mina shouting his name.
Then a crash came from the western ridge.
Glass Road's lead truck had been hit during the retreat.
It rolled onto its side.
Esme was inside.
Rhett looked north.
Sabra's taillights.
Close.
For three years, vengeance had been a road he could follow without thinking.
This time he stopped.
He ran west.
"Eden!"
She was already at the overturned truck.
Fuel leaked from the rear tank.
Esme's door was pinned under rock.
The old woman hung sideways from her belt, conscious and furious.
"Get me out."
Rhett climbed onto the cab.
Eden looked at him.
"Sabra?"
"Gone."
Her eyes held his for half a second.
She understood the choice.
No speech.
No praise.
They worked.
Pax brought a jack.
Mina cut the belt.
Rhett and two Glass Road drivers lifted the damaged door.
Esme crawled out.
Then the leaking fuel caught.
Everyone ran.
The truck burned.
Esme sat on the ground with blood at her hairline.
She looked at Rhett.
"You left Kest."
"Yes."
"For me."
"Don't make it sentimental."
Her mouth twitched.
"Wouldn't dream."
Eden stood a few yards away.
Something had changed in her face.
Rhett went to her.
"You're bleeding."
She touched her forehead.
A small cut.
"Glass."
Mina appeared.
"No one move."
She cleaned both of them with visible disgust.
"Children."
"Leader," Rhett corrected.
"Patient."
Eden smiled.
The camp took stock.
No dead.
Three wounded.
One burned truck.
Prisoner gone.
Pressure clock: twelve hours.
Blue Vault: six miles.
They could not chase Sabra and reach the relief gate in time.
Sabra knew that too.
Eden climbed onto a rock.
"She'll go to Blue Vault."
Rhett nodded.
"Shortcut north."
Esme stood with help.
"Then move."
Mina looked at her.
"You need stitches."
"Do them in the truck."
"That is not—"
"Please."
Mina stared.
Then sighed.
"Fine."
The convoys packed in twenty minutes.
One less vehicle.
More shared cargo.
Glass Road's food went into Dustline's bus.
Dustline's spare tires went into Glass Road's rear rig.
Not symbolic.
Necessary.
Rhett rode passenger again.
Eden drove.
He watched the road.
After a mile she said, "You could have caught her."
"Maybe."
"You chose Esme."
"Yes."
"Why?"
Rhett looked at her.
"Because she was there."
The answer was not noble.
That made it true.
Eden's eyes glistened.
She looked back at the road.
"I think Caro would have liked you."
Rhett did not know what to do with that.
"She had terrible judgment?"
"Spectacularly."
He smiled.
Eden reached across the console.
Rhett took her hand.
They drove toward Blue Vault with Sabra ahead and both convoys behind.
The old road narrowed between black cliffs.
Six miles.
Twelve hours.
One gate.
Rhett had no idea what waited there.
For once, he did not need to.
Eden was driving.