Chapter 27

January 8, 10:45 a.m.

Karl had listened carefully to what Betty told him about Dodge’s idea and agreed Dodge’s plan might be right.

“Dodge has got a point,” he said. “You and he may be able to set up an ambush on them.”

“You want us to pick a place and ambush them?” she asked him.

“Let me think,” he told her. Done and her accomplice left Westport ahead of Betty and Dodge, but Dodge and Betty flew to the Ames Hotel and that’s not too far from Albuquerque and got on the road within a few hours putting them maybe two hundred or more miles ahead of Done and her accomplice. Ambushing and killing them and getting back the flash drive they obviously have would make Derrick happy, and give me more time to prepare for Derrick’s move against me.

He was glad he’d chosen Dodge. The guy used his brains for something else other than just killing. He was the type of soldier who’d think out every move before he made the move thus reducing his chances of failure. It was a good quality for a soldier to have in the field, but thinking was also a bad quality for a soldier to have in an organization like the Society where blind obedience was the only thing the leaders and Council of Twenty expected from the Society’s soldiers.

A thinking soldier like Dodge might think one day, ‘who the fuck needs the leaders and Council of Twenty?’ Once a soldier began to think like that it was only a matter of time before the soldier would start making plans to get rid of the leaders, the Council of Twenty, and maybe even the Society. But so far Dodge had shown no such tendencies, and there was nothing in his past that indicated he ever would. He was a thinker, but his loyalty was above question.

“If you and Dodge can manage to identify this Highlander they’re driving, and can set up an ambush, do it,” he told Betty. “But make damn sure it’s them, I don’t want any innocent bystanders being killed, and you’ve got maybe twelve to twenty-four hours. The time I figure it’ll take them to reach Nevada’s eastern border in this weather if they avoid major roads, and they probably will. And they won’t be traveling fast to avoid attracting attention. If you haven’t killed them within twenty-four hours, come to the coordinates I’ve given you.”

“Yes, sir,” Betty replied and turned off her com-cell.

“What did he say?” Dodge asked her.

“He agreed with your plan, but gave us only twenty-four hours. The time he thinks it’ll take Marajo and her friend to reach Nevada’s eastern border.”

“Good,” he said. “We’ve been on the road almost ten hours. That gives us a little over twelve hours to figure out where they are and set up an ambush.”

She looked at the serious expression on his face. “What are you thinking?” she asked.

“We’re ahead of them by miles. Maybe as much as four or five hundred miles, but they’ve been on the road for maybe ten or fifteen hours, but they’re going slow.”

“So?”

“So let’s find a spot where we can ambush them,” he said.

“Sounds good,” she said.

“Bring up a map on the computer,” he told her.

“Why?” she asked as she opened the compartment that held the computer.

“We may be able to find out what road they’re on,” he said.

“How we gonna do that?”

“I figure they’re using only side roads. Like us,” he said. “And there aren’t too many that aren’t snowed in. And I’ll bet -”

“The state police in every state has those roads listed on their traffic computers,” Betty finished. She started the computer.

Dodge increased speed.

“Careful now,” she warned. “We get into an accident and we might as well get killed.”

“Yeah,” he agreed. “The Society doesn’t like failure, even if it’s the result of an accident.”

Betty started working on the computer. After half an hour she said, “We’ve got to make it to route US 80.”

“Why?”

“I fed those coordinates Karl gave us into the computer.”

“What!” he exclaimed angrily. “You know Karl ain’t gonna like that?”

“That was the only thing I could do, if you expect to intercept this Highlander.”

“Explain.”

“I figure they’re paralleling US 80 on side roads. Because route 80 runs close to those coordinates. It’s a little over a hundred miles north of US 80. And those coordinates are in Eureka County in Nevada.”

“Okay,” he said.

“There’s only one state road that’s safe enough to drive on through Kansas, Colorado, and Utah. Route 29. It parallels US 70.”

“US 70?”

“US 70 connects with US 15 south of Salt Lake City which they will have to use to bypass to get to US 80.”

“Why would they by-pass Salt Lake City?” he asked.

“Think, Dodge,” she said. “How hard would it be for us to access city traffic cameras?

“So they’re going to avoid Salt Lake City,” he said, understanding her.

“If we can beat them to the Utah-Nevada border, we can ambush them on 29 in an isolated area on 29.”

“What‘s the terrain like?”

“Hilly and woody with a lot of snow.”

“How far are we from there?”

“Get on US 25, avoid Denver, and go like hell on routes 25 and 15 till we reach 80 then to the Utah-Nevada border. With this storm coming, I don’t think there will be too many cars or trucks on 25, 15, or 80. And especially not on route 29 it’s a small two lane road. Any state police out will be helping stranded drivers.”

“Where are we now?” he asked.

“About 10 miles south of Pueblo, Colorado.”

“Can that computer jam any police speed radar?”

“Piece of pie,” she said.

“Cake,” he said, correcting her.

“I like pie.”

***