“PUT THE CAR IN GEAR and drive.” Nephi had the barrel of the pistol pushed into the side of Silas’s neck.

“Where?”

“Just drive. I’ll tell you when to turn.”

Silas looked in the mirror. Nephi was sitting in the middle of the back seat, a 9mm Browning pistol held tightly in his right hand.

“Where are we going?”

“Out of town.”

“Where out of town?”

“We’re going for a drive, Dr. Pearson. That’s all you need to know.”

“I didn’t find anything in your office. Why are you doing this?”

“There was nothing there to find. There’s nothing to find anywhere, Pearson. Shut up and drive.”

Silas shifted up into fourth. They were approaching the municipal airport.

“Don’t speed. You attract any attention I’ll kill you.”

“You’ll get caught.”

“Maybe.”

“Why are you—”

Nephi pressed the pistol into Silas’s face.

“If you keep this up, Pearson, there’s going to be nothing left of you. Now slow down and turn right up here.”

“Highway 95?”

“Turn.” Silas slowed and made the turn onto Route 95 and started across the darkened desert landscape. His headlights cut a narrow hole in the blackness, and from time to time the eyes of some nocturnal desert creature appeared by the side of the road.

“What are you going to do?” Silas risked asking.

Nephi sat back, relaxing, and sighed. “You’re going to have an accident, Dr. Pearson. An accident.”

“Did you kill Kayah Wisechild? Williams and McFarland too?”

Nephi laughed. “If this was a Hollywood movie or some second-rate paperback, this would be the part where the bad guy spills his guts, right? You run a bookstore, you’ve read that trash. You think I’ll confess all my sins because you’re not going to be around to do anything about it, but then somehow you escape my evil grasp and heroically return to use my confession against me—”

“I haven’t read any of those books. Not my thing.”

“Maybe not, Pearson, but you’re not going to get any confessions from me.”

“What about my wife? Did you kill her?”

Nephi laughed again. “I never even met your wife, Pearson. Too bad—from what I’ve seen she was a good-looking woman. Now, just drive and keep it under the speed limit. I’d hate to have to shoot you a few times before you actually have your tragic mishap.”

They drove on in silence for a few minutes and then began the long, steep incline of Comb Ridge. Silas could feel his hands growing sweaty. “You’re going to do this on Comb Ridge, aren’t you?”

“Just drive, Pearson.”

“That’s fitting. Penny was such an Abbey freak, and Comb Ridge was where the Monkey Wrench Gang did their first job.”

“I hate Edward Abbey.”

“Me too.”

They drove up the long back of Comb Ridge, the blacktop hissing under the Outback’s tires. Silas’s mind raced. He had seen in movies where, in a situation like this, the driver had crashed the car deliberately, so that the unbelted assailant in the back seat would be injured or killed, and he could walk away from the accident, saved by his air bag. He looked for a likely place to do it, but the road was hemmed in between walls of sandstone on one side and guard rails on the other. He feared that at worst, he would enrage Nephi and get himself shot in the process.

“Was this really all about oil?”

“I’ll tell you this much, Pearson, only to shut you up. It’s about power. Oil is just the tool you use in this country to get it. It’s about power.”

“Power for who? For your boss? Martin?”

“Tim Martin is not my boss. Never has been.”

“Smith? Senator Smith?”

“You almost got me to confess there, Dr. Pearson,” said Nephi.

“But I didn’t find anything.”

“You really think I would leave something sitting around in my office? I’m not that stupid. But you have demonstrated a surprising level of determination that frankly has to be interrupted before you stumble on something truly important.”

“I was just about to give up—”

“Too late now. Stop the car there, in the weeds by the side of the road.”

Silas pulled the car over. His eyes darted from the mirror to the world caught in his headlights and back to Nephi. The crest of the roadway over the ridge was cut deeply into the ancient sedimentary stone, so they were parked in a narrow pull-off. On the south side, where the highway opened up and began its long precipitous descent toward Comb Wash, the slope opened roughly and led up to the top of the ridge.

“We’ve stopped on top of Comb Ridge,” Silas said, glancing back in the mirror. As soon as Nephi got out he was going to gun the engine and race down the steep side of Comb Ridge. He’d drive all the way to Natural Bridges National Monument if he had to.

“Turn the car off,” ordered Nephi.

Silas turned off the engine but left the keys in the ignition.

“Hand me the keys,” said Nephi sardonically. Silas grabbed the keys out of the ignition.

The pistol clipped Silas in the jaw just below the ear, and he felt more blood trickle down his neck. A bead of perspiration leaked from his hairline and settled in his brow. Next plan, drop the keys at Nephi’s feet and hope he looked down. Before he could reach back, Nephi hit him with the butt of the pistol behind the ear. Silas heard the crack before the world went black.

HE WOKE LYING on the ground, his hands tied in front of him with twine, his head aching. He could taste blood in his mouth. He was staring heaven­ward and his first thought was how extraordinary the desert sky was. The stars were pasted across the black cosmos in layers that receded into infinity. He rolled onto his side and immediately wanted to vomit. He suppressed the urge, breathing in through his nose. He smelled something mechanical, oil or grease. He focused his eyes and saw Nephi’s legs protruding from under the front of the Outback. The legs wiggled and Nephi emerged.

“Don’t even think about moving.” Nephi patted the pistol in his waistband.

“What are you doing?”

“Cutting your brake lines. These vehicles are a bitch to work on. You got any tools in the back, Pearson?” Nephi wiped his hands on his jeans.

“Fuck you.”

“I would have expected more from a professor of literature. Something more . . . well, literate, I suppose.” Nephi walked to the back of the vehicle and opened the hatch. He found Silas’s toolbox and rummaged through it for a large enough pair of wire cutters.

Silas tried to sit up, but his stomach turned over and he returned to his side. He realized that his legs were also bound. He scanned the car and the rocks beyond, seeking some salvation, but he could find none.

Nephi found what he was looking for. “This should do.”

Silas detected movement ahead, beyond the car, something in the rocky cliffs on the side of the road. A coyote?

Nephi walked back to the front of the car and was preparing to duck under when a voice boomed from the rocks.

“Drop the fucking gun!”

Nephi dropped the wire cutters instead and pulled his Browning from his belt. He fired twice in the direction of the voice, into the rocks. A muzzle flash and the roar of a .357 Magnum responded, the bullet whizzing past Nephi and ricocheting off the rocks behind Silas’s body. Nephi fired three more times into the rocks.

Silas thought he saw a bulky figure move amid the boulders. Realizing his precarious position, Silas struggled to stand, but instead fell face forward into the dirt. Desperate, he began to roll toward the back of the car. Nephi wheeled on him and fired twice in his direction, both shots hitting so close to Silas that he felt their impact reverberate through the blacktop.

Silas heard another blast from the .357 and the windshield of his Outback exploded. Nephi turned toward his attacker and fired two more rounds.

Nephi jumped into the car. It roared to life. Silas, prone behind the rear wheels, feared Nephi would back over him. Instead, Nephi spun the wheels, kicking rocks and dust into Silas’s face, and the car raced down the steep slope of Comb Ridge.

A stout figure emerged from the rocks. Silas watched the man take aim with a revolver and fire at the speeding car. The man turned and Silas could see the hairy visage clearly. Hayduke.

“Holy fuck,” roared Hayduke. “You okay? You hit?”

“Fine, I’m fine.”

“Sweet motherfucker!” he yelled again, his pistol at his side. “Let’s get that cocksucker!”

“He’s gone.”

“I got my Jeep a hundred yards back.”

Silas sat up. “Go get it!”

Hayduke rushed off into the night as Silas struggled with his bound hands. He heard the Jeep roar to life and a moment later it crested the road that cut through the ridge. Hayduke jumped out, a bowie knife in hand, and deftly cut the twine off Silas’s wrists. Silas could smell the sweat and fear from Hayduke and see the wildness in the man’s eyes.

“Let’s go!” he yelled as he cut the twine on Silas’s feet. They raced to the Jeep. Hayduke spun his tires and they sped off in pursuit.

“Sure you’re okay?” asked Hayduke as Silas buckled his seatbelt.

“My head aches like a bitch, but otherwise okay. You got a cell phone? Mine’s in my car.”

“Yeah, here.” Hayduke pulled his phone from his pocket as he held the Jeep in a steep downward turn to Comb Wash. He gave Silas the phone, then shifted into fourth and red-lined the engine. They could see the lights of the Outback a mile ahead, already cross Arch Canyon Wash.

Silas dialed the familiar number. It beeped, and then Katie Rain’s voice came on.

“Who is this?” she asked.

“It’s Silas.”

“Hold on.” The line went silent, and then Rain came on again. “You okay?”

“Yeah, I’m alright.”

“Where are you?”

“I’m descending the west side of Comb Ridge. I’m chasing Charles Nephi. He’s in my Outback.”

“I just lost your cell signal. I’ve had your phone line open since you left Blanding.”

“I thought you might. I wasn’t sure if my call had connected. You heard everything?”

“Yeah, and so did Agent Taylor. We’re on our way now. We’re maybe five or ten miles behind you and coming in fast. We’ve called the ranger station at Natural Bridges and we have state troopers and local police coming up from Mexican Hat. We’re dropping the net on this guy.”

“I’m just a mile behind him.”

“Who’s driving?”

Silas looked at Hayduke. He was concentrating on the road, revving the Jeep up to over a hundred miles an hour, the black desert passing in a whir. “You’ll never believe it, but just some guy out camping. He came up Comb Ridge just in time, and Nephi spooked. He saved my bacon, and now we’re following Nephi.”

“Do not engage,” ordered Rain. “Just observe. If you see him turn, tell me and we can radio it in. We’ve got roadblocks being set up above the Mokee Dugway on 261 and outside Natural Bridges on 275. There’s nowhere for Nephi to go.”

“You want me to keep the line open?”

“It’s okay. You can hang up. Just dial back if there is any change.”

Silas hung up. He checked the line to make sure it was disconnected. Hayduke was smiling at him. “Thanks. Fuck, I really don’t want to get mixed up with the feds, you know?”

“You saved my life.”

“Guess I did, hey?” Silas could see Hayduke grinning by the dashboard lights.

“The FBI says they’ve got roadblocks going up on 261 and 275.”

“There’s a hundred places he could go between here and there. Fuck, the Hidden Splendor Mine is just over there.” Hayduke waved his hands toward Dry Mesa.

“The Hidden Splendor Mine is fictional.”

“Fuck no, I’ve been there. It’s real.”

“Look, we’re coming up on the junction of 261. He goes straight, the park rangers get him. He turns left, the state troopers.” They were a mile behind, racing across the desert. Silas clung to the roll bar as they banked around a corner.

“He’s taking 95, toward the park.” Silas dialed Rain back. “He’s heading toward Natural Bridges.”

“We can see you ahead of us. We’ll catch you in a few minutes. I’ll call it in to the Park Service.”

“Okay.” Silas hung up.

They watched the tail lights in the distance for another few minutes, and then the brake lights went on and the Outback veered violently to the south.

“Where the fuck is he going?” asked Hayduke.

They came to the road the Outback had turned down. “Grand Gulch,” said Silas.

“He goes into the fucking Gulch, he could disappear.”

“Let’s see if we can cut him off!”

“Fuck yeah.” Hayduke shifted into second on the gravel road and gunned the engine. The Jeep leapt forward and jumped over rocks and loose gravel.

“The road splits up ahead,” observed Silas.

“You been here?”

“Of course.”

They came to the fork and could see no sign of their prey. “Which way?” yelled Hayduke.

“Stop a minute.” Silas jumped out of the Jeep as it skidded to a halt. He climbed up on the hood and looked across the midnight landscape. In the distance, leading to the head of the main stem in Grand Gulch, he could see tail lights blinking as his Outback jostled over the rough road.

He jumped down and directed Hayduke to the correct path. He dialed Rain.

“Where are you?” she asked.

“Grand Gulch.” He heard her speak to Taylor and then heard Agent Nielsen’s voice in the background.

“Silas, Agent Nielsen says that’s a dead-end. We’ve got him trapped. Break off pursuit. We’ll be there in five minutes.”

“Okay,” said Silas to Rain. Then to Hayduke: “Feds want us to stop.”

“Fuck that, we almost got this motherfucker.” Hayduke geared down to run through loose sand. The road had been recently driven over and the sand was soft but the Jeep performed well.

“Josh, let’s stop. The feds will be here any minute.”

“That fucker was going to sell out Hatch Wash, man. He was going to sell out Flat Iron Mesa and Back of the Rocks. You want him to get away?”

“He’s not going to get away. There’s nowhere to go.”

“Grand Gulch is massive, man. You could hide there for a year.”

“He’s in jeans and dress shoes and has no water, no food.”

“He could live for two weeks if he finds Collins Spring.”

The Jeep bounced over an outcrop of slickrock and then the Outback loomed in front of them, sideways to the dirt track.

“Fucker!” Hayduke yelled and veered off into the brush on the side of the track. A spray of sand like a wave enveloped the Jeep, the tires bogging down in the dirt.

Silas saw a figure move in front of the Outback and had no time to yell a warning. He saw a flash and heard the pop of a pistol and the windshield of the Jeep exploded, showering glass across the two men. Hayduke was out of the vehicle in a second, hitting the soft sand and crawling on his knees to the front of the vehicle. Thinking it better to follow Hayduke to the safe side of the vehicle, Silas crawled across the broken glass and dropped to the sand. He heard two more pops and the metallic plunk of the rounds striking the Jeep.

“That cunt is going to kill my machine.” Hayduke pulled his revolver from his belt and took aim at the Outback.

“Wait, I hear engines.” Silas looked back over his shoulder and saw two sets of lights coming down the trail, red and blue signals blinking in the darkness. “It’s the feds.”

“I want this cocksucker.” Hayduke took aim into the darkness.

“Don’t—”

“It’s a matter of honor,” Hayduke hissed. Nephi rose from behind the Outback as the two FBI Yukons pulled to a stop near the slickrock outcrop. Nephi began to run down the dirt road toward the drop off into Grand Gulch.

Hayduke squeezed one eye shut and steadied his massive revolver with one hand under the other.

“This one’s for Hatch Wash.” Hayduke started to squeeze the trigger as Silas pushed his arm up. The roar of the pistol and the flash of the muzzle pierced the night but the shot went off harmlessly into the darkness. Nephi’s shadow disappeared toward the rim.

“FBI!” came a voice behind them. Eugene Nielsen and another agent appeared behind Silas and Hayduke.

“It’s me—Pearson.”

“Drop the weapon,” ordered Nielsen.

Hayduke looked at Silas out of the corner of his eye. The dark, malevolent moment passed and he put the revolver down in the sand. Both men stood up, hands in the air.

“Nephi is heading toward the canyon.”

“We’ll get him,” Nielsen held his pistol toward the sand as he approached. Katie Rain ran up behind him, her Sig Sauer in her hand. She smiled when she saw Silas.

“You alright?” she asked.

“Fine. Nephi is getting away. That way,” he nodded toward the Outback.

“Taylor is chasing him down. We’ve got two teams on their way in now, plus the park rangers and state troopers. We’ll get him.” She holstered her pistol. Nielsen picked up Hayduke’s weapon and put in on the hood of the truck.

“I got a permit for that,” Hayduke said.

“Good thing,” said Nielsen.

“Who’s your friend?” asked Rain, looking hard at Silas.

Silas watched her eyes as she shifted her gaze from him to Hayduke and back. Silas looked at Hayduke and asked, “What is your name?”

Hayduke looked back at him. “Josh. Josh Charleston.”

Silas looked at the two agents. “This is Josh Charleston. Good Samaritan.”