| |
SEVERAL HOURS LATER, after weaving across fields, between trees and around rocks and bogs, they approached the eastern side of Cherokee Ridge. Rory pulled to a stop just inside a clearing. Undulating, forested hills lay ahead of them in the sunshine. He glanced at Chet, "How are we doing? We should be getting close."
Chet stirred in his seat. The topographical map was resting on his lap and he brought it up to look at it.
Corry leaned over the seat, looking at the map. He and Chet discussed it, using the GPS and the map coordinates to orient themselves.
Finally, Chet shifted around in his seat, looking at their surroundings. Then he pointed a little to the left of the Range Rover, "We should swing a little more south that way, so we can skirt the high ground."
Corry nodded, "Yep. We should do that. And once we get on the other side of that hill, we should at the place where the signs are at the top right side of our map."
Rory looked at him, teasing, "Should?"
Corry shrugged and then grinned.
Donna-Lou leaned forward, putting a cap back on the bottle of water she was drinking, "How much farther do we have to go to find the area for the missing signs?"
Corry gave her a serious look, "Oh. we still have a looooong way to go yet, mom."
Chet turned in his seat, "Yeah. This map extends–"
Crack!
The rifle shot was followed by a metallic ping.
Donna-Lou screamed. So did little Emma.
Rory floored the gas pedal.
Crack!
Chet yelled as he looked around frantically, "Who's shooting at us?"
The tires on the Range Rover tore into the grass, kicking dirt and grass out in a rooster tail as Rory steered towards the trees on the right. The vehicle fishtailed. "Everybody down!" he yelled as he let up on the gas to control the skid.
Crack!
Another metallic ping.
As the Range Rover straightened out, Rory hit the gas again and the tires ripped through the grass and dirt before it gained traction and darted between two large trees.
Crack!
Bark exploded off the tree on their left.
The Range Rover dipped into a depression and Rory steered to the left to keep the slight incline on their left between them and the shooter. The vehicle bounced up and down as Rory drove over rocks and fallen tree limbs.
The Glock19 on the dashboard in front of Chet bounced up and down with the jostling of the vehicle and Chet reached for it. He fell back into his seat twice before he was able to snag it. Holding onto his seat with one hand, Chet held the Glock19 with his right and kept a watch as best as he could on all sides.
Rory's Eagle was bouncing up and down as well and he steered with his left as he reached for it with his right. It bounced off his fingers. Rory slapped it down with his hand and dragged it off the dashboard. He slipped it gun-barrel-down into a cup holder in the center console. "We're going to come out of this low spot in a minute," Rory said. "Chet, keep an eye out. Everybody else stay down. Got it?"
There were murmured responses all around and everyone in the back seat got lower.
Rory slowed the Range Rover, steered to the right and floored it up a smooth incline. "Here we go." The vehicle climbed the slight hill eagerly and then shot over the ridge into another stand of trees.
Crack!
Another scream came from little Emma.
Rory hit the gas hard and the Range Rover soared down the other side of the hill and across an open clearing. Tree branches began whipping the side of the vehicle as Rory pushed it through a tight stand of pine trees. He slowed down and began to weave back and forth, driving the Range Rover through a dense grove of trees, branches slapping and scraping at the sides, "Everybody okay?"
"I think so," Chet said as he turned to look into the back seat.
"Yeah, I think we're okay," Donna-Lou said as she looked at the kids.
Emma nodded but she was crying.
Corry put his arms around her as she leaned against him, "You did real good Emma," he said.
Rory braked to a crawl and steered around a large boulder, "Did anyone see who was shooting at us? Anyone see anything?"
"It was a man on a horse," Corry said, "I saw him on a rise–"
"A horse? Are you sure?" asked his mother.
Corry nodded vigorously, "Yep, positive."
"Does that make sense?" Rory asked Chet in a low voice.
Chet gave a slight nod of his head, "I used to see that from time to time when I was a kid. Men with rifles on horseback." He chewed on his lower lip for a moment, "Remember what I told you when we were back at Martha's Diner? About tourists who were treasure hunting around here and claimed they was run off by men on horseback?"
Rory glanced over at Chet and nodded, "Yeah, I remember." He shrugged, "I guess it does make sense. It's an easy way to travel through this terrain, keeping an eye on people who get too close to something."
Chet nodded his head thoughtfully, "I always thought it was just people making up stories to impress their friends or something. But actually shooting at people...?"
Rory steered around a fallen tree and then pulled to a stop.
"What's wrong?" Donna-Lou asked as she sat forward. "Did you see someone?"
"No," Rory said as he opened his door, "I just want to see what they hit. You could hear the pings and I hope it's nothing vital. Everyone keep an eye peeled while I check."
Donna-Lou pulled the Glock19 from the pouch on the back of Chet's seat and turned to watch out the back window.
Chet sat up straighter as he gripped his weapon and watched the front and sides.
Rory left his door open and slid low towards the front of the Range Rover. He found a bullet hole on the front fender. It was just above the tire and angled slightly downward. "Bullet hole in the front fender. Nothing vital hit," he said as he slipped back past the open door. He slid back along the side of the vehicle, looking for another bullet hole.
"See anything?" Chet asked Donna-Lou in a low voice.
Donna-Lou just shook her head no as she maintained vigilance.
Rory slipped low to the back edge of the Range Rover and found another hole in the fender. It was exploded out so it was an exit hole. He moved along the back and found a bullet hole in the rear door. It had gone through at an angle. A bullet hole in the fender on the far side caught his eye. Three shots had hit them. He moved low back towards the driver's side and then crouched beside the open door, "Looks like they were trying to take out the tires. I'll double check them to make sure we're okay."
Donna-Lou leaned over to Emma, "See? They weren't aiming at us–"
Crack!
A bullet passed through the back window, sending fragments of glass over the back seat and penetrating out through the front windshield.
Donna-Lou screamed and threw herself on the two kids.
Chet slid down on his seat, weapon up, "Rory...?"
Rory jumped quickly into the driver's seat and put the vehicle in gear. He pulled the door shut and slumped down in his seat as he floored the gas pedal. The tires spun in the dirt and then grabbed, vaulting them forward, Rory steered hard right, driving between two large trees and across a clearing.
Crack!
There was a ping off the back bumper.
Chet hit the down button on his window and struggled to turn his body to the right, looking back behind them as Rory began weaving through trees again. Chet switched the Glock19 to his left and got his arm out the open window. He looked back and fired twice "That might make him think twice."
Rory kept the pedal down, sitting up a little higher in the seat to watch for big rocks. They couldn't afford to get stuck on top of one–
Crack!
A bullet pinged off the right front fender.
Rory steered left and plunged into another stand of trees, looking for any kind of cover, "That one seemed to come from a different direction."
Chet swung around in his seat, looking off to the left, "I don't see anyone. There's too many damn trees." Then he gestured with the gun, "Wait...there's–"
Crack!
Another ping sounded off the back bumper.
Chet struggled to turn back to his right. He stuck the Glock out the window, aiming towards the back again and fired twice more. Then he glanced towards Rory, "I just saw a man on a horse back there just like Corry said. I think he's starting to fall back behind us." A moment later, he said, "But I saw one on your side through the trees. There's two of 'em."
Rory cursed under his breath, "Two? Are you sure?"
"Yeah. Pretty sure."
Shaking his head, Rory considered his next move. Then he cursed again and slowed the vehicle to a crawl.
"A-are you sure you should be going slower?" Chet asked, his eyes filled with concern.
"I've got no choice," Rory said as he shifted higher in his seat to look at the ground ahead.
Chet looked ahead of the vehicle, "Oh, crap." Dead ahead were several thick, fallen trees crisscrossed over their path.
Rory looked left and right quickly and then swore again.
"The ground looks wet and soft on this side," Chet told him.
"Yeah, I can see that. Okay. We've got no choice. Let's see what this baby can do. Hold on."
Chet grabbed the dashboard with his free hand and then glanced behind them. Everyone was quiet and on edge as the vehicle climbed higher, then bumped and rocked as it moved over the wooden obstacles. A few moments later, the vehicle tipped forward slowly as Rory carefully worked to bring Range Rover safely back down on the far side. As soon as the back tires hit the ground with a jolt, he floored the gas. Grass, damp earth, leaves and twigs were spit out behind the vehicle. The engine growled as he maintained his speed, controlling a fish-tail as the vehicle eagerly climbed the side of a hill. Reaching the top, the vehicle suddenly soared into the air. There were gasps and squeals of surprise from the passengers and then grunts as the Range Rover hit the ground hard on the down-slope of a gully. The big vehicle skidded sideways twenty feet, leaving huge gouges into the soft earth before Rory straightened it out and then turned left. He drove along the bottom of the gully for a few moments before turning right again. A thick stand of trees forced him to the right and they ended up driving along the side of a hill, the Range Rover tilted dangerously to the left.
Everyone struggled to stay upright as Rory concentrated to keep them from sliding sideways.
"Crap!" Chet said
"Sorry. I'm doing the best I can," Rory said as he fought with the steering wheel.
"No, it's not that," Chet said. "I know what they're doing." He banged his fist against the seat and cursed.
The ground started to level out and Rory floored it. A moment later they were heading down another hill and he glanced at Chet, "What do you mean you know what they're doing?"
"They're herding us to the Money River."
"And...?"
"There's no way across without a boat," Chet said. "We'll be trapped."