Amid the Shadows (21 page)

41

Christine woke up when
the car’s engine started and roared to life.
 
She blinked and opened her eyes, squinting into the bright morning
light.
 
Rand pulled the car forward,
rounded several trees and slowly rolled back down the dirt road the way they
came.
 

Sarah stirred on her
lap as the bumps shook them gently from side to side.
 
She looked up at Christine and smiled.

“Good morning,
Sunshine,”
 
Christine whispered and
stroked her hair.

Sarah blinked and
glanced at Rand and Avery in the front seats.
 
She lay her head back down and snuggled in closer to Christine with her
arms tucked in tight.

Christine watched
her.
 
She was so beautiful and so
innocent.
 
The thought of someone trying
to hurt Sarah caused a feeling of rage deep inside of her, and it was growing.
 
She no longer cared about herself; all she
wanted to do was keep Sarah safe.
 
And
she would fight to the very end to do it.

Rand pulled the Dodge
back out onto the road and continued south, while the girls in the back watched
the rising sun through the opposite side window.

Avery tucked the
shotgun down next to his door and reached into the back seat next to them.
 
He pulled a second bag out of the larger
duffle bag and unzipped it, handing each girl an energy bar and bottle of
water.

He smiled.
 
“I know it’s not exactly a continental
breakfast.”

The girls took them
appreciatively.
 
After Avery turned back
around, Christine opened a wrapper and handed the bar to Sarah with a
wink.
 
She grabbed it with her small
hands and winked back.

“Is that what a grandpa
is like?” Sarah whispered.

Christine almost
laughed.
 
Aside from his white hair and
some wrinkles, Avery was almost as far as you could get from a traditional
grandfather.
 
But just as quickly,
Christine suddenly felt a sadness in her heart, wondering what had happened to
Sarah’s grandfathers.
 
How much
disappointment did this girl have to endure?

They merged onto a
larger two-lane road and joined a steady line of traffic.
 
Both men scanned the thick, tree lined
highway and watched as much of the sky as they were able to see from the front
seats.

Christine leaned
forward.
 
“Where are we going?”

“We’re vulnerable and
can’t hide under trees forever,” Rand said, still scanning.
 
“They know where we were, so they’re likely
trying to find us from overhead satellite or aircraft.”
 
He looked up again through his side
window.
 
“Our best option is to hide
somewhere they can’t easily track us.”

“Where is that?”

“In plain sight.”

Christine had just sat
back and put her arm around Sarah’s shoulders when she heard a loud chime.
 
She lifted her hips, reached into her pocket
and was startled when she pulled her cell phone out.

“Oh my god!” she
cried.
 
“My phone is on again!”
 
She looked back and forth between Rand and
Avery.
 
“I didn’t turn it on this time, I
swear!”

Rand’s eyes stared at
her in the rearview mirror.
 
“Your phone
has been compromised.
 
Get rid of it!”

Christine looked
around.
 
“Now?”

“NOW!”
 
they both said in unison.

Christine immediately
grabbed the metal handle on her door and cranked it counter-clockwise, rolling
down her window.
 
The loud, cold air
rushed in as she took one last look at her phone, and threw it out.

Rand accelerated and
passed the car in front of them.
 
He
wished the trees were not cut so far back away from the road.
 
They could use some cover.

They rode silently for
several miles.
 
Sarah, now sat on the
driver’s side behind Rand with her legs on top of the large bag.
 
She watched quietly as the cars and signs
went by.
 
After a few minutes, she slid
back over to Christine and whispered in her ear, “Do you know how to play
I-spy?”

The traffic became
increasingly dense as they merged onto highway 206, but when a string of brake
lights could be seen ahead, Rand and Avery grew concerned.

Soon the cars slowed to
a crawl as some kind of obstruction could be seen ahead in the distance.
 
It was a road block with three police cars
creating a barrier across both lanes, letting just one car through at a
time.
 
Several state troopers took turns
surrounding the cars as they came to a stop.

Trooper Williams
watched the other team let a car through before he sighed and waved the next
car in his lane ahead, up to where he was standing.
 
As the car stopped next to him, the driver
lowered her window and he leaned in.

“Hello, ma’am,” he
said, looking through her car.
 
“You traveling
alone today?”
 

The elderly woman
nodded.
 
“Yes.
 
What’s wrong, are you looking for someone?”

“Yes ma’am.”
 
Williams smiled.
 
“Sorry for the inconvenience.”
 
He straightened up and waved her forward
between the parked police cars, to the open highway beyond.

Williams glanced again
at the other officers while he waved a copper colored Dodge forward.
 
The driver, an older man, wore sunglasses and
looked up at the officer as he brought the car to a stop.
 

“Morning, sir,”
Williams said.
 
He looked into the car
and glanced at the passenger, a younger woman with long, dark red hair.
 
She was wearing large sunglasses, but
something looked familiar about her.
 
He
looked over the top of the car at his partner who looked back with a raised
eyebrow.

“Where are you headed,
sir?” Williams asked the driver.

“Into town,” Avery
replied.
 
“Why, what’s going on?”

“Just a routine
stop,”
 
the trooper said.
 
He looked at the girl again.
 
“And who are you traveling with?”

“This is my
granddaughter,” Avery responded.
 
“This
isn’t a routine stop.
 
I come through
here all the time.”

“Well, we’re just
looking for someone who may have stolen a car.”
 
Williams straightened and nonchalantly took a piece of paper out of his
back pocket.
 
He held it above the roof
of the car and quietly unfolded it to reveal pictures of Christine and Sarah.

“Why would you stop
everyone if you’re looking for a specific car?” asked Avery.

Williams didn’t hear
him.
 
Instead, he was showing the picture
to his partner over their heads.
 
His
partner, on the other side of the car, slowly motioned downward to the back
seat.
 
Williams glanced through the back
window and saw a large bag on the seat and what looked like a lump on the floor
covered by a blanket.
 

“What’s in the bag,
sir?”

Avery remained
calm.
 
“Just some odds and ends.”

“What kind of odds and
ends?” asked Williams.

“Some car parts that I
need to have repaired.
 
I’m a
collector.”
 

“Hmm,” said the
trooper.
 
“And what’s that lump on the
floor?”

“More car parts.”

“I see.”
 
Williams turned his body to block the view of
his hand reaching back and unclipping the safety strap on his holster.
 
“Sir, would you mind stepping out of the
car?”

Avery frowned.
 
“I’m sorry, I’m afraid it’s difficult for me
to stand up easily.”

“Well, I’m sure-”
Williams began but stopped abruptly.
 
He
peered curiously back over the roof of the car.
 
He couldn’t see his partner.
 
“Rog?”
 
Williams got no response,
so he leaned down and looked through the car to the other side.
 
Still nothing.

Williams’ heart started
to beat faster.
 
He stepped back and ran
into something.
 
He never found out what
it was, as his body stiffened and a painful jolt of 500,000 volts ran through
his system.
 
Before he could scream, Rand
grabbed him from the side and smashed his fist into the trooper’s lower jaw,
triggering the cranial nerve and instantly knocking him out.
 
At the same moment that Williams’ knees gave
out, Avery thrust his left arm out the window at a 90 degree angle and grabbed
the front of his uniform.
 
He pushed him
up and then pulled him against the car to keep his body upright.

The car horn behind
them began blaring when the driver witnessed Rand’s attack on the trooper,
which caused the troopers in the other lane to turn their attention to the
honking car.
 
The driver inside was
waving at something.
 
It was all the
distraction Rand needed.

By the time the other
three troopers had turned away from the honking car and back to Williams, who
appeared to be leaning on the car, Rand had already covered the distance.
 
He quickly pushed the stun gun into the
stomach of the first trooper, an older, overweight man who screamed and fell
onto his knees.
 
As the trooper collapsed
to his knees, Rand yanked the trooper’s yellow Taser gun from its holster and
fired over the top of the car, hitting a taller officer and sinking both
electrodes into his neck and shoulder.
 
The second trooper’s lips immediately curled down, exposing his teeth,
and his body jerked backwards, already beginning to convulse on the way to the
ground.
 

The third trooper
watched wide-eyed in a moment of shock as the other two fell , but he was young
and reacted much faster than the others.
 
He reached for his gun and already had it out of the holster when Rand’s
boot found its mark. His eyes instantly rolled into his head, and he fell
forward into his older partner, taking them both to the ground.
 
With a single strike, Rand knocked the larger
man out and spun with the momentum, launching himself over the hood.
 
The tall and lanky trooper was still shaking
violently. The image of Rand standing over him was the last thing he would
remember when he woke up again.

Rand returned to the
Dodge and withdrew his pistol, shooting out two tires on each patrol car. Avery
lowered trooper Williams’ body down to the pavement.
 
They both turned and looked at the line of
cars behind them.
 
Not a single vehicle
made a sound; instead, the shocked drivers simply stared at them with open
mouths.

Rand knelt down and
examined the gun in Williams’ holster.
 
Satisfied, he pulled the magazine out and took two more from the
trooper’s belt.
 
It was not the same
model of magazine, but it was the same caliber bullet.
 
He stood up and pushed them into his back
pocket.

Rand looked inside the
car.
 
“Everyone okay?”

Avery smiled, looking
over his shoulder at Christine and the small lump on the floor behind her.
 
He opened his mouth to reply when they heard
an ominous sound, the distant, thumping blades of a helicopter.
 
They turned and saw the shape of an Apache
AH-64D attack helicopter approaching in the distance.
 
The roadblock was not intended to stop them;
it was merely meant to slow them down.

Rand immediately
reached behind Avery and pulled the large bag closer.
 
He reached in and retrieved an AR-10 and
several magazines, two of which had thick bands of red tape around them.
 
He stuffed the magazines into his remaining
pockets and wrapped the rifle’s sling around his shoulder.
 
He then ran around the back of the car and
stopped at Christine’s window.
 
“You’d
better get in back and stay down.”
 

Christine was instantly
out of her seat, scrambling over the top and into the back.
 
She settled down onto the floor and lay on
top of Sarah.

“Are you okay, honey?”
she whispered.

Sarah peered out from
under the thick fabric.
 
“Yes!”

Rand stepped forward
and planted himself on the edge of the hood.
 
“Go!”

Less than a mile away,
the helicopter slowed to a hover, just forty feet above the empty highway.
 
Behind it, Rand could see a second chopper;
it was a Blackhawk.
 
Six ropes trailed to
the ground, and dark clad soldiers quickly descended.
 
They reached the ground and squatted low,
assessing their position before fanning out.
 
The Blackhawk quickly turned and retreated while the Apache continued
hovering in place.