Cathedral of Dreams (33 page)

“Then start watching. And you,” he said to the driver, “I want you to start putting a little more distance between us and them. And when I say turn, you had better not hesitate.”

“Yes, sir.”

“You won't get away with this,” Ben said. “Where would you go?”

“Bradley figured it out, and we'll figure it out,” Philip said.

Keith didn't recognize as much as he thought he might. Clumps of trees all looked the same, and so did fields of grain. When he did think that he recognized a barn in the distance, he couldn't be sure that it was a particular barn. He couldn't locate it within the few roads he had taken, either.

Worse than being lost, was that neither the boy with the bullet hole in his forehead nor the angel with one wing would be able to help. He knew that they wouldn't even show up now, and if they did they'd be unreliable. Deciding on his own which way they should go would be like guessing.

Nellie reached up and began to rub his back in slow circles. “We know,” she said. “We all know, and it's all right.”

“What do you mean?” Keith asked.

“You lost contact.”

Ben laughed from the front seat. “And you're waiting for him to help you?”

“Shut up,” Lori said.

“You know, Bradley's not a bad man. He'll feed you and care for you.”

“As long as we do what he wants,” Keith said.

“I said he'd do it for them, not you,” Ben said. “If he's smart, he'll kill you. That would end that problem.”

“Enough,” Lori said.

Ben turned into the barrel of the gun. “You won't shoot me,” he said.

Philip reached out and snatched the gun from Lori's hand. He shoved the barrel into Ben's neck. “But I will.”

One of the gunmen sitting near Keith reached over the seat. “Let me shoot him,” he said.

“No one's going to shoot anyone right now,” Keith said. “We've got to think of a way to get away from them, somewhere we can hide.” Then it came to him that any side road might offer a place for them. But which one should he choose? “Get us a little more distance,” he said.

The driver took orders easily and backed off from the van in front of them. The delivery truck with Bradley inside led the small caravan. Ben's vehicle was next to last. As they created more space, the van behind them beeped and pulled closer.

Philip lowered the gun, but kept it pointing at Ben. “Make one wrong move,” he threatened.

The last van pulled alongside of them and several of the men and women inside waved as they passed.

“Wave,” Philip said.

The driver waved, but Ben did not.

Keith saw a turn coming up, and now that the other van was nearly past them, speeding along, he told the driver to turn right. “At that intersection coming up.”

The driver slowed even more and made the turn. Keith and the others waved at the puzzled crew in the other van. Then it appeared to dawn on them what was going on.

“Make the first right,” Keith said. The other van was slowing the last he saw of it, but was out of view for a moment. When he turned to look forward, there wasn't a turn in sight. “Slow down,” he said, “and pull into the woods.”

“There's a ditch,” the driver said.

“Then go left,” Nellie yelled from beside Keith. “There, where there seems to be a path.”

The driver pulled into the woods, bouncing the van and those inside all around.

“Now stop and get out,” Keith said. He had no idea what he was going to do. The other van surely saw where they went, or would notice where they turned into the woods.

The van halted and the doors flew open. “Get out and hide,” Keith said.

Ben and the driver ran like the rest of them, except for Philip and Lori.

The other van slid to a stop at the curb of the road. Keith could see that there were only five of them, but they all had guns, three rifles and two pistols of some sort. Did it really matter? Still, the five of them walked slowly into the woods and headed for the van, ticking from a cooling engine.

Philip, who was lying on the ground, lifted once the men got close to the van. He shot the front man in the chest. “Who's next?” he yelled.

The other men froze.

“Drop them,” he said.

Before Bradley's men could drop their guns, a half dozen of Philip's cohorts rushed from the underbrush and from behind trees and collected the weapons.

Keith leaped from behind the tree where he hid and motioned for the rest of them to follow him.

Again, Philip and one other man stayed behind. They shoved Bradley's men, including Ben and the other driver, into the van in the woods. Everyone else rushed to the road and got into the other van. Philip held a gun on the others while backing out slowly. Lori was in the driver's seat and the passenger seat was left for Philip.

The other gunman climbed in and sat on the edge of the first bench seat. He closed the door, and they were headed down the road in no time, in the direction from which they had come.

They all took a long breath.

“That was too easy,” Keith said.

“We're not out of trouble yet,” Lori said while looking into the rear view mirror.

Everyone turned around. Several more vans were tearing down the road after them. Behind the vans barreled a large delivery truck.

Chapter 24

T
he only thing they could think to do was to drive faster, but Lori wasn't comfortable enough with driving to do that. So, they debated whether to look for a turn and possibly lose those following them, or find a place to stop and battle. “An old farm or a barn might give us some protection,” Keith suggested. He looked back. “Let's do something soon, though, they're gaining on us.

“Make a right up here,” Philip said.

As they made the turn, Keith could see that there was no losing their followers. Even though the delivery truck had lost speed, the vans had not.

When the road through the woods opened to fields, half those in the van moaned. “We'll be in the open, now,” Keith said. “Keep driving.”

Philip looked back past Keith and turned to Lori. “I know you're scared, but you've got to get across that bridge,” he said, pointing to the construct a quarter-mile ahead of them.”

“Bridge,” Keith repeated.

“At least they won't be able to surround us,” Philip said, an obvious plan already forming in his head.

The metal bridge ahead of them traversed a creek. The embankment appeared to have a sharp enough slope on the far side that it would be impossible for anyone to drive up it even if the bank on this side was easier to get down.

“Shoot at them, but don't waist your bullets. And don't hit anyone. We just want to slow them down.” Keith said. “We'll need to negotiate.”

Several of those with guns, men and women, reached out a window and shot near the van behind them. It was enough to slow them down, but not for long. Once they realized the bullets were random, they speeded up. Lori was at the bridge, though, and the van jumped from the road when it hit the transition to the bridge. She almost lost control. The van swerved toward the side then back again. The tires screeched and Lori slowed down. By the time she straightened the van out, they had almost made it to the other end. A short distance farther and they were over the edge and onto the ground again.

“Park it,” Philip said.

Lori swung the van toward a side field, then backed it to block the bridge.

“Stop them,” Keith yelled at those with guns.

Several shots and the other van stopped about a third of the way on the bridge. Another four vans flanked the road behind that van, but didn't enter the bridge.

“Now what?” Philip said, just before Keith was about to say the same thing.

“My guess is that Bradley will want to talk,” Keith said.

“He could decide to blast us away,” Philip said. “He has the fire power in that truck of his.

One of the gunmen slammed his fist on the hood of the van. “Then we take as many of them with us as we can.”

“No,” Keith said. “There has to be another way to go about this. Everything can't resort to killing each other.”

“But he tried to kill us first,” the man said.

The van at the other end of the bridge did not move. The people didn't get out. It just sat there, waiting.

Keith peered behind him, down the road they were driving. Fields went on for miles before they broke into woods again. They'd have to drive far and fast to get away, and then probably not make it. This was their only chance. It was live or die right here.

The delivery truck made its way to the bridge and stopped with a jerk and a hiss. From the short distance, Keith saw Bradley step down from the passenger side and walk toward the other vans. He talked with several of the people there then proceeded forward toward the van that was parked on the bridge.

“What do you think he's going to do?” Philip said.

“I don't know. Wait, I suppose,” Keith said.

At the other van, the driver stepped out once Bradley approached. They talked briefly. The other man patted Bradley on the shoulder and nodded. Then they turned and walked toward Keith and the other unchipped group. Both Bradley and the other man held their hands over their heads to show that they were unarmed.

“I don't know if I trust him,” Philip said.

Keith glanced around. Many of the group had guns that they had confiscated from Bradley's men. “Point those guns to the ground. I don't want any accident that will start a battle here.” He looked at Philip and said, “I don't see that we have any choice. I'm going out.”

“Then I'm with you,” Nellie said.

Philip stepped next to Keith. “Not this time, Nell. You stay with Lori.”

Lori didn't look happy about Philip's decision, but it was apparent to Keith that she wasn't going to argue either.

Keith and Philip rounded the front of the van and strolled together toward Bradley. They held their hands in the air as well.

The creek flowed beneath the bridge smoothly and quietly. It wasn't raging and it wasn't shallow. The dark green color appeared deep. A soft breeze slipped over the bridge where they were standing and rippled the fields. Since the drive had taken them outside the city area, fewer clouds hung in the sky.

When Bradley and his friend were about half way across the bridge, they stopped walking. Keith and Philip continued until they were within hearing distance.

It was a beautiful day. Keith felt blessed to be standing where he was, blessed to have found the beauty of the outside world. He could hardly understand why Stacy and the other escapees wanted to go back inside. The outside world didn't frighten him; it made him feel exuberant.

Bradley spoke first, gruff and authoritative. “You can't get away.”

“I never wanted to,” Keith said.

Bradley laughed as though Keith was kidding. “Then what's all this about?”

“I didn't understand what was going on, but the others, they wanted to go back.” He told Bradley the truth.

“Sammy?”

“He wanted to go with them, with Molly. They came for me in the night.” Keith lowered his eyes and said, “Sammy was shot when those people in Maysville stopped us.”

“Idiots,” Bradley said. He turned to the side and took a few steps toward the edge of the bridge, like he was going to jump. But he stood there overlooking the water. When he turned back again, he nodded to the other man. “What do you think, Blake?”

Blake stood a few inches taller than Bradley, and carried a more slender body. His facial expression was inquisitive, and the lack of wrinkles made him appear boyish. He said, “You didn't have to help them.”