Rattled (13 page)

To change the topic, she twisted and stretched to peer over the pile of gear in the back of the Jeep. “We’re supposed to be making sure we’re not being followed. It would be pretty embarrassing to lead the bad guys right to the treasure because we were busy gossiping about romance.”

“Oh, like James Bond never gets distracted by a sexy body.”

The road curved back to town, disappearing behind the low ridge of mountains on the left. In the distance, to the east, a line of bright green showed where cottonwood trees grew on the banks of the Rio Grande. Beyond that, rosy tan foothills rolled back to the distant mountain range, purple under the turquoise sky. No buildings marred the landscape, no sign of human life except the road and a couple of cars.

Erin saw a blue sedan a quarter mile back. Some distance behind it came a black vehicle, too far away to identify the type. “Of course, it would help if I knew how to tell if you’re being followed.”

“The turnoff is coming up. That’s when we’ll know.” Camie slowed and turned left onto a dirt road. It would wind between hills for several miles before turning east and eventually meeting up with I-25 again. It was rare to meet anyone on this rugged ranch road, so anyone following was definitely suspicious.

Erin kept watch as Camie drove. The Jeep kicked up dust that billowed in the air for a few seconds, leaving a hazy trail behind. The blue sedan shot past on the highway. A minute later, a black SUV came into view. Erin shuddered. She remembered the sight of shiny black metal barreling down on her. Her stomach clenched and she held her breath. Was it slowing down?

The vehicle kept going past the turnoff. Erin let out a shaky sigh. Had the SUV really slowed down, or was that just her imagination? It was definitely going slower than the blue car, but maybe the driver just wanted to coax better mileage out of his gas guzzler.

“All clear?”

Erin hesitated. She didn’t want to panic at the slightest coincidence, but her nerves were humming. Probably just a reaction to seeing a vehicle like the one that had hit her. No big deal. She couldn’t spend the rest of her life freaking out whenever she saw a black SUV. But what if...? “I guess so. I’m going to keep watching for a few minutes, though.”

“It’s your stomach.” Camie pulled half off the road to avoid a rough patch left by a washout, and the Jeep lurched. The road narrowed and got rougher as the hills closed in on either side. They curved around a low hill that cut off Erin’s view of the highway, and she sighed with relief. The black SUV had not returned, and no other car had turned behind them.

Erin braced herself as the Jeep skidded through a sandy patch. The wheels caught on harder packed dirt, and the engine growled as they shot ahead. Then the Jeep slowed. Erin glanced over as Camie stopped and slid her plastic window sideways to open it. A large reddish-brown cow gazed back at them from beside the road. Camie let out a low, long moo that sounded surprisingly bovine. The cow didn’t react, except for the twitching of its tail.

Erin laughed. “What did you tell it?”

“Just hello. There’s no point in getting into a deep discussion. Cows only have two neurons.”

“That many?”

“It’s one too many. Sometimes they both fire simultaneously and the cow starts running in a random direction without even knowing why.”

Erin shook her head, smiling. Why was she getting so uptight about this adventure? It was supposed to be fun. It was going to be fun. She just had to forget about all the trouble of the last few days, convince herself that camping in the desert would be great, and stop worrying about what she had or didn’t have with Drew. She was on an adventure with her best friend. An adventure that might lead to one of the greatest discoveries in the American southwest. She needed to find the enthusiasm she’d felt when she first discovered the final clue, less than a week before. She remembered a tip about public speaking—tell yourself that’s not anxiety you’re feeling, it’s excitement. Well then, she was excited.

She gave one last glance over her shoulder as the Jeep bounced forward. A puff of dust rose over the low hill. Erin stiffened. She couldn’t see very far back on the road, but as the faint haze of dust billowed forward in a line, she knew it could only mean one thing. A vehicle was coming down the road behind them.

“Wait!”

The Jeep lurched to a stop, the engine purring loudly.

“No, keep going. No, wait—” Erin shook her head. “I don’t know. I think someone is following us after all.”

The women stared at each other. “We have to know,” Camie said. They turned and gazed back. Tiger lifted his head from his perch on a stack of large rubber tubs and gave an inquiring meow. The seconds ticked by.

A black SUV rounded the corner behind them.

The SUV stopped, fishtailing and kicking up sand. Sun glinted off the windows, obscuring the passengers inside. The dust settled around the SUV, with the two vehicles poised like some bizarre game of chicken.

“Damn it,” Camie muttered. “Have they been watching everything we do?” She frowned. “I can’t outrun them. They could follow us all the way and we won’t be able to do anything to stop them.” She studied Erin’s face. “You okay?”

Breathe, Erin told herself. Just breathe. It was only a car. Don’t think about the people inside. They didn’t get you last time. You survived the accident, the break-ins, everything so far. You’re winning. She managed to draw in a shuddering breath. “I’m okay. Just—”

Camie grasped her arm and gave a squeeze. “They can’t afford to hurt us. Remember that. They haven’t been able to find the clue to the treasure, so they need us. They need you.”

Erin nodded. “But they’re not going to get me. We have to get away from them.”

Camie frowned. “We could just go home. Start over some other time. Or go to your mother’s after all. Spend a few days, hope they get bored.”

“I don’t think I can keep waiting,” Erin said. “Besides, they might get tired of waiting and try something.”

“All right. Then we need to move faster than they can. We need something they can’t follow.” She started to smile. “I’ll tell you what we need. We need a helicopter.”

Erin stared at her. “Drew? You want to call Drew?”

“You have a better idea?”

“No, but what if he’s one of them? Or what if he’s after the treasure too, on his own?”

Camie gazed into the rearview mirror, her hands tapping restlessly on the steering wheel. “I don’t think he is, but in any case, we don’t have to tell him the exact location. We’ll just have him drop us nearby.”

“All right, but I don’t want to... I mean....” Her mind felt choked and sluggish, like wading through mud. She shook her head, trying to clear it. She had to keep the panic at bay and stay rational. “I don’t want to ask him for a favor. I don’t want to owe him any more than I already do.”

“So who’s asking? We’ll pay him. He’s a pilot for hire, right?”

“Yes, all right.” Her heart fluttered. She would see Drew again. He’d make everything all right. She pushed that thought away. She didn’t need a man to rescue her, to solve her problems. They were solving their own problems. Drew would just be doing a job. Best not to think of it as more than that. But if she felt warmth spreading through her at the thought of seeing him again, no harm in that.

Camie swore and the Jeep leaped ahead with the engine roaring. Erin whipped around to look behind them. She gasped as the SUV barreled toward them. “What are they doing?”

“Trying to cause an accident, disable the Jeep, kidnap us, ask us for a date? I don’t really care. Let’s get out of here.”

“You said you couldn’t outrun them.”

“No, but I can make it difficult for them. Call Drew. See when he can leave.”

Erin fumbled for her phone as the Jeep bounced over ruts. She braced a hand on the dashboard and found his number, glad now that she’d programmed it in last night, though she’d felt a bit foolish then. She pressed the phone to her ear, trying to hear over the engine sounds and rattling plastic windows. What if he didn’t answer? What if he was out on a job? What if he was in the SUV behind them?

“Morgan air charter. Drew here.”

“Drew! It’s Erin.”

“Good morning! Did you sleep well?”

“Yeah, okay.” Erin winced as the Jeep bounced, throwing her against her seatbelt. He thought she’d called just to talk to him. She felt like dirt.

“Where are you? What’s that racket?”

Erin braced her feet on the floorboards and pushed back against the seat, trying to keep stable, and pressed a hand over her ear to hear better. “I’m in Camie’s Jeep. Uh, Drew, we’re in a bit of trouble here.”

“What’s wrong?” His voice sharpened with concern.

“We’re being followed, and—oh, I can’t explain everything right now. The main question is, can you fly somewhere? Are you available for hire?”

“Right now?”

“As soon as possible. I realize you have—”

“I’m at the airport. I’ll be ready when you get here.”

“Thanks,” she whispered, unsure if he could hear her over the background noise, and hung up.

Erin glanced back. The SUV loomed large in the rear window. It swung to the left and pulled forward, trying to get up beside them. Erin realized that Camie had been wrong about one thing—the bad guys might not want to kill Erin, but that didn’t mean they couldn’t hurt her. Or kill Camie, if only to make a point.

“Hang on!” Camie shouted, jerking the wheel to the left. They heard the scrape of metal on metal, but they cut off the SUV. Camie winced. “I hope that was just the bumper.”

“This is crazy!” Erin screamed. “What are they thinking?”

“I’m not going to stop and ask them. Oh man, hold onto your hat.”

The road ahead vanished where an early flash flood had washed away a 20-foot section. A steep slope dropped three feet down into the arroyo left behind by seasonal flooding. Camie slammed on the brakes and they skidded.

The SUV bumped them from behind.

The Jeep shot over the drop, slamming into the sandy arroyo with a thud that threw Erin forward and knocked the breath from her.

Camie wrenched the wheel and the Jeep swung left. Erin bounced off the side door, gasping as her sore shoulder hit. The Jeep seemed to hover for a moment as the wheels spun, then they grabbed and the Jeep shot forward down the arroyo.

“What are you doing?” Erin yelled.

“We can’t outrun them on the road, but I’ll bet I have better traction in this sand. Maybe we can pull ahead.”

“But you’re in an arroyo!”

Camie grinned, hunched over the wheel. “It’s not the first time. Now we’ll see if these guys can drive.”

Erin wrapped her good fingers around the door handle and tried not to bump the broken one. She braced her left forearm against the side of Camie’s seat and concentrated on staying in her seat as the Jeep bounced and skidded. She glanced at the speedometer. Thirty? It felt more like 90 on the rough ground. She gasped as a tree loomed ahead and instinctively ducked as branches slapped the windshield in front of her face.

“Let’s see them squeeze through there!” Camie exclaimed gleefully.

Erin turned to see the SUV pushing past the tree, twigs and leaves scattering through the air, the left side of the vehicle scraping against the rocky arroyo wall. “Didn’t stop them.”

“That will leave a mark, though,” Camie muttered. “Uh oh, rough spot ahead.”

So what do you call the rest of this?
Erin wondered, but she was too busy holding on to speak. The sandy arroyo bottom changed to rock, swirls of sandstone washed into smooth mounds and rounded pockets by centuries of seasonal floods. Camie downshifted and slowed.

Erin glanced back. “They’re gaining.”

“Not for long.” They bumped up onto rock. “And if we’re lucky, they’ll slam into one of these holes and break something.”

“I haven’t been feeling that lucky lately.”

Camie grinned and tossed her head. “Then it’s time for a change.”

The Jeep tilted crazily as Camie pulled halfway up the sloping side wall in order to avoid a large pothole in the rock. Erin gasped as she slid against the door, expecting any moment that the Jeep would tumble sideways. The piles of gear in the back shifted and clanged. A demonic yowl filled the car.

“Tiger!” Camie yelled. She pulled back to the center of the arroyo and the Jeep slammed onto solid ground.

“He’s all right.” The big orange cat crawled over Erin’s right shoulder. He crouched in her lap, his claws digging through her jeans. She didn’t have the heart to insist he let go, especially since she couldn’t spare a hand to hold him in place.

The Jeep flung Erin from side to side. The gauges that showed the angle of tipping and rolling rotated crazily. Her stomach churned as nausea built up. They shot off the end of the stone wash and dropped a foot into a sandy patch. Erin’s head smacked back against the headrest and she blinked to clear her vision while her head throbbed.

“Come on, baby,” Camie coaxed as they headed toward a steep, three-foot rise. The engine growled as they eased up the slope. For a moment blue sky filled their view through the window. Then the world shifted crazily, they flattened out, and the Jeep shot ahead.