Savages

277

Ben and Chon find the pull-off by the junction.

They pull over and blink their lights twice.

An answering signal comes out of the darkness and then a black SUV comes forward and stops about ten yards in front of them.

Chon can smell a night ambush and he smells it now, along with the creosote bush and Indian tobacco, the soft desert scents even on this chill night.

“They here?” Ben asks.

“Oh yeah,” Chon says. “Both sides.”

Doubtless they’re lying in the brush next to the pull-off and on the other side of the road.

“The second you get O,” Chon repeats, “hit the ground and stay flat.”

“Yup.”

“Ben?”

“Yeah?”

“It’s been a ride.”

“Yes, it has.”

Ben tucks a pistol into the back of his belt, takes Magda, and leads her out of the car.

Chon reaches in back and grabs the two ARs.