Blood and Ashes

Chapter 16

Trees flashed by, twin walls of greens and browns and everything in between. The road surface was asphalt, but the further we progressed it became ill maintained and was warped and rutted. Compounding the difficulty of controlling the vehicle on the damaged road surface was that the rain was growing heavier, forming pools and deep channels that sucked at the tyres and almost threw them out of line. Heavy droplets battered the windscreen, and it was a fight the wipers could barely win. The bullets fired at us added to the effort of keeping the minivan on track and at a steady speed.

I didn’t complain, just tried to stay focused on the road ahead. Even a momentary distraction would be enough to send the vehicle into a roll that would do the job for those trying to kill Don Griffiths and his family. If anything the bad road and the rain were allies: they meant those following couldn’t be too reckless either.

After almost ramming into the black van, and being forced to take diversionary tactics, I’d just kept going. I’d no idea where we were or where the road would lead to. Both Don and Millie had been unhelpful with directions, concentrating instead on calming and consoling the children. It wasn’t an easy task with bullets ricocheting off the vehicle. At least the shooting had slowed over the last few minutes, and the only thing coming our way now was an occasional round fired in frustration.

It felt a little compromising, sitting in the driver’s position. Normally I used a car with the steering wheel on the right, but this being an American car it was on the opposite side. I could shoot with my left hand, but nowhere near as well as with the right. Along the way I’d juggled the assault rifle over my shoulder, passing it back to Millie so that I’d have room to use the SIG if it became necessary. For now I concentrated on driving.

Beside me, Don finally settled back into his seat. Millie had the children under control, and she’d got them to crouch down between the seats to afford them a little more protection. She lay across the back seat, keeping her head down, but also so that she could touch both children to help comfort them.

I checked the mirrors — the ones that hadn’t been shot off — and saw that four vehicles were doggedly on our tail. The black van had been left behind somewhere along the way. Either that or it had cut down one of the forest trails to try to intercept us further on. That hardly seemed possible, seeing as the road we were on had stretched arrow-straight for the last couple miles. Even as I thought it, though, I saw warning signs showing a series of bends ahead. Also, we were beginning to climb.

‘Where does this road lead to?’

Don shook his head. ‘No idea. I’ve never come this way before. I’ve never had a reason to.’

From the back, Millie said, ‘I’ve been out this way. Me and Brook used to come up here hiking.’

‘So what can we expect?’ I asked.

‘The road climbs up into the mountains. There used to be logging camps up there, but they’ve all shut down. There’s a hydro-electricity plant further on, but the road ends there.’

‘Is the plant manned?’

‘I don’t know. I imagine it is, but we never got that far, I’ve only seen it from a distance.’

The plant sounded like our best hope of help. At the very least I might be able to force an office door and get to a telephone. ‘How far?’

‘Twenty miles, maybe more.’

Forget that plan then. At this rate it would take us twenty minutes to get there. Those pursuing us wouldn’t wait so long to make their next move.

‘We’ll have to chance one of the logging camps.’

‘They’re closed,’ Millie reminded me.

‘There could still be a telephone hooked up, or a radio or something.’ In truth I wasn’t thinking about phones; I was looking for somewhere that I could mount a defence. Maybe a logging camp would offer hiding places for the children while I could take the fight back to the pack hunting us. I decided that giving the family hope of rescue would stop them from further panic. I met Don’s eye. The old man knew what I was thinking. He busied himself with the assault rifle, getting ready to help if a last stand was unavoidable.

‘Long time since you’ve held one of those, I bet,’ I said.

‘I’d be happier if I never had to handle one ever again. But now that things are looking inevitable… well, I’ll do the best I can.’

I touched the old man on the forearm. ‘I know you will.’

There’d been bad blood between the two of us, but just like me, Don had no real control over the decisions of our superiors. Don’s intelligence had caused the deaths of innocents, but he couldn’t be held responsible for the bullets spewed from ill-guided weapons. I saw that now and knew that my enmity shouldn’t be directed at him, but at our controllers at Arrowsake. It was time to put our differences aside.

Don nodded solemnly at my words. He got their meaning. He opened his mouth to speak, to maybe explain how things had gone so wrong.

‘Just leave it be, Don. It’s enough that it’s behind us now, OK?’ What I really wanted to understand was who our pursuers were, and why they were so determined to kill Don’s entire family. But now wasn’t the time for that either.

Up ahead, the forest had been felled back all the way up the slopes, the hills bare of cover. Rain sheeted across the valley like billowing smoke. The road looked like it had been widened here, possibly to accommodate large machinery, and there was a broad area of hard-packed dirt on one side. A portable cabin once used as a control hub for the worksite had been abandoned. It listed severely to one side where the elements had done their best to wipe it from the landscape, and weeds and brush had sprung up around its base. It was poor cover, and the chances of a working phone or radio inside were nil.

Behind us the vehicles were revving into action, seeing the opening as their best chance for corralling the minivan between them. They were more powerful vehicles than ours and we’d no hope of outrunning them now. From the Ford the spiky-haired woman leaned out the window so that she could get a clear shot. The Ford veered right, swinging on to the hard-pack so that she could fire at Don.

‘Everyone get down,’ I said stiffly.

Don didn’t have much hope for concealment; he was way too bulky to scrunch down in the front seat. Instead, he swung the assault rifle out of the window. It was an awkward angle, and he had to hold the gun wedged under his opposite armpit. He fired off a short burst, but he had more chance of hitting the moon than he did the Ford.

From the back seat the children’s cries were plaintive and I felt a pang in my heart.

This is not right, I thought, it’s just not right.

Let these bastards come after me and Don, fair enough. I could accept that. But to endanger the children was supremely wrong. It was both cruel and cowardly.

Rage flooded through me like an icy tide.

‘Millie,’ I said. ‘Get the children to cover their ears and close their eyes. Things are about to get scary.’

No sooner had I said it than I slammed on the brakes.

Taken by surprise, the driver of the Ford was slow to react and the car flew past, the woman missing the opportunity to shoot Don. Don twisted the gun, propping it against the door frame and rattled off another short burst. Silver-edged craters appeared in the metal body of the Ford and the car skidded away as the driver took evasive action.

The cabin was now dead in line with the Ford, and I watched as the driver tore at the steering. The Ford clipped the back corner of the cabin, blasting through rotting boards and finishing the job started by the elements. The cabin twisted with the impact and came apart. Wood and dust flew everywhere. The Ford spun out, and it hadn’t survived the impact undamaged. Bits of plastic and metal joined the flying detritus. Steam erupted from the engine and blocked any view of its occupants.

Then we were past the wreck, and I floored the throttle as the other vehicles roared after us.

‘How far is it to the logging camp?’ I called back to Millie.

‘Not far now, take the next road to the left.’ Millie’s voice was as high-pitched as the children’s screams.

Next road? Where? Where?

I saw it a hundred yards ahead: a narrow track that was little more than a beaten path winding up the hillside.

You’ve got to be kidding me, I thought. We’d need a 4?4 to negotiate that trail.

But there was nothing else for it.

Bullets spanged off the minivan.

A black SUV roared up on our right, trying to cut us off, and I saw the face of the tattooed man snarling at us as he raised a shotgun. Don struggled to bring the rifle round on him, but he had it wedged, the carrying strap impeding him.

The shotgun flared, the load holing the front fender.

Thankfully he hadn’t fired at Don, but at the tyre in an attempt at stopping the van.

‘Get back.’ I leaned past the old man, my elbow against Don’s chest. I wasn’t fucking around with trying to disable their vehicle. I aimed the SIG directly at the tattooed man’s face.

Fired.

But already the man was reacting, throwing himself backwards as far as his seat would allow.

My bullet missed him, but it didn’t matter. It hit an even more viable target.

The driver of the SUV couldn’t do his job with most of his forehead missing.

Easing down on the brakes, I watched as the SUV streaked across in front of us at too sharp an angle, and I turned into the trail even as the SUV flipped and rolled in a shower of dirt and mud and shattered metal.

The trail was slick and muddy, but the minivan was sturdier than I’d first assumed. It hauled itself up the hillside, the engine moaning but not ready to give up.

Looking down the hill, I saw the last two pursuing vehicles veer off to check on their fallen comrades. Three men clambered out, rushing to the SUV, dancing around futilely as they searched for their leader among the steaming wreckage.

I’d bought us some breathing space, but they’d be coming again. At least there’d be fewer of them to contend with next time.