End Game

CHAPTER 26

The night was as dark as it was going to get. There was no ambient light here, which meant it should have been an amazing night for stargazing. However, a storm system had moved in over the Rockies and marched its way to eastern Colorado. The rain had not started yet, but it was not far off.

Robie, Reel, and Holly Malloy sat in their Yukon, its lights off, and watched the road. There was a shack up here, long abandoned, that Luke and Holly had used as a meeting place. It was remote, just like everything was remote here. One road in and one road out.

Robie, in the driver’s seat, looked back at Holly in the second row of seats. Just beyond that, in the rear cargo area was their hard-sided case with the weaponry they had picked up after landing in Colorado.

“I hope he’s not coming on the motorcycle, or else you two are going to be drowned before you get to Denver.”

“He rented a car. He sold his bike.”

Robie nodded, but something was nagging at him. They had gotten here a couple hours early just in case.

But still.

“Were you two planning to leave that night at the B and B?”

“Yes.”

“But you took time out to have sex? How stupid was that? You should have just hit the road. Then they never would have been able to find you.”

“I’m not sure about that. We would have for sure run into them on the way out of town.”

“It was still stupid,” said Robie.

“But we’d never been to that place before. And Luke said no one knew that he was leaving. We met up at the B and B because no one would expect us to go there. It’s been shut down for over a year now.”

“But still,” persisted Robie.

Holly looked sheepish. “Shit, Luke got horny, okay? He’s a guy, what can I say? And he was insistent that they had no idea where he was. So I thought it was okay. It wasn’t like it was going to take long,” she added, her gaze averted from Robie.

Robie looked at Reel. Her gaze moved back and forth across the landscape in front of them. It was mostly flat, only occasionally obscured by some higher, rocky ground. There were patches of trees scattered here and there, but the sight lines were still excellent. They could see anyone coming.

But still.

He moved a bit in his seat and his hand reached out and automatically touched the butt of his M11.

Reel must have noticed this because she glanced at him. Their gazes met, and in a wordless display of communication everything that needed to be said was said.

Robie looked into the rearview. Though there was little light he could still make out Holly’s strained features.

Now what had been bothering Robie finally percolated to the surface.

“Holly, how did you arrange to meet with Luke at the B and B in town?”

She glanced at him, one hand clinging tightly to the handle of her suitcase.

“I texted him. He texted me back. That’s how we usually do it. The cell reception out here isn’t the best, so you can’t always hear the person if you call. But the texts seem to work okay.”

Now Reel stirred in her seat. Next to her was her sniper rifle, the stock of it resting on the floorboard and the muzzle pointed to the ceiling.

She said, “Where did Luke get his phone?”

This was just the question Robie was about to ask.

“His phone?”

“Yeah. They’re not cheap. You have to get a call plan with it. Did he do all that himself?”

“I… I don’t know.”

Robie glanced out the windshield again. “Well, try to remember.”

Holly thought for a few more seconds. “Come to think, I do recall Luke telling me that the skinheads gave him the phone. If you can believe it they had some type of business plan set up for all—”

Reel cut in. “Did you and Luke text about meeting tonight?”

“Well, yeah. Why?”

“How did they know you were meeting with Luke at the B and B?” said Robie. “They had to know because they came roaring into town and went right there a few minutes after he got there.”

“I… are you saying—?”

“They give out the phones with malware on them,” said Robie.

“So they can listen in or read every communication,” added Reel. Her hand slipped down to her rifle even as they heard a car approaching. Two dabs of light could be seen coming along the road toward them.

“What kind of car will Luke be driving?” asked Robie.

“He didn’t tell me.”

Robie glanced at Reel, again silently communicating.

She slipped on a headset, powered up the comm pack clipped to her belt, slid out of the car with her rifle, and flitted away into the darkness.

“Where’s she going?” asked Holly.

“I’m going to hit the button for the rear cargo door, Holly. I want you to climb over the seats and exit the vehicle that way. Then, keeping the truck between you and the road, I want you to keep moving away from here. That direction will take you back to town.”

“Mr. Robie, what’s hap—”

“Just do it, Holly,” he said firmly. “We’ll find you later.”

“But Luke.”

“Go, now, before it’s too late,” he barked.

A shaky Holly climbed over the backseat as the cargo door lifted. She got out and, keeping behind the truck and carrying her suitcase, Holly moved away into the darkness.

The Yukon was on a slight incline. Without turning the truck on, Robie shifted into neutral, and the GMC rolled backward. Even with the engine off Robie managed to maneuver the steering wheel just enough to turn the truck to the left.

Like Holly, he climbed out the back, keeping the truck between him and the approaching car. He put on a headset and turned on his comm pack.

Into the headset he said, “Talk to me.”

“Bogie’s a half mile away, coming at a slow speed. I can’t see how many are in it. It might be Luke and it might not.”

“Anything else?”

“Hold on a sec.”

A few moments went by and Reel said, “I’ve got movement at three and nine o’clock, directly in front of me.” She paused another moment. “They’re ATVs, Robie. You should be able to hear them by now.”

“I do,” he affirmed. “How many?”

“I count… eight altogether.”

“And the car, evasive maneuvers?”

“No, coming on straight and true.”

“So it’s not Luke driving.”

“No, it’s not. I guess they weren’t smart enough to think of that.”

“You got high ground?”

“High enough. Where’s Holly?”

“On the retreat behind us. Let me know when you can confirm who’s on the ATVs.”

“They’re coming fast. But they’re blowing up a shitload of dirt. It’s going to make it hard to get a sight line.”

“Roger that. Let me give you an assist.”

He hustled to the back of the Yukon and unlocked the hard-sided case. He gripped the launcher and hefted two RPGs. He slung the launcher over his shoulder after loading the grenades into a belt carrier attached to the launcher’s frame.

He ran to a spot behind a thick tree, knelt down, took out a pair of night optics, and peered through them. He could clearly see the car on the road and the ATVs on the dirt. Reel was right, they were creating quite a dust storm out there. They were now only about three hundred yards away. He would wait until they cut that distance down by half.

He knew it wasn’t the cops or the state police. They didn’t have enough bodies to fill all those vehicles. He was certain it was the skinheads.

He loaded in an RPG and said into his headset, “Fireworks are coming in ten. I’m aiming to make them stop to let the air clear so you can get a lock.”

“Roger that.”

Robie aimed the launcher at a spot in front of the wave of ATVs.

Four-three-two-one.

He hit the trigger and the RPG left the launcher, arced upward, and then came down within a foot of where Robie had been aiming.

The explosion rocked the still air, sounding like thunder from the storm bearing down on them.

The car and the ATVs did what Robie had expected. They stopped and through his optics he saw figures jumping out of the vehicles and taking cover.

Reel spoke into his ear. “Nice touch.”

“See if you can get a look in the car now.”

He could hear Reel’s steady breaths in his ear until she said, “The driver has exited. He and another man have taken up cover behind the vehicle.”

“Anyone else in the car now?”

A few seconds went by. “There’s something in the backseat, Robie. It could be a person. It could be Luke Miller.”

“That’s what I’m figuring. They brought him along alive to witness the fun before they put a bullet in his head. I need the guys outside the car to leave that immediate area but leave the car operable.”

“On it in five.”

Robie loaded his last round into the launcher and moved forward, keeping low, but also keeping his night optics on the car that was less than half a football field from his position.

He counted off the five seconds and on the fifth beat Reel’s sniper rifle thundered. Two rounds hit right next to the car. The third passed right over the trunk. The fourth kicked up dirt a foot to the left.

The two men hiding there did the only sane thing. They ran for it.

Robie was now in a full sprint.

“Robie, they’re on the move.”

“Burn ’em right after I fire. Move them all away from the vicinity of the car.” Robie stopped, knelt down, hefted the launcher to his shoulder, took aim, and fired.

The RPG flew a short distance and then hit the dirt about sixty yards to his right.

An instant later Reel’s rifle opened up and she rained bullets down on the men from right to left and left to right. Dirt, grass, and rocks flew up in the air near the men. Reel was not aiming to kill them, just to get them to move. Her rifle was her cattle prod.

Robie was sprinting once more and reached the car five seconds later.

He ripped open the door and checked the backseat.

Luke was back there, trussed up, gagged and unconscious, but Robie could find no visible wounds.

Robie checked the man’s pulse, found it, slid into the driver’s seat, turned the key, and the engine came to life.

He said into his headset, “I’m taking him to the Yukon. Disable the ATVs. Then meet me there.”

He hit the gas and the car jumped forward. Immediately, shots rang out and several pinged off the skin of the car. Robie ducked as one blew out the rear glass, with a shard of it slicing across the back of his neck. The blood dripped onto the seat.

Then Reel opened fire, and this time her rounds connected with rubber.

Eight shots later every one of the ATVs was rendered inoperable with an incendiary round smack in its gut that had ignited the fuel tanks. Explosions rang out over the darkness even as the rain started to pour. And then came the lightning, which lit the sky like detonations in the clouds, and the following booms of thunder were very nearly deafening.

And then came the hail, and the burning ATVs were quickly doused, but still unable to move.

Robie reached the Yukon at the same time Reel raced into view. Together they lifted the still-unconscious Miller into the back of the Yukon. They jumped into the front seat and Robie took the wheel.

Reel eyed up ahead. “You going to run the gauntlet?”

Robie shook his head and looked behind him. “I’m going to make a new road. We’ll pick up Holly on the way.”

He slammed the Yukon into reverse and the four-wheel-drive vehicle hurtled backward until Robie spun it into a J-turn, and with the truck pointed the other way, he hit the gas and the Yukon leapt forward.

They had gone a quarter of a mile when Reel said, “There she is.”

Sure enough, Holly was struggling along in the darkness over the uneven ground. She was now drenched with rain. She heard them coming but apparently couldn’t see it was them, because she started to run away.

Robie sped up, and once they were beside her Reel rolled down the window and called out to her. Holly immediately stopped running.

“Get in!” called out Reel.

Holly grabbed the door handle, threw her suitcase in, and followed right behind it.

She slammed the door behind her and Robie accelerated.

“Luke, oh my God! Luke!”

She put her arms around him and started sobbing. “Oh, please tell me he’s not dead. Please.”

“Probably drugged.” said Robie. “Nearest bus station?”

“But what about Luke’s car?”

“Not happening. The bus station?”

“There’s a Greyhound station sixty miles to the west on the main road.”

They raced on with the storm chasing them the whole way. Ten minutes later Robie worked his way over to an asphalt road, while Reel checked the GPS.

She directed him to the town with the bus station, and they arrived there over an hour later.

By this time Miller had woken up, and he and Holly were hugging in the backseat.

As they slowed to a stop at the bus station, Reel checked her phone.

She said, “A bus is leaving for Denver in thirty minutes. You can get there and then make plans to get to LA. Bus, car, train, or plane. Do you have money?”

Miller nodded. “I got credit cards. Luckily, those dumb shits didn’t think to take my wallet.”

“They were tapping your phone,” said Robie. “That’s how they knew where you were meeting both times. And if they’re tapping your phone they may be able to trace your credit cards. Do you have cash?”

“Probably not enough,” conceded Luke.

Robie and Reel took out their wallets and gave them what they had.

“This should be enough to get you out of the state,” said Robie.

“Thank you so much,” said Holly. “And we will repay you. I swear.”

Luke put out his hand for Robie and Reel to shake, “I want to thank you both. You saved my ass and Holly’s.”

After they shook hands, Robie said, “You can clean up in the restroom. How did they get a hold of you? An ambush somewhere?”

“Exactly. Then they shot me up with some drug.”

As they climbed out of the truck Reel asked Miller, “Were you really that bored that you had to join those guys?”

“It was beyond stupid,” said Miller sheepishly. “But they talked a good game, at least initially. I pretty quickly figured it out and just wanted to escape.”

“Remember to take the swastika off,” said Reel. “Hard to make the right kind of new friends with that on your head.”

“Right,” said Miller.

“And get rid of your phone,” added Robie. “They can track it even when you’re not using it.”

Miller reached into his pocket, pulled it out, and chucked it into a nearby trash can.

Holly hugged both Robie and Reel and said, “Thank you so much.”

“Call your sister,” said Robie.

“I will. Look, I know all that stuff I said about my family and all. The truth is, I was jealous of Valerie. You’re right, she wears the uniform. She was out there fighting the good fight. Risking her life. I thought no matter what I did that I could never measure up to that. So that was my problem, not hers. She’s been nothing but supportive of me, no matter how many mistakes I made. I know she loves me and I love her.”

“Sounds like something you should tell her yourself, at your first opportunity. You don’t want to squander chances with your family,” added Robie, drawing a quick glance from Reel. “You never know if you’ll get a second shot to make it right.”

Holly smiled. “Good advice. I’ll take it. And I hope you find Mr. Walton.”

“We will,” said Reel. “Guaranteed.”

As they drove back to Grand, Robie said, “Think they’ll be okay?”

“I think they have a far better shot of surviving than we do. They’re getting out of the storm. We’re heading right back in.”