No Return

24

The party went on all afternoon. There was drinking and eating and splashing and laughing and a volleyball game that no one could agree on who won. By the time the sun had started to set, Wes and Anna had talked to just about everyone-about sports, about the TV industry, about living in the desert. But Lars had been true to his word. No one brought up the crash.

With the coming night, people started leaving until the only guests left were Wes, Anna, Jenks, and Wasserman. Wes had tried several times to get Lars alone again, but his friend was always in the middle of playing host. Wes wanted to finish the conversation they’d started in the kitchen, but it looked like that just wasn’t going to happen, so he walked over to Anna. “Want to head back to the motel?”

“Sounds like a good idea to me.”

Lars was sitting by the grill, a nearly empty bottle of beer by his feet. “You guys leaving?”

“I think so,” Wes said.

Lars pushed himself out of the chair, then grabbed on to Wes’s arm as he found his balance. “I’m glad you could come.”

“Wes.” Jenks walked over from where he’d been poking at the remains in the potato chip bowl. “I was hoping to talk to you a little bit more about your job before you left.” He leaned forward and added in a whisper they could all hear, “Not going to be in the Navy forever.”

“Maybe some other time,” Wes said.

“How do you get into something like that?” Jenks asked. “I mean, I assume you have to know someone, right?”

“It helps.”

“I do some camera work on the base sometimes. Training stuff, that kind of thing. I was thinking there might be some online classes I could take to learn the more advanced techniques.”

“I’m sure there are. I’m just not familiar with any.”

Wes put a hand on Anna’s back, but before he could start for the door, Jenks grabbed him gently by the arm.

“Do you know anyone who might know?” Jenks asked.

Wes forced a smile. “I’ll tell you what. I’ll do some checking, then email what I find out to Lars. That sound okay?”

Jenks glanced past Wes, then said, “Uh, yeah, sure. Thanks.”

“No problem.”

Jenks held out his hand. “It was great meeting both of you.”

Wasserman had been on his phone near the sliding glass door, but when he saw Wes and Anna talking with Jenks, he put his hand over the receiver and approached them.

“Leaving already?” he said.

“Been a long day,” Wes said.

“Come on,” Wasserman said. “It’s Saturday and it’s still early. One more beer won’t kill you.” He stepped over to the tub and pulled out a wet bottle.

“They’re tired,” Lars insisted.

Wasserman dropped the bottle back in the container. “Only wanted to make sure they had a good time, Lieutenant Commander.”

“We had a great time,” Wes said.

Lars slid open the door. “I’ll walk you out.”

Streetlights lit up the cul-de-sac, giving it that comfortable, neighborhoody feel. As they neared his bike, Wes said, “I’d still like to talk.”

“Sure, come by before you leave town and we can catch up. Just the two of us.”

“I mean about what we were discussing earlier. The crash.”

Lars closed his eyes and shook his head. “Wes, come on. We’ve already-”

“If what I have to show you doesn’t sway you, I promise I’ll let it go.”

Lars thought for a moment. “You promise?”

“Yes. I promise,” Wes said.

“Okay.” He took a quick glance back at the house. “How about tomorrow? You’re not working, right?”

“Not working.”

“Good. We can go for a drive,” Lars said. “I can pick you up at your motel around two.”

“That sounds good,” Wes said, then he and Anna climbed onto the bike. “Thanks.”

He told Anna to hold on, then he swung the Triumph around and onto the street.

It was a beautiful night, the evening air warm but pleasant, so Wes decided to take the long way back to the motel. For the first few blocks, it was bliss, then suddenly a dark coupe turned onto the road in front of them. Wes switched lanes and attempted to go around it, but had to quickly back off when the coupe mirrored his movement, in an unsettling reminder that other vehicles often didn’t see motorcycles.

He eased the Triumph into the right lane and increased his speed.

The coupe pulled in front of him again.

“Come on,” Wes said.

He could feel Anna glancing over his shoulder.

Instead of once more trying to get around the coupe, Wes decided to be rid of it completely. At the next block he turned right, then drove rapidly down to the stop sign and turned left, heading once more toward Inyokern Road.

He was nearly at the end of the block when the coupe raced into the next intersection, sliding sideways as it turned toward him.

“Wes, be careful!” Anna yelled.

As soon as the coupe had finished the turn, its engine roared and the vehicle all but leapt toward them.

Stopping wasn’t an option. The only thing Wes could do to avoid being struck was to veer into the open field to his right.

“Grab on tight!” he shouted, then took the bike off the road.

The Triumph jumped and bounced on the uneven ground so much that Wes thought for a second he was going to lose it. But by some miracle he was able to maintain control and get them back onto the asphalt.

Behind them tires squealed loudly.

Wes glanced quickly over his shoulder and saw the coupe spinning back around so it could make another run at them.

“Who is that?” Anna asked.

Wes had no idea, and he was too busy figuring out what to do next to answer her.

He took a hard right, and accelerated as fast as possible.

The coupe turned onto the road behind them. A glance back told Wes the car wasn’t going fast enough to close the gap between them, but it wasn’t letting up, either.

Wes had worked on enough true-crime shows to know exactly what he needed to do. Don’t stop until you get to the police station. That meant getting down to China Lake Boulevard and heading back across town.

But at Norma Street he hit a Ridgecrest traffic jam-five cars all traveling in the lane he wanted to get into. He angled the bike sharply to the right and jumped it up onto the sidewalk. Anna squeezed him tightly, but remained silent.

The nearest car was pacing him, while the car behind it was in tailgate mode. The only space available was a small gap in front of the car beside him. Wes increased his speed, then flew off the short curb and shot into the opening. The trailing car honked several times, but before the horn cut out, the Triumph was already in the middle lane and speeding away.

Wes could see the coupe in his mirror. It had waited until all the cars had passed, and was in the process of pulling onto the street. Wes scanned the street signs, trying to remember which road went all the way through to China Lake Boulevard.

Perdew Avenue? Maybe … Yes. Yes, it does. But by the time he remembered, he was already too far into the intersection to make the turn.

Graaf?

Possibly.

Reeves? Yes. Definitely Reeves.

“We’re turning,” he said, unsure if Anna could hear him.

He didn’t slow the bike until the absolute last possible moment, and then only enough so that he wouldn’t lose control. Leaning into the turn, he cut in front of an oncoming minivan, and poured on the speed again as the bike entered the new street.

The coupe had to stop to let the minivan pass, buying them a few extra seconds.

Even then, Anna’s cry, “He’s still behind us!” came sooner than he had hoped.

If they could only get to China Lake Boulevard, they should be okay. It was the main drag. It had more traffic. Wes could weave the Triumph in and around the other cars, easily losing the coupe.

They just needed to get there.

“Wes!”

The panic in Anna’s voice was enough to make him look back. A vehicle had just come barreling out of the cross street they’d just passed. It was an SUV, dark like the coupe, with tinted windows. But it didn’t turn after them. Instead it continued down the road it was on, and disappeared.

He kept the Triumph in the middle of the road, his eyes on the boulevard ahead.

They were only two blocks away when the SUV made a second appearance, this time racing out of the street ahead of them. But instead of continuing, it screeched to a stop in the middle of the road, directly in the bike’s path.

Wes angled the Triumph so he could go around the back of the truck, but as soon as he made the adjustment, the SUV’s reverse lights flashed on, and it moved once more into his way.

Wes released the accelerator and applied the breaks. “Hold on!”

At the last second, he shifted the handlebars and threw his weight so the back of the bike skidded around.

The smell of rubber burning on asphalt.

The whine of the engine.

Then-

Half thud, half crunch as the Triumph smacked sideways into the SUV.

Wes threw his right leg out to keep momentum from throwing them to the ground. One of the SUV’s doors started to open, so he twisted the accelerator, hoping the bike had suffered no serious damage. The Triumph responded immediately, zipping forward past the SUV.

Wes raced to Ward, then took that to China Lake Boulevard.

As they were finally heading south on the boulevard, he shouted, “Are you all right?”

“Yeah,” Anna called back.

“Can you tell if they’re still behind us?”

He could feel her moving around for a moment, then, “I don’t see them.”

“Okay,” Wes said.

But he didn’t feel any relief until they pulled in to the police station parking lot.