Polar Quest

12

Jim Evers parked his Honda Civic in the visitors lot of the Saguaro National Park. After strapping on his helmet and a Camelback backpack, he removed his Cannondale mountain bike from the trunk rack. He left ASRF early every Friday, weather permitting, to get in a few hours on the trails before dark. This was the best time to ride because he almost always had the park to himself.

As Evers mounted his bike and rode onto the trail, Sumner Duroc stepped out of the passenger side of a GM pickup and, with the driver, unloaded two mountain bikes from the back. Duroc then carefully fastened a Styrofoam cooler to the rack above his rear wheel. The two men then followed Evers out into the Arizona desert.

Two hours into his ride, Evers felt the water he’d consumed straining his bladder. He was several miles from the nearest rest room and each jarring bump on the rocky trail only increased his desire for relief. He pulled off the trail and looked around. The only people in sight were two men a couple hundred yards behind him.

They’ll understand a call of nature, Evers reasoned. He set his bike down and stepped around a clump of brush.

As he relieved himself, Evers heard the bikers approaching up the rough trail. He expected them to pass, but then heard their tires skid to a halt.

‘I’m okay,’ Evers called out. ‘Just takin’ a leak.’

‘Very good, Mr Evers,’ Duroc answered. ‘It would be unfortunate if you’d been injured.’

Evers pulled up his shorts. ‘Excuse me? Do I know you?’

‘We’ve recently done business together, a matter involving a pair of aircraft.’

‘Duroc?’ Evers asked nervously as he approached the two men. Both had dismounted and were standing beside their bikes. ‘What are you doing here?’

‘I am here to see you. We ran into some difficulties and I wondered if you had mentioned our arrangement to anyone.’

‘God, no,’ Evers replied. ‘I’m not stupid.’

‘No one ever said you were. Still…’

On Duroc’s cue, the driver punched Evers in the abdomen. Evers folded at the waist, knees buckling. The driver then grabbed Evers and locked him in a full nelson.

‘Do you know what you are to me, Mr Evers?’ Duroc asked.

‘I kept my end of the deal,’ Evers replied, struggling for air.

‘You are a risk.’

Duroc removed the cooler from his bike and held it in front of Evers. Several holes had been drilled through the top of the cooler and Evers heard an angry rattle from within.

‘Life is full of risks. We encounter them every day.’

Duroc walked off the trail to the place where Evers had urinated. He carefully set the cooler down, then kicked it over. The Styrofoam lid popped off and a Western Diamondback rattlesnake darted out. It coiled up beneath the brush, tail buzzing as it took in the new environment.

The driver pushed Evers off the trail to where Duroc stood, several feet away from the snake.

‘I swear I didn’t tell anyone!’ Evers protested, struggling vainly against the driver’s hold on him.

Duroc nodded. The driver shoved Evers toward the brush. Evers tripped and slid on his hands and knees. The rattlesnake, sensing a threat, shook its tail furiously. Evers recoiled, pulling back onto his knees. The driver then kicked him from behind. The blow ruptured the water bag inside the Camelback and thrust Evers into the brush. Instinctively, Evers held up his arms to shield his face. The rattlesnake shot out and struck him in the upper right arm. Evers screamed, his arm on fire with pain and venom. Then the snake let go and raced away into the desert.

‘You’ve got to help me,’ Evers pleaded, his fear giving way to shock. He gripped his arm tightly above the wound; it was already growing numb.

‘The two aircraft you provided me have been lost,’ Duroc explained as he retrieved the cooler, ‘and their absence will be difficult to hide. Questions will be asked, and unfortunately you, my friend, know things that could prove most damaging to me. Adieu.’

The driver grabbed Evers by the helmet and tilted his head, then swung his fist like a hammer into the side of his neck. The blow briefly flattened Evers’s jugular vein, knocking the blood pressure in his brain out of balance. Evers blacked out and fell to the ground.