Acquiring Trouble (33 page)

“
They
were transporting me to an allied country. The plan was to kill me t
here and
force the US to
spread
the War of Terror to a third front, thus spreading out
our
troops. I don’t know which country they were planning
to
fram
e;
I’m guessing Iran or
Saudi Arabia
since those are
two
of the top
-
producing oil companies
in
tension with the US
’s
War on Terror.
They’d
be blamed and then
the
US would
either
attack to save face
,
or put forth tough sanctions that would
harm them through
denial of oil
sales
.
”

“I see. Either way the heat would be off this area.” Miles nodded as
the vehicle
started
down the side of the mountain.

“Yes, exactly.”
Mariah
turned around from the backseat, “You
r
brother’s fine. He’s not responding when I pinch him, but his breathing is strong and steady.”

“Thank you
. I’m…” Miles slammed on his br
ak
e
s as he rounded a corner. The r
oad was already one lane, but the side of it was crumbling from
water runoff
. He slowed down and
pulled as close to the mountain
side as he could.

“Look out!” Mariah screamed and pointed down the road.

Mil
es cursed and slammed on his br
ak
e
s. Ahead of him were five men blocking the road with machine guns. He threw the car into reverse and looked into the review mirror to find five more men blocking the road. They were trapped.

“Captain,
those are the men that kidnapped me!”

“How do you know?”

“Their robes, they all had red, green and black trim along the bottom.
Those were
their colors.”

Mariah was
panicked. He looked at all the men and sure enough they all had the same casual uniform on. He could try to back over them, but he wouldn’t be able to hit them all and
they had
powerful guns. More and more men appeared from the mountain. When he saw the bazooka he knew they had no options. They were outnumbered and outgunned. He looked around and then down.
Down
m
ight
be the only way out.

“Mariah, we’re trapped.
We have two options. We surrender and hope for an escape in the future or…”

“I’ll take the or.”

“
Okay, then hold on tight.” Miles turned around and buckled Cade in the best he could before strapping on his seatbelt. “I’d buckle that if I were you.” Miles didn’t hesitate as he pressed on the gas and drove the car off the side of the mountain.

The runoff had created a path down the mountainside and he just hoped like hell it was clear
. The car took to the air and landed head first on the path. Miles’s head slammed against the roof of the car and he heard Mariah scream. He managed to keep his hands on the wheel and the car on the small path created over the seasons.

The car bounced and picked up speed as it headed down
the hill. He pressed on the br
ak
e
s only to find that the car would fishtail at such speeds and on such unstable ground. Mud, slush, and patches of rocks
made
navigating the car
difficult
. Ahead of him there was a drop
-
off. He couldn’t see how big it was b
ut they were about to find out.

He slammed on the
bra
k
e
s,
the car fishtailed and went over the drop
-
off sideways, passenger side first. Miles gripped the steering wheel as if he could control the car
mid-air. The car’s hood dipped
with the weight of the engine and hit the ground passenger headlight first.
The airbag deployed
a
second before Miles’
s
face slam
med
into the steering wheel. His head was knocked back with the force of the
airbag,
the impact crumpled the engine block causing it to collapse on
his legs. He felt his right ankle
snap rig
ht before the car came to rest.

The first thing that Miles noticed was the silence. He reached
for
his belt and unsheathed his knife. He plunged it into
his
airbag and filled his lung
s with a huge breath when
it
deflated. Mariah’s eyes were close
d and there was fresh blood
dripping down the side of
her
airbag. He similarly ripped into
her
s,
causing it to deflate. Mariah’s head slumped forward as he checked for a pulse. He let out
a breath when he felt one
.

Turning in his seat, he clenched his jaw against the pain in his leg to check on Cade. Cade had been thrown from his seat and was wedged on the floor. Shouting his name
,
Miles reached frantically for him. He couldn’t reach his head, but managed to grab his hand. His pu
lse was still there, thank
G
od.

Mariah moaned
and Miles immediately went to her. “Mariah? Mariah? Wake up, dear. Come on, you can do it. Open your eyes.”

“Am I dead Captain?”

“Not yet. Are you hurt badly?”

“I can’t feel my leg.”

Miles
could hear the panic setting in and tried to calm her. “It’s okay. Breath
e
,
breath
e
deeply.” He
talked
long enough to get her focused on her breathing. He had to get them out of here before those men found them
—a
nd they would if they didn’t move.

Miles tried to pull his leg out, but his boot was stuck. He’d have to twist his whole leg in order to wiggle it out. Pain radiated through him and he broke out in a sweat as he forced himself to move. He grunted in pain as he pulled hard and fell out of his
seat and onto the rocky ground.

He pulled up his pant leg and said a quick prayer of thanks
when he took off his boot
. The broken bone wasn’t protruding, so he might be able to set it.
He stood up and hobbled over to Mariah’s door. When he opened it, he saw why she couldn’t feel her leg. Everything below the knee was completely crushed by the car.

“Okay. This is going to t
ake some work. Let me fix my ankle
and then I’ll get the crowbar out and pry you free. Keep taking deep breaths, okay?”
Miles looked around and found two small boulders that he could use. These mountains were so barren there
were
no
trees for making a splint
.

He hobbled over to the rocks, put as little pressure as possible on his leg
,
and sat down. Miles wedged
his
boot between the boulders and took a deep breath. This was going to hurt. He
pulled sli
ghtly until his ankle
was in traction and then set the bone. He cried out in pain, but then sighed with relief. Now he needed to splint it, but he’d do that after he got Cade and Mariah taken care of.

Hopping on one leg,
he found the crowbar in the trunk and went to work prying Mariah’s leg from the wreckage. “I’m almost done. Can you feel your leg
yet
?”

“No. It’s still numb, why? What does that mean?”

“It means you could be bleeding internally.” Miles pulled off his belt and cinched it tight
around
her knee before pulling out the last piece of metal pinning her down. “Come on, let’s get you out
of
here.” Miles helped her from the car and propped her against the small
boulders he’d use
d
to set his ankle
.

Next he had to check on his brother. Cade was breathing, but still in a coma. He had some new injuries from the wreck, but they all seemed to be superficial. Miles pulled
him from the car with much less hassle than Mariah and laid him next to her. It was time to tear the car apart if they were going to get anywhere. He used his knife to cut the seatbelts out of the car and laid them out on the ground. Then he went to the tru
n
k and took out the rope, emergency kit, and floor mat.
H
e dug out two holes on the top of the mat
using his knife
and threaded the rope through them.

Miles pulled out his medical kit and used the tape to wrap around the ends of the rope, creating a place to grab without the rope slicing into his hands. Then he took his knife and cut four slits into the t
h
ick mat. He threaded two seat
belts through them.

“What are you doing?” Mari
ah asked in complete confusion.

“Getting you and Cade transportation.”

“I don’t get it.”

“You will s
oon. I just need to splint my ankle
and then we’
ll be ready to move.” Miles took the
crowbar and placed it along his leg
.
H
e
secured
it
as tight as he could against the side of his leg and ankle using medical tape.

“Captain! You’re bleeding again.” Mariah pointed to his side where the gunshot wound had gone through him
in
w
hat seemed like a lifetime ago.

“It’s not bad. We need to get moving.” Miles grabbed Cade and awkwardly carried him to the mat.
Laying him down he pulled the two end
s
of the ce
nter seatbelt over Cade,
clicked them together
, and pulled tight
,
securing Cade to the mat.

“Oh. But, how am I going to fit? There
are
no
more
seat
belts
.” Maria asked as she tried to
help
him
get her to the mat.

“Sorry, but you’re just going to have to hold on. Can you do that?”

“Yes, but do you really think you can drag
us all the way to civilization?”

“I don’t need civilization, I just need a horse.” Miles helped Mariah down onto the mat and pulled out his satellite phone. Dammit. It was junk now. There was no other option. He had to get them to their rendezvous point by himself. Miles put each piece of rope over his shoulders and star
ted down the mountain.

It had been the longest two hours of his life. He knew he had barely covered four miles when off in the distance he saw a river running through the valley. Hope soared. Where there was
water, there was civilization.

Sure enough before he even made it to the grassy banks he saw a boy leading two trail horses. “Mariah, stay he
re and don’t make a sound. I’m getting
us some better transportation.”

He spent every
a
fg
h
ani
he had to buy those horses and send the boy on his way with the story that
the horses spooked and got away
. He also negotiated
three
-
minutes use of the kid’s cell phone.
He took the horses
up the mountainside and stopped them where Mariah and Cade were hiding behind a jagged rock.

“You and
I
will ride this one and I’ll put Cade on the other.
The rendezvous point had been moved. We just need to get to the other side of the border. It’ll take about two hours so hang on, we
gotta
move fast.
”

“Let’s go
,
cowboy.” Mariah grabbed a hold of his neck as he lifted her onto the horse. Miles tied Cade to the other horse with the rope and then mounted behind Mariah. The boy had told them they were
around fifteen miles
from the
border. The terrain was flat in most parts, but they’d hit some rocky patches too, so they’d have to alternate between trotting and wa
lking the horses.