Bug Out! Part 7: Mile High Motorhomes (8 page)

“Won’t Jake slow down?”

“I’ll motion him forward,” Dobie said. He stuck his torso out and gestured to Jake to get closer. Jake got the message, and kept the truck at the same speed as the Suburban slowed down to make the turn.

“Here we go,” Gabe said. They went around the turn. It was the first in a small set of switchbacks leading away from I-70.

“They aren’t following us down here,” Dobie said, looking at the cliff going down from the right hand side of the road.

“Good, Jake just made the turn,” Gabe said, looking in his rear view mirror for a second.

“Son of a bitch,” Dobie said. “I didn’t think it would be that hot getting out of there.”

“Wrong place at the wrong time. I hope Bob’s alright. Here, call him. Last in my call history,” he said, pulling his phone from his pocket and sliding it over. Dobie picked it up and found the last incoming call. He pushed the call button.

“Gabe?” a voice answered.

“He’s driving. This is Dobie. We just had to shoot our way out of town. There’s a group of Islamists that just climbed down from I-70 on foot and tried to take Jake’s bobtail. Watch out, they’re probably coming your way.”

“Got it, thanks. I’ll warn the others down here. Be careful out there.”

“Will do,” Dobie said. He hung up the phone and passed it back to Gabe.

“Should be smooth sailing the rest of the way,” Gabe said as he took the phone. This road gets away from I-70 in a hurry. Lot of rough country in between.”

“Look, choppers!” Dobie said, looking up. “Heading for town.”

“Hope they’re on our side.”

Dobie’s phone started ringing. He answered it. It was Jake.

“You guys make it out of that without a scratch, I hope?”

“Yeah, we did. You guys?”

“They put a bunch of lead into the back end of the truck. None of it got to the cab. I suspect there’s holes in some of my stuff.”

“Good thing it was back there. Otherwise they might have hit you.”

“Seriously. I hope they don’t do too much damage in town.”

“I called Bob and tipped him off. They’ll be ready.”

“Good. Oh well, at least this is turning out to be a good day.”

“Getting shot up?”

“No, my daughter is finally going to have a boyfriend that I approve of.”

“Dad!” shouted Trish. Dobie held the phone away from his ear. Then he cracked up.

“Now be nice, Jake.”

“I actually wasn’t just joking around. Terry saved our butts back there. Several of them were aiming at our tires before he started shooting at them. I’m in his debt.”

“Alright, Jake, just don’t mess with Trish too much about it. That tends to put a wet blanket on romance. Talk to you later.”

Dobie stuck his phone back in his pocket, and looked over at Gabe, grinning.

“What was that all about?” Gabe asked.

“Sounds like the back end of Jake’s truck got shot up pretty good. Glad we put the signal generator up here.”

“What was so funny?”

“Jake told me that Terry is the first of Trish’s boyfriends that he approves of.”

“He said that in front of the two of them? Geez.”

“Yeah, and she yelled at him,” Dobie said, laughing. “Jake said some nice things about Terry, though. Sounds like he saved them back there.”

“He’s a good kid,” Gabe said. “We’re just about to the straight part of the road. We can speed up then. Be back to the park in no time.”

“Just make sure you can see the truck before you speed up,” Dobie said.

“I know. Don’t worry. I’ve had one eye in the rear view mirror most of the time.”

The road straightened out, going into a long wide valley. Dobie felt relieved when he could see the truck emerge from the switchbacks. They drove along silently, watching the lush scenery of the valley unfold in front of them.

“Pretty back here,” Dobie said.

“Yeah, but it’s rough in the winter,” Gabe said. “We’re getting close now. See the road climbing up ahead? There’s a few switchbacks, and then we pick up the highway again. We’ll be on a stretch of dirt, but it isn’t a long one.”

“I’ve never gone to your park this way. Been in this valley before, though. With my dad.”

“Your great granddad owned about half of this valley, way back when. Wanted to build a lodge up here. Never could make it come together.”

“Really? Wonder why my dad never told me about that.”

“There were a lot of hard feelings over it,” Gabe said. “Big feud between your great granddad and two other people who owned property in the valley. They wanted to free graze sheep here. They had a big farm on the west end of the valley. Didn’t mix so well with what your great granddad wanted to do. They almost got into a shooting war over it.”

“What happened?”

“Not sure, exactly. Your great granddad ended up selling his land to those folks, and he and your great grandma left town. They never came back.”

“My grandpa came back, though,” Dobie said.

“Yeah, he and my grandpa had a store in town for a while. Then he retired, and my grandpa and dad built the RV Park. I think your grandpa was kind of a silent partner originally. When he moved back into this area, he brought a fair amount of money with him.”

“Interesting. I’ll have to look into this someday.”

“I’ll never leave this place. Too much family history here.”

Dobie looked over at him and nodded, but was thinking how difficult it was going to be to get Gabe out of harm’s way if the worst happened.

The road narrowed and started to climb back into the hills. There was another series of switchbacks, causing Gabe to slow way down. He continued to keep an eye on the bobtail in his mirror as it lumbered along behind them. Then the road turned to dirt and went alongside a creek.

“This your creek?” Dobie asked.

“Sure is. This route isn’t usable in either the winter or early spring.”

“You own this land, don’t you?”

“Yep, but it’s not good for much,” Dobie said, laughing. “I’ve got a gate coming up that I’ll have to unlock. Keeps folks from driving down here from the highway.”

They went down the straight part of the road for a few more miles, only making about twenty miles per hour. Then there were a few more switchbacks, on dirt road too thin for more than one car to pass at a time.

“Hope this isn’t too scary for Jake,” Dobie said.

“He’s good at driving that bobtail. Don’t worry about it…we’re almost through it anyway. Look, there’s my gate up ahead.”

The gate was made of tube steel, painted yellow. Gabe pulled right up to it and got out of the Suburban. He unlocked the padlock, and then pushed the gate open on its hinge. Then he got back into the Suburban and drove down far enough that the truck could get past the gate too. He and Dobie got out and walked towards the truck.

“Damn, Gabe, never been through this section,” Jake said, through the open window. “I was getting a little nervous on those dirt switchbacks.”

“I knew you could make it.”

“This your land?”

“Yep, been in the family since my granddad’s time.”

“Pretty back here, that’s for sure.”

“I’m going to close the gate after us. We’re almost home.”

“Good,” Jake said. “That was a hard drive. I’ll be glad to park this damn thing.”

Gabe and Dobie walked behind the truck and saw the bullet holes. They were low on the passenger side.

“Son of a bitch,” Dobie said. “Another few inches and they would have hit the rear tires on that side.”

“Yes, I’d say luck was with us today,” Gabe said. He started to push the gate back into place across the road. Then he stopped and listened. “You hear that?”

Dobie walked over next to him, cupped his ears with his hands and faced back down the road. He heard some kind of vehicle coming slowly up the road, but he couldn’t see it.

“Shoot,” Dobie said. “We got followed.” The two men ran up to the cab of the truck.

“We got followed,” Gabe said. “I’ll lead the way to the park. Terry, stay here with Dobie, and wait for those folks. I’ll send Jeb and Charlie and Kurt and the Sheriff here with their rifles…they should be back here in about ten minutes.”

Terry jumped out and checked his rifle and his handgun. Dobie ran back to the Suburban and grabbed his rifle. He let Duchess out of the car, as Gabe jumped behind the wheel.

“You’d better not get hurt,” Trish said to Terry. She looked scared. Terry smiled at her and nodded.

“Go!” Dobie said. Gabe took off, and the bobtail followed, going as fast as they could on the dirt road. Terry walked up to Dobie.

“We need a good position to fire from,” Terry said.

“Yeah, look over there,” Dobie said, pointing to a clump of trees close to the creek on the right side of the road.

“C’mon,” Terry said. “That’ll work.” They quickly slid down the side of the road and next to the creek bed, then climbed up into the trees far enough to see the road. Duchess stayed on the ground next to the tree, looking around, her ears perked up.

“Think they’re still coming?” Terry asked.

“Yeah,” Dobie whispered, scanning the road. “They’re back in the worst part of those switchbacks. I’m surprised we didn’t see them.”

“They must have stopped,” Terry said.

“I hope they didn’t get out on foot.”

They watched silently. No movement. No vehicle noise.

“There isn’t a way they can get around us, is there?” Terry asked.

“I don’t know.”

“Listen. Rocks sliding,” Terry whispered.

“I hear it.”

Suddenly Dobie’s phone rang. He struggled to get into his pocket to shut it off. Then a shot rang out, hitting the dirt about 30 yards in front of them.

“Shit, forgot to turn that off. Better check yours,” Dobie whispered. “You see where that shot came from?”

“Yeah, it came from that ridge. Looks like they decided to climb over the top of the switchback area.”

“Can you see anybody?”

“No, they’ve got their heads down again, or else I would have shot at them.”

“Hold your fire for now. I’m going to call Gabe back.” He pulled out his phone and pushed the callback button. “Gabe,” he whispered.

“Yeah, sorry about the ring. Thought of that right after I hit the call button.”

“It’s alright, it got them to fire a shot at us. We know where they are. They came up over the ridge from where the switchbacks were.”

“The guys are coming in Jeb’s jeep. I sent some dynamite with them. We’ve also got Jackson and Earl going up on the big ridge next to the park. They’ll be able to see everything from there. After you guys kill these creeps, we’ll blow the thin part of the road where the switchbacks are.”

“Sure you want to do that? Might be a good escape route in a pinch.”

“It’s a death trap, Dobie. I wouldn’t have led us back that way if I knew we were being followed. Perfect place to get ambushed. Talk to you later. Be careful.”

Dobie put his phone back in his pocket.

“Listen,” Terry said. “Vehicle creeping up behind us.”

“Should be your uncle and the other sharp shooters,” Dobie said.

Jeb’s jeep pulled to a stop about fifty yards behind the clump of trees. The men quietly got out. Duchess growled softly.

“Duchess, its friends,” Dobie whispered at her.

“One of them has his head up. I think I can get him. Should I take the shot?”

“Yeah, Terry, take it.”

He fired, and the Islamist’s head exploded. There was some shouting in Arabic, and some shots came from the ridge again. Another one got up far enough to see what he was shooting at, and then a rifle went off from behind and to the right. It hit the Islamist in the neck, and he fell down the front of the ridge. Dobie looked back in time to see the Sheriff work the bolt on his rifle to chamber another round. He looked at Dobie and Terry and nodded.

“That’s two,” Terry said. “How many more, I wonder?”

Duchess growled again, but then stopped. Jeb was making his way down the creek, carrying his rifle, with his bow on his back. Kurt followed him, about twenty yards behind. The Sheriff climbed up in the trees next to them.

“You ever see their vehicle?” he asked.

“No,” Dobie whispered. “They stopped in those switchbacks and got up on the ridge.”

“Bad choice for them. Jackson and Earl are climbing up the mountain behind us. That’s the one that borders the park on the other side of the meadow. It’s a good vantage point.”

“What are Jeb and Kurt going to do?” Terry asked.

“They’re gonna try to get behind their vehicle and blow the road,” he replied. “By the way, I heard what you did back there. I’m proud of you.”

“Thanks, uncle,” Terry said, looking a little embarrassed.

“Nice girl, too,” he said, grinning. “She’s beside herself with worry. I think you made a good impression.”

“You guys need to quit teasing her. You’ll ruin my chances,” he whispered.

“Oh, so you
do
like her, eh?” he said, chuckling.

Suddenly there was another shot in their direction. A bullet ripped through branches about twenty yards to their left, sending splinters flying. Then there were two shots coming from the high ridge. One Islamist was hit square in the face, and another one dived down, but didn’t get under cover. A third shot hit him in the back, and he rolled down the mountainside.

“Jackson and Earl,” the Sheriff whispered. “How many is that?”

“Four,” Dobie said. “I’m thinking maybe I ought to get out of this tree and sneak behind Jeb and Kurt, with Duchess.” He climbed down as quietly as he could. “Cover me.”

“What about your rifle?” the Sheriff asked, seeing Dobie set it down next to the tree.

“I’m better with the handgun,” he whispered. “C’mon, girl.” Duchess followed him.

“I’m not hearing anything anymore, uncle. Maybe that was all of them.”

“Could have been,” he said. “Jeb and Kurt should be just about in position by now. They’ll find out.”

Kurt was still following Jeb down the creek bed. They were out of sight of the others now, around the bend. Jeb turned around and put his finger to his lips. Then he pointed up to the road. There was a pickup truck sitting up on the road. A young-looking Islamist was guarding it, looking around, AK-47 in hand. Jeb snuck up the bank. He quietly put down his rifle and pulled his bow off of his shoulder. He crawled along the ground with it, seeing some bushes about twenty yards away. He looked back at Kurt, and then pointed at the bushes. Kurt nodded. Then Jeb got up and ran quickly in a crouching position. A shot rang out, startling the young Islamist guarding the truck. Jeb turned and saw Kurt holding his stomach. He turned and fired an arrow, hitting the Islamist guard in the chest. He gurgled, clutching himself there, and fell, his AK flying over the edge of the cliff. Then another shot rang out. Jeb dived behind the bushes, and then heard the snarl of a dog. He peeked out from the bushes to see Duchess charging an Islamist, who was in a panic trying to get a bead on the dog with his AK. Dobie ran over and let loose several shots from his handgun, hitting the Islamist in the chest and head, sending him to the ground. There was silence. Jeb got up and trotted over to Dobie.