High Desert Barbecue (31 page)

S
cott turned from the squatting, retching figure in front of him and took a few half-hearted steps in pursuit. He never got beyond a jog, and then froze in place, agonizing over his next move. He began to reach for his rifle, and then dismissed the thought of shooting at a fleeing man.

“
Goddamn it.”

H
e realized he’d made a tactical error. By attempting to subdue both of the men, he’d let one escape. And now he had no time to go chasing off into the desert when Lani might well need his help.

S
cott turned back to the pathetic figure on the ground. He stretched his foot out to prod the man, but he elicited a whimper before his toe ever made contact.

“
Don’t hurt me!”

“
I already did that. Answer my questions and I won’t hurt you
again
.”

N
o answer.

S
cott stretched out his foot.

“
OK! OK!”

“
Who is that crazy old bastard who went charging off into the desert?

“
You mean Dr. Greenfield?”

S
cott squinted. The name rang a bell. Yep—it had featured prominently during the nighttime interrogation session he and Rollo had conducted with that wounded fed wannabe. Fuck. He had screwed up even worse than he thought.

“
He’s that tree-power nut, right?”

S
till obviously in pain, the man managed to look indignant.

“
He runs the Center for Floral Supremacy! He’s a visionary.”

“
Uh huh. He’s a real leader. He left your sorry ass to bleed while he hightailed it into the desert.”

I
ndignation turned to mournfulness. This time, Scott had to actually make contact with his toe to get a reaction.

“
On your way in here, did you see a woman—a blonde?” Scott helpfully held his hand about Lani’s height off the ground. “About this tall—”

V
igorous headshaking. “No. We just got here. You’re the first person we saw.”

F
rustrated and worried, Scott spared a last glance in the direction Greenfield had disappeared. Then he looked down at the remaining floral-supremacist.

“
Give me your wallet.”

“
Why?”

S
harp jab with a toe.

“
Ow! All right!”

S
cott grabbed the proffered bright-red nylon monstrosity and yanked the driver’s license from its protective pocket.

“
This your current address, Henry?”

H
appy nodded before catching himself. His eyes widened.

“
Good.”

T
he wallet landed on not-so-Happy’s chest.

“
Don’t wander too far,” Scott said. “I’d hate to have to hunt you down.

T
hen he started walking down the road.

Chapter 72

“
Ummm … Really?”

“
Oh, yes.” Bill said. “It’s not easy to make a living around here. There’s the cement plant, the hospital, the usual small businesses …”
He shrugged.

“
But then the Internet came along and made it possible to sell anything to anybody anywhere. And what’s easier to sell than what comes naturally?

A
t a loss for anything else to say, Lani managed a noncommittal “oh” as she glanced back and forth between the … umm … generously proportioned McGintys.

T
hey caught her look.

“
Oh!” Emma started. “Not us.” She sighed. “You’d think more people would appreciate us full-figured folks. No, we hire people who do the honors, record the action and distribute it online.”

S
he pursed her lips.

“
In fact, you clean up really-“

“
Nope!” Lani yelped. “Thanks, but no thanks.”

“
Suit yourself! There’s good money in it.”

B
ill cleared his throat.

“
Maybe this is a conversation to save for later, dear.”

E
mma fluttered her hands.

“
You’re right! I’m sorry, sweety. You have plenty enough on your mind. Now, why don’t we get that video of yours onto our servers.”

“
It’s already up on YouTube.”

“
Oh, YouTube will fold the first time somebody official waves a take-down order at them, and we already know you’re dealing with government people. Our servers are in Amsterdam. And so is the company that officially owns them. I think we can keep your video online a good long time, even
after
they find a lawyer who speaks Dutch.”

“
Really?”

“
Yep. This isn’t our first legal rodeo.”

L
ani nodded. “Cool.”

“
Is your email ready to go?”

“
Yes.”

“
Paste it in here.”

B
ill reached over Lani and tapped briefly at the keyboard.

“
What now?”

“
Well …” Emma said. “I suspect you’ve just caused a … well … a bit of a shitstorm, dear. Glad we could help!”

“
That’s … great.” She paused. “Scott and Rollo are still in trouble. I need to get back to them. Could I borrow some ammunition?”

“
I don’t see why not. If you don’t mind, we’ll tag along and make it a party. We’d planned a hike, anyway.”

Chapter 73

S
cott wasn’t often at a loss for something to do, but now was an exceptional moment. Oh sure, he could
walk
. In fact, he
was
walking. And he had a lot of walking ahead of him, considering the length of the road to town. Clarkdale, wasn’t it? It was ten miles, more or less, if he remembered right. He wasn’t sure he did, when it came down to it.

B
ut that was it. He couldn’t call anybody, because Lani had his phone. He couldn’t flag anybody down because nobody had come along since he began his walk. And he couldn’t …

H
ello. What in Hell was that?

A
long the side of the road, in a ditch, was a wrecked Park Service SUV. The windshield was smashed, as was the driver’s-side window. A deep dent marred the hood. Square-ish shards of safety glass littered the ground around the vehicle, scattered around an abandoned lug wrench.

W
ith a shrug, Scott walked over for a closer look.

B
lood speckled the door handle and a peek inside revealed a brownish-red smear on the steering wheel. Interestingly, the key dangled from the steering column.

C
arefully, he eased into the driver’s seat, brushing away glass as he did so. He held his breath as he gave the key a twist, then exhaled explosively when nothing happened.

“
No, that would have been too much to hope for.”

H
e noticed rust-colored flecks on his fingers when he released the key. They spotted his fingers like snowflakes from Hell. He recognized them as yet another sample of dried blood.

W
ith a flash of belated insight, he thought back to the dead ranger in Sycamore Canyon. Now he understood why the man had looked so thoroughly mauled even before stopping Lani’s bullet.

“
Jesus Christ,” Scott muttered. “It’s almost a waste of effort to fight these people. They beat the crap out of themselves.”

B
ack out on the road, Scott resignedly set one foot in front of the other and resumed his trek toward town. He had begun working up another sweat when he noticed a plume of dust headed his way on the road.

T
ypical. Traffic at last, but headed in the wrong direction.

A
s the vehicle neared, Scott stepped to the side to put himself out of harm’s way. You never knew about some of these cowboys, who could make a half-ton truck skid along a dirt road with all of the grace of a toboggan on black ice. He then waved his arms over his head with the vague thought of borrowing a cell phone to call Lani. He could even pay for the favor, if it came to that. He was certainly
going
to be broke, unless he found a new job soon, but there were still a few greenbacks crowding his wallet.

M
uch to his surprise, the arm-waving worked. At least, the dust cloud stopped moving and settled around him, amidst much screeching of brakes.

A
nd a familiar voice.

“
Hey, baby! Going our way?”

T
he dust settled, and he noticed the expected pickup truck, with a horse trailer attached behind, and Lani leaning out the rear window of the truck’s extended cab.

“
These are our new friends, Bill and Emma.”

A
bit thrown, Scott just waved.

“
They have horses and guns and other friends on the way.”

S
cott nodded, impressed. It seemed like the right thing to do, to acknowledge people he’d never met who were willing to bear arms against deranged, half-naked, government-employed arsonists.

A
large woman leaned out the shotgun window.

“
Well, get in, son!”

S
cott took the hint, legging his way up through the open door and into the rear seat next to Lani.

“
Honey,” he said, “Are you all right? I found Champ’s grave and … uh …”

“
The ranger’s body, too?” Lani asked.

S
cott nodded his head, while glancing at the driver.

“
Yeah, they know. I had to do it, honey. He would have killed me if Champ hadn’t jumped in.”

“
He was a good dog.”

L
ani sniffed and wiped at her eye with the sleeve of her shirt.

“
The best.”

S
cott looked to his new allies.

“
So, you folks are OK …”

“
We are.”

“
Yup!”

“
Lani showed us the video and made us into true believers.”

E
mma chuckled.

“
Not that we would have needed much convincing. We’ve had our own run-ins with jacked-up authority types.”

S
cott glanced at Lani.

“
They make porn.”

S
cott was generally a pretty good card player, but there are times when even the best poker face crumbles.

“
I’ll explain later,” she added.

“
It’s all good by me,” Scott said. “I’m always happy to make new friends.”

“
Us, too,” Bill said, shooting a quick smile over the seat before returning his attention to the road. “That’s a tough little lady you have there.”

“
Apparently tougher than I ever knew. Which reminds me … If you see a scrawny redhead or an old buzzard in a rancid-looking sport coat, could you stop?”

“
Sure,” Bill answered. “Why?”