Gordon Ryan - State of Rebellion

“It was stupid to leave my cellular in my car,” Nicole exclaimed.

“I’ve got one in the glove box-probably a dead battery, but there should also be a car cord in there. Who’re you going to call?”

“Have you got a Forest Service map?” Nicole asked.

“Under the seat.”

“Great. We just may have a way out. Keep heading up the mountain, and I’ll call the cavalry.”

Nicole rifled though the glove box, retrieving the phone and car battery cord. In moments, she had Pug Connor on the line.

“Colonel, I’m sorry to bother you so late, but we’re in a predicament. I’m with Dan Rawlings in the mountains west of Rumsey Valley. We haven’t got much time to explain, but we’ve recovered some computer disks that should shed new light on the elections issue. We’ve been spotted, however-probably by some of the brigade boys-and we’re getting boxed in up here. I’ve got a forest service map and can give you approximate coordinates.”

“Uh, oh,” Dan said, followed by a soft whistle.

“Hold on, Colonel,” she said. “What’s wrong, Dan?”

Dan pointed high up on the mountain trail, and Nicole spotted the small headlights of another vehicle, coming toward them from the east, still miles across the multiple canyons they would have to cross to reach Rumsey Valley.

“We’re really boxed in now, Nicole. We can hide, but by morning, this mountain will be swarming with brigade troops, if indeed that’s who’s in those vehicles.”

“Not much doubt of that, is there?” She returned to the phone. “Colonel, our situation has changed. We’re traveling east on. . let’s see.” She paused, studying the map.

“Whispering Pines Road,” Dan said.

“Whispering Pines Road. We’ve got company about three miles behind, and we’ve just spotted a vehicle high up on the mountain, headed our way. It’s a single-lane dirt road, Colonel. They’ve got us boxed in, but Dan knows several side fire trails, and we can probably hide through the night. But in the morning. .”

“Understand, Nicole,” Connor replied. “Can you take the phone with you?”

“Dead battery, Colonel. As long as we can stay with the car, I can keep in touch.”

“Give me some idea of your coordinates, and I’ll get help out at first light.”

Nicole read off several adjacent coordinates paralleling Whispering Pines Road and gave Connor Dan’s cellular number.

“If we have to leave the vehicle, Colonel, I’ll advise.”

“Okay, Nicole. Good luck to you both. I’ll get right on it.”

“Thanks, Colonel. We’ll be watching for you. Dan said he’s got a couple of emergency flares, and we’ll use ’em if we spot you.”

“Right.”

Nicole pressed ”end,” but left the phone plugged in to accept what charge the phone battery could take in the short time remaining before they might have to leave the vehicle.

“Nicole,” Dan said, watching the headlights up ahead, “they’re about twenty minutes away, and the vehicle behind can’t catch us on this road unless we stop. But we have one other option. You could take the disks and what cold-weather gear we have, and I could find a good hiding place for you, then continue on until I meet the oncoming car. I could plead ignorance, at least for awhile, and they might think I’m alone.”

“No good, Dan. They have no other way of knowing about the cabin except from Stevenson. We have to assume they got to him sometime this evening after I spoke with him. I should never have agreed to drop the tail. If they got to him, they know I’m out here too, and if they find you first, they’ll just keep looking for me.”

Dan nodded at Nicole’s deduction. “It’s off the road, then, and into one of the hiding spots until first light. We’ll be surrounded and dependent on Connor to get us out.”

This time Nicole nodded. “We can take one evasive measure, though,” she said, quickly developing a plan. “We can hide these disks and let Colonel Connor know where they are in case we’re captured. Know of a good place?” she asked.

“Yeah, as a matter of fact, I do,” Dan answered. “About a half mile before we turn off this road onto the fire trail.”

“Well, let’s do it,” Nicole said, reaching into her purse and checking her pistol, then putting the two extra clips in her jacket pocket.

“Start to put all your warm clothing on, Nicole. We’re gonna have to leave the car at some point and scramble on foot. It’ll likely get cold up here tonight.”

Nicole smiled briefly at Dan, receiving a reassuring smile in return. “We’ve had several fun dates, Dan, but we haven’t been camping yet,” she said, trying to ease the growing tension.

“You’ve chosen a great time for it,” he said, smiling at her.

“Dan?”

“Yeah?”

“I’m sorry I got you into this-but I’m glad you’re here with me.”

“I am too, Nicole.”

General Del Valle answered the phone on the second ring, glancing quickly at the bedside clock, which read 12:45.

“Hello.”

“General Del Valle?”

“That’s right.”

“Sir, I’m sorry to disturb you. This is Colonel Pug Connor calling from Virginia.”

Del Valle’s senses alerted immediately. “What’s up, Colonel?”

“Sir, I know you’re convalescing from your injuries, but I believe some action is required to provide help for a couple of people both of us would like to see safe and sound.”

“Go on, Colonel.”

Coastal Range Mountains

Rumsey Canyon, California

Dan and Nicole reached the end of the fire trail several miles up the mountain from where they had left Whispering Pines Road. In Nicole’s last call to Connor, she had advised of their location and the precise identification points where they had hidden the disks shortly before turning off the mountain road.

“Now where?” Nicole asked.

“E amp;E, on foot, I think.”

“What?”

“Military jargon for escape and evasion. We’ve got to avoid these guys for the night and hope Connor brings the cavalry in the morning.”

“Have you got a destination in mind?”

“I think so, although I’m not sure holing up in any one place is a good idea. We ought to keep moving.”

Fifteen minutes later, Dan found the way to a rocky outcropping from where they could oversee the lower region, including the stretch of Whispering Pines Road where the two pursuers would most likely meet. It was still dark, though the moon now occasionally broke through the cloud cover and provided some light. A whisper of a breeze began stirring the trees as they watched the two sets of headlights converge on what Dan said was an intersection of Whispering Pines Road and a fire trail.

“They’ll know now that we turned off, and they’ll have to take the time to check each of the side roads they passed. It won’t take ’em long to find the Blazer, especially if they’ve got someone who can track and spot our fresh tire tracks. We could pray for rain, I suppose.”

“I feel like we’re in an old western movie,” Nicole said.

“Well, Butch,” Dan said, looking over the outcropping, “which one of us should jump first?”

“Not me, Sundance,” Nicole grimaced. “There’s no river down below.”

“Minor point.” Dan rose and took a compass bearing, replacing the instrument in his breast pocket. “That way, I believe.”

“You believe? ” Nicole asked.

Dan leaned closer to her face, the moon now being hidden behind a bank of clouds. “The movies make things look too simple. I’ve been wandering these hills with Jack for most of my life, but in the dark, with no real landmarks to go by, it’s only dead reckoning and a rough compass direction. We’re going to head for an old Boy Scout hut I’ve stayed at before.” He looked up as the moon broke through briefly, and the wind that had been building began to gust. “If the weather forecast was right, these clouds are going to provide us some moisture pretty soon-the sooner the better,” he added. “It will be uncomfortable for us, but it will also be disruptive to them.” He looked back toward the headlights, now moving apart again, searching for separate trails.