Thomas Perry - Blood Money

She thought about the men at the house, and tried to reproduce their thoughts in sequence. When they had discovered that the house was empty, and the car was in the garage, they had guessed that the occupants had left on foot. It would have been reasonable to assume that they would head for the city, and to get there, they would have to cross this road.

A big truck appeared on the highway to her left, and Jane pushed her face down into the dirt to be sure its headlights fell on her hair rather than her skin. As soon as she felt the sudden gust of wind from its passing, she lifted her head to watch it go on down the road. When it drew near the parked car, its headlights shone on the windshield and illuminated the heads of four men inside.

Jane began to ease herself backward away from the road, but when she turned to head back, she saw more headlights, this time coming along Canyon Road from the direction of the house. The car appeared, turned right, and drove up to the car that was parked on Apodaca Hill Road, and paused for a moment beside it. Then the car turned around and went back along Canyon Road toward the house. As it turned, she could see heads in the back seat as well as the front.

Jane pondered for a moment. That was eight men so far. They had one car waiting here at the cutoff, and one car driving up and down the road searching. She had begun to move again when she heard another car. She stopped and watched it follow the same routine. When it came to Apodaca Hill Road it paused beside the parked car, turned around and went back out Canyon Road. This one had only two men in it. She waited, and then the fourth car appeared. As it turned, she saw that this one carried two men also.

The empty seats in the last two cars worried her. There could be as many as four men coming on foot across country the way she and Rita and Bernie had. She knew that trying to cross the road in front of the cutoff car would be like jumping into a grave, and it seemed that going back would be no better.

Jane crawled back and lay down beside Bernie in the weeds. “There’s a cutoff car with four men in it just down the road, facing this way. The other three cars are driving up and down Canyon Road, one after another.”

“Could we stay here and wait them out?” asked Bernie.

“Some of the seats in the cars are empty,” said Jane. “I think there might be men following us from the house on foot.”

Bernie held out his hand. “Give me the shotgun.”

“What for?”

“I’ll go down to the cutoff car, blow the windshield out on the driver’s side. It’ll take them a minute to get over it, and another minute to haul him out of the way so they can drive. By then we could all be in town.”

Jane looked at him, trying to make out his features in the darkness. “Tell me, Bernie. Have you done this kind of thing before?”

“Well, no,” said Bernie. “But anybody can see it’s the sensible thing to do, and anything I get on my conscience now, I’m not going to be burdened with it for long.”

“I don’t think so,” said Jane.

“Why not?”

“Too much noise,” said Jane. “I’d rather have the rest of them searching the road and the brush back there than up here in our faces.”

“When Frank Delfina is taking the skin off your back with a lemon peeler, I hope you remember that I offered,” he snapped. “So what’s your idea?”

“Figure out what they know, and make it not true anymore.”

“Christ,” he muttered. “What do they know?”

“It looks as though they’re sure we’re here, south of Canyon Road, and the cars going back and forth will keep us here. They just have to wait until the men on foot catch up or it gets light enough to see us.”

“How do you know that?”

“The cutoff car is facing this way on the other side of the intersection. All the men are still in their seats, facing this way. If they thought there was a chance we were on the other side, one or two would be out of the car, looking in that direction. They’re not. So that’s where we go.”

“Ever hear of a rearview mirror?”

Jane patted his shoulder and stood. “No plan is perfect.”

Bernie raised himself painfully and set off. Rita moved close and put her hand on his arm, but he removed it. “I’ve had plenty of time to rest,” he said. “I’ll be fine.”

Rita whispered, “I’m not sure I will.” Jane was intrigued. She waited to see whether Bernie would overlook the lie and accept the help.

Bernie set Rita’s hand on his arm and said, “That’s okay, then.”

Jane moved ahead, then angled away from Apodaca Hill Road so they would meet Canyon Road five hundred feet from the intersection. When she was fifty feet from Canyon Road, she stopped in the thick brush, sat down, and waited.

“What are you waiting for?” asked Bernie.

“The cars. I want to know where they are.”

The first car’s headlights appeared to their right a few seconds later, and they lay down to stay out of sight. Jane could see four men in the car. When it had passed and turned to come back, the second car with two men in it came by, then the third. Just after it had passed, Jane tapped Bernie’s shoulder. “You first. Get across the road and keep moving. Bear left toward the other road. Don’t stop until you’re there, then stay out of sight until we catch up.”

Jane lifted the shotgun to her shoulder and waited while Bernie hurried across the road and disappeared into the brush on the other side. “Now you.”

Rita stood and stepped onto the road. She had taken two steps when she seemed to realize that something was wrong. She stopped, and turned her head to the left.

Jane could see that Rita’s features were becoming clearer, brighter, as the distant glow of headlights came closer. Jane glanced in that direction. The car that had been parked on Apodaca Hill Road had come around the corner, and it was moving up Canyon Road toward them.

Jane looked at Rita again. She stared into the bright light as though she were considering waiting for it. Jane saw her chest expand and contract in quick little half breaths: she was going to try to trade her life for Jane’s and Bernie’s.

“Run!” Jane hissed.

Rita seemed like a sleepwalker awakened. She looked around her anxiously, then decided. She ran back to crouch in the brush beside Jane.

Jane lay still and watched the lights grow brighter until they illuminated the dust above the road and made the air glow. As the car coasted to a stop in front of her, Jane pumped the foregrip of the shotgun to bring a shell into the chamber, and pushed off the safety with her finger.

The passenger door swung open and the two men in the back seat got out. They walked to the edge of the road and looked in the general direction of Jane and Rita, but to Jane it looked as though their heads were both held too high. They were looking into the distance. She remained still and waited.

The two men moved a few paces to the front of the car, craning their necks to see if the headlights revealed anything in the dark fields ahead. She could see them more clearly now with the lighted road beyond them, craning their necks and sidestepping to stare at the field. One man pulled a gun out of his belt at the small of his back and held it at his thigh.

Jane slowly raised the shotgun and gripped it tightly against her shoulder to fight the recoil. She looked down the groove along the top of the receiver, held the bead in the center, and let it settle on the man with the gun. He would be the first, then his companion, before they could dive out of the light. If the driver had the presence of mind to accelerate away, she would put a shot through the back window on his side, and one on the other side before she ran.

The man with the gun raised his free hand above his head and made a quick circular motion. The taillights of the car went dim as the driver took his foot off the brake. Jane lowered the shotgun, pulled Rita to the ground with her and held her there. “Don’t move.”