Sam was a hundred yards behind him, but couldn’t pull any closer. Since the rain lessened, he saw they were only a mile from the looming front of the Bofecillos range. Dark clouds overhead made everything look like dusk, with the mouth of Auras Canyon showing in the distance like a black notch in the rock.
They passed a deteriorated set of pens as they crossed a wash and made a short zigzag in the road before straightening toward the mountains. The closer they came to the mountains, the more boulders and large outcrops of dark rock jutted from the ground around them.
A few were within inches of the pickup when Sam passed, and there were more and more of them ahead. Don’t slide out and hit one of those, he thought. Sam tightened his hands on the steering wheel and glanced at Miguel bracing himself against the dashboard. The two men focused on the sedan, and saw it lift into the air so high they saw the undercarriage before the sedan landed. Something bounced out from underneath.
Asadullah felt his teeth click together when he hit a rock ledge in the road. Metal shrieked underneath the sedan. Suddenly the car was much louder, and he saw the red glow of the oil light.
Sam slowed, but the pickup still bounced completely off the ground when they hit the ledge. They landed in the road and bounced once, then Sam accelerated again. The sedan’s muffler lay at the side of the road, and Miguel pointed in front of their truck, “Oil.”
“He’s not going much further.”
“He cannot drive over the mountains, either, and we are almost to them.”
Sam jerked the wheel, but not soon enough. The right front fender crashed into a low boulder sitting half in the roadway. There was a quick grinding sound, then they were beyond it. “I don’t know how much farther we can go. These boulders are thick as dog hair.”
***
Hunter watched the vehicles bounce into the air, and she slowed so she made it over the ledge without going airborne. She jerked the wheel and missed a boulder half in the road. Man, these rocks were everywhere.
The road ahead of the first vehicle made a snaking S through even larger outcrops. Hunter watched the sedan slide off the road, going too fast through the curves, and crunch into a pile of boulders, coming to rest at a canted angle. “Got you,” she said.
Asadullah pushed open the car door, working hard at it because the sedan canted up at a thirty-degree angle. He exited onto the rocks, being careful with his foot placement because the boulders were slick with rain. Once standing, he turned toward the approaching vehicles. Asadullah thought about shooting them from here, but decided not now.
He trotted down the slope toward the canyon floor and would find a place for an ambush and take care of his pursuers. Then he would disappear, like he did in Mumbai, and in Boston.
Hunter watched Asadullah exit the crashed sedan. When he trotted away, she thought, Where does he think he can go?
When he ran into the mouth of Auras Canyon rather than crossing to the other side, the hair rose on Hunter’s neck. She craned her head to look through the windshield at the black clouds looming over the mountain crest.
Sam stopped near the sedan and both he and Miguel hopped out to give chase. Sam carried the small, iron-sighted Ruger 10-22 with him. He said to Miguel, “This has ten shots, if you have to shoot it.”
“I know of other rifles, but not this one. Is the safety on?”
“Yes.” Sam showed him how to push the cross button safety on and off. “It fires every time you pull the trigger.”
“I will remember.”
“Let’s catch this guy.” They angled down the decline to the alluvial wash and started up the canyon where it was still shallow. Asadullah’s tracks were like cutouts in the wet soil and showed his path around the small hummocks of thorn brush dotting the alluvial floor. They heard roc
ks rattle behind them and saw Hunter coming down the slope.
She reached them and said, “He went in the canyon?”
“Yeah.”
“Did you see the storm clouds?”
“Uh-huh. I don’t think he knows anything about flash floods.”
“I’ll go after him, you two don’t need to do it.”
“You’re gonna need some help with this bastard.”
She looked at the canyon. “Don’t take any chances in there. If you even think water’s coming, get out and don’t wait for me.”
“Do the same and we have a deal.”
Hunter shook her head like it was a bad idea, then said, “Let’s go.” They covered ground at a trot, and passed between the dark rock walls. At this point most of the walls were ten to twenty feet tall, and had enough handholds to allow them climbing access to the top.