"I like the old words, don't you?" Loring said.
"Yes. Thanks for the help".
"Mucho gusto", Loring said.
* * *
With the wrecks out of the way, and their remaining fuel safely stowed in the tanks and drums of the bikes and wreckers, the vehicles reassembled in the formation they'd used as they approached the blockade. Valentine, sweaty from his exertions and moody because of the bodies, ate a salted hard-boiled egg after carefully washing his hands.
"You feel better?" Salsa asked.
"Pardon?"
Salsa threw his arm over the seat. "You feel better now that those bodies are buried? 'Cause it sure makes no difference to them".
"Nothing in my contract about leaving bodies in the sun", Valentine said.
"Coyotes will probably have them dug up by midnight", Zuniga said.
"What's that?" Swell shouted from the gun.
"Oh, for Kur's dark asshole", Salsa said. He poked his head out the window. "You're at the wheel next... hey!"
Valentine heard it too. A sputtering engine sounded overhead and Valentine marked a twin-engine plane, a dirty-clay color with a red stripe going up the tail like a hockey stick; it spewed white vapor from one engine and faint black puffs from the other as it passed overhead. The engine sounded stronger for a moment and the plane gained altitude, trying for the mountains to the west. Valentine watched as it shrank to a cross in the distance. Then it plunged, leveled off, and disappeared into the valley floor.
"That poor dumb bastard", Salsa said. "He should have set it down in the road by us".
Valentine, meanwhile, searched his map of the Southwest.
"He was trying to make it to his home airfield", Zuniga said.
"Are those the guys with the reward message on the backs of their jackets?" Valentine asked.
"Tempting, isn't it?" Salsa said. "But forget it, the Jaguars will have him by dark".
"How long would it take us to get to where he landed?" Valentine asked.
"I ain't even guesstimating. We're not risking the Rover".
"Then stop, please", Valentine said, feeling light-headed. "I'll go on foot".
"You're nuts", Swell shouted down from the gun.
"Now he can hear", Salsa said. "What about your contract, Argent?"
"I've got the option of breaking it. Please, stop the car".
Zuniga honked and the vehicles slowed, then stopped.
"You don't get paid, then", Salsa said.
"I'd appreciate an extra canteen and some of the freeze-dry", Valentine said.
"Hey, if this is about those bodies, I didn't mean to step on any religious practices. Running my mouth is just how I get to know a man. Nothing to kill yourself over".
Valentine got his gun, sword, and pack and tucked a few extra odds and ends in from the Rover's supplies: freeze-dried veggie packs - about as appetizing as a bathroom mat but full of vitamins - beef sticks, dried fruit...
"Guy's nuts", Swell called to a grizzled mechanic leaning out of a tow truck window to watch. "He's going to go rescue that cloud jumper. Wants the ten grand in gold".