Primal Threat - Earl Emerson [83]
Stephens found a shallow culvert engineered across the road to divert rainwater. By standing on the raised portion of the culvert, he managed to remount his Iron Horse bicycle and keep it pointed uphill, so now all four of them were on their saddles.
The trucks had to be on the slope now. Zak had seen a plume of chalky dust billowing slowly over the east end of the lake, a sign that the trucks were moving fast on the dusty road. Surely they would be cautious on the climb, where any misstep on the narrow platform might propel a vehicle over the edge.
“They’re on our heels,” said Zak, pulling alongside Muldaur.
“What do you want to do?”
“You were the one with the plans.”
“You see the top yet?”
“No. See anyplace to hide?” said Zak, joking. There was clearly no hiding here. The stretch of road they were on had a gravel scree running up from their left for fifty yards, rocky bluffs above that; the drop-off to their right was so sheer, even hiking down it would be insanity. Zak could feel his entire body bathed in sweat, could hear both Muldaur and himself gasping.
Realizing he was at his outermost limit of physical function, Zak found himself half a wheel in front of Muldaur, then a bike length in front. This year Muldaur had beaten him in most of the races they’d participated in, but today he was running out of steam and Zak was slowly pulling away. As he pressed on, the burning ache he’d been feeling in his quadriceps for the last fifteen minutes grew worse, until he thought he wouldn’t be able to abide the pain any longer.
36
Ryan Perry stood on the edge of the universe. At least that’s what it felt like when he took his first breath of outside air. His Jeep had developed universal joint problems and he’d been forced to abandon it near the second of the three small trout lakes they found at the top of the mountain. He hoped some local tow truck driver would be able to find the spot, because Ryan wasn’t sure he could. The worst part was that he had so many personal possessions in the Jeep: electronic gear, radar detectors, hundreds of his favorite CDs, his new coat, and notes he’d taken while working a summer job in his uncle’s real estate development firm. The Jeep was worth a small fortune, especially when you took into consideration the improvements he’d made: the suspension, the wheels and tires, and the sound system, which alone cost eight grand. On top of that, it had been a birthday present from his grandfather.
After it broke down, they redistributed the occupants of the remaining three vehicles, assigning Ryan and Scooter to the Land Rover. Fred and Jennifer were still in the Ford, while the Porsche Cayenne now carried Kasey and Bloomquist. The stated goal was to keep one rifle in each vehicle, but Perry suspected Scooter’s covert reason for riding with him was to keep an eye on him. They hadn’t seen a trace of the cyclists since Fred shot at them. They’d simply disappeared.
Disoriented after coming back down the road from the lakes, they traveled in circles for more than an hour, confused by roads and intersections that all looked alike, and bedeviled by trees that were so tall they obscured the sun. When they arrived at an intersection they’d already seen twice and realized they were going in circles, they decided to split up. The first couple to find a path out of the maze would mark the trail with broken tree branches and give directions to the others on their walkie-talkie.
In the past few minutes Ryan and Scooter had driven through a dark forest and come to a long, rocky descent they hadn’t seen previously. It was frightening to Ryan, because they’d been crisscrossing all through these roads for almost two hours, and all they knew for certain was that this road went down the mountain in a west-northwest direction and that the aerie they’d located looked out over the same valley they’d seen the