The Mystery of the Death Trap Mine - M. V. Carey [38]
Gasper grunted and turned the truck onto the narrower road. It was barely more than a pair of tire tracks winding among the trees. The truck lurched and rocked, but Gasper fought the wheel and kept going. The thug tossed a newly lit cigarette out the window and held on to the wheel with both hands.
“If you set the mountain on fire the whole highway patrol will find us in a minute!” said Allie snidely. Gasper was too busy controlling the truck to reply.
It seemed to Pete and Allie that they traveled through the hills for eternities. Sometimes they saw cabins, dark and secret, nestled under the trees. Once they came upon a settlement that was smaller than Hambone and even more ruined. A coyote loped away, keeping to the shadows. Several times they again saw the searchlight of an approaching helicopter, and Gasper pulled off the road and waited until it disappeared. Pete and Allie dozed, but the lurching of the truck kept waking them up.
For a while they seemed to be climbing higher and higher. But at last the road became a series of switchbacks that zigzagged down the slope.
“I think we’ve got it made.” Gasper’s hands were tight on the wheel.
The moon had set and only the faint light from the stars that powdered the sky showed the way. The rutted track widened and leveled off, and they were at the foot of the hills. A paved highway ran from side to side in front of them. Across it was the open emptiness of the desert.
Gasper stopped the truck and looked cautiously to the left and the right.
Manny chuckled. “No cops,” he said. “Like I figured, they’re all back at the main drag waiting for us.”
“They could be anyplace.” Gasper took a deep rasping breath and coughed. “We don’t want that road,” he decided, nodding toward the paved highway. He put the truck into first and it rolled out from beneath the trees, crossed the highway, and bounced onto the desert floor.
“Ouch!” cried Allie as the truck hit a chuckhole and she was thrown forward. “This truck will never make it!”
“Shut up!” snarled Gasper, nervously crushing out the cigarette he had just lit. “We’re bound to pick up another road if we keep going straight ahead long enough — and we need one the cops aren’t watching.”
The last stars faded. Pete looked back to see a faint glow behind the mountains. When at last the sun came up above the hills, the highway was far behind them and out of sight.
“There’s got to be another road soon,” muttered Gasper. “One that doesn’t connect—”
He broke off as the truck hit a large chuckhole and they were all jerked violently to one side. There was a loud hissing sound, and steam and fumes from the fluid in the radiator filled their nostrils.
“Blast!” Gasper killed the engine, jumped out, and ran to the front of the truck. He stood and glared at the wheels as a puddle of rusty-coloured water darkened the white dust beneath the truck.
“What is it?” demanded Manny.
“The radiator’s busted,” said Gasper. “And the axle broke!”
Manny groaned. “You stupid idiot!”
Gasper came to the side of the truck and pointed his gun at Allie and Pete. “Okay, out!
We’ll hike for it!”
“You’re crazy!” cried Allie.
“Shut up and move!” snarled Gasper.
Allie and Pete got out. So did Manny, who stood and looked across the flat wasteland.
“That way,” he decided, pointing ahead. “We’ll walk that way and keep the mountains behind us. Sooner or later we’ll come to something.”
“No!” said Allie. “You can walk for miles and miles out here and not come to anything.
And once the sun is really up, it’ll be over a hundred degrees on the desert — way over a hundred. We’ve got to stay with the truck.”
“We stay with the truck, we’re dead,” said Manny.
“We’re dead if we leave it,” Allie insisted.
“Knock that off and move!” shouted Gasper.
“No.” Allie sat down on the ground. “You can shoot me if you want to, but I’m staying here. I’d rather be shot than die of the heat, or go off my rocker from thirst!” She glared at Manny and Gasper defiantly.
Pete hesitated. Then he, too, sat down