Page 9 of ForeverMN

This could either just be a drunk joyrider, or this could be the scout. If they had felt like someone was on to them, they’d senda scout out first to see what happens. I shake my head no, and keep my lips pressed together, unwilling to give up our location.

Within minutes, the engine revs again, and tires peel on by. Once the sound fades away I exhale, my head dropping back against the wall.

“The fuck was that?” Kai asks, his face contemplative. I shrug, my own theories still building.

My mic crackles, “more are coming.”

I’m about to respond to the Zulu team, but freeze when I hear it too. Loud like thunder, the engines of motorcycles roll towards us. Silas hunkers down so his form can’t be seen when their headlights hit the abandoned trailer. I fall to my belly on the floor, and Kai manages to cover his iPad with his body under the table.

I lose count after twenty bikes pass us by. Each kick of their throttles rattles in my bones, and fuels the urge to go after them. We’d be outnumbered. Zulu team is too far away to reach us. Just thinking about this chance passing us by has my teeth grinding together. We need to go after them now, or we may lose this lead to finding the innocents being used as drug mules.

The last bike passes, and I hear Zulu read all clear in my ear piece, before I’m pushing myself off the floor and flinging the door open. I take off on foot, running the same path as the tire tracks. I can hear feet pounding against the dirt and brush behind me, but I keep going. I push my limits until the air in my lungs burns, and my arms feel heavy. Sweat drips down my temples, and the earpiece I’m wearing no longer buzzes with connection.

“Oh shit,” I hear Kai huff next to me. A grouping of mobile homes comes into view and I can hear a road with traffic nearby.

“What town is this?”

“We’re right on the fucking border,” Silas hisses from next to me, and I glance at him.

“Are you scared?”

“I’m just saying if we go a few yards that way we’re in a different country. We should not commit any murders in that direction,” he nods his head in the designated area.

“Now what?” Kai huffs, his breathing sounds labored.

“Are you winded?”

“Fuck you,” he rasps before bending at the waist.

“They’re going to be held in one of these trailers. If we spread out, we can check each one. I hear music coming from over there, and there is a road nearby. Chances are that’s where the bikers are,” my mind rattles off the only plan I managed to form in the run here. I shift my pack, and put my extra magazines within easy reach.

“What are we going to do with them?” Kai asks, and I hate his realistic planning right now.

“Lead them back this way. We passed a cavern on the way. We stash them there and wait for Zulu to get in,” I shrug.

“Makes perfect sense,” Silas responds. I can hear his sarcasm, but he’s pulling the straps on his vest tighter, and checking the chamber on his rifle, so I guess we’re doing this.

We head down the hill and separate between the different rows. The first door I try opens easily, no locks. After a quick sweep, I keep going. Any door not locked isn’t stopping someone, or protecting anything. The next three doors I try are all the same. I can feel my phone vibrating silently against my chest, and I guess it’s probably Reed. He must be tracking us. He’s called twice, and usually it means we’re still safe. If he calls again then we’re running out of time.

My hand reaches the fourth door, and the knob won’t turn. I reach in my pack and grab the crowbar, and wedge it between the door and the frame. My arms are on fire, and I have to use my body weight to shove and push until the door pops open. There’s a muffled gasp in the darkness then my flashlight hitsthem. Huddled against the other end of the trailer are two men, six women, and a child.

I motion for them to follow me. I see the initial hesitation, followed by the usual haunting look. They don’t know if they can trust me, but anything is better than where they are. I check our surroundings, and hustle back through the homes, and up the hill. The group follows me closely. Kai returns a few seconds behind me, a mother and her children in tow. The look on Kai’s face lets me know he’s just as sick about seeing them as I am.

“Silas?” I sign to him and he signs back

“Drugs.”

The small group with us starts to get antsy, and I figure we only have a few extra minutes before they start to lose trust in their decision. Right as I take the step to head back, Silas’ head bobs, and I see him coming up the hill. He motions for us to move.

We keep a steady pace as we take the group back with us. Silas checks behind us and Kai moves to the front to scout. We make it all the way to the bluffs, and I finally have a connection to Zulu.

“Bring a rig to the spot.”

“Copy that.”

I make everyone hide in the bluffs before climbing up so I can see out over the vast lands. The air is sticky, but the breeze is cool, causing shivers to skate over my skin, drying the sweat. Within ten minutes, our rig pulls up. We load everyone in and Silas then makes the call to law enforcement, giving them an anonymous tip about the drugs.

“Think they’ll do anything?”

---