Page 65 of Protecting What Is Mine

I nod. “Take the wheel for a sec, would ya?” I reach for my phone and text Gabe.

Me: Apparently we’ll know we’re almost there when we hit a big bump.

Me: Be on the lookout

I set the phone back on my lap and take the wheel. “Thanks. Just needed to keep them in the loop,” I say, thumbing at the truck following behind.

After a few more minutes I tap the brakes as we roll up on a dead end.

Sam squints and stares ahead. “Shoot.”

“End of the road. You’re sure we’re on the right utility road?”

“I thought I was,” she says, nervously chewing her nail.

I check the rearview and see there’s not enough room between the trucks for me to back up, so I stick my hand out the window and make a circling gesture for Gabe. He flashes his brights to let me know he understands.

I slow the truck to a crawl as we approach the end of the road, intending to turn around in the dirt on the other side. As we ease off the pavement we run over a good-sized bump prompting Sam to turn to me, wide eyed. “That’s it. That was the bump.”

“Are you sure?” I ask as I stop the truck. “I thought there was a turn off. This isn’t a turn off, this is a dead end.”

Sam rolls her eyes. “Look, I was like eight years old, or something. What do you expect? Perfect directions? At that age, you look out the side window and watch the world pass by while you make up shapes you think you see in the clouds. But even at eight, you don’t forget a bump that will make you pee yourself.”

“Yeah? I feel like there’s a great story in there.” I can’t help but smile. “Remind me to ask about that one later.”

“Look, over there! Can you see it? Is that gravel?” Sam’s excitement is evident, given the pitch of her voice.

“Okay, okay. I think I see it.” I shift the truck into park and kill the lights before opening the door and walking back to discuss options with Gabe and Jack.

Gabe rolls his window down as I approach. “Even for you Hank, this doesn’t make much sense.”

“Hey, if you don’t like it, take it up with the boss,” I say, thumbing back toward my truck.

Gabe nods. “What now? We’ve hit a dead end.”

“Or maybe not.” I explain the bump and the gravel while Sam’s words spin up a new batch of worry in my stomach. There’s only one kind of man that chooses to live in a place like this. And if that man has Mollie…

Jack leans across the seat and onto Gabe’s lap, forcing Gabe to lean back out of the way. “Okay, so now what? We’re alone and unarmed.” He scooches back into his seat and raises his arms to Gabe. “What could possibly go wrong at this point, right?”

Gabe gives me a knowing look and I nod. “Well, we’re alone, but who says we’re unarmed?”

Jack scratches his head. “Huh?”

“You’ve been gone too long,” Gabe says to Jack. “This is the country. How many trucks around here do you think don’t have a gun stashed in them?”

I chime in. “Yeah, where do you think the term ‘truck gun’ comes from?”

Jack nods. “Alright. But still, don’t you think we should wait for the sheriff’s department at this point? I mean, aren’t we about to potentially break like…all the laws? There’s trespassing, and…and assault—if things go bad.” Jack raises a finger for each law and waves them around to help drive his point home. “And those are just the ones that come to mind. I’m sure there’s more.”

“This is your rodeo, brother,” Gabe says as he turns to me. “What do you want to do?”

Before I can answer, Sam appears in the beam from Gabe’s headlights walking toward us. “Hey, what are we waiting for?”

“Actually, we were trying to put a plan together. You know, something with a little more thought behind it than the four of us just walking up and banging on the door, demanding to know where Mollie is.”

Sam comes to stand beside me and looks back and forth between Gabe and me. “Sounds like a good enough plan to me.”

Jack leans across Gabe again. “Can we at least call Chet and see where he got with Cody? I say again, it might not be a bad thing to have the law on our side. You know, for when we face the jury.”

Ultimately, we compromise. Jack calls Chet to update him on where we are and what we’ve found. Chet, in turn informs us that Cody is out looking for Mollie personally and offers to call him back and get him headed in our direction. Sam is unwilling to wait any longer, so we agree to go have a look at the cabin, but leave the trucks parked at the end of the road to help Cody find us when he gets here.

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