Star People Legacy by Smith, T.L. (feel good books to read .txt) 📕

helicopter continued down the path, staying close to ground level to avoid air traffic control picking them up. I peeked up from the cluster, draping my arms over the backs of the pack. At the bottom of the mountain the helicopter swung back our way, but the searchlight was off. I stayed put until it veered into the nearest mountain ravine and disappeared.

Way out on the flat of the desert I saw bright lights moving in a pattern northwards. Range maintenance teams? They’d be heading in. My enemies would want to avoid them. I remained with my canines another few minutes and got several licks to the face. I hugged the two I was clinging onto, my body emitting a soft glow with their loving. “Thank you, really.”

I got more face licks from the others before a few of them took off down the path ahead of me. Scouting the way. The rest stayed with me. I let them lead me. The path frequently forked out into other paths, but they kept me on the one with bike tracks still in the dirt. As the moon crested the mountains, we reached the little canyon where I’d hidden the truck.

The coyotes danced about as I threw all my stuff in the truck. I pulled out a pack of beef jerky Lutz had packed for our snacks. We’d never got around to it. There were a couple bottles of water in the truck. In the back was a hubcap Billy always complained fell off at every pot hole. I laid it on the ground and poured all my water into it.

The coyotes lapped it up. There were hidden pools in the mountains and Surveyors Tank actually had a trough set up, but they’d earned my tribute. While they drank I opened the jerky. Smelling meat, they left the water after getting their laps and circled me. “So now I’m a coyote whisperer too?”

Of course they didn’t answer. They were salivating over the bag. I gave them each a chunk and they trotted off into the dark, happy with their rewards. “Mom, you got a lot of explaining to do.”

As much as I wanted to call her, I had to get my ass out of here. I tossed my backpack into the seat next to me as I got into the truck. The empty seat. A wave of grief boiled up again, but I had to keep under control. I had to get off the range.

Instead of giving in, I pulled my spare pistol out, the standard issue Beretta M9, double-checking the safety and shoving it between the seats where I could reach it in an instant. From my holster I removed my Sig Sauer 226 and jammed it in front of the Beretta. They’d stay put on the rough roads. I shifted the truck into gear and pulled out from behind the tree.

I couldn’t turn my lights on, not yet, but the moon was nearly full and the sky clear, lighting the desert enough for me to guess where the remains of the old road were. Going slow, the bouncing wasn’t as bad, but it wore on me. My leg hurt. After four or five miles I pulled my burner phone out and stuck it into the phone holder Billy installed on the dash. I pressed the auto-call for Casey.

Immediately he picked up. “Where the hell are you?”

“Lutz is dead. They killed him.”

“Are you all right? Where are you?” He still sounded pissed, but concerned.

“We had to go back and take a look. I’m sorry.” I grunted through a washed out section of the road, bouncing. “I’m about ten miles southeast of Butler pass. I’m going to try to take the old range road from there back to the maintenance road. You gotta meet me. I’m in Billy’s truck. Please hurry.”

“Are you hurt?” Casey said it louder, slower.

“I’m… I got grazed along my leg, but there’s something going on. I can’t explain it. Just meet me.”

“I’ll be there.” He wasn’t shouting at me. “What else can I do?”

My mind jumped around. I was tired. Way more tired than I should be. “Just be there, please.” Off to my left I could see the splattering reflection the moonlight made against the foothills of the Butler Mountains. “I love you.”

“I love you too. Be careful.”

I disconnected before he said anything else. Focusing my eyes on this dark road.

A pass ran between the Butler Mountains. An old range road from back in the twentieth century. There was a radar installation up there for training the pilots to avoid Triple-A and SAM missiles.

Now there was a goat herder hut. A little pre-fab structure they used when they had free run of the range during the spring. If I had to stop, that was where Casey would come looking for me.

I didn’t want to stop. Another mile or two. I just had to find the trail that connected the two ranges.

It wasn’t so hard in the moon-splashed desert. A pile of rocks made the marker. The clock on the dash said it was nearly ten at night, meaning it had taken me over an hour to drive twelve miles.

I turned at the marker and was immediately rewarded by a smoother road. Not a lot smoother, but the locals did their best to fill in areas that washed out every monsoon. I wasn’t being jolted so hard that the only thing preventing a concussion was my seatbelt. I gave the old truck more fuel and started the climb into the pass. If I could get over the top of it, I could turn my lights on.

I made it to the top of the pass and slid over onto the other side. I waited just a few more minutes, then flipped on my lights. I couldn’t believe I’d gotten so far. They must have really thought I was dead. Maxi was going to be really pissed when I came back to kill him.

CHAPTER

14

I cringed at making light