Where the hell is it? He sat erect and turned to Rudy. You son-of-a-bitch … But when he saw that Rudy hadn’t stirred, he realized it must have fallen. He reached to the floor beneath the steering wheel. The cold steel of the Python warmed his frozen soul. He pulled the door handle, pushed it and jumped out.
Natalie heard his door open and knew at any second he might fire the gun. She had already run twenty feet from the car and passed a second row of almond trees. She needed as much distance as possible between her and the pistol. She hoped that in the dark and with her moving so fast Tony’s aim wouldn’t be accurate.
Tony raised the pistol and pointed it in the direction of the shadowy figure. He could just make her as she ran between the trees, but as he brought Natalie into his sights, he remembered his mission. This wouldn’t help Ma. He lowered the gun and then heard for the first time the approaching sirens. He looked back to his right and could see the emergency lights of the speeding vehicle. He gave chase.
Rudy, who had dozed off even before Tony had fallen asleep, woke when Natalie’s door groaned but sat up straight when Tony’s door flew open. He looked over just as Tony jumped out of the car. In the darkness it was difficult to see Natalie but it appeared she had at least a thirty foot lead on Tony. He tore open his door and jumped out. A sheriff’s cruiser’s siren wailed to his right and, as he started to run toward the highway, he saw a second light bar come into view.
Natalie continued to run the path she had spotted to the highway. In high-heeled boots, her ankles wobbled on the uneven ground: sometimes muddy, sometimes choked with tall grass, sometimes cluttered with low hanging limbs she had to skirt around. She had only covered the first thirty yards.
Without breaking stride, Natalie glanced over her right shoulder. Tony had begun to close the gap between them. She turned back to her path disappointed he hadn’t fired the gun. In the dim light, she had counted on being far enough away that he would miss, but the police on the road would see the flash. Now she saw two cars, the second only a few yards behind. She had chosen a path to the highway on an oblique angle. Because of the trees, it offered more cover. But it also meant she had further to go than if she had run straight from the car toward the asphalt. It was a big risk and as she stepped around another tree, she feared she wouldn’t get there before the first car passed.
Tony too saw that he had gained ground. She was at a disadvantage because he had never met a girl he couldn’t outrun. He had a vision of her tripping over some hidden obstacle and falling face first in the dirt. But she was agile and hadn’t missed a footstep—a worthy subject.
Rudy ran toward the highway, straight down the tractor path on which the Impala had entered the grove. He hoped to reach the road in time to flag down one of the deputies but he had only gone a few yards when the first car blew by the trail.
“Damn it,” he said, frustrated that the cops were oblivious that anyone in the grove needed help.
Natalie felt winded but when the first car passed, she didn’t hesitate. She had much ground to cover. One hope remained. The second car, only a few seconds behind the first, closed quickly and she sprinted like the fires of Hell nipped at her feet. She came to a particularly dark place, no moonlight found its way through the foliage over her head. Even though she feared tripping, she had come this far and was so close, she pressed on. It had only been fifteen seconds since she left the sedan and she was only thirty yards away from the highway, but the second car screamed forward.
Tony could see her profile through the cover of the trees just a few yards ahead. He thought she might be able to get close enough to the road to be caught in the headlights of the passing cop’s car. Too much tobacco cost him breath, but even though he couldn’t see the way very clear, he sprinted faster, unafraid of tripping. He had to stop her before she got too close to the highway.
Rudy continued to run toward the road, but the second car with its deafening siren passed while he was still fifty feet from it. He knew he couldn’t stop the officer and realized Natalie wasn’t going to either. He made an abrupt left turn and ran toward where he believed the other two figures were.
Natalie looked at the oncoming vehicle and realized the second driver wouldn’t see her either. Fifty feet from the road but still in the line of trees, she continued forward, waved her arms in frantic frustration and then cried out, “Stop!” But the wailing siren drowned her voice so if the sound had not been in her own head, she wouldn’t have heard it. As the cruiser passed, the blue, red and white strobes lights danced their syncopated rhythm and faded into the night. Along with them, hope evaporated, but her legs had a will of their own and continued the sprint toward the now deserted highway.
Then out of the darkness, someone seized her right arm and jerked it backward. Forced to stop, she twisted toward Tony and reached with her free hand to pry his fingers off her arm. She was greeted with the Colt’s cold steel muzzle pressed against her cheek.
_____
©
Jearl Rugh 2012
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