Haley pulled a golf-ball-sized rock from her stretch pants. “People will do anything for this stuff.”
Ezra shook his head. “You had it all along?”
“No,” she said immediately. “I threw down all the big pieces. However, this is the first one I grabbed. I kept it hidden the whole time. Those guys couldn’t have seen it. I wanted you to have this. For your boat.” She offered it to him.
“No. I can’t.”
“No one saw me take it,” she insisted.
He held up his hands. “It isn’t that. I don’t mind you having it. I’m glad, actually. I want you to keep it.” Ezra chuckled. “I’ll probably get the insurance money on my boat. I’ll just have to explain how we got it all the way to Kansas City and then tell the tale of how it was driven into a fiery explosion by strangers. There are probably lots of small pieces on the bottom of the river I can use as evidence.”
“I think I’d take the gold,” Butch mused.
She spun on the big guy. “You want it? You can buy yourself a new hat.” His black Stetson had stayed on throughout the whole day, and even survived his swim in the water, but it was starting to look dirty and worn out.
He stood back. “Why would you give it to me?”
Ezra began walking. For the next several minutes he listened as the pair argued over who should keep the valuable rock. Later, they disagreed about how much it was worth. Lastly, they huddled around Ezra when he suggested they better cash it in before everyone else in Kansas City ran to the gold dealers with their new finds. Too much gold at one time was going to crater the value. They didn’t seem to believe him.
The bridge ended on the far side of the Kansas River, which ran into the lake portion of the Missouri River. After walking another mile or two, they appeared to be entering the residential area of the metropolis.
“Wait,” Butch signaled, stopping on the shoulder of the highway.
“What do you see?” Ezra asked.
Butch got them off to the side of the road before speaking. “You aren’t going to believe this. There’s a roadblock up ahead.”
Ezra sighed. “It’s TKM, isn’t it?”
Butch tapped his rifle stock. “This nightmare is never going to end. Are they everywhere?”
Haley pointed behind them. “They’ve probably kept the traffic from going back in there. Once we get past them, maybe we won’t see them anymore.”
“As long as those crowds don’t show up,” Ezra remarked.
Butch wiped sweat off his brow. “What’s the plan, E-Z? We going in swinging, or should we go around them this time?”
Ezra sat there thinking about it. They were almost to safety. However, after being tracked by TKM from St. Charles, then almost getting shot at their clandestine dig site, he was worried they still were high on the priority list for the powerful company. He’d witnessed an atrocity back in the city. Could he make someone pay for it?
Ezra rubbed his hands together. “I have an idea.”
CHAPTER 23
Rawlins, WY
The streak of white was Calvin’s beat-up old pickup truck. It cut through the fence on the far side of the yard, swerved toward Alejandro, and crashed into the tree, pinning the man in place. The airbag deployed, masking the driver.
Nerio fumed. “You bastards! How?” She stepped around the big tree trunk, spraying gunfire at Misha with her pistol. The Russian had been focused on the wreck, perhaps deciding if the stricken husband needed a few extra bullets in his head. When Nerio began her barrage, he was caught flat-footed for once.
He fired back, but fell to the ground, trying to avoid getting hit.
Unsure what to do, Grace bent over and scooped up a large rock. Without thinking, and with little aiming, she winged it at Nerio. Precision throwing wasn’t really in her wheelhouse, so it came as a shock when the rock whizzed near the woman’s head. However, instead of hitting her, it sailed through the side window of the small home.
“Great. After everything, I’ll be the one who hurts the kids.”
Nerio stopped firing and turned to face her. “You think you’re funny?”
“I do!” she bragged, falling back behind the fence. If she could distract the woman, Misha might have a chance of scooting over to her. Why he wasn’t already on his feet was a mystery.
“We’ll see.” Nerio pulled a small canister from her gear and tossed it toward Misha. The little can bounced through the fence and started spewing out white smoke.
She retreated behind her tree, tossing a second object after the first. The metal orb struck the rear fence too, then fell to the grass, perhaps ten feet from where Misha was on the ground. Unlike the other, it didn’t start smoking.
“It’s a grenade!” Asher exclaimed.
“Run, Misha! She threw a grenade!”
He didn’t get up, but he tumbled sideways in her direction. He made it into his second roll when the grenade exploded, sending up a fountain of grass and dirt and blowing the fence outward.
Misha yelled some Russian words she assumed weren’t very nice, but he continued toward her. By the time he was a few feet away, he was crawling on his hands and knees. Bloody splotches were all over his right side.
“You’re hit!” she bleated.
“I think I took grenade in teeth.” He smiled, revealing a small hole in his cheek. He spit on the rocks a second later.
The smoke wafted all over the yard, making it impossible to see Nerio’s position
