He stopped himself from thinking any further ahead as he closed the tailgate on the Blazer. In his current mental and physical state, the mileage that lay ahead of them seemed impossible, and if he dwelled on it any longer, he might start to believe that it was. He only needed to focus on the next leg of the journey right now, and that was reaching Cloverdale—or, by the looks of things, maybe just a decent place to camp tonight.
Ben didn’t have to remind anyone to take a break, and as soon as they were done packing, everyone found a spot in the shade. Not a word was spoken while they all drank from their water bottles and rested. Ben wondered if they were quiet because they were exhausted or because they were apprehensive about the trip ahead.
It occurred to Ben that he should reach out to Sandy on the radio to let her and Allie know that they were finished and would be ready to leave soon. Ben was about to cue the microphone on his radio when two faint but sharp blasts from Sandy’s air horn echoed through the woods.
It took a moment for the noise to register in his brain, and Ben wondered if his mind was playing tricks on him, but the looks on the others’ faces confirmed that what he was hearing was not a figment of his imagination. He also wished now that he’d asked Allie to have her mom use the radio if she needed help instead of the air horn.
Ben dropped his water without bothering to screw on the lid and forced himself off the ground. He pointed at Rita and Emma, who were still on the blanket with the dogs.
“You guys stay put and be ready to load up and get out of here. Brad, you stay here with them. And keep the dogs here, too.” Ben turned to Joel and Martin. “Let’s get to the gate and see what’s going on.”
Joel grabbed his AR and started running without waiting for further instructions.
“Joel, wait,” Ben called out, but Joel was halfway down the hill and well on his way to the front of the compound. Ben fought the urge to chase after his son and took a few moments to gather some gear and a couple weapons of choice. When Ben started down the hill, Joel was nowhere to be seen. Martin followed behind with his AR-15 as they both chased after Joel.
Ben turned as he ran. “Here.” He tossed the KSG to Martin and fumbled with the radio while doing his best not to break stride.
“Sandy, we’re on our way to you. What’s going on? Over.” Ben felt the sling on his M24 cut into his shoulder as he sprinted toward the gate. His legs burned with every step, but he did his best to ignore the pain and pushed on. Thoughts of Joel running out into the open and making himself a target when he reached the gate flashed through Ben’s mind.
“Moonshiners everywhere. Hur—” Sandy’s voice cut out abruptly, and Ben poured everything he had into moving his legs faster without tripping over himself.
He was relieved to see Joel tucked down behind the front gate. Inside the fence, the moonshiners had built a small fortified position out of tires and what looked like metal container pieces left over from their construction efforts. Ben stopped shy of the entrance to the camp and held off twenty yards or so from the others behind an ivy-covered pile of pallets.
Martin wasn’t too far behind, and Ben could hear his heavy breathing as he approached.
“What’s going on?” Martin crouched down beside Ben and used his rifle to prop himself up while he tried to catch his breath. Ben was winded as well, but he was too keyed up about the moonshiners to let it affect him.
“Not sure yet. Sandy says moonshiners. Joel’s up there with the girls.” Ben pointed before holding the radio up to his face. “Sandy, come in. Martin and I are back here.” He saw the three of them begin to search. “Eight o’clock. Over.”
He watched as Joel pointed them out to Allie and her mom.
“We see you. Over,” Sandy responded.
“What’s going on? Over.”
“We spotted moonshiners coming up the trail. They scattered into the woods when I blew the horn. Not sure how many, but there were three trucks. Over.”
Ben didn’t answer right away. Instead, he laid his M24 over the top of the pallets and scoped out the forest beyond the fence line. He saw two pickup trucks and a Suburban, all parked close to the first switchback, as well as the truck that had tried to make a run for it earlier. Occasionally, he picked up on movement in the bushes alongside the trail on both sides of the parked vehicles. The other moonshiners were here in force.
He was afraid this would happen and regretted not taking the time or energy to investigate the fleeing truck after it hit the tree. He couldn’t help but think that someone had survived the crash and gone for help, the small army of moonshiners currently hiding in the woods a hundred yards from the camp being the result.
He knew this was coming, although he had been clinging to the hope that they were going to make it out of here before anyone showed up. They were so close; thirty minutes more and they would have been a few miles down the road. But they weren’t. Ben wanted to blame it on something, or someone, but he couldn’t. There was nothing else they could have done. Ben took a deep breath. His anxiety transitioned to anger about their situation and the
