He wrapped a hand around her ankle and she squealed.
“It’s me. We’re gonna crawl back to the truck. Stay as low as you can, burrow into the sand as much as possible. The shooters aren’t too bright. They already knocked out one of the headlights, giving them less visibility.”
He finally got his gun free, and he twisted his body, raised the weapon and shot out the other headlight. “There. They’re gonna have an even harder time taking aim at us.”
Placing himself between Jolene and the ridge, which was the source of the shooting, Sam crawled, using one elbow to propel himself while clutching his gun in the other hand.
They didn’t stop moving and Sam didn’t stop panting until they reached the truck. He’d left the doors open, so he half shoved, half lifted Jolene into the passenger seat. “Keep your head down. Are you okay?”
“I’m fine, terrified, but unharmed.”
“Don’t shut your door until I’m in the truck. I don’t want to give them any sound to follow until I can gun this vehicle.” He slinked back to the ground and crawled underneath the truck to get to the other side.
The shooting had stopped, but he didn’t trust that the gunmen weren’t on their way to the truck right now to continue their assault.
As he pulled himself up, the buzzing sound he’d heard before grew louder, and Jolene yelped.
“It’s...it’s... There’s a drone, Sam. A drone is hovering above the truck.”
“Damn.” The drone glinted for a second, and then dipped out of view.
Sam hunched behind the wheel and said, “Shut your door now.”
They both slammed their doors at the same time and Sam cranked on the engine. As much as he wanted to floor it and get the hell out of there, he didn’t want to get stuck. He threw the gear into Reverse and eased on the gas pedal.
Even though he still had his head down, he didn’t have to worry about hitting anything out here...except maybe a cactus. The truck rolled back, and he applied more pressure to the accelerator. The wheels ran over something, and then he shifted into Drive and took off in the direction of the construction area and the access road.
Several seconds later, his head popped up and the dark landscape loomed in front of him. “I can’t see much without the headlights.”
Jolene answered in a muffled voice, “Can I come up for air now?”
“I think we’re okay.” He glanced in his rearview mirror and didn’t see anything coming—no light, no more gunfire. “We’re good.”
She straightened up, clutching her flashlight. “Do you have your flashlight? I can use both of them to shed a little light on our exit route.”
“It’s in my backpack, which I forgot is still on my back.” He leaned forward. “Can you get it?”
She tugged at the pack, and he released the steering wheel so she could pull it from his arms. She dug into it and retrieved his flashlight.
“Let me try this.” She rolled down her window and aimed both flashlights at the ground in front of the truck. “Does that help?”
“At least I won’t go plowing into a cactus. Are we almost out of no-man’s-land? We can follow the reflective posts back to the access road.”
“Shouldn’t be too much farther.” She reached out and tapped the side mirror with one of the flashlights. “Do you think they’ll come after us?”
“Doubt it. They know I’m armed, at any rate. Maybe that’ll be enough to keep them away unless they want to engage in a gun battle.”
“I should’ve brought Dad’s gun with me.”
“We don’t need any more bullets flying.” He jerked the steering wheel to the side. “Is that the edge of the casino?”
“Yeah, you’ve got this.”
Tense silence loomed in the truck as Sam navigated his way out of the construction area and back onto the access road. He glanced at Jolene’s ramrod-straight spine as she held the flashlights to help him navigate the terrain.
They both let out sighs when the truck tires gained purchase on the dirt road that would take them out to the highway. Once on the asphalt, Sam floored it and the truck lurched forward, eating up the road beneath them.
“Do you still need the flashlights?”
“I’m good. I know this section of the highway like the back of my hand.” He punched on the emergency lights. “Just for some extra visibility, although I don’t think we’ll meet many cars at this time of night.”
“I hope we don’t meet anyone.” She flicked off the flashlights and collapsed against the seat, rubbing the back of her neck.
“Is your neck still bothering you?”
“I think it’s just from holding my muscles so tight.” She wound her ponytail around her hand. “What happened back there—I mean besides the obvious?”
“Someone’s patrolling that area with a drone and I’m guessing that drone has a camera attached to it.”
“It’s not you guys?” She sucked in her bottom lip.
“We have drones on the border, but Yaqui land is off-limits to us.” He nudged her shoulder. “You know that. Your father was one of the most vocal voices against our patrolling that section of the border, partly because he didn’t feel the Yaqui needed any division between the Mexican tribe and the American tribe.”
“Yeah, that was Dad. He had an almost childlike faith in humanity—never mind that the Yaqui across the border weren’t all that interested in mingling with us.”
“They are now.” Sam swiped a bead of sweat from his forehead. “Maybe Wade accomplished with the casino what your father couldn’t accomplish without it.”
“You’re probably right.” She wedged her hands between her knees. “So, someone—not the Border Patrol—has drones on the border. Do you think it’s the builders? And do you think they caught us on camera?”
“It might be the developers, but if they have armed guys shooting at trespassers instead of calling the Sheriff’s Department, they’re not going to want to admit they’re the ones monitoring the drone footage.”
“So, you think that’s how they knew we were there? They were checking the video from the drone
