“Oh no,” Carl said, panicked. “Jake, what do I do?”
“Punch it,” he replied, followed by tires kicking up dirt and rocks, finally catching traction on the pavement.
“What have I done?!” he yelled.
“What’s the fastest way back?” I asked.
“What have I done?!” he asked again.
“What’s the fastest way back?!” I said again, raising my voice.
“What…fast way back to my home?”
He hit the brakes hard and banked to the left, throwing all of us without seatbelts into dashes and doors. I felt a lump rising on my head’s right side, where I hit the back-door window. He took the side dirt road at 52 miles per hour, according to the speedometer I could see with blurred vision.
“What’s the plan, Carl?” asked Jake.
“I don’t know, but we can’t stay. She and I need to leave town. By morning he will come by with his men, and when they find his son dead I’ll be locked up, or worse. You should head out, too, if you don’t want trouble.”
“Where will you go?” asked Jake.
“I don’t know. Maybe east to Pueblo, but he’ll find us there for sure, so I don’t know. My wife…she’s going to be devastated.”
“Carl,” Mike spoke up. “I’m sorry about this mess.”
We all looked at him, surprised at the first time any of us heard him apologize for anything.
“Put it on me. I’ll confess and take the punishment,” Mike said.
“No. You protected a woman from a sick man. He tried that with my wife a few years back when I was at work, and I didn’t have the guts to make him pay for it. Now he has, and I’m not throwing you under the bus for that piece of crap. That’s why I pushed him into the river. I wanted to be the last one to touch him before he went straight to hell.”
“You’ll come with us,” said Lonnie. “You, your wife and little girl will be a part of our group—an equal part.”
“All agreed?” he asked, confident none of us would object.
“Agreed!” we all replied.
* * * * * * *
Chapter Fourteen
Cañon City, Colorado
Pulling into his driveway, most of our group was there. Lonnie gathered everyone, asking for a quick pack-up to leave out in an hour, while Carl spoke to his wife. Thirty minutes later, Carl announced he could add his truck and small utility trailer to the group. He pulled up with it partially packed, asking for help with food, firearms and his veterinary supplies.
We all pitched in, adding Ringo and Mini back on our vehicle, where I could keep a good eye on them. Carl asked Jake to take a quick walk with him before heading out. They walked around the main house and down by the river, flashlights lighting the way.
“We’ve built a life here,” began Carl. “This community is what we know, and Izabella doesn’t have many friends, but she has us. My dad lies in the town cemetery and our dog in the yard. I hadn’t fished the creek on our property once since it happened, so I could harvest the fish when things got really bad. We’re leaving everything we have built.”
“I know,” replied Jake. “Lance and Tina—it’s a long story—but they both helped me, Nancy and Danny pack up the very first day and leave our home with only what we could carry in backpacks and wheel barrels. We have been refugees ever since. But we’re headed for something. Something better, I hope, but not without sacrifice.”
“It’s 1:15 a.m., and we had better make it up to Breckenridge before dawn because things between here and there won’t be too friendly by morning. Give me ten minutes and we’ll be ready,” Carl added, slipping away from the truck carrying his wife and daughter.
“Do you need any help?” asked Jake.
“No, buddy. This I have to do alone.”
* * * *
He disappeared towards the barn, waving his flashlight both inside and out, and the same for the house. It wasn’t even five minutes before Jake saw the first flames rise up from the barn…and only minutes later from the main house.
“What are you doing?” asked Jake when Carl returned.
“Unless you’re going to kill everyone in town who’s afraid of Gus, this has to be done. It’s a distraction and will be put out in a matter of hours, mark my words. I won’t have that SOB’s father moving from his tear-down house into mine. I’ll lead us up to the barricade, and we’ll figure out the rest from there.”
Carl led the group up the winding road, with Mike following on the Indian.
Lonnie got Carl hooked up with a radio, and he called out the possible scenarios.
“The guys in the barricade will be two or three, at the most. They are likely sleeping off a hangover. We need to bust through the barricade or surprise and overpower them. Mike, you’re going the other way so you can just keep riding.”
“Surprise is my middle name,” Mike called over his radio. “Let me pull ahead when we’re a quarter-mile out, and on my signal, everyone goes through.”
“We can help with this, Mike,” I called.
“I know, but I need to do this.”
Mike passed us, the Indian with a full tank and 150 miles to his destination, with almost 100 fuel miles to spare over that. I’m not sure how he did it, and we would discuss it later amongst us, but twenty minutes later Mike called on the radio for us to come through. He talked to Sheila and Javi for a few minutes, and lastly Lonnie through his open window. I hopped on the truck bed to join in.
“Did you kill them, Mike?” asked Lonnie.
Not this time, boss. They just got tied up a bit is all. I even let them keep their rifles,” he added, handing Lonnie two handfuls of bullets.
“Be careful, old friend,” said Lonnie.
Mike handed Lonnie his radio, badge and pistol.
“Whatever happens, don’t lose this,” he said, handing me a thin wallet from his front pocket. “Open it,” he told me, and
