“How will we get back to our camp? This road is heading up into the mountains.”
Tom had a plan and thought it would work if the ones chasing them kept slowing down to search. “There’s a road about ten miles ahead of us that goes where we want to go. If they speed up and see us, I have a couple of side roads that we might be able to take and throw them off our tails.”
Sam focused herself on the road ahead and saw the curve ahead sign. “Curve to the right, then back to the left.”
Tom slowed and made the first turn without issue but ran off on the side on the next. He threw gravel and bumped against the rock wall to his left when he overcorrected. The screech of metal on rock reverberated in the cab. The truck kept moving and negotiated the next three turns without any problems. “You can breathe now,” Tom laughed.
Sam hit Tom on the shoulder. “You scared the crap out of me back there. I need to change my pants.”
“Sorry, I should have slowed down. I’ll buy you some new pants. Brown ones.”
It took a minute for her to get the joke. “Smartass.”
Tom looked back and saw the truck behind them was much closer. “Darn, there aren’t many places to search along this stretch. I’m taking the next turn off in just a minute. Hold on. There it is! Clayton Road.”
The entrance to Clayton road was in the middle of a hairpin curve. It could easily be missed if you weren’t familiar with its location. Tom came to a crawl and made the turn before speeding up. “There’s a right-hand curve up the hillside ahead. I’m trying to get on up the hill and turn the engine off until they’re gone.”
He drove for another few minutes and then went off the road into a stand of trees. He shut the engine off and waited. Sam started to speak. “Shush. We need to listen for them.”
Sam moved closer to Tom and hugged him when she heard the faint sound of the truck approaching. The engine noise grew louder and then dropped in volume as it passed by them. Sam still clung to Tom, and he didn’t push her away for several minutes. Tom sat still looking out the window at the stars but focused his ears on searching for the truck's sound. “They’re gone. The good news is they didn’t find us. The bad news is we have to drive back to the camp in daylight. Be prepared to fight the minute the sun comes up. Let’s make like a horse turd and hit the dusty trail.”
“Huh? What the heck?”
“One of my grandpa’s many sayings. You can let go now.”
Thirty minutes later, the hills glowed to the east, and then the sun rose enough that Sam didn’t need the scope to help Tom drive. The roads were mostly paved, but all of them were narrow and followed the hills and valleys. They went up and down hills and sometimes around a hill or up a canyon. Sam held on to the armrest and seatback. “This is worse than a darn rollercoaster. At least you are strapped in and have a bar to grab. How do you even have a clue where we are?”
“I’ve run these hills and dales all my life. I know that to get to our camp, I need to head south and west as much as possible. Hang on, and we’ll get there. This should be Burnt Creek Road. We’ll follow it to the next road that goes east and then hook up with Hyatt Dam Road and take it south to Highway 66.”
“That means we’ll be south of Emigrant Lake, doesn’t it? Why not take a short cut?”
“We could stop now and walk down the mountain in a straight line. We’d probably kill ourselves doing it. You have to remember there are miles, and then Oregon miles. These mountains and hills are beautiful, but you have to construct roads around the steepest hills. Don’t worry, we’ll be back at camp in a couple of hours.”
Tom and Sam were several hours late returning from dropping Betty and Bill off north of Ashland. Jackie said as she walked toward Granny B, “Granny B, I’m worried.”
“No kidding. You’re wearing the soles off your shoes pacing around the camp. Your brother can take care of himself. They’ll be back soon.”
Brenda was also worried. “Granny B, it’s daylight, and someone might have spotted them and attacked. Can’t we go look for them?”
“And then we’d be traveling in broad daylight on foot. We’d be nice targets for anyone along the way. Those thugs wouldn’t have much need for an old broad like me, but you young ones would catch their fancy. Do you need to ask what your fate would be?”
Brenda said, “That’s why I want Tom back safely in camp. I feel safer when he’s around.”
“There’s our camp, but I don’t see anyone,” Sam said.
Tom cut the engine several yards from the camp and drew his pistol. “Don’t worry yet. They’re probably hiding in the brush with their guns pointed at us, right …”
“Hands up, brother! Why the hell are you so late? Granny B and Brenda were worried to death.”
Tom hugged his sister and Brenda. Then Granny B joined in the group hug. “We had to shake a tail. A bunch in a pickup heard us drive by on the way up and kept searching for us. I don’t know if they saw us on Dead Indian, but they fell in behind us, so I found a place to hole up until they were long gone. Then we drove on down the mountain. Anywho, we’re safely back.”
*
Chapter 16
Southern Oregon near Ashland
After supper, Tom asked for the last shift
