“No, I’m sorry to say that’s where it ends. The next time you see that bike, its rider will be out for blood, gunning for your head.”
“Then I’ll aim high, just over the handlebars. I took the last owner off it with an arrow as he was riding away.”
“Is that so?” said Sergio, thinking of ways he could get Mike on his team full time. “I don’t think they will send out a search party for us, but we need to get going. Happy reading, and let me know what’s in the book.”
Mike laid back, using a moving blanket for a pillow and touching his stomach just to feel for blood or other fluids. “It will have to hold, for now,” he said aloud, opening the book.
Mike laughed out loud at the first sentence, embarrassed that it surprised him. He read it out loud several times over.
“Duplicate Copy, Sucker!”
Flipping through the blank pages, he read the last.
“Nothing More to See Hear!” it read. “It’s spelled h-e-r-e, you idiot!” he said aloud.
While not being a Colonel, Baker is smart…smart enough, thought Mike, as he wondered if there was even a second copy at all.
* * * * * * *
Chapter Eight
Saddle Ranch
Loveland, Colorado
Vlad and Sheila worked all day in the auto shop, fitting right in with the others.
“It’s a steady job,” she told Vlad, “with no sign of layoffs.”
Dinner was early tonight, at 5 instead of the usual 6.
“Be careful under there. I’ll be back in a few,” said Vlad, heading out the shop door.
Vlad grabbed a meal for himself and Sheila, who was finishing up on an old school bus, the short kind transformed into a Ranch uber-type vehicle but for free. He returned twenty minutes later with two dinner bags slung over one crutch.
* * * *
“Hi, Sheila. I’ve got meatloaf, mashed potatoes and gravy, and it’s still hot. Get washed up, and I’ll fix the plates,” he said, rounding the corner inside.
He stopped for a minute, noticing the bus was on the floor and off the lift at an odd angle. The cassette player on the corner shelf belted out her favorite tunes. Johnny Cash sang a song Vlad had never heard before, something about a boy named Sue.
He called out her name, “Sheila? Sheila! Are you okay?” as the music continued.
He hurried towards the bus, tripping over his crutch and falling face-first to the floor. Looking up from a sprawled position, Vlad could see clearly underneath, staring straight into the scared eyes of his work partner between the bus and lift.
“Oh no, Sheila! Oh no!” he called out, reaching for her outstretched hand. “Help us! Somebody help us!” he called out.
The other mechanics left the shop more than two hours ago, and most residents were eating supper in the Pavilion.
“Hold on,” he told her. “I’ll get help.”
“No,” she said, sounding like a whisper over the music.
“Let me at least turn that off,” said Vlad, letting go of her hand for a moment.
“No, Vlad, leave it on; it’s comforting. Stay with me. I need your ear. I’m not in pain, and I am thinking clearly,” she said, slurring her words and a trickle of blood coming from the corner of her mouth.
“What happened?” he asked.
“I’m not sure, and it doesn’t matter. What does is Javi. I don’t want him to see me like this, and I’m not sure if Mike will ever make it back.”
“What are you saying?”
“When they lift this bus off of me, I’ll be gone in minutes—I can feel it. There’s no putting me back together again, like that old children’s rhyme.”
“I should never have left you, Sheila. I’m so sorry.”
“No, Vlad. We’re not going there. I spent days alone under vehicles before the day, sometimes entire weekends all by myself. This was an accident, and that is all. Listen to me closely,” she added, coughing but not flinching. “I want you to look after Javi like your very own. If things work out with you and Anna, and I hope they do, then you can start a new family right away.”
“What about when Mike comes back? I can’t just take his child from him.”
“If Mike comes back, he’s not the one to raise Javi by himself. He would do it because it’s the right thing, but this place is not for him and we both know that. He won’t be tied down, can’t be, and he will take Javi deep into the mountains and away from all this. That’s no place for a young child who has a large family here and is already starting to fit in. You need to be his father, Vlad.
“If you see Mike, tell him exactly what I just said, after giving him the code.”
“What code?” asked Vlad.
“A boy named Sue. It was our secret phrase if we ever were compromised or captured, to know the truth would come next. Speak the phrase and tell him exactly what I said. Don’t leave anything out. Tell them both I love them dearly, and I’ll be watching over them from above. Give Javi a hug for me and tell him I love my Snuggle Bug. Will you do that for me, Vlad?”
“Yes, Sheila. I’ll do all of it.”
“Now go find help,” she told him, “but leave the music on.”
* * * *
Vlad scrambled to get to his crutches and fumbled out the door, yelling, “Help! Please help us!”
Sheila closed her eyes and sang along with the last words she would ever hear.
Vlad made it halfway to the Pavilion, running into one of Mac’s security team, who radioed Mac and Dr. Melton first before informing others who needed to know right away.
