Bullet Rain by Robert Swartwood

Author:Robert Swartwood [Swartwood, Robert]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: RMS Press

Twenty-Nine

There were only three men on dirt bikes. None of them wore helmets. Each of them had a rifle slung over his shoulder. They weren’t going fast, not as fast as Nova had been going, but that was because the lead rider was concentrating on the dirt, following Nova’s tracks. The growl of their engines reverberated off the canyon walls and made the loose dirt nearby shiver in anticipation.

The sky was clear and fading, the sun nearing the horizon. Shadows stretched across the desert, especially down here in the canyons.

The men on the dirt bikes turned the corner and the first one slowed and raised a fist, alerting the two men behind him.

The other two stopped, lowered their kickstands, and slipped the rifles off their shoulders.

Farther ahead they saw the solitary dirt bike, the one they had been chasing.

Beyond the dirt bike they saw the sliver in the canyon wall and the shape of a young woman trying to squeeze herself through.

The first man killed his engine, and the two others killed their engines, too.

The first man shouted, “Hey!”

Jessica looked back through the sliver at the men. Her eyes were wide with fear. She no doubt had heard the men coming—had even known they were right there—but the sound of the man’s voice was enough to spook her.

A few more feet and she would make it to the other side. She was playing up her sprained ankle, limping more than she probably needed to. Clearly there was more than enough room for her to squeeze through, but the men didn’t seem to notice. They had been sent to track her down, and here they had found her, and she was so very close.

The first man lowered the kickstand to his dirt bike, climbed off as he unslung the rifle and held it with both hands. As he began to advance, he said, “Where is he?”

The other two men, their rifles now held at the ready and advancing behind the first man, began looking around the canyon walls, and Jessica, no doubt noticing this, decided to improvise.

She screamed.

It was enough to stop all three men. The barrels of their rifles momentarily dipped toward the ground. All of their attention was now focused on the girl as she shuffled the last couple of feet to the other side.

The first man repeated his question. “Where is he?”

Jessica screamed again.

The men, having momentarily been taken aback, began to raise their weapons.

At that same moment, Nova dropped down to the ground behind them. The canyon walls narrowed the higher they went. That was where Nova had climbed up only minutes ago. Then, his hands and feet pressed against the sides, he had lowered himself more and more as the men advanced closer to the sliver and to Jessica. Now he dropped maybe fifteen feet, rolling as he hit the ground to take the stress off his legs, pulling the pistol from the waistband of his jeans and aiming it at the men.

Before, he had been

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