Paper Tiger: A Thriller (Micah Reed Book 8) by Jim Heskett

Author:Jim Heskett [Heskett, Jim]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Royal Arch Books
Published: 2018-05-16T18:30:00+00:00

Chapter Twenty-One

Oklahoma - Now

I dream of sand. Sand and pink rocks like fields of dead flowers. An endless march of dried riverbeds dusted with gravel. Blue skies overhead and punishing morning cold giving way to dry heat in the afternoon. And of a hiking trail, alone, separated from my friend. Wondering if he’s okay. He’s been injured, but he refuses to concede. And I worry it will be the death of him.

As I ascend from the depths of an arid valley up a slope of rocks marked with cairns, a giant structure of rock appears before me. It’s like a triangular building sent from an alien race, dropped into the middle of this desert. I’m awe-struck, standing before the towering monstrosity. I can’t comprehend how such a thing could have happened.

And I think it will be the death of me, too.

In those moments between sleep and waking, it’s like flipping between two television channels so fast they blur together. Sunlight pours in through the curtains of the bedroom. The bed is shimmying, which doesn’t do much for my stomach. The RV is in motion. When I look over to the floor, Nashoba’s bag of drugs and guns is no longer there.

Funny, they let me sleep through the night. When I open the bedroom door, I see Dichali on the couch, covered with a blanket. Ash on a cot, next to that couch. Cassidy is driving, and Poppa Bear is in the passenger seat, head back, snoring away.

Cassidy cranes her neck and waves me forward. Head pounding, mouth full of nasty cheap whiskey muck, I plod along the interior of the moving vehicle. Have to carefully step over Ash's cot, and then I kneel on the floor, behind Cassidy.

“How do you feel this morning?” she says.

“Like a bear crapped in my ears.”

She giggles. “Sounds about right. I should have warned you about drinking after a sweat.”

“I thought you guys were going to wake me up.”

“We tried a few hours ago, but you were zonked. Like a corpse.”

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to hog your bed. How long have we been on the road?”

“Not long. Maybe an hour.”

Poppa Bear implied we would drive through the night, so I shouldn’t be surprised that he broke that promise. We’re still on track to get me home by tonight, though.

“Are you ready for breakfast?” she asks. “There’s a diner up ahead in Woodward we always stop at when we’re in the area. They do a breakfast burrito so big you have to hold it with two hands. It’s one of the most delicious things in the world, and you’re going to have to take my word on that.”

I picture a massive burrito, slathered with beans and cheese, and my stomach turns. But, I would like for the world to stop moving, and we have to park the RV for that to happen. “Sure, sounds good to me.”

Poppa Bear snorts and turns on his side. A bit of drool leaking from the edge of his lip and fading into his beard.

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