Saguaro Sanction by Scott Graham

Author:Scott Graham
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Torrey House Press

15

The hulking black car loomed in Janelle’s rearview mirror, approaching fast from behind on the road to Sasabe.

She gulped, staring.

Rosie twisted in her seat, following Janelle’s gaze.

“Ohhh,” she moaned, looking backward. “Is that them?”

Chartreuse looked back, too. “What the…?”

Janelle tightened her hands on the steering wheel. She had a decision to make and only seconds to make it. She spoke fast. “Should we pull a U-turn and try to get back to the highway?”

“No,” Chartreuse said immediately. “The trees are too close. They’ll be able to cut us off.”

Janelle pressed her foot on the gas, racing down the road. “Should we keep heading south?”

The tiny engine in the mini-SUV whined, the tachometer redlining. Even so, the black car continued to gain on them.

“We’ll never be able to stay ahead of them all the way to Sasabe,” Chartreuse said.

Janelle bit down hard on the inside of her cheek. Chartreuse was right. The turnoff to the peak was a few hundred feet ahead, only seconds away. Surely others would be at the trailhead at the base of the mountain…wouldn’t they?

Rosie faced forward. “Turn, Mamá!” she cried.

Janelle set her jaw, her hands fixed on the wheel. The vehicle roared up from behind, filling the rearview mirror.

A hundred feet to the turnoff.

Janelle stomped on the gas, pressing the pedal to the floor. The engine screamed.

Fifty feet.

She spun the wheel at the last possible second, careening onto the side road to Baboquivari Peak. Chartreuse gripped the dashboard as the mini-SUV wobbled through the turn, its tires screeching, and shot down the road.

“Ride ’em, cowboy!” Rosie cried from the backseat.

The rugged east face of the peak filled the sky ahead.

In the rearview mirror, the black car blew past the junction, continuing south on the Sasabe road. “Whew,” Janelle said.

“Was that the car from before?” Rosie asked, looking back.

“I’m sure of it.”

“I’m glad they went the other way.”

“You and me both.”

Janelle slowed as they passed from sunshine into shadow, the afternoon sun now hidden behind the towering peak.

Chartreuse let go of the dash. “Thank you for bringing me back to my car—” she aimed a thumb over her shoulder “—despite those jerks behind us.”

The road ended at a square of pavement large enough to accommodate a handful of parked vehicles at the base of the peak. A single sedan sat in the lot.

“That’s my rental,” said Chartreuse.

Janelle pulled to a stop next to the sedan.

Chartreuse tucked her water bottle in her daypack and climbed out. She looked back the way they’d come and cursed.

Janelle peered back. The black car, having turned around on the Sasabe road, was headed up the dead-end road toward them. The car was less than a quarter mile away, ascending the open slope to the parking lot at a menacingly slow pace.

Janelle stabbed at her phone screen with her finger, calling Chuck. He had to be back in service by now. She held her breath as she waited. But the call did not go through. She stared at the screen, her eyes wide.

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