Shadow Valley: A Novel by Nik Xandir Wolf

Author:Nik Xandir Wolf [Wolf, Nik Xandir]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Kelp Books, LLC
Published: 2022-11-14T16:00:00+00:00

2

It started to get late, and Tyra worried about her ability to spot the van after dark with just headlights coming out of the darkness. But about thirty minutes later, while the late afternoon sun cut orange across the freeway in long shadows, a faded green Volkswagen zipped past in the number one lane. It was hard to tell, but it looked like a female in a beanie driving and nobody in the passenger’s seat. She wondered if it was just another faded green van, but with the damaged front end, it had to be her bounties. Puck snored loudly when Tyra started the station wagon, released the brake, turned off the emergency flashers, and pulled onto the freeway. She jerked the wheel slightly and watched Puck’s head roll off the headrest and thump against the window. She chuckled. The big, dumb idiot. Puck sat up and laughed, too, like he had been in on the joke the whole time.

“That them?” he said, groggy still.

“That’s them,” Tyra said.

With the radio low, playing a spotty jazz station out of San Diego, she trailed them by a few car lengths until they got to the border crossing. When they got there, they slowed to a stop behind a line of cars. Most vehicles were ushered through and once in a while pulled aside. When the bounties pulled up, they took a longer time than the others talking to the border guard, and sure as hell, they were pulled aside, too.

“What the fuck do we do now?” asked Puck when they pulled up to the guard.

“Quiet,” Tyra said.

She showed the guard both IDs, and he shone a flashlight into the back of the station wagon, where they’d stacked a couple of boogie boards and some camping supplies. He flicked the light off and waved them through.

“Shit,” she said, driving past the Volkswagen. A guard stood outside it, holding an automatic rifle. “They get picked up, and we’re cooked.”

“What’s the plan?” Puck said.

“If Art’s right about these kids, they’ll get out of this.”

Rolling down the freeway slowly, Tyra surveyed the new country in the fading daylight. It was surprising to her how immediately different it looked. Different gas stations, banks, small ramshackle houses built into the hillsides. Tyra had been here before; the rural poor in Mexico lived in rough conditions, leading into the larger cities like Tijuana and Rosarito. Towns crowded with high-end real estate, including posh hotels and fine dining.

She pulled off the freeway a few miles south of the border and parked where she could see the road. She shut everything down, and darkness flooded around them. It was quiet; Parker gripped the baton that he’d taken from Art’s office. Like she hadn’t noticed. If anything went bump out here, she’d gladly let the kid take off after whatever it was.

“Are we safe out here?” Puck said, scanning the rural locale. Nothing but darkness, desert, and tumbleweeds.

“Probably not. But we don’t have an option. Hopefully, they get that inspection done fast.”

“My brother had his car stolen down here once.

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