The Cartel by A P BATEMAN

Author:A P BATEMAN [BATEMAN, A P]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Pulp Thriller, War & Military, Action, Fiction
Publisher: Rockhopper Publishing
Published: 2024-10-29T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 31

It was old school versus new technology. Gas versus electric. The internal combustion engine battling it out with a battery-powered motor. Tris White’s 450cc Honda dirt bike was wailing like a banshee as he wound the throttle and accelerated through the scrub and tumbleweed, the cactus and the rocks. He had modified the exhaust and improved the standard motorcycle’s fuel injection, but as he snatched glances at the speedometer hovering around seventy, he knew that he could not match the electric dirt bike that was always in front of him, always pulling silently away. A nonsuch Chinese model from a company that had only been around for a few years with a name he could not pronounce, with dubious styling and a gaudy choice of decals was humiliating dirt bike royalty. All he had on his brother was range, but batteries were heavy and hopefully his considerably lighter gas-engine machine would come into its own when they reached the hills and the gulleys where they would get some air off the berms and ramps that they had constructed.

Nat saw the buzzards circling above and slowed the electric dirt bike, briefly taking his hand off the throttle to point to his brother. Tris saw his chance and gave the 450cc engine the beans, but as he passed his older brother, he knew that something was wrong, and he killed the revs and looked to where his brother was staring. Circling buzzards never meant anything good, and they were too far away to see if they were vultures or turkey buzzards, but all he knew is there would be a body beneath them. The boys had seen them before, and they both set off toward the area so they could report back to Malcom Lander, the rancher who owned much of the land that they were riding over today. Lander was a tough old coot, but he had been good hearted enough to let them ride, and he would appreciate knowing if a steer or calf had fallen, or if there was disease in the herd. Onetime they had found a cow and calf, torn up by coyotes as the mother had birthed. Further south, it was not uncommon for illegal immigrants to have made it across the border but to have run out of water and perished on the plains in the Land of the Free.

As the two bikers approached, three large vultures took to the wing and there were shrieks and cries from above as the circling birds were seen off by the more dominant creatures angry at being put off their meal.

Tris killed the engine, and the faint whine of the electric dirt bike was the only sound but for the shrieks and cries from the birds above. When Nat stopped and rested the bike on its stand, the birds circled wider, and the silence was eerie. Nat caught his younger brother by the shoulder and shook his head, telling him to remain where he was while he went to check.

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