The Variables by Shelbi Wescott

Author:Shelbi Wescott [Wescott, Shelbi]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Amazon: B00IH5HIRI
Goodreads: 20351498
Published: 2014-02-01T07:00:00+00:00

The truck maneuvered through the small neighborhood, back past the grocery store where they had tried to spend their first night, and then up to the highway. The farmhouse was long gone out of view before the truck slowed to a stop and pulled to the side of the road. The second truck sped up and stopped in the road. Ray threw the pick-up into park and slid out of the cab.

Dean sat in the passenger seat. Unharmed and calm, he opened the door and walked over to them.

“You okay?” he said. “You two okay? Oh man, oh man. Darla...your hand...”

Darla looked down. A steady stream of blood trickled down her arm. She ignored Dean and wrapped the hand in her shirt, and then she got a better look at the man standing next to him—a tall cowboy-type with graying hair and a thin beard. Ray.

“So, who are you?” she asked. “And what the hell just happened back there?”

“That’s what happens when Lou Hales has some trouble living in the real world,” the man said. “Just stopping by for a little climate check tonight…and it seems like our timing was spot-on. We’ve been having some disagreements over his decision to keep you in the basement…but looks like you solved that issue on your own.” He winked at her. She didn’t crack a smile back.

“You are the people we heard? The ones who visited the Hales? You got a place up in Montana?”

The man nodded.

“He didn’t attack me until he thought you were Sweepers. I had the keys.”

“Sorry about that,” Ray said and he smiled. “But Lou keeps his car keys in a safe in the kitchen. Those are all decoys. Wouldn’t have made it very far.”

“Lindsey set me up?” Darla asked and she didn’t feel as badly about the image of Lindsey running after the truck.

“No, darlin’,” Ray replied. “Lou doesn’t even trust his own daughter not to make a run for it. I imagine she told you honestly what she thought.”

Darla nodded. She looked down and closed her eyes.

“Look, Lou told us he thinks you know something about the people who did this...the terrorists...”

“Oh,” Darla sighed, her stomach sank and she felt ill-at-ease. Her eyes went to the young vigilantes in the other truck. Their vacant stares scared the shit out of her. “I see…so, this rescue is far from altruistic in nature? We don’t know anything…so, I’m sorry if you wasted your time. You wanna take us back now?” She couldn’t help the bite in her voice. Dean put his hand on her shoulder, but she shook him off.

The man didn’t budge. He cleared his throat, “I won’t lie. I wished you did know something. But you have to understand...I got a good community growing and a lot of people to look out for. My intentions in asking you what you know are only because I want to protect the people who have asked me for protection,” he said. “If you say you don’t know anything, then I believe you.

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