Road Rage

Chapter ten

Deaq slowly lowered the phone as he looked off into the distance his face etched with worry. They were getting closer to Van but would they get there in time. Billie put her hand on his shoulder.

"The address I gave you is a house owned by the department. I'll call in and let them know what's going on and then when those men get there they'll be picked up. Hopefully we can get Van's exact location from them."

"They were hurting him Billie. We don't even know if he'll even be alive when we get there." Deaq's eyes filled up with tears of frustration and worry and he turned away from Billie not wanting her to see.

"Don't you go giving up Deaq." She said as she spun him around to face her. "Van needs us to be strong, he needs us to find him, and we're going to."

At the bottom of the cliff

Van lay on his side his arms wrapped tight around his ribs. He couldn't believe he could feel this much pain and still be conscious. His vision was blurred as he watched Blake and Woodward take off on their bikes. So this is it, this is how I'm going to die He knew the odds of making it through another night were slim. He wished Blake had just shot him and gotten it over with. He tried to sit up but the effort proved too much. Blackness overtook him and he gave into the welcoming darkness.

An hour later

Billie's cell phone rang and she quickly answered it. She talked for a short while then handed the phone over to Hollowell, the head of the search and rescue team. She then looked at Deaq.

"They think they know where Van is. Someone using his credit card was picked up by store security. The police took him into custody and he cooperated with them. He gave them a description of the area where he had left Van. Now all we can do is hope Van's still there or that he didn't stray too far from the area. We're going to find him Deaq." She said giving him a small reassuring smile.

"Let's just hope it's in time."

Hollowell handed the phone back to Billie.

"The area they described is about an hour and a half due east of here."

"Well let's get moving!" Deaq shouted as he started running with the others toward Van's location

At the cliff

Van slowly opened his eyes amazed that he was still alive. He lay still for a few minutes then slowly and painfully pulled himself into a sitting position. He reached in his pocket and pulled out the pills Wilson had given him. He looked at them in his hand as more images flashed through his mind. He was now pretty sure that Deaq was a friend and could be trusted. He also thought he might work or had worked in law enforcement with Deaq but everything was still fuzzy. Looking at the pills in his hand he felt guilty that he even considered taking them. But the pain was overwhelming and he popped them in his mouth washing them down with the last swallow of beer he had. He had just leaned back waiting for the pills to take effect when a gunshot rang out and the dirt in front of him shot up in the air as the bullet plowed into it. He quickly tried to pull his legs out of the line of fire but he wasn't fast enough. He screamed in pain as a bullet tore into his already injured leg. Van looked up and off in the distance he could see a man walking slowly toward him, a rifle held out in front of him. He scrambled for cover behind an outcropping of rocks. His heart pounded, sending the drugs racing through his system. He shut his eyes, grateful that the drugs were already taking an edge off of his pain, but the byproduct was that he was also starting to hallucinate. Colors and faces flashed in front of his eyes. Something inside of him screamed at him that he was in danger and that he had to move, and move quick, or he was dead. He looked up at the side of the cliff and started climbing.

Roberts smiled to himself as he walked toward Van. He had told Stone that the man they had run off the road might still be alive and he was right. Well he won't be for long he thought. He had no idea if the man could identify them but why take the chance. He had no qualms about killing him; after all to him it would be the same as shooting a deer or an injured dog, and there was no way he was going to rot in jail for running him off the road. Hell why worry he thought, they'll never find his body out here anyway. Yeah, he was going to enjoy this he thought as he watched Van painfully scramble up the side of the canyon. He raised his rifle and looked through the scope at his prey.

TBC