“Leaves us to try and sneak out on foot,” said Jack, as he glanced at Lily. The ground was splattered with small cactus plants and the ground was extremely hot. Lily was barefoot and he thought of shredding the T-shirt she was wearing and using it to wrap her feet, but he knew in her condition he would still end up carrying her.

“Christ, I’m coming in,” said Adams. “You two will never make it on foot on your own. Maybe I can distract their fire or something.”

“Not yet. You’re my eyes right now …” Jack glanced toward the snipers and saw that a hill was blocking his sight. “I’m out of sight of the snipers,” he reported. “Don’t know for how long.”

“I can see dust!” said Adams excitedly.

“Mine or someone else’s?”

“I hope yours. Coming from the same direction they took you down.”

So close, yet so far, thought Jack.

“Wait! The snipers on the hill are mobile!” yelled Adams.

“Where? Which direction?”

“Give me a minute … okay, I think they are moving east toward another hill where they were earlier. It will give them a view of the ambush.”

“How long will it take them to get there?”

“Five or ten minutes.”

“I’m going back. There was another road that went to the west,” said Jack. “I didn’t take it earlier because it would have passed right in front of the snipers.”

“They’ll see your dust. They’ll know you turned around.”

“It’s not like I have a choice. Here, meet Lily. I’ve got some driving to do,” said Jack as he handed the phone to Lily who was crouched under the dash.

Jack spun the vehicle around and drove back from where he came. The SUV bounced over the potholes as Jack wrestled with the steering wheel to keep it on the road. Twice it became airborne over small dips in the road. The first time it caused Lily to bang her head on the dash and drop the phone, but she didn’t complain, scrambling to pick it up again while wedging her body tighter between the seat and under the dash.

From the conversation Jack heard, he knew Adams was trying to soothe her.

When Jack approached the intersection, he saw another cloud of dust approaching from Casa Blanca. The men were obviously out of the tunnel.

Jack cranked the wheel and headed west, trying to keep his eyes on the road while taking occasional glances at the hilltop where the snipers had been parked moments ago.

“Tell him we’re westbound, but I have no idea where the road will take us,” said Jack, trying to keep his voice even so he would at least sound like he was in control of the situation. He estimated about three minutes passed before the white SUV from Casa Blanca sent up a wave of stone and dust as it turned on to the same road to follow him in hot pursuit.

Lily relayed back and said, “He says he can’t see your dust trail anymore. He is going to come down off the tower and head west on the highway and see if he can join up with us.”

“Good idea. Right now we’ve only got one vehicle chasing us. It would be nice to know what to expect farther up —”

A click sound came from the door panelling behind him and he swore to himself, realizing that the snipers had returned to the hilltop. Most people would presume being in a vehicle struck with a bullet would sound like you were in a tin can being beaten by somebody with a ball-peen hammer. In reality, a high-powered bullet, providing it doesn’t hit a cross-bar, passes through the tin on door panelling like it was made of paper and sounds more like somebody flicking their fingernail against metal.

Jack also knew the same was true for the human body. If hit, the head or body is not flung back like action sequences in a movie. The bullet passes through at such a high velocity, that for a person sitting hunched on the floor like Lily, the first indication she may have been hit could be her silence.

“Are you okay?” asked Jack anxiously.

“No! I’m scared,” she replied, turning to look up at him.

“Good,” uttered Jack, feeling relieved.

“Good? What do ya mean, good?”

“If you weren’t scared it would mean you were a moron,” replied Jack.

Lily screamed as the rear passenger-side window behind Jack exploded and the bullet passed through the front passenger side of the windshield, making a large, spider-webbed hole.

“Well I must be a fuckin’ genius, ’cause I’m really scared now!” Lily cried.

Jack didn’t know if she was intentionally being funny or if it was something she blurted out in panic, but he had no time to respond as he crested another rise in the road and saw it swerve sharply to the north. It gave him some relief as the dust trailing out from behind would act as cover. Some, but not completely. He heard another click in the roof above his head.

Seconds later, the road came to an abrupt end and Jack came to a sliding stop as the dust overtook and billowed around him. They were at what had once been someone’s home, but all that was left was a cement pad and a few concrete blocks from where the floor had been.

Behind the ruins was a gully zigzagging its way down from the hills and Jack had abruptly driven up to it. He estimated the gully to be about twice the depth of the SUV and about as wide as the length of an Olympic swimming pool. There was a dried creek bed in the bottom, but the gully was far too steep for him to drive in and out of. Even if he made it to the bottom of the creek bed, there were too many boulders, rocky outcrops, clumps of brush, and collapsed creek banks for him to attempt to drive along it.

Jack glanced to his left and right. To go overland would make them like slow moving ducks at a carnival … only with trained sharpshooters who could pick off their body parts as they pleased.

The gully itself contained enough hiding spots that it would take four or five men to form a line to clear it. But then what? Once we’re discovered …

The dust was settling around him and he knew the SUV from Casa Blanca would soon be upon them. A bullet took out his side mirror, prompting his next move. “Hang on!” he yelled, while stepping on the gas and driving nose-first into the gully.

The vehicle slid down the bank and came to rest with the undercarriage hung up on a boulder. It hadn’t quit rocking yet when Jack was out and helping Lily climb out.

“I’m okay. I think I can walk,” she said, still gripping the cellphone.

Jack considered telling her that walking was not really an option, but the sound of Adams yelling into the cellphone changed his mind. He grabbed the phone and said, “John, I ditched the wheels and am in a gully. Give me a sec.”

Jack figured he had about three minutes before the men from Casa Blanca arrived. I left these guys a false trail before … will they be tricked again?

“Head that way,” ordered Jack, pointing to the south.

If a person was careful, they could thread their way along the stones in the dried creek bed without leaving much of a trail. He was also hoping their pursuers would think they would want to head north to the border.

As Lily scrambled away, Jack followed her and purposefully dislodged a few fist-sized stones while speaking on the phone with John.

“You still there?” asked Jack.

“Yeah, I’m coming. I’ll find the gully and come and get you. I’ll bring you a piece and we can shoot our way out.”

Jack knew that anything but a small army would lose against the number of professionals they were up against. He glanced up at the sides of the gully. Talk about shooting fish in a rain barrel … but up above would be worse.

Jack grimaced as he stared at the cellphone. He knew John would risk his life for them without question.

“Did you hear me?” asked John.

“What the fuck is it with you Americans and guns?” said Jack, hoping his voice sounded angry and not scared like he really was. “Stay the hell away until I need you. I gotta shut the phone off or the bad guys will hear. I’ll call you when I need you.”