The Territory (Josie Gray Mysteries #1)(68)

Josie could feel Dell staring at her from the passenger seat. “The last standoff with the explosives? They lost that round. Those boys don’t intend to lose this one. You better use every resource you have.”

Josie’s stomach was on fire. It would kill her if something happened to Dell. She never should have brought him with her.

Once through Artemis, the four cars picked up speed dramatically until they reached Arroyo Pass, then slowed down abruptly, trying to decide which route the van had taken.

The dust was blowing so heavily now that the van’s tracks had vanished. Arroyo Pass was visible only because of the green sign that designated it a road. The pass was approximately twenty feet wide, and it ranged from three feet to about five feet deep, making it very hard to drive up and out of the arroyo once a car was in it. The bottom was covered with small rocks and sand, which Josie hoped would be easier for the larger van to navigate than the cars the Mexicans were driving.

Apparently familiar with the area, the two lead cars headed straight into the Arroyo and the two behind them veered off down Highway 67. Josie followed the cars down into the Arroyo, but within minutes, the other two cars had turned around and were behind her.

Josie was starting to panic. The red lights were barely visible in front of her now, and the white headlights were directly behind her. It was a terrible position to be in, sandwiched between the four cars. She had miscalculated.

“Hang on, Dell. None of them have four-wheel drive. I’m going to peel off and circle back behind them.”

Josie heard Dell cock the gun he held. “Just give it plenty of gas or you’ll slide backwards.”

Josie cut a sharp right into the desert just ahead of where the arroyo cut deep into the earth. She shut her headlights off so the other cars wouldn’t know her location. She knew the area well but inched forward, driving in complete darkness, turning her car to follow the brake lights of the others, barely visible in the blowing dust. The lights of the cars stopped, but she knew without four-wheel drive they could never make it up the embankment as she had. She wouldn’t be followed, and for a moment felt relieved. Then she heard the gunfire.

“Get down!” she yelled to Dell.

Dell leaned below the dashboard, his hands covering his head.

Josie bent down as well and focused her attention on getting her tires to grab hold of something. She didn’t dare drive straight into the desert, where the sand was hilly and treacherous. Without lights, she could easily flip her jeep. The gunfire faded as the cars took off again, struggling to keep up with Escobedo’s van. They were obviously more interested in the prisoners than in her.

“Call Lou and find out where Otto and Marta are.”

Josie turned her headlights back on and slowly drove over the edge of the embankment and down into the arroyo, the jeep rocking from side to side as it bottomed out. The red taillights were about fifty feet in front of her, and she turned on her flashing lights and turned her headlights on bright to disorient the driver in front of her. “This time, they made the mistake,” she said.

Dell used his own cell phone to call Lou, who said Otto and Marta were both driving their jeeps and were both just entering the pass behind them.

“Let me talk to her.”

Dell handed his phone to Josie.

“Lou, I need you to get the National Guard contacted. Tell them we need backup ASAP. We’ve got big problems. I tried to reach Moss several times, and he isn’t answering. I can’t wait on him to be the contact. You call and get them here now.”

Her cell phone rang. It was Escobedo. “I can see their lights. They can’t be more than half a mile from me.”

Hearing the worry in his voice, she hesitated, and then explained they had already fired at her.

“Whatever you do, don’t let them stop your van. You’ll be a dead man. Lou just called and said Otto and Marta are both right behind us. In four-wheel drive, they ought to be up with us in three or four minutes,” Josie said.

“I figure I’ve got about two miles before I’m at the highway. Presidio called and said they have four cars set in a roadblock with DPS and Border Patrol ETA in five minutes. Their cars are on Highway 67 headed south. The wind is blowing so bad, though; I can’t even tell if I’m on the road or not anymore.”

Josie heard gunshots, and Escobedo cried out. “They’re hitting the back of the van!”

She tried to ignore his panic. “You have to stay in the pass no matter what! Keep pushing through. You’ll be able to tell if you’re veering off the pass. From where you are, there’s about a three-foot incline on either side until you reach the highway.”

He began to reply, but the gunshots were so loud, they distorted his voice. All she could hear was static. The line went dead.

Headlights appeared in her rearview mirror, and she called Otto. He confirmed he was behind her.

“They’re shooting at Escobedo,” she said. “I’m going to try and get up top and catch up to the lead car. I’ll try and shoot out their tires. Be prepared if I do, though. They could come out shooting. Escobedo said he’s only about two miles out, then we’ve got help from Presidio PD and hopefully Border Patrol.”

“Get up top. I’ll call Marta and tell her we’ve got the back two cars. Think you can take out both the lead and the second car?”

“I’ll give it my best.”