Jake and I knelt by the side of the road in the wet grass. Highway 8 was teeming with travelers just as I had been warned in Osceola the day before. In the last 15 minutes, we’d seen no fewer than 20 people. And most of them appeared to not be overly friendly. We were just waiting for a chance to cross, unnoticed. My carrier had already taken in its fair share of attention.
“Dude, you really need to hide that kid cart better. Everyone sees that thing!” Jake was not happy this morning. I had woken him at first light. He mentioned something about being a late sleeper. Then when I threatened to leave without him, he begged me to wait. He got ready pretty quick actually. It was about the quickest I’d seen him move, with the exception of catching me on the road yesterday.
“There’s one more group to clear and then we’re home free,” I whispered to Jake. He seemed to want to speak in a normal tone; like that would help hide us. I saw him shake his head.
“Dude, I don’t like the look of this next group. Something’s wrong. Five guys and they look edgy to me. Something’s wrong dude.” He stared hard at the group some 75 yards still down the road. He had reason to be spooked.
The first ten minutes on the road that day had brought trouble. We bumped into a group of meandering misfits going around a tight corner less than a mile from our previous night’s hideout. Jake and I came to a quick stop no more than five yards in front of them. They looked us over like a side of beef, not a good feeling.
Finally their leader spoke. “What you got in the carrier?” All three looked past us at the blue nylon device. It was like they had X-ray vision. I wanted to handle the situation calmly but Jake spoke first, and not too calm.
Jake stuck his chin up daring the road trash to move. “Screw off. You touch that and my buddy here will shoot you all dead.” They looked me up and down carefully. It would have helped if I had grabbed the gun from the carrier before we broke camp, but this was the hand we were dealt. So I bluffed.
My hand moved around in my sweatshirt pocket like I was grabbing my gun. Or maybe an apple. Hopefully these three idiots wouldn’t call Jake’s misinformed bluff. Maybe. They nervously looked between Jake and me and Buddy. Buddy was no help. He was far too gregarious to be a threat. I guess I had trained him well to be nice to all visitors. All people.
Finally the leader spoke again, looking back at his cohorts in crime. “I don’t think he’s got a gun. You?” One shook no; I almost wet myself.
The other, thankfully, seemed more skeptical. “I say we don’t find out. I don’t want to be the one who gets shot, just in case he’s got one.” The other two shared a look and then glanced back over their shoulders at me. I nodded showing my faux toughness. The wet spot in my pants would give me away in about a second I worried.
“Yeah, whatever.” The threat died down. After two minutes of holding my breath I finally exhaled. Jake did the same. “I still say you’re bluffing but there’s easier pickings out here. So forget it. Go on past.” Jake watched our back as we pedaled on, away from the trouble.
But now, here we were looking at all sorts of trouble again. I thought we had hidden our bikes well enough, but everyone going by seemed to notice the blue nylon of the carrier. Or maybe it was the bright yellow stripe going across both sides of the carrier. Whatever it was, it garnered a lot of unwanted attention.
I put my hand on Jake’s shoulder and spoke softly as we closely watched the highway.
“When this group gets by us we’ll ease down, grab the bikes and get going. I say let them get 50 yards past. Okay?” Jake nodded still watching intently. He seemed to recognize something or someone in the approaching group.
“Dude, I know this guy out front. He’s a bad hombre. We need to avoid him at all costs.” I was fine with Jake’s plan. I didn’t need any more trouble.
“Just let them pass, no big deal.” He nodded his head.
“What are you guys looking at?” A third voice joined our group causing Jake and I to jump. Between us knelt a young boy. After closer examination I discovered the boy to be a girl. She glared at me and then down at Jake. “Hi Jake.”
Jake let out a quick sigh, recognizing our intruder. “Hey Brit. What are you doing here?” Apparently these two knew each other. The young lady smiled at me.
“Just making my way to my grandparent’s place. I was over in St. Croix Falls with my dad.” She knelt close to Jake. Leaning in against him. Finally, he noticed my confusion.
“Bill, this is Brit. Brit, Bill.” She ignored the introduction, watching the road carefully. “She’s a cousin. Like a third cousin or something like that. She lives in Balsam too. With her mom.” This began to make a little more sense to me, finally.
“Okay,” I began slowly, “That explains who she is. Now, why are you here in the middle of nowhere like this, Brit?” I studied her face carefully. She didn’t seem too worried, or over anxious, or like anything was bothering her. She watched the road with Jake and looked back at me with her answer.
“I’ve been over by my dad’s place this past few weeks. Ever since the power went out. My dad’s not a lot of fun, so I decided this morning I wanted to go to my grandma and grandpa’s farm. That’s up by Frederic. So that’s where I’m headed.” She shrugged slightly as she finished. No big deal.
I shook my head at her. “And exactly how old are you?” Once again she smiled.
“I’m fourteen and I know how to take care of myself. So you don’t need to worry about that.” I saw Jake chuckling.
“Yes?” I frowned at Jake so he might explain.
“Brit’s pretty independent, Bill. She’s left alone a lot by her folks. All of a sudden she’ll show up in the oddest of places, by herself.” He grinned my way. “She’s resourceful you could say.” Resourceful or not, she’d be going with Jake. That much I knew. I had enough issues to deal with already. I looked at the road. The latest group stopped in front of our position.
I shook my head for about the fortieth time. They were staring at that stupid bike carrier that wasn’t well hidden. Next they stared at us in the brush, also not so well hidden.
“Well what do we have here?” Their apparent leader spoke. He was tall and thin and dirty. Even his scraggily facial hair was matted with sweat. His dark hair matched his dark eyes and even darker mood. This wasn’t good. “I see you in bushes. Why don’t you come out so we can all be friends?” I swore under my breath, Jake swore a little louder. I was about to tell our group to hold tight when Brit popped up and started out of the brush. Not the exact plan I had in mind. Jake and I rose and chased after her.
We stepped out into the open ditch ten feet from them. The road and the ditch were the same elevation so they had no advantage of higher ground. The five looked us over carefully. The girl stood between Jake and myself.
I took the lead. “We’re not looking for any trouble fellows.” This caused them all to grin. Not a good start. “We just want to head north from here. No big deal, just heading north.” The five stared at us intently.
“Well,” the leader started slowly. “I’m always open to letting people pass. As long as they can pay the toll.” All of us stared in quiet anticipation. The next words from either would be important. “Say, what’s you name sweetie?” Okay, maybe not that important.
The girl’s stare bore a hole through his head. “My name is Brit. I’m with these two. I’m heading for my grandparent’s farm.” One of their group licked his lips, gawking at Brit. This kind of attention wasn’t good.
“Well, Britney. Wouldn’t you rather come with five handsome men? Or do you want to get lost with these two wimps? We’ll be able to protect you better.” I didn’t like this man’s attention focused on a 14-year-old girl. His funny sideways smile made me feel uncomfortable.
“First off,” Brit began before I could get a word out. “My name is Brit. Only my family gets to call me Britney. Secondly, I’m not going anywhere with you creeps. You’re all dirty and gross and disgusting. I’m staying with Jake here.” The leaders smile faded into a
nasty frown. He had other plans.
“I wasn’t really asking, sweetie pie. It was more of a statement.” Brit’s head shook showing her intentions. The standoff intensified.
I shrugged at the leader. The lady had spoken her mind. “Okay then, we’ll just be on our way and leave you fellows to your travels…” A strong hand to my chest told me this group lacked a sense of humor.
The leader looked at me. “We’ll just take your stuff then.”
I shook my head. I needed my supplies now more than ever. I felt the gun in my pocket trying to decide when to bring it out. “I don’t think so. Maybe I can give you a couple things from my supplies but not the whole lot. No way.”
The leader smiled right through me. “How about I take the dog, your supplies, your bikes and the girl and just leave you two on foot. That sound better?” His group laughed again.
Finally I withdrew the pistol from my pocket. His laugh stopped suddenly. “No, I don’t think so. How about you just let us pass and I don’t use this thing?”
He seemed unimpressed. “What you gonna do? Shoot us all? Hardly. You might hit one or two before someone got to you. And then you and the kid are dead. And we still get everything in the end.” He was right, but I didn’t show any concern, at least on the outside.
Jake and Britney stared at us. I hoped they would both keep their mouths shut. There was nothing either could add that would help. Thankfully they were silent. Well, Jake kept quiet.
“Just give him whatever, so we can keep going.” Brit thought this might help. Not good Brit, not good.
I sighed.
“So what’s the trade then?”
He looked at me seriously, meanly. “I’m taking the bikes and your supplies. You can keep her. She looks too young anyway.” He continued to stare deep into my eyes. I watched as his four friends moved closer to everyone.
I slowly weighed my options. I knew it was the right thing to do. I could find another bike somewhere within a few hours. Supplies would be harder to replace, but I couldn’t take a chance of these road bandits taking an innocent girl.
“Just let me grab my pack from the carrier, okay?”
The leader acquiesced with a slight nod. I grabbed my backpack with some canned goods, 20 rounds of ammo and another change of clothes. It wasn’t the best trade, but it was the right thing. Even if it completely messed up all my plans. I grabbed what I needed and pointed at the bikes for his team to take. The road bandits took their bounty and started down the road.
Jake looked on shaking his head. “Dude, that’s my bike. You didn’t have any right to give it to them.” He stared like he was losing a long-time pal. I swore I could almost see a tear form in his eye.
“We traded our stuff for your cousin’s safety, Jake. In case you didn’t notice, they seemed fairly interested in her.” I turned and looked at the pair. Jake was either miffed or depressed, I couldn’t tell. Brit looked at me and shrugged, she didn’t seem to notice their evil intentions.
“Whatever. It’s not like I’m a woman.” She had no idea how dangerous her presence could be. In her mind, she was just a young girl, and that’s how everyone else should view her too. I shook my head at her naivety.
“Brit, you can’t be traveling alone. It’s not safe.” She looked up at me like I was crazy.
Jake shrugged at her and picked up his jacket from the side of the road. He pulled out a smoke and puffed away. He wasn’t too thrilled to be on foot.
“Let’s just get going so I can drop you two off in Balsam Lake and I can be on my way.” Jake nodded but Britney, well, Brit, froze.
Brit spoke loudly to us. “I’m not going to Balsam. I’m going to Frederic.”
I looked at Jake. “I thought you said she lived in Balsam Lake with her mom?” He shrugged again. I was getting pretty sick of that response.
Brit spoke up. “Mom does, but she’ll probably be up by her parents, north of Luck. So that’s where I’m going. I can make it on my own. I’m fine. That’s the first issue I’ve had all morning.” Five minutes in, and her opinions flew freely.
Jake laughed at her. “I don’t know if that’s a good idea, Brit. You and Bill can make it to Luck. The roads are full of creeps.” Jake looked down at the shorter girl. Brit, for her part, ignored Jake and started walking ahead. Something told me there was more discussion to come yet. “Brit, I’m serious.” Suddenly the young girl stopped and turned.
She came back at Jake quickly. A nasty look crossed her face while she shook her head. Apparently she wasn’t used to being told no. She stopped inches from Jake and stared seriously up into his emotionless face. What were these two up to?
Chapter 22