The Gutenberg Rubric
Copyright© 2018 by Wayzgoose
Chapter 29
Yousef was no stranger to being chased through wilderness roads. He had crossed enough factions in northern Iran while investigating his father’s death that he’d had to run on more than one occasion. Derek and Maddie thought he was paranoid. But they had no idea of things he’d done. They were after him. Mossad, CIA, Yakuzi, al-Queda. He was an equal opportunity offender. His hand was steady on the wheel and when he blasted through a small village and then south. He pulled up into the foothills on a goat path. He was sure he had missed Derek and Maddie. The roads on this side still had patches of snow on them and there were no other tire tracks through it.
He stopped beneath a ridge and took binoculars from the car, then climbed up to the ridge to look back along the road. The Jeep Patriot he’d wildly shot at when he hit the road came into town slowly, as if checking every alley for him, and then came to a complete stop. After a minute the driver backed into a short tight passage between two buildings. Nothing moved and Yousef used the opportunity to scan the surrounding countryside. From his vantage point he could look over a shallow depression between two ridges that rose toward the mountain. There was movement high above the valley. Yousef could not be sure, but it looked like Maddie’s boyfriend rushing down the mountain.
Yousef swung the binoculars back toward the car in the village. A man got out and looked up the valley from the village. Near the top of the valley, the road that circled the summit cut across just above a small lake or pond that still had a crust of ice on it in spots. The man definitely looked native, but something was out of place. This was no opportunistic kidnapper. This man was moving with determination that indicated he was searching for something or someone specific.
Then Yousef saw him check a hand-held device, look up the far ridge, and check the device again. The man headed off toward the ridge, carefully picking his way along, and staying sheltered beneath over-hanging rocks. Yousef looked down the ridge he was on to where he had parked his car. It was barely visible from his location, but he realized that anyone looking through binoculars from the other side would be able to see it clearly. It’s too late to do anything about that now, he thought. Better to keep out of sight and watch what was going on.
To read the complete story you need to be logged in:
Log In or
Register for a Free account
(Why register?)
* Allows you 3 stories to read in 24 hours.