Chapter 10

Bedtime seemed to come early out in the valley. I was very tired, having ditched the wheelchair and attempted to keep up with Breaker all day. It seemed like I was barely asleep when he was shaking me awake, with a finger to my lips to keep me from speaking.

“Shhhhhh ... we have a little company and I need to get you out of here in case their intentions are less than honorable...” I dressed in a heartbeat and he lifted me out a side window facing away from the valley entrance. Just as I cleared the window ledge, I thought about the dogs and realized they were obviously stalking the people coming to kill me.

That gave me a perverse pleasure. After what those people did to Ross, they and anyone that helped them would get what they deserved if those killer dogs ate them for dessert. Too bad Hazel couldn’t spend a few hours in their care.

Breaker led me between two huge boulders, and I discovered a trail leading up the rock face. ‘There is no way I can handle that climb,’ I thought as Breaker urged me onward. To my surprise the trail was cut into the rock face in such a way as to lessen the angle and make climbing easier.

It was dark and silent as we worked our way up the rock wall. Breaker was behind me in case I slipped off the trail and started to drop. It took a long time to reach the summit, and when we topped out, I dropped to the ground panting for air. Breaker left me there to catch my breath while he shimmied back to see what our uninvited company was doing. Before he got away, I asked, “Please give me your second rifle. I can shoot. I might be crippled, short, tiny, and weak, but I can shoot.”

Breaker thought that over, then shrugged, and handed over a thirty-thirty and a bandolier of ammunition. “It’s loaded,” he hissed, softly. “Just cock it and fire away. Try not to shoot me or the dogs. They hate it when that happens.” I think he meant it as a joke, but I wasn’t totally sure.

Once I was all alone on the top, looking out over the vista, I began to worry about what to do if Breaker was shot and killed. How would I contact anyone to come and pick me up? How far were we from some kind of town? Was there any satellite phone service and a phone to use if there was? How many had come to kill me and how desperate were they to do so?

You can worry yourself into an early grave with thoughts like that, so I picked up the gun and shimmied to the ledge and tried to see if I could pick up anyone moving about down below. I wasn’t there more than ten seconds when I heard a horrible scream. It sounded like Killer got the first kill. The following scrambling around and shouting gave me a better idea where our invaders were located, and I sighted in on one who was trying to flank Breaker.

When I touched the trigger the pull was so light that I was stunned when it went off. The guy who was sneaking up on Breaker was more stunned, because he screamed, jumped up and started running around shaking his left arm, which was hanging useless at his side.

That wasn’t the best idea because the next thing I saw was a white blur and a body flying through the air as one of the dogs took him out with a flying tackle.

The sounds that dog made as he pulverized the killer were frightening.

Two down, but I had no idea how many were left. Breaker must have slithered under some sagebrush, because he rose up and fired, taking out another one, and the third dog made a kill, which meant that we had taken down at least four. My shot would have surely alerted those looking for me, so I kept moving after I fired and found a perfect depression in the rock about fifty yards farther along the rock face and hunkered down to see what was going to happen next.

Princess found me there and cuddled up against me, using her body as a shield from the bad guys. I loved on her until I heard Breaker stage whisper to me that he was coming around on my blind side and not to shoot at him. Princess ran to welcome him into our little safe space. They spent a moment loving on each other before he gave me the news.

“You shot one. Killer killed one. Spike got another one, and Killer finished off the one I shot. Princess is up here with us and the other two are sweeping the valley looking for more. Ross, I don’t think they brought more than four, because there’s no noise down there. We killed four and I think we’re in the clear, but I have to report this to the bureau, so we need to head back down and trust the dogs to protect us.”

The trip down was nearly as long as the climb up, as Breaker took it very slowly, stopping often to listen, and once, to whistle for the dogs. When we hit the ground, the other two dogs joined up on us and were our escorts all the way back to the cabin.

The cabin was another surprise.

It was totally trashed. Whoever those guys were had turned the cabin upside down looking for clues as to where to find us. Everything was a huge mess and all over the floor. The mattresses were slashed, the pillows torn and dumped. Someone trashed the cabin while we were tied up dealing with the shooters. Everything that was moveable was destroyed. Fortunately Breaker had a satellite phone and retrieved it from its hiding place under a floorboard.

Breaker talked to someone for a long time. He seemed frustrated and showed a little temper from time to time. When he finally hung up, he tossed the phone on top of a pile of bedding left by our marauders and turned to me. “Well ... it looks like our visitors had some kind of advanced warming of our whereabouts. My contact is looking into how that was possible. We took all the necessary precautions, and yet, they showed up here less than forty-eight hours after we snuck you out of town.” He was still angry, so I gave him time and space to work through it.

Princess stayed beside me while I started to try and put the cabin back together. It wasn’t as big a task as I feared, and within an hour I had the bedrooms set back up and was working on the kitchen. Breaker spent that time receiving phone calls from his bosses. From the snatches of conversation I heard it seemed like the company was taking apart their operation looking for a traitor.