Billy was drenched with sweat and regretted not bringing his filter or his water with him. He had been running for over an hour solid before he finally stopped. Before he even tried to catch his breath, he pulled the radio out of his belt again. He had been hearing static coming from it on the way down but over the past few seconds, he had actually heard the faint sounds of chatter.
He pushed the button and in a winded, raspy voice he said, “This is Billy Joe Mason, can anyone hear me?” He heard another sound of distant chatter that he couldn’t understand. “Shit! This is Billy Joe Mason! Is anyone there?”
He started walking again as he talked. A few seconds of static passed before he finally heard a weak voice break through the static.
“Billy…it’s Vince…Okay…where…you?”
“Vince, I’m almost to Hill Park. I need a ride. Now. Fast. Please.”
He heard more static and then Vince’s voice again, but he couldn’t understand what the ranger was trying to say. With another oath cursed up toward the sky, he shoved the radio back into his belt and began to run again. He ran all the way to the Hill campground, the spot where he’d met the man and his daughter earlier. Now, the campground was filled with people and as soon as Billy got there, he dropped to his knees and began to vomit.
“Oh, shit! That’s the guy from this morning!” he heard someone yell. “Get me that water bottle over there.”
The next thing Billy knew, someone was holding a bottle of water to his lips and urging him to drink. He grabbed it and drank the whole bottle without taking a breath, letting it flow down his chin and stick onto his shirt. When he drew the bottle back and took a breath, he promptly vomited again. Once his stomach was emptied of everything, even the water he’d just drunk, he sat down in the dirt, shaking all over. Someone handed him another bottle of water and told him to drink slower. Billy took it with a shaky hand and took a sip. Finally he looked up at the crowd of men around him.
“Do you have a car?”
One man drew his brows together and said, “I thought you worked with the rangers. Motor vehicles aren’t allowed up this far. We have horses.”
Billy was still trying to get enough air in his lungs to speak. “I need one,” he rasped through deep breaths, “Now.”
Before any of the men could respond, the sound of an engine cut through the trees. They all looked in the direction of it and Billy wanted to cry with relief at the sight of the ranger on the dirt bike. He stopped the bike and climbed off. It was Vince.
“Jesus, Billy, are you okay?” he called out as he jogged over to them.
Billy nodded and took another sip of water as he pushed himself up off the ground. “I was out patrolling when you tried to get through so it was breaking up. I couldn’t hear what you were saying.”
“Vince, I need you to call Sheriff Glass and tell him that I found his campsite on the backside of the peak. There’s evidence up there he needs to collect. I have to get down to Blossom Hill, Vince, it’s an emergency.” Billy was already walking toward the bike before Vince agreed to let him take it. Vince followed him and handed him his helmet.
“I’m sure one of these nice men will lend me a horse.”
Billy mumbled out a “thank you” before strapping on the helmet and starting the bike. Within seconds he had the throttle opened as wide as it would go. It was dangerous to go so fast on the rocky, steep trails as he dodged trees and stumps. Billy thanked God for the way he was brought up as he maneuvered the dangerous terrain. As a kid, he’d spent more than one weekend illegally riding his dirt bike along the trails of the public parks and private lands of the Texas Hill Country. Sometimes it paid to be an outlaw.
********
“What are you doing?” Trent snapped at Joy as she pulled her hand out of her pocket. She’d just been making sure that the sound was off on her phone. She’d been hoping to not alert Trent that she had it.
“Nothing,” she said, swallowing hard. “I’m not doing anything. Trent, please…is it money you want? You can have as much as you want…”
He hit the brakes, sending her lunging forward to the limits of her seatbelt and then snapping back into the seat. “You think I’m an idiot?”
“No.” Her mouth hurt. It hurt to talk and blood was still pouring out her nose, but she had to try and get through to him. “I think you are the smartest person I’ve ever known, Trent. You could do so much good with that brain of yours…”
“Give me the phone.”
“What?”
“You want me to hit you again?” he screamed. Joy didn’t. She slipped the phone out of her pocket and handed it to him. He glared at her and took his hand off the wheel to take it, leaving the gun trained on her face. He grabbed the phone and tossed it out the van window. Then, without warning, he pressed the accelerator to the floor. The van fishtailed slightly and the tires smoked. He pulled up about six feet and then slammed the gearshift into reverse. Looking into the mirror, he backed up as quickly as he had gone forward. Joy couldn’t see what he was looking at, but she knew that he’d just destroyed her phone and probably any chance of anyone finding her.
As he started forward again, he said, “You know when he shows up, I’m just going to kill him, right? It’ll be another death you have on your hands.”
“Trent, please listen to me. I know that I messed up. You are a part of me, my twin, my brother, and, at one time in our lives, my best friend. I was forced by our sick mother to try and raise you when I was only a child myself. I did the best I could, which I admit was not good enough. Once we were grown, I was just lost. I didn’t know how to be an adult in the world I lived in. I didn’t know how to have a relationship with you or Hope. I was and still am scared, sad, and anxious all the time. Please give me another chance. I’m sorry. I’m so sorry you felt abandoned.”
Joy wasn’t sure if she was imagining it or not, but something about his features and posture seemed to soften a bit. He even slowed the van down as he went around the next bend. “Do you even remember the good times, Joy?”
She shuddered, hoping that Trent didn’t notice. No, she didn’t remember the “good times.” In her memory, they were all bad. “Of course I do,” she lied.
“You never really loved me, Joy.”
“That’s not true. We are a part of each other, Trent. You’ll always be my brother.”
“Right up until the time I slit your throat and watch the blood and the life drain out of your body.”
Joy felt her stomach roll. She knew Trent planned to kill her but she had been praying that he planned to do it quickly with the gun. “Trent, please. I’ll give you whatever you want. You don’t have to do this…”
“Yes, Joy, I do. I have to do this because I’ll never have any peace as long as I know you’re living the good life. Once you’re gone and I have your money, I can finish crossing things off my bucket list…and when that’s all done, I’ll be able to sleep at night, anywhere I want.”
“You can have the money, Trent, all of it. I don’t want it, just take it!”
“Shut up! Quit acting like I’m stupid. I know you wouldn’t just hand me all your money and let me be on my way. You’re just trying to use the same tactics those assholes at the state hospital try on me all the time.” He smiled then and said, “It’s always fun when I get them alone and describe to them in great detail what I’m going to do to their family. They never believe me at first…until I give them their own address and name each one of their kids. Letting us inmates have access to the internet was the best idea California ever had. I got to follow you and your career step by step…it’s just such a treasure trove of information.”
Joy shuddered again. There was no way she could convince him not to kill her. At that point all she could do was pray that Marcus would live to see his babies born and no one else got hurt because of her.
“So, where are we going?” she asked him.
“To the bank. You’re going to withdraw as much money as they’ll let you. Once I have that, this will be over—for you anyways.”
“What if we get to the bank and I refuse to cooperate?”
Trent laughed. “I guess you’ll have to decide whose life is more important, yours or your boyfriend’s.”
She tried to keep a neutral face as her stomach clenched and she said, “I don’t have a boyfriend.”
He laughed again. “Okay, then I guess you won’t mind me slicing up that fool Billy Joe. You think I should cut one of his arteries and let his blood spurt out all over the place? Or should I just make little cuts all over his body and let his blood sleep out slowly? I think I’ll make it slow. I’ve never gotten the opportunity to kill a large animal, like a bear. I’ll bet killing your boyfriend Billy would be about the same thing. I bet it’ll take him a long time to bleed out and die. Did you know that bleeding out is not painless?”
Joy felt herself go cold and shivered. “Trent, please stop.” There was a tremor in her voice.
“You never were impressed with my knowledge of science and biology. Anyways, it’s up to you. If you do or say anything stupid at the bank, I put a bullet in your head and go find that big old country boy you care so much about. That might be more fun anyways, if I didn’t have to do it with all that cash in my pocket.”
The wheels were turning in Joy’s head a thousand miles a minute. She was in survival mode and that she could handle. Her whole life with her brother had been about survival. But she’d never had to worry about someone she loved getting hurt too before…because she’d never had anyone in her life that she cared that much about until now.