At each gas station he called Dave to see what was going on with Chelsea. She was in the hospital, sedated, and the doctors planned to keep her that way until Doc arrived in Yuma to take over her care.
Dave told him again and again that he didn't need to ride hard. Chelsea was going to be asleep until Doc arrived anyway. And they weren't going to move her until Doc said she was stable enough to do so. That could be a month, but definitely—according to the doctors watching her now—more than a week.
"She's bad, Elias, real bad. Worse than any of these doctors have ever seen, and one of them is ex-military. The sedation is holding though, and Doc will be here in—three hours? Four? Not much more than that, so everything that can be done is being done."
Doc jumped a flight in Houston for Phoenix, where she planned on renting a car. So she was going to be there long before he could arrive.
There was also the disturbing message from Eric, who said that he found a scout—a young Mex with Cartel tats on his arms and chest. The young Mex was currently in the hospital with a broken jaw, and three broken ribs. Eric said on his message that he would be riding hard to catch up with them and to watch their back trail.
The big, redhead ex-merc had better instincts than Elias felt he himself had, and that was saying something. If Eric thought they had trouble behind them, then only a fool would not take this as fact until strong evidence to the contrary was presented—and even then, one eye on the mirror wouldn't be a bad idea.
Where would the ambush happen? It wasn't a question of if, but where.
Where would he do it?
The goal of an ambush had to include taking one or two of them alive while killing the rest. That seemed obvious enough to Elias. Why bother if no one could tell Tomas afterward where Chelsea was?
No one followed Dave or Billy. Elias was sure of that. They were single riders, going in different directions. So, at this point in time, the only one possibly leading danger to Chelsea was himself.
The Cartel tattoos on the kid in Houston gnawed at him. That was the thread he needed to pull on. If the kid worked directly for Tomas, then Tomas had Cartel connections. Not exactly uncommon in Houston, but more common in El Paso, with Juarez just across the border.
At their current rate, they would be coming into El Paso sometime around midnight. Would Tomas hit them before or after El Paso?
A hundred miles outside of El Paso, Elias finally decided that after was the best bet. There would be less traffic coming into El Paso from the West, and the terrain would be better.
At the next gas offering, Elias signaled the group off the highway, even though he was still at half a tank. They cruised into the station, and Elias got off his bike and tried to call Eric. He let the phone ring until voice mail picked up, and then called back. He did this five times before he got a "Hello?"
"Eric, where are you?"
"About one-fifty outside of El Paso. Where are you?"
"Fifty in front of you," Elias told him, and gave him the exit. "I'm smelling an ambush."
"That's because you're riding into one," Eric told him. "I've got fourty men with me, all Guards."
"I really like your style. We're staying put until you arrive."
"You're smarter than I figured. I thought that you would be balls out for Chelsea," Eric said with a grin in his voice.
"I was, but Chelsea is fine. We have her, and she's not going anywhere for at least a week. We have time. I want Tomas. I want this ended," Elias told him.
"Why do I have the feeling that we're going to ride into an ambush on purpose?" Eric asked.
"Because you are a smart man," Elias told him.
"Then balls out is still the way you're riding," Eric laughed. "I was right the first time."
"Yep. See you when you arrive."
They pulled their bikes behind the gas station, and then took up posts in various spots around the exit area on foot, hoping to spot their pursuer if he backtracked to relocate them. Chances were, though, he would just stay in sight of the road up ahead of them, and wait for them to pass again.
"We could just avoid the whole thing," Jeff suggested. "Hell, we could head north, and then take the 40 across, and come down through Arizona. Adds a major stretch to the ride, but why bother with the ambush if we don't have to?"
Elias took this question as a tactical inquiry, because Jeff was not one to shirk a fight if one was available.
"You mean, take the 25 up to Albuquerque," Elias suggested.
"Right, then the 40 into Arizona, and then the 17 down through Phoenix," Jeff agreed.
"We're marked with Duffy's trike with us, and there is no way for us to lose a car on our back trail. He has range—I don't. I swear I'm getting a Heritage as soon as I'm back in Houston," Elias said with a grimace. "But the bottom line is, I want Tomas. I want this over. I don't want Chelsea, or us, to ever have to worry about that horror of a human being again."
"There's a lot easier ways to kill a man," Jeff mulled.
"Any of them include getting me to Chelsea's side as soon as possible?" Elias asked.
The big man thought that over, and after several long moments said, "Not that I can think of, boss. No."
Elias nodded. "Chelsea may not want to come back to Houston. There's a lot of pain for her there. Tomas wasn't the only one who scared her. She mentioned some guy she knew as Papi coming for her on the phone. She was hallucinating, apparently, because she thought she could see the man in her room, but the man scares the crap out of her just as much as Tomas does. If you had that kind of horror in Houston, would you want to go back?"
Jeff shook his head. "No, no I wouldn't."
"That's my answer too. So, she may not want to go back, and I want her to know it's alright not to. I want to be there when she starts making that decision. I want her to know that I'm with her all the way. Besides, maybe it would be best to be in San Diego, or Seattle, or fucking Sydney, Australia." Elias sighed and then continued, "But where ever, whatever, she decides, she'll never stop running until there is nothing to run from. She'll never feel safe with that fucker out there. Not because I couldn't hide her—I could. But because her fears are just too strong."
"You sure are taking on a lot, boss. I mean, I've known some PTSD's before. Hell, we all have. You know that it never really goes away, and the state she is in now—she may not come back. Doc said that, and I think you know it, down deep."
Elias nodded, looked out at the dark freeway and watched the light traffic. "You're right, I know that. But, after feeling that house without her in it, and my bed without her beside me, I know I've got no other choices. Whether it’s hard or not, Chelsea is my woman, and the only one I want. As long as I am breathing, I'm going to stand by her."
They were silent together for a long time, just feeling the night and watching the road. Then Jeff said, "You're a lucky man, boss. If I had what you two have, I wouldn't let it go either, and I'd kill whoever tried to take it from me."
"That's the way of it," Elias agreed.