Today’s
excerpt is from The Tickleton Affair, Book #5 of the nine-book Janitors Series. The Janitors and friends leading the bad guys
to where they will eventually set their trap.
Enjoy and have a great day.
m.j.
Nine
minutes and counting later, Drew looked at John. “Good coffee.
We’ve messed with them long enough…let’s go.”
Just
as they walked out of the tour office, Ben and Gail were getting out of the
van. They had taken two steps apiece
toward the gift shop when Neil, who was looking down toward the tour office,
thumped on the side of the van. Ben
turned his head and saw Drew and John getting in the jeep. “Shit.
Back in the van, Gail.”
Drew
glanced that way and nearly burst out laughing as John backed the jeep out and
drove on his pre-determined route.
Back
in the van, Ben started it up and backed out of his space as well. He was soon headed the same direction as
John. Two cars had passed him before he
could pull out, so he was well back, but could still see the jeep.
In the
jeep, John grinned. “They’re three cars
back. Want me to slow down?”
“Naw,
let the bastard earn his keep.”
John
chuckled and drove on. When he reached
the turn off from the main road onto another road—which ultimately led to the
road toward the ranch—he signaled and made his turn. Ben had just come around a bend in time to
see the turn. He muttered an oath, as he
knew he didn’t have time to pass either of the two cars in front of him and then
get back in the right lane.
As
luck—bad—would have it, the first of the two cars in front of him slowed and
made the same turn as John had. The
driver was an older man in no hurry to get where he was going. Neil looked over Ben’s shoulder. “Damn it, Ben, don’t loose them.”
“As
soon as I can, I’ll pass this jerk in front of us.”
Just
as Ben spoke, the other car turned off.
Ben quickly looked in his rear-view mirror, saw no one behind him and no
one coming the other way, and turned off his lights, having earlier rigged them
so they could be turned off, since the van was a newer model.
Just
as he did that, he passed Evan and Jessica sitting in their car, waiting
patiently for the van to pass, as they had seen John and Drew pass minutes
before. While they had been sitting
there, Evan had also fixed his car so the light wouldn’t come on when he
started it, which he now did.
When
Evan had done that, Jessica had watched with interest, as previously she had no
idea how that procedure was done. She
had a mind like a sponge and tucked that new piece of information away for
possible future use.
As
Evan pulled onto the road, without headlights, he could barely see the van,
since the night was overcast. Jessica
quickly handed him a set of night vision goggles, which she had shown him how
to use earlier. In seconds, he could see
ahead quite nicely, and smiled as the van came into full view.
In
front of Evan and Jessica, Ben was having more difficulty seeing the jeep
because he and Neil didn’t have night vision equipment—another oversight by the
“Ghost”-rattled Chang. Had Ben been
closer to the jeep, his task would have been easier, since John was the only
one with his lights on. That advantage
for Ben was lost, however, when John made a turn onto the road that wound
around and turned into one of the two gravel roads leading to the ranch.
When
John’s lights disappeared, Ben grumbled, “Shit” and floored the van.
That
move caught Evan off guard just a bit, but he had no problem keeping up, as he
too gunned his car. In short order, he
was actually gaining on Ben because he could see where he was going much better
than they could in the van.
When
Ben reached the turn-off John had taken, he nearly missed it, but did catch a
glimpse of tail lights and made the turn with very little to spare.
Evan
had no trouble finding the turn-off and made the turn with ease. Then he eased off on the gas to fall back,
just in case the cloud cover should break up.
Up
ahead in the jeep, Drew, who had put on night vision goggles, glanced back and
clearly saw the distant van. He
chuckled. “They aren’t doing too well
keeping up. Let’s give them a little
stress. How about increasing speed just
a bit?”
“Ha. Not here.
I’ve got a crazy uncle who might speed up here, but not me. We’ve got some turns and dips coming up real
fast.”
Drew
quipped. “Guess us old guys just have
better judgment when driving than you young fellas.”
“That’s
what he’d say, too. For me, I think
you’re both nuts. If I wanted to lose
those guys, I could…but it’s not worth the risk just to mess with them.”
“You’re
driving.”
“Yes,
I am.”
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