Ninety Degrees Out

“Hey, Randy get your binoculars. I’ve got something on the highway. It’s out there a way. See that motorcycle?” Aaron was laying on the forest side of the roof over the great room.

Picking up his set of Zeiss field glasses, Randy scanned along the road and let out a soft whistle.

“What the fuck are they doing? Look at the little bitch, she’s playing dead.” Aaron’s buddy settled behind his rifle. “It isn’t too long a shot from here.

They were on a platform Aaron built for them. Sturdy, with a canopy to shade them from the sun, it was made out of scrap lumber salvaged from houses destroyed in the earlier earthquakes. Kanti hauled it back from Anchorage on one of her last flights before fuel rationing shut her down.

“Crap, and now he’s waving the damn car down. This isn’t good. I think that’s the Harley Armaruq and Erik suspected from when Catherine was attacked.” Aaron looked for signs of the wind. It was steady from the right to left.

“Might be,” Randy didn’t sound like he was on board with his speculation.

“You’re right, we never got a good description of what he was riding. You’ve got a steady breeze from right to left down there. Looks to be around a thousand yards.”

“Shit, I can’t take the shot. I don’t want collateral damage.” Randy eased his eye away from his scope.

Aaron watched as the girl pulled her arm up, swinging her pistol. She hit the woman who had climbed out of the car in the temple. When her victim crumpled into a heap on the ground, she hopped into the car, as her companion left a long black tire track on the road. In less that thirty seconds they were out of sight heading into Anchorage.

Randy picked up the handheld radio.

“Erik, this is Randy. We have an incident.”

Aaron wriggled over the edge of the platform backward and felt for the slats he nailed into the steep roof. The rope tying him into his anchor points on the ridge tightened as he belayed himself down toward the ladder. He knew Randy would maintain watch and give Erik a good description of the bike and both of the perps.

He half slid down the ladder. Racing around into the garden, he yelled, “Hey, Sara!”

Her head jerked up, and she looked over her shoulder. “What’s up?”

“Grab your first aid kit. We’ve got woman who just got attacked on the highway into Anchorage. What’s across the creek? Is there anything over there?”

“Why?”

“I think our bike gang is somewhere over there. We didn’t see him on our side of Dahl road, so he had to be holed up somewhere on the other side of Twig Creek bridge.”

“Damn!” Sara peeled her gardening gloves off, putting them in the basket she was using to harvest vegetables and herbs. “I’ll drop this in the kitchen. While I grab the med kit, you saddle the horses.”

“I’ll keep an eye out from up here,” Randy shouted from the roof. “Grab the other radio. Erik is listening for you as well. He’s sending help from the ranch. Get going. I can see she’s bleeding.”

Aaron dodged the kitchen island on his way out to the garage. Two horses stabled there raised their heads from their feed troughs. He didn’t bother with a saddle for his, but Sara wasn’t a skilled rider yet, and he swung hers onto the grey gelding she preferred. By the time he had his bridle on, and the cinch tightened she came through the door with her backpack on her shoulders.

“Do you have the other radio?”

Sara nodded as she slipped her foot into her stirrup. “Full charge on it too.”

“Let’s go then.” They trotted out the open door. Aaron kicked his horse into a canter, and Sara followed. He hoped they weren’t on a hopeless mission.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

“Jett, do you see that?” Catherine pointed to a thin wisp of rising smoke.

“I do.” He took his compass and aligned himself with it. “I wish I had a bearing dial like they do in a fire lookout tower.”

Catherine’s blank expression made him smile.

“I was along as the photographer on an article about how fires are spotted in the national parks and in fire season in California. It’s an amazing analog device which gives you an exact bearing from the tower toward the smoke. Gives the helicopters a perfect target when they go to look.”

“Great idea. It would be nice to have something like that up here. Maybe even a tower we could put it in,” Catherine said.

“I’m going to call Captain Whipper. She’ll get one of the patrol choppers to take a look. I don’t like it. Looks like it’s over toward Aaron and Sara’s place. Maybe a little bit toward Anchorage from there.”

“Might be nothing. Could be someone is living out there and clearing up debris or garbage.”

“Yeah, but it’s unusual. I haven’t seen smoke from any of our buildings. We’re all using power from solar and wind sources. There’s no need to use fire unless your camped. If it’s someone trying to survive out there, we need to find them and if it’s the gang we’re looking for, well we need to find them even more.”

“Well your not going to like this.” Catherine stopped turning as she pointed once more.

“Another one?” Jett asked.

“Further south of the first one. I’ve got a bad feeling about this. If someone is deliberately setting fires, we’ve got a big problem.”

The radio beeped with a repeater tone.

“Jett, are you there? Randy calling.”

“Jett here. Go ahead Randy.”

“Can you confirm smoke. Times two? A little north and twice as far south down the highway from the Markham place.”

“You spotted it too? Yes, Catherine noticed it a couple of minutes ago.”

Catherine tugged his arm, “There’s another one, closer to them. Someone is up to no good.”

“We see another smoke plume. Closer to you. The wind is indicating it would move toward you. I’m switching frequencies to call Captain Whipper.” Jet continued.

“Roger, we have an incident on the highway as well. This seems fishy. I’ll keep an eye on those fires.”

“So, we aren’t seeing things?” Catherine asked.

“No, and I hope the forest is wet enough it won’t burn. I’m not sure if there are grassy areas, but again, with daily rain like we’re getting, it shouldn’t go anywhere.”

He stood up to wrap an arm around Catherine. She pressed herself back into his chest as she continued to watch through her binoculars.

“I wish I was down on the ranch,” Catherine half whispered.

“So do I.”

“But if we don’t have lookouts, then there are other things that we won’t spot. Fire problems aren’t really what we’re looking for here, it’s that strange face, or spooked animal that will give us the clues we need.” Catherine sounded like she was arguing with herself.

“Let’s call it for today. I’m hoping Deborah hasn’t gone into labor and we don’t have to get Doc Ingersoll up here in a hurry.”

“I agree. Just call Janice first, okay?” Catherine pulled the soft leather case for her binoculars out of her carry sack.