BORRASCA - Bagian 5 - Chapter 14 (English)

THERE IS NO CHAPTER 13

Kimber remained focused on the road behind us throughout our ascent. It was slow-going at times and we got stuck every mile or two. I wondered if Kimber could even get the car back down in the morning. There seemed to be no fear in her: no anxiety in her voice, no agitation in her movements. Kimber knew as well as I did that this was the end. And she didn’t hesitate to meet it.

Finally, I saw what I was looking for: a turnoff to a more level road that would move us laterally around the mountain. I took the corner and drove a mile and a half down the road before finally putting the car in park. Kimber turned around in her seat and stared out the back window.

“They’re not following us.” I said.

“How do you know?”

“Because I’ve been followed before.”

Kimber turned back around in her seat and chewed on her thumbnail.

“But just because we’re not being followed doesn’t mean we can go back,” I said. “They’re not gonna let us off this mountain.” I choked on a deep breath of thin mountain air hoping to calm my racing heart.

Kimber patted my back. “Breathe, Sam.” She leaned forward and popped her glove compartment open, then took out a large, folded paper target.

“Why do you keep that in your car?” I asked.

Kimber shrugged. “Practice.” She opened the door and stepped out into the snow. I followed her.

“You think they’re following us and you want to shoot a gun out here?” I said.

“You said we weren’t being followed. I trust you.” She gave me a small smile as if she hadn’t said anything significant. Kimber trusted me. It was a bittersweet victory that wouldn’t last long.

“Come on,” she said. “You need to learn how to shoot. Use the Beretta since you favor it so much.”

“Honestly I just thought it looked cool.” I admitted.

“It does. And it sounds cool, too. Have you ever shot a firearm before?”

“Once. But I didn’t hit anything.”

“Well, that’s not going to be acceptable up here. We have a lot of ammunition but it’s not going to help us if you can’t hit anything.”

I couldn’t argue with that.

“Now the sheriff is probably going to be wearing a vest so you can’t aim for body mass – you’ll need to hit him in the head. Same with Jimmy and anyone else that shoots at you.”

“Okay.” I said, as if we weren’t discussing murdering cops.

Kimber walked twenty yards away and pinned the target to a tree branch. “Now the Beretta is a semi-automatic gun so you won’t need to chamber every cartridge.  Just point and shoot in succession.”

“Right,” I said.

“You don’t need to rack the slide because there’s already a bullet in the firing chamber. Your left foot should be in front of your right, about shoulder length apart. Hold the gun with both hands. Good. Now align the sights and fix on the target. Squeeze the trigger when you’re ready.”

The shot was louder than I’d expected, and echoed through the mountains for almost 3 seconds. “Well, if they didn’t know we were here already, they do now.”

“Not bad.” Kimber said, as she walked up to the target. “You hit the very outside circle. Let me correct your stance a little.”

We worked through the afternoon in similar form, taking a lot of time between each shot. I would fire the gun, Kimber would adjust me or give me advice and then I would try again. With each progressive squeeze of the trigger I got a little closer to the center of the target. She worked with me until the sun had sunk far into the horizon and the shadows were too long to decipher from each other. I was beginning to shiver in the sunless cold.

“I know you’re freezing but this is the perfect amount of light to practice in. You’re still leaving at 3am, right?”

“Yes. But Kimber, I can’t have you out there. You know that, right?”

“Why do you think I’m teaching you to shoot?”

“You’re going to let me go alone?”

“Do I have a choice?”

“No.”

Kimber shrugged. “Then I guess I have to.”

It was too easy. Deceptively easy. We both knew she didn’t mean it but I didn’t want to argue.

“Okay, get low like I taught you and try to hit the birch tree again. I’m going to go get the SIG so I can show you how to use a rifle.”

I eyed the white bark of the far off birch through the sights. I was determined to hit the trunk this time. Even though I knew I wouldn’t have the luxury of taking time to line up my shots at the mine, I needed to learn how to use them properly if I was going to have any kind of chance at success. I exhaled slowly and brought my finger down to wrap around the trigger.

“Sam, stop!”

I turned around so see Kimber standing at the trunk of the car. Her face, which had been flush from the cold for the last hour, had gone white as the snow she was standing in.

“What’s wrong?”

“It’s gone.”

“What’s gone?” I asked in confusion.

“All of it.”

“What?” I walked over next to Kimber and stared into the trunk. All that remained was one bullet proof vest and a scribbled piece of yellow legal paper.

We know all you have on you is one semiautomatic handgun. We’re leaving you this ballistic vest to show you that we play fair. Your daddy wants to see you. Come to us before we come to you. Coordinates below.
–       The Good Guys

P.S. Your vehicle has been LoJacked curtesy of the Butler County Sheriff’s Department.

“They just won.” Kimber said in a defeated sort of bewilderment. And she was right – we were absolutely fucked.

“No.” I said. “Maybe we can still- “

Kimber slapped my face. She seemed to immediately regret it as if she had surprised herself, but she carried on anyway.

“Don’t be an idiot, Sam!” Kimber jerked the 9mm out of my hand and ejected the clip. It was empty.

“You don’t have anything on you? Nothing?” I asked in cold fear. I could work with very little, but I couldn’t work with nothing at all.

“Nothing- “said Kimber as she racked the slide. “-except this.” A bullet sprung out of the chamber and fell into the thin layer of snow below where it sunk. I fell to my knees to retrieve it. One bullet? One bullet? We would probably have failed with a thousand bullets. But with only one I might as well just put it into my head.

“When could they have done this?” I was beginning to panic.

“I don’t know. After we did our inventory. Days ago.”

“Fuck. Fuck! But how did they know what we were carrying on us?”

“They’ve probably been watching us.” Kimber said. “Or Jimmy told them.”

I shook my head wildly, unable or unwilling to comprehend our current situation. I couldn’t get control of my fear. We needed to sit. We needed to thin. “Get in the car.” I said finally. “We need to get in the car.”

We shut the doors and I turned on the engine, blasting the hot air into the cab. We ran it for twenty minutes but nothing seemed to dissipate the cold.

“Maybe we should just leave,” Kimber’s voice wobbled when she finally spoke. Her shock was melting into hopelessness. “Come back in another ten years.”

I didn’t want to tell her that we couldn’t leave. They were tracking the car; they knew exactly where we were. They always had. All roads down the mountain were already blocked. All roads now led to Borrasca.