The Heartless Prey

10. The Bridge

***

Nate was waiting eagerly for his gas to pump at a Sinclair in Page, Arizona. If he kept up the pace with his speed he'd be able to cut the GPS estimate of two hours in half. His phone began to ring and as he looked at the screen to answer it he didn't even notice the mustang parked across the street at Carl's Jr. that had been tailing him since Flagstaff.

"Akira?", he answered as he put the pump back into place and started his car.

"Nate, where are you?"

"I'm at the Utah border. I'll be there in an hour". He was already up to 90mph on the highway. The mustang was keeping up pace, but was careful to keep a distance. Nate hadn't looked behind him in his rear view mirror more than a dozen times since he left Dallas.

"When you get here, no matter what, do not speak a word to Laura."

Nate knew not to ask questions when it came to Akira's crusades and simply told her he wouldn't say a word to her.

"Thank you Nate", Akira told him. "You really bailed us out this time. I love you."

"Love you too", Nate told her before hanging up the phone. He hadn't slept since the morning he had gone golfing, and he was feeling as fatigued as the women were at the trailer. He was almost there though and he'd be able to tough the drive out. He'd made it from Mississippi to California in two and half days once all on his own after his mother had fallen down the stairs 2L year. After losing his father just a year before, he wasn't about to let her be in the hospital alone.

This trip was sudden though and he hadn't even stopped to eat yet. Akira had never asked him for help with these ventures she would take. It was one of the skeletons in the closet of their relationship that he was perfectly happy with not being involved with. He knew there was no way of convincing her to just come back to Dallas and to only worry about herself for once. She had to be out there doing what she believed she was put here to do. And that meant he'd need to accept that he'd have to do whatever he may to keep her around.

Akira had told him a couple of hours ago that a friend of theirs, some guy named Tim was supposed to be waiting at the Utah Welcome Center. She knew that Nate would be tired and they didn't want any time wasted on Nate navigating the country roads to get to the Zion Outdoor Hostel.

Tim better be there, Nate thought to himself. Otherwise I'm just going to hurry up and get to them myself. Nate rubbed his eyes and looked down at the speedometer. He was already up to 103mph, which was a little higher than he was comfortable with pushing the Lexus. But he was almost there. He zoomed past the 'Welcome to Utah: The Beehive State" sign and observed that the welcome center was only two miles ahead.

Nate found himself looking at the morning sun glimmer over the Utah desert. He allowed himself to gaze at the landscape since the road ahead of him was barren of traffic. He observed no car ahead of him since he got out of the Page city limits. Nate hadn't been through Utah since he was on a road trip with his father when he was ten. He'd forgotten how strikingly beautiful this part of the state was.

Nate panicked to regain control of the Lexus after being hit hard from behind. In the rear view mirror he saw the black Mustang as it collided with the back of the Lexus once more, causing Nate to fishtail. He force from the hit caused his head to snap back and hit the back of the carseat. He was just able to get the vehicle back under control when he saw a whiff of black disappear from the driver side mirror into his blind spot.

Nate brought the speed down and he looked to his left, seeing the black mustang drive alongside him. He watched as the passenger window of the mustang rolled down, uncovering a man who looked normal in the driver's seat aside from a hand shaped scar on his neck. As the man turned to face Nate, he could now see the discolored and swollen left side of the man's face. Nate was distracted, and barely ducked down in time when he saw the revolver.