Scott was standing beside the patrol vehicle. He had not retrieved the twelve-gauge riot gun from its cradle as Lee had instructed. Neither Rogers nor Gunnar had moved. Lee reached into the cab and pulled the riot gun from its brackets.

The shotgun roared. Lee put a load of buckshot into the patrol vehicle’s dash, destroying the electronics. He moved around to the front of the machine and fired twice more, once into each of the tires. Then he pitched the shotgun into the dirt.

“We best skin out, boys,” Lee said. “This place will be crawling with cops in no time. I don’t know what the fuck is goin’ on, but ain’t nobody gonna leave a man like Calvin lyin’ face down in the dirt like that. Not while I still have boots on.”

He looked around at his friend’s faces. Scott Ewell mouth was agape. Gunnar kicked a piece of gravel near his foot, clearly dismayed. Rogers stared at Lee. None of them spoke.

“No, sir,” Harper continued. “Not gonna happen.”

Lee raised a finger into the air and swung his arm in a circle about his head. Not far off, they heard a gasoline motor start and moments later Brady’s green Toyota pickup rolled into view. A metal rod protruded from the driver’s window. When he stopped the machine and clambered down from it, he carried his scoped hunting rifle with him.

He shook the shaggy brown locks out of his eyes and looked to Lee for direction. The other three stared at them numbly. Lee spoke.

“Don’t count on gettin’ a fair shake if they take me in here,” he began. “Figure we got three options. Could head back to Idaho, turn myself in there. Hell, wouldn’t be hard, seein’ as they got a roadblock at the end of my driveway. Can try headin’ for Sanders County, stick to the back roads and hope I make it. Or I could try sneakin’ into Canada.

He looked around at them calmly. Gunnar was looking at him as if he was crazy.

“Gettin’ into Canada’s pretty much a waste of time. And don’t really care much for goin’ to Idaho, though it’s probably the best idea. It’s straight to jail there. Think I’d rather stay free and take my chances.”

“We’re not gonna make it if we stick to the highway,” Brady said. “There’s gotta be back up coming. Maybe a chopper even. I say, our best bet is to take Seventeen Mile over to Kilbrennen, come down Rabbit O’Brien and try and sneak through town somehow.”

No one moved. There was the slightest hint of a smile on Lee Harper’s face, as if he might even be enjoying this. Finally, Gunnar could take it no longer.

“Why the fuck’d you have to go and do that?” he shot at Harper. “You know how much shit we’re in now?”

“Looked to me like you were in plenty of shit already,” snorted Harper dismissively. He cast his eyes about at the others, trying to gauge what side they might take.

“Not half as much shit as we’ll be in for assaulting an officer. I don’t know why he pulled us over, but I’m sure we would have gotten it straightened out. Now we’re pretty much fucked, thanks to you.”

“Oh, really?” Lee said, going on the offensive, as he usually did. “How many times you been cuffed and stuffed over a moving violation, Gunnar? There was no way in hell you weren’t going to jail.”

The statement made Gunnar hesitate, still he wasn’t ready to let it go.

“Maybe, but I’m sure we would have gotten it straightened out. Now we’re all going to jail for sure.”

This conversation was making Scotty nervous. Rogers could see it in the way Scott stood. The former teammates had spent enough time together that Rogers could read the tall teenager like a book. Whatever was coming at them, the last thing they needed was to be at each other’s throats. Now, more than ever, they needed to play as a team.

“What are you going to do then, Gunnar. Stay here and wait?” Rogers asked.

The redhead was taken aback. He didn’t expect Rogers to side with Harper. Of all of them, Rogers had the most to lose, in terms of both finances and his future. What Gunnar was saying made sense, and it might even be true. Still, Rogers felt that Lee was in the right. And that feeling had never been wrong.

They stood there staring at one another for a moment, Gunnar unwilling to openly relent. Rogers noticed that the deputy had ceased pounding against the inside of the semi-trailer's door.

“Okay then,” Lee said finally, breaking the silence. “Whadda we waitin’ for?”