Tribal Law Read Free Page B

taught her that.
    â€œYou all set?” asked Dryer.
    Frasco grabbed one side of the tub and the two disappeared from sight. Selena heard the truck doors open, close and lock. The drugs were now in her truck. She thought she might throw up.
    Her father climbed in and moved to the center seat to make room for her new copilot. How much was Dryer getting to mix them up in this?
    She thought of her siblings and put the truck in gear. They pulled out and had not gone a quarter mile when some idiot roared out of a blind drive right in front of them.
    Selena’s heart rate doubled as she hit the brakes and narrowly missed broadsiding the other vehicle. The original color of the pickup before her was impossible to determine, as it had been rebuilt entirely of salvage, making it look like the Frankenstein of trucks.
    Her initial blast of adrenaline receded, to be replaced by a prickling warning as her brain reengaged, signaling her that this was not coincidence. That truck had cut her off on purpose.
    Their passenger must have reached the same conclusion because he shouted.
    â€œReverse it,” yelled Dryer and pulled a pistol from beneath his coat.
    She reached for the gearshift as she gaped at this new threat and saw that the driver of the pickup was wearing a mask so that he looked like a man with a dark goatee, glasses and a black rubber hat.
    The masked man was out of his truck. He pressed the rifle stock to his shoulder and aimed the business end at Dryer.
    Selena had the truck in Reverse and moved her foot to the gas, but a second truck blocked her escape, pulling up fast and skidding to a halt at an angle behind her.
    â€œOut!” yelled the masked gunman now advancing past his pickup to her right front fender and pointing his rifle at Dryer as he advanced.
    Dryer threw open the door and used it as a brace to take aim with a pistol. Their attacker and Dryer both fired their weapons. Her passenger’s side window exploded and Dryer dropped to the ground in a shower of shattered glass. Selena glanced to the side mirrors and saw a second gunman approaching from the rear along her side of the truck as the masked gunman continued forward at a trot toward the place where Dryer had disappeared.
    Her father lifted his hands in surrender.
    â€œOut!” ordered the masked gunman, who now stood beside the open passenger door. Selena stared at the face that was not masked. She didn’t know which was more frightening, his rifle, aimed at her or the fact that he did not try to hide his identity. She had seen him before but did not know him.
    A glance across the wide seat showed that Dryer was nowhere in sight.
    Frasco slid across the seat and dropped to the ground as the masked attacker retreated a step. Selena heard the crunch of glass as she followed her father, sliding away from the unmasked attacker, across the warm vinyl and out into the cold air.
    Dryer lay in a heap amid the shards of glass, looking as if he was just sleeping. Where was the blood?
    â€œMove away from the truck,” the masked man said.
    Something about his voice sounded familiar. She looked at his hands as they gripped the rifle, brown finger ready on the trigger. His skin was the same color as hers. Then she looked past the mask to the only thing she could see. His dark brown eyes. Also familiar. She glanced back to the yard of Leekela’s place. Sammy had a younger brother who had a build just like this and he was rumored to be an addict. Jason Leekela, she thought.
    He came forward, rifle barrel swinging from her to her father. Her dad dropped and reached for Dryer’s pistol.
    â€œNo!” she shouted, drawing the man’s attention for just a second.
    Then he swung the rifle around and struck her father with the wooden stock. Her father dropped on top of Dryer. Dryer’s pistol skittered on the icy pavement to within inches of her boot.
    She did not make a move to touch it.
    â€œSmart girl. Always were smart,