Orion Locke wasn’t surprised that the people in the Land Rover immediately recognized him as former military.
His close-cropped hair was one clue, but the tactical pants, combat boots, heavy backpack, and disciplined posture made it even more obvious.
After briefly looking over the two men and two women inside, Orion thanked the driver, opened the rear door, and squeezed himself into the added third-row seat.
“Oh my God, you’re huge!” one of the women exclaimed when the Land Rover noticeably dipped beneath Orion’s weight.
She was a beautiful, curvy blonde named Jenny, and after looking over his broad shoulders and thick arms, her gaze wandered downward for a moment before she quickly looked away.
The amused expression on her face made her thoughts obvious enough.
“Okay, Jenny, stop staring.
You’re embarrassing yourself.” The short-haired brunette beside her slapped her lightly on the arm before turning toward Orion.
“Sorry about her.” Orion gave a small nod, but he noticed that the brunette wasn’t nearly as relaxed as her friend.
Her eyes had briefly swept across the pistol on his belt before stopping on the serrated combat knife secured on his left side, and there was obvious caution beneath her polite smile.
Orion found that interesting; most civilians noticed the gun first, yet she seemed considerably more uncomfortable with the knife.
That knife had followed Orion through countless operations and had already taken more lives than he cared to count.
If this were one of the supernatural novels he remembered from his previous life, something soaked in that much blood would probably have been called a cursed weapon.
To Orion, however, it was simply a reliable piece of equipment.
“I’m Elena, and the shameless one is my best friend, Jenny,” the brunette introduced herself with a faint smile.
She pointed toward the muscular, long-haired man behind the wheel.
“That’s Jay.
He served for a while too.
The skinny guy riding shotgun is Rosen.” “You can call me Orion.” During the next several minutes of casual conversation, Orion learned that the four of them had attended the same university and recently graduated.
They had taken a road trip together as a final vacation before everyone went their separate ways and were now heading home.
All four were from around New Iberia, Louisiana, which worked well enough for Orion since he was traveling in roughly the same direction.
Military service after high school wasn’t particularly unusual in the United States, especially for young people who couldn’t easily afford college.
Between steady pay and education benefits such as the GI Bill, enlisting could provide opportunities that many working-class families otherwise struggled to afford.
Jay had apparently been one of those young men, although his military career had been much shorter than Orion’s.
“So, Orion, what branch were you with?” Jay asked while driving, the smell of marijuana lingering inside the SUV.
“Navy.” “What unit?” Orion hesitated briefly before answering, “SEALs.” The word stirred a strange feeling inside him.
Twelve years of his life had been spent training, deploying, fighting, and learning increasingly efficient ways to survive violent situations, yet now all of it belonged to his past.
Those skills had been invaluable overseas, but they weren’t exactly qualifications for an ordinary nine-to-five job.
More immediately, Orion needed money.
Special operations pay and deployment bonuses had allowed him to earn considerably more than the average enlisted sailor, but he had never been particularly interested in saving.
Months of expensive psychological treatment after leaving the Navy had eaten through most of what remained, especially now that he was responsible for his own expenses.
Orion quickly dismissed the concern.
With his experience and physical abilities, earning money wouldn’t be difficult.
Private security firms and wealthy clients would gladly pay for a former SEAL with his résumé, and if he ever decided to abandon legitimate work entirely, there were plenty of criminals carrying cash who wouldn’t exactly be eager to file police reports after losing it.
“No way!” Jay glanced at Orion through the rearview mirror with immediate excitement.
“I tried getting into special operations when I was in, but I never made selection.” From that moment onward, Jay barely stopped talking.
“You guys did a lot of overseas missions, right?
How many firefights have you been in?
You ever get shot?” His eyes then caught the handgun at Orion’s waist through the mirror.
“Wait, is that a 1911?” Orion glanced down.
“Yeah.” “Man, I love those.
That magazine isn’t standard, though.
You modify it yourself?
Think you’ll let me fire a couple rounds later?” The M1911 design had been around for generations, yet the pistol remained popular because of its simple reliability and powerful .45 ACP cartridge.
Its recoil was meaningless to someone with Orion’s strength, and although the standard magazine capacity was limited, he had modified his own magazines to carry eleven rounds.
The weapon was old-fashioned compared with many modern service pistols, but Orion trusted it.
“Hey!
Jay, watch the damn road!” Rosen suddenly shouted from the passenger seat.
“There’s something ahead!” Jay snapped his attention forward and immediately hit the brakes.
A line of yellow barricades and heavy concrete barriers blocked the highway, while a large orange sign stood directly in front of them.
ROAD CLOSED — CONSTRUCTION AHEAD — DETOUR “You’ve got to be kidding me.” Elena leaned forward and stared at the barricades.
“If we turn around now, the detour adds more than a hundred miles, and I don’t think we have enough gas to reach another station.” They weren’t particularly far from New Iberia anymore, but backtracking across the isolated highway could leave them stranded before they found fuel.
With evening eventually approaching and little traffic around them, nobody seemed excited by that possibility.
Jay smacked the steering wheel hard enough to make the horn chirp.
“Seriously?
What idiot puts the warning sign all the way out here?” he cursed.
“They couldn’t have warned us twenty miles ago?” Jenny calmly took another drag before leaning between the front seats.
“Relax.
I think there’s another way.” Four pairs of eyes turned toward her.
Jenny pointed toward a wooded ridge visible beyond the highway.
“There’s an old back road over there.
It’s rough as hell, but it cuts through toward St.
Martin’s.
We can stay there tonight if we have to, then head for New Iberia tomorrow.” Jay’s irritation instantly disappeared.
“You sure?” “Of course I’m sure.” Jenny pushed what she was smoking toward him with a grin.
“One of my ex-ex-ex-ex-boyfriends took me through there once.” Elena stared at her.
“How many exes do you have?” Jenny ignored the question.
Following her directions, Jay eventually found a narrow dirt trail hidden behind weeds and brush.
It was barely wide enough for the Land Rover, and judging by the overgrowth, hardly anyone used it anymore.
Without Jenny knowing where to look, Orion doubted they would have noticed the turn at all.
The trail quickly became worse.
“Oh my God!” Jenny complained as another pothole bounced everyone in their seats.
“Could this road possibly be any rougher?
My back is killing me.” Jay grinned from behind the wheel.
“Funny.
You said the exact same thing last night.” “You asshole!” Jenny punched him sharply in the shoulder, making Rosen burst out laughing while Elena shook her head.
Orion remained quiet in the third row, occasionally glancing through the windows at the thick woods surrounding the vehicle.
“Just deal with it a little longer,” Elena said while rubbing Jenny’s back.
“We’ve probably already made it halfway through.
Another hour and we should be out.” Thump!
The Land Rover suddenly jolted.
Jay immediately slowed down as the steering wheel began pulling strangely beneath his hands.
He stopped the SUV, climbed out, and crouched beside the front wheels, only for his expression to darken almost immediately.
Both front tires were rapidly losing air.
“What the hell?” Orion stepped out with the others and watched Jay pull several rusty nails from the rubber.
The young man angrily threw them into the nearby woods before looking at the two ruined tires.
“Who the hell dumps nails in the middle of a road?” Nobody answered.
Jay walked to the back of the Land Rover and opened the rear compartment, then cursed under his breath after checking their supplies.
“Guys, we’ve got a problem.” Elena frowned.
“What?” “We only have one spare.” Jay looked toward the lonely trail disappearing deeper into the woods.
“Looks like we might have to hike over the ridge.” (End of Chapter)