Chapter 14 - Into the Wash
Shaw ordered range control to halt every Northgate vehicle. Some drivers stopped immediately. Three others continued toward West Wash, an area where flash floods had torn the dirt roads into steep cuts.
"Their radios are on the contractor channel," June reported. "We're trying to reach them."
Ortiz took a security vehicle with Brooks, Viper, and Marcus. Holt followed in a second truck with two MPs. Marcus rode in the front seat, crutches jammed awkwardly against the dashboard.
"You don't have to go," Ortiz told him.
"I know what happens when nobody listens to the person on the ground."
They reached the ridge as the sun began to sink. Below them, a demo bus loaded with civilian actors was approaching a narrow crossing. Two support trucks followed. A yellow warning flag snapped at the edge of the road.
June's voice burst through the radio. "That crossing was closed last week. Erosion undermined the far side. The current map never updated."
Ortiz called the driver. Static. She tried again. No answer.
Viper jumped against the vehicle door, barking at the road ahead. Marcus recognized the same sharp, urgent rhythm from Black Ridge.
"Get me close enough to wave them down," he said.
"You can't walk that slope," Brooks protested.
"Then give me a better idea."
Holt drove ahead and swung his truck across the approach, lights flashing. The lead driver finally braked. The bus stopped just short of the crossing.
For a moment everyone breathed again. Then the ground beneath the right rear wheel began to slide. Passengers screamed. The bus tilted toward the drop.
"Everybody out the uphill door!" Ortiz shouted.
Marcus opened his door and grabbed his crutches. Behind him, Viper leaped onto the gravel without waiting for anyone's permission.
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A small figure appeared in the back window of the tipping bus, pounding on the glass.
The driver shouted, "There's still a kid inside!"
