“We’re not going to the cops,” Walter said.
Garrett winced as Liberty poured water over his open wound. “We’ve got to have help finding Corey before something happens to him.”
Walter stomped to the fence and back. “The police have a description of Corey already. They’re doing all they can to find him.”
“The officers in Salt Lake have his description,” Liberty said, ripping a strip of Garrett’s t-shirt free. “They weren’t expecting him to come this far south.”
“So we call them and then what, we sit around in an office filling out papers when we could go out and find him ourselves faster?”
“We make a phone call,” Garrett said. “We could even call the officer in Salt Lake and he could relay it to the locals.”
“We don’t even know where to go from here,” Liberty said.
“Kolob,” Walter said.
“Kolob?” she asked, rewrapping Garrett’s thigh.
“It’s a pretty little canyon just south of Cedar City,” Walter said.
Liberty stomped her foot. “I know where Kolob is. Why there?”
“Corey Googled it on Garrett’s computer for one. And, it’s one of my three top favorite possibilities for Monty’s gold.”
“Why Kolob over the other two?” Garrett asked, sliding from the hood and pulling the car keys from his pocket.
“It’s closer than Zion and we don’t have a permit to raft through the Grand Canyon.”
Garrett opened the driver’s door. So Walter and Corey were thinking on the same wavelength at least. “We’ll call the cops on the way out and continue on to Kolob. By the time we get to the canyon, we should have help waiting.”
“What happens when they take Corey into custody?” Walter asked.
“You make it sound like he’s being arrested,” Garrett said.
“Have you thought that far ahead?” Walter paced in front of the car. “We could be within a mile of the biggest treasure find in U.S. history and you’re willing to throw it away.”
“For the life of my friend, yes.”
“Not for his life, just a delay, a few more hours at most. We follow Corey into Kolob, find the location and pull him out of there, get him help. He’s already delusional, Garrett, what’s a few more hours?” Walter pushed.
“A few seconds in the scope of a rifle is death, Walter.”
“We don’t even know that the assassin followed us out of there.”
“What about Maddy?”
“Until the guy gets the medallion he’s going to keep her alive. That much we can count on.”
Garrett shook his head. “The guy killed two of Liberty’s roommates and shot me in the leg. I don’t know about you, but those actions demonstrate untrustworthiness to me.”
Walter clung to the fence, his face toward the rocks. “You’re right,” he said slowly. “When we get to cell service, call Maddy’s phone. We’ve got to get in contact with her kidnapper.”
“Thank you,” Liberty said.
Walter shrugged it off. “You can set up a location to make the trade and call the cops to meet there.”
Garrett opened the driver’s door. “Let’s get going then.”
Walter waved him toward the fence. “Check out that petroglyph right there,” he said, pointing through the wire.
“The spiral?” Garrett asked.
Walter shook his head. “The little one below it.”
“I’m not seeing it.”
Walter rushed to the car and got out a paper and pencil. “Would you climb around this fence and trace it on the paper?”
“Liberty could just take a photo.”
Walter shook his head. “Unless the light hits it just right, it won’t be visible in the photo.”
“Is this necessary?” Liberty asked.
Walter peered closer. “I think that’s the Aztec symbol for Quetzalcoatl, or the flame arch.”
Liberty started up the hillside, heading for a break in the fence. “I’ll check it out.”
Garrett took the pencil and paper from Walter. “You don’t need to be breaking the law. Let me do it.”
Liberty shook her head and continued. Garrett hurried after her.
“What does it mean, the symbol here?” Liberty asked.
Walter didn’t reply and Garrett turned to look back down the mountain. Walter pulled the driver’s door shut and the engine started. Garrett looked back at his hand and realized that Walter had taken the car keys when he’d given Garrett the paper and pencil.
“Walter?”
Liberty stopped climbing. “Dad?”
The car circled in the parking area and moved out on the pavement.
“Walter!” Garrett shouted, lunging down the hillside.
Liberty sprinted past him, stopping on the shoulder of the road, the engine already silenced by distance.
“He left us,” Liberty said as Garrett caught up to her.
“I see that.”
“I believed him about the glyph.”
Garrett scratched the back of his head, turning to where the car had been parked moments before. “He left us a couple water bottles.”
“How thoughtful.” Liberty picked them up and tossed one to Garrett. “Are we closer to Cedar or Parowan?”
Garrett started down the road. “Might as well find out how close we can get to Cedar before dark.”
Liberty fell into step beside him and said, “Right now, I think I understand Corey’s actions better than my own father’s.”
“I’m sorry for getting you involved in all this,” Garrett said suddenly.
Liberty opened her camera bag and pulled out the flute. “Check this out. If your friend wasn’t running for his life, and his wife in the clutches of the devil himself, this would be the best day of my life.”
Garrett chuckled. “Don’t forget La Raza’s plot to take over the U.S.”
Liberty placed the flute in the front zipper pouch of her bag and packed up her camera. “How could I forget a good plot for world domination?”
Garrett’s stomach growled loud enough to grab Liberty’s attention. “How long’s it been since we’ve eaten?” he asked.
Liberty shrugged and sipped her water. “At least we won’t dehydrate.”
Garrett followed her lead, nearly spitting out the water as an old farm truck lumbered into sight. “I think we may have found a ride to town.”
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