Highway shootout between Gayle and Brandon

The highway shootout between Gayle Stryker and Brandon Walker turns a mistaken interception into a direct confrontation: Brandon expects to stop Larry Stryker, but comes face-to-face with Gayle, who recognizes him and opens fire. Their exchange disables both vehicles in different ways, yet neither gives way. With Brian Fellows and PeeWee Segura still unable to reach him, Brandon presses on in a steaming Suburban and finally blocks Flying C Ranch Road with the vehicle he has been trying to save.

Interception and Recognition

Brandon had warned Brian Fellows that Stryker was near Brian’s position and turning around. Brian replied that he was on foot but on his way. Brandon soon judged that help would arrive too late: if the Lexus made it back onto the highway, it would gain speed. He used the bulk of his Suburban to force the smaller LS 430 onto the shoulder, choosing an immediate collision of vehicles over letting the driver escape.

The cars stopped nose to nose, and Brandon saw that there was only one person in the Lexus. The driver was not Larry Stryker, as he had expected, but Gayle. She honked furiously and gestured for him to move. When he stayed put, she backed up, accelerated, and tried to swing around him; Brandon blocked her again. Only then did recognition register on her face. The interval between her recognizing him and producing a gun was barely perceptible, converting the attempted roadblock into a gunfight.

Gunfire and Damage

Gayle fired three rounds in rapid succession through the Lexus’s window. Brandon threw himself across the Suburban’s front seat, relying on the engine block and dashboard for cover. With his ears ringing, he waited to see whether she would fire again. He lowered the automatic window by pressing its button, avoiding the risk of being struck by spraying glass, and drew his Walther from its holster.

The squeal of tires told him Gayle was trying once more to get past. As the Lexus’s front side panel surged by, Brandon saw that she was now on the far side of the moving vehicle, making it difficult for her to return fire. He leaned out and fired two shots with both hands on the pistol. The first struck the right rear tire, a large and close target; the second tire was hit dead-on through sheer luck. As the first tire burst, the Lexus fishtailed, but the damage did not stop it.

When Brandon turned back to the steering wheel, steam was engulfing the Suburban’s front end. He realized Gayle had shot its radiator. The damage transformed his own vehicle from a dependable means of pursuit into a machine whose remaining range was uncertain: he could not know how far it would travel before overheating and seizing.

Pursuit Toward Flying C Ranch Road

Brandon nevertheless shifted into reverse, turned around, and continued. Brian Fellows and PeeWee Segura were stranded on the far side of a gravel truck, so waiting for them was not a workable option. Once the Suburban moved forward, the steam swept beneath it enough for Brandon to see the road. He came around the last curve hoping the Lexus, running on two flat rear tires, would have lost control and left the highway.

Instead, he saw it about a mile ahead. Though crippled, it was still moving and turning left, back onto Flying C Ranch Road. Brandon reached the turnoff with the Suburban’s temperature gauge already at the top of the red. The damage had narrowed his choices to a short, urgent pursuit; Gayle’s car had lost speed, but not its ability to continue toward the ranch road.

The Suburban as a Roadblock

At the cattle guard where Flying C Ranch Road left the highway, Brandon pulled onto the metal grate at an angle, positioning the Suburban across its full width. He rolled up the windows, set the emergency brake, put the transmission in park, and shut off the engine. Before getting out, he locked the doors and set the alarm. The engine was probably doomed, and the smell of hot metal hurt him; he had loved the old Suburban. But its bulk could still serve a final purpose. Brandon left it as a roadblock, turning the vehicle Gayle had damaged into an obstacle in her path. The shootout thus ends not with either driver safely away, but with Brandon committing his failing vehicle to hold the route as the confrontation moves toward Flying C Ranch Road.