When the traffic broke, he
opened the lid. By now, being held captive in this cage for so many hours she
should either be dead from fumes or have turned into a terrified coward. So
many others had begged for their life long before this. But Natalie Beaumont’s
bruised and swollen face stared up at him through smoke-colored, hate-filled
eyes. He sensed her power. She dropped her chin about to speak, but he couldn’t
let her put voice to her determination—not yet anyway. He thrust his hand palm
out toward her as if that could deflect the deluge of scorching words forming
on her lips, and threw his jacket back just enough so she could see the gun; a
subtle reminder of who was in charge, as Hank said, “The boss.”
“We’re going to be here an hour
or so.” He spit the words out quickly as if she held the advantage. That wouldn’t
do. He forced his voice under control. “If someone stops, no movement, no
noise. Same deal as last night, first they die, then you. Got it bitch?”
With the last word still echoing
off her steel confines, he slammed the cover before she could reply. As he
turned toward the driver’s side, she pounded on the lid and screamed, “Let me
out, Tony. Let me out, now!” Her muffled cry renewed his resolve. The mission
continued. Ma’s stint in Hell could end soon.
Tony and Hank didn’t seem to be
able to get enough cheap tobacco smoke in their lungs. Through the night an
endless stream of blue haze had poured from the front seat, and, as Hank slept
much of the night, most of it came from Tony. The only fresh air Rudy had taken
in over the last twelve hours had been while Tony slept in the backseat. So
after thirty minutes at the side of the road, Rudy’s head spun again from the
second-hand smoke.
“I’m going to stretch my legs.”
Rudy stepped out of the car and walked around to the rear. He leaned against
the trunk lid and folded his arms.
Natalie’s prison, only inches
away, felt to Rudy like the chasm between them expanded with each mile they
drove. She may as well have been on the far side of the galaxy for his ability
to reach her—to help her. It had started in innocence but it had turned tragic
in the warehouse. So rapt in the pleasure and the relationship he craved, he
hadn’t considered the consequences. Yet once she recognized him, the game
changed. Tony had been right last night, she would never be his. He knew if she
ever got out of the trunk, she would want to strike back and he would be the
most likely first target. Despite this, he needed to save her.
They had waited by the roadside
for more than forty-five minutes. The steam from the engine had diminished to
wisps and the throbbing had stopped. Hank removed the ashtray from the
dashboard, rolled down his window and dumped the burnt remnants on the ground.
Tony had kept a drowsy eye in
the rearview mirror, and now movement caught his full attention. Rudy stood
from where he had been leaning against the back of the Impala. He seemed
focused on something behind them on the highway. Tony shifted his eyes to the
door mirror, and took a sudden yet silent gasp. The flashing lights of an
approaching California Highway Patrol car filled the view.
“Here we go!” he said.
“What’s up?” Hank asked.
“We’ve got a pig coming up
behind us. Stay here and keep your head.”
Tony tucked the pistol into the
waistband at the small of his back and opened the driver’s door. As he stepped
out, he made sure his jacket covered the piece. He walked toward the rear of
the car where Rudy stood and said with an even tone, “I’ll handle this like I
said, Rudy. Keep your damn mouth shut and she lives to take another breath.”
While the black and white
cruiser came to a stop behind the Chevy, Tony felt Rudy’s hot glare on his
face, but he focused on the officer through the windshield. He held Tony’s eyes
while he lifted a radio microphone to his mouth. Even though Tony believed he
could control the situation he scrapped his feet on the pavement, and crossed
and uncrossed his arms several times while he waited for the officer to step
from his vehicle. The pig probably stopped only to see if he could help, but
after Maggie’s voicemail, Tony was anxious that somehow the police were already
looking for him, and with Natalie’s apparent resolve, she was an unknown
liability. The likelihood escalated that a standoff right here on the side of a
major highway loomed. Minutes before, he thought his mission a lock, now it was
in peril of abject failure.
When finally the door opened and
the officer stepped onto the pavement, Tony felt the troubled storm momentarily
recede. Rather than take cover behind the driver’s door with his weapon drawn,
he donned a light tan smoky-the-bear hat and smiled.
“Everything alright, gentlemen?”
“Had a little overheatin’
problem,” Tony said and showed a nonchalant attitude even though the reluctant
passenger in the trunk was at the front of his mind, “but I think we are almost
ready to move on now.”
The officer walked past them
between the two cars and headed toward the front of the sedan. Tony and Rudy
followed.
“Where you boys headed?” the
officer asked as he gave a tentative tap with a finger on the radiator cap.
Before Tony could speak, Rudy,
who stood just behind the officer and next to Tony, said, “Ca—”
Tony elbowed Rudy hard before he
could finish the word Canada “Carson City, Reno,” he said with a jovial lilt.
“Heading up for a weekend of debauchery,”
The officer ignored him and
continued to check out the engine. He turned his attention back to the radiator
cap, loosened it and peeked into the reservoir. “You’re low on water.”
“Yeah, figured that. This old
clunker’s seen better days, but it’s what I got.”
_____
©
Jearl Rugh 2012
All
Rights Reserved
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