They drove back along the twisted road for several miles until they came across a turnout on the right. It wasn’t much more than a wide spot in the road, but big enough for two cars to park side by side. Stopped in it, a Jeep Laredo sat vacated. The sun had set only a few minutes before, but since there were no street lights and the tall trees blocked any remnants of daylight, the stretched shadows had been replaced by the gloom of night. Tony steered the van alongside the Jeep. His headlamps offered the only light in the darkness. He saw that the deep brown SUV was fairly new, the first decent ride he had had in years. He let the van’s engine idle as he opened the driver’s door to check it out.
Overhead he could hear the sound of the wind whisper through the high branches of the trees and not too far away, down an embankment, a river thrashed as it tripped into, around and over its rocky bed. As he rounded the front of the van, Rudy stepped out and wandered off toward the tree on the edge of the turnout.
“What the hell you doing?” Tony asked.
“God, can’t I take piss without permission. You’re worse than my ol’ man.”
“I’ll take that as a compliment. Just make it fast.”
Tony tried the doors of the Jeep but they were locked, so he began to search for a something to break a window. In the van`s headlights he saw a large rock beside the road about twenty feet ahead. The Jeep’s rear door had two windows, one of them small and wing shaped. Tony raised the rock to shatter to the wing, but as he was about to swing the large stone, a new sound drifted through the air.
With the rhythm of the wind and the churn of the river, he could discern neither where it came from nor if there was more than one voice. He paused, frozen in place, listening. As it grew closer and more distinct, he determined the sound came from the far side of the Jeep nearest the river. Hidden in the darkness between the two vehicles, he dropped the rock just below the van’s passenger door.
As the sound drew closer, one male and one female voice became distinguishable. He turned his head toward them and two figures emerged from a trailhead. Caught in the peripheral light of the van’s headlamps, one carried a flashlight with the beam pointed toward the ground. They turned and walked toward the Jeep. With their faces illumined by the van’s headlights, he saw a middle aged couple, slightly overweight panted for breath.
This will be as easy as stealing a kid’s lunch money all over again.
Detective Caesar Garcia wasn’t about to give up. He had been on the case for the better part of twenty-seven hours. Of that, he had only spent a few of them asleep in the back of the break room when he stretched out on a coffee-stained couch with threadbare arms. He knew cases like this with open trails had to be followed quickly and efficiently, and since he rose at 4:00 a.m. to take the call from Ansell Parker, he hadn’t shut his eyes for more than a blink’s worth.
He didn’t like to admit a lapse of judgment but he knew if he hadn’t disclosed to Agent Hawk that he leaked information on Rudy’s relationship to Adelaide Masters-Leigh to the AP, it would come out eventually. In his opinion, the way the government worked, once a suspected leak sprung, they might lose focus on the real case while they ramped up an investigation to find the hole. Perhaps with the air cleared early it would mean the FBI wouldn’t waste time while Natalie was still in the wind.
As he walked back toward his desk from the kitchen with a can of soda and a bag of pretzels, his thoughts were distracted by the ring of his cellphone.
“Garcia,” he said into the mouth piece, and sat down on his desk chair. The springs creaked as he leaned back.
Natalie heard the voices outside the van as well and shed the ties on her hands and feet. With the memory still riveted on the clerk and the man at the convenience store, she felt a tremor ripple down her back as she considered how little Tony respected the life of other people. She slipped Hank’s head off her lap and moved without a sound to the other side of the van. Behind Rudy’s seat she crouched where she could see out the open passenger door. Tony had stepped around to the front of the Jeep. Two people walked in his direction. She braced herself by the back of the passenger seat and stood, hunched over at the waist. In one fluid movement, she spun and settled easy into the seat. Cool air spilled over her legs.
As the couple drew closer, they slowed their pace and the man raised his hand with an apprehensive wave. He shone the flashlight toward Tony. “Everything alright?” he said, and shifted his body so he came between the woman and Tony.
Tony didn’t answer. Natalie saw him reach behind his back and knew he was searching for the revolver. She wanted to shout, “Run!” but it would have done no good. Tony would have no qualms about whether he shot them in the back or front. Dead is dead, “no witnesses,” Tony had said.
Tony pulled the gun from his belt and said with a cool reserve in his voice, “Give me your keys.”
“We … we don’t want any trouble,” the man said and reached into his pocket.
“Slowly, now,” Tony said, “I don’t like surprises.”
Natalie quietly slid off the seat and softly touched the ground on the balls of her feet.
“It’s only my keys,” the man said.
“Please don’t hurt us,” the woman pleaded. “Just take the car and leave us alone.”
Natalie started to move from behind the door. As she shifted, her foot bumped into something.
“On your knees,” Tony demanded.
“Please, we’ll do whatever you want,” the man entreated and turned back toward the woman, “but she’s just getting over knee surgery. Getting on her knees will hurt and might injure her again.”
“Shut the hell up, do I look like I give a shit. Maybe I should just blow your knees out so you can sympathize better. Get on your knees, now, both of you and give me those damn keys.” He walked toward them with the pistol pointed at the man’s head.
The man helped his wife into a kneeling position. “I’m sorry, dear,” he said. As she began to sob, he held the keys out to Tony.
Because Natalie was behind the bright lights, she knew the man and the woman couldn’t see her. She kept her eyes trained on Tony while he walked away from her to retrieve the keys. She stooped down and found a large rock. She glanced around the turnout quickly to find Rudy. If he really wanted to set her free and would follow her lead, this was the perfect time, but she couldn’t see him anywhere. She stepped around the passenger door, and walked to the front fender of the Jeep. Her target was only ten feet away. She lifted the rock over her head with both hands, took careful aim and hurled the missile at Tony.
_____
©
Jearl Rugh 2012
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