Tony felt success within his grasp. He lived for the chase, and the inevitable escape gave a more intense high than the purest cocaine. But this had gone long enough. The tension of the two thousand mile run, his broken sleep pattern and the uncertainty of how Natalie would perform her final act, played on his mind. Canada and a place to let the heat die down were less than a hundred miles away. If they could make it across the border, Rudy would direct him to his uncle’s cabin and then after disposing of lover boy, he would have her all to himself. There, he could provoke her to do just what he needed.
She had asked, “Why don’t you just shoot me?” but that would have foiled the plan. She had begun to measure up by her willingness in the warehouse but through the last three days she had come along ways in proving her worth. Ma had been weak and let people use her until nothing of her own will remained. Natalie, however, had gained strength despite all he put her through. She hadn’t given up. If she continued, she would be worth keeping around until the end, but if not, he would tire of her, and since his attention span was relatively short, that wouldn’t take much longer.
There’s got to be plenty of places in the Canadian woods for twin graves, he thought. If she failed, he would bury Rudy and Natalie side by side where they would spend eternity together pushing up moss and sword ferns, never to be seen again. Since he had never been arrested for a murder, although he had put more than a few lights out in New Jersey and the Bronx, he was confident he would never do time for any of the crimes he had committed over the last few days either.
“As much as I like this ride,” Tony said and patted the steering wheel, “we need to ditch it and find a new set of wheels. That damn farmer’s sure to have missed his truck by now and he’ll have called the police. The sooner the better, besides we’re running low on fuel and I don’t want to draw any more attention. Holding up another gas station’s not an option this time, unless we kill the clerk and take his car.”
He found the switch for the windshield wipers and turned it on. The blades smeared the window at first since only a light drizzle had begun to fall, so he flipped on the windshield washer to clear the grime.
Rudy had his head leaned back against the headrest. At the sound of Tony’s voice, he opened his eyes and turned toward him. He lifted his head. “Nobody else needs to die. I’m glad you didn’t kill the clerk last night.”
Tony had hoped to get some long needed sleep last night. A murder would mean they couldn’t stay in the area around Baker, as that would alert the big dogs. “Leaving witnesses isn’t a good idea,” he said. “I’ve got a bad feeling about it.”
“Look, Tony, I’ll find us a new ride but keep your gun in your belt. Okay?”
“Damn straight kid, whatever you say.”
Natalie had been lying in the backseat of the truck for hours. Her hopes of being found were dashed when they switched from the Stanza to the pickup. She had left a note at the last holdup. If someone had found it, they would be on the lookout for a tan Nissan not a truck.
She was so uncomfortable. Not as uncomfortable as the day in the trunk or the day on the corrugated floor of the van, but then she could move around. Now, Tony had hog tied her. She had watched her daddy do it many times on the farm and she wondered if this might be a bad omen. On daddy’s farm, this was the final thing that happened in the pig’s life before its throat was slit.
She still had the diaper gag in her mouth, too. Throughout the day he had tried to push it free, but with it taped in place, it had been futile. It had absorbed all the moister in her mouth, which wasn’t much since she hadn’t been given drink most of the trip. To add to the misery, the wide masking tape wrapped around her head several times pulled at her hair whenever she moved her head.
Besides dehydration and hunger, she felt angry with herself. Every effort she made toward freedom seemed to backfire and she ended up in a worse situation. That didn’t mean she was about to quit. Any opportunity came she would take it, but she couldn’t help the discouragement, now well into her third day of captivity.
“Is that a cop up there?” Rudy shouted and interrupted Natalie’s thoughts. If that was true, she had to act now.
“Shit,” Tony shouted. “We’ve got to ditch this damn truck, now.”
Natalie tried to swing her feet to the floor, but tied behind her back, she could only roll forward, and place her knees on the carpet behind the driver’s seat. She pushed herself up and extended her body high enough to peer out the window. Maybe the police will see me bound and gagged.
She was too late. By the time she raised enough to look out the window, the only thing left for her to see of the white Washington State Patrol car was its rear end. Although it had passed and she had lost another chance for rescue, she knew one thing for certain—her efforts would cost her.
“What the hell are you doing back there?” shouted Tony.
She couldn’t answer even if she wanted too with the gag in her mouth. All she could do was release a muffled “Aaaagh!”
_____
©
Jearl Rugh 2012
All
Rights Reserved
No comments:
Post a Comment