Chapter 1

My name is Bob Harris and I retired six months ago. I was very lucky — I held 5 patents in robotics and had sold my company for 12 million just before I turned 35 years old. I am 6 feet tall at 185 pounds with hazel eyes and dark blonde hair, which had some gray around the temples. I used to work out three times a week to keep in shape.

Six months before I turned over total control of my company I had bought 350 acres south of Comanche, Texas on the Leon River. I had left the barn and other outbuildings as-is, but had the old house rebuilt for a foreman who I had known for years and who owned some property down the road. Doug and I had reached an agreement that in exchange for taking care of my property and providing me with 2 steers, for meat, per year he could live in the house and make use of the property except for where I was building my new home and shop, which was on a hilltop overlooking the river.

Doug was raised down the road and his mother still lived on his place so he was happy with the deal and he was able to expand his herd with the acreage I leased him. Doug was also the same age as me, but had been injured in a tractor trailer accident when a teenager had blown through a red light. Doug left leg was about half an inch shorter than his right leg after that, so he had a hitch in his stride when he walked.

Three months before I came to the ranch to live I had my house and a detached machine shop built. The house was built into the side of a hill and faced East-Northeast. It was in the shape of an "L" with the base being a 4-car garage/wood shop facing south-southeast, while not built into the hillside did provide protection for the courtyard. The garage was built oversize and I planned to use it as a woodshop as well as for cars. The house itself was long, with the kitchen next to the garage then a great room that formed an "L" extending behind the kitchen. On the backside the utility room came next, then the bathroom, a large study, and a master bath that could be entered from the master bedroom. The master bedroom ran the width of the house from back to front. On the front side of the house were the kitchen, great room with the front door and then three bedrooms, along the hall, which ran to the master bedroom. At the time, the house only had the walls installed and the sheetrock in place. All finish carpentry, trim, and cabinets were going to be built and installed by me.

The machine shop was another story. It too was built into the side of a hill but faced almost due south. It had double car garage doors at each end, with a regular door in the center. I had a complete machine shop installed as I was looking forward to doing some more design work. The biggest problem in getting the shop built was supplying the power. I needed three-phase 220-volt power and this was not readily available in the area. It required the digging and laying of a separate electrical line since I did not want to install utility poles.

I had two wells drilled. One was the return well, which received the water that was run through the AC units. The other was used to supply the water for the AC unit and the buildings. I installed a satellite dish receiver with Internet capabilities and used cell phones, of which I had four. I gave one to Doug, put one each in the house and the shop, and carried one with me.

I moved to the ranch almost a year to the day after I bought the ranch. Doug and I had planted a double row of evergreens just to the north of the house to serve as a windbreak. We had also finished up the courtyard to the house so we would be less likely to track dirt in. I was living with Doug at his place since no furniture or appliance had been delivered to the house yet. The machine shop was set-up and running; I had used the equipment twice to repair tractors on the ranch.

Well now that you know who Doug and I are, I can continue with the rest of the story...

At the ranch we did not get much snow and it did not get bad during the winter. In fact, if it snowed, by the end of the next day all traces were gone. So towards the end of January I decide it was time to go buy some oak lumber I found a lumber mill in central Arkansas that would sell me 1 by 8 inch oak at wholesale if I bought 5000 feet. I had added another 500 feet of 2 by 6 inch oak, so the trailer was really loaded down. Now I did not need that much oak but I had worked a deal with the two local lumber yards in the towns near me to trade half of what I had left with them for plywood and other supplies.

I left on January 27^th and started the return tip on the 31^st. I had been driving slowly because it had snowed and I was pulling a heavy load. Before I had left the lumberyard we had wrapped the wood in plastic shrink-wrap and then covered it with tarps. I would pull off into a rest area whenever possible and check the load and the tarps to be sure every thing was okay and to stretch. Just outside Hope, Arkansas I was just getting ready to enter the entrance ramp to the interstate when a semi slid to a stop and a girl started to climb out of the passenger side of the cab.

All of a sudden she flew backward landing flat on her back in the snow bank. For some reason I noted the license plate as the semi drove off. I went to check on the girl, who was just starting to sit up, and was still gasping for breath. Apparently, falling on her back had knocked the wind out of her. I noted that she was wearing jeans and a T-shirt only and her back was already soaked through from lying in the snow.

Once she was recovered enough she started crying and it took me a few minutes to calm her down to find out what the problem was. She told me her name was Roberta and that she had been hitchhiking to her Uncle's house in San Antonio, Texas. Roberta also said that everything she owned was still in the cab of the truck. I called the local police on my cell phone and relayed what happened, and they said that they would notify the Texas State Police. They had no one available to stop the semi before it reached the border, so the Texas State Police would stop the semi at the weigh station as it crossed into Texas. They said that we should proceed immediately to there.