Chapter 1

It had been a along trip and I needed a break from the Interstate. I was tired of truck stop food and the constant monotony of "straight ahead" driving. I saw the sign that said, "Wigginsville Next Exit" and on a whim I pulled off on the exit and saw the sign with the left pointing arrow and the words "Wigginsville 6 miles." I turned left to follow the arrow and six miles later I passed the city limit sign and began looking for a restaurant.

As I slowly cruised down Main Street looking at the businesses on either side of the street I spotted a sign that said, "Estelle's Café" and I pulled into the next open parking place. Estelle's was just what I was looking for. Home cooked meals, home baked pies and cakes and some pretty damned good coffee. When I left an hour later I was stuffed. I stopped at the Diamond Shamrock at the far edge of town, filled my tank and then drove back through town headed for the exit that would put me back on the four lane.

I got caught at the light in the middle of town and as I sat there, fingers drumming on the steering wheel while waiting for the light to change a woman came running down the street on my right. I stopped watching the light and put my attention on her. She obviously wasn't wearing a bra under her top and the way her chest moved as she ran was s sight to behold. I was caught by surprise when she ran up to my car, pulled open the passenger side door and jumped in. As the door was closing I saw a man come running out a door, look both ways and see the woman getting in my car. He turned and ran toward us. The light changed and the car behind me beeped and I moved forward and started to ease my way over to the curb on the other side of the intersection. As soon as the woman was in my car she started talking.

"Please help me, please get me out of here" and as I pulled toward the curb she cried, "What are you doing? Don't stop, please get me away from here."

"Whoa up honey. I got no way of knowing whether that guy chasing you is a cop trying to arrest you or not. I'm not rushing into anything here."

"He's not a cop. You don't hear him hollering "stop, police" do you?"

I looked back at the guy running toward us. If he was a cop he was unlike any other cop I had ever seen. He had so many piercings on his face that a magnet would have lifted him right off his feet. As he ran his coat flapped open and I saw the gun in the shoulder holster and I was already screeching away from the curb as she cried, "Please get me away from here."

As we passed the city limit sign I asked, "Are you going to tell me what this is all about?"

"You're better off not knowing."

"I don't think so honey. At this point the more I know the happier I'll be."

"Can't you just get me to a truck stop?"

"Doesn't work that way honey. Not trying to be melodramatic, but the guy chasing you got close enough to get a good look at me and at the car and most likely he was close enough to get my plate numbers. If somebody really serious is trying to get their mitts on you they as good as have me. What am I mixed up in and what do I need to be on the look out for?"

"Lets just leave it at I'm running away."

"Suit yourself" I said as I took my foot off the gas and steered for the shoulder.

"What are you doing?"

"I'm pulling over to let you out and then I'm turning around and driving back into town to find out what I'm messed up in."

"No, no, please don't. I'll make it worth your while to keep on going."

"Oh yeah? How's that?"

"I've been told I'm pretty good and a lot of men have spent a lot of time trying to get their hands on these" and she lifted her top and showed me two of the firmest tits I'd ever seen, not big, but very firm. Get me a hundred miles from here and I'll fuck your brains out."

"Only if you tell me what this is all about."

"You can't just take the goods and let it go?"

"Sorry, but I can't. It's like I told you honey; they got my plate numbers and a description of my car so they as good as have me. The guy chasing you had a gun so if guys like that come looking for me I want to know what to expect."

"Shit! I lose either way I go."

"What do you mean?"

"I don't tell you and you put me out here and they probably are not far behind and they get me. I tell you and you'll turn around and take me back to keep from getting any more involved."

"Or I might just floor it and get us the hell down the road."

"I guess I don't have much of a choice."

"The guy chasing me is my husband's brother, but he's not the only one. If he found me it won't be long before there are others looking for me around here too."

"Can I get some clarity on that?"

The FBI, the DEA, and the LAPD will be trying to get me too."

"Jesus lady, what did you do?"

"Nothing. Outside of marrying a crook, nothing."

"Then why in the hell is everyone after you?"

"Because they all think that I know something. The problem is that I don't. When I married Sam I thought he was a successful used car dealer, but it turns out that he and his brother Elmer had ties to organized crime in LA. Sam got busted holding dope and the mob, the Mafia, or whatever the hell they call themselves, sent a guy to tell me to keep quiet and they would take care of me if Sam got sent away.

"The guy they sent was an idiot and he misunderstood what he was supposed to do. He pulled a gun on me and was getting ready to use it, but he didn't see my sister when he walked in the house and she whacked him with a table lamp. We wrapped him up in duct tape and pushed him down the basement stairs. And I said, "fuck this shit" and went and packed a bag. While I was in the bedroom packing the bag the DEA showed up. My sister answered the door and they asked her if she was me and she said yes to buy me enough time to bail out the window. I heard them say "You'll have to come with us for questioning" just before I went out the window.

"I called Elmer to find out what the hell was going on and I told him what had happened and how the DEA had taken Denise. He told me what the guy was actually supposed to be there for and then he told me I should check into a hotel under an assumed name and call him the next day. The next day I called him and he told me that the FBI was looking for me too and that the LAPD wanted to ask me about the duct taped guy at the bottom of my basement steps with the broken neck.

"I changed motels every day and checked in with Elmer to find out what I should do next. One day he sounded different and asked me to meet him. I had a bad feeling so I went to the meet two hours early. An hour before the meet Elmer showed up with three other guys and all three went and hid. I knew then that they were going to do what the first guy didn't and I ran.

"That was four years ago and I've been living a nice quiet life in Wigginsville ever since. Until today that is. Luckily I saw Elmer before he saw me and I was able to grab my purse and my coffee can and run."

"Coffee can?"

"Yeah. No bank accounts, nothing with my Social Security number. Supposed to make it harder to find you. All my money was either in my purse or my coffee can in the cupboard."

We rode silently for the next five or six miles and then I asked, "How much money do you have?"

"Why?"

"Because I don't carry much cash with me when I travel on business. I mostly use credit cards, but credit card transactions can be traced."

"How much do I need?"

"Enough for a bus ticket."

"I can't do that. They would find out and be waiting at the bus stop when I got there."

"Yeah, but you won't be on the bus."

I knew that Trailways used Union 76 truck stops as terminals on the Interstate so we drove the hundred miles to get to the next one. I had Alice (we finally got around to introductions) use what cash she had to buy a ticket to the farthest point east that she had the money for and then we waited for the bus. Alice got on, making sure that the driver got a damned good look at those memorable tits of hers and then while he loaded luggage I distracted him and Alice snuck off the bus.

"Now we go across the street and get a motel room to hide you in while I call the cops."

"No cops. I can't go to the cops."

"No, but I have to. That's why I have to get you a room to hide in."

I paid cash for a one-night stay, gave a fake name and fake plate numbers on the registration card and then I went back to the truck stop and called the state police. It took them an hour to show up which worked out well considering the story I told. I told them exactly what happened and that I'd told her that we had to call the police.

"Hell honey, you can't have men with guns chasing after you."

I told them that we had argued about it and that I had pulled into the truck stop to use the bathroom.

"When I came out she was gone. I asked around to see if anyone had seen her and one guy told me that he had seen her climb up into a blue Peterbuilt just before it pulled out."