Chapter 8: Evade And Retreat

I posted tomorrow's chapter this evening. Tomorrow I shall probably be gone.

Not many people have responded. However the ones who have were all supportive, unless I missed something.

Another FBI agent came up and yelled over the noise of the people. "You can't do that. I have a federal warrant here. She is coming with me."

Two big outlaw bikers in full colors knocked people out of the way. One yelled in a hoarse voice, "She goes where she wants to, pig." He weighed over three hundred pounds. His companion nodded in agreement.

"Shall we?" Dana asked Will James. She took his arm.

"Me too." Jimmy took her other arm.

"Shoot them. They're getting away. Shoot to kill." shouted the agent with the broken wrist.

"Shut up." ordered the larger of the two bikers. The agent then had a broken jaw to go with his broken wrist.

"Nice punch," Dave complimented him, "Airborne?"

"Naw, Rangers," the big man answered casually.

Dana, Jimmy and the shore patrol followed Will. The young first class said, "We'll just escort you to this man's car.

Dana thanked her and Jimmy added, "If I wasn't already in love with Dana, I'd ask you out on a date." The young woman blushed as she looked at the near perfect features of the young man. Dana felt a twinge of jealousy, but didn't let it show. Jimmy hugged her and she felt the jealousy fade away.

A block away Will James stopped at a car and knocked once. The driver jumped out and opened the back door to let them in. "You do have some interesting friends," he told Dana. "Who were the two monsters?"

I only know one, the bigger of the two. I got him acquitted of a murder charge. He thinks he owes me." She smiled at the remembrance of the trial. "I introduced jury nullification after the judge ordered me not to."

"Interesting people, indeed," he repeated.

Before the driver could get the car started, Billie Mayes rushed up and knocked on the window. "Roll it down. That's Billie."

The driver threw the switch rolling the window down. "Let me in. I got a load of dynamite." she said between gasps of air. "I had to run all the way here to catch you. Western Sun has paid two FBI agents to kill you. I have a recording of the conversation."

"Just get us out of here." Dana pled and asked that the door be unlocked. "Get in. I need you." Billie scooted in and the door was closed and the window was rolling back up as the car pulled away from the curb.

There was a "splat." sound and the windshield on the driver's side suddenly had a scar across it where a high-powered bullet exploded on contact with the bulletproof windshield. "Damn. Go. Go." Will yelled at the driver. The car peeled rubber as the super charger cut in. The big, armored limo disappeared, leaving Dave and his team to find the shooter.

In the limo, Dana asked, "What is this about FBI agents being hired to kill me?" A slow pressure was building up inside her. Jimmy felt her tension and placed a reassuring arm around her. She found comfort in his silent display of caring. She rubbed her cheek on the wrist resting on her shoulder.

"Now, Billie, just what is this about?"

"Dave took me to get my stuff and I sent him on back. He scared everybody there." She laughed at the memory. "He said," she lowered her voice in a gravely parody of Dave's gruff voice, 'Okay, kid, If I have to come back here with my friends to get you, I am going to get very pissed at someone.' He sounded like he meant it."

Dana told her, "He did mean it. You remember the cop who got stuffed in the paper towel can?" Billie nodded, "That was our boy David."

"Yeah. I was there. I saw it all." Jimmy broke in. "Dave makes the Hulk look like a wuss."

"Well, anyway, nobody bothered me or even wanted to be near me when I went back to clear my desk out and get my stuff out of my locker. Then I remembered a folder with some stuff about toxic waste in it. I thought I could just slip in to Mister Lardo's office and get it.

Just as I grabbed it I heard voices coming from the hallway. So I took the minicorder that was on his desk and hid in the closet. They were talking about you so I turned it on and recorded the whole thing. I had to hide out in there for almost five hours. I walked out with some other secretaries and faked signing out on the night log. The guard recognized me and so he didn't hassle me.

She handed Dana a folder. "I read this while I was waiting to get away from there. There's a list of everything they have stored on all the military bases in the country. There's another list of whom to contact on those bases."

"Hoo boy. Just when I think things are getting better, they get worse. You did say, "All over the country?" Dana looked at her quizzically.

"Well, maybe not all over the country, but there are a whole lot of places listed."

Dana looked at Will James, "Willy my friend, let us off at the next corner. You had better get off with us. This big hearse mobile is targeted for destruction. I don't wish to become a crispy critter before Jim here and I get back from our honeymoon."

"I can't do that, Ms. Featherstone. If I go back and tell the governor I let you go, he'll have my head." Will James looked at her apologetically.

"How do I phrase this so you understand it? We won't be alive if we stay in this car. Too many people know we are in it."

Reluctantly he nodded agreement. "Okay, what do you suggest?"

I suggest we get the hell out of this beast and flag someone down and have him or her give us a lift to the nearest car dealership. That way I can buy us a car and we will be on our way."

"There's a truck stop up there on the right," the driver said, "I'm pulling in there. The lady makes sense."

They all got out as soon as the car stopped and the driver popped the door latches from the front seat. They slammed the doors shut and walked away, not looking back. A shadowy figure rushed up to the limo and popped the driver's door latch. A male figure slipped in and started the engine almost immediately. Slowly the heavy car cruised out of the truck stop and headed back the way it came. It suddenly exploded in a great white fireball.

Dana jumped. "What was that?"

"I think we just got murdered," the driver told her, "You got good instincts, Lady." Will James shuddered.

"Oh wow. Dana, you did it again." The young man now known as Jim gave her another hug.

"I have to admit I'm scared and out of my depth. What do we do now?" Will James looked like he was ready for a nervous breakdown.

"When in doubt, improvise," Dana told him. "Let's get some coffee and Jimmy is hungry again."

"Call me Jim from now on," he ordered, then added, "How did you know I was hungry?"

"Well, Jim, I heard you in the car and just now," she answered, "Let's go in and get a private booth in the back away from everybody."

As soon as they entered the truck stop dining room, a pert young waitress eyed Jim, smiled and cooed, "Would you like a booth or a table?" she stepped close to him and he stepped back.

"My fiancé and I would like a private booth where the four of us won't be disturbed," Jim told her firmly.

She jumped back as if stung, "Ah, yes sir. This way."

"As they were seated, Jim grumbled under his breath, "I hate being looked at like I'm a piece of meat."

"Well, you could either take ugly pills or get used to it," Billie told him, "Those are your choices. I've sort of gotten used to it."

The waitress came back with the menus and placed them in front of everybody. Everybody ordered without looking at them. "I want a rare steak," Jim said. "I just can't seem to get full." Everyone else ordered coffee.

Dana got an idea, "I'll be right back. She hurried up front and bought five baseball caps like most truckers wore.

As she paid for the caps she had a better idea. "Is there anyone in here with an empty eighteen wheeler? I want to hire one that is clean.

A man got up from the counter and asked, "What you got in mind?"

"How big and how clean is your sleeper?" I need you to leave your trailer parked here and take me and my friends to Sacramento. " The pay is great and it's all legal. You drop us at the governor's mansion and head back. We need to duck some nasty people."

"What do you call 'great pay, ' little lady?"" he grinned down at her.

"Ten of these is great pay," Jim stated flatly. He handed a Krugerand to the man and watched his leer become a look of astonishment as he saw what it was.

"Is that thing real?" he exclaimed.

"Show it around," Jim told him, "I'll go with you."

The driver nodded and carried it over to a booth where a man was sitting, nursing a coffee. "What's this worth?"

The man took a quick glance and said, "Gold is down. I'll give you a thousand for it for it."

"A thousand what?" the aggravated trucker asked. "Bottle caps, beer tabs?"

"No, fool, I mean a thousand dollars even. Krugerands are one ounce pure. Gold is down, right now. Take it or leave it." He turned back to his coffee.

"We ain't talking wet backs are we? I don't do wet backs. Too risky and too smelly."

"We are all white as the driven snow and speak nothing but American," Dana assured him. "Come on back and meet your other passengers."

The steak had been brought to the table. Jim slid in and began to devour it as fast as he could. By the time Dana made all the introductions, grabbed the ticket and drank her coffee, Jim had surrounded a twelve-ounce steak and drank most of the water at the table. "Let's go," he said.

Will James looked at him in astonishment as Dana said, "He's been sick." She handed each one a cap and said, "Not much of a disguise, but at least it's something."

Dana, Jim and Will accompanied the driver. They stopped at a big Peterbilt rig. The driver unhooked the lines while Dana cranked the levelers down. Will and Jim watched her work almost effortlessly. "You done that before, I'll bet."

"My father was a truck driver. I was his relief driver when I was twelve years old," she answered in a flat voice.