Chapter 130

It turned into a whirlwind. I stopped the car for gas, and Tom went to a quiet spot several paces from the SUV. He talked into the cell phone for a long time. Well past the time it took to fill the SUV's gas tank and the axillary tank as well. The receipt show $123 so I knew he had been a while. I got back into the car to wait for him.

It took him at least ten more minutes to finish the call. A lot of the time he was on hold or listening to the other party talk. It took him so long to finished the call that I moved the SUV away from the pumps. I went inside the little convenience store attached to the gas station. They had chocolate milk so I bought a small carton.

Finally Tom returned to the SUV. "They ran me around a bit. Since it is Sunday, they had to track down a duty officer and patch him through to me. I explained I had a family emergency and had to return to Philly. He had to get some answers, but he said there would a ticket waiting for me at the Augusta Air Port. So I guess we are going to have to stay there tonight."

"It's going to be late when we get into Augusta for sure. I guess we can check into a motel there, so you can fly out tomorrow. I have till Friday to get to Memphis, so that is no problem. You may hear form Miami PD before you fly out, but I doubt it. Unless they found something major in that warehouse, they wouldn't bother with you. When they get the evidence the bad guys will most likely plead guilty and it will be over," I said. "You know I couldn't take the chance on having them force you back down there at the last minute and leave me with no backup?" I asked.

"What I really know is that I didn't do what you told me to do. You feel you can't trust me to have your back, and you want me replaced. I covered you, by telling the family emergency thing, but we both know it's about you Silvia," he said. "You just don't trust me to be your partner in crime. I want you to know that the duty officer questioned me, but I didn't give you up. I stuck to the family emergency crap."

"That was up to you. either way I figure you were gone. Swamp Dog would not have been any more understanding of you calling the police, on something the surely is none of your business, then I am," I said. "Whether you took me with you or not would make no difference."

"I know that, but I could have gotten you for spite and I didn't," he said.

"If you change your mind go right ahead and tell them. I got no more to lose then you have. I love to work and I like the money, but I can get by without it," I explained.

I got two rooms at the motel by the highway. I would never have stayed there, if it was just me. Tom knocked on my door shortly after we checked in at 10PM. "Sylvia check in time for my flight will be noon is that going to be a problem for you," he asked.

"Not at all, I'll just carry my dirty laundry and do the wash after I drop you off." I replied.

"Good, I have no idea how I will get the pistol home," he said.

"Just UPS it to yourself. You will beat it home," I suggested. "Don't tell them what is in the box. We can take care of all that in the morning."

"Okay, I'll see you in the morning," Tom said and left.

I chose that particular motel, because it has a convenience store within walking distance. I walked down to it and bought a quart of milk. When I got back I poured about a forth of it into the tea pot. I made one cup of hot chocolate before bedtime. I filled the smaller of the coolers with ice from the machine and put the remainder of the milk in it then went to bed. I fell asleep quiet easily even in the midst of all the turmoil.

I awoke at 5AM the next morning and went out for my run. I ran until 6:20 then fixed a bowl of cereal. It was my usual routine. I prepared the hot chocolate with the last of the milk. I had about a third of the Hershey bar left. It was enough for one more cup of hot chocolate before I needed to consider my next move.

I read the news on my computer before Tom arrived. I read the same articles on the conservative news website, and then read it on the liberal website. I felt like I got a pretty fair idea of what really happened that way. I probably didn't really know any more that way, but I felt like I did anyway.

When Tom came, I realized that I really was going to miss him. What he did might not have been that bad. Maybe I had just over reacted, because he let me down. I never thought he would let me down, since I was screwing him. At least he hadn't thrown me to the wolves so far.

The next time I got a wild hair to do something for kicks, I promised myself no one would know about it. If I hadn't involved him, he would still be my partner. It really was my fault for involving him. I would not have, if I had any indication he had the hero complex. He just had the deep seated need to be part of the action again. I should have realized that was the case. So it was really my fault Tom was forced to leave.

I spent the day in a funk. I drove Tom to a UPS store and got a box. Then we went out and put his pistol and some packing inside it. After we sealed it up well, we went back and shipped it.