Chapter 21

The woman broke down as she watched her ride disappear. Her companions rallied around her trying to give her support, but failing. There was no way I could just leave them, so I gently urged them into the coach so we could get out of town before their friends showed up with reinforcements. We could talk about who they were and who was chasing them once we were someplace safe.

“Please ... Please let’s get in the RV and get out of here before whoever is chasing you figures out where you went and comes back for more. We can deal with details after we know you’re safe.” I was worried about what just occurred and what might be coming as backlash. My three companions snapped out of it and hurried into the coach, each one carrying a small bag. It seemed like whoever they were, whatever they were running from, they did so traveling light, which wasn’t my experience with women.

As fast as I could get the door closed we were on our way.

Where were we going?

I didn’t know.

What I did know was that it was far from Springfield, Missouri. I am so sorry, Jim and Millie. Our visit was going to definitely be delayed while I dealt with this group of needy women that the universe delivered to my doorstep.

My companions were just as curious about me as I was about them, and what caused them to be so sought after by bad guys with guns. The oldest one was perhaps thirty-six, and very well preserved. She looked like a mid-west country girl, who kept her figure after childbirth and fought off all attempts at premature weight gain and general lassitude. Her blue eyes were curious and frightened, but she seemed honestly grateful for my intervention.

The two girls were about a year apart, making them around sixteen and seventeen. They were both attractive but plainer than their mother and had all the right curves for girls their age. Once it was clear that we weren’t being followed she spoke for the first time. “Hi,” she spoke hesitantly. “I’m Caitlin. My daughters are Geena and Joanna. We are deeply thankful for your help, and I apologize for being so wrapped in us that I never stopped to think about what you must be thinking, and worrying about. Please forgive me for being so rude, and thank you so much...”

She drifted to a stop allowing me to speak. “I’m Carl. It is a pleasure to meet you all, even if the circumstances are a little crazy. I just lied to you. The circumstances were A LOT crazy, but I think we’re all safe for the moment. I have the rear cameras running and there is no one following us that I can see, so I really do think we’re safe ... at least for right now.” Caitlin smiled when I said that the circumstances of our meeting were bizarre. Her smile was really pretty, and I caught myself wondering about what was hidden under her long skirt and baggy blouse. Let’s face it; I’m a guy that loves women. I particularly love grown up women, and Caitlin was grown up, attractive and her smile had enough juice to light my fire. She moved up to the front seat, sitting partway facing me because her chair was on a swivel base, and I liked it turned partially to toward the driver to make more room to get in and out of the coach.

“We were terrified when those people tried to shoot us. Then Joanna screamed, ‘Look, Mom! Someone is shooting back!’ You were so ... brave ... and scary. When you shot the first car and it rolled over, I thought, ‘Good. At least there’s only one car shooting at us now.’ We knew we were going to die out there and then you stopped everything ... You just made them stop...”

She was going to hyperventilate at that rate, so I changed the subject. “If you push this button,” I said, showing her the electric controls for her chair, “you’ll find that the leg rest will come out and let you put your feet up.” Caitlin liked reclining just a bit and settled down into the plush, leather seat while I drove.

“What, or who, or how many people are chasing you? How did you three come to be in such danger?” I asked the direct questions to try and ferret out all the information at once. Armed with knowledge, I might be able to plan our safety better.

Caitlin looked at her feet, squirmed a little and looked at her daughters for courage, or permission before answering. “We ... my girls and I ... we seem to be the only living relatives of a family that owns a small block of farms in Texas where there are some gas and oil wells, along with a bunch of cattle and other things.” She talked like a school teacher, trying to connect all the dots and give as much information as needed to make her points along the way. I found I liked hearing her voice and encouraged her to keep talking.

“I had no idea who this ... these people were until a lawyer showed up and informed us that we were the only inheritors...” She stopped right there and her abrupt manner told me the really bad part was still unsaid.

“It’s OK, Caitlin. We are all in danger, so you can tell me the rest...” I kept my voice calm and soft, so she wouldn’t think I was prying, or thinking about tossing them all out at the next exit. She seemed to close me out and go deep inside to consider what she wanted me to know. One of her daughters, it turned out to be Geena, picked up where her mother left off. “The ... those people ... they aren’t from around here. They’re from California and seem to think that we should just let them take our property, or something...” She shivered in revulsion and her sister picked up the story.

Joanna was the sister that would have to watch her weight for the rest of her life. Her hips were always going to be bigger than her sister’s and mother’s. It was just the way the DNA sweepstakes worked with her. She also had the biggest bust line and dressed to minimize how big she really was. I could imagine teenage boys salivating over what was under that bra. “The lawyer tried to warn us about them. She was driving the car we were in, taking us to her sister’s place to hide when those people started shooting.I thought a man was driving the car ... She said they were very bad people and tried to steal the property before the rest of our family died out. When we tried to leave to go somewhere safe, they sent some people to kidnap us so they could take the land, but our lawyer told Mom that they would kill us if they got a chance and that’s what happened back there.

“They were trying to kill us.” She started to cry, and Caitlin moved to sit beside her comfortingly.

Caitlin continued the tale. “We aren’t financially set up to run and hide for a couple of years while the police deal with those people. There’s nowhere to go and no one to go to who would take us in. I can’t tell you where we’re going, because there’s no place ... You’re going to have to just leave us somewhere and we’ll have to work on it. It’s not safe for you to be with us, or help us. It might never be safe again...” She started to cry and the two girls held on to her for support.

That was the one thing that wasn’t going to happen. “Don’t even think about me leaving you in danger,” I said. “We can think about all the possible ways to approach this and pick one that doesn’t expose you and the girls to any more danger than you’ve already had to deal with.

I drove east on Interstate Forty-Four until I saw a sign for Saint Louis and then decided on our first destination. We would go on somewhere and find property far out of town that I can buy through a lawyer and hide out until I can hire some muscle to work this out. To Caitlin I said, “Let’s try and find and out of the way town where no one would ever to think to look and stay off the radar until this is settled. I have some ideas and some people I can call on to deal with those thugs that want to hurt you, and I have access to some powerful lawyers who can force the government to go after them until they give up and slink back to California, or wherever they are from.”

It was late in the day when I pointed the coach towards Asheville. If there was anyplace far off the beaten path, that was it. We needed to find a place near my old ranch where we could see anyone coming before they saw us. Even though it was decades before I came into ownership of the ranch, I still knew I’d know my way around and could find a place to buy and keep these women safe until my personal staff could deal with their tormentors ... permanently.

The girls settled down on the sofa and talked among themselves for some time while I drove. Eventually their natural curiosity got the better of them and they decided that it was time to interrogate me. Caitlin asked the first questions. “Carl, where are you from? What brought you to that spot where you saved us from those awful goons? Why are you helping us when it could get you hurt, or killed?” She had a couple of good points. Their lives were in danger and someone with a lot of resources wanted them dead, which meant that person wouldn’t care who else they killed to make it so.

My smile disarmed her for just a second. “My family is from Iowa, but I’ve been on my own for quite some time. Iowa is a good place to be from, not a good place to be. Lately me and my buddy Benjamin have been cruising around enjoying the scenery, which brought us to Lambert’s parking lot where I intended to have dinner before settling down for the night.

“As you know, that didn’t work out like I’d hoped, and now the three of us are headed somewhere decidedly rural so your friends can’t find you and continue what they started up the road.” It was time to turn the tables before the inquisition got too intense and I had to evade a lot of uncomfortable questions. “Where are you three from and where were you headed when ... that happened?”

Caitlin hesitated and then said, “The lawyer wanted us to hide out until this blows over, but you saw how that worked out. We’ve no place to go and no one to call. It’s just us...”

“Well,” I said in response to that. “I think we need to find us something to eat, a safe place to get a good night’s sleep, and tomorrow this will all start to look better. Do you three have what you need to handle an overnight, or do I need to find us a mall?”

They all agreed that they had what they needed to get through the night. I wanted to be farther away from Lamberts before we stopped, and since I’d changed directions twice since the shooting, there was little likelihood that those trying to kill the girls were still following them. The bus was comfortable to drive and I made it almost to Tennessee before exhaustion caught up with me. I found a campground close to the highway, but out of sight and took over a pull through lot, hooked up, and leveled the coach. When I was done, I peeked in and told the girls, “I’m going to the shower house to clean up. You three can use the shower in here. I’ll be about forty minutes.” Benjamin and I went off to shower. He loved the chance to run around a little, and I wasn’t in a hurry so we both enjoyed the night air.

After about an hour we knocked on the coach door and announced our return. Caitlin was sitting near the front with her hair wrapped in a towel. She seemed happier than earlier, even with the extraordinary circumstances. Maybe cleaning up helped her mental as well as her physical condition.

I could hear the girls talking back towards the bedroom and asked, “Do you girls need more time? Benjamin and I can entertain ourselves out here for a while.”

Caitlin wasn’t about to inconvenience me any longer, apparently and thanked me for giving them so much privacy. We talked while the girls continued their preparations for bed and within about thirty minutes Joanna came out and sat next to her mother on the sofa. Geena arrived a few minutes later and we were all present, so we could try and figure out our strategy.

“We are headed for the mountains of eastern North Carolina - Tennessee where we can look for a place well off the highway and kind of hunker down and let some time pass. That will give the people chasing you a chance to run out of steam and maybe give up. I’ll need contact information for your lawyer to give to my lawyers. They will know who to call and what to do to make life so uncomfortable for those low life rats that they’ll wish they’d never started this in the first place.