Blown for Good Behind the Iron Curtain of Scientology (47 page)

The next two days are murder. Before this, all I was trying to do was forget and now there might be a chance that Claire and I could be together and then, no matter the consequences, we could start over and have a life. All I can think about were the chances she would get caught. Was there something else that we were not taking into account? Would she get interrogated before she tried to blow the base? Would she get caught calling the cab? It was torture just not knowing.

The day arrives. It is just about 2:00
 p.m.
my time. I am expecting her call any second. 12:20
 p.m.
her time comes and goes. Nothing yet. Then the phone rings. It is her calling on the damn Nextel!

“Why are you calling on the Nextel?” I yell into the phone, instantly concerned, knowing that this will allow Security to trace her.

“I didn’t know what else to do. None of the pay phones here take any coins! They only take calling cards and I have no idea what a calling card is or even where to get one. The bus is leaving in a few minutes so I had to do something! I called so I can get my ticket number! Do you have it?” she explains.

“Yes, I do.” I give her the number. “So how the hell did you get out of there?”

“Well, everything was good up until the morning I left. I was expecting that Jocelyn from the Medical Office would drop me off as she usually does. Then at the last minute I was told that I would be escorted instead and that Christi Mullins would be driving me there, would be with me during the appointment and would then bring me back.”

“Oh, crap, how did you manage to get away then?” I was amazed that my wife was this good at being “out-ethics”.

“Well, when we pulled up to the Wal-Mart, I could see the cab waiting at the other entrance. I told Christi that I would run in while she found a parking spot.”

“Good thinking!”

“Yeah, huh? Anyway, I went in one entrance, ran across the store, went out the other exit and got right into the cab that was waiting.”

“Oh, my god, baby, you did it!” I am so happy. “So, did they follow you, what happened with Christi?”

“Well, after a few minutes she called me and asked where I was. I told her that I had to go to the bathroom and that I would be out in a few minutes. Then I turned my phone off.”

‘Okay, so they definitely know that you have blown by now and will be watching to see where you call. Damn! Well, whatever, get on the bus and get to Barstow. Turn your phone off and hopefully they don’t figure it out so quickly. At least you are out. Do you have anything with you?”

“Just the clothes that I am wearing and my purse which has a few small things crammed into it. I wore three layers of clothes but any more would have looked too suspicious. So that is all I have.”

“Do you have any money?” I ask.

“Not much - $200.”

“Okay. Well, save what you have for food for the trip. Sleep as much as you can on the bus,” I tell her, almost not even believing that this is happening.

“I love you, baby,” she says.

“I love you too.” I hang up.

It is happening! I run in and tell my dad.

“She got out!” I tell him.

“She did?”

“Yes! She is on her way to Barstow!” I am so excited that I get on the computer to see when the bus will get to Barstow. People bad mouth Greyhound, but they keep a pretty tight schedule. The bus schedules are literally down to the minute on arrivals and departures. I have mapped out the entire trip and know every time that she would be in every single city. I will be able to track her the whole way to Kansas City.

The trip to Barstow is not that long. I have the entire itinerary printed out starting in Barstow and am going to make sure that she makes it through every stop. I even know the route she will be taking, too. It is almost like I know it by heart, but backwards. She is going to be traveling on Route 66!

She would be arriving in Barstow in about two hours. I get everything ready to track her the whole way.

At 4:45
p.m.
my time, the phone rings. It is an unknown number.

“Claire?”

“Yeah. I am here in Barstow.”

“Awesome. Okay you have a bit of a layover there. The bus is supposed to leave around 3:50
p.m.
your time.”

“Okay, I am going to get something to eat and get my tickets and get on the bus,” she tells me.

“It is going to take you two days to get here. You know that, right?” I want to make sure she knows that because taking a bus that far has got to be the longest way to get across the states. But for the price, what are you gonna do? Also, the airports will be crawling with people trying to track her down.

“Call me when you get to Vegas. I will be waiting for your call,” I tell her.

“Okay, I will call you as soon as I get there. I love you.”

“I love you, baby. This will all work out okay,” I say, hoping that it will.

We both hang up.

This is going to cause my entire head of hair to turn grey. The suspense between bus stations is excruciating, knowing that at any point, they could try and capture her and bring her back to the Int Base.

It is around 8:30 my time. Claire should be arriving in Las Vegas any minute now. Five minutes goes by and no call from Claire. Another ten minutes goes by and nothing. Then the phone rings. It is not Claire. The caller ID on my cell says “Greg Wilhere.” Not good! He knows my new number? They tracked that Nextel call! I answer.

“Hello, Greg.” I say, realizing he knows Claire has blown and is most likely coming out to see me.

“Hey, Marc. So I am here with Claire in Las Vegas,” Greg says.

My stomach literally drops out. Damn! Damn! Damn! They caught her! And they sent Greg Wilhere of all people! I cannot believe it. They must have figured out where she was going and that she would have to go through Las Vegas to get out to me. Sneaky bastards are sneaky.

“We are heading back to the base and I just wanted to let you know, so you were not expecting her at your end. She is not coming out to see you,” Greg says coolly.

“Put her on the phone, Greg! Let me talk to her!” I yell into the phone.

“Why? So you can tell her to leave and be with you? No way, Marc. I’m not stupid. You are just going to talk her into getting on the next bus and convince her to leave. That is not going to happen.”

“Why do you have to get involved in this? It is her decision if she wants to leave or not. You would rather her be miserable and stay than to leave and both of us be happy?” I plead.

“Well that’s just it, Marc, you will not be happy. You will end up working at Burger King or end up just being another bum on the streets. You will never be happy after what you have done. You have forfeited your entire eternity by doing what you have done. You caused this mess, Marc.” Greg says, all the while knowing that I just want him to put Claire on the phone.

“You are breaking us up by doing this, Greg. You don’t care that you are breaking up a marriage and disconnecting us from each other,” I tell him, getting more and more infuriated.

“This is the greatest good for the greatest number of dynamics, Marc. You are the one that is disconnecting from Claire by leaving. You could have returned and none of this would have happened,” Greg continues, “We will get Claire back to the Base and we will make sure that she is okay and she will be fine without you.”

I hang up.

Words cannot express how furious I am. I totally screwed up. I should have planned it better. Now that I had imagined her here with me, I cannot think of what I will do without her. Knowing that she wanted to leave and be with me will haunt me forever now. It was one thing when I thought that she would not leave, and that she would be able to continue to live at the Int Base and be happy. Now I know she wanted to leave and would be restricted to the Int Base for the rest of time and never get to visit her family anyway.

I go inside and tell my dad that they caught her and that she is now not coming. The grief overcomes me and I feel destroyed. I do not know how I am going to deal with this.

I am so angry and desperate that I seriously consider getting on a plane and flying back to the base to get Claire. Maybe I can call the police and get them to help me get her out. Maybe the FBI will help me. I spend the next hour looking on the internet at anything and everything I can find regarding prison camps, POWs, Ross Perot breaking some guys out of some place in Vietnam, I read all sorts of stuff. Then my phone rings. It’s Claire on her Nextel!

“Claire?” I say, half expecting Greg Wilhere to laugh derisively into the other end of the phone.

“Yeah, I am on the bus!” Claire says.

“What the hell happened? Greg Wilhere called me and said he was taking you back to the base!” I am so happy to hear her voice again I can’t contain myself.

“Yeah, well they tried. Greg Wilhere and Sharon Johnston friggin’ showed up at the bus station in Las Vegas!” Claire says with anger in her voice.

“Yeah, I wait until everybody gets off the bus,” she continues, “and figure that I will just get something to eat because I have not eaten all day. As I am stepping off the bus, out pops Greg. He tried to get me to go with them to get something to eat. He tells me how I will never see my family again if I leave and how I will be declared an SP and ruin my whole life. I went into the bus station and sat down right in the middle of the floor. I told them that if they even tried to touch me that I would scream and to leave me alone. I sat there for an hour and a half, and as soon as the bus started boarding, I got on. The bus just left Vegas and that is why I am calling you now. I figured they already used the Nextel to find me, and they know where I am, so it did not matter if I called you on it or not.”

“Oh my god!” I scream. “I thought they had you. Greg was telling me that you were going back with them and that there was nothing I could do. Oh my god, okay, so you are actually on the bus and it is on its way to Henderson?” I ask her, still not sure if she is safe from Greg.

“Yes. I am coming no matter what. I will not go back, no matter what they say,” she reassures me.

“Wow! That was close! Man, I was really freaking out at this end. I was screaming and yelling into the phone and just really freaking out!

“Okay, baby, so I will call you at each point. Don’t worry about them, they are not going to chase you cross-country. I think that you are good to go now.” I am hoping that she is going to hold up the rest of the way and not change her mind.

For the next two days, we talk at every stop along the way—Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, Oklahoma and finally, Kansas City.

I am there at the bus station at 5:30
 a.m.
I am so excited that I had not slept a wink that night. I stay up the entire time she is traveling. Even if I manage to fall asleep, I have my alarm set for the next stop and am ready for her call.

The bus arrives at a little past 6:00
 a.m.
I will never forget this moment: Claire steps off the bus and walks towards me. She is as beautiful as ever, her long red hair, blue eyes and perfect smile. I run to her and we hug for what seems like forever. I have my wife back! We have each other back. This is one of the greatest moments of my entire life. This single embrace has more emotion wrapped up in it than any other, happiness, grief, love, you name it. We are starting our lives over from scratch and have nothing, but we have each other now. We have been locked up for over a decade and now we are not only free, but we’re free together!

- The End -

Conan O’Brien
and all the crew at the former
Late Night
show, for dissing celebrity Scientologists on your show and blowing the cover on the entire 1984 Orwellian bull I was being fed at the Int Base. In some weird sort of roundabout way, your comedy actually might have saved my life. Keep the jokes coming!

John & Ken
on KFI AM 640 in Los Angeles for being who you are and slowly “deprogramming” me daily over a two year time period. You guys opened my eyes to what was happening all around me.