The Road to Round Mountain: The Betrayal by (23 page)

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well-placed bullet between her eyes, and be free of her hold  on him. As he was backing out he heard a thump coming  from the back of the van. “Hey bub, watch where you’re going you almost ran over us”. Doug was so preoccupied with  Agent Boling that he didn’t see the two homeless bums at  the back of his van. “Move it or lose it, and trust me when I  say that I don’t care which option you choose”, as the Vans  tires spun dust and gravel at the two homeless guys. They  quickly got out of his way as Doug stopped the van got out  and slid the doors closed and locked up. The tires spun again  as the van left the premises. “Did you get the GPS tracker  on the bumper”, one of the homeless guys asked? “That was  too easy; those older vans with the metal bumpers make it  so simple”. “Are you going to call Adrian”? I thought I might  wait until he’s out of sight, he might get a little suspicious  seeing two homeless guys pulling phones out of their raggedy old coats”. They waited, and then called.

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34

tuesdAy nIght wAs
 
not much more than Me and

Gordon stepping outside for an occasional smoke as the  Sherif f and Hargrove combed through information on the flash drive. I was sure that my session with Agent Boling for my training on Wednesday would not happen; I was glad of that. Up until an hour ago I was reminded by Gordon that I might want to consider putting on the left shoe I had been carrying around with me. It was amazing how much better that felt.

One of the deputies went with us when we wanted another pack of smokes, and being under the age of 18 would make the attempt to purchase a bit embarrassing.  On our journey across the street to the AM/PM mart,  Deputy Dave, as he likes to be called, confirmed our choice of Marlboro’s finest for our purchase. We approached the counter as Deputy Dave purchased the smokes with the money Gordon gave him. Gordon and I were right behind  Dave when the clerk scanned the Marlboros when, “Whoa, what the hell”, the clerk exclaimed. I already knew what the problem was as I backed up a few steps and the register returned to normal operating mode. I gave Gordon a shrug of the shoulders to signal that I had forgot not to get that close. I would hate to see what happens if I got too close to an ATM, Or perhaps I would.

When we returned the Sheriff had Pizza delivered from

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Fultanos; not a bad choice it wasn’t Goonies but then again what was. Gordon and I went into the Sheriff’s office and

had a seat in the two remaining chairs. Detective Hargrove  was staring at me when I came in and followed me all the  way to the chair. “Real Subtle Ron”, the Sheriff scolded  Hargrove. “Sorry about that Billy, I was telling Ron about  the way you redirected that truck earlier, and I don’t think he  believes me”. The Sheriff pointed at the office door, “Billy,  would you mind closing the door”? “Not at all Sir”, and I  started to get up and the Sheriff stopped me with his hand  as if directing traffic. “No Son do it from your chair”.

It sometimes takes a while for me to catch on, but eventually I do. From my chair I gave a little swing of my arm  like I was hitting a backhand in Tennis and the door shut  swiftly, just as Detective Hargrove’s mouth hung open in  disbelief. Hargrove’s mouth was moving but word escaped  him. “What’s the matter Ron, see something new and exciting”, the Sheriff asked while smiling widely. Detective  Hargrove plopped in to one of the Sheriff’s chairs like all of  his bones had been removed. “What the hell did I just see,  this building is too damn old for one of those trick doors  to be installed”. The three of us looked at Hargrove like he  should be in a looney bin. A door opens without the physical aid of a human hand and he equates that to a magic  door; some Detective.

The Sheriff was still smiling at the befuddled Detective  Hargrove, “You look like you could use something to drink.  What do you say Billy, you think you could get him a cold  beverage”? I was able to catch on a little quicker this round,  concerning the Sheriff’s subtle hint. This would be a tricky

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one which will require a bit of doing. I motioned my arm  towards the door and swung my arm towards me and the  door opened back up. Now the tricky part; I had to remember where in the fridge that certain drinks were located. I  thought for a moment and made a motion with my hand to  open the fridge.

This is the first time I tried this on something in another room, I would need to concentrate a little harder. I  could hear the squeaky door of the fridge opening and then  remembered where the Dr. Peppers were located. Using my  fingers I signaled it to the office like I was telling the Dr.  Pepper to come here. It took a few seconds but in through  the door came a can of Dr. Pepper and still using my fingers,  directed it to Detective Hargrove. “Hold your hand out Ron,  it won’t bite; at least not like your wife”, the Sheriff let out a  loud belly laugh over that one while Gordon and I watched  his drink float safely to his hand.

“I’m impressed dude that was from the other room”,  Gordon replied with his accolades. I must admit that I too  was impressed. I could be the World’s greatest waiter in a  restaurant and never leave my house. It wasn’t my vocation of  choice, but it’s always nice to have something to fall back on.

Deputy Dave came storming into the room just in time  to watch the floating Dr. Pepper can end up in Hargrove’s  shaky hand. “Sheriff, did you see……”, as he noticed everyone in the room was watching what he was? “Settle down  Dave, just giving Ron a little demonstration of what Billy  can do”. Deputy Dave shook his head in disgust, “You might  let others in on this, you just made Mallory pee his pants”.  Mallory, the younger of the two Deputies was indeed in the

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bathroom changing into his backup uniform; the Sheriff  chuckled, as did the rest of us.

After our little chuckle-fest, the Sheriff showed Gordon  and me to a room that had a couple of beds and shower  facilities off to the right of the beds. “We used this for  Emergencies if we had to stay in here for extended periods  of time. The showers and bathrooms are off to the right. Get  some sleep, sorry there’s no TV, but you’ll just have to rough  it”. And with that, The Sheriff closed the door.

The shower was great with plenty of hot water. I got  changed into fresh jeans and a t-shirt and laid down on the  bed; Gordon quickly followed suit. I was asleep before he got  out of the shower.

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35

I woke up
 
all groggy and my sense of bearings was screwed up. For a moment I couldn’t remember where I was.  I sat up on the edge of the bed and looked over and noticed that I was the only one in the room. I wobbled my way to the bathroom to take care of some business and brush my teeth;  I forgot to do that last night.

There was no clock in the room which was probably a good move, so I had no Idea what time it was. My mind felt full of cobwebs so I doubted that I got much sleep. Out of our room, I looked about and saw Deputy Dave, no Deputy  Mallory or Sheriff; Gordon was MIA as well. “Where’s the  Sheriff at”, I asked. He continued writing something on what appeared to be a report of some kind and replied, “At home eating dinner”. Dinner, Holy crap, how long have I been asleep. I located a clock on the wall in the lobby and it read 7:30. “Dave, I take it that it’s 7:30 in the evening”. “You take it correctly, we thought we were going to have to call the  Coroner”, Dave replied with a hearty chuckle.

I wasn’t awake enough to appreciate the humor in that.  I bypassed Dave, went through the swinging gate and went outside. Sure enough, the Sun had maybe an hour before disappearing on the horizon. The smell of smoke drew me towards the side of the building where I found Gordon puffing away.

Without saying a word he pulled out his pack and gave

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me a smoke. “Thanks, how long have you been up”? After  a mighty exhale Gordon said, “Since maybe about 3:00pm”.  Gordon took a longer look at me, almost a creepy predator  type of stare. “What’s wrong, don’t you like my bed head”,  I asked?

Gordon continued staring as he did a 360 around me,  “Dude, your hair, its, its, all white”. At first I thought he said alright which didn’t make any sense on my end, then I could see him looking at what I finally figured out was my hair.  Sometimes I’m not as sharp as I need to be.

Making my way over to the deputies patrol car, I looked in the side view mirror, “Holy shit”, was the only appropri-ate exclamation that I could come up with. I was indeed all white, not one bit of dark hair to be found. I was just getting used to my Pepe’ Le Pew look. At least I won’t have to answer to Bride of Frankenstein, Cruella, or my personal favorite Pepe’.

I finally lit my cigarette and looked at Gordon pointed at my head and said, “Well what do you think”. Gordon took a few slow puffs while he thought about it, “You’re a combina-tion of Richard Gere and Steve Martin, maybe even a bit of  Jolly Olé Saint Nick”. That’s a much better trio of reference compared to the previous; who knows, I could rock this look.

The Sheriff pulled up in the parking lot as we were fin-ishing our smoke. As he got out of the patrol vehicle he briefly looks over at us and then back again. “Damn Billy, your hair it’s all…..”, as he pointed at my head. “Yeah I know,  Gordon broke the news to me”. “Let’s go inside, we got us a few things to cover”. We followed the Sheriff inside and all the way back to his office. I got up beside the Sheriff pointed

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at my hair and asked, “So, what do you think, Richard Gere”?  He smiled and replied, “Maybe Anderson Copper, but not  Gere”. Damn I’ve been up maybe fifteen minutes and he already burst my bubble.

We took our seats on the arm chairs and the Sheriff

plopped down in his high back chair. “I got another call from  Agent Marrick’s friend, and he found out that Agent Boling  has someone traveling with her, but in a separate vehicle. He  has two people tailing them and planted a tracking device  on the other vehicle as well. Just one problem though, we  lost our tracking as soon as they got to the Washington border”. “Did they ditch the cars for others”, I asked? “No, but  even if they did we would still be getting a signal from the  other two, so they must have expected as much and found  the tracking devices”. Damn, I would have felt much better  know where she was at all times. She has another traveling  companion, and I can’t see that as being good news for anyone. If Agent Boling entertained the notion of getting rid of  anymore potential witnesses, I imagine her companion was  properly trained for it.

“I’ve got two of my Deputies on 24/7 patrol and extra  mobile help from Detective Hargrove to keep an eye out for,  well anything. I haven’t heard back from anyone yet, but I  will have my radio with me”. “Does this mean you’re taking  off”, I inquired? “It does Billy, The misses and I are going to  enjoy some time alone and maybe catch a movie”. He pointed towards the fridge, “There’s a few Subway sandwiches in  the fridge you all just help yourself and I will see you two in  the morning”, as he gave a quick wave of his hand on the way  out of his office.

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Gordon and I just looked at each other, “okay what do you want to do”? Gordon pulled out a deck of cards from his jacket pocket and replied, “Poker anyone”. Deputy Dave provided us with poker chips from one of the cabinets by his desk, so Gordon and I pulled up a couple of chairs by one of the empty desks, placed the chips on the desk and Gordon started to deal. I could do an all-night poker game. We had all the essentials for poker, chips, cigarettes, plenty of soda, and sandwiches. The only thing that would make this night better, would be if Jennifer were here; I miss her already.

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36

“doug, dId you
 
honestly think that those were real  homeless back at the warehouse”? Doug shifted restlessly in  his chair at the roadside diner they were at. The Castle Rock  diner was just a few blocks of f of I-5, and if you were so  inclined, you could keep on driving to go see Mt. Saint Helens. The diner was straight from the 1950’s, it had bright red  swivel stools at the long counter with ten booths set up along  the front of the diner and each booth was equipped with an  old fashioned mini-jukebox. During the day the blinds were  drawn all the way up so you could enjoy the view from the  booths but during the evening the blinds were down as if to  protect the diners from some evil cascade dwelling monster.

“Hey, they looked homeless to me”, Doug replied. “That’s  why I’m around, to make sure that I notice everything that  you don’t”, Boling replied snidely. “I still don’t get it, how did  you know”? “Two homeless guys at an abandoned ship yard,  think about it, there’s no food, no water, all the buildings are  secured, and it would be a waste of their time; they go where  the people are”. Doug shook his head in agreement. “I’ve got  us hotel rooms set up next door”, as she continued with her  chili cheeseburger. “Why a hotel, I thought we were driving  straight through”, Doug Inquired. Agent Boling took a moment to check her surroundings and was satisfied with her  findings, “Change of plans”.

The door to the diner opened, and as it did it clipped

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the bell attached right above it to signal that another patron  has arrived hungry and thirsty. A rather ordinary looking  man came in, wearing a Seahawks ball cap, jeans, a tee shirt  reading Starbuck Ready, covered slightly by a dark blue wind  breaker with a well-worn leather satchel draped over his  right shoulder. Short gray hair was visible under his ball cap.  He walked over to where Agent Boling and Doug were sitting at one of the booths and sat down just as Agent Boling  slid over to her right to make room.