Un-Connected (4 page)

I had never been so needy in my life, and she
was taking really good care of me beyond anything I had hoped for. I knew it
could come to an end any moment, but for now I was enjoying this one. She had
given me a pair of jeans, a sport shirt, some tennis shoes, socks, boxer
shorts, a toothbrush, toothpaste, and mouthwash. I was about to look and feel
somewhat normal for the first time in days. Maybe I could start building back
and trying to get myself out of trouble.

After finishing my shower and dressing, I
only waited a few minutes in the TV room until she appeared and asked if I was
ready. I said yes, and we walked out together. I had put my dirty clothes in
the plastic shopping bag she had given me.

She didn’t smile or do more than glance at
me.  We walked to the back of the building to the dumpsters. She told me to see
if I could find some corrugated boxes. After poking around a bit, I came up with
a large one and two small ones, which we carried to the truck.

She told me to break the boxes down flat and
put them on the walkway behind the cab and put my sleeping bag on top of them.
She said good night and got in the truck. I didn’t have a pillow but I was not
going to complain. I slept really well that night. I awoke several times when
one of the trucks pulled out in the middle of the night, and a short time later,
another one pulled in. There were other noises, and I awoke a few more times, but
I still slept very well. Later I learned one of the noises was a “Refer Unit”
going on and off.

The next morning we ate breakfast and were
pulling out of the parking lot when a black SUV with all dark windows pulled
into the car entrance. I tried not to look at it or flinch or tighten up, but
when it was out of sight she glanced at me and said, “You can breathe now.”

We pulled away and I began to take her
advice.

“So the black SUV is after you, huh? They
don’t look very nice.”

I was too shaken to reply.  And I had done my
best poker face.  How did she know I reacted?

We continued to travel this way for about
five weeks with me sleeping in the sleeping bag and her in the truck, and me
helping with fueling or any way that I could. My daily prayers always included
thanks for sending Deb to me, and one month after meeting her I gave extra
thanks that she had not dumped me yet. Each day and each mile that rolled under
the truck could be the last one, but I wasn’t as scared as I had been. I didn’t
know if I was really safer, though.

Chapter 4

A New Day

One morning a few weeks after that, Deb
decided she needed to hear my story. She woke me around seven and asked if I
was hungry. I really was and told her so. We had a good breakfast and hit the
road. The conversation was much like the days and nights before. I was not going
to create any problems for her, so I didn’t bring up anything.

About midmorning she broke the ice. I knew
this was coming, and I dreaded it. She would ask me who I was running from and
why, or she would tell me when I was getting out of her truck. Still I was
grateful and looked at her, intent on listening.

“We need to talk. I don’t want you to lie to
me. I don’t intend to turn you in, but I may kill you myself if you don’t tell
me the truth.”

“OK.”

“What do you want to do? Where are you
headed? I have done about all I intend to do.”

I paused a long time, and she didn’t press me
to answer quickly. “I don’t know. I’ve been trying to stay alive. I have
thought of a few things but haven’t come up with anything solid yet.”

“What do you mean?”

I was thinking quickly and talking slowly.
She had done a lot to help me. I could sense it was coming to an end, and I
didn’t want it to end badly for either of us. I didn’t want to tell her
everything for sure.

“There are men in a black SUV who are trying
to kill me. I’m sure you saw the bullet holes in the back window of my car. You
saw the black SUV at a truck stop. I don’t know who they are, but they know
when I use my credit card.”

She looked me in the eye. I’m sure she
thought I wasn’t telling the truth.

“OK. Why are they trying to kill you?”

“I don’t know. No one’s mad at me. Not that I
know of, anyway. I haven’t stolen from anyone. I haven’t been around any drugs
or drug deals. I don’t know.”

Then I asked her if she had seen the bullet
holes in the back window, and she nodded her head “yes”.

There was a long silence. We drove until we
came to the next rest area. She pulled off and got as far away from cars and
other trucks as she could. She parked the truck and turned toward me. “I’ve
done what I’ve done because I’ve taken you at your word that you were afraid
for your life. But I will tell you for sure I find it hard to believe except
for those bullet holes in the back window of your car. And just because a black
van looks ominous doesn’t mean they’re after you.  What you have told me so far
seems incredulous.”

She frowned. “I’ve been suspicious the whole
time with you tearing up and with your wild story. I’ve been concerned about
you conning me. I’m not easy to take as a mark, but I have been had, lied to and
cheated. I’m worried it’s happening again, and I don’t want what I fear to
prove true. I don’t necessarily believe you, but I don’t ever want to refuse to
help someone who is really in need.”

“I’m not conning you.” I said. “You have to
believe me. And I’ve wanted to pay for stuff because you’re doing so much for
me. I haven’t paid for much of anything because I’m afraid to use my debit
card. When I do the black SUV people show up who are trying to kill me. I only
have a few hundred dollars cash right now, and I’m not sure how long I have to
make it last.”

I didn’t want to tell her I was also
concerned she would abandon me somewhere, and if I had no money on me then I
would really be hurt.

“Let’s use your card and see if you’re
telling the truth.” She said.

“What!” I exclaimed with fear obviously in my
voice. She was about to give me a heart attack.  I hadn’t seen the black SUV in
several days and hadn’t totally relaxed but I wasn’t jumping out of my skin
either.  “That will bring them to find me.  Why would you do that?”

“I want to see if you are telling the truth.”
She said.

“Are you going to turn me over to them?” I
asked and then paused.  “Please don’t do that.  Just let me out right here if
that is what you are thinking.”

“I’m not going to turn you over to them.  I
just want some proof you aren’t lying to me.”

My fear made me hesitate.  My head was
spinning.  I didn’t like it a bit but finally, I agreed. “OK, but I would
prefer it was not at any place close to a truck stop because I don’t think they
are currently looking for me in a truck.”

“Okay, if you are telling the truth I don’t
want them knowing you’re in my truck either.  I don’t need more trouble.  So we
will go somewhere and make a plan so they don’t connect you with this truck.”

We agreed to find a place away from all truck
stops and cameras, use the card, and see what happened. The rest stop didn’t
have many cameras, but we didn’t want to take any chances. And then for the
first time I became worried they wouldn’t come.

“What if they were too far away or it takes
them too long to get for them to get there?” I asked. 

Now I was afraid she would give up waiting
and leave me where I used the card and where they would start searching again?
Would this fear and trouble never end?

We located a strip mall a few miles away and
decided to go there for our test. We wanted something way back in the parking
lot so we could see people coming in off the interstate and service road. We
agreed on a store with a back door exit. I asked if there was anything she
needed since I owed her anyway. She gave me a list of things she wanted and I
went shopping.

We agreed on a plan.

Once I swiped the card, she and I would be
watching the highway and the service road. If I saw something threatening, I’d
go out the back door. She would be sitting in her truck with the front at the
end of the building, where she could go around back in a hurry. Or at least as
fast as you can in a truck. Plus, we scouted out the back drive, and there was
a street leading to a major divided median road that led to the interstate.

If someone showed up, I would go out the back
door. She would pull around back and get me and we would get on the interstate
as fast as we could. It would be essential they did not see me get in the
truck. We had driven around back and checked to be sure there were no cameras
where I would be getting in.  She pulled back up front and let me out at the
corner where no one saw me and then went to the spot we had agreed on her
sitting.

I went in the store and took my time shopping
to try to get exactly what she wanted. Just before I checked out, I went to the
front window and made sure she was still there and she was watching. She saw me
and knew the test was about to happen. I found out the store limit on cash
advances and got as much as I could.

With my heart pounding and a lump in my
throat, I swiped my card. To my relief it went through, and I had the
merchandise, cash, and receipt in my hand. I stood back from the front glass
door a little and watched the street. My heart was beating so hard I thought
the teller could hear it. Nothing happened.  I waited for a few minutes.

Imports, cars, and pickup trucks were the
only things turning into the mall parking lot.  No one was driving fast.  I
decided it was safe, and I walked out the front door. I walked past the next
store in the direction of her truck hardly able to breathe and kept watching as
I walked. I got to the truck and got in. She was watching the street. We sat
there for about five minutes.

She turned to me. “OK, I am putting you out a
couple of miles from here. I would put you out right here, but if I should be
wrong, I don’t want you killed a couple of hours from now. It looks like you’re
conning me, and I want to be done with you. Either way, here or down the road,
you’re getting out. So which is it?”

I was slow to answer. Scared and so
disappointed she was angry with me. “Down the road. At least I don’t want to be
here since I still think they will show up.”

She turned the truck around and drove slowly through
the parking lot to the service road headed back on the interstate.  About the
time we pulled onto the service road, we saw a black SUV coming off the freeway
and going at least a hundred miles an hour. It screeched into a turn and
entered the parking lot, where the vehicle slowed for a few seconds. Then the
passengers must have located the store they were looking for. The SUV tore out
across the parking lot with smoke pouring out behind.

She got on the interstate, and neither of us
said anything for a while. Then she sighed. “That was a scary-looking SUV. I
don’t think you want to talk to them.”

It was all we said for a couple of hours.

Finally, she glanced at me. “Are you hungry?”

“A little.” I answered in a low unmotivated
voice.

The morning’s exercise left me more than a
little shaken. We pulled into a truck stop for lunch. After she ordered a
good-sized meal and I ordered soup, she broke the small talk.

“It looks as though someone bad is very
upset. That SUV was serious, and they beat the police there. I know they are
not the police because I looked at the tag. It was moving too fast and it was
too far away to read it all, but I saw enough characters to know it wasn’t a
government tagged vehicle. All of this tells us the people who are after you
appear to be dangerous and well connected and have money.”

“I was thinking about joking with you.  What
I saw back there was very scary and they got there quickly.  I’m pretty sure I
could get a lot of money for turning you over.” Then she paused while my face
went flush.  “But it probably wouldn’t be funny right now.”

It wasn’t funny and I wanted to tell her so
but she had been so nice I bit my tongue.  It would be better to get more miles
with her than to correct her.  So I didn’t say anything.

“I don’t like them either.” She said. “They
scare me, and I don’t get scared easily. I don’t know what to do with you. I
want to get rid of you, but I don’t want to get you killed either. I’m certain
those guys would kill you. If they get a hold of you, it won’t be pretty. You
really need to figure out who you made angry.”

She paused and looked out the window trying
to figure out what to do.

“Anyway now I believe you so I’m a little
more comfortable helping you.  That doesn’t mean I like it but I don’t want to
get you killed.”

I just sat there for a long time. I didn’t
know what to say and she didn’t push me for an answer. Finally, I found the
energy to talk.

“I know your assessment is accurate. The bullet
holes in my back car window were all I needed to know.  I don’t intend to let
them catch me but I don’t know how to protect myself on my own. I am totally at
your mercy. I need your help.”

I put all my cash on the table. “Here, this
is all the cash I have. Take it. I would not blame you one bit if you put me
out somewhere. I know you will eventually be in danger if you keep helping me.
Please don’t turn me over to the black SUV people. I am sure they will kill
me.”

I didn’t mention the police, and she didn’t
either.

“OK, for now you can ride with me. I think
you need to get as far away as possible so I will aim for California. I
probably will let you out in LA or San Diego so you can blend in with the large
number of people. If I were you, I would get a good tan and keep it. I would learn
Spanish. I would start a new life and not contact anyone you have ever known.”
She thought for a moment. “I am sure you can get a new birth certificate,
driver’s license, and passport and be someone new. Do you have family?”

I didn’t answer for a long time. I had to let
my parents and Rebecca’s know I didn’t do anything wrong, and I was OK. I knew
they would pray this will be over soon and I survive it.

 “I need to call my parents, but it’s risky.”

I wasn’t ready to tell Deb about Rebecca, but
I hoped my parents would call hers. There was just no way to get it all done. Maybe
my parents would figure it out, or maybe it was better not to contact her
parents yet.

“Do you want me to make the call?” Deb asked.

After thinking about it for a bit, I wrote a
short list of things I wanted for her to say to them.

1. I am OK.

2. I didn’t do anything wrong.

3. Someone is trying to frame me and kill me.

4. Don’t be surprised if you don’t hear from
me until this is cleared up. It could take a long time.  I don’t want to risk
calling you until then.

            She
found a pay phone at a rest area, and she made the call while I kept watch. She
went through the list I had given her word for word. I didn’t know if the
killers were listening to my parents’ phone, but I would have been surprised if
they were not. Deb kept it short, knowing time on the phone was against us. She
came straight back to the truck and was barely in it when the black SUV
arrived.

“This needs to be the last time my truck is
in a parking lot where they show up.” She said.

“I agree.”

 The SUV arriving so quickly told us they
were monitoring my parent’s phone, and we should not call often if at all.