FOLLOW THE LEADER - Chapter 72

 Chapter 72

A tiny structure sat well off Highway 1, which ran up and down the coast. Built with aged redwood siding, the gabled roof was topped by tarpaper. The front of the building featured two tall doors that opened out, revealing a small garage. Against one side of the barn were two racing bikes.

The doors were open.

Jason sat inside an old Ford pickup, trying to start the engine. He turned the key. There was a grinding sound but no ignition. 

“Goddamn it, I told Sheena to check the battery last week.” 

Cocoa stood by helplessly, while Jason gave it a few more turns.

“Why didn’t you leave a new battery here?”

“Sure, blame it on me,” he said.

“What do we do?” she asked.

He ignored her.

“Fucking Sheena. This was her assignment!”

He slammed both hands against the dashboard, kicking up dust, then got out.

“I could call a service station,” she said.

“Then what? We wait here until the tow truck shows? The feds could be coming up that tunnel right now. We should have been gone fifteen minutes ago. Help me close the doors.”

They closed the tall doors and Jason clicked his padlock shut.

“What are we going to do? I’m scared, Jason.”

“We’re going to walk up that little hill. Highway 1 is just on the other side.”

He pulled her up the dirt road as fast as he could walk.

“Then what?” she whined.

“You gave me an idea,” he said.

“When?”

“Back there.”

Seth, the tow-truck driver from the Shell station, was answering a call for help.  A northbound sedan’s brakes had gone out and the driver had lost control. The car veered off Highway 1, and into a ditch. One passenger injured and unconscious.  Seth called the CHP and reported it. Said he didn’t know how serious the injury was, and the driver didn’t know where she was.

And no wonder, he thought. The fog was thick. Maybe twenty feet visibility now, maybe less where she was. He didn’t dare drive over forty miles an hour.

A few minutes later he saw a young woman trying to flag him down. She waved her arms frantically, which was not a good sign. Maybe the driver’s injuries were critical. He knew CPR and carried a first-aid kit, as well as a small bottle of oxygen.

As he slowed down, he could see that the woman was wearing tight black jeans and a black denim jacket. Long dark hair. Dark eyes. Maybe Latina or some Asian mix. His blinking red light set her aglow.

He stopped the car and got out. He saw now that she was beautiful. She ran up to him.

“Where is your car, ma’am?”

“Over there.”

She pointed.

He saw nothing, the fog was too thick. He put down his steel-backed order book and grabbed a big flashlight. 

“Are you okay?” he asked.

“My back hurts.”

“Hopefully nothing serious. You stay here by my truck.”

“Okay.”

He turned his back to her and took three steps before she shot him in the back. Once. Twice.

“What the fuck?”  he grunted. “Why?”

He turned back to confront her but lost his balance and fell. Seth thought he heard footsteps behind him.

He saw a guy dressed in buckskins.

“Call the cops. She shot me.”

Instead, the guy grabbed him by the armpits and pulled him further away from the highway

There’s no car, Seth thought. She was lying!

Then all went dark.

Jason and Cocoa quickly removed his work shirt. Jason snatched up his log book.

A half-mile down the highway two highway patrolmen had their own red light blinking. White sawhorses with red ribbons blocked the highway in front of them.

They saw another red light in the fog and exchanged a quick look.

A yellow tow-truck emerged, slowing as it came to the roadblock. The driver stuck his head out the window.

“Back there I saw two people walking down the highway. When they saw me they ran off and disappeared. It looked suspicious.”

“I’ll check it out,” said the stocky one. He went to his cruiser and called it in.

The taller patrolman saw the woman passenger.

“Who is she?”

“She blew out a tire and her spare was flat,” said the tow truck driver. He pointed past the two cops.

“She was headed that way. South.”

“What car are you driving?” asked the patrolman.

The woman hesitated.  “A blue Corolla.”

“Wherever you’re going, do not pick up anyone. Got it?”

“Got it,” said the woman.

“There some kind of trouble?” the tow-truck guy asked.

“Check the Nightly News.”

The patrolman turned his back to them and quickly removed two sawhorses to let them by. He waved them through.

“Thanks, officer,” said the tow-truck driver. 

He drove past him and down the highway. 

What this world needs is more guys like that, thought the patrolman.

He quickly repositioned the two sawhorses.