Page 18 of Montana Delta Rescue
She picked up a bottle of water, a bag of popcorn, a chocolate bar, and then got in line behind him.
After paying for her items, she hurried to follow him out the back door, where the truck driver had gone. She hoped no one would remember the blonde in the white top with the thin blue stripes who’d come into the store earlier. Store cameras would show a different woman though they would see she’d gone into the ladies room wearing one thing but come out wearing something else.
If anyone took the time to watch the videos. Hopefully no one would take the time to watch. Tony’s men were well dressed thugs, and they had their ways, but they weren’t like the FBI.
Behind the truck stop, where the trucks were parked, stood a white truck with panels on both sides. Likely for his tools. The side said, ‘Jim’s Mobile Repairs’ in black lettering.
The man headed for his truck, and she followed at enough of a distance that he wouldn’t notice her.
At the rear of the truck, she saw something in the back covered by a green tarp.
She climbed aboard and slipped beneath the tarp, pulling it down over her and prayed that no one had seen her hide there.
If no one finds me here, hopefully I can get a ride all the way to Eagle Rock, a place Tony has likely never heard of.
She heard the truck start and then felt a rumble beneath her. Pulling her hood up over her head, she curled down beside an air compressor and two stacked tires where no one would see her. Then she curled up in a ball and laid her head on her arms to rest.
Might as well try to get some sleep.
She was bone tired. Within minutes she’d fallen asleep, as the truck rumbled down the highway.
* * *
Marilyn woke suddenlywith the lurch of the truck bed, banging her head against the side of the truck. “Ouch!” She reached her hand up to hold one side of her head, hollering out loud before she could stop herself.
Quickly she closed her lips, praying the man up in the cab of the truck hadn’t heard her outcry.
She’d stowed away in the back of his truck before it turned dark. Hidden beneath a tarp, she’d hidden and caught up on much needed sleep. With any luck, she was now miles away from California and Tony and his goons would have no idea where she’d gone.
The truck had driven all night, but how far they’d traveled remained a current mystery to her.
She reached in her purse for her phone and not finding it, the memory of being run off the road returned to her.
Her cell phone had been sitting in between the seats and when the car ran off the road the phone had slid off, onto the floor and under the passenger seat. She didn’t have her phone. It was still in the rental car. She had no way to call anyone, or to check the time, or figure out where she was.
Peering out from beneath the tarp, she looked to see if she could determine where she now was.
A night sky full of stars greeted her. Beautiful stars, strong and twinkling. She rubbed her eyes, because the scene was too beautiful to be real. She had to be imagining the twinkle. It was the last twinkle because though it wasn’t morning yet, as she watched, the sky started to change, which meant the sun would soon be rising.
She needed to get out of the truck, find a restroom and water to drink. But the truck was going fast down the road, doing at least eighty.
Knowing she needed to be ready the minute he slowed down, she prepared to jump out of the truck which wasn’t going to slow down to let her out, because the driver didn’t know she was there. She moved to the end of the truck bed and waited.
He was stopping at a stop sign to turn right.
She waited, counting, and then jumped, landing hard on her right foot, which hit first, before she came crashing down onto her hands and feet.
The road was still warm beneath her palms which scraped against the rough surface as she reached to catch herself.
The wind knocked out of her, she gasped and looked up and off down the road toward the taillights of the truck which now drove off into the distance.
It seemed she was in the middle of nowhere.
What a weird thing to think, that phrase middle of nowhere, for if I am here, how can I be nowhere?
Nowhere is a place even if you don’t know its name.
“What is this place? Where am I?” she asked out loud. No one was there to hear her. But the words needed to be said, as she needed them out of her. She’d been too much in her head since she’d started running from Tony.
